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Sympathetic commentators have written in recent days about Obama’s opportunities in the wake of the mid-terms. Several have noted that the Republicans, in essence, have no program for government and have urged Obama to call them on their bluff. Some see this as major opening for the president which he should exploit.
Sadly, the odds are that he won't and perhaps even that there is something deep inside this president to mean that he can't. Way back when the president invited members of Congress to come down to the White House and castigate him on health care, a fresh faced Republican \\\"confronted\\\" the president with utter nonsense about health care and how he believed the American public knows how to spend their money better than Washington. It was an essentially meaningless statement, a replay of a thousand and one Republican campaign ads. What did Obama do? Here, sitting before the president on live national television was, potentially, the corpse of a Republican Congressman. He didn't need to hit a home run, it just needed, at minimum, the brush the dude back a couple of feet. He had him in the palm of his hand and he let the insulting guy go with some mild patter of his own. He allowed a mere pip squeak Congressman to get away with looking tough before a sitting, overwhelmingly popular (at the time) president of the United States.
Right then and there, I asked myself: where is the fire in this guy? Is it possible that he has had too comfortable a life? Growing into a man, young, good looking, smart and ultra cool, wrapped in the warm arms of Columbia and Harvard, has he learned only how to float through elite zones but not how to be his own man and be defiant when he needs to be? Is he merely like a new member of a club who tries to be more like the old club members than they are themselves? Can he lead those who he eagerly sought to join? So far, his record shows he can inspire large groups and, when he had the votes, get the Dems to agree on some major legislation. Leadership is about much more than this.
Obama's cool would fit perfectly in some moments in America, but not in the middle of the worst recession in 80 years with two wars still simmering. I was not around then, but it is clear Truman won election by showing the public he had what it took for those times and was willing to lay it on the line for America to see. Our president seems to want to be liked more than he wants to lead.
I have even considered whether Obama might already be looking beyond the presidency when, even if he gets another six years, he will still be a relatively young man. (He has made at least one fleeting reference to the time when he would be out of office.) Imagine his future as an ex-president. Perhaps he doesn't want to get himself to bloodied and bruised, looking forward to that wonderful non-retirement when he can bask in being a celebrity of unusual luster, striding across the world stage bigger than Bill Clinton ever was.
No one is calling the Republicans on their stupidity. With most of the national news media intimidated by forty years of being labeled "liberal", you can say anything, or just about, these days and get away with it. There is no one around to call a fool a fool. The wisdom of a certified jackass is just as good as a sage.
Do we even take note that the Republicans were calling Democrats traitors, liars and socialist in this last campaign? These things have always gone on, but now they are out in the open, in public and common as popcorn in a movie theater. Nixon's dirty tricks campaign was replayed on incumbent Dems who were followed around by young Republicans with cameras trying to embarrass them. There was much more than that, of course.
How can the president, the next day, turn around and say we are ready to do business with these people? They aren't ready to do business with anyone, except the massive corporations, insurance companies and special interest groups which bankrolled them.
Why, oh, why, did they schedule a news conference for Obama the very next day? Does no one in the White House recall that Bill Clinton almost put a verbal end to his presidency by saying, "We are still relevant" here in the White House after the last Republican take over of Congress? There was almost nothing to be gained and, we know now for certain, a lot to be lost by throwing the president to the wolves.
One simple fact, however, could have been put forth by the president and should be remembered by all of the news media: every time the Democrats have proposed and fought for health care, the Republicans have won Congress or at least the House. 1938, 1946 (as mentioned), 1994 and now in 2010. A perfect storm has been brewed up every time by the medical establishment and, in on last two occasions, joined in by insurance companies that make billions of dollars by denying medical coverage to those who have paid their bills for years.
We are about to learn much more about the character of this president. We should not despair, but we must be aware. The Republican plan for “government” is to focus on defeating Obama and defunding the national government, perhaps driving it into actual bankruptcy. Sooner or later, we will learn if Obama is willing to push back and take risks.
Doug Terry 11.5.10
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