PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

The NY Times had a lively discussion Sunday, 10.31.10, in response to a column by Maureen Dowd about what is wrong with Obama and his administration. She suggested (does she suggest anything or rather insist?) that Obama and his staff were so successful in ‘08 that they didn’t realize they needed to fight back against those “sliming them”.  I agree. One poster, identified as Kane from Hawaii, made a long list of things Obama has done to counter the general idea that his presidency is unsuccessful. The list is long and comprehensive enough that the TerryReport is re-publishing it here:

The largest investment in clean energy in history.**
The largest investment in education in history.
The largest middle class tax break in history.
The largest investment in infrastructure since the 50s.
Ended the ban on federal funding of stem cell research.
Saved the American Auto Industry.
Overhauled the Student Loan program.
Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Signed SCHIP legislation providing health care for millions of children.
Preventing the economy from another Great Depression.
Ended combat missions in Iraq.
Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act.
Signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
Signed Major Credit Card Reform.
Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
Appointed two women to the Supreme Court, including the first Hispanic.
Signed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Act.
Signed major Health Care Reform.
Signed the Education Reconciliation Act.
Signed the new START treaty.
Signed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services.
Signed major Wall Street Reform.
Cancelled the F-22 weapons program.
Created new global nonproliferation initiative to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.

All in less than two years time. And all in the face of Republican obstruction. Ignoring these many accomplishments doesn't mean they never happened.

Note from TerryReport: when anyone says largest” this or that, we should be careful. The “largest tax increase in history”, for example, is used to distort fact. Most tax increases now are the largest ever, in dollar terms, because the economy is much larger. Percentage relative to the total taxation, however, is much more meaningful. The TerryReport has not doubled checked the claims above against this standard, so make of them what you will.

My comments, published in the same online section, follow below. The reference to “Dudette” (Dowd) was in response to her calling Obama “Dude” in her column.

This column, for the most part, is spot on, Dudette. Obama and his troops came into Washington, DC, drunk with their own success and his "magical" abilities. It was as if they commanded a massive battleship when any opposition would likely be floating around in row boats. All they had to do, it seemed, was move forward; the waves alone would knock them away.

But, let's not go overboard, mates. The single decision to turn the development of the health care legislation over to Congress was the most self destructive act of the first two years. It was just one mistake. Wrapped securely in their White House cocoon, they had little idea of the disaster they had set in motion. Even I was repulsed by the resulting partisan carnage, and I am a former Capitol Hill reporter able to sit through seven or eight congressional hearings in a week without my head exploding. For the public, it was too much. The sausage making had invaded their living rooms and was stinkin' up the whole house.

We must remember this...a kiss is still as kiss...(sorry, wrong comment). Most of the public, as revealed in a recent poll, have turned against this president and the Democrats based on FALSE information about what he has done. Most think he raised taxes, instead of lowing them by 240 billion on the middle class. Most think the money loaned the banks and car companies will never be recovered (profits are ahead). And, most people think the stimulus didn't work when, in fact, the economy has grown slightly for the last four quarters. While these impressions have soaked in, Obama has been Mr. Cool, willing to push back on almost nothing and appearing on every television program besides Sesame Street (they are trying to book him there next week).

Here is the most telling paragraph of your commentary, Dudette:

"His inner circle believed too much in the power of the Aura and in protecting the Brand. They didn’t think they needed to sell anything or fight back when the crazies started sliming them. They didn’t care that the average citizen needed an M.B.A. to understand the financial plan and a Ph.D. to fathom what the health care plan would mean."

Almost any Democrat would have won in 2008, with the economy headed far south and two inclusive wars simmering in billions of American dollars and hundreds of lives. When the housing market fell to pieces, the fate of the Republicans was sealed, but the Obama tribe took everything that happened to heart, as if they, and they alone, possessed a special formula. Sadly, they, and we, have learned they did not.

To be fair (is that called for these days?), Obama came into office with some of the biggest problems in American history hanging over his head. Perhaps he shouldn't have bothered adding to those problems by pushing health care? He has done rather well, except in convincing the public to go along for the ride.

These were, and are, extraordinary times. They called for something more than business as usual, something more than mere government/Washington solutions. There was a deep need to engage the public in the effort to pull us through and out of recession and everything that was proposed were drawn from the official government playbook.

For example, there has been very little presidential "jaw boning" of business and corporations to get them to start hiring and spend the massive cash reserves on which their over paid backsides rest so comfortably. Business has left the building (backdoor exit). They do not care and are no longer engaged with the fate of this nation. They have slipped the surly bonds of earth and are touching faces in India, China and Ireland. Being president means you occasionally are required to spit in the face of those who sent you (just not always, ala Jimmy Carter).

Where is the threat, where is the power of this presidency? Like Clinton in the '90s (those grand years of ol), Obama has yet to demonstrate that he is strong enough, by virtue of a willingness to show and use the power of his office. We know where that got Clinton: impeachment by a bunch of political mice on Capitol Hill who believed he would roll over a play dead as soon as the House voted.

What can be done? Obama needs to widen his circle of advisers. He needs to spend less time on television and more time figuring out what to do. He needs to look for that hidden, enticing "presidential moment" when he can leave American citizens, and official Washington, thunderstruck with his daring and determination. He needs to prove that he deserves the office that the nation gratefully gave him.

He needs to try some new things. Obama needs to look to the extra-official aspects of the presidency, of leadership that does not involve getting legislation passed. Until now, bills in Congress have been his focus. It hasn’t worked, at least not in bringing support to him and his presidency.

He needs to find ways to make the nation feel and believe, in substance and by impression, that he and we can tackle our problems and get moving again. He needs to use the bully pulpit as none have ever before. He needs to pick some good fights and show the public he is not afraid to get dirt on his collar. He needs to give people new reasons to believe in him.

Doug Terry 10.31.10

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