President Obama the problem-solver is turning into President Obama the warrior. It just might save him.
Politics is the enemy of problem-solving. That's common knowledge. Why can't the country deal with the national debt? Politics. Why can't we do something about climate change? Politics.
We see more evidence of it every day. Why is the country on the brink of another government shutdown? Politics. Why can't we get disaster relief to people who desperately need it? Politics. President Obama told a rally this month in Richmond that the American Jobs Act could pass if Republicans "set politics aside for a moment to deal with America's problems."
Set politics aside? Not on your life. House Speaker John Boehner made that clear when he said, "Tax increases... are off the table." Obama's response a few days later: "I will not support -- I will not support -- any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans." In other words, "Go ahead -- make my day."
President Obama is by nature a problem-solver. That hasn't changed. The president's two big speeches this month were aimed at solving the nation's two big problems -- jobs and debt. He insists on a "balanced" solution that cuts government spending ("but not... with spending cuts that would hamper growth") and also raises taxes on the wealthy ("We can't just cut our way out of this hole").
Problem-solving is cool, rational, and technocratic. It sees issues as problems to be solved, not fundamental conflicts of interests and values. But politics is not just about problem-solving. Politics is also about causes and values that stir the blood: "us" versus "them."
Republicans have become totally committed to that ideological style of politics. Problem-solving is secondary. Every issue is a battle between "us" and "them."
The minute President Obama called for higher taxes on the wealthy, Republicans denounced him for "class warfare." A spokesman for the conservative American Crossroads political action committee told Politico, "The president is explicitly driving a wedge between Americans. That's not leadership, that's borderline demagoguery."
The president's response? "That's not class warfare. I'm not attacking anybody. It's simple math." What could be more bloodless than math? Math is problem-solving.
It will probably be impossible for President Obama to make deals with Republicans to pass his jobs plan or his debt-reduction plan. That's fine with many Democrats, who believe that every time Obama makes a deal with Republicans, he gets rolled.
The jobs problem and the debt problem are not likely to be solved in the next year. Which means that any attempt by President Obama to run for re-election as a problem-solver is likely to fail. So what can he do?
He can do what he did in 2008: stir the blood. Run as the passionate leader of a cause. In 2008, it was "hope" and "change." This time, it's "fairness."
President Obama mentioned "fairness" 11 times when he introduced his debt reduction plan: "Anyone who has signed some pledge to protect every single tax loophole so long as they live, they should be called out. They should have to defend that unfairness."
"Fairness" gets Democrats' juices flowing. But it doesn't always work.
In 1984, it was a flop for Walter Mondale -- who also promised to raise taxes. Mondale's error was timing. The "fairness" theme paid off for Democrats in the 1982 midterm. That year, unemployment peaked at 10.8%. When the economy is bad, middle-class people are receptive to the argument that there's something wrong with the system. They say, "People like me are hard-working and have the right values and we still can't make it. It isn't fair."
In 1984, however, it was "morning in America." When the economy is good, middle-class Americans say, "I'm doing O.K. and so are people like me. If there are some people who still can't make it, it must be their own fault." The fairness issue falls flat.
Right now, it's not "morning in America." It looks a lot more like 1982 than 1984. "When everybody went up, it was a lot harder to make [the fairness] argument," Sen. Charles Schumer told the Washington Post. Now another recession seems imminent. "I think the time is ripe again," Schumer said. "I think the president sensed that."
President Obama can run for re-election on two messages. Why are our problems not solved? Because Republicans put politics first. They refused to compromise. The other is "my values are better than their values." Fairness trumps smaller government. After all, solid majorities of Americans support raising taxes on the wealthy.
What will the Obama campaign sound like? Like President Obama in Cincinnati last week: "I'm a warrior for the middle class! I'm happy to fight for the middle class! I'm happy to fight for working people, because the only warfare I've seen is the battle against the middle class over the last 10 or 15 years!"
Fighting isn't problem-solving. It's politics. Sometimes good politics.
Follow Bill Schneider on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BillSchneiderDC
Rick Horowitz: Shutdowns: A Crisis Here, a Crisis There...
