'Moderate' Obama, Hit From Both Sides? Another Bogus Straw-Man
Returning from a nice family vacation (no e-mail, no internet) this weekend, the first news item to catch my eye was the bit about Pillsbury Dough Boy (Robert Gibbs) lashing out at President Obama’s liberal critics (“They ought to be drug-tested...”), and all I could think was, as Jeff Spicoli might have said, “How totally bogus.” If I were part of whatever passes for a political brain trust in the West Wing these days, the thing I would start and end each day hoping and praying for would be – more criticism from the Left. Obama’s intentions have been signaled pretty clearly since the 2008 campaign – he wants to be perceived as a “moderate” without actually being one. That’s relatively easy to do on the campaign trail, especially with a fawning and cooperative press complicit in the deception. But it gets harder once you’ve been in office for a while and have a trail of actions and decisions behind you, the vast majority of which are not what most of America considers “moderate.” The only strategy remaining is to draw attention to, and amplify, the voices of criticism coming from the Left, however sparse and wing-nut they may be, so as to make the point: “Hey, I’m getting criticized from the Right; I’m getting criticized from the Left; I must be a moderate, right?” It would not surprise me one iota if the White House were actually dropping subtle or not-so-subtle hints to the lefty blogosphere to keep up a low-level of criticism through the 2012 election. Bogus.
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Jul '10
Re: 'Moderate' Obama, Hit From Both Sides? Another Bogus Straw-Man
Bogus or not, Cabalist and other undiscovered successors to JournoList will be busily peddling this line. Indeed, I look for it to become a MSM preoccupation with Rachael and Ed and brash Mr. Tingle Leg shaking their heads nightly.
May '10
Re: 'Moderate' Obama, Hit From Both Sides? Another Bogus Straw-Man
I don't have anything to add, but it's a good theory, Steve. I'll keep an eye out for that strategy.