Sitck a fork in it. Obama's presidency is done. He's lost the people. He's adrift. He's screwed the pooch.
Some pundits are already pronouncing the O Era a bust--or suggesting it's near the cliff's edge. In the White House press room, reporters routinely ask press secretary Robert Gibbs if the Obama White House has already lost its mojo. Over at The Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes has declared Obama's stint a "flailing presidency." Given that Barnes considers the Bush presidency one of the best in this country's long history, his success-o-meter may be in need of recalibration. Barnes verdict is based mostly on the AIG bonus mess, which he calls a "crisis." Maybe for Senator Chris Dodd. But for most folks--including the man in the White House--the true crisis is the collapse of the economy. Certainly, the White House did not handle the AIG business well last week. But by bringing up Watergate while referring to the AIG business, Barnes shows how desperate he is to turn a bruise into a coma.
Over at Newser.com, media-poker Michael Wolff also went after Obama. He called him a "terrible bore." And--insult of insults--he compared him to Jimmy Carter. Obama's great sin, in Wolff's eye? He delivered a "turgid teachy fiscal lecture" on Jay Leno's show on Thursday night. Wolff goes on:
The guy just doesn't know what to say. He can't connect.. Emotions are here, he's over there. He can't get the words to match the situation...You can see the fundamental mistake he's making. Having been so successfully elected, he's acting like people actually want to hear what he thinks. He's the great earnest bore at the dinner party. Instead of singing for his supper, he's just talking--and going on at length. The real job of making people part of the story you're telling, of having them hang on your every word, of getting the tone and detail right, the hard job of holding a conversation, he ain't doing.
Last time, I checked, Barack Obama's approval ratings were still relatively high. Much higher than what you might expect of a dinner-table bore. Wolff''s grading scale is a bit odd for a president:
He thinks it's all about him. That we want him for himself--that he doesn't have to seduce, charm, surprise, show some skin.
Wollf's real beef appears to be with Obama's style: "This guy is leaden and this show is in trouble."
It's not my job to do White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' job. But, jeez, in less than two months, Obama has passed one of the biggest spending packages in history (yeah, it has pork in it, as well as billions for progressive programs) and has crafted a budget loaded with various innovations (and hundreds of billions of dollars for expanding health care). He's signed a bunch of executive orders implementing fundamental change on assorted matters of significance,: Gitmo, torture, FOIA, ethics, family planning funds, stem cells research and more. He's signed into law an equal pay bill and a measure expanding the state children's health insurance program. He's brought science back into federal agency decision-making. He's begun a withdrawal in Iraq. He's ordered a review of policy in Afghanistan. He's seeking fresh starts in US relations with Russia and Iran. He's rolled out plans--detailed or not--for dealing with the banking crisis, the mortgage crisis, toxic assets, and excessive corporate compensation. In the works is an additional plan for financial reregulation. And he's done all of this while staffing up the federal government and initiating the process of appointing federal judges.
In the long run, there's no telling whether Obama's policies will work. But if this is what a flailing president can get done, I wonder what a successful one would have accomplished in the last eight weeks. It's too gosh-darn bad that Wolff has not been sufficiently entertained by all the heavy-lifting that has transpired. Obama's done pretty well for a "leaden" Jimmy Carter clone. But Wolff, who mentions not one policy action of Obama's, is not engaged by "this show." Well, this ain't The Sopranos.
Obama's made mistakes. And perhaps his most crucial Cabinet pick--Timothy Geithner--has yet to prove he can do the job well. But it's a bit early to write Obama off as another Carter, as Wolff does, or Nixon, as Barnes suggests. There's a bigger show playing than what either of these guys are watching.
CORN ON C-SPAN. I was on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this past Sunday. I took a few whacks at Barnes (see above) and others. Here it is:
You can follow my postings and appearances via Twitter by clicking here.
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Comments
DC,
You've done the same thing?
When the "news" is what the pundits think - you've already lost my interest.
How about reporters like Jeff Gannon when Bush was president? Those kind of softball questions from the like of hardcore sychophants seem to have been quelled by the failures of the Bush administration.
Maybe the WH press corps should have Joe "not a plumber" come in for some balance? (kiddin)
I guess it just goes with the territory. I had thought that only right wing idiots could line up behind a talking head and give him complete obeisance.
But it apparently also happens to the nicest people.
People: Paul Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times. He sells a column. He is a newspaper talking head now moved to TV. Why? Because he says controversial stuff and sounds like a Cassandra. He did this during the campaign when he shilled for Hillary. He hates Barack Obama as much as Rush Limbaugh. He gets up every single day thinking of ways to bash Obama, and way too much of the progressive blogosphere is falling for it. He did not run for office. He did not convince one voter to vote for him.
He is one economist among many thousands, very few of which agree with his prescriptions.
He is a faux populist. Don't drink the Krugman Kool Aid.
