Two presidents in one! John Podhoretz at Commentary: “Obama’s Presidency Hangs by a Thread:”
Japan may be on the verge of an unprecedented catastrophe. Saudi Arabia is all but colonizing Bahrain. Qaddafi is close to retaking Libya, with bloodbath to follow. And, as Jim Geraghty notes, the president of the United States is going on ESPN to talk about the NCAA and delivering speeches today on his rather dull plan to replace No Child Left Behind with No Teenager Left Behind, or something like that.
It’s hard to overstate how poorly Barack Obama is doing in the face of these crises — and I don’t even mean how he’s doing substantively, which is a scandal in itself. I mean how he’s doing politically. Recall how much hay Michael Moore made of the fact that George W. Bush read My Pet Goat for nine minutes in that Florida classroom on 9/11 after being informed that the first plane had struck.
AdvertisementWe’re going on four weeks now, or more, that Barack Obama has been reading My Pet Goat.
He is largely notable by his absence, which is itself the result not only of not knowing what to do but also apparently believing it is better for the world if he remains a minor player as a bloodbath approaches in the Middle East and something more ominous seems to be approaching in Japan. When he talks, as he did in Friday’s press conference, he only makes matters more confusing; there is little reassurance that there is a hand anywhere near the tiller.
To which, Jeff Goldstein might respond, so?
He’s done what he [was] designed to do — from the earliest stages of his education on through his studies at Columbia, his tenure as a community organizer, his tutelage under the erstwhile Weatherman, his time in Rev Wright’s church, and his final polishing acts at Harvard, Chicago, and short stints in state and federal government: fundamentally change the US into another Europeanized socialist state run almost entirely by a professional political class and their bureaucratic enforcers.
And he knows the current GOP lacks the political will to roll back those very things he and his fellow travelers have implemented to put the final institutional nails in the republic’s classically liberal coffin.
So, sh*t. Why not just play golf and eat burgers? The f*ck you bitter clingers gonna do about it?
Not much based on the current GOP presidential line-up, which Steve Green compares to the Democrats in 1992 — before Bill Clinton arrived. (Remember the milquetoast line-up of Paul Tsongas and Bob Kerrey?)
Anyone on the right with Clinton’s charisma want to get into the game sometime between now and January?
The political class is exhausted, and offers no solutions. Meanwhile people are angry, desperate, and experiencing a real, radical, and sharply defined loss of income, earnings, and quality of life. More and more money spent on less and less food, gas, and clothing is not a recipe for re-election.
Obama’s big weakness is that he and his team have nothing but contempt, and no knowledge of, ordinary White people. Whom they view as irredeemably evil and worthy of being erased by “history” etc. Obama unlike Clinton cannot even begin to pander to the White Middle Class. Most of whom have turned on him.
As an incumbent President, Obama will be judged on his record, on what he has done for the White middle class voter, how much money they have in their pocket and their expectations for the future. Obama has never, ever, not once, stood for re-election on this basis. He has no clue. None of his tried and true strategy of unsealing unflattering court records, disqualifying formidable opponents, or playing the race card will work. He has to get results. Even the First Black President (or second counting Clinton) has to produce results.
Pretty much anyone running a competent campaign on the issues of Obama’s failure to produce results for the White Middle Class (Blacks and Hispanics will vote for Obama no matter what, it is useless to court them) can win. You don’t need to be perfect, just better. [McCain actively tried to lose, wanting the good opinion of the NYT more than the good of the nation.] But probably someone unknown, for now, representing an angry and aroused White Middle Class is the biggest bet for Republican Nominee. It might even be Petraeus if Obama as likely nominates his own creature for Joint Chief.
Somebody with MORE charisma than Bill Clinton, plus authenticity which he lacked, is already in the game! Her name is Sarah Palin.
Regardless of whether or not Sarah Palin is who we need she does not fill the role Bill Clinton played in the 1992 scenario. He came out of almost nowhere.
Ken,
Amen brother, Amen.
“replace No Child Left Behind with No Teenager Left Behind”
I thought it was No Teen Left Unbullied?
Or was it No Right Child Left Unbullied by Left Teens?
One or the other, I’m not sure.
“Or was it No Right Child Left Unbullied by Left Teens?”
Wait, now I remember, this is a special program for Wisconsin.
I am looking more for someone like Ross Perot.
Palin,
Bolton,
Cheney,
Bachmann
any one of these names better be at the top of the ticket or I am not voting for pres this cycle?
How about Herman Cain? Cain is Obama’s worst nightmare and, best of all, he’s a Purdue alum, just like me.
We need to have a president named “Hu”, and a vice-president named “Watt”. That way, we can have these kind of conversations:
“Hu’s president?”
“That’s right!”
“What’s right?”
“No, Watt’s vice-president!”
“WHAT’S a vice-president?”
“That’s right.”
Let’s face it, these folks CAN’T be any worse than the jerks we have in there now and at least we can have some fun while we’re waiting for the apocalypse.
I heart Hermain Cain. He is a real doer and we need someone who can do something (besides golf and gardening).
America is waiting for Gov. Palin in 2012.
And, as she ended her post yesterday on Facebook, “2012 can’t come soon enough.”
Neither can her formal announcement, mobilizing the base as well as a huge number of Americans that weighted polling and haughty Beltway pundits either fail to recognize or — to be blunt — actively attempt to suppress with their smug dismissal of her chances.
Mitch Daniels, Mitt Romney, or, ahem, “T-Paw” (seriously?) do not inspire thousands of lengthy comment threads filled with energized conservatives ready to go to the wall for them on a daily basis…Palin does.
I will vote for whatever candidate is nominated, but if the establishment GOP wants to retire Obama to the golf course permanently they should stop trying to sabotage the one challenger who has stood up to this incompetent, anti-American, crisp pant-creased NCAA bracket-filler every step of his destructive, “transformational” way.
The choice could not be more clear and the stakes could not be any higher.
You betcha’.