Two American cultural phrases seem to embody the current plight of Barack Obama.
The first is via Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, the early 21st century’s Will Rogers. When Obama appeared on his show and used a phrase made (in)famous by former President George W. Bush, Stewart said: “You don’t want to use that phrase, dude.”
“Dude,” indeed. When some politicians become President they absorb the majesty, grandeur and aura of the office and seemingly become bigger than life. Obama all too often comes across as a “dude” – the nice guy next door who is assertive but is not to be feared. It’s a perception not lost on his political and conservative media foes.
The second apt phrase is from “The Godfather” where Las Vegas casino owner Moe Greene rages at young whippersnapper Mafioso Michael Corleone: “Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!”
When faced with low poll numbers, ballot box defeats, or a sea of talking-points-of-the-day Republican political and talk show opposition, no matter how humble his words there seems an underlying attitude of: “Do you know who I am? I’m Barack Obama! I made my bones being idolized in 2008 by millions as a transformative, post-partisan political movement candidate!”
Yet another parallel to “The Godfather” occurred the morning after the elections — when Barack Obama woke up to find a bloody donkey’s head in his bed.
And House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and other GOPers are already making noises about shutting down the government, arguing in advance that if it happens it’ll be Obama’s fault. In other words: they’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.
.So the operative question becomes: where does Obama go from here?
The copyrighted cartoon by Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant, is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.