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Dick Morris: Dems turn on Obama
Dick Morris' Website ^ | June 16, 2010 | Dick Morris

Posted on 06/16/2010 5:30:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

To the left, the oil spill is not an index of presidential competence or an issue in the political sphere. It is a daily gushing of poison into the Earth’s waters as a direct result of the president’s failure to stop it. They blame BP. But they already hate oil companies. And they blame Obama, too. And they are coming to dislike him.

When Obama attempts to recoup this damage to his political base by pushing new legislation on the environment or by resurrecting his cap and trade legislation or by bringing criminal charges against BP or by setting up a liability fund for the spill’s victims, it does not solve his political problem. With each day, 60,000 gallons gush into the Gulf, Obama’s equivalent of the body count in Iraq that caused the left to loathe George W. Bush. Rhetoric or programs or visits to the Gulf or posturing won’t assuage the negatives. Only plugging the hole in the bottom of the ocean can do it.

The right and center of American politics turned off Obama over health care. And now the left is leaving him over the oil spill.

Why can’t Obama plug the hole?

Because he has no administrative experience. I often saw Bill Clinton, as governor and as president, call in experts and ask the tough questions when he faced a new disaster. In Arkansas, it was tornadoes or floods or fires. In Washington, it was Oklahoma City. But, each time, he thoroughly familiarized himself with all the technical issues. He took a bath in the science and substance of the hazard and became as knowledgeable as those who had spent a lifetime studying it. So he knew what questions to ask.

Any CEO or COO or manager has similar experience. But a community organizer, law professor, state senator, US Senator, and president doesn’t have the requisite experience. He doesn’t know not to trust his own bureaucracy. He hasn’t been burned enough to realize that he needs to intervene to waive restrictions, set aside regulations, and open up the process to new solutions. He’s like JFK during the Bay of Pigs. He doesn’t know how to avoid being betrayed by his own bureaucracy and the industry it’s supposed to regulate.

Why did he not waive the Jones Act (he still hasn’t) to allow foreign vessels to ply our waters to clean up the spill? Not because he was against it. He couldn’t have been against so obvious a course as waiving it. It was likely because nobody told him about it and he never knew to ask.

Why did he let the bureaucracy use only US contractors to dredge the Gulf and build the berms that Louisiana wanted? Why did he spurn the offer of Dutch assistance (half the country has been dredged from the sea and is below sea level)? Not because he wanted the jobs to go to Americans. That would have been an insane consideration in the face of this crisis. it is probably because he never realized that our capacity for dredging needed augmentation. Because he never asked.

To the right and the center, these failings show that Obama is in over his head. But to the left, which bleeds for each drop of water in the Gulf and cries over every turtle or shrimp or sea bird, it is an unpardonable sin.

It is the nature of things that presidential mistakes metastasize into presidential character flaws. Bush’s inaction over Katrina comes across as insensitivity. Now Obama’s incompetence and inexperience is causing liberals to see him as arrogant, aloof, removed, conceited, suspicious of outside advice, and even lazy. Long after the oil has stopped spilling, these supposed character defects will haunt the president, just as Carter’s reputation of timidity and inability lasted long after the Iran hostages came home. These defects will last until 2012 and beyond.


TOPICS: Issues; Parties; Polls; State and Local
KEYWORDS: 2010polls; bho44; democrats; environment; obama; obamasfault; oil; oilspill; treehuggers
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Couldn't be those 7-12 rounds of golf since the oil leak started, could it? Pretty sad when you're pining for a Bill Clinton. Heck, Jimmy Carter, Warren Harding and U.S. Grant are starting to look good.
1 posted on 06/16/2010 5:30:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

60,000 BARRELS Dickie boy...


2 posted on 06/16/2010 5:34:44 PM PDT by wny
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The left fringe can hate Obama all it wants, but they’ll still vote for him over any sane candidate. So all in all, so what if they are dissatisfied?


3 posted on 06/16/2010 5:37:38 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Why can’t Obama plug the hole?

Because the only holes Obama knew how to plug were those on his Columbia and Harvard roommates

4 posted on 06/16/2010 5:40:51 PM PDT by libh8er
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To: Pearls Before Swine

Enthusiasm is part of the equation.

You need enthusiasm from the hard core to build grass root volunteers, to donate money, to canvass, to make phone calls, to drive people to the polls.

If all you can get is tepid support, you end up like John McCain in 2008.


5 posted on 06/16/2010 5:41:59 PM PDT by Truthsearcher
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
He took a bath in the science and substance of the hazard and became as knowledgeable as those who had spent a lifetime studying it.

Seriously doubt that. Looks like they are getting ready to resurrect a beast we thought was dead.


Think I see the toes wiggling.

6 posted on 06/16/2010 5:46:04 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
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To: Truthsearcher

Well John MccSANE will not happen again as we will not let the MSM endorse our canditate this time. I know people...comfortable people who never bother to vote who say in 2012 they are voting Republican ticket all the way!


