September 18, 2013

Politico writers offer suggestions for how Obama can "comfort himself" as he's beset by "the Washington echo chamber."

As if mainstream journalists have been so unfairly cruel to the man, they've got a list of "what’s still right with Obama."
• His personality

... His smile remains dazzling...

• His normality

... a healthy ego, but ... longstanding ability to coolly assess his circumstances and then adapt...

• His enemies

... Ted Cruz....

• His party

... Democrats...

• His luck

... As president, Obama overruled pragmatic advisers like his then-chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who urged him to hold off on a health care overhaul. “I feel lucky,” he said at the time. “I think we can get it done.”

Months later, with public poll ratings for his proposal in the cellar, Emanuel asked the president if he was still feeling lucky. “My name is Barack Hussein Obama and I’m sitting here,” he said. “So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty lucky.”
I wonder where Obama would be right now if he'd listened to Rahm Emanuel and not coasted on his luck, his normality, and his personality as he let his party play him into making his whole presidency about health insurance. But yeah, there's always how awful the GOP is. Talk about that. That fiend, Ted Cruz!

44 comments:

Henry said...

This was recycled from the Warren Harding administration.

Henry said...

Or the Franklin Pierce administration. One thing about Pierce: He was a good looker.

machine said...

I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain...

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The party loyalty mainstream press are obsessed with Ted Cruz. It's like a mental illness.

peacelovewoodstock said...

As if Obama needs Politico to remind him to revel in his own wonderfulness.

Ron said...

Marilyn Chambers never gave such a blow job!

Bob Ellison said...

That Politico essay was apparently a companion to another called What's wrong with President Obama?.

Who writes essays like these? Campaign consultants. Karl Rove probably wrote "What's wrong/right with W" back in 2004.

And what's with the Ted Cruz thing? The news outlets and the Democratic party are fixated on him. They're trying to kill his political future.

This didn't happen in 2004, when Obama made the DNC speech that launched his incredible rise to power. I remember thinking "that guy could be President", and nobody stopped him. Cruz is just a guy in the Senate, but even David Brooks is trying to put him down. Is Cruz really that scary?

Unknown said...

and it says a lot that the press considers his enemies to be the other political party and not, i don't know, actual enemies (shockingly not shocking)

Peter said...

Well, that's the thing about the Obama presidency: it's not about the USA, or the USA's place in the world.

No, it's about Obama. Obama, the star. It's not about us, it's all about the star!

dave in boca said...

Politico's two hacks forgot the "left-wing echo chamber" of the mainstream media.

Paul Kirchner said...

Obama's smile may be dazzling, but it always looks to me like the smile of self-adoration--inner directed, rather than outward.

Ron said...

Everytime these hacks froth over the current Republican Threat Of The Moment it makes me think how much better President Palin would be compared to the current Fetish Of The United States.

Dr.D said...

Cruz is my Senator, and I am extremely proud of his positions, his ability to throw the Dems into a tizzy, and his overall class and conduct. If we had many more like him in the Senate, they would break Dingy Harry, and that would be a great thing for the USA.

traditionalguy said...

Presenting life as a choice between two sides, one good and the other bad is as old as Rhetoric. Lawyers do it. Parents do it. Westerns from the 1930s do it.

The truth is that proving the other side to be the the Bad Man does not prove that you are the Good Man. But it still works every time and the Media Warriors engage in it 24/7.

Unknown said...

Lord Chesterfield said, "When a man believes in his own, and decides and stick will do to beat his opponents, that is when he picks up a boomerang."

I read that in Garry Wills' book "The Kennedy Imprisonment".

SGT Ted said...

And what's with the Ted Cruz thing?

He is a GOP politician that communicates conservatism well and is popular with the Tea Party types. The left always targets those people for personal destruction in order to render them ineffective, just like they do. They can't argue against the ideas, so they go for character assassination and other ad hominem arguments.

Mark O said...

Ted Cruz: an actual Harvard Law Review editor. Obama, not so much.

cubanbob said...

I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain...


Now that's funny!

damikesc said...

machine, if the opposition wasn't willing to sabotage the economy, we wouldn't have had the crash in 2008.

The hatred for Ted Cruz is little more than sheer racism. Can't have those Hispanic-like people not doing what happy little progressives want.

I'm Full of Soup said...

The big question is will Obama be an even angrier ex-President than Carter?

Michael K said...

"I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain.."

I wonder the same thing about the majority party. I do have to concede that it's working so far. Mussolini made the trains run on time, you know.

TML said...

Seriously?

• His enemies
Simply put, Obama’s positions on the issues are vastly more popular than the extreme views of his die-hard opponents in Congress and the right-wing echo chamber.


BarrySanders20 said...

machine said...
I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain...

It was the JOOOOOOOOOs!

Matt Sablan said...

I'm indifferent on Ted Cruz. But, presidents make their own luck.

SteveR said...

Machine blames the republicans for 2009 and 2010.

cubanbob said...

Everytime these hacks froth over the current Republican Threat Of The Moment it makes me think how much better President Palin would be compared to the current Fetish Of The United States."

Heck even a broken clock would be a better president. At least it would be right twice a day-a level of accuracy yet to be achieved by The Choom Administration.

Speaking of the new birtherism by the left-calling Cruz a Canadian-at least he is giving his Canadian citizenship up. Anyone know when BHO gave up his Kenyan and Indonesian citizenships?