(CNN) – President Obama's chief economic adviser Monday beat back recent criticism from liberal economist Paul Krugman over the administration's latest bank rescue plan, telling CNN Krugman was too quick to pass judgment.
"Paul's a great economic theorist and I wish he'd waited until the plan had been announced and the steps had been described before he had written his column," said Larry Summers, the director of the White House's National Economic Council.
Writing in the New York Times Monday, Krugman said the latest plan unveiled by the Treasury "fills me with a sense of despair" and "assumes that banks are fundamentally sound and that bankers know what they’re doing."
The plan, fully unveiled Monday morning, proposes taxpayer funds to seed partnerships with private investors that will buy up toxic assets backed by mortgages and other loans. The goal is to buy up at least $500 billion of existing assets and loans, such as subprime mortgages that are now in danger of default.
Speaking on The Situation Room, Summers defended the plan, saying it is not designed to be a cure all for the banking system.
"What Mr. Krugman did today surprisingly was he took an action in one area — strengthening the capital markets — and he said it didn't solve another problem — the issues in the banking system. He's right about that. But it wasn't intended to," Summers said.
What most people are not discerning is, is that Pres. Obama is somehow aiding us in facing this "shadow" or darkness of greed in our society. He is not trying to Hide it or Cover it up! Ironically, he is being blamed for not trying to Fix it in a hurry, so it will not be Exposed..... But to truly fix it, we must face it, identify it and generate enough public consensus so that it can be changed. That is how change is made. That is why I see Pres. Obama as really a true change agent. True and lasting change can only come from the people, demanding change. That is why Obama can laugh, he knows that the fat cats days are numbered!
Now GOP's new buzz word is "unsustainable", however, what was really "unsustainable" as the recent events so adequately portray is that George Bush's Iraq War, tax cuts to the wealthy, jobs going over seas, tax breaks to companies that shipped jobs over seas, deregulation of banks and insurance companies, and more (which I will leave to the experts to flush out), is the really true Unsustainable and break down and collapse of our economic system, fabric of society (bridges, roads, jobs, education), you name it, he failed in all aspects of this society. There are "tent" cities popping up all over United States because families can no longer sustain to live in a house because they no longer have a job!
This new buzz word "unsustainable" is a hoax, disingenous and hypocritical. Remember, they want Pres. Obama to Fail!
And lastly, let's be Clear, George W. Bush's first year in office was spent more at the Ranch then in Washington. Where was the Party of No's outrage then? May be if George had spent more time in D.C. working, they would have been more alert about the signs leading to 9/11, just a thought.....
"He's the great earnest bore at the dinner party."
Dinner party? We're watching an economic meltdown, and he's talking about dinner parties? Okay, we now know his mindset and milieu.
The last time pundits were blathering on about being "earnest" and "boring", the "earnest" and "boring" politician went on to win a Nobel prize. We ended up with the booby prize, followed by a meltdown.
Up is down, etc. Give me more "boring", please, we're having enough excitement now for the next hundred years.
capt., i think krugman is being overreactive in bashing geithner, but i don't trust larry summers either. from david corn's cspan appearance (roughly transcribed):
>>back in the clinton years there was a debate wether to regulate things like credit default swaps. the CFTC (commodites future trading commission) wanted to. at that time, robert rubin and larry summers, who were serving the clinton administration, and alan greenspan and all the republicans, phil gramm ... didn't want to. <<
summers deregulation fetish is partly to blame for why we are where we are.
also, larry summers, strongly supportive of nafta, recently came out and expressed hope obama doesn't seek to reform it like he's said he would. he's undercutting obama by implying obama doesn't mean what he say. idiotic thing to do. he needs to keep his personal opinions to himself and learn to reflect obama's agenda.
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Comments
DC,
You've done the same thing?
When the "news" is what the pundits think - you've already lost my interest.
Posted by: capt
| March 23, 2009 12:10 PM
The real question is: "Why should we care what Wolff thinks, when he seems to know more about the news business than the business of politics?"
Posted by: Antidote
| March 23, 2009 1:30 PM
CSPAN!
HA! Opening line was out of the ball park.
How about reporters like Jeff Gannon when Bush was president? Those kind of softball questions from the like of hardcore sychophants seem to have been quelled by the failures of the Bush administration.
Maybe the WH press corps should have Joe "not a plumber" come in for some balance? (kiddin)
Posted by: capt
| March 23, 2009 2:51 PM
david, is there some secret agreement amongst media or tv pundits not to criticize bernanke or the fed?
Posted by: omen
| March 23, 2009 6:32 PM
the list of obama accomplishments you've enumerated is supposed to be negated by the fact that he uses a teleprompter.
Posted by: omen
| March 23, 2009 6:37 PM
This is silly. Instead look at what TNYT writers have had to say about the BHO team's handling of the economy.
Posted by: David B. Benson
| March 23, 2009 7:40 PM
Krugman's Dittoheads/Krugman's Kool Aid
I guess it just goes with the territory. I had thought that only right wing idiots could line up behind a talking head and give him complete obeisance.
