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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Jan '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
Yikes, how the Democrat Party has fallen since the days of Harry S. Truman. I can see the sign peeking over the zig-zag papers cluttered on the Presidential Desk: The buck stops-- back over there!
That'll inspire the fence-sitting moderates, for sure.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 9:06pmFeb '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
I am enjoying the irony of watching Obama's team follow in the path of the McCain campaign - no theme, no big ideas, no discipline, etc.
On the other hand, this spectacle shouldn't be too surprising: Obama and Axelrod ("Oba-Rod") are not great campaigners. Oba-Rod's 2008 campaign appeared to run well only when they had the wind behind their backs, thanks to enormous, fawning media support, popular disgruntlement with Bush and the GOP, and McCain's incompetence as a candidate.
When things didn't go Oba-Rod's way, they were all thumbs. Obama couldn't deal with the brief attacks on his pro-infanticide record except to grow angry and lie. He couldn't deal well with the issue of energy, which was briefly the top issue of the campaign in August and September until gas prices declined. McCain/Palin shot up in the polls, and Oba-Rod were saved only by the media's savage attacks on Palin and by the financial crisis.
But few ever talk about those revealing weeks when it became clear that Obama and Axelrod were not especially adept at campaigning.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Obama's problem with his attempt to refocus on George W. Bush is that Obama himself raised expectations that he could solve the economic situation in four years. It's one thing for a new president to take on a difficult task and then ask for more time to see it through. But Obama has said that if he didn't get it done in 3 years then his presidency would be a 1-term proposition. You can't be that cocky, come up empty and then make excuses. People begin to think that your "big talk" is just talk.
Jun '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
Mendel
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. · 2 hours ago
Going OT here, but I nearly laughed out loud when I read this. I'm a former attorney who in private practice had this exact case. And I had a very L&O judge, who was a former prosecutor. We went to trial, because of, not despite, the judge. My client had broken into his pot dealers house, and stole MJ to sell, to pay his wife's medical bills for cancer treatment. "Victim's" house was wired inside and out w/ cameras. The Commonwealth had video of my client entering the abode from outside, his entry into the house, raiding the dealer's freezer for bricks of MJ, and tape of him leaving. The dealer went to the Police because my clent also took a gun and cash.
(Continued d/t word limit)
Jun '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
When confronted by Police, and before he was represented, my client said he would bring in everything he had left. This was most of the MJ and about half the money. He threw the gun away because he didn't want to get caught w/ it. Jury found him guilty, as I knew they would, and recommended the minimum sentence, which was 20 years because of the gun.
Police never investigated homeowner/video hound, which I brought out at sentencing. This was in the days before cheap computer cameras, so I also pounded the question of why a part time farmer and landscaper would have such an extensive CC television system at his farmhouse. The judge probated my client's entire sentence, and wondered on the record why the Police didn't investigate the dealer after my client brought them several bricks of MJ.
So, let that be a lesson. There is more than one way to win an impossible case, and don't discount the community organizer. ( Does that bring this comment back on topic?)
Aug '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Bryan Preston at the PJ Tatler summarizes:
Apr '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
~Paules
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. · 2 hours ago
I hope so. But I have been talking about "inflection points" and "preference cascades" for two years now, and still Obama keeps chugging along in the high 40's, and just keeps on getting the benefit of every doubt from far too many voters (he actually hit 50% in Gallup one day this week). The public still mostly blames Bush, and by extension, republicans for the economic calamity of the last few years. Obama is still ahead in every national public poll except Rasmussen (which, for reasons I have gone into before, I don't trust). We never seem to actually hit the inflection point, and the preference cascade never actually begins.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 9:47pmJun '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
wmartin
~Paules
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. · 2 hours ago
I hope so. But I have been talking about "inflection points" and "preference cascades" for two years now, and still Obama keeps chugging along . . . . We never seem to actually hit the inflection point, and the preference cascade never actually begins.
Obama's ship is listing and still taking on water. He hasn't been able to stop the leaking much less right the ship. The thing about inflection points is that they don't become apparent until suddenly they do. Then it's over . . . glub, glub, glub.
Aug '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
wmartin
We never seem to actually hit the inflection point, and the preference cascade never actually begins.
I feel like there are signs everywhere that the preference cascade is under way. Recent polls from the Rust Belt, abandonment of Obama by the AFL-CIO, falling numbers among Black Americans, . . . and the fact that I haven't seen a single Obama sign in Our Fair City, five and a half months before the election . . . yeah, I think he's gonna lose big.
And even though I'm no fan of Romney, I have to admit he has had an amazing response team.
