Message: I'm Losing
The wonderful Ed Driscoll reminds me of something one of my favorite writers once wrote. From National Review:
Rule One of great acting is, Do not read the stage directions.
You don’t, for instance, wrap up Hamlet’s big Act Two soliloquy — “ . . . the play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King” — and then say “Exit.”Years ago, during the George H. W. Bush administration, public-opinion surveys began to register a troubling trend for a president campaigning for reelection: More and more people felt that Bush just didn’t care about people’s suffering during the (fairly shallow) recession of the early 1990s.
You’ve got to send them the message that you care, they told him. So, dutifully, in his next big public outing, he tried to send the message to the voters that he cared. He wound up a boilerplate stump speech by declaring, with as much passion as he could muster, “Message: I care!”
No, no, Mr. President, you could imagine his advisers saying. The “message” part is for us, it’s an internal thing. You’re supposed to give them the message that you care. By showing that you care.
Right, he might have replied, I did that. How much clearer could I have been?
You’re not supposed to say the “message” part, they might have replied as the presidential limo sped away.
But it says right here on the talking-points card you gave me, he could have shouted back. Right here! “Message: I care!”
But by that time, a pudgy governor of Arkansas had already bit his lower lip, felt our pain, and made us temporarily ignore his brittle wife. That was a guy who understood Rule One.
That guy can write, can't he?
But I've been looking ever since for a perfect "Message: I Care" moment from our current flailing, hapless, doomed president. Here's the first of what I know will be many examples. From Politico:
At Wednesday’s town hall in Atkinson, Ill., a local farmer who said he grows corn and soybeans expressed his concerns to President Obama about “more rules and regulations” – including those concerning dust, noise and water runoff -- that he heard would negatively affect his business.
The president, on day three of his Midwest bus tour, replied: “If you hear something is happening, but it hasn’t happened, don’t always believe what you hear.”
When the room broke into soft laughter, the president added, “No -- and I’m serious about that.”
Saying that “folks in Washington” like to get “all ginned up” about things that aren’t necessarily happening (“Look what’s comin’ down the pipe!”), Obama’s advice was simple: “Contact USDA.”
“Talk to them directly. Find out what it is that you’re concerned about,” Obama told the man. “My suspicion is a lot of times they’re going to be able to answer your questions and it will turn out that some of your fears are unfounded.”
Anybody ever tried to call the USDA? Here's the website. Find the number.
And even if you somehow did find the number, call it, and get a prompt answer -- a tall order, as anyone who has ever dealt with a federal bureau knows -- the answer will be, "Nope. No new regulations from this department. Please call another department, like the EPA. I think they're issuing regulations about dust. Yeah, you heard that right. Thank you for calling."
And here's what the EPA will tell you, from News9 in Oklahoma, where they know a thing or two about dust:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering a crackdown on farm dust, so senators have signed a letter addressing their concerns on the possible regulations.
The letter dated July 23 to the EPA states, "If approved, would establish the most stringent and unparalleled regulation of dust in our nation's history." It further states, "We respect efforts for a clean and healthy environment, but not at the expense of common sense. These identified levels will be extremely burdensome for farmers and livestock producers to attain. Whether its livestock kicking up dust, soybeans being combined on a dry day in the fall, or driving a car down the gravel road, dust is a naturally occurring event."
Read the letter to EPA signed by 21 senators including Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn
Many in the Oklahoma farming industry are opposed to the EPA's consideration. One farmer said the possible regulations are ridiculous.
"It's plain common sense, we don't want to do anything detrimental," said farmer Curtis Roberts. "If the dust is detrimental to us, it's going to be to everybody. We're not going to do anything to hurt ourselves or our farm."
Roberts, a fourth generation farmer and rancher in Arcadia, said regulating dust in rural areas will hurt farmers' harvest, cultivation and livelihood.
"Anytime you work ground, you're going to have dust. I don't know how they'll regulate it," Roberts said. "The regulations are going to put us down and keep us from doing things we need to be doing because of the EPA."
So, if you're keeping score: Farmers, 1; President Obama, 0. When a sitting president of any party can't figure out how to connect meaningfully to a farmer at a rural town hall event, it's over.
Message: I'm losing.
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
The collapse of the Twin Towers generated a lot of dust - where was the EPA when we needed it?
Jan '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
This is one of the best examples of 'uncertainty' that small business owners face that I've seen reported. These absurd regulation don't just affect big corporations, they trickle down into all segments of our economy.
My co-worker and I were just tallying up the cost of two (dubious) compliance issues that we were being forced to address. Now $14,000 isn't a whole lot to some people but I know that we're $14,000 less profitable this year, that there's a company freeze on 401k matching right now and bonuses/raises have been about 1% for the last two years. It appears that cap & trade is dead but I can only imagine how much harder things would be if our electricity goes up 30%
Enough already.
Aug '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
That is so perfect - the guy goes on a bus tour to the heartland and then proceeds to insult the locals!
Obama really is a genius...
Edited on August 18, 2011 at 10:02pmJul '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
"Let me be clear....
