SNL Hones In On Obama
05 October 2009 11:45 am by Taylor Marsh
Where is the leadership?
Where is the decision making?
Where is a firm decision leading in a solid direction?
SNL answers those questions.
This is what happens when a president who wants to “bring people together” doesn’t have an ideologically driven core that clearly points the way. We get months of vamping on the way to allowing other people to come together so Pres. Obama can present a consensus as The President of Cool also makes sure someone else can take the fall. Even on the bailout it was couched as if Obama was forced to do it; as in, he had no choice, ergo the decision wasn’t really his. The failings of George W. Bush and Obama’s inheritance of his mess notwithstanding, this isn’t how a leader acts or reacts to the challenges he or she faces.
Obama’s indecision and appearance of no decision making at all has evolved into perceived presidential paralysis.
The health care debate crystallized it, with Afghanistan “dithering” reviews mounting and looking similarly only the latest on the long list. That’s why when Obama did make the decision to go fight for the Olympics for Chicago and the country, the negative results hurt even more. And the news that it cost the American taxpayers $1 million smackeroos to only get defeated makes matters worse.
Now, I thought the trip was worth it, but the reviews are not leaning in Obama’s direction. With his enemies able to also emphasize that at least Pres. Obama got to finally meet with his Afghan commander, while right wing screed merchants of wingnut radio, like Mark Levin, vomited pure hate. Marty Peretz representing the rhetorical idiocy of the moment (though George Will didn’t miss the opportunity to slam the Obamas either):
So this question arises: If Obama could not get Chicago over the finish line in Copenhagen, which was a test only of his charms, how will he persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear weapons capacity or the Arabs, to whom he has tilted (we are told) only tactically, to sit down without their 60 year-old map as guide to what they demand from Israel.
Never mind that the Republicans are in even worse shape, with many people feeling they have nowhere to turn for leadership.
Trouble is that it’s the Democrats who have all the power, so we’re the ones who’ll get blamed. That’s just how politics works and it should, because there is really no excuse for what’s going on.
SNL took a page from my post last week, doing it one better and then some. In part I wrote: All this bickering over what Democrats are TRYING to do, but still haven’t managed to accomplish. The talking continues on health care. Demanding settlements be frozen by Israel is now petering out to nothing. Obama continues to vamp on Afghanistan. Nothing on Gitmo, except that Obama won’t make the deadline he promised during the campaign. The blame also on the Democratic Congress.
Dylan Ratigan (who chewed out Mark McKinnon this morning for veering towards EFCA with stunning rudeness) had a conversation that asked the question if Obama is the “do nothing presidency.” Chris Bowers, billed as a liberal pollster, was on the show saying he thought Obama would have accomplished more by now, too.
The “do nothing” mantra bubbling up is a very bad sign. That liberals don’t have evidence with which to back it down is a great disappointment to us all.
Of course, all this can change with one big win for Obama, provided it’s also a win for the American people. Let’s hope it comes on health care with passing a good bill.
It cannot happen soon enough.