Rabbi Samuel April: Class Warfare?: No Class, No War, No Fair
Aaron Dorfman: Why Nonprofits Should Support the American Jobs Act of 2011
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
The T-Party has exibited clearly that fact.
He had not thought about it before, so could not answer the question. The potential manager left the meeting, declining to work with someone who seemed to be running for ego instead of the US.
-from the book "Game Change"
But he has to stop pandering to cynical Republican politicians! If he stays a gentleman who expects Republicans to change, he will lose. If he drops his illusions and fights, he has a great chance to win.
I don't think you can call all that asenine. How much can a man do with so much opposition from the other side? We need to give him four more years and then talk.
The battle against the middle class began a long time ago. More recently we could start "With the bridge to 21st century." and the real estate meltdown. Yup, Clinton, Mr. Working Class Democrat, said YES, YES, YES, to Wall St and no money down. Monica?
What'd President Change do? He rehired the same think tank that said Wall Street and Las Vegas is good. And now he wants us to believe that he's been on the same side as Joe Public all along the watchtower. You get the President you pay for.
There’s long been more than a sneaking suspicion that President Barack Hussein Obama is a dyed-in-the-wool anti-Semite although there’s no doubt he is more prone to gaffes than even George W. Bush. His closet anti-Semitism may have met his “gaffery” over the weekend at the Congressional Black Caucus awards in Washington.
Quickly scrubbed from the official transcript of Obama’s speech advocating class warfare–technically, he was addressing what he called a growing disparity of wealth in the United States–the president mixed up Jews and janitors before he realized his Freudian slip but he had already been caught by the tale of the (video)tape.
I guess it’s easy to confuse the two. After all, both words begin with a “J.”
Not that much of the mainstream media will make mention of Obama’s “Jews janitors” flub; they’re still more interested in Bush gaffes.
The Jewish vote is, of course, critical to his re-election, not as critical as the black, union, and homosexual votes but very significant nonetheless. He needs money from all of them to hit his goal of a billion dollar campaign chest.
Blacks, unionists, and gays are guaranteed supporters but those Jewish backers have been slip, slip, slipping away in view of the administration’s policies on the Mideast and his kowtowing to Arab potentates and catering to Muslim interests at home. The last thing he needed . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5558)
Example
1. Guantanamo Still open for business
2.Corporate business needs to pay their taxes Could you say GE then hires the Preseident
3.Stop special Interests and how Washington does business yet he hires Trumka
4.Iraq and Afghanistan We are still there
5.Stop the political rancor The president talks with a croaked tongue
6. America needs to stop U.S imperialism May I say Libya
7.stop president Bushes illegal wire taps uhhhh We are still doing it
8. Stop Rendition According to the Pentagram its still justified
9.Sen. Obama "Stop tax increase during a recession"
10 Last but not least Obama Care which is unconstitutional
2. Then he supported the invasion of Libya as a regime change. Something he criticized Bush for.
3. He tanked the EPA attempts this year.
I am a conservative and I am the first to admit these are not the acts of a progressive. I didn't even agree when they were the acts of a conservative. We should not be in a war unless there is a threat or actually an attack on the US [Afghanistan...not Iraq]. If you are going to be a change agent then stand up and have the b*lls to do it. He could have been a historic president. Instead, he is just business as usual but without the competence.
Also, the GOP is no longer a political party. They are owned completely by big industries. Those same industries control a lot of our media. 90 percent of our AM airwaves consist of right wing lobbyists that call themselves talk show hosts.
There has been barely any coverage of the protesters on Wall St, but if a dozen Tea partiers do ANYTHING it is all over the news. When tens of thousands protested in Wisconsin wehardley heard about it. Whoever controls the message will control our future.
The election of 2012, if things don't get better, will be an historic election.
It is time to fight for the people of the USA. I mean the real live people not the corporate "people". It is time to get rid of the Billions of dollars buying the politicians.
It is time to cut all the politicians benefits, pay, and retirement! Make them use the same system the rest of us use.
It is time to refuse to pay any more for a meal than a normal business person get for taking a person to lunch.
It is time to STOP all this nonsense and start doing your job.