Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Joining the club of successful businessmen--including Clifford Asness of AQR Capital, Paul Otellini of Intel, and Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts--who have dared to criticize President Obama's job performance where it concerns the economy, is Democratic billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman. Speaking in his interview with James Freeman of the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Zuckerman issued some harsh criticism of the President. Mr. Zuckerman described that among fellow Democratic business cohorts, "the sense is that the policies of this government have failed. . . . What they say about [Mr. Obama] when he's not in the room, so to speak, is astonishing."
Regarding Obama's speechifying before a joint session of Congress to kick off his jobs plan campaign, Zuckerman was scathing.
Even if you want to do this to revive your support in the base, to revive your credibility on the issues of the economy and jobs, which has fallen off the table, this isn't going to accomplish it. Another speech from this guy? The country knows this is just another speech. They understand it almost instantaneously, and his numbers have continued to go down for that reason. What the country wanted was some way of coming up with a solution.
His advice for the President? Be more like Ronald Reagan.
"Reagan surprised me," says Mr. Zuckerman. "He got the point of every argument. . . . He was very decisive. And everybody loved working for him. They followed his lead because they really respected his decisiveness and his instincts."
'I was not a Republican and I was not an admirer of his before I knew him," continues Mr. Zuckerman. "And you know, Harry Truman had a wonderful definition for the presidency. He said the president has to be someone who can persuade the American people to do what they don't want to do and to like it. And that's what you have to do. Somebody like Reagan had that authority. He was liked so much and he had a kind of moral authority. That's what this president has lost."
And boy has he lost it. Obama has never looked more partisan, divisive, and insignificant than he did today while delivering a stump speech about his jobs plan. Not willing (or not knowing how) to make an intellectually honest argument in favor of his jobs plan, he summed up the Republican plan as seeking to bring about "dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance." This marked desperation makes it more and more unlikely that Obama will ever again be able to re-establish the credibility and moral authority that propelled him into the White House in the first place.
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Aug '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
From your link to the President's speech today:
Here's what jumped out at me: Tax cuts for giving your workers a raise? Seriously?
You're right about the desperation.
Dec '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
During my very dull day you've given me something to rejoice over. If the man is measured in reality instead of in the fantasy world of hope and change he is found to be seriously wanting, even by those who pinned their greatest hopes on him.
Edited on Oct 17, 2011 at 1:57pmDec '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
We've got a long way to go but when a big boy like Zuckerman has had enough and says so direct to WSJ it's a victory. We will need a lot more victorys like it. Thanks for brightening my day Diane.
Dec '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
This will not end well, or with civility. Clinton's staff supposedly removed the "Ws' from keyboards. Gore screamed that Bush, "..betrayed this country". That was nothing, compared to what next year will offer and, should Obama be defeated, we will not recognize our country.
Mar '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
From a strictly logical perspective, one cannot lose what one never possessed to begin with.
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Granted. Obama never had any credibility or moral authority with conservatives. We knew what he was well before he was elected. But people like Mortimer Zuckerman and Steve Wynn actually voted for the man! They thought he was credible and serious (which makes me think a little less of them, to be frank). And now they've revised their opinions, which is important if it's representative of the majority of others in the business community.
Oct '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
You're reading my mind Diane because I was reading this article earlier today. Two quotes jumped out at me:
"To fan that flame of populist anger I think is very divisive and very dangerous for this country."
This is a problem not just with Obama's rhetoric but with the welfare state in principle. It drives a wedge between us when the gov't is going to take from one and bestow on those who have the benefit of being politically useful to elected officials.
"We're keeping it very liquid because I don't know where this is going."
He seems to be pretty ambivalent, optimistic about getting through this mess but pessimistic about where the economy is going. I think this is particularly disturbing when someone in his position and financial savvy is unsure about the economic outlook and is reason for concern.
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
I'm not so impressed at all. Zuckerman knew what Obama was about was right there in his background, education and associations. If he didn't, he wasn't paying attention. Now the Zuck wants to back away?! He and his monied lot stuck us with this oaf. He reminds me of the fleeing architect of the Titanic. Get out of the damn life boat and go down with the ship like a man!
May '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Goodness, it took three years for these smart rich guys to figure out what the rest of us knew from the start?
I'd like to pledge to pay for a year's membership to Ricochet for Zuckerman personally - maybe it would smarten him up a little.
Mar '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Granted. Obama never had any credibility or moral authority with conservatives. We knew what he was well before he was elected. But people like Mortimer Zuckerman and Steve Wynn actually voted for the man! They thought he was credible and serious (which makes me think a little less of them, to be frank). And now they've revised their opinions, which is important if it's representative of the majority of others in the business community. · Oct 17 at 3:25pm
I understand your point, Diane, but I still don't see where the confidence in his credibility originally came from. Community organization? I don't see how that helps. Serving in the Illinois State Senate? I don't know for certain that the FBI is using my state Senate as a dumping ground for the Witness Protection Program, but it wouldn't surprise me much either.
Which leaves the U.S. Senate, in a race where the Chicago Tribune went to court to unseal divorce proceedings to take out a creditable opponent. The Illinois Republican Party (a.k.a. the Insane Clown Posse) put Alan Keyes up at the last minute.
