This is what happens when Candidate Obama is unleashed.
From Art, who handles the movement progressive beat and runs a Democratic group in Texas.
color me relieved frankly by his debt details…
Relief isn’t exactly a rousing call to action.
Jonathan Cohn has the best synopsis on the Medicare cuts Obama’s proposing in the health care cuts portion of his plan.
So, Obama gets the base to react even if what he’s proposing is exactly what the “professional Left” has been advising for ages. Ideas Pres. Obama has shunned, his team has derided, while he offered back door proposals that sell Democratic Party principles out completely, as the elite media applauded bipartisanship on the Right’s terms. Yes, I’m reiterating these points yet again, but they’re the whole ballgame, even if Team Obama won’t admit they were wrong all along.
Pres. Obama and his reelection team have figured out he can’t get reelected with only his loyal fan base, because it’s dwindled significantly since ’08, so he’s got no choice but to do what every single politician seeking reelection must do and that’s rev up his base and those fickle Independents, a very large swath who vote on persona more than anything else. Without them, which includes a lot of die hard progressives who make a difference on the ground, Obama would be a one-term president. Because you can bet Republicans are planning to do everything they can to make that happen.
The administration was initially pleased to see press reports detailing their willingness to compromise and surveys showing the American people thought the GOP far more intransigent. In their theory of politics, that meant they were winning. But they soon learned that voters aren’t interested in compromises that don’t lead to results. Obama looked like a nice guy, and that kept him personally popular. But he looked like an ineffectual leader, and that led his job approval to dip below 40 percent in some polls. [...] The White House could have been hammering that message since the day the House Republican Conference passed Ryan’s budget. They didn’t. The truth is, they didn’t want to. The president doesn’t think of himself as that kind of Democrat. He believes that there are sensible cuts that can be made to both Medicare and Social Security. [...] But the second-best outcome isn’t necessarily looking like the most reasonable guy in the room. It’s looking like the strongest leader in the room. – Ezra Klein
Democrats and progressives from all quarters are “relieved.” That’s the word.
If you’ve been listening to Republicans they are not. Candidate Obama resurfacing this far out from 2012 is their very worst nightmare.
For many, it’s almost like the last 2 years never happened, proving why regular voters usually end up coming home to their political party of choice. Candidates always sound better when railing about large injustices and the differences between them and that awful man/woman from the other side. It’s when they have to govern they end up looking so spineless, because most won’t stand on a line to fight and die on principle, doing the job they were elected to do instead of worrying about their reviews.
A while back I wrote that Pres. Obama had until November to turn things around.
His jobs pitch in the well of the House last week didn’t do it. Today, even though he never seems to know when to stop talking, Pres. Obama is trying to make a much stronger case. He’s quit trying to out Republican the Republicans, pivoting and hitting the target on the differences between the parties. It took him long enough.
Pres. Obama has been chased from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Candidate Obama is now running the show.
The question is after his dismal leadership the last two years whether people will choose to believe again.
This column has been updated.
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