Okay, this is no way is surprising, but the laziness and lack of logic of Dana Milbank in his Washington Post column is ridiculous. Milbank’s column is about the intensity and quantity of Obama’s campaign for a second term. After a few hundred words blasting Obama for campaigning, Milbank writes:
In fairness, it’s not entirely clear what choice Obama has. As with his blessing of a super PAC after condemning such groups, the alternative is unilateral disarmament. Also, his fundraising total has been inflated by a rule change that allows him to hold events that jointly benefit him and the Democratic Party (although his total number of fundraising appearances still eclipses that of each recent predecessor). Republicans, meanwhile, are determined to block the president’s agenda, so it’s an effective use of time to campaign for their defeat.
Wait, so on one hand Obama is at fault for campaigning, but on the other hand he had no choice. Hmm, maybe Milbank could explain further:
Still, Obama’s acquiescence to an intolerable status quo raises a question: Shouldn’t presidential leadership be about setting an example?
Instead, he is erasing the already blurred lines between campaigning and governing. During his “official” speech to the union group Monday, he hailed Tim Kaine as “the next United States senator from the great commonwealth of Virginia,” and his partisan speech spurred audience members to shouts of “Vote ’em out!” and “Gotta throw ’em out!”
“Not everything should be subject to thinking about the next election instead of thinking about the next generation,” Obama said of the Republicans. “Not everything should be subject to politics.”
He should follow his own advice.
Good god, what pie-in-the-sky-pony-wishing thinking is this? Didn’t Milbank say earlier that if Obama didn’t play by the rules, he would be unilaterally disarmed?
What people like Milbank and others (I’m looking at the pony-wishing-rainbow-hugggin leftists) don’t understand is that If Obama played by a higher set of rules that NO ONE plays by, then Obama would not win a second term. He probably woudn’t have even won a first term.