Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
I know, I know. He's supposed to be so smart. But there's one word for this: stupid.
First, House Minority Leader John Boehner calls the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill overkill, like "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon."
Not a great line, to be sure, but not much of a gaffe, either. Democrats predictably pile on, which you can't really blame them for. But then, Obama, who seems to have taken a stupid pill after running a brilliant, almost flawless political campaign, responds also. Stupid move.
So now it's Obama -- who, even though he seems to forget it, is President of the United States of America -- mixing it up with the House Minority Leader. Rule one of the presidency: Never get into a word fight with someone who only has to win a gerrymandered district.
"For someone who asked to be held to the highest standard, President Obama spends an awful lot of time making excuses and whining about others. The American people want leadership from the White House, not childish partisanship."
Boehner, of course, can keep this going for a long time. It's in his interests to do so. Obama, not so much. All this "smart" president has done is elevate John Boehner. And diminish himself. Dumb move.
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Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
All conservatives who aren't sinister are stupid. I know this because I read it in the papers. Reagan - amiable dunce - just stumbled into that whole winning-the-Cold-War-without-a-shot thing. Eisenhower - blithering idiot - Victory in Europe just sort of a fluke. Bush - well, just listen to the guy - never mind that every time Obama changes the Bush war strategery he has to retrace his steps and go back to the way Bush did it...
But John Kerry, Al Gore, Mondale, Dukakis - and now Obama - oh the insight, oh the wisdom, oh the nuance of their incisive minds!
The left confuses intelligence with certain speech and behavior patterns that are learned in the right drawing rooms and universities. Talk common sense with a down home twang, they'll thumb their noses. Talk absolute rot with Ivy League Lockjaw, and they'll give you the Nobel Prize.
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Isn't this sort of replay of last year, when Obama willingly jumped into a debate with Cheney? Similar result: a former VP (normally the very definition of irrelevant) was suddenly on the same level as the President.
I wonder if Obama will ever gain the degree of self-awareness necessary to appreciate that merely opening his mouth does not constitute a victory.
May '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Blue Eyes Boehner is awesome. I love the swings he takes at Obama. Can't wait til he's Speaker.
Jun '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
It takes a keen mind and oratory brilliance to craft and mold BS into awe-inspiring artifact, and then sell it to a willfully blind audience for $19.95 (or $1000 a plate). But its composition, and thus true value, remains the same. The smell will eventually come through, especially in the heat of summer.
May '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Aside from lowering himself in this exchange, Obama once again shows his opponents how to get under his skin and force an error. He's demonstrated the same to our international opponents. As you mention Rob, people with little to lose, both here and abroad, will amuse themselves and increase their own status by manipulating this President.
The American President is not really as powerful as many folks assume, or as Obama seems to have imagined, but one power he does hold is the chance to set the agenda, like a tennis player who always has serve. Obama has handed this advantage away with foolish responses and very weak initiatives.
May '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Did Obama run a flawless campaign? I seem to remember Joe the Plumber, throwing Reverend Wright under the bus, outrageous messianic comments, and off-teleprompter gaffes a plenty. It appears to me that he was less flawless than fortuituous. He had an opposition party that was historically unpopular and an opponent who was nominated for his military/tough guy credentials. When the issue mid-campaign shifted from the wars to the economy, McCain was completely out of his league and most people assumed that being calm and educated meant Obama would be competent.
I think we have the same Chicago machine we elected. The only difference is now he can't blame everyone else and the media actually has to report on his flaws (or present three hours of nightly dead air).
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Ricochet Line of the Week?
May '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Someone should bankroll a series of Joe the Plumber TV commercials in the Metro DC market. Minority Leader, nuts: Let's get our President to engage with an ordinary citizen, one who almost everyone can now see had Obama's measure two long years ago.
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Daniel, that's exactly right -- and it's sort of what's happening, at least by proxy. All of those congressmen are doing the most awful, most terrifying thing this summer: they're going home, for Fourth of July picnics and the August recess, to Labor Day town halls and mid-term campaign kick-offs. They're facing an army of furious (we hope) constituents, armed not with pitchforks and torches but worse: cameraphones and Twitter and YouTube accounts.
Obama is now, at July 1st, somewhere between 45-50% in the approval ratings.
Let the Long Hot Summer begin!
May '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
Isn't Cheney due for another tussle with the President? Obama is substantially thinner-skinned now than he was last year, making for some delightful possibilities in a Round 2.
May '10
Re: Obama vs. Boehner: Maybe Obama Isn't as Smart as We Thought
There is definitely a contrast between the way George Bush held his office in the highest reverence and preserved its dignity, and the way President Obama seems not to be aware when he's acting embarrassingly un-Presidential.