Nothing there either.
Aug '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Granted. Obama never had any credibility or moral authority with conservatives. We knew what he was well before he was elected. But people like Mortimer Zuckerman and Steve Wynn actually voted for the man! They thought he was credible and serious (which makes me think a little less of them, to be frank). And now they've revised their opinions, which is important if it's representative of the majority of others in the business community. · Oct 17 at 3:25pm
I don't know about that credibility with conservatives assertion. On last week's podcast, Peter Robinson admitted that he was somewhat enamored of Obama in 2008, believing that Obama might be pragmatic and moderate. Thomas Sowell, who well knew what Obama was, chided Peter about it.
Aug '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Mort Zuckerman is typical of many liberal, politically-active Jews: They identify with blacks and see it as their calling to champion black causes. For these people, the election of Obama was to be the culmination of their life's dream.
For a guy of Zuckerman's age, Obama might be the last chance, so they overlooked his glaring deficiencies. After all, people of Zuckerman's wealth are nicely insulated from the disaster that they have help to precipitate.
Nov '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Nice of you to offer the membership to Mr. Zuckerman, Kevinlee, but people like him would not know what to do with a membership nor understand the arguments presented here.
They view the world through the glasses of a religious dedication to their warped idea of the world, its ills, and the [only] way to relieve them (the ills, that is): planning, planning, and more planning, and of the most rational kind. Good sense has no purchase in such a mind.
Apr '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Mr. Zuckerman's piece was quite powerful. And, Mr. Obama, Republicans want fewer people with health insurance, not less. Such is the power of a Harvard education.
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Tom Paine
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Granted. Obama never had any credibility or moral authority with conservatives. We knew what he was well before he was elected. But people like Mortimer Zuckerman and Steve Wynn actually voted for the man! They thought he was credible and serious (which makes me think a little less of them, to be frank). And now they've revised their opinions, which is important if it's representative of the majority of others in the business community. · Oct 17 at 3:25pm
I don't know about that credibility with conservatives assertion. On last week's podcast, Peter Robinson admitted that he was somewhat enamored of Obama in 2008, believing that Obama might be pragmatic and moderate. Thomas Sowell, who well knew what Obama was, chided Peter about it.
I haven't listened to last week's podcast yet (I will at the gym tonight!). But the part about Peter is hard to believe, even if he did admit to that himself. I was Peter's research assistant in fall of 2008, and he was already dishing out the harshest criticism of Obama I'd ever heard! Will have to have a talk w/Peter...
Oct '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Nice hook at the end of that combo! But Zuckerman was one of many countless Americans who were duped. What amazes me is all the conservatives who voted for him too.
I have an uncle who voted for Obama and now whenever he's mentioned my uncle shakes his head in disappointment and shame. He's different because he doesn't follow politics very closely but many people I know voted for him and didn't know/realize/ignored what they weren't sure of about Obama.
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
You may be right. Occupy New York may only be the beginning. But it is also possible that next to no one will turn out for Obama. My sense is that he now has very few admirers left -- even in his own party.
He is clearly going to run a campaign that will give nasty a whole new meaning. But it may well backfire. The man has no credibility left. He is obviously in over his head.
Edited on Oct 17, 2011 at 4:30pmDec '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
bereket kelile
I have an uncle who voted for Obama and now whenever he's mentioned my uncle shakes his head in disappointment and shame. He's different because he doesn't follow politics very closely but many people I know voted for him and didn't know/realize/ignored what they weren't sure of about Obama.
Zuckerman and a lot of Americans (conservatives included) only saw the Columbia undergrad and Harvard law degrees, the associations with prominent Illinois and Chicago Democrats, and a background of growing up Black in America. Once they constructed the image of Barack the Electable, they shut out other evidence. They assumed an Ivy League Democrat lawyer must be competent to be President, like Bill Clinton was.
Dec '10
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
DrewInWisconsin: From your link to the President's speech today:
Here's what jumped out at me: Tax cuts for giving your workers a raise? Seriously?
You're right about the desperation.
Since higher income taxes on the workers' wages will take back more than the tax cuts for raises will cost, Obama figures he's ahead of the game -- even if the workers end up poorer.
Aug '11
Re: Mortimer Zuckerman: Obama Has Lost All Credibility
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Tom Paine
I don't know about that credibility with conservatives assertion. On last week's podcast, Peter Robinson admitted that he was somewhat enamored of Obama in 2008, believing that Obama might be pragmatic and moderate. Thomas Sowell, who well knew what Obama was, chided Peter about it.
I haven't listened to last week's podcast yet (I will at the gym tonight!). But the part about Peter is hard to believe, even if he did admit to that himself. I was Peter's research assistant in fall of 2008, and he was already dishing out the harshest criticism of Obama I'd ever heard! Will have to have a talk w/Peter... · Oct 17 at 4:25pm
I think I go overboard with the word "enamored". Perhaps hopeful would be a better characterization of Peter's remark. As for the point in time Peter refers to, I believe he was referring to earlier - perhaps during the primaries.