The All-American Barack Obama Traveling Disaster Show
Dec 17th, 2009 | 26 responses
We’re a month short of a year since Barack Obama took office with sky-high approval ratings and the people prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt on a range of issues from the economy, to health care reform, to the environment.
I think in order to be fair, we should acknowledge that unlike George Bush, Barack Obama has tackled head on some very difficult, and divisive problems at the outset of his presidency. In contrast, looking at Bush’s situation prosaically, he got some popular legislation passed prior to 9/11 (tax cuts and No Child Left Behind) after which point his popularity rose to spectacular levels as a result of the attacks on America.
It’s easy for a president’s approval ratings to remain high if he doesn’t do anything controversial or is in office during a national security crisis. But president Obama did not have that luxury. He made a deliberate, calculated decision to tackle an economic crisis with a massive expenditure of funds, address global warming by getting the House to pass a carbon trading scheme, and tried to ram a gargantuan health care reform bill through the Congress.
We can argue the merits or demerits of what the president was attempting to do, but what is not at issue is that by addressing these controversial matters, Obama’s approval ratings were bound to drop.
But drop this far?
In December’s survey, for the first time, less than half of Americans approved of the job President Barack Obama was doing, marking a steeper first-year fall for this president than his recent predecessors.
Also for the first time this year, the electorate was split when asked which party it wanted to see in charge after the 2010 elections. For months, a clear plurality favored Democratic control.
The survey suggests that public discontent with Mr. Obama and his party is being driven by an unusually grim view of the country’s status and future prospects.
A majority of Americans believe the U.S. is in decline. And a plurality now say the U.S. will be surpassed by China in 20 years as the top power.
The president’s approval stands at 47% in this WSJ/NBC poll. That’s probably higher than it should be from the standpoint that the president is failing on a number of levels:
* The “stimulus bill,” the writing of which was outsourced to Congress, has not had the anticipated results and a majority of Americans now see it as something of a boondoggle.
* Cap and Trade/Global Warming was in trouble before Climategate with the public becoming increasingly skeptical of both the problem and the solution. Again, the president depended on his congressional lieutenants to carry the load to the point now where any action on the bill is on life support in the senate.
* Health care reform is currently in meltdown. Everybody agrees there is a problem. No one – except the president himself – likes what the process has done to the legislation. It is rare that something could get so screwed up that liberals, moderates, and conservatives can mostly agree – for different reasons – that the bill is a turkey.
It would be false to say the president hasn’t done anything right. Parts of the stim bill, like the monies for alternative energy research and development, were good and necessary expenditures of the public purse, and even parts of the health care bill address critical problems in a reasonable manner. And the president’s foreign policy record, while spotted with jaw dropping naivete in some respects, nevertheless has its good points as well.
But overall, the president simply isn’t delivering. Disaster seems to be overtaking his administration and for whatever reason, he seems powerless to halt the slide.
It could be that the issues are just too divisive, too complex to address. This would be a reflection on the current state of our politics where nuance and complexity are abandoned for sound bites and excessive partisanship. If this be the case, we are in deeper trouble than even that poll might suggest.
But I believe the president’s troubles go beyond the issues or the nasty backbiting that passes for political discourse today. I think a case can be made that the president simply isn’t demonstrating leadership. He is not convincing anyone. He is not inspiring a lot of people. His dealings with Congress are strangely docile and subdued, as if he is holding back, allowing them to take the lead.
He doesn’t appear able to use the full power of his office to get his way. And when he tries hardball – threatening Senator Nelson with the loss of Offut AFB, a key jobs generator in Nebraska for example – he overplays his hand. While he seems adequately engaged on the issues, his prescription for everything appears to be more speeches and town halls or transparent gimmicks like the “Jobs Summit.” Last weekend, he journeyed to the Hill and gave a pro-forma speech to senators – a gimmcky, useless exercise. Later in the week, he dramatically called senators to the White House only to let Rhambo read them the riot act, while the president sat by, all but disengaged from the fray.
Is this a fatal flaw in the president’s personality? We knew so little about the man before he became president that we simply couldn’t judge how his obvious leadership qualities would translate into concrete skills. Perhaps he abhors confrontation. Maybe he is getting bad advice. Whatever the cause, he better figure out a way to right the ship quickly.
With health care, the process has taken on a life of its own. Getting something, anything passed has now become the priority, and with that comes confusion and compromises. Shouldn’t the president be stepping in and drawing a line in the sand “this far and no farther?” This is what the Democratic base wants Obama to do and it is sound advice.
