Obsolete Obama?

George Rebane

Have you noticed how Democrat candidates across the land have been nowhere in sight when President Obama swings through their neighborhoods?  It may have something to do with his plummeted approval ratings, or that the nation is beginning to take a second look at the fast track to EU socialism he has laid out for us, or … .

Fouad Ajami,  professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is one of the most astute observers of the international scene, and has published a series of cogent and on-the-mark analyses of the American scene of the past several years.  Today he continues with the 11aug10 WSJ piece ‘The Obsolescence of Barack Obama’.

The magic is definitely gone - “A broken link with the public, and a war in Afghanistan he neither embraces and sells to his party nor abandons—this is a time of puzzlement for President Obama. His fall from political grace has been as swift as his rise a handful of years ago. He had been hot political property in 2006 and, of course, in 2008. But now he will campaign for his party's 2010 candidates from afar, holding fund raisers but not hitting the campaign trail in most of the contested races. Those mass rallies of Obama frenzy are surely of the past.”

What has become obvious to all but the last stalwarts of this Alinsky Administration is that
“(the) vaunted Obama economic stimulus, at $862 billion, has failed. The "progressives" want to double down, and were they to have their way, would have pushed for a bigger stimulus still. But the American people are in open rebellion against an economic strategy of public debt, higher taxes and unending deficits. We're not all Keynesians, it turns out. The panic that propelled Mr. Obama to the presidency has waned. There is deep concern, to be sure. But the Obama strategy has lost the consent of the governed.”

Of course, the consent of the governed was lost very quickly after the secretive community organizer took office.  Everyone knew the hokum with which ARRA was passed in February 2009, and that set the stage for the follow-on legislative throat rams of Obamacare, financial reform, and the now churning cap n’ tax end run.

The essay is a tight mid-term synopsis of a presidency gone wrong.  The comparisons to the transition from a JFK to a Lyndon Johnson are telling.  But the contrasts to Reagan are perhaps most revealing since both men felt they “were handed a broken nation, (and) that it was theirs to repair.”

Dr Fouad concludes that “There remains the fact of his biography, a man's journey. Personality is doubtless an obstacle to his recovery. The detachment of Mr. Obama need not be dwelled upon at great length, so obvious it is now even to the pundits who had a "tingling sensation" when they beheld him during his astonishing run for office. Nor does Mr. Obama have the suppleness of Bill Clinton, who rose out of the debris of his first two years in the presidency, dusted himself off, walked away from his spouse's radical attempt to remake the country's health-delivery system, and moved to the political center.

It is in the nature of charisma that it rises out of thin air, out of need and distress, and then dissipates when the magic fails. The country has had its fill with a scapegoating that knows no end from a president who had vowed to break with recriminations and partisanship. The magic of 2008 can't be recreated, and good riddance to it. Slowly, the nation has recovered its poise. There is a widespread sense of unstated embarrassment that a political majority, if only for a moment, fell for the promise of an untested redeemer—a belief alien to the temperament of this so practical and sober a nation.”

Comments

[Steve Enos]

Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, Democrat, incumbent and President Obama’s pick won a bitter primary challenge over Andrew Romanoff, a former speaker of the Colorado House.

“The predictions of doom for incumbents and establishment candidates this campaign season are proving to be more complex in the real world,” as the New York Times reported.

[Jeff Pelline]

(snarky comment with mispellings and bad grammar deleted. gjr)

[russ steele]

Yes, and according Karl Rove the loosing R got more votes than the winning D, by thousands.

[Jeff Pelline]

Looking forward to following this race in November.

[Michael R. Kesti]

never "let's"?

[Barry Pruett]

"White House officials (and our faithfully liberal bloggers) are using Sen. Michael Bennet’s primary victory last night to show that the president and his political team can make a difference for vulnerable Dems when it counts — hoping to spotlight Colorado as the counter-example to previous failures in Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and others." http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2010/08/11/white-house-touts-role-in-bennet-wi/13237/

Obama is batting 1 for 4. With that average he could not make my beer league softball team...which by the way is undefeated.

