Posted on 01/22/2010 4:12:14 AM PST by Kaslin
Scott Brown arrives in Washington driving his famous truck, and he looks like a million dollars -- Jimmy Stewart playing Mr. Smith. President Obama polishes his State of the Union Address and suddenly he's looking discounted to more like a few thousand dollars. The two events are not unrelated.
The president will speak to the joint session of Congress next week as his approval ratings have fallen from a high of 70 percent a year ago to less than 50 percent, proving once more that in politics nothing recedes like success. At this time last year, Obama was President Possibility, with everybody cheering his promises and expectations. This year, he's President Impractical, exposed as the Pied Piper who suddenly can't seem to squeeze a note from his dented musical pipe.
Only a month ago, Scott Brown was trailing state Attorney General Martha Coakley by 20 points, headed toward the oblivion of returning to the state senate. His five-point triumph was all the sweeter for it, the accomplishment of the impossible dream of election to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in Massachusetts.
Democrats in Washington are trying to spin the upset as merely the work of an inept candidate running a poor campaign, but nobody in the Democratic spin dryer actually believes that. Brown kept his eye on the prize, driving his message of lower taxes, smaller government, cutting spending and above all squashing the monstrosity of ObamaCare. He tapped into anger at an administration in Washington that has grown arrogant and out of touch in only 12 months. Scott Brown won the argument in Massachusetts, but the message, like the buck, stops in the Oval Office.
How could such an outlandish upset happen? Let us count the ways. First of all, the gap between what the people expected Barack Obama to be and what he became has widened into a canyon, and the rhetorical flourishes that so mesmerized so many have become a form of self-mockery. The empty vessel the voters filled to overflowing with summer hopes and winter dreams could not withstand the weight of radical ideology, and he has suffered for it.
To the tea drinkers on his right, the president lacks the moral conviction they seek in comparisons to Ronald Reagan. To the left, he's been unable to assert the passionate intensity required for expanding the government to the taste of liberals -- or "progressives," as they now call themselves. To the swelling numbers of disaffected independents, he shows none of the finesse of triangulation that Bill Clinton mastered in compromising with Republicans over welfare reform. The Obama center cannot hold.
Then there's the transparency issue, which voters across the ideological spectrum crave -- the transparency which Obama said would be the clear glass through which we could watch how his policies were made. Transparency turned out to be as ephemeral as a campaign slogan written on a balloon floating in the rafters at Convention Hall.
Keeping the congressional health care debate off C-SPAN turned off the millions of political junkies who regard Brian Lamb's network as the source of knowledge. Democrats blame Republicans for making bipartisanship impossible, but it was President Obama who handed over leadership on health care "reform" to the congressional tyrants whose approval ratings are worse than his. He put out the fire and turned out the Blue Dogs. They were left to fend for themselves.
The president was aware in last year's State of the Union how his economic recovery agenda could be received with skepticism. "Here in Washington we've all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending," he said. "And with a plan of this scale comes enormous responsibility to get it right."
He promptly got it wrong. The health care that would "bring down our deficit in the years to come" promises instead to increase the deficit. It raises costs for Medicare for those he said would see not their medical costs rise. The "Cadillac tax" was unfair business as usual in Washington.
Reminding Massachusetts of this was catnip for Scott Brown. "The people do not want the trillion dollar health care plan being forced on them," he said. Indeed. Voters everywhere don't want backroom deals and payoffs to Nebraska or a new "Louisiana Purchase."
The schedulers for the State of the Union have taken care not to conflict with fans eager to watch the three-hour premiere of ABC's "Lost." The president's address precedes "sweeps" week, so we can watch without distractions to see whether the president understands what the Scott Brown phenomenon was about, and whether he's rethinking how to "get it right." If he doesn't, he can still watch the premier of "Lost." The title alone should make a painful point.
REST HERE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/obama_kool_aid_WzMe9pOLiBCI8Oq0hjU82H
That self-serving nonsense was disproved here:
"Romney Book a Fitting Prelude to 2012 Presidential Run (BARF ALERT)"
And here
"Mitt Romney's Man. ( Rombots claim Brown Victory )"
The one big thing he did was stay in his California home.
