Thursday, August 11, 2011

Politics Update

President Barack Obama in Michigan today..

"The problem isn't that we don't have answers, the problem is folks are playing political games"

And a few minutes later on calling back Congress from vacation to work on the economy (something echoed by Newt Gingrich in tonight's GOP debate)..

"the last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in DC"

Yes, because that would require leadership. He explains that he prefers them home and listening to 'the people' because presumably he thinks they'll all tell him to raise taxes on the rich and pass all of Obama's zillion plans that would have been creating massive growth right now if only Pelosi would have passed them in 2010, er wait, if only the Tea Party wasn't there. Actually he didn't exactly blame the Tea Party but he left the strong impression they were to blame (divided government) for most of the recent problems. He had the good sense not to compare them to terrorists, or even violent extremists, like his sidekick.

That's why he's on the bus tour, so he can spin what 'the people' tell him, which we all know will magically line up with everything on MyBarackObama dot com. In reality he'll hear the same things on the road as the Congress hears at their offices in DC--that the right is fed up with spending and doesn't want tax cuts; and the left is fed up with our Republic and wants forced quasi-socialism to maintain entitlements, and doing so requires the destruction of people who create most of the jobs--those evil rich.

By the way, he's not the first president to set himself up against Congress--almost all of them do it to one level or another, although it seems Obama has a unique disdain for them. Maybe it's his background. Several times he's referred to our "messy democracy" while mentioning that totalitarian governments don't have such impediments. He always clarifies it, but there's that one small voice that says 'if only'. This super congress seems one step closer to a concentration of power unintended in the constitution and the wise old sage will be looking down from Mt Olympus and telling them what to do, so maybe that's an 'almost there' for him.

But it was the negative tone that stood out. Applause was raucous at times, but a lot was polite. They weren't going wild on his bullet points (sorry for the anti-Tuscon metaphor) as in the past. Americans like sunny optimistic presidents, especially during hard times, and the constant furling eyebrow, scolding blamey tone left him looking defeated and vulnerable.

That means the generic GOP challenger is still in good shape. But in looking at the actual GOP candidates in tonight's debate it's not clear whether any of them could keep up with his BS in campaign mode and take him down, economy or not, sunny skies or not. We'll see what happens when Perry gets in, or maybe that mystery candidate (not named Trump), but this current crop is probably not going to cut it. Not even Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron Paul!

3 comments:

Right Truth said...

Obama's background, the way and places he was raised, those who influenced him, are what made him who he is. I'm not sure he has ever had an "original" thought.

Ron Paul was nuts last night talking about Iran.

Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

LA Sunset said...

Ron Paul is who Dems want to win the nomination, because his followers are known for being sycophants like his. O can probably can win that battle because Paul, like McCain, is older and probably doesn't have the energy level to stay on top of his game and his supporters are a bit on the fringe on some things. I think he has good ideas on some things, but no way is he the kind of President we need right now.

The GOP needs a combination of things in a candidate. Whoever wins would do well to build a team using the group that was on that stage last night, a team that would be a policy dream team using the talents of these people in their strongest suits. All of them have strengths, all of them have weaknesses.

If this turns out to be the case, we will need a President who is NOT a micromanager, but someone like Reagan who sees the big picture and ties it all together using the best and the brightest minds to do it.

A.C. McCloud said...

Dick Morris was on O'Reilly tonight and had a really good analysis of the debate, I thought. He said Bachmann came out looking good, while Newt appeared a hostile old college professor or thereabouts. I agree with Dick that Pawlenty did not handle himself well in the Bachmann exchange. Romney is Romney. Been there, done that. Ron Paul came off as an old crank. He's not, but perception is reality.