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.
I kind of wonder about that.
The thinking here at FR is that he's an idiot. Typically, I'd agree. However, he's managed to pass a pretty good portion of what he set out to pass 2 years ago.
Leads me to believe one of two things: 1) He's genuinely smart guy, hellbent on tearing up as much of the USA as possible. -or-
2)He's a lightning rod, put in place by much smarter liberals than himself. Figure, while conservatives (and I'm guilty of this too...) are debating whether or not BO was born in Hawaii, or whether he's a Muslim, or the pros and cons of the "Beer Summit", or other trivia.... the Congress, other gov't agencies, and people who can get things done, are ramming through all sorts of legislation, both Constitutional and non-Constitutional, that they've been wanting for years.
Just a thought.
And, since I've got my tinfoil hat on today, I've also been wondering if he didn't want to be a one-term president all along. Figure that he gets the boot in 2012. Dumps Michelle in 2013. Gets paid 10 million $$$$ for each volume of "My life as the First Black President", then hits the lecture circuit to do what he does best - get paid 50K a pop for reading a teleprompter in front of crowds of fawning sycophants.
'Tis what I wonder about, in the middle of the night and I can't sleep. :-)
I guess so.
“I’m constantly amazed that a leftist rag like the Boston Herald carries Jonah Goldberg’s column.”
The Herald is the home of Howie Carr ... who you would like a LOT, even though a lot of it is inside the Beantown Beltway politics, but the Herald has been manning up in NE for a long time. Liberal it ain’t. Unless you know Boston, though, I can understand the confusion. Check out Howie;
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1276247
Today it’s 9.5
WHY do we keep repeating that number? It’s bullshit.
The real number is closer to 17%.
RE: “people do seem to be saying he doesnt care because he wont run again. i dont agree. his ego is too huge to even contemplate the defeat not running again would mean. he actually thinks his enormous personal talent and huge brain will win the day”
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Agree, he will likely want to run again — but...will the DNC allow it? THAT is my question. I suspect he will be replaced with someone else in 2012.
Please see my post #38 - I’m a doofus.
I’ve heard Howie’s name, but I’m not sure I’ve read any of his material. I’ll check it out.
Won’t run again!?!? And give up the perks, no way. I think he will run again, so many people and things to demonize, so little time to do so. The next victim will be who he can blame for whatever he identifies as the biggest problem. For example, if its unemployment he will demonize those who are not hiring. Look for companies, business and banks to be public enemy No. 1 in the coming days. The ONE will call for legislation that requires those evil companies to hire or else. Nevermind it is his policies that are preventing business from hiring or causing them to be reluctant to hire. No, it is their racism that is behind it wanting this President to fail.
RE: “My nineteen year old son believes 0bama will refuse to step down and it will cause a civil war. My son WANTS this to happen. I said,”why?” “Because,” he said, “it will open people’s eyes to who the guy really is.” Is that scary? My own son really believes it will take a civil war to force Zero to stand down. Brrr.”
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Do you know if any of your son’s friends/classmates share this view? Interested to know how widespread this view may be among the youth out there today.
How can they not? Racism,you see......
Who lives in a world of perpetual teachers lounge discussions and frat house keggers,totally untouched and unmoved by REALITY!
Please see my post #38 - I’m a doofus.
Sorry ... didn’t read that far into it ... didn’t mean to pile on ... just wanted to let you know about the little bundle of joy that is Howie Carr!
You are assuming that 0bama is as skilled a politician as Clinton.
0bama’s successes are mainly due to Pelosi’s scorched-earth tactics with her own party.
I am not saying that what you have written is not possible, but I’m not so sure that 0bama is anything more than a great campaigner, without Pelosi.
Look for claims of the bastard boy being the illegitimate son of some American citizen to surface, with accompanying fraudulent ancillary documents...
I am still holding out for Willie Mays. And I got $10 bucks (temporarily) to back that up.
Not exactly -- in fact, I think Obama is probably the weakest link in the entire Obama team. The question is whether or not that actually matters.
What I am assuming is that the political deck is still stacked in Obama's favor, in the sense that the media are very unwilling to go after him the way they did Bush, Reagan, or even Clinton -- and the media will certainly go after whatever opponent springs up to challenge Obama.
I think that's likely to remain the case. Team Obama's response to their present political crisis will be built on that foundation.
If my assumption is correct, then Obama has plenty of time to assemble a team to put him over the top. There are a lot of very able true believers, and even more very able cynical opportunists, who would be willing to help re-shape Obama's message -- just to beat the Republicans, if nothing else.
Whatever the general population may think of him now, cannot be assumed to last forever. Their opinions are malleable, and the right strategy can at the very least make public opinion fear the opposition more than they dislike Obama.
They can even more carefully manage Obama's appearances and public utterances, and they can shape the message using all kinds of different media outlets.
The Democrats are very, very good at this sort of game. We ignore it at our peril.
You made a point there! Perhaps that’s WHY he wants to give all the Illegals amnesty in hopes they will vote him in again. How many million(s)of them are here at this point anyway? He’s bent over backwards to NOT help the States bordering Mexico, so what other reason could there possibly be? He would probably prefer being King or Dictator now that he’s found out a President is actually expected to do something (other than fly around on AF One, take Vacations, eat Ice Cream, play Golf, shoot Baskets, ride Bikes. Having Servants and “Living high on the hog” sure is a big PLUS! Personally, the very thought of a Second Term scares the hell out of me.
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