President Obama jumped head first into the fiscal cliff negotiations today, not by sitting down to actually negotiate with anyone, but by making a pest of himself and an army of pests of his supporters. He rolled out a Twitter hashtag designed to put pressure on congressional Republicans.
Mr. Obama is promoting the hashtag #My2K to continue to the conversation about a potential tax increase on the middle class if Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire. The keyword #My2K was chosen specifically because, according to the White House, a middle class family of four could see a tax increase of about $2,220.
So Barack Obama is now campaigning on Twitter to preserve tax policies that he has derided for more than four years? Yeah, that’s our president. Campaign against something because your base hates it, then embrace it because it’s actually the right policy. Bonus: His base won’t care!
The #My2K campaign is an admission that Bush’s tax policies ought to be preserved, but don’t expect the president or his supporters to admit that. Don’t expect the media to call him out on it either. He may get one or two jibes about it from Ed Henry or Jake Tapper at the White House press flogging, which could go viral if the exchanges get hot enough, but that’s about it.
Please don’t misunderstand this post, either. I was among those who derided Obama’s leadership by Twitter cycle before Nov. 6, but it clearly worked for him. It may work for him here too.
“Bonus: His base won’t care!”
And that is the truth. We are in Hatfield and McCoy territory now–my faction against yours. I think it is best to just simply intend to win the feud since I don’t think it will change unless someone on the left steps up, since most of the aggression and breaking of the status quo is coming from that side.
It’s a battle to the finish. Treat it as such.
And as the recent WaPo “The Lost Cause still lives” editorial shows, just sitting on the sidelines is not an option. I’m a white Southern male. The only way to prove my “goodness” to that organization is to march in lockstep with everyone our lord and messiah, Barack Obama, does.
Sorry, I’m going with the “mouth-breathing yokels”, because it was made clear to me a long time ago that it was eventually going to be that fate or fight. So I fight.
That’s exactly what is in store.
You are very generous when you refer to Mr. Obama’s ‘leadership by Twitter’. There are many things I would call it, but leadership isn’t one of them.
He may head the Executive Branch, but I will never call him a leader. After four years, he still has no clue what the word means.
Sure he does. He’s the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and we’re the rodents.
– all those who earn more than I do.
This theory certainly has merit. After all, it’s only expanding “Don’t waste a good crisis” to *creating* a crisis to exploit. If ideology is more important to BHO than anything else, the “temporary” suffering of a few tens of millions of Americans in order to Build Social JusticeTM is a worthwhile trade-off.