Did Obama Take a Dive?

Townhall.com ^ | November 17, 2014 | Rich Galen

[Kaslin]

In boxing parlance to "take a dive" is to throw a fight by pretending to have been knocked out thus letting the other guy win.

Even before I read this Lede by Maggie Haberman over the weekend on Politico.com:

"Former President Bill Clinton said he was surprised by the Democrats' lopsided losses in Senate races in this year's midterm elections,"

I had thought something was amiss with the election results.

You know the mantra I have been repeating: "When you're on the wrong side of that kind of wave you know you will lose almost all the close ones, and you will probably lose a couple that were never even on your radar."

About the only close election Democrats won was the Senate race in New Hampshire. The two surprises were the Governors races in Maryland and Illinois. I wasn't that precise in the run-up to the election, but I could feel the disturbance in the Force.

When then-President Clinton and then-Speaker Newt Gingrich were locked in the shut-down battles of 1995-1996 (after the GOP had taken control of both the House and the Senate) Clinton had two advantages:

First, he is probably the best combination Politician/Policy Wonk we've had in the White House in our lifetime.

Second, his opponent was Newt Gingrich.

Back in those days few Americans had no opinion about Newt. Most didn't like him, but his supporters were passionate. All his opponents had to say was "Newt is in favor of this" and fifty-something percent of Americans were against "this" no matter what "this" was.

In the end the White House won the shut down fights by narrowing its message to four words: Medicare, Medicaid, Education and Environment. No matter what we said, no matter what argument we made, they responded with Medicare, Medicaid, Education and Environment.

The Obama team has probably studied that period and has decided to employ the same strategy. The difficulties President Obama is facing are: He's not a politically wily as Clinton and he's not pushing back against someone named Newt. He's pushing against someone named Boehner and another guy named McConnell.

I'm pretty certain that if you put the names John Boehner and Mitch McConnell on a piece of paper and asked people walking into a grocery store just about anywhere outside the Washington, DC metro area, a pitiful few could identify both.

If the Democrats kept control of the Senate the message would continue to be muddled with the GOP running the House.

But, the Obamas have won two national elections, so they understand that. The solution? Find a way to push back against The Republican Congress.

It is much cleaner to have Republicans in charge of both chambers so the White House message team can simply point up Pennsylvania Avenue and blame "The Congress" for whatever ills need Presidential medicine.

Why else would Obama say, as the Washington Post reported, "I am not on the ballot this fall. But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them."

Or, why as reported by The Hill newspaper, would he have said the "lawmakers avoiding him on the campaign trail were 'strong allies and supporters' who have 'supported my agenda in Congress'"?

Both of those statements cause wails of political pain among Democratic candidates from Florida to Alaska.

The Washington Post also learned, following a post-election session with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's chief of staff that Obama had refused a direct request from Reid as early as last March "to transfer millions in party funds and to also help raise money for an outside group."

"We were beating our heads against the wall," the staffer said.

Over the next few weeks we may see President Obama not just draw a line in the sand, but raise the Constitutional equivalent of the Berlin Wall between the Congress and the Executive if he (a) signs an executive order to make sweeping changes in U.S. immigration policy and (b) vetoes the Keystone XL Pipeline bill if it gets to his desk.

Neither the fact that that the Senate is still under the control of Harry Reid nor the Keystone Pipeline bill is being pushed by Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu will make a difference to the White House. They will spend the next two years - starting right now - running against The Congress.

The only way Obama could be sure to have a clear running lane for the next to years was to have that Congress under the control of Republicans.

To make sure of that, Obama had to take a dive.

[freedumb2003]

100% wrong.

obozo was politically TOXIC and was asked/begged to stay the heck away from all the democrat candidates.

He didn’t take a dive, he was ordered out of the pool!

[InterceptPoint]

I didn’t use my spell checker but I think I have it right:

NONSENSE.

[OKSooner]

Who the heck is Rich Galen?

" The only way Obama could be sure to have a clear running lane for the next to years..."

I haven't seen either one of them, but I've seen the teasers for the Sequel to "Dumb and dumber".

Its title is "Dumb and Dumber to".

[Raycpa]

Nonsense.

