Last year, as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives stood its ground on the debt ceiling standoff, President Obama’s strategy for 2012 became apparent. Throughout the torturous negotiations over entitlements, budgets, taxes and spending, the president issued statements about wanting a compromise, but these were a thin veil covering his obvious desire for a confrontation. Demanding new taxes that the House majority elected in 2010 had vowed never to accept, the administration more or less dared the GOP leadership to allow the country to default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.
It was painfully obvious as the controversy lingered throughout the summer that President Obama was working from Bill Clinton’s 1995 playbook when he similarly bluffed a Republican Congress into shutting down the government over a budget standoff. Though Congress’s popularity plunged, the president was disappointed in his hopes that House Speaker John Boehner or Majority Leader Eric Cantor refused to step into the Newt Gingrich clown suits he had prepared for them. Nevertheless, the White House still hoped that lingering disgust for Congress combined with an economic recovery would allow the president to win re-election in the same manner as Clinton did. But if there was any doubt about the inapplicability of the 1996 template, this year it was removed on Friday as another dismal jobs report more or less guaranteed that a summer recovery wasn’t in the cards. The bad economic news isn’t just a setback that will give the Democrats a few shaky news cycles. It is confirmation that the president’s re-election strategy has already failed.
This realization comes through in some of the accounts of the White House’s reaction to the bleak jobs report. Though the president was undaunted during his various campaign appearances and statements, even the usually pro-Obama coverage of the New York Times could not fail to note that the hopes of the president’s staff for a 1996 rerun have been crushed. Though the Democrats are still going all-out to demonize the congressional Republicans, blaming them or George W. Bush for the poor economy is a perilously weak re-election strategy for a man running on the slogan of “Forward.”
The Democratic counter-attack to the GOP carping about jobs is to accuse the opposition of rooting for a bad economy. But that is a talking point that will work just about as well for the Democrats as the Republican effort to claim critics of the Iraq war were cheering for America to lose. The problem here is that, as the Times noted, the president seems to have no viable options to change the situation other than to whine about Republicans not passing mini-stimulus bills he claims will jump-start the economy.
As the Times notes, in 1996 with the economy booming. the Republican Congress passed legislation that aided Clinton as well as bolstered their own reputation. Democrats will brand the GOP as obstructionists for not working with the president for the common good this year, but the big difference between the two situations is that Clinton co-opted Republican positions and moved to the center as he cruised to re-election. By contrast, President Obama has run to the left this year, making it impossible for the House to embrace his proposals even if they wanted to.
The president hoped to make the election a referendum on the GOP and on Mitt Romney’s fitness for the presidency. But with a failing U.S. economy and the prospect that an even worse tailspin in Europe will drag America’s finance down even further this year, that is looking like a losing bet. Nothing is worse for an incumbent than the appearance that he is not in control of events. The president’s helplessness on the economy — an issue that is his opponent’s one great strength — is scuttling his 1996 blueprint for victory in an election in which the odds appear to be starting to turn against him.
BHO has done everything wrong when it comes to our economy and the financial health of the American people, starting off with presuming he was the one who knew how to fix it. Whether it was on purpose or not ( and I do believe he wanted to take America down a notch or two) the man has practically destroyed the economy and created a financial hardship for generations to come. His arrogance and narcissism, two of the most dangerous personality flaws a president could have, have led to this. He sits in his isolated tower by his own design, from what I understand, refusing to listen to small business owners who provide vast majority of jobs, or if he does listen to anyone it is usually Valerie Jarrett, his WH advisor. Just because he has a Harvard education does not mean he has common sense. I believe he is a Socialist as well and will never change his thinking. The further damage he will do the next five months until voted out of office is scary to think of.
I agree with everything you wrote, but from now on, whenever we mention Valerie Jarrett, we should do it followed by where she was born …….. like this: n n"of if he does listen to anyone it is usually Valerie Jarrett, who was born in Iran."
My biggest worry about Mitt Romney has always been whether his innate decency would prevent him from fighting this fight in the manner it needs to be fought in order to win. Was he tough enough to fight fire with fire if need be, or would he simply play the Marquess of Queensbury like Bob Dole and John McCain? I must admit, in this respect Mitt's been a very pleasant surprise so far. He and his campaign seem to realize that he's facing an opponent who'll stop at nothing in order to prevail, and for the country's sake he'd better be prepared to be just as ruthless. Good for him!
Hopefully he will name Alan West as Vice President — that will really get things going and give Obama nightmares….
