Three Signs of a Failed President
You know what? I'm not going to wait for them to call the game. I know how this ends, you know how this ends, so why not just call it ourselves and beat the traffic home?
The Obama administration is over. Done. Failed.
(I'm not saying he can't get up to more mischief, or that the Republicans are victorious -- I'm a realist: I think it's possible, even probable, that we live in complicated world where there doesn't need to be a winner, where everyone can lose.)
But here are three signs that he's over and out:
1. He's worried about his base. The left keeps saying, over and over, that the problem with Obama is that he's not....liberal enough. You've got to energize the base, says Joe Conason, and Salon. You've got to sound more left wing, says Bob Shrum. (Because that, presumably, is the heart of his problem with independents: he's not liberal enough.)
2. His toadies are desperate. E. J. Dionne spins hilarious wish-fulfillment fantasies about an Obama comeback. MSNBC tries to rally the troops. The LATimes and the Washington Post begin the painstaking work of cocooning themselves until Thanksgiving.
3. He's like a rat in a coffee can. He can't get any traction on anything -- not another stimulus package, not his targeted tax cuts, not his mess of a health care plan, not nothing. With no way out, he's flailing around for someone -- anyone -- on the other side to blame. Which is why suddenly John Boehner is suddenly a popular topic among the left. When a sitting president -- a guy who won with 53% of the vote! -- is so toothless and weak he has to run against the House Minority leader -- well, good Lord, how small can this president get?
I'm sure there are more than three signs, of course. But they all point the same way: Obama's moment is over. He blew it, with his arrogance and pomposity and his stratospheric self-love. With his ossified brand of big government liberalism and his dilettante's contempt for people who work for a living. The high point of his presidency was January 20th, 2009. That's when, as I'm sure it felt at the time to him, he gained admission to the prestigious University of the White House. Another step achieved. Looks great on the resume.
The next three years are Zombie years, as he stumbles around American politics like the walking dead. And sadly, as we all know, zombies are still dangerous.
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Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
They drain the lifeblood of the living.
Jun '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
The man lives in a separate reality, where high debt and high taxes are the way to revitalize an economy. I'm starting to worry about his basic mental health. I really am.
Jul '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
A rat in a coffee can?
You have some weird hobbies, Rob.
Great post, though.
I have to agree, he's toast. His base, which used to show up in droves, weeping and fainting, can't even drag themselves out of bed before noon.
And his media toadies no longer defend Obama, they defend the idea of Obama.
But the zombie thing? I'm not sure that's an appropriate metaphor.
I've never seen a zombie on a girl bike.
In mom jeans.
Edited on Sep 10, 2010 at 9:51amMay '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Rob, I'd love to agree with your assessment that President Obama is yesterday's news, BUT (nod to Lileks) soon the GOP will control at least one house. How long before "conservative" politicians come to the same conclusions you have, and decide they can drop the conservative stuff and resume being politicians?
I fear the GOP will quickly demonstrate its skill in chewing one foot while shooting the other, and Obama will have another chance to promise miracles as a result. Here's hoping I'm wrong!
May '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
He has little clear influence over Congress, yes. But he can still wreak plenty of havoc through executive orders, the judiciary (via Eric Holder), security agencies and the military.
Jul '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Three years?!?!?
Not by my watch.
Aug '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Truer words were never spoken, Rob. How about a gerbil on an exercise wheel, Kenneth? He tried blaming everyone else, and that didn't work, so who's left?
All the passion for action has shifted away from 'progressives', and Utopia is fleeing like a shadow in the dawn's early light. We should recognize that this a very historic time.
Aug '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
So at least we've got that going for us.
Sep '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Wow, the girly bike and the mom jeans really made an impression on you. It could've been worse, you know. It could've been a sparkly pink skateboard and a tutu (borrowed from Rahm).
Jul '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Agreed, Obama blew it. All he is good for now is giving the usual amateurish performances of humility and bore us to death. Except, in addition to the concerns Jason Hart expressed about the GOP, there are malevolent forces outside the US that that may take advantage of the enfeebled presidency and cause terrible damage to us. So Obama may rally, not to defend the US but to show the world that, yes, he can do more than ride a girl bike wearing a safety helmet. G-d help us in any case.
Jun '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Fourth sign of a failed president: You run across his resume on Monster.com.
Sep '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
If you had to pick the moment Obama's presidency failed, it was probably the day he spoke out in favor of the Ground Zero Mosque. I had a feeling, then, that the American people simply threw up their collective hands (as well as their lunches) and gave up on The One.
But in a larger sense, Obama was doomed from the beginning. His election was the result of an epic (and quite unprecedented) misunderstanding between himself and the voters. Everyone who voted for Obama (no matter what the reason) is now haunted by the nagging suspicion that the "real" Obama is not the man they voted for, nor the President they hoped he would be. It is buyer remorse writ large.
