President Obamas cheerleaders are starting to peel away along with his approval ratings and its a fascinating sight to behold. They offer different reasons but they all boil down to one obvious thing -- Obama is first and foremost about Obama -- and one less obvious: He has been a failed president.
Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen admittedly more centrist than most of their Democratic counterparts penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal urging Obama to abandon his candidacy for re-election. The authors conclude that the only way Obama could possibly win in 2012 would be to wage the most negative campaign in history because he has no successful record to run on. If he would happen to win in that way he wouldnt be able to govern they say so he should step aside and allow Hillary Clinton to run.
Their main beef with Obama seems to be his extreme partisanship which is a particularly damning indictment coming from fellow Democrats. Should he resign they argue he would be in a better position to work with Republicans toward a more constructive dialogue about our nations future instead of obsessing over whether he or George W. Bush is more to blame for our problems.
I dont agree that Obama would be any easier to work with if he were to withdraw from the race but it is significant that two credible Democrats both still loyal to their party concede that Obama is hyper-partisan and hopelessly mired in the quicksand of scapegoating his predecessor.
Even more interesting was the viral video of Chris Matthews explaining to fellow MSNBC host Alex Witt why his Obama-thrill is gone. This represents quite a fall from Matthews previous perch of Obama hero worship.
Matthews clearly believes that Obama peaked about the time his campaign ended and his term in office began because the day he was inaugurated with the Mall filled with people African-Americans and everyone else he sent us all home and said Thank you. Now watch how smart I am. Thats the worst kind of a notion of the presidency.
Matthews is also upset that Obama is running a virtual presidency through endless impersonal emails rather than building and exploiting the interpersonal relationships that are vital for effective governance. On that score he laments: I hear stories (from members of Congress) that you will not believe. Not a single phone call since the last election.
Matthews is an incorrigible idealist with a romanticized notion of politics longing to relive his childhood conception of statecraft as a Camelot Neverland. He is livid at Obama for giving him a political fix with all that grandiose Yes we can rhetoric and then removing it like a sadistic parole officer as soon as he was inaugurated.
Matthews wants a leader not just to provide that fix but also to follow it up with a vision and policies to realize the vision. But heres whats revealing: Matthews excoriates Obama for failing to say one thing about what hed do in the second term. He never tells us his plan for Medicare Medicaid Social Security the tax system or the long-term debt.
I think Matthews is disillusioned with Obama on two levels. First he feels betrayed that Obama the person is so different from Obama the pseudo-messiah he calculatingly portrayed himself to be during the campaign. Hes ultimately about himself; hes all hat and no cattle -- something many of us knew years ago. He doesnt share Matthews idealism about politics and he is an abject fraud for pretending to.
Second whether or not he fully realizes it or its implications Matthews is frustrated that Obama the apparently quintessential liberal hasnt been able through their shared ideology to produce prosperity and world peace.
There is a disconnect at work here with Matthews anger at Obama for doing precisely what liberals do. Obama shoved through a radically liberal agenda -- the kind that should earn him permanent gratitude from a liberal such as Matthews and it has led to economic catastrophe. Matthews at least in part is furious at Obama perhaps subconsciously for proving that Matthews lifelong ideology is an epic fail.
But in fairness Matthews is also rightly disgusted with Obama for refusing to provide leadership or show even a modicum of willingness to work in good faith to extricate us from these horrendous economic entitlement and debt problems which maddeningly are occurring on a liberal presidents watch.
Matthews pleads: Just tell us Commander. Give us our orders and tell us where were going. Give us the mission. And he hasnt done it.
I feel your pain Chris but we tried to warn you.
David Limbaugh brother of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is an expert in law and politics and author of new book Crimes Against Liberty the definitive chronicle of Barack Obamas devastating term in office so far.
President Obamas cheerleaders are starting to peel away along with his approval ratings and its a fascinating sight to behold. They offer different reasons but they all boil down to one obvious thing -- Obama is first and foremost about Obama -- and one less obvious: He has been a failed president.
Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen admittedly more centrist than most of their Democratic counterparts penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal urging Obama to abandon his candidacy for re-election. The authors conclude that the only way Obama could possibly win in 2012 would be to wage the most negative campaign in history because he has no successful record to run on. If he would happen to win in that way he wouldnt be able to govern they say so he should step aside and allow Hillary Clinton to run.
Their main beef with Obama seems to be his extreme partisanship which is a particularly damning indictment coming from fellow Democrats. Should he resign they argue he would be in a better position to work with Republicans toward a more constructive dialogue about our nations future instead of obsessing over whether he or George W. Bush is more to blame for our problems.
I dont agree that Obama would be any easier to work with if he were to withdraw from the race but it is significant that two credible Democrats both still loyal to their party concede that Obama is hyper-partisan and hopelessly mired in the quicksand of scapegoating his predecessor.
Even more interesting was the viral video of Chris Matthews explaining to fellow MSNBC host Alex Witt why his Obama-thrill is gone. This represents quite a fall from Matthews previous perch of Obama hero worship.
Matthews clearly believes that Obama peaked about the time his campaign ended and his term in office began because the day he was inaugurated with the Mall filled with people African-Americans and everyone else he sent us all home and said Thank you. Now watch how smart I am. Thats the worst kind of a notion of the presidency.
Matthews is also upset that Obama is running a virtual presidency through endless impersonal emails rather than building and exploiting the interpersonal relationships that are vital for effective governance. On that score he laments: I hear stories (from members of Congress) that you will not believe. Not a single phone call since the last election.
Matthews is an incorrigible idealist with a romanticized notion of politics longing to relive his childhood conception of statecraft as a Camelot Neverland. He is livid at Obama for giving him a political fix with all that grandiose Yes we can rhetoric and then removing it like a sadistic parole officer as soon as he was inaugurated.
Matthews wants a leader not just to provide that fix but also to follow it up with a vision and policies to realize the vision. But heres whats revealing: Matthews excoriates Obama for failing to say one thing about what hed do in the second term. He never tells us his plan for Medicare Medicaid Social Security the tax system or the long-term debt.
I think Matthews is disillusioned with Obama on two levels. First he feels betrayed that Obama the person is so different from Obama the pseudo-messiah he calculatingly portrayed himself to be during the campaign. Hes ultimately about himself; hes all hat and no cattle -- something many of us knew years ago. He doesnt share Matthews idealism about politics and he is an abject fraud for pretending to.
Second whether or not he fully realizes it or its implications Matthews is frustrated that Obama the apparently quintessential liberal hasnt been able through their shared ideology to produce prosperity and world peace.
There is a disconnect at work here with Matthews anger at Obama for doing precisely what liberals do. Obama shoved through a radically liberal agenda -- the kind that should earn him permanent gratitude from a liberal such as Matthews and it has led to economic catastrophe. Matthews at least in part is furious at Obama perhaps subconsciously for proving that Matthews lifelong ideology is an epic fail.
But in fairness Matthews is also rightly disgusted with Obama for refusing to provide leadership or show even a modicum of willingness to work in good faith to extricate us from these horrendous economic entitlement and debt problems which maddeningly are occurring on a liberal presidents watch.
Matthews pleads: Just tell us Commander. Give us our orders and tell us where were going. Give us the mission. And he hasnt done it.
I feel your pain Chris but we tried to warn you.
David Limbaugh brother of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is an expert in law and politics and author of new book Crimes Against Liberty the definitive chronicle of Barack Obamas devastating term in office so far.