"Let me be clear...
"Let me be clear...
Message: I'm obfuscating.
Aug '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
The president spent his bus tour talking about putting country above politics. It reminded me of John McCain's campaign slogan: Country First. We all know how well that message went over with the electorate.
Rob, I've been thinking of GHWB's "Message: I Care" for a while now. Bush 41 came across as cold and aloof during his presidency, though I think that was just his WASPish awkwardness. Your NR colleague Rick Brookhiser wrote a great book about it 20 years ago.
Pundits want President Obama to go out to the folks and empathize with people, ala Bill Clinton. They don't recognize he's just a cold fish and seem perplexed at his inability to connect like he did in 2008
This is who he is.
Your conclusion is spot on. Obama's done. Out of ideas. Throwing anything/everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. He desperately needs a vacation.
May '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Didn't Jonah just a couple of weeks back--wasn't it on a Ricochet podcast--make that very point about Republicans reading our stage directions? I think he wrote a column about it too.
It's a good point.
Mar '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
EPA also cracks down on farm animals. Smell offends their effete sensibilities.
May '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Rob, being a racist cloud-monger you wouldn't understand this, but you clearly weren't watching the same tour that this fine strapping young reporter from The Hill was:
"Obama tore through the Midwest and his Republican opponents this week...The president has his swagger back, and has returned to a crowded campaign trail sending notice: He has no intention of just giving this thing away...
Obama now is using his anger. He is a wild man loosed upon the Midwest, and in some ways, he is already shaping the 2012 battlefield to his liking...
In Iowa on Monday, he flat-out threatened them with electoral defeat if they don’t start compromising....Obama has the fight he wants. He has opponents, he has villains and, perhaps most importantly, he appears to have his groove back."
He also has lots of Tiger Blood. Message: he's Winning.
Aug '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Kennedy Smith: Rob, being a racist cloud-monger you wouldn't understand this, but you clearly weren't watching the same tour that this fine strapping young reporter from The Hill was:
"Obama tore through the Midwest and his Republican opponents this week...The president has his swagger back, and has returned to a crowded campaign trail sending notice: He has no intention of just giving this thing away...
Obama now is using his anger. He is a wild man loosed upon the Midwest, and in some ways, he is already shaping the 2012 battlefield to his liking...
In Iowa on Monday, he flat-out threatened them with electoral defeat if they don’t start compromising....Obama has the fight he wants. He has opponents, he has villains and, perhaps most importantly, he appears to have his groove back."
He also has lots of Tiger Blood. Message: he's Winning.
I apologize in advance for this cliché . . . but "I just threw up in my mouth a little."
Dec '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Kennedy Smith:
"Obama tore through the Midwest and his Republican opponents this week...The president has his swagger back, and has returned to a crowded campaign trail sending notice: He has no intention of just giving this thing away...
· Aug 18 at 1:29pm
That reporter must be smoking crack again! Everybody knows that Obama was, in no way, on a tax payer funded campaign tour.
Mar '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Rob,
Ben Smith of Politico just posted that reporter MJ Lee tried to contact the USDA yesterday and today and she could not get an answer to the farmer's question. Two days of getting shuffled around to different offices, and she's a reporter for a Washington DC news organization. How would someone with a real job find the time?
Aug '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Alfredo Delgado
Kennedy Smith:
"Obama tore through the Midwest and his Republican opponents this week...The president has his swagger back, and has returned to a crowded campaign trail sending notice: He has no intention of just giving this thing away...
That reporter must be smoking crack again! Everybody knows that Obama was, in no way, on a tax payer funded campaign tour.
Yes, that little slip-up jumped out at me, too. But I was too busy "throwing up in my mouth a little" to say anything at the time.
May '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Rob Long: The wonderful Ed Driscoll reminds me of something one of my favorite writers once wrote. From National Review:
That guy can write, can't he?
He belongs on TV. Someone give that man a comedy series.....
Mar '11
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Not to mention the methane - planet-destroying methane. Far worse than CO2.
Dec '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
Yep, but to reference back to Andrew Klavan's post, this is not accidental. Obama is playing "Rope-A-Dope" and you would be foolish to believe this is incompetence, or ignorance, on his part. He knows perfectly well what his EPA is doing and he is pushing it as hard as he can, as long as he lasts. If he can fool a few more rubes into giving him another term, so much the better. None of this is accidental.
Just take a look at this map of the areas currently being monitored for ozone as an air quality issue. Now click over and look at how that map will appear under the EPA's new proposed standard (0.060 parts per million as their lowest range, proposed). They are trying to push the ozone standard down to near background levels. Even natural areas like Yellowstone will be "non-attainment", if they get their way. This is actually a further reduction from the 2008 standard of 0.075 ppm, which businesses and municipalities were just barely getting a handle on, and it wasn't even up for potential review until 2013. They are pushing hard and fast, folks
Jun '10
Re: Message: I'm Losing
As a farm boy, I can tell you that just droppin a "g" now and then doesn't cut it. We can tell whether a dropped "g" is genuine or not.