[Gen.Blather]

I think this gives too much credit to Obama as he has never demonstrated an original thought. Also, he runs a serious chance of getting removed from office. His insurance, Biden, can be removed for medical reasons.

[cuban leaf]

My take: He’s either as inept as he appears to be or he is crazy like a fox. If the latter, we may be seeing a very near future of biblical prophesy proportions, if you get my drift. And my tag line.

[Pearls Before Swine]

100% wrong.

I'll say 90% wrong. While Obama is/was increasingly toxic, the Dems will definitely run against the GOP Congress for the next two years and in 2016. Obama will block/veto everything, go Mussolini with EOs, while the MSM will trumpet it as being due to the GOP's extremism, the Tea Party, and general perverse intransigence.

What else can the Dems do? Run against Obama?

[BlueStateRightist]

How about another interpretation: The Marxist is a narcissist and hates everyone else. He especially doesn’t care about his comrades in the Democrat party. In his mind they aren’t worthy, so EF ‘EM!

[dynoman]

I wonder why some articles arrange every sentence as a paragraph. What does that style of writing indicate?

[Mouton]

Remember, all the world is a stage, the actors have their exits and their entrances.

DC is one big stage. They are all in it together. The only ones who don't get it are those outside the beltway who believe this is really a two + party state. It is all for one and one for me. If anyone upsets the apple cart, they are ostracized by both sides.

[Shimmer1]

Someone is stretching this beyond the breaking point. Just completely ignore that Obambi is actually incapable of “taking a dive” because he’s such an arrogant narcissist.

[Safrguns]

I think the midterms was a strategic loss.

They apparently did not put a full effort into voter fraud as they did before, knowing that the end result of their policies would come to fruition just around the corner.

They let the GOP win so that 2016 will give them back everything after our economy collapses in 2015.

All they need now is a trigger event, and it wont matter a hill of beans that the GOP has not had enough time to implement a single reversal.

[jocon307]

really, this is a very silly piece. And besides what is Obama going to be running for in 2 years? Nothing but his next round of golf. This just makes no sense.

[skinkinthegrass]

IMHO..this is a boat-load of B$.
It's a sweet gig..gets paid?..for slop.

[SoFloFreeper]

Over the next few weeks we may see President Obama not just draw a line in the sand, but raise the Constitutional equivalent of the Berlin Wall between the Congress and the Executive if he (a) signs an executive order to make sweeping changes in U.S. immigration policy and (b) vetoes the Keystone XL Pipeline bill if it gets to his desk.

freedumb has it right....the slight advantage Clinton had was that he was more pleasing to look at and listen to than Obama....America has lost confidence in BO as a leader (some, believe it or not, ONCE THOUGHT he was qualified to occupy the Oval Office)...and amnesty is unpopular...while the KeyStone pipeline IS popular.

Obama is fighting the American people, not just conservative thinkers on this issue.....

Health care is still a disaster....and Americans are being beheaded by Obama's Islamofascist friends.....

Obama and his party are not going to extricate themselves from this time frame smelling like roses. More like the stuff that fertilizes roses.

Obama hasn't thought his cunning plan all the way through.

[cuban leaf]

True, but they can’t control EVERYTHING. Think where we would be if there were no internet and only the MSM.

i.e. they don’t have the control they used to.

[Mouton]

Yes, perhaps I am too negative....but what I am hearing after the mid terms from our esteemed leadership is not what I expected to hear from an opposition party in complete control of one of the independent branches of government.

[MCF]

I completely disagree with this article. In 2007 the Democrats took control over the House and Senate. Yet, when the economy collapsed 18 months later it was George Bush that received the blame not Congress. The truth is after six years of empty promises, blaming others, and internationally obvious political ineptitude Obama has become a huge embarrassment to the U.S. citizen. Congress is going to look like adults standing up to a willful, over indulged, destructive child.

[Himyar]

I agree. He is showing the mind set of Hitler towards the end of the war. Hitler blamed all that had befallen the Fatherland on the failure of the German military and people to carry out his grand schemes correctly. His last orders were basically to destroy everything because the nation was unworthy to survive. Scares the hell out of me.