The Disappearing Presidency
"Elections have consequences ... and I won." Remember when President Barack Obama delivered that smackdown to then-House Republican Whip Eric Cantor in January 2009? Remember the tired metaphor about Obama taking away the car keys from the reckless conservatives who had crashed the the economy in a ditch. Obama's campaign staffers are hoping you don't remember. In fact, they're betting the election on it.
Three and a half years after Obama swept into office with a to-do list that gleeful reporters compared to the New Deal, the president's allies are all too anxious to hand responsibility for the state of the economy back over to conservatives. Gone from major speeches are nearly all references to the stimulus and health care reform law. Instead, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has taken to describing the Obama era as "the economic policy of Republican dreams."
While the conventional wisdom says that Obama needs to recapture the yes-we-can spirit of his early days in office, I argue just the opposite in my new column at Forbes. As Obama complains about Republican obstructionism, he must hope that Americans have forgotten the days when he enjoyed a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The president, who strode beside Greek columns four years ago at his convention, must now stoop to ask his fellow citizens for a second term by advertising the fecklessness of his first term. Change, indeed.
- Comment (13)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments:
Dec '11
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
What we need to do is put all that stuff together and autotune it, and run it on the tv for awhile.
Dec '11
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
Another fun one would be to get his chart on the stimulous, and caption it. Barrack Obama, worse than nothing.
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
We could graph how many times Obama mentioned the stimulus over the course of his presidency and then compare that line against his poll numbers.
Dec '11
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
Nice.
Jul '11
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
How about running all of his and his minions gloating about non-existent recovery while simultaneously showing the hardships outside the castle D.C.
Jun '12
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
Don't forget the promises that the stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%, compared to what it really is, superimposed over an image of people standing at the unemployment office.
Jun '10
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
Our side is operating in a target-rich environment. The real trick will be to calibrate it all to the right pitch.
Jun '12
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
tabula rasa
Our side is operating in a target-rich environment. The real trick will be to calibrate it all to the right pitch. · 1 minute ago
Indeed. And the overall theme should be the same one Reagan used against Carter: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"
Oct '10
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
""Elections have consequences ... and I won." Remember when President Barack Obama delivered that smackdown to then-House Republican Whip Eric Cantor in January 2009?"
One of the things that irks me to no end is Republicans' inability to emasculate that argument with a simple, "So did I, Mr. President."
There were nearly 500 federal elections in November 2008 and Obambi won only 1 of them. Eric Cantor won an election then, too, as did Ryan and Boehner and every other GOP Representative, and the handful of GOP Senators who were up that year.
Jun '12
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
dittoheadadt:""Elections have consequences ... and I won." Remember when President Barack Obama delivered that smackdown to then-House Republican Whip Eric Cantor in January 2009?"
One of the things that irks me to no end is Republicans' inability to emasculate that argument with a simple, "So did I, Mr. President."
There were nearly 500 federal elections in November 2008 and Obambi won only 1 of them. Eric Cantor won an election then, too, as did Ryan and Boehner and every other GOP Representative, and the handful of GOP Senators who were up that year. · 1 minute ago
An excellent point.
May '11
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
"The president, who strode beside Greek columns four years ago at his convention..."
Can we superimpose him over these Greek columns?
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
In hindsight, Obama's decision to stand amid Greek columns seems prophetic.
Paul Erickson: "The president, who strode beside Greek columns four years ago at his convention..."
Can we superimpose him over these Greek columns? · 48 minutes ago
Jun '12
Re: The Disappearing Presidency
'Elections have consequences. Here's one.'
Caption under chart describing just about any economic data metric you choose, from January 1, 2009, to present.