Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition
It's coming fast and furious now. First came the tax cut compromise, then the appointment of Bill Daley. Now Mediaite is reporting that President Obama will sit with Bill O'Reilly for a pre-Super Bowl interview. This is all starting to seem an awful lot like Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition.
The most interesting part of all of this will be watching the emerging reactions from different corners of the political universe, which will run something like this:
The Left's (public) spin: "Oh, no; this is terrible. Bad Barack!"
The Left's (private) spin: "The guy's gotta do what he's gotta do to get re-elected. CanNOT lose the White House, or there goes health care."
The pretend-non-partisan MSM spin: "See, he's really a centrist at heart after all."
The Brooks & Frum spin: "See, he's really a centrist at heart after all."
The Chris Matthews (& Co.) spin: "He's not moving to the center at all -- just consolidating his gains and preparing for the next progressive wave -- another example of the unprecedented brilliance of Obama."
The GOP (public) spin: "We welcome this new openness on the part of the President and look forward to working with him on the important issues facing America."
The GOP (private) spin: "#$!@!# -- and he swore he wouldn't go in for any of that Clinton triangulation stuff. CanNOT let ourselves get Gingriched by this guy."
The Tea Party spin: "Eh? So what?"
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Comments :
Nov '10
Re: Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition
Nailed it. Which is kind of depressing, in a way.
Dec '10
Re: Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition
It's not the first time he's been interviewed by a Fox News personality. And you have to admit that O'Reilly is probably the friendliest Fox personality he could get, with the exception of Shep Smith.
As for William Daley, it means nothing unless and until he jettisons Valerie Jarrett -- as long as she's around, he's going to rely on her and ignore any advice or direction he gets from Daley.
Dec '10
Re: Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition
Oh, yes, Barack, insert yourself into the Super Bowl. Because what you really need right now is more exposure. Please insert yourself into more nonpolitical events, especially sports.
And do it with Bill O'Reilly who is loathed by the Left, annoys the Right and is just another blowhard as far as the nonpolitical are concerned.
At least when he did prior sports appearances, the idea was just to get his face out there and talking sports. O'Reilly's won't be a sports interview. Does Obama want to cause fistfights at Super Bowl parties?
The Super Bowl will be on February 6. The January unemployment numbers will come out on February 4. As much of a star-worshipper as O'Reilly can be, I don't think he'll be all that friendly. O'Reilly is all about O'Reilly and rolling over for Obama isn't good for O'Reilly these days.
Sep '10
Re: Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition
Bill O'Reilly + Barack Obama = Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
In fact, anyone + Barack = Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Edited on Jan 7, 2011 at 5:19amRe: Extreme Makeover: Presidential Edition
Stuart -- I take your point about the centrality of Jarrett (and Plouffe), but I don't think Daley would have taken this job -- he certainly doesn't need it -- unless he felt pretty sure he would have real influence and room to maneuver. Daley is no fool, and I'm sure if he thought all he'd get to do for the next 1-2 years is butt heads with Jarrett, Plouffe & Co. he'd have said, "Thanks, but no thanks." The only way this appointment makes any sense to me is: (a) Obama needs someone around who can talk to Republicans without a heavy overhang of distrust, and (b) he knows he needs some help in making his "centrist" repositioning appear plausible, and that's Daley's job. I'll bet anything he's made this clear to Jarrett,Plouffe & Co. -- but we'll see....