The Fonze
Posted on 08/30/2010 9:41:18 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
You’ve got to wonder when White House political guru David Axelrod will look at the churning pools of poll data and, like Chief Brody in “Jaws,” say: “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
The analogy isn’t quite right, because in the movie, the shark ultimately loses. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Barack Obama and Axelrod victoriously paddle away on the flotsam of their own political wreckage. But in one sense, the analogy works just fine: This White House is rudderlessly lost at sea and inadequate to the challenges it faces.
At the beginning of the year, retiring seven-term Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) recounted a conversation he had with the president. Obama’s push for health-care reform in the face of public opposition reminded Berry of the Clinton-era missteps that led to the Republican rout of 1994. “I began to preach last January that we had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out,” Berry told a newspaper.
Or, to quote Brody in “Jaws 2”: “But I’m telling you, and I’m telling everybody at this table that that’s a shark! And I know what a shark looks like, because I’ve seen one up close. And you’d better do something about this one, because I don’t intend to go through that hell again!”
Convinced that his popularity was eternal, Obama responded by saying, yes, but there’s a “big difference” between 1994 and 2010 - “you’ve got me.”
The funny thing is, Obama might have been right. Because things might be much worse for Democrats in 2010 than they were in 1994 - and the big difference might well be Barack Obama.
In fairness, the biggest difference may be the economy, which in political terms should be fitted for a pine box. Of course, Mr. Credibility, Joe Biden, says it’s doing great, sounding like the shopkeeper in the Monty Python “Dead Parrot sketch” who insists the bird’s “just resting.”
In 1994, when the Contract with America Congress took control, the jobless rate was 5.6 percent. Today it’s 9.5 and may well climb higher.
While some people - such as yours truly - think Obama and the Democrats deserve much of the blame, one can be agnostic on all that and recognize that voters have lost faith in the Democratic Party. Already, Democrats in tight races are distancing themselves from the White House, and pretty much everyone has stopped trying to make lemonade out of the ObamaCare lemon.
Moreover, Obama has lost his connection with the American people. On issue after issue he seems determined to craft his responses in a way that will annoy the most people possible.
Some liberals claim that Obama’s mistakes stem from not being progressive enough, while others insist that he’s played his cards right, but we need to wait a bit longer for the payoff.
I’m dubious on both counts. But what’s clear now is that the president who claimed to be the personification of a world-historical moment is lost at sea, and not even a bigger boat will save him.
“Joe Biden, says it’s doing great, sounding like the shopkeeper in the Monty Python “Dead Parrot sketch” who insists the bird’s “just resting.
EXCELLENT analogy! LOL!”
Henceforth when Biden utters a ridiculous statement “he’s pining for the fijords.”
...Fonzie jumps his motorcycle over a shark tank
Actually, Fonzie jumped the shark while on water skis.
The writers should have gone with the motorcycle.
The Fonze
The trouble is that if the GOP takes congress and saves the country, they will save 0bama’s sorry anti-American ass in the process much as what happened with Ol’ Slick after ‘94.
LOL.
The only thing’s he appears good at is taking vacations, golfing ,and flying all over the world on Air Force One.”
Also- hiding every possible paper trail of his entire history -—including his birth.
My worry? This actually could be Obama's "Mister Nice-Guy" personality; and that after the November elections, we might meet ... "Mister Scorched-Earth."
.
Read this and show it to him:
What Good Can a Handgun Do Against An Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2312894/posts
His ego will be fine because he will make millions and be treated like royalty by traveling around the world and claiming that America just wasn't ready for a black President.
Right!
I stand by my post. If the economy turns around in a big way Obama will be reelected. If the economy stays bad 0 is toast. Clinton was reelected because the economy turned around. He also went to the middle on several matters and the Oklahoma city bombing help him (or rather, hurt republicans) but it was the economy that made the difference.
Goldberg’s columns would be better if he were to throw in a topical cultural reference now and then. /sarc
Don’t forget......many states have enacted laws that require proof of elegibilty to hold office.
......Some liberals claim that Obama’s mistakes stem from not being progressive enough, while others insist that he’s played his cards right,......
And then there are those who claim it is just because he is black. /s> .
I’m a bit older than him, and I believe the same.
But mainly, the Democrats succeeded in making the election about Newt Gingrich and the nasty Republicans -- and the Republicans helped him to do that by making a series of huge, stupid strategic errors.
Remember Clinton's first SOTU speech after the '94 election? The R's hooted at a statement Clinton made about budget numbers; Clinton merely smiled, and then he smacked them down with a hammer. He absolutely humiliated the Republicans in a few short words, and ended up carrying the night. Shoulda been a warning ... but the R's didn't heed it.
Remember Medicare Reform? That was supposed to be Newt and the boys flexing their muscles. Clinton killed them.
Remember the Government Shutdown? Once again Clinton killed the Republicans. (And that, only in the meagre intervals during which he was not succumbing to the wiles of Monica Lewinsky.)
Remember the time Clinton and Newt held the so-called "Budget Summit?" Newt left the WH with Clinton's boot prints all over his back.
One can certainly point to the economy as a factor, but that wasn't what got Clinton re-elected.
I don’t a think a single one of those things mattered but the economy.
You go ahead and think that.
And, snug and secure in your belief that Obama has no similar chance, you can sleep soundly tonight.
I was going to sleep soundly either way. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
Noooooooo.....now just hush!...You don’t want to go giving them ideas, do ya? LOL!!
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