Obama Gives Up
Like Mollie, I'm left a little gobsmacked by the latest communications gambit from Team Obama. Based on the early scuttlebutt surrounding the president's speech there later today, my first thought was that somebody should dispatch mental health officials to Cleveland -- because the Obama campaign is on suicide watch. Here's how Reuters frames it:
In an economic speech on Thursday that could set the tone for months of campaigning, Obama is not likely to unveil new ideas to boost the economy and create new jobs, according to Democrats familiar with the preparations for the address.
Instead, he will make the case that he needs four more years to undo the damage left by George W. Bush, his Republican predecessor in the White House ...
You know that point in a declining relationship where you can no longer work up the energy to decide what to do for the evening, so you just stay at home, watch television, and hope to avoid eye contact with your significant other? That's where Team Obama is right now.
This is year eight ennui from an administration that's five months away from a reelection vote. Right now, the Obama team is Tom Hanks on the raft in "Castaway" and the second term is Wilson, gently rolling away on the waves -- except, rather than screaming at the top of their lungs, they've decided that this is a good time for a nap.
What's the strategy here? Is this a reset speech? We've already had, by my count, 87 of those (to be fair, they didn't specify which summer was going to be "Recovery Summer"). With this new speech, Obama is now officially resetting expectations more often than Harold Camping.
Do they really think their major problem is that the public's insufficiently aware that the administration blames George W. Bush for its economic problems? If so, take it from this former White House speechwriter, Obama communications staff: there has never been a president whose problems stemmed from difficulty getting his message out. For God's sake, George H.W. Bush made one offhanded remark at a press conference 20 years ago and hasn't received a Christmas card from the broccoli lobby since. People listen when the president talks -- except when he's repeating himself ad nauseam to no great effect. There's a difference between people not listening to you and people not liking what you're saying.
And where is it written in stone that, as Obama is fond of saying, it will take a long time to get out of this mess because it took so long to get into it? Funny, that didn't seem to be the case for Ronald Reagan or Warren Harding when they were faced with similar circumstances. But then, neither of them were Harvard Law Review, so I think we can safely assume that was dumb luck.
It's not exactly shocking that Obama is ceasing to make a serious argument. Constrained by his ideology, he's only ever had one bullet in the chamber on economic policy and it has now become painfully obvious that it didn't work. What is shocking is that his campaign is going out of its way to remind people that they don't have an argument.
Occam's Razor would seem to dictate that this is rank incompetence from Team Obama. I guess that's encouraging ... because the other plausible alternative would be that Obama just doesn't care anymore.
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Comments:
Jan '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
With the words 'gobsmacked' and 'scuttlebutt' in the opening paragraph it was clear that Troy is enjoying life this morning. I love the Castaway metaphor - hilarious!
Aug '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
Great metaphor, indeed. But speaking of delusion, the French, Germans, and other EU sufferers of the Left's 'progressive' delusion still solidly support Obama.
The whole socialist/collectivist world is going to have to wake up from the mass hysteria that has seized it for so many years. In their own parlance, "the system is not sustainable".
Jun '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today. His latest name, for the head of the "Regime," is Barack Hussein Kardashian Oblama.
Jan '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Obama gave up governing after the 2010 elections. I'm not overly surprised if he only gives a half-hearted (and thus far it's been half-brained) effort to keep the job.
What's frustrating is that he doesn't have to show the least bit of enthusiasm. Years from now, we'll all make a point in an argument by saying, "Even Obama got 200 electoral votes!"
Apr '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
According to Gallup, 47% of independents still give Obama little or no blame for the economy. He has a great shot, still.
Mar '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Troy Senik, Ed.:
What's the strategy here? Is this a reset speech? We've already had, by my count, 87 of those (to be fair, they didn't specify which summer was going to be "Recovery Summer"). With this new speech, Obama is now officially resetting expectations more often than Harold Camping.
In defense of Obama's speechwriting and campaign teams, there's only so much they can do with the material they've been given. When most of the facts on the ground work against your boss, the positive case for him slowly dwindles down to "the alternative might have been worse."
Being a speechwriter for Obama is like being a public defendent for a thief caught on videotape: you argue the best you can, but in the end you can only hope for a lenient judge.
May '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
Half-hearted, half-brained . . . and monobuttockular.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
I'm not so sure. Rasmussen shows Romney ahead in NC, WI, and MO. The race is rated even in IA, OH, VA, FL, and CO. Obama may soon reach an inflection point beyond which recovery is impossible. That's my hope anyway.
Mar '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
In 2008 Michael Phelps goes to Beijing and swims his way to 8 gold medals. This year he seems to be mostly disinterested. He seems to carry himself with a "well I guess I'm the best swimmer so I should really go to London but hey I've already achieved my dream so whatever..." attitude.
I'm beginning to get the same vibe from Obama that I'm getting from Michael Phelps.
Jul '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
When the sour grapes are squeezed, I expect to hear that Obama was too good for us. A better country would have appreciated his marvelousness
Apr '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Hmmm. Ever since the bad job numbers the liberal pundits have been in panic mode. We hear more and more comments about how he needs to do something. This nervousness or loss of faith trickles down into nightly news coverage and print. I'm betting it won't be long before this is reflected in lower favorability numbers for The One. So, he's still polling reasonable well among independents for now. Watch for the slide. It's coming.
Nov '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Troy: Thank you for *articulating* my frustration!
Aug '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
Harold F. Camping!
Yowza, that stang.
Nicely done Troy, nicely done.
But an Obama-ite Great Disappointment? Only time will tell.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 7:59pmJan '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Obama will take credit for the economic boost of Obamacare being totally thrown out as unconstitutional.
May '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Peggy Noonan got it right last week when she said that Obama could be President right now, if he wanted to.
Jun '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
Why not try it again? It worked in 2008, and no one in Team Obama is smart enough to realize that they've reached broken-record territory.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
The 'Castaway' analogy is good, but I think this Tom Hanks clip is more apt.
Sep '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
The Obama team ignores Carville and Greenberg to their great peril. But, then, perceptiveness was never their strong suit.
Jun '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
They ignore C&G because their study doesn't fit into The Narrative of Obama as the Great Leftist Hope Who Will Fundamentally Transform America Into A Socialist State.
Re: Obama Gives Up
Bravo, Troy. Of course, the mainstream media keeps trying to spin, but their efforts tend to support your argument. I just saw that the New Yorker has puff piece about what an Obama second term would look like. The author, Ryan Lizza, assures us that "Obama has an ambitious second-term agenda, which, at least in broad ways, his campaign is beginning to highlight." As proof of this "ambitious" agenda Lizza cites exactly two policy items: (1) climate change -- that's the "most important" Obama priority for the second term, and (2) containing nuclear proliferation.
That's the most compelling evidence that the New Yorker can produce for Obama's "ambitious agenda?"