The current version of ObamaCare being floated in WashDC may be dead. But some version of a health care bill is not dead! Government mandated and taxpayer subsidized national health care coverage for everyone is not dead. Scott Brown campaigned on reworking what is in the Congress right now and he promised to make it look more like RomneyCare. That will meet with the stamp of approval of the "41st Senator" and get his vote and the vote of other Pubbies.
The fact is, Scott Brown and Mitt Romney are pro-abort, northeast liberals. These Rockefeller Republicans are the antithesis of conservatism. They should both be opposed at every opportunity.
I guess having some Conservative credentails helped Scott; because Mitt's 'team' could not get HIM elected!
I guess Ol' Mitt's not that far away from becoming a Prophet with THAT kind of precognition!
Who was using your keyboard to type this??
Amusing...Obama was whining yesterday that the Palestinian/Israeli Middle East problem was really, really hard. Basically, he’s giving up. (If anyone complains, he’ll blame Bush.)
You’re exactly right. Those campaign ads were spot on, perfect, and his staff told Brown to be himself and connect with people on the street, to work his butt off. Meanwhile, Martha collected money from DC lobbyists and insurance tycoons and got caught on camera watching one of her goons knock a reporter down. Then she lied about it although the entire incident was filmed. The debate was a laugh. Brown wiped the floor with her; she was appallingly ignorant. Then Obama came out with the Nebraska cornhusker swindle, secrecy about the healthcare plan when he’d lied and said it’d be on C-Span, and last...the $60 million union payoff. Martha was done. Romney helped make all this happen, God bless him. (And now the press is trying to ruin Brown and his family. Same treatment as Sarah got.)
Our baby's due date is 9.17.2010!
I went to the website you gave and saw no evidence that it was disproved.
I happen to know quite a bit about the insides of that campaign. You may not like Romney but the facts remain. He was behind it all.
I guess they learned some stuff since trying to get ROMNEY elected President; eh?
First, the website was FreeRepublic and numerous evidence was there.
We know you are a lawyer, therefore entitled to lie,
but don't.
Second, Romney was not "behind it all".
Thank you for finally acknowledging that you Utahns RomneyBOTS
are manipulating
Massachusetts elections for your own reasons.
Third, FReepers are getting tired of RomeyBOTs putting down Senator Brown
for backstabber Romney. Reminiscent of Team Romney's attacks on Gov. Palin, doncha think?
Fourth, Romney has a history of faking endorsements.
There is quite a list now. How Romney is that?
Typical Romney falsehood: "I told you what my position was, and what I, what I did as governor; the fact that I received the endorsement of the NRA."
The truth:
Romney: "Thats not going to make me the hero of the NRA
Boston Herald (1994)
Romney: " I dont line up with the NRA.
Boston Globe, January 14, 2007
More Romney fake endorsements:
"Behind the empty gestures and deceptive rhetoric, Romney was not pro-life
or a defender of marriage by any stretch of the imagination.
He was a disaster," said O'Gorman, of the board for Massachusetts Citizens for Life.
He said Romney "deceptively" claims to have been awarded
a pro-life award from the group.
"The award Romney arranged for himself with the local Pioneer Valley Chapter
was the Mullins Award for Political Leadership, not a pro-life award
and not approved by MCFL's state board of directors," he said.
"We're blowing the whistle to warn voters
"
[Family leaders call Romney 'disaster' - Letter criticizes 'deceptive rhetoric' around candidate]
Why are you stalking me!
who hates Mitt?.....he’s a team player so it seems and I thank him for it.....
what about the Moneybomb?....I’d like to think it helped some....
Mitt Romney is not a Team player. He is a sore losing backstabber.
The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"Im told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palins people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romneys former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.
"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"
"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"
"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"
"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"
"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"
Poor sport spoiler Romney attacks other GOP candidates:
Novak: "Fred Thompson drop-out rumors traced to Romney campaign"
Because it's so EASY to do!
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