President Obama didn't come out swinging at his press conference. He didn't come out cowering, either. Instead, what he delivered was vintage Obama -- thoughtful, cautious, and boring, the quintessentially conservative president (temperamentally) that Sam Tanenhaus diagnoses in his book, The Death of Conservatism. It was almost as though Obama was acting as though nothing had really changed that much. The One, you could say, clearly remains at one with himself.
In a time of economic prosperity, Obama could afford to play Eisenhower. But an inflamed electorate is rejecting his calm approach, screaming at the kindly but aloof president who doesn't seem able to provide much succor. It's more obvious than ever that Obama is incapable of displaying much emotion, at least publicly.
Instead, he seems to resemble a kind of supercomputer, carefully answering questions, tucking in his talking points to make it clear that he isn't really deviating from his program, such as it is. Obama largely repeated his bromidic message on the Jon Stewart show, where he announced how darn proud he was of Americans for going about their daily business -- educating their kids, showing up for work, taking their vitamins, flossing, walking the dog.
But the gauzy Norman Rockwell normality he invoked won't persuade the electorate at a time of 10 percent unemployment, the Damocles sword that hangs over his head for 2012, when voters will get a chance to weigh in directly on his presidency, which he has largely placed in the hands of Ivy League meritocrats more concerned with protecting their wealthy coevals than the general public. Which is why Obama's paean to Lawrence Summers on Stewart show rang so clangorously, as he praised the oafish Harvard professor for having performed a heckuva job, a phrase that one might have thought would have been permanently exiled from the presidential lexicon.
Still, an optimistic reading would be that Obama has received his wake-up call, but remains a little groggy. There was no incentive for him to show his hand today. He's waiting for the Republicans to display theirs. But if he's going to rescue his presidency, he will need to start acting presidential instead of like a passive observer of it.
(I don’t believe them for a minute.)
But what I don’t hear is Repubs condemning their leadership for making these predictable statements. They ALL say this BS—it is what they say, just as the losers congratulate the winners.
Obama is going to channel the Harry Truman who, after he lost big to the Repubs, went from perceived weakness to “Give ‘Em H3ll Harry.” Just look at how the White House is publicizing McConnell’s statement for Pete's sake! They are highlighting it in the beginning salvo of the battle.
McConnell said, in the very same interview, that he'd be willing to work with Obama if Obama is "willing to meet us halfway." That's called compromise. And that sounds very much in the spirit of Obama's call to "seek out common ground." But no one is criticizing the Right for saying they will compromise. Once again, the Left plays into Repub talking points.
And the exit polls showed that a large majority of Americans are fed up with partisanship. (I am not!) but they say they are. Politicians always try to APPEAR statesmanlike.
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/oct/30/barack-obama/president-barack-obama-claims-mitch-mcconnell-says/
But, I want to see the looks on the American people faces as they realize at the 9th hour that they have only hurt themselves.
Republicans are "unrepentant" and as such with the help of the media has been allowed "to take back the keys" in the house.
The strong steadfast Speaker Of The House held her head up high when asked by some woman on the what passes for the "news' these days. The current speaker replied when asked some weak lame self pity question: "but don't you feel a little sorry deep inside"? The speaker looked directly into the eyes of the "reporter" and stated "When I feel anything I will call you!"
This is the type of politician that the Dem's need to be! God bless you madame speaker!
so if they start arranging these no choice,,, no interest,,, low turn out elections from now on,,, and obama won't have to worry about any dems,,, ever again... Now there's an idea,,, let the bankers run Palin against Hillary,,,, another win win for the banks and another WTF moment for the voters.
Yeah, white men USED to be fairly sane, sans liquor.
As someone of Cherokee lineage, I defy you to prove that statement true.
That's what this week's election was about, nothing more. People are angered and upset at the economy and lackluster job growth, and saw that Congress wasn't doing anything to help the situation. So they took it out on the party in power.
Obama's ultimate appeal was that he was a man of lofty morals and vision.
Once everyone found out that he was just another dirty dealing back room politician; it's something that he will never be able to regain.
"Please... Don't... Hurt... Me..."
But that doesn't mean that we should be blind for the reality in this country. During the past year, the American people have decided to give the GOP 41 Senators. And Republicans decided to filibuster constantly.
In that case, you need all of the 57 Dem Senators (Blue Dogs included), 2 Independents and at least one Republican just to have the legal right to start voting on a bill.
So of course the Dems HAVE to compromise, it's the only way to vote once in a while.
And today things are much worse, there are much more Republicans in Congress, so the Dems will HAVE to compromise MUCH more.
It's called 'democracy', remember?