Speaking of Palin I believe her college records are out and available to the public and so are Cruz's records if I am not mistaken. What's The Smartest Man In The Room hiding?


Carnifex said...

I like Ted Cruz for the sam reason Titus likes him...an even bigger set of balls than Sarah Palin.

I'm sick of mush mouth politicians whose only interest is the next donation check, and re-election prospectus.

PS. You wanna take the corruption outta DC, pass a law that sez when you leave the government, you have no more than when you started in government. No more multi-million dollar congress-critters.

SteveR said...

Simply put, Obama’s positions on the issues are vastly more popular than the extreme views of his die-hard opponents in Congress and the right-wing echo chamber.

Yeah, too bad his positions on the issues are designed to get him elected and aren't really good for actually governing and leading the country. Its not about everyone just doing what he wants. Lead. Negotiate. Build Consensus. Compromise. STOP GIVING SPEECHES!

mtrobertsattorney said...

There is a simple explanation for the obsession the left and the mainstream press have with Cruz.

When a low-information voter listens to Cruz, he suddenly finds his information level has increased.

Hyphenated American said...

"I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain..."

True that. To begin with, South Vietnam would be independent and prosperous like South Korea, and we could have won the Cold War earlier, and the Iraq war could have been won earlier - and Obama would have not been a senator from Illinois. Of course, Reagan's reform of Social Security and Medicare would have fixed those programs long time ago too, and our debt would have been much lower. Dreams, dreams...

Anonymous said...

"His normality
The presidency has long attracted neurotic personality types, but Obama is not among them. He has a healthy ego,but his longstanding ability to coolly assess his circumstances and then adapt to them means that he is still better positioned than most of his peers to work his way out of problems...In his first campaign and throughout the troubles of his tenure, he has kept perspective, often telling David Axelrod, “If things don’t work out, I’ve already got a pretty good gig being Barack Obama.”

Could that be interpreted as "I may be having problems, but I'm still Barack Obama so that's still the best thing in the world. Being Barack Obama." Or am I being unfair?

Sam L. said...

Damned glad I wasn't drinking when I read "normality"!

traditionalguy said...

I would not give Obama a pass on having a "health ego."

He demonstrates a healthy Ego as a method actor plays a part. But he is unable to process criticism. That means the healthy ego is a trick to charm people, just like his loving smile trick does. Instead he goes after his critics secretly, and he uses the many crafty women appointees or incompetant men to do the deeds to further disguise from us his inner hatred of normal Americans daring to live in peace and prosperity.

machine said...

"You have never seen in the history of the United States the debt ceiling or the threat of not raising the debt ceiling being used to extort a President or a governing party, and trying to force issues that have nothing to do with the budget and have nothing to do with the debt."


WATBs...

Mark said...

Once upon a time I considered writing romance novels. (Hey, I was making a living freelancing, I'm not proud.) I read one (well, the first chapter) and decided I just couldn't do it.

Apparently I have better morals, ethics, and esthetics than Politico.

Cedarford said...

BarrySanders20 said...
machine said...
I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain...

It was the JOOOOOOOOOs!

=================
The "Joooos" are with him far more than against him. Besides the slavering "Joooo" dominated media/Hollywood/high finance folks adoring him, the whole Jewish groups pro-Obama demographics put them right behind blacks as Obama as his most ardent boosters.

paminwi said...

AJ at 9:32am - your comment came up at our "ladies lunch" today and our consensus was that "yes" he will be an awful ex-president.

test said...

machine said...
I wonder where the country would be if the opposition party wasn't so willing to sabotage the economy for political gain...


We wouldn't have Obamacare for starters.

damikesc said...

machine, Obama did EXACTLY that.

Called raising the debt ceiling a failure of leadership and an attack on the youth.

Obamacare is a huge reason for our issues. Kills employment, increasing debt, increasing the number of uninsured...

I'm Full of Soup said...

Paminwi: thanks for confirming my gut feeling that he will be Carteresque!

Titus said...

I know this is very distraught for you white and fat and incredibly old pubes who worship the free markets....(?)

But this is the country you now live in old white non existent male pubes.

Embrace it.

Your country you want to come back is never going to.

More Mary Jane, more fag marriage and more multicultarsm. Face it....you are fucked old white straight fattys.

Now move on and enjoy your lives. The Urban/Creative Economy rule this country. All the technology you are getting a hard on was created by the coasts....not Alabama or Mississippi....you peeps are tired and has beens.

Now enjoy your social security.

Tarrou said...

Oh media, you continue your pathetic relationship with our president.

In the past, presidents actually had to go procure sad pudgy naive women to service them surreptitiously.

Now the media, watchdog of the Republic, scourge of the incumbents, the Fourth Estate, does this for free. Congratulations Politico, you're another blow-up-doll for the Democratic Party. I'd be sad about your fall from grace if you ever had any.

MayBee said...

... a healthy ego, but ... longstanding ability to coolly assess his circumstances and then adapt...

What I like about this is if you take out the word "coolly", you end up with a trait every functioning adult must have. So awesome!

Unknown said...

I thought the President, himself, said his enemy was Rush Limbaugh. No, maybe those behind the phoney scandals. Or was it the Constitution? Ah-ha, the President, himself.