It was only weeks ago that democrats liked their prospects in the November elections. And even Republicans were saying though it would be tight, they thought they had a chance. n nWell today, if we believe the polls, Republicans have more than a chance. And their prospect s get better by the day. n nThe next test is this week in Wisconsin. How big will Scott Walker's win be? n nIt's going to be a long summer democrats.
Barack Obama is not only arrogant and narcissistic—but also very poorly educated. His Republican opponent is vastly better qualified to lead this country. Unfortunately, many Americans have been conned. Some even believe Obama is brilliant! Race guilt prevents these people from facing facts concerning his overwhelming deficiencies.
I think another difference is that most people want Obama's tax-and-spend program to be thwarted and only committed leftists believe that more stimulus would be anything other than pouring money down a rathole. So BHO whining about Congress not getting with his program should actually help Congress! n nI also think he believes the polls that find people say he's personally likable. Personally, I think he's arrogant, narcissistic and boorish, on top of being totally incompetent and feckless. But I think people say he's likable to avoid being called the R word.
Obama is losing the argument that he is better than Romney on the Economy. First of all, any logical thinking individual knows that Romney is far far more qualified to be our president and fix the economy. Obama has zero experience in any leadership and executive position and whose qualification is a Community Organizer and that's exactly what we got! The Divider in Chief is toast and he can go sleep in his own bed in Chicago come January 20, 2013!
Amen!
Republicans have been carping on Obama since Day 1 of his presidency with their only goal being to get him out of office and take focus off the failures of their conan Bush. They should sit down and shut up already. your pretend efforts to portray him as losing ground is just another ploy in the right wing bag of lies, tricks and bullying. That is what is losing ground – deal with it.
Get rid of your rose colored glasses! You need clarity, badly…
To say that Obama is poorly educated can only come from the depths of an uneducated rifht wing defective brain.
Obama's education was by Marxists, Communists, Alinsky, Rev. Wright, etc…. n nAND it shows!
The Prez has had his chances and missed. Not with his 'jobs bills' and 'to-do lists' but with the sectors in US economy that are booming – which is mobile networks and fracking. n nThe only 'contribution' the Dems have on the burgeoning moneymaker internet was PIPA and SOPA bills sponsored by non-lobbyist/lobbyist clown Dodd. Thank god they got shot-down. Lightsquared getting canned on a GPS technicality by FCC (keeping status-quo boys Verizon and ATT and safe) is another one. n nAnd for fracking, well, the only thing that keeps it in business is its such good business. Obama has promoted/subsidized/loaned/photo-opped every form of energy production that is both unprofitable and dominated by foreign manufacturing – which is what the green energy hustle essentially is.
Barry is way above his paygrade right now.r nr nLets put the adult in the White House in Nov.
In reading Maureen Dowds piece today in the NYT and with all that has happened in the last 2 weeks meaning by comments of others in the DNC in regards to Obama's war on Capital, one gets the sense that many within the DNC are figuring out what many of us already have concluded and that is obama is going to lose and he is going to lose badly. This is the only explanation I can come to specially considering the harshness of Maureen Dowds piece. I find it incredible that after all this time she has finally done some back ground on obama and found that 1. He once told his white girl friends that he could never see him self in a relationship with a black girl. 2. that he didn't believe he had a black bone in his body. These are incredible statements and the black community can not in any way like them. Not everyone in the power structure of the DNC is a fool and some would certainly do not like what they are seeing and are starting to think in the long term I believe as the days and weeks past this summer we will see more and more democrats flee the sinking ship, once the Court comes down on obama care and AZ immigration laws without a massive 600k or better jobs report I see the convention in NC as being a very lonely place.
Where are all my posts?
Barry Hussein Obama is a total failure as far as a leader. nThe debt, the economy, going "green"… outrageous!
Obama has only one way forward to reelection. He must join forces with Bernanke, and Bernanke has to drop all pretense of the Federal Reserve being non-political. Since Romney has already promised not to reappoint Bernanke, that hurdle should be easy to overcome. Obama and Bernanke should hold a joint news conference to announce a Re-election Refinance Plan, where 30 year Treasury interest rates will be fixed at 0% and mortgages at 1%. Obama orders the FHA, Fannie, and Freddie to refinance all current mortgage debtors at 1%, regardless of LTV, income, or any other consideration. Applicants must apply before he election, and don't get the money until January 21 2013 – that way they have to vote for Obama. And while he is at it, he can throw in student loan forgiveness as well..