The process is out of control and the senate Democratic caucus is coming unglued because of it. Whether any kind of reform can get through either chamber is now up in the air with liberals taking the lead in opposing the senate bill. And with the president’s base now on the warpath, who is going to support what is clearly a flawed piece of legislation? It appears an impossible task for the president to be able to cobble together a coalition of Democrats that could make reform a reality at this point.
As the president jets off to Copenhagen – another disappointment, although the lack of any significant agreement is not his fault – he leaves behind an administration that is on the precipice of failure. Sure he has three more years to go, and he could no doubt recover enough to beat any Republican challenger in 2012.
But the high hopes and high expectations that he rode into office are fading fast, and by the time he delivers his state of the union speech, he may have to think hard about re-calibrating his priorities and perhaps even re-inventing his presidency.
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26 Responses to “The All-American Barack Obama Traveling Disaster Show”
Like most people intuitively know — that “if we can just get our Foot through the door, we have a chance of opening that door all the way! And, if we don't begin somewhere, and start the “cooking of the egg”, then how much more expensive will healthcare costs become. And, if this is not a good thing, why are they (GOP/ Conserva Dems) fighting so hard to stop it. They too know that if we just get our foot through the door, there will be no stopping. Yes, it is too bad that there are not more in Congress who work for the people, but we have to work with what we have at the moment, take stock of this and work harder for true Jeffersons, and Washingtons and Franklins in the future. They will come…
I have not given up on Pres. Obama; he is fighting old, intrinsic patterns which will not die easily. He is however planting the seeds to their destruction. Take Heart!
POSITIVE EXERCISE: Sit quietly, focus in the third eye, link up with your Soul (the soul is light/love and always works for the good) and visualize health care reform As passed, implemented into law with a public option — for energies always follows thought!
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“But overall, the president simply isn’t delivering. Disaster seems to be overtaking his administration and for whatever reason, he seems powerless to halt the slide.
It could be that the issues are just too divisive, too complex to address. This would be a reflection on the current state of our politics where nuance and complexity are abandoned for sound bites and excessive partisanship. If this be the case, we are in deeper trouble than even that poll might suggest.”
I have long said exactly this. I went so far to say that Obama would find himself in the same position as Hoover. Contrary to popular wisdom, Hoover did try to halt the slide of the Depression…he did a lot (and very similar things to what we are trying) but there was just no way to resolve the problems except through decline. I expect the same thing in this instance but that Obama will have an opportunity in the second half of his term to address issues.
Let's not be critical of the Barackstar.
Take any of your garden variety underemployed lawyers, send them to Springfield, Illinois to vote present a couple of dozen times and then ask them to reverse course and overachieve for once in their life.
The Dems screwed up big time shoving Hillary into the corner.
The issues are certainly daunting and the polls have to be reflecting this as much as they are presidential performance. So what choices are there when any attempts at problem solving are compromised by gratuitous politization? Stronger and more decisive leadership would be interpreted as partisan, and efforts to be accomodating are interpreted as weakness. This is what we've come to. We'd better get our act together as a country soon or the downward slide will continue.
“We knew so little about the man before he became president that we simply couldn’t judge how his obvious leadership qualities would translate into concrete skills.”
No, 48% of us knew what he was like, but when we would point out his flaws, many of you would call us racists.
So, how are you going to spin for him now?
No, a great majority just voted for a Non-Bush, and even though I am a Rep., rightfully so. And even though it could have been closer- without Palin (or Pain, as I call her), O still would have won.
However, O and his transition advisers screwed up by not selecting more a mature/seasoned team.
It's almost like O selected his friends to be on his basketball team and ignored a Jordan or a James.
Not too late, if O can't choose the right paths and the right battles to fight, then get people that can guide him. There is nothing to be ashamed of by asking for guidance if you do not believe your own press clippings.
I've got to feel a bit sorry for Obama at this point, but I can't help but feel that it should have been obvious early on that expectations needed to be managed better. I think his approval ratings and the public's goodwill toward him would have remained higher had he come out of the gate making it clear that things were going to be tough for quite some time no matter what he/we did. In addition, the outsourcing to Congress (particularly when Pelosi was always seen grinning like the cat that ate the canary) didn't inspire confidence about who was in control, and although Obama's cool calm demeanor appeals to some people I don't think he has struck the right tone in the current crisis (instead I think people would respond better to somewhere in between Clinton's 'feeling our pain' and Obama being at the other extreme of nonemotionalism.) Overexpression of emotion isn't good in a leader during crisis, but sometimes what seems like lack of empathy can be maddening.
