“If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill,” the Narcissist in Chief pleaded with supporters today, perhaps attempting to echo Dudley Moore’s turn as a Beatle-esque pop star in 1967’s Bedazzled:
[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuscg_bedazzled-movie-1967-pop-star-scene_shortfilms[/dailymotion]
Actually, to paraphrase Der Stingle, a more recent pop star, if you love Barack Obama, you’d be much better off to set him free next year:
One supporter from the raucous crowd shouted to Obama that they loved him, and in a standard response from his 2008 campaign he replied “I love you back” then added a new twist.
“If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill,” Obama said, repeating the line to more cheers.
Obama’s appeal may work with his supportive political base, but will cut little ice with Republicans seeking to exploit his diminished job approval ratings which are at 44 percent in a RealClearPolitics average of recent polls.
The president, on the latest leg of what aides say will be a months-long tour to promote the bill, also complained that some Republicans were against the legislation because they wanted to deprive him of a political victory.
“Give me a win? Give me a break” Obama said, during his pared down stump speech which is peppered with demands that Republicans “pass this bill.”
Harry Reid, playing the role of Peter Cook in the above video to Barry’s Dudley, isn’t feeling the love, though:
Despite President Barack Obama’s urgency to “pass this bill now,” the American Jobs Act may have to wait until next month, or later, before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid even brings it to the floor for a vote.
In his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, Obama implored lawmakers to pass the bill and its $477 billion price tag immediately. And this week, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched a campaign of web and television ads touting the bill and rallying support for its passage.
None of that may matter, since Reid’s response has been more of a careless shrug. It’s not surprising, though, considering the discontent surrounding the bill from Senate Democrats.
Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia called the president’s ideas for paying for the billy “terrible.”
“We shouldn’t increase taxes on ordinary income. … There are other ways to get there,” he added. (RELATED: Obama’s jobs bill has charitable givers reeling)
Even Sen. John Kerry, the liberal lion from Massachusetts, doubts the bill will pass in full: “I don’t think anybody expects it to pass en bloc. So, the issue is going to be what, if any, parts of it might be cherry-picked.”
Other Democrats are upset over the bill’s offsets. The Alaska delegation opposes singling out the oil industry’s tax loopholes. In short, Obama’s plan to solve the nation’s jobs crisis is proving to be a difficult sell even to his own party.
No word yet when Reid will be investigated by AttackWatch.
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