7 posted on 06/16/2010 5:46:25 PM PDT by Boardwalk
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To: justa-hairyape
Sorry about that. Usually check the images first. This should work.


8 posted on 06/16/2010 5:48:12 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So is this how the dinosaurs really became extinct?


9 posted on 06/16/2010 5:50:52 PM PDT by janereinheimer ((I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; blackie; ExTexasRedhead; LucyT
Couldn't be those 7-12 rounds of golf since the oil leak started, could it?

When I worked for a major pharmaceutical company and had a chance to book a cruise at an unheard of low price, my boss wouldn't let me take the time off because he "needed me there" on those particular days. I guarantee my job had nowhere remotely near the responsibiity of Mr. Obama and wonder how in the world he could justify taking vacation days off during an American "crisis" that still is far from being resolved. If I had taken almost two months to meet with someone involved in a serious vendor problem, I'd have been disciplined or fired.

It would appear the top job in the nation has no "job description" or policy addressing profound lack of experience, qualifications and ability to do the job at hand. If he were employed by corporate America, he'd be unemployed.

10 posted on 06/16/2010 5:51:16 PM PDT by MamaDearest
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To: Boardwalk

The problem in 2008 wasn’t that the media picked our candidate, it was that all our candidates sucked. McCain, Romney, Huckabee, enough said.

I had my hopes on Thompson and he turned out to be a dud too.


11 posted on 06/16/2010 5:52:06 PM PDT by Truthsearcher
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To: MamaDearest

Not only that, I wasn’t paying you $500K a year out of my pocket, not to mention travel and security costs.


12 posted on 06/16/2010 5:54:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Don't care if he was born in a manger on July 4th! A "Natural Born" citizen requires two US parents!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No, couldn’t be all those White House Parties either, dancin and singin with Paul Mcartney serenading each other with their emphatic love for one another, while the Gulf Bleeds....

Besides the Dems have lost all credibity for all their liberal causes, Where are the war protestors as Obama ramped up the wars and will not get the troops home any faster then G.W. Bush would have. Where are the enviro wackoos like Green Peace? They should be enmassed outside of the White House every day dousing oil on themselves out of empathy to the Gulf wildlife. Where is the Hollywood crowd? What no Obama incompetency films by Michael Moore, no cursing by Sean Penn, what Rosie strangley silent? Speaking of rosie where is the gay crowd? Obama failed to get DADT repealed he failed on gay marriage and they give him a pass.

As far as I am concerned all the Liberals are unprincipled fools.... The next time they try and stage a protest when a Republican is in office they should be promptly reminded of their failures to hold Obama accountable.

But then again it is the media’s fault and they won’t ever hold him accountable.


13 posted on 06/16/2010 5:55:15 PM PDT by Typical_Whitey (Our nation has a choice, Vote or Die.)
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To: Truthsearcher

oH nO...THEY picked McCain and especially because of his birth certificate. He was the only one they could run against the Kenyan. A wash.


14 posted on 06/16/2010 5:58:01 PM PDT by Boardwalk
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To: Boardwalk

Don’t kid yourself, Romney/Huckabee would have lost too.


15 posted on 06/16/2010 5:59:12 PM PDT by Truthsearcher
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To: Truthsearcher
Don’t kid yourself, Romney/Huckabee would have lost too.

And the best conservative choice was just an actor.

16 posted on 06/16/2010 6:01:07 PM PDT by justa-hairyape
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is when Obama becomes dangerous... when he starts to lose the support of his base. His narcissistic self has never in his life been told “no” by anyone. All through his life, he operated in a world without opposition. Chicago is a one-party town, and support from the masses is just taken for granted.


17 posted on 06/16/2010 6:01:24 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why can’t Obama plug the hole? The answer has to include a discussion of the nature of the hole. It’s a technical issue, based on www.theoildrum.com that I mentioned earlier. This hole is a real toughie because oil is not just coming out of the pipe. It’s also coming out from cracks around the pipe. Plugging the pipe just causes more of the oil to come out from the cracks around the pipe.

It’s in the hands of engineers and undersea construction people and managers who give them all the help they can.


18 posted on 06/16/2010 6:01:56 PM PDT by frposty (I'm a simpleton)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Any CEO or COO or manager has similar experience. But a community organizer, law professor, state senator, US Senator, and president doesn’t have the requisite experience.

I think Sarah Palin would have known how to handle this. I believe as VP should would have been an excellent advisor and made McCain look real good. Maybe even presidential.

19 posted on 06/16/2010 6:02:03 PM PDT by ItsForTheChildren
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To: Truthsearcher

I’m not so sure. Millions of conservatives did not like McSane and stayed home and did not vote, especially in states like Ohio...anyone we chose, although dismal, could have done better than the one foot in the grave he is probably going to die anyway propoganda from the left.


20 posted on 06/16/2010 6:02:39 PM PDT by Boardwalk
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