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Friday, July 9, 2010

Obama at Mercy of Events not Rhetoric


President Obama was on the attack again yesterday.

Comparing congressional Republicans to dangerous teenage drivers and binge-spending drunken sailors, President Obama held no metaphor back as he hit the campaign trail for the first of two stops in pivotal mid-term Senate races.

While raising money for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan in Kansas City Thursday, Obama tried out some new rhetoric, framing the fall midterm elections by blaming the GOP for the sluggish economy, and urging voters not to give Republicans another chance.

"This is a choice between the policies that got us into this mess in the first place and the policies that are getting us out of this mess, and the other side is banking on people not having a good memory," said Mr. Obama. "They're trying to bamboozle you."

This has become wonderful political theater. Obama now takes every opportunity to slam Congressman Joe Barton and thus he reminds voters that Barton showed sympathy for BP. He's also recently slammed Minority Leader John Boehner for comparing the financial crisis to an ant.

None of it makes any difference. From 2005 until the election of November of 2006, George W. Bush was in the same position. He was entirely at the mercy of events in Iraq. Rhetoric back and forth was entirely unimportant. Instead, the situation continued to deteriorate and he paid for it at the polls.

Obama will face a similar dynamic. Everything comes down entirely to what the economy looks like. So, all the political theater will only be just that. Ultimately, with only a few months left, everything comes down to raw numbers: the unemployment rate, GDP growth, etc. All of those point to an economy that is still sputtering and as long as that is occurring Obama and the Democrats will take responsibility and be punished. No speech, attack, or creative alliteration will make any difference. As long as it looks as though the economy is not creating enough jobs Obama is at the mercy of the economy.

7 comments:

AG said...

This is where Obama gets into trouble a lot of the time. He cares more about looking good (and maybe earning praise) than about leading. There is no doubt that the economy is issue #1, #2, and #3, on the minds of most voters. Not Iraq, not the deficit, not climate change.

If Obama he has the solution to the economic crisis, then he shouldn't let what anyone is saying about him change his mind. Its only going to make him look weak at best and dishonest at worse.

If he thinks he knows what to do, then he should do everything in his power to make it happen: twist arms, threaten people's chairmanships, etc. George W. Bush was hellbent on getting his tax cuts, and he was willing to use reconciliation to get them.

Who knows, he might even find the Republicans are easier to push around when people respect his leadership.

mike volpe said...

As my old buddy LES would say, "if if was a fifth we'd all be drunk".

I don't know what makes you think he has any answers but economic reality is that nothing is going well.

AG said...

That's actually a very good point: he hasn't really led anyone to believe he has any answers. He just kindof sits back and lets the Democrats in Congress say conflicting things in the media. Is it any wonder the Democrats have a voter apathy problem?

mike volpe said...

I suppose he thought and thinks the stimulus will bring us out. I suppose it still might. At the same time, we are getting closer and closer to the day when we can officially say that it's a failure.

I don't think he has any other ideas besides the stimulus.

xformed said...

If he has (had) an idea...and then rolls it out, I suspect it will be political suicide. "You mean you knew how to fix it all along?" sort of response, and then a message of sitting back while Rome (well, the job market, the housing market, the major automakers) burned would not play well with many, many people.

Other option, which I am more inclined to stand behind: "He ain't got a freaking clue, nor do the academics surrounding him. He's just stuck taking his hands off the stick, hoping it will fly itself back to stability, as he's out of options.

I'd believe this more because he completely lacks experience at any level of real economics outside of a family checkbook (and I'd suspect Michelle handled that by my observations of his spending spree). Never has held a real job as far as anything I've seen. While working for non-profit organizations, you're in a strange market anyhow, and all he did was teach/train. He was not one of those who made the organization function in the bring in the funding department. Never owned a business, never has been responsible for a payroll, never had to worry about insurance and bonding and labor disputes vis-a-vis "his" workforce. All in all, he's in a place his mental energy has never had to explore. Not a slam, just a fact.

I've found, in my experience, when people "freeze" under crisis circumstances, it's an indication that they have never even conceptually thought through the circumstances. If they've thought it, but not physically practiced it, then they are at least trying, even if it isn't the correct thing.

I think he is there now with the economy. Since he has never had to do it, and never gamed it as a organizer or an elected representative, he's just lost in the mess.

He said he didn't need experience, because he had judgment. I know he lacks one, and I'm putting my money on he lacks most of the other, as well, or we'd all have our sleeves rolled up and digging through this side by side on the political divide, but he's spending his time attacking any other opinion(s), while giving us no plan/action.

He told us he'd unite this nation too, and wanted to hear the voices of those who did not vote for him. He has, in practice done neither, and has shown the opposite.

xformed said...

If he has (had) an idea...and then rolls it out, I suspect it will be political suicide. "You mean you knew how to fix it all along?" sort of response, and then a message of sitting back while Rome (well, the job market, the housing market, the major automakers) burned would not play well with many, many people.

Other option, which I am more inclined to stand behind: "He ain't got a freaking clue, nor do the academics surrounding him. He's just stuck taking his hands off the stick, hoping it will fly itself back to stability, as he's out of options.

I'd believe this more because he completely lacks experience at any level of real economics outside of a family checkbook (and I'd suspect Michelle handled that by my observations of his spending spree). Never has held a real job as far as anything I've seen. While working for non-profit organizations, you're in a strange market anyhow, and all he did was teach/train. He was not one of those who made the organization function in the bring in the funding department. Never owned a business, never has been responsible for a payroll, never had to worry about insurance and bonding and labor disputes vis-a-vis "his" workforce. All in all, he's in a place his mental energy has never had to explore. Not a slam, just a fact.

I've found, in my experience, when people "freeze" under crisis circumstances, it's an indication that they have never even conceptually thought through the circumstances. If they've thought it, but not physically practiced it, then they are at least trying, even if it isn't the correct thing.

I think he is there now with the economy. Since he has never had to do it, and never gamed it as a organizer or an elected representative, he's just lost in the mess.

(cont)

chaoticsynapticactivity said...

(cont)

He said he didn't need experience, because he had judgment. I know he lacks one, and I'm putting my money on he lacks most of the other, as well, or we'd all have our sleeves rolled up and digging through this side by side on the political divide, but he's spending his time attacking any other opinion(s), while giving us no plan/action.

He told us he'd unite this nation too, and wanted to hear the voices of those who did not vote for him. He has, in practice done neither, and has shown the opposite.