Allahpundit writes:
Most of you have seen this on Drudge, but if not, carve out three minutes and drink it in. Naked Emperor News salvaged it from the rubble of the Great Liberal Realignment, a sort of time capsule of a moment when The One not only expected to sweep to power but to have his agenda passed with such overwhelming public support that no one could deny America had been well and truly transformed. Fast forward a few years and he’s now all but begging House Democrats to sacrifice their careers to give him a political victory he desperately needs. That’s what this guy has been reduced to. Hopenchange 2010: It’s come to this.
One thing I forgot to mention in the earlier post: Did you notice the part of the speech where he said the time for talk is over? A commenter reminds me that he said the same thing … six months ago. No one’s listening, champ.
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Heh. Of course, it’s always time to say that the time for talk is over.
Obama has always demonstrated extremely clearly that his words have absolutely no — zero — nada — nil — to do with whatever it is he means.
99% of the time, you can pretty well gauge what he’s going to do by expecting it to be exactly the opposite of what he says.
It’s Alinsky. He says whatever is convenient and he believes will “sell” at the moment — to a phenomenally higher degree than any other predatory politician who ever appeared on the American scene.
I wonder why these “gotchas” are even taken as “gotchas.” He doesn’t care a fig what anyone thinks — he’ll just deny right in your face and expects that you’ll swallow it.
His words should be framed and numbered as deliberate deceptions, not as flip-flops.
Barack Obama may have campaigned on “hope and change”, but then he made the fatal mistake of presuming that that’s why the swing voters actually chose him over John McCain. The truth is, it wasn’t hope and change that put Obama over the top in ’08 – it was anger and fear. Anger at Republicans in general for their lame-duck incumbent president allowing the financial markets to melt down on his watch, and fear that the entire economy would soon follow. Yet he misinterpreted that fear and anger toward the GOP as an endorsement of his own “hope and change” agenda.
Well, now all that fear and anger is blowing the other way, right into Obama’s face, but he can’t or won’t see it for what it is. Some of his fellow Democrats see it perfectly clear though, which is why they’re bailing on him on the eve of the most momentous event so far in his presidency.
Obama’s a fool. A Prez comes in with just so much political capital. If he invests it carefully and wisely, he can actually earn more. With success, he gets to be known as a Statesman, or even a Great Statesman. With failure, he squanders his meager wealth, and has no more.
Obama spent his capital on Stimulus, Cap-n-Trade, the Olympics, Copenhagen, Cash-for-Clunkers, financial sector takeover, exec pay, and the healthcare debacle (plus many other things). Typical NeoLiberal. He thought the well was bottomless. Now, he’s broke. Politically broke.
That’s why he’s desperately trying to pass healthcare, because it is the only way for him to get some of his political capital back. It’s still a losing investment, but he’ll at least have salvaged SOMETHING.
Reagan was a Great Statesman, because he was careful with his political capital. Then he retired! He didn’t do a Carter and go all over desperately trying to accrue some capital. He had lots of capital left when he died; a Great Statesman to the end.
Bush 41 retired, too, with his average store of capital.
Clinton has been slowly spending his to promote his wife’s ambitions. But hey, he owes her!
Bush 43 is biding his time, because he knows he has some long-term investments that will pay off. In future years, he knows he’ll have a greater store of capital. He might even become a Statesman!
People might even start missing him!