The question that keeps coming up is, “Will Obama pivot to the center after the election, and triangulate against the GOP congress the way Clinton did?” Fair question. Let’s go to the man himself and see if we can’t glean an answer:
Most of all, he has learned that, for all his anti-Washington rhetoric, he has to play by Washington rules if he wants to win in Washington. It is not enough to be supremely sure that he is right if no one else agrees with him. “Given how much stuff was coming at us,” Obama told me, “we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right. There is probably a perverse pride in my administration — and I take responsibility for this; this was blowing from the top — that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”
Mmmmmnope. Expect the same shinola, different wrapper.
And frankly I doubt even the wrapper will change much.
Obama is a Chicago politician – where no one is a Republican, and calling the Republicans names is what they do. They don’t know how to work “across the aisle” because there is no “across” in Chicago. For the ridiculously short time he was in the Illinois legislature, he didn’t do much but support the Chicago machine.
Chicago – the city where the dead vote, the living vote often, ballots are destroyed, and the Democrats do pretty much anything they want to do. The city where sales tax is now around 11%, and businesses can’t move out fast enough. That doesn’t include the head tax (per employee) etc. etc. etc. And if you tried to reopen Wisconsin Steel’s South Works, they would cry about how you wanted to put that dirty industry in the poor neighborhoods. (Of course those neighborhoods weren’t poor, when the mills were active – it is a dirty industry.)
So no, I don’t think Obama has it in him to be the politician that Clinton was (or maybe still is). Compromise isn’t how things are done in Chicago.
As long as he truly believes that ObamaCare is “the right thing”, all the focus on PR / marketing, blah blah will continue to be the same shinola.
He’s an elitist convinced that he knows more how to run your life than you do.
It’s this huge error of his that Obama is unlikely to be able to change, altho I can imagine him giving up and, instead, just trying to allow the Reps to do what they like but blame the Reps for any and all bad result.
Z. D. has it right. The whole thing smacks of Chicago politics. Buying off the unions and giving the rest of the people bread and circuses is what Chicago politicians do. While this works well within the confines of the city, it is less successful on a national stage.
On the international stage, zero is finding out that threatening to withhold new garbage cans and alley paving will not cut it with ‘lil Kim, Ahmadinnerjacket, and Fat Hugo.
He’s not just a Chicago-machine politician, he’s a far left, Chicago-machine politician.
So we can look for more telling us how stupid we are for not understanding how great they are along with all the threats, lies and general thuggishness.
All the moaning here about how horrible Obama is misses the point.
Going back to Stephen’s post, the answer is that Obama thinks he already is in the center, and the Tea Partyers are a bunch of bigoted reactionaries. He has no reason -from his point of view- to pivot.
Add to that his 100% moral certainty that he’s in the right, and the answer is clear.
This should highlight his priorities for you, from the linked article:
“He had just returned from the East Room, where he signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 — using eight pens so he could give away as many as possible.” (emphasis added) ‘Nuff said.
Casey nailed it.
What’s black, white, stinks to high heaven and is proud of it?
Obama will never move to the “center”. His ego will not allow it…However…He needs a Republican controlled Congress if he is going to run for reelection in 2012. He must have someone to blame his massive failures on.
Interviewer: What would you say is your worst quality?
Interviewee: I care so darn much about doing a great job that my personal life suffers. I just work work work; being a perfectionist is a real burden.