The question is whether he can do all that without Congress.
LOL
The author of this piece seems to forget that the Obama campaign has only just begun to expose Mitt Romney's lack of fitness to be President. There are 5 months to go, and there is a lot the public doesn't yet know about Romney. The Presidency is not just about the economy – it is about how is most fit to be Commander in Chief. The majority of Americans do not yet know that Mitt Romney was a VIetnam Draft Dodger who hid out in France for several years during the War and never served in the military, despite protesting in favor of Vietnam. I wasn't aware of this until several months ago myself. Will Americans really want to vote for a man like Romney for Commander in Chief.
Yes, and they will vote HEARTILY for Romney! He is light years ahead of the "One".
That is not a strong hand when you have been president for almost four years and all you can do is try to denigrate your opponent. It sometimes works but it will not leave Obama in a strong position if he is re-elected. It will be a long four years if he wins ugly.
barry is a lackey for trumka and the unions…
ALTHOUGH the following list is by no means compete these are the most egregious examples of socialist apparatchik media and unions:r nMEDIAL OUTLETS:r nNYTu2019sr nNBC (and affiliate sites and spin offs)r nNPRr nPBSr nREUTERSr nPOLITICOr nCNNr nThey should have their licenses revoked pending judicial review for aiding and abbeting the crimes associated with the destruction of the constitution. They will of course scream fascism while practicing fascism. Let them. r nThe rest follow suit as a matter of demographic necessity. Urban papers require pandering to a non reading public that becomes increasingly illiterate, unskilled and easily manipulated with imagesr nUNIONS:r nSEIUr nAFL/CIOr nNEAr nPIPEFITTERS UNIONr nTHE UNITED NATIONS (may as well be a socialist union)r nRevoke their charters for exactly the same reason. This is life or death now.r nINDIVIDUAL SOCIALIST CRIMINALSu2019r nObamar nSorosr nReidr nPelosir nFrankr nGeitnerr nAsk Mr. Panetta if this list is too short. Try not to laugh.r nsuibne
Obama campaigned as a problem fixer but has fixed no problems, indeed they are worse than ever. Romney’s campaign ads almost write themselves.
The president campaigned as a problem fixer but he has hasn't fixed any problems
Mitt Romney avoided the Vietnam Draft because of his religion. Now wants to Control the Greatest Military . NOT . Ron Paul the Wisdom of Liberty is the Wealth of all People
Nonsense Jeffrey. Obama hasn't run to the left. You forget that he has been criticized for meeting th Republicans halfway only to see them spit in his face. The difference between the Republicans in 2006 and the Republicans now is that back then, they were working for the good of the country. Now, the Republicans have only one goal – defeat Obama. The good of the country be damned.
Imagine, if you will a WW2 or Korean War veteran, who managed to squirrel away a $250,000 dollars nest egg. with the previously prevailing CD interest rates, up until 3-4 years ago, 5%, THAT IS $ $12,500 per year interest. Today they would be lucky to earn $3500. That is not even keeping pace with inflation. You think they should risk their principal? I do not think so. Now with such marvelous interest rates ordinary americans can easily buy a garage full of cheap toxic chinese crap. The cars are a joke, a standard tin can with a mercedes statuette. People should have to pay in 80% cash not 100 %credit.
Where are all of our good jobs? Our engineers are out of work but, hey, if all you ever wanted to be was a clerk,pronounced ‘clark’, you are in the right place.
Do not throw away anything old and non chinese, fix your good quality us made oster blenders, maytags, okeefe and merrit etc.
Part of the reward to the multinational corporations is a dumbing down of consumer awareness. We need to re-build our manufacturing centers and cut our free trade agreements. Ross Perot was right. We are in for the fight of our lives and it doesen’t look good because we’ve been invaded with the blessings of ‘the gods’. Throw them out.
Keep lurching LEFT you Dems. You are going to slaughtered in November! n nThe New Normal of franks and beans are NOT setting well. Americans want prosperity, freedom and liberty from your Marxist utopia!
Obama is no Bill Clinton when it comes to politics, the only thing he may have over Bill is the size of his ego.
Mitt will not get to the white house, id rather live under the reign of our vp……whats his name??? What the hell does he do? anybody know?
Oh, you mean like when he told John McCain that Republicans would have to shut up and sit in the back of the bus because "I won"?
Obama compromising as in speaking with Olympia Snowe exactly how many times? Does ZERO come to mind? Yep, ZERO.