Aug '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
"Constrained by his ideology, he's only ever had one bullet in the chamber on economic policy"
Ya gotta love a guy who puts principal above politics!
Jun '10
Re: Obama Gives Up
You folks on the boastful confidence side of this discussion seem way too puffy for my liking. We have a week candidate. The kind who in re-butting one of Obama's many diatribes against the free market and our private sector, starts out by saying Obama only cares about his union buddies (paraphrasing here) like the policemen and the firefighters. I am sorry, but if there are union people who won't vote for Obama, they are the policemen and firefighters. Why start your retort by attacking your only friends on the enemy's side?
Secondly, we are also doing battle with the Republican Party itself. Karl Rove is tilting at windmills and Jeb Bush thinks Reagan wouldn't be mean enough to gain our support. I am sorry to say this. Obama knows exactly how to speak to dummies. He has been doing it for years. Unfortunately we have a growing amount of dummies and rent seekers and they will all vote for the guy who blames their and his problems on everyone and everything else. So while I certainly pray for the end of this administration, I am, unfortunately closer to wmartin than Paules in my caution.
Re: Obama Gives Up
Just to be clear, this in no way indicates that I think Romney is a lock for the fall. It's still June, which means even I have a decent shot in the Electoral College. I'm simply amazed that Obama, who is surely at one of the lowest ebbs of his presidency, is bringing absolutely nothing to the table at the moment.
Mar '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
I hear ya... and I think Michael Phelps will wake up when he smells the chlorine.
Mar '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
So, what would the veteran speechwriter suggest he bring to the table? What in his economic record can he exploit without looking like the emperor with no clothes?
Mar '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Patrickb63
Mendel
I'm a former attorney who in private practice had this exact case. And I had a very L&O judge, who was a former prosecutor. We went to trial, because of, not despite, the judge. My client had broken into his pot dealers house, and stole MJ to sell, to pay his wife's medical bills for cancer treatment. "Victim's" house was wired inside and out w/ cameras. The Commonwealth had video of my client entering the abode from outside, his entry into the house, raiding the dealer's freezer for bricks of MJ, and tape of him leaving. The dealer went to the Police because my clent also took a gun and cash.
A drug dealer really went to the police to complain that someone stole his stash? That takes about as much chutzpah as running for president with less than one term in the Senate under your belt.
Aug '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
Mendel
So, what would the veteran speechwriter suggest he bring to the table? What in his economic record can he exploit without looking like the emperor with no clothes? · 17 minutes ago
DON'T ANSWER! They might be monitoring us, and why would we want to give them advice?
Jun '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
What can he bring?
Even if he was ideologically capable of moving to more conservative policies -- he's most certainly not, by the way -- he wouldn't because his ego won't let him admit he was wrong in the first place.
He probably has deluded himself that he actually is right and that things will turn around in time for the election. More the fool he.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
ConservativeWanderer
What can he bring?
Obama doesn't have to be a great president to win. He just has to be better than Romney.
If I recall, a lot of conservatives had planned to sit out the 1972 presidential election because of things like Nixon's wage and price controls. However, the Democrats nominated McGovern and the rest is history.
I don't want to suggest that Obama will actually persuade people he is better than Romney, but that it is a lower bar than proving he is a good president, which is probably impossible at this point.
Jun '12
Re: Obama Gives Up
Quinn the Eskimo
ConservativeWanderer
What can he bring?
Obama doesn't have to be a great president to win. He just has to be better than Romney.
If I recall, a lot of conservatives had planned to sit out the 1972 presidential election because of things like Nixon's wage and price controls. However, the Democrats nominated McGovern and the rest is history.
I don't want to suggest that Obama will actually persuade people he is better than Romney, but that it is a lower bar than proving he is a good president, which is probably impossible at this point. · 2 hours ago
The problem is, most people (except those still suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome) probably won't think blaming Bush is very Presidential at all.
Jul '11
Re: Obama Gives Up
If your strongest argument about why you should still be President, Barry, is because George W. Bush was president before you, then The Smartest Man To Be President is officially out of ideas. That must be hellaciously embarrassing for one so gifted at literally everything, except, of course, for generating ideas that might actually be good for economic growth.
In most companies I have worked for, guys like Barry get walked out on a slow Friday afternoon, after reluctantly handing over their company's security badge. Why? They just weren't getting the job done. People who blame others for their own shortcomings do not last long out there in The Real World. Time to move on. But don't worry - colleges are filled with positions for guys like Barry to slide right into. No innate capabilities required, because results are never truly measured. Talk about a homecoming.