But it apparently also happens to the nicest people.
People: Paul Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times. He sells a column. He is a newspaper talking head now moved to TV. Why? Because he says controversial stuff and sounds like a Cassandra. He did this during the campaign when he shilled for Hillary. He hates Barack Obama as much as Rush Limbaugh. He gets up every single day thinking of ways to bash Obama, and way too much of the progressive blogosphere is falling for it. He did not run for office. He did not convince one voter to vote for him.
He is one economist among many thousands, very few of which agree with his prescriptions.
He is a faux populist. Don't drink the Krugman Kool Aid.
http://tinyurl.com/cc6uaw
Posted by: capt
| March 23, 2009 7:51 PM
Summers beats back at Krugman
(CNN) – President Obama's chief economic adviser Monday beat back recent criticism from liberal economist Paul Krugman over the administration's latest bank rescue plan, telling CNN Krugman was too quick to pass judgment.
"Paul's a great economic theorist and I wish he'd waited until the plan had been announced and the steps had been described before he had written his column," said Larry Summers, the director of the White House's National Economic Council.
Writing in the New York Times Monday, Krugman said the latest plan unveiled by the Treasury "fills me with a sense of despair" and "assumes that banks are fundamentally sound and that bankers know what they’re doing."
The plan, fully unveiled Monday morning, proposes taxpayer funds to seed partnerships with private investors that will buy up toxic assets backed by mortgages and other loans. The goal is to buy up at least $500 billion of existing assets and loans, such as subprime mortgages that are now in danger of default.
Speaking on The Situation Room, Summers defended the plan, saying it is not designed to be a cure all for the banking system.
"What Mr. Krugman did today surprisingly was he took an action in one area — strengthening the capital markets — and he said it didn't solve another problem — the issues in the banking system. He's right about that. But it wasn't intended to," Summers said.
http://tinyurl.com/dagrlf
Posted by: capt
| March 23, 2009 7:54 PM
What most people are not discerning is, is that Pres. Obama is somehow aiding us in facing this "shadow" or darkness of greed in our society. He is not trying to Hide it or Cover it up! Ironically, he is being blamed for not trying to Fix it in a hurry, so it will not be Exposed..... But to truly fix it, we must face it, identify it and generate enough public consensus so that it can be changed. That is how change is made. That is why I see Pres. Obama as really a true change agent. True and lasting change can only come from the people, demanding change. That is why Obama can laugh, he knows that the fat cats days are numbered!
Now GOP's new buzz word is "unsustainable", however, what was really "unsustainable" as the recent events so adequately portray is that George Bush's Iraq War, tax cuts to the wealthy, jobs going over seas, tax breaks to companies that shipped jobs over seas, deregulation of banks and insurance companies, and more (which I will leave to the experts to flush out), is the really true Unsustainable and break down and collapse of our economic system, fabric of society (bridges, roads, jobs, education), you name it, he failed in all aspects of this society. There are "tent" cities popping up all over United States because families can no longer sustain to live in a house because they no longer have a job!
This new buzz word "unsustainable" is a hoax, disingenous and hypocritical. Remember, they want Pres. Obama to Fail!
And lastly, let's be Clear, George W. Bush's first year in office was spent more at the Ranch then in Washington. Where was the Party of No's outrage then? May be if George had spent more time in D.C. working, they would have been more alert about the signs leading to 9/11, just a thought.....
Posted by: bacaangel
| March 24, 2009 8:05 AM
George W Bush - that name does ring a bell. . .
Hmmmmm
I think I've heard that name connected to something . . .
lol
Posted by: capt
| March 24, 2009 8:16 AM
"He's the great earnest bore at the dinner party."
Dinner party? We're watching an economic meltdown, and he's talking about dinner parties? Okay, we now know his mindset and milieu.
The last time pundits were blathering on about being "earnest" and "boring", the "earnest" and "boring" politician went on to win a Nobel prize. We ended up with the booby prize, followed by a meltdown.
Up is down, etc. Give me more "boring", please, we're having enough excitement now for the next hundred years.
Posted by: Bruce B
| March 24, 2009 9:01 AM
capt., i think krugman is being overreactive in bashing geithner, but i don't trust larry summers either. from david corn's cspan appearance (roughly transcribed):
>>back in the clinton years there was a debate wether to regulate things like credit default swaps. the CFTC (commodites future trading commission) wanted to. at that time, robert rubin and larry summers, who were serving the clinton administration, and alan greenspan and all the republicans, phil gramm ... didn't want to. <<
summers deregulation fetish is partly to blame for why we are where we are.
also, larry summers, strongly supportive of nafta, recently came out and expressed hope obama doesn't seek to reform it like he's said he would. he's undercutting obama by implying obama doesn't mean what he say. idiotic thing to do. he needs to keep his personal opinions to himself and learn to reflect obama's agenda.
Posted by: omen
| March 24, 2009 8:01 PM
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