One of the more revealing things the President has said over the past two years was when he was talking about "politicking" and reminding people that he can "politick" pretty good himself.
This rather assumes, does it not, that he hasn't been "politicking" so far. This is unfortunate since the other side has been, and they've had the advantage of being the only team on the field.
George H.W. Bush never cared much for the actual politics of politics--his was an insider's view--and he wasn't much good at it. President Obama, however, actually is pretty good at it--he's right about that--and it's nice to see him condescend to join the fray.
The President charged into the campaign with two speeches in two days--Milwaukee on Monday, Cleveland on Tuesday--in which he made the case for his administration, and delivered some stinging blows to the opposition.
The reigning media narrative is that the Democrats are going to get stomped in November. The Republicans are going to romp even though, curiously, the Republican Party is held in lower esteem by the American public than at any time in its entire history.
People think the Republicans are whacked, but they're going to vote for them anyway. Something is definitely wrong with that picture.
So it was nice to see the President out on the hustings. He put something on the table--the $50 billion jobs and infrastructure bill, which is such a good idea I don't know why he didn't propose it a year ago. It has no chance, of course, because Democrats are too busy trying to distance themselves from the first stimulus, even though it worked.
The Democrats have been so spooked that some of them have been talking about making George Bush's tax cuts for the rich permanent. Thankfully, President Obama reminded the country of the cost, and went on to say that the rich would have the same tax rates as they did back in the 90's when the country generated 22 million new jobs, i.e. the Clinton administration.
Make no mistake: he (Boehner) and his party believe we should also give a permanent tax cut to the wealthiest two percent of Americans. With all the other budgetary pressures we have - with all the Republicans' talk about wanting to shrink the deficit - they would have us borrow $700 billion over the next ten years to give a tax cut of about $100,000 to folks who are already millionaires. These are among the only folks who saw their incomes rise when Republicans were in charge...
The Republicans will probably gain some seats. The opposition almost always does at the first mid-term. Plus, in the last two cycles, the Democrats gained around 60 seats and most of them, especially in an off-year election, are likely to revert to their historical Republican pattern.
Who knows if the President's energetic involvement is enough to pull other Democratic chestnuts out of the (presumed) fire. Maybe some "politicking" right at the end can pull it out.
Maybe we'd have been better off, however, if we'd been "politicking" all along. The other side sure has been. One can only hope that the President has thrown away the "post-partisan unity" delusion he seems to have had, and is now "fired up and ready to go" for the campaign and the rest of his administration.
I think we should wait and see as the campaign season rolls out. As John Dickerson pointed out, this isn't the first time that Obama has received hosannas from the faithful for stepping into the ring at last, only to watch as he fades back into the woodwork.
I do wonder about those repeated references to Boehner, whose name is probably not familiar even to many citizens of Ohio. You'd think he was Speaker already. Perhaps the White House knows something we don't.....
Posted by: Hypatia | September 09, 2010 at 12:26 PM
Yes, he mentioned Boehner eight times, I think someone said. Maybe he's trying to make his (perpetually-tanned) face the face of the opposition.
Posted by: John Petty | September 10, 2010 at 09:17 AM
Nobody knows who Boehner is. If the leader of the free world wants to help Boehner raise his profile, whatever, but I see little point.
Posted by: Hypatia | September 10, 2010 at 01:32 PM