And finally, as others have pointed out, the failure to adjust agenda also fails to inspire confidence. Crisis requires triage, but the administration insisted that it had to pursue the agenda that it campaigned on in spite of the economic meltdown. That plus the course that the recession took (unemployment spiking higher than they predicted it would without stimulus, let alone with the stimulus bill having passed) suggests that they underestimated the problems.
I think those are just tactics. To me the root issues are much deeper: centralization vs. decentralization, consumerism, wealth inequality, how to handle massive debt, demographics, etc. etc.
Senators Who Voted Against Drug Imports Got More Big Pharma Money:
I think that the President's biggest mistake has been, as CStanley puts it, outsourcing to Congress. I understand that the conventional wisdom is that health care reform, for example, failed before because Bill and Hillary led with a detailed, preconceived plan; however, we voted for change not the same old Washington politics. By defaulting to Congress, he has, a priori, defaulted to the same old politics. This was exacerbated by leading with climate legislation instead of health care. After seeing the travesty Congress attempted to perpetrate with Cap and Trade, what thinking American would think it a good idea to have them lead on health care? It's time for Mr. Obama to show stronger leadership by insisting we start over on health care reform. Some version of Wyden-Bennett would be a good starting point. This plan actually had bipartisan support but was allowed to die on the sidelines of the mixed-up mess now being put forward by the leadership. Health care costs will never be reduced as long as someone else is paying. There is no market incentive for either patients or providers to reduce waste and fraud. Divorcing health insurance from specific employers, and at least limited tort reform must also be a part of any rational plan.
Hear, hear, FadingFast- especially about starting over with something like Wyden-Bennett.
Yeah, I phrased the question wrong. Let me try again: Are there any normal people that think that it's right to stop people from buying legal medicines from other countries?
I'll bite (please withhold comments about whether or not I qualify as a 'normal' person'
)
Actually my feelings are mixed. From the conservative standpoint, I don't think the govt should restrict these purchases. But policy wise, as a change from the status quo now, I do think this will not result in long term savings (the drug companies will stop negotiating such low prices abroad if their US profits are undercut) and if regulations then prevent them from raising prices we'll lose some of the innovation for future drug development as they'll cut R&D if the profits aren't there anymore.
A mixed bag, as I see it, and not the cost saving magic bullet that some people seem to think it would be IMO.
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Good point, cs.
Nonetheless, who can't buy legal drugs from Canadian pharmacies now? Sure, importing bushels of them might raise a Customs' eyebrow, but I have been getting anything I want by internet mail order and nothing has been apprehended. I especially like getting the non-FDA stuff because it is stronger dosed and to me more efficacious.
To your point, might as well keep it low profile, but keep on doing it and saving money.
The point is, folks, that there are a lot of things that the government can do to reduce costs, if it wanted to tackle the special interests directly, without requiring any new spending or new programs — things that non-politicians (and maybe even a few politicians) should be able to agree on.
He's a total figure-head, like the Bush that grew before him. We've entered a time of weak leaders and strong right-behind-me-with-a-gun 2nd in commands: Bush/Cheny – Obama/Biden. I'll give BHO my respect when he does something unexpected, and turning conservative and war-hawk doesn't count….that's just following orders. But I ask the impossible. How brave would I be when surrounded by Secret Service personnel who are put there to PROTECT me, just like they protected Kennedy and Reagan. Right, Mr. Greer?
“president” Obama is ineligible because his father wasn't a U.S. citizen (a requisite to natural born status), but I don't want anything to happen to the man. He's just a pawn in a larger game that I call…..Chutes and Ladders! On sale now, from Hasboro, at a retail outlet near you.
This whole fanfare is much to do about nothing. Reagan went through the same misery under slightly less difficult circumstances and yet many today consider him to be a very successful president.
“I have not given up on Pres. Obama; he is fighting old, intrinsic patterns which will not die easily. He is however planting the seeds to their destruction. Take Heart!”
I'm a conservative democrat (blue dog) and disagree with much of what Obama crusades for. But you are completely correct on this one. He is, indeed, fighting old intrinsic patterns which will not die easily. I respect him for that. It's one thing that (dare I say it) that he and Palin have in common.
(I await the firestorm of hate from the left for that last comment)
I sympathize with you and other Blue Dogs, I took some fire from the Right as a RINO McCain supporter for the last 9 tears. But if they aren't firing at you, your not on the battlefield. Keep up the goof fight from the middle JD.
Just so you know…Bush wasnt in that election…”voting for a non-Bush” got us exactly what we asked for, different but possibly no better. Then again, until the 2-party system gets overhauled, we'll always be looking for the lesser of 2 evils…
9 tears”
Was that a Freudian slip?
Better than the lesser of 7 evils.
Another Feudian slip no doubt.