Monday Open Thread
The biggest factor is the end of the default threat. Make no mistake: The administration was petrified that conservatives in Congress really would push the country over the cliff in the debt-ceiling fight. GOP leaders may have realized the dangers involved, but Obama worried that if he miscalculated, House Republicans might not muster a majority to prevent the worst from happening.
Obama’s aides say he understood liberal anger over the Republicans’ irresponsibility in using the default threat to strengthen their own bargaining position. But while progressives wanted the White House to call the right wing’s bluff, Obama insisted that this was not a risk a president could take. He preferred to escape this box with the best flawed deal he could get, provided he could take the lethal debt-ceiling weapon out of Republican hands.
Having done so, the White House now sounds liberated. Even a government shutdown would be a day in springtime compared with the economic Armageddon that default might have let loose. Obama has a margin for maneuver and action he didn’t have before.
Then there is Obama’s own character. He is both conflict-averse and highly competitive. On the one hand, he believes his old speech declaring there is neither a red America nor a blue America, and he trusted his capacity to bring left and right together — an imprudent presumption, given the nature of the current GOP.
Allowing this side of himself a much longer run than seems reasonable is what unleashed all the recent commentary describing him as weak and indecisive. But no sane human being (and sanity is still an Obama hallmark) can pretend anymore that today’s Republicans remain the party of Bob Dole or Howard Baker. The proof came in last week’s Republican presidential debate, when every candidate on stage raised a hand to declare unacceptable even a deficit deal involving 10 times as many spending cuts as revenue increases. This provides a handy new definition of extremism: When 90.9091 percent purity is not good enough.
Obama knows he’s reaching the end of the line on negotiating. Now he has to win. This brings out his competitive side. The rules of an election are similar to those of the sporting contests Obama so enjoys. Candidates are expected to be tough, to go after their opponents, to push and shove and throw them off balance. If you doubt Obama can do this, ask Hillary Clinton or John McCain.
God willing.
Any minute now.
Obama’s job approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, according to a new Gallup daily tracking poll.
That, a recession, and cutting medicare benefits are sure to be winners for Democrats in 2012.
Timing is my forté.
If Obama still has a bit of the fight that he showed in 2008 he is in okay shape. If he doesn’t and gives us President Perry or President Bachmann he will go down in history books as the worst President ever. And justifiably so.
Oh No Jason. He’s still got a far way to go to beat GWB for the title of worst president ever.
If he allows a President Perry or a President Bachmann to come to office, that would be a total deal breaker for me. Can you imagine the Supreme Court nominees? I’d have no choice but to blame Obama for them.
Obama wants a balanced approach to problems invented by the corporate elite: the debt, social security shortfall, “entitlements,” blah blah. I thought he would do the right thing because otherwise, we are toast. Well, it’s up to bread of the earth.
God is good for government.
Sorry about the VEVO but have some tea. You may hit pause to let the buffering complete. Have another sip.
Wait a minute, is that my cu…………….
he will go down in history books as the worst President ever.
Cold comfort. We will ask ourselves why we could not mount an opposition 2009-2011 when he was revealing his direction.
If Obama still has a bit of the fight that he showed in 2008
And what pray tell would he fight about now? Many of the battles have been lost.
Don’t Worry, the next President is not going to be Perry or Bachman, so you guys can sleep well tonight
In 2008, he didn’t have a record, he had empty promises and lies that he called “hope and change.” In 2010, under his leadership, the Democratic party lost the midterm elections by historic numbers. In 2012, he has to run on his record, and the White House can’t figure out how to do that.
Since 2010 his approval ratings have dropped by more than 10 points while his disapproval rating is up by almost 15. And the more important economic numbers are bad for almost everyone but the wealthy and corporate owners.
But damn the icebergs, full speed ahead!
Thanks for reminding me of my vow to not comment on Presidential politics between now and the election.
Good luck with that. More addictive than crack, you know.
“he had empty promises and lies that he called “hope and change.”
Except nobody knew at the time that they were empty promises and lies.
anonone wrote:
Yet y’all were telling us that, as a state Senator, he represented more people that Sarah Palin governed; go figure! 🙂
Senator McCain was catching up to Senator Obama, and briefly came very close to tying him, when the bottom fell out of the economy, and Senator Obama won big. A rather recent Democratic President kept telling his campaign people, “It’s the economy, stupid,” and won, twice.
It isn’t that the White House can’t figure out how to run on President Obama’s record; it’s that they know if it is about his record, he loses.
Unless, of course, the economy turns around. If the economy picks up steam, noticeably, not just a few figures on paper, and unemployment comes down, noticeably, and jobs get easier to find, he will be re-elected; if those things don’t happen, he will be defeated, period.
Even Obama Doesn’t Care That Much If He Is Re-elected
I just remembered, today is “Troublemaker” release day which means that it is also Ken Grant pretends that the DE GOP didn’t encourage O’Donnell to make the Ting/Protack primary a three way-day.
Anonone wrote:
And if you believe that one . . . . 🙂
Love the picture. It’s the one I have on my Obama shrine along with a couple of rubber chickens as offerings.
Back to the Dionne article:
I don’t buy that fear of default explains Obama’s actions.
Remember where you first heard the ultimatum that we needed a deal by Aug. 2 or else we would immediately go into default – you heard it from Geithner. Default was Obama’s WMDs. It was set up as a deus ex machina to provide the justification for wimping out on taxes.
What Obama feared more was taking responsibility for executive actions to prevent default. I don’t just mean the 14th Amendment option, although that should have been on the table. I mean a managed shutdown that would prevent default, while continuing to fight for revenue past Aug. 2.
The theory that the financial community would convince Republicans to cave was correct, except that Obama showed enough softness that he never forced their hand.
If Obama had spent half the time convincing us he was serious about his position as Republicans spent convincing us they were serious about theirs, we’d have some type of tax increase and a shattered GOP, with the Tea Party running around like ants out of a busted anthill.
Puck wrote:
While I’d disagree with your conclusion, what does it say to you that you don’t believe President Obama spent virtually no time persuading anybody that he was “serious about his position?”
President Obama’s problem is a fundamental one, and I don’t think it can be solved. Whatever leadership is, however you want to define it, President Obama just doesn’t have it.
Obama was publicly demanding revenue, while admitting to the Democratic caucus privately that he would likely cave if Republicans didn’t give in. This is why people like myself cringe when Obama starts negotiating with Republicans.
I’d be willing to agree with Dana, except for the fact that I’m sure his vision of leadership involves people in power beating up on people out of power.
In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and predict that he thinks that George W. Bush was a great leader.
Jason wrote:
Well, he was a heck of a lot better President than his successor!
I’ll grant you that Obama is not very effective in dealing with the teabag terrorists elected to congress.
When Obama disregards imminent threats of terror attacks and then uses those attacks to launch a war on an unrelated third party – all the while wrecking the economy with unsupportable tax cuts, we’ll talk about comparisons with your hero.
He has kept us safe, after all.