Edited on Sep 10, 2010 at 11:09amJun '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
I'm with you, etoi. I've been saying for over a year that he'll probably retire for "health reasons" before the end of his term. November 2 will arrive as a stinging rebuke that the president will take personally. Then the press will turn on him. Add a tell all book from a former insider or two, and I can foresee him coming apart. He already looks frayed around the edges; it's only going to get worse for him. I only hope he doesn't do something that congress finds impeachable. I would rather not see our inner cities erupt in race riots. Let's hope Obama has the grace to go quietly.
Jul '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
David Parsons:
But in a larger sense, Obama was doomed from the beginning. His election was the result of an epic (and quite unprecedented) misunderstanding between himself and the voters.
I believe that it was an epic bait and switch (unless you were really paying attention as, I suspect, most of us were) on the POTUS' part. I think we can stand on intellectual safe ground and agree that if he had run as he has now governed, the election would probably have turned out differently.
And that's why I believe the cognitive dissonance that will occur in November may be much, much larger than cautious prognosticating would opine.
Edited on Sep 10 at 11:09 am
Sep '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
David Horwich
David Parsons:
But in a larger sense, Obama was doomed from the beginning. His election was the result of an epic (and quite unprecedented) misunderstanding between himself and the voters.
I believe that it was an epic bait and switch (unless you were really paying attention as, I suspect, most of us were) on the POTUS' part.
I agree. There was a great deal of misrepresentation involved. But many of Obama's voters projected onto him an idealized image of something they desperately wanted him to be, in spite of any evidence to the contrary. A lot of white liberals voted for Obama for no other reason than to purge themselves of neurotic guilt over the Sin of American Slavery. And I believe that Obama, to a certain degree, misunderstood the reasons people voted for him. It is a very knotty issue.
Someday, someone will tackle the thing and write a fat book titled: How the Hell did Obama Get Elected, Anyway?
(There seem to be an awful lot of "Davids" in the Ricochet forum)
Edited on Sep 10, 2010 at 1:17pmAug '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
David Parsons: If you had to pick the moment Obama's presidency failed, it was probably the day he spoke out in favor of the Ground Zero Mosque. I had a feeling, then, that the American people simply threw up their collective hands (as well as their lunches) and gave up on The One.
But in a larger sense, Obama was doomed from the beginning. His election was the result of an epic (and quite unprecedented) misunderstanding between himself and the voters. Everyone who voted for Obama (no matter what the reason) is now haunted by the nagging suspicion that the "real" Obama is not the man they voted for, nor the President they hoped he would be. It is buyer remorse writ large. · Sep 10 at 11:06am
Edited on Sep 10 at 11:09 am
Yes, it's called "jumping the shark", from the famous - and fatal - Happy Days episode.
Jul '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
David Parsons
David Horwich
David Parsons:
But in a larger sense, Obama was doomed from the beginning. His election was the result of an epic (and quite unprecedented) misunderstanding between himself and the voters.
I believe that it was an epic bait and switch (unless you were really paying attention as, I suspect, most of us were) on the POTUS' part.
Someday, someone will tackle the thing and write a fat book titled: How the Hell did Obama Get Elected, Anyway? · Sep 10 at 1:11pm
LOL; the only reason for disagreement with your observation about a great book in the making is my doubt that enough ink or paper actually exists globally to complete the task.
Sep '10
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
~Paules
He already looks frayed around the edges; it's only going to get worse for him.
David Horwich
...I believe the cognitive dissonance that will occur in November may be much, much larger than cautious prognosticating would opine.
The issue of Obama's mental health has been raised.
Over at The American Thinker, "Robin of Berkeley" has suggested (rather convincingly) that Obama is a malignant narcissist. The point of her argument is this: malignant narcissists never get better; they only get worse. Her diagnosis may or not be accurate, but this much is obvious: Obama is a very strange bird – unlike any other President we ever had. Psychologically speaking, the first 17 years of Obama's life were total chaos. And after 17, he lived in a weird socio-political cocoon, surrounded by loathsome mentors. It's easy to believe that he might have a few loose shingles.
In any case, I stand with David Horwich. After the elections, Obama should be watched very, very carefully for any sign of a "psychotic slip." If our dark suspicions are correct, who knows what he might do?
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
Hey! I think I was the one who called him a malignant narcissist first. (Or does claiming that make me a malignant narcissist?)
Maybe that's the Fourth Sign of a Failed President: people are arguing over who called you nuts first.
Re: Three Signs of a Failed President
I doubt that psychosis will set in in the White House, but I do think it's worth asking: can this President remake his image? Can he come back new and improved? Or does he lack the necessary inner resources?