How can one insist on carrying the water for liberals but screaming from the top of one's lungs..."I am a moderate!" LOL.

[Jeff Pellne]

Barry, being another one of those inflexible hard rights, wouldn't know a "moderate" if he saw one. It's sad that a man of his relative youth is such a rigid ideologue. It's like growing up in the Nixon-era White House, rather than the mountains of Colorado.
As the Denver Post pointed out:
“Gov. Bill Ritter said he believes the Tea Party-blessed Buck will have a hard time running back to the *moderate politics* Coloradans favor for general elections."
Having lived in Colorado for some years, I concur. There's a big difference between Colorado and California, and the politics of Kentucky and Indiana.

[Todd Juvinall]

Barry, the Bennett victory was all about the money. Obama was a curse and the dems run the other way when he is in town. Romanoff even mortgaged his house and look how close he came to beating the establishment democrat. The liberals can yap all they want but this is not an Obama win. Bennett was interviewed after claiming the win last night and he dodged the question about asking Obama to campaign for him. I think Palin's record is a lot better than Obama's in the primaries. Colorado is still a western state and they are rugged individuals there. No moderate this time will win I predict.

[Jeff Pelline]

No, Colorado is making the same transition that our county is. In fact, it is ahead. The Maroboro man is yesterday's lettuce. Now Northern Nevada, I'll grant you, is a different story.

[Jeff Pelline]

"rugged individuals" = Pat Schroeder. LOL.

[Todd Juvinall]

My sis lives in Colorado and you are just wrong dude.

[Jeff Pelline]

We'll find out in November, dude. Pat blazed a trail. BTW, George is getting thin skinned. Maybe I should repost some of his "snarky" comments here for comparison's sake. The point is the same: He writes a post titled "Obsolete Obama" on the same day that an Obama-backed candidate wins in Colorado. That's pretty lame that he didn't even address it.

[Todd Juvinall]

Well golly dude, whose blog is it anyway? You seem to disallow those that you disagree with. You also failed to mention the Tea Party victories, so hey, what is that? Seems you are thin skinned yourself with little tolerance for those who disagree. George allows nuts like Enos on his blog and you embrace Enos. So, pet a grip.

[Jeff Pelline]

Todd,
Re-read my post and you'll see the Tea Party victory mentioned. BTW, I'll throw in a $500 donation to CABPRO along with Frisch if you can show us a police report of the supposed violence against you that you mentioned. Just meet his demand and I"ll chip in another $500.

[Todd Juvinall]

If you don't believe it then that is your problem. Besides CABPRO wouldn't take tainted money.

[Jeff Pelline]

As I suspected.

[Todd Juvinall]

LOL

[Jeff Pelline]

About he only really honest conservatives I've met in our county are George and Christine Foster and several of the supervisors (Nate, Ted, etc.) Can you introduce me to others?

[Todd Juvinall]

No there really aren't any honest Supervisors, especially the republicans. The democrats are even worse. You know, the good ol boys.

[Mikeymcd]

I just met with a couple that changed registration to republican (her) and decline to state (him) because they feel Obama lied (wars, taxes, etc). Very timely article George.

[Barry Pruett]

Nice to mee you today at the fair Todd! See you later this weekend.

[Russ Steele]

Updating the Colorado numbers. While the focus has been on the Obama' pick winning the Democratic nomination, the Republican candidate that won was supported by the Tea Party, or in reality Buck subscribed to the Tea Party principles. This is reflected in the voter turn out. Turn out for the Democrats 339,000. Turnout for the Republicans 470,000. The losing Republican got more votes than the winning Democrat according to Karl Rove on Fox TV. There was a lot of Republican energy that was driven by the Tea Party participation according to Rove. Right now the race between Buck and Bennet is rated a “tossup” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Stay Tuned!

[Paul Emery]

To be fair let's compare Bush's and Obama's poll numbers. The NBC-Wall Street Journal poll asking whether Obama is doing a good job shows 47% pro and 47% negative. The same poll on Bush in 09 showed 34-58. President Obama has a ways to fall to beat those numbers. You might recall that GB was not invited to many campaign events in those days.

