ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
I never really thought it would happen but we've reached a point where a few brave souls in the media are willing to point out that the promise of a brilliant Obama presidency hasn't been realized. The latest example is this piece of "analysis" (I hate that word when tied to news stories -- just go ahead and call it an editorial) by Matt Negrin at ABC News, headlined brutally:
In Memoriam: The Old Obama, Who Wanted to Bring People Together
Ouch. The article does that thing where it lays blame on partisanship for people not named Barack Obama, but the takeaway is still harsh and it says something about how the Democratic campaign is playing among some in the media:
The 2004 version of Barack Obama, who captured the nation with a dazzling speech about unity and went on to win the presidency on a message of hope, died on Monday. He was 8 years old.
The cause of death appeared to be a bitter realization that he needed to win reelection in an increasingly partisan political environment, a cancer that he had been battling for months if not years.
The article contrasts his 2004 speech where he said there was no conservative America or liberal America with his current mode of dividing Americans precisely on such lines (and others).
The article says that Obama has become one of those political peddlers he once warned us about and admitted as much in his recent defenses of the Bain attack ads as the basis for his campaign against Mitt Romney:
Obama's admission was in some ways the completion of a metamorphosis that began even during the 2008 campaign, as it became likely that he would be elected. After promising to throw out so-called politics as usual, Obama broke his first promise by rejecting public funding for his campaign because he could raise millions more on his own. He also ran negative ads against his opponent, John McCain, in that race, too.
I love a media that just now notices something the rest of us noticed four years ago, don't you? We learn about the similar hypocrisy regarding super PACs. It's not entirely his fault, we're reminded again. He had to be partisan on account of how the minority party so aggressively opposed his stimulus, auto bailout and health care overhaul:
At some point, his friends said, Obama realized that he couldn't hold Republicans' hands and govern with them. He started his own executive order campaign designed deliberately to run around Congress.
But the ending is so mean:
Some believers are in denial and insist that Obama of 2004 lives, perhaps muted or constrained by the newer version. They say he still serves as a symbol of hope to many followers, even if his campaign has adopted a decidedly negative approach. ...
Obama is survived by a president who will spend most of the next six months on the stump, railing against his Republican opponent as he tries to retain political power. A memorial service will be held at a fundraiser today in Colorado. In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted at the Priorities USA Action super PAC.
If a story this mean were about President Bush, it wouldn't have stood out among all the other news analysis stories. But this is about President Obama! And it's super mean. I hope Mr. Negrin doesn't get disappeared.
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Comments:
Sep '11
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
It does seem remarkable, but I have to think that different elements of this article jump out at a conservative, as opposed to a liberal reader. I am particularly puzzled by:
"a bitter realization that he needed to win reelection in an increasingly partisan political environment, a cancer that he had been battling for months if not years."
So he had been "battling [the cancer of an] increasingly partisan political environment"? How was he "battling" it rather than "creating" it?
Aug '11
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
The first page is pretty shocking to hear from ABC. In particular, the charge that Obama has become negative and divisive. We saw that all along, but for ABC News to say it out loud -- that's change I can believe in.
The second page, however, does trot out the standard tropes: the Republicans-as-obstructionists who rejected his offers of bipartisanship; and of course the dread Kochtopus.
I have been sensing a sea-change, though.
Apr '11
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
I think the most shocking realization to me is that there is a human being alive anywhere (who is not drooling on himself in a padded room) who actually believed the complete BS from '04-'08 that Obama was some sort of great unifier. There's nothing wrong with believing in and supporting a charismatic politician who holds and shares your political beliefs. But to believe that all partisanship will die with his presence means that you now believe that all opposing or contradictory points of you are null and void!! If that isn't the height of arrogance and tunnel vision all rolled into one, I don't know what is.
Jul '10
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
You won't see a real change until a week or so before the election when the polls show the country returning in a huge way to its traditional center-right orientation. Then we'll get a heavy dose of how it wasn't the message but the idealistic messenger who was too noble to fight dirty. We'll learn that a more seasoned Obama, chastened like Bill Clinton after his first term as governor, will return to the political wars bigger and hotter and even more cool than ever.
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
My lefty relatives just project all their hopes and dreams on this President. They don't care if he made the promises or not. They just project what they want him to promise. "I don't think a President can do anything about gas prices" is the latest gem I got to hear recently. However, this ABC article is a nice follow up to Notre Dame suing the Administration on Monday. Things may be happening.
Dec '10
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
This isn't a metamorphosis. This is Obama's followers finally waking up to reality. Conservatives always knew Obama's high flown unity rhetoric was politically correct cover for, "you conservatives just roll over on your principles and we'll all get along. With the Chicago "no one will get hurt" implied and message received by many conservatives, including Paul Ryan and SCOTUS members, who got the treatment in public.
Red staters and blue staters have irreconcilable differences. Obama never had to make the case for blue statism because the complicit media gave him cover for his affinity for Marxism and touted him as the One great unifier. And the credulous believed it. The only unity Barack Obama was ever likely to achieve was his previously decided self-regard. "Aren't I great? Why, yes -- yes I am!"
This mean article couldn't have happened to a nicer campaign(er).
Feb '11
Re: ABC News Says Obama Has No Clothes
That pretty much sums up the liberal mindset on every issue. "I'm right because...you're wrong!"