Why Truman Can't Save Obama

Weekly Standard ^ | 09/07/2011 | Jay Cost

[SeekAndFind]

It’s often been said that Barack Obama is an audacious leader. But perhaps it's better to consider the possibility that he is just a politician who lacks a sense of irony, at least when it comes to himself. For example, last weekend in Detroit, the president said:

The time for Washington games is over. The time for action is now. No more manufactured crises. No more games. Now is not the time for the people you sent to Washington to worry about their jobs; now is the time for them to worry about your jobs.

This would perhaps be a bold statement had it not been delivered at a veritable carnival of political gamesmanship – a huge labor meet-up in Detroit obviously designed to rally union support for the president in advance of the 2012 campaign.

That’s Obama: concomitantly embracing and decrying the American political process – that’s been his shtick since his 2004 “Red State/Blue State address.” It speaks to his essential quality: He is a politician who wants to believe that he is not a politician.

Over the years, we’ve had other presidents with similar views of themselves – such as Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman. Like Obama, both of them felt deep down that they were not really politicians, which was why they both could sometimes brew an equally “audacious” mix of hypocrisy and self-righteousness.

It’s obvious that Truman has been on Obama’s mind of late, as the current chief executive actually mentioned his predecessor in his Detroit remarks. Indeed, it’s been clear for some time that the White House plans to re-run Truman’s 1948 campaign, which makes some sense. For starters, a “Give ‘em Hell” campaign against a “Do Nothing” Congress suits Obama’s personality just fine,

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Obama doesn’t have to “Give ‘Em Hell.” He has already made American life a living hell. Americans need to tell Obama to go straight to hell in November of 2012.

[scrabblehack]

He needs a Henry Wallace and a Strom Thurmond to triangulate against.

[basil]

Good article--thanks for posting.

I for one sure hope these upcoming elections will come out the same way.

[Graewoulf]

You are shaped by what you do.

Truman sold suits.

Jimmah harvested peanuts.

Professor You Lie founded the Chicago School of Bureaucratic Socialism.

Duh!

[plain talk]

I can’t envision the Obama that rides girl’s bicycles being capable of dropping two big ones unless they were F bombs.

[RichInOC]

Because he’s the little man on the wedding cake. And let’s just say I have somebody in mind to play his scrappy, smartly-dressed, bespectacled rival. Although I think even Harry would agree she’s better looking than he was.

[C210N]

Americans need to tell Obama to go straight to hell in November of 2012.

And, in the words of an extraordinary contemporary leader we all know well: “And, [we] intend to help [him] get there.”

[fluffdaddy]

Of course Truman can't save Obama — He's dead! More to the point, so is his Democrat Party. Cost, as usual, has a good grasp of the fundamentals. Truman was pimping the nanny state when the nanny state was young and appealing. Obama is trying to pimp it when it is old and decrepit. There's no comparison between the two. Truman eked out a win. Obama is going to get crushed.

[edpc]

Truman went around the country during the 1948 campaign blasting the GOP for threatening all the popular Democratic reforms of the past decade. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the National Labor Relations Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and of course Social Security – all these programs and more would be threatened if those dastardly Republicans got their hands on the government! The message here was clear: The economy might be headed back into recession, so you don’t want to endanger all those important programs the Democrats designed to protect you during economically challenging times.

Just a few of the many reasons why Truman sucked.