[Paul Emery]

Minor correction The Obama numbers are 47-48

[Paul Emery]

How sloppy of me. The Bush numbers were actually 27-67 in the same WSJ poll when Bush left office. The polls were 34-58 on the Fox poll

[Jeff Pellne]

Todd wrote:
No there really aren't any honest Supervisors, especially the republicans. The democrats are even worse. You know, the good ol boys.

Barry wrote:
Nice to mee you today at the fair Todd! See you later this weekend.

Why is a dialogue even worthwhile with this "extremist" group?

[Todd Juvinall]

Barry, I think the FUE has no sense of humor.

[Barry Pruett]

Shoot...he probably thinks this song is about him...don't you.

[Barry Pruett]

Hey FUE...seen the latest Colorado Senate polls. I gues the Marlboro man moved back to Colorado.

http://barrypruett.blogspot.com/

[Steve Enos]

It's Russ the FUC that doesn't have a sense of humor.

[Todd Juvinall]

Have you apologized for your lies about Robin Cayton?

[Todd Juvinall]

George and Barry, I just saw Clinton, that is Bill, denying he talked to Sestak about the job. Now, why are we not surprised? Wasn't he the fellow that said it really happened?

[D. King]

Todd Juvinall Said...

"I just saw Clinton, that is Bill, denying he talked to Sestak about the job."

Did anyone think they were telling the truth?

"Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!"

Sir Walter Scott

[Dixon Cruickshank]

The Obama agenda did not include a 2nd term - eva, it also included leaving the Democratic Party in shreds as it just isn't important to him. Transforming the country and jamming through as much socailist stuff in 2 yrs while he had both houses is what it was all about - nothing else, timing is everything. Leaving the the Democrats in congess a shred of dignity was never in the plan. His plan is to move on to the UN to try and prepare to rule the world. World Governence advocates are pervasive in his entire cabinet and advisors - Czars who are appointed by him and report only to him - its like a psudo Government and he is King. He was groomed and chosen because he is black ( not racist) but fact, can speak eloquently and motivate the lower base masses and evidenced by his success as a Community Organizer. Who has ever thought far enough ahead to seal every school transcript - then voted preswnt most of his limited career - hard to find fault and argue with Present. Never presented any bills or established any positions except the far left unions and the black vote - and it worked to perfection, have to give him that.

America is coming back though and somehow we will try and fix all this crap, the point is its hard to get rid of once the camel nose in under the tent - that was the whole point.

[Dixon Cruickshank]

I just realized how ironic and sad this has gotten, the Democrats are cheering about a Democratic victory over another Democrat and getting all puffy because Obama had picked him.

[Obama Mosque]

The voices crying out to disallow this project are the same intolerant bigoted voiced that led to the rise of the brutal regimes in Germany and China and Italy in the middle of the last century. The sensitivity of the victims - is not a real excuse - that is a simple excuse to allow xenophobic, hostile, racist and prejudiced thinking to take root in our democracy. muslims died in the collapse of the towers as did jews and christians and non-believers. This was not an attack by the world muslims on America. It was an attack by a handful of thugs. We cannot let our own native thugs take control of this debate. Please people, come to your senses.

[Todd Juvinall]

I see a member of the NCDCC (probably Pendragon) has posted their hate anonymously here. I say get real you loon. The killers were Muslims and they should respect our feelings about the proximity to Ground Zero. Their lack of compassion speaks very loudly to their real reason and that reason is victory for them, symbolism, Mohamed wins again over the infidels. I dare say the favor of compassion for our churches would not be returned if we wanted to place a church next their holy mosque in Mecca.

[George Rebane]

Obama Mosque probably wanted to place his comment here instead,

http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2010/08/pincer-movement.html

and read this as a background piece.

http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2010/02/of-ragheads-and-racism.html

[Larry Wirth]

Dumbo: Let's = let us. Any problem here?