On the political tone deafness (and political incompetence) of the White House. On the one hand, it’s frightening to have such clueless people running the country. On the other, given that there’s no signs that they will change, it will make the inevitable political retribution all the more useful and satisfying two years hence.
I’ve never bought into the media myth that Obama won because he was a brilliant campaigner and politician. It was the result of a confluence of events (anger at Republicans, incompetent campaign by McCain, economic meltdown in the middle of the campaign, desire to prove we weren’t racist by giving the black guy a chance, etc.) that allowed him to get into the White House, and that are not going to realign in 2012. But I hope that Axelrod, Plouffe, et al continue to believe in their own mythology, because it will prevent them from learning from their mistakes and actually putting together a competent campaign.
[Update a few minutes later]
Obama was to the Democrats what Watergate was to the Republicans. If so, that’s bad news for them, but good news for the country. Imagine how bad 1976 would have been if Nixon had been running again.
[Update a few minutes later]
How the mighty have fallen, and not just Barack Obama:
All pundits, including yours truly, get it wrong sometimes, and normally there would be little point in dwelling on past blunders. But it this case, it is worth exhuming these vaporous and embarrassing stupidities for a few moments. Many of our nation’s intellectual leaders wonder why the rest of the country isn’t more respectful of their claims to be guided by and speak for the cool voice of celestial reason. That so many of them gushed over Barack Obama with all of the profundity of reflection and intellectual distance of tweeners at a Justin Bieber concert should help them understand why their claims of superior wisdom are sometimes met with caustic cynicism.
A significant chunk of the American liberal intelligentsia completely lost its head over Barack Obama. They mistook hopes and fantasies for reality. Worse, the disease spread to at least some members of the White House team. An administration elected with a mandate to stabilize the country misread the political situation and came to the belief that the country wanted the kinds of serious and deep changes that liberals have wanted for decades. It was 1933, and President Obama was the new FDR.
They did not perceive just how wrong they were; nor did they understand how the error undermined the logical case they wanted to make in favor of a bigger role for government guided by smart, well-credentialed liberal wonks. Give us more power because we understand the world better than you do, was the message. We are so smart, so well-credentialed, so careful to read all the best papers by all the certified experts that the recommendations we make and the regulations we write, however outlandish and burdensome they look to all you non-experts out there, are certain to work. Trust us because we are always right, and only fools and charlatans would be so stupid as to disagree.
They’ve got a big problem — we’ve figured out who the real fools and charlatans were and are. It will take at least one more election to purge the system, though. Fortunately, they continue to behave in such a way as to ensure that will happen.
[Update a couple mintues later]
This is an important point, too, that the administration obviously still doesn’t understand:
The President, for all his virtues, lacks the essential gift of a great orator: the power to persuade. If you already agree with Barack Obama, you will be inspired and uplifted by his ability to express your common convictions in dignified and patriotic terms. If you don’t agree with him, you are unlikely to be convinced.
I find him negatively convincing, myself, and always have.
nixon would be term limited in 1976
Imagine how bad 1976 would have been if Nixon had been running again.
Why do you think Nixon was a bad president? Apart from the dirty tricks that is, something many presidents before him were guilty of. It didn’t start with Watergate as they say.
It will take at least one more election to purge the system
You did say “at least” but it’s going to take many more elections (and only if we continue to move in the right direction) before we can even come close to purging the system.
incompetent campaign by McCain,
Rand, there are some interesting observations by Bush in his new book about McCain that reinforces something that I saw in his campaign. I thought it was stupid of him to quit the campaign and rush back to Washington. According to Bush McCain really did not contribute anything to the whole affair after demanding the meeting. Obama was much better prepared for the whole thing. McCain’s poll numbers started dropping after that debacle and rightfully so. Though I am not a big Romney fan, I think that he would have been a much better candidate in 08.
I guess it takes an Obama to wake the country up again about how bad the democrats really are when they take the wheel.
The Mayor of New York called Obama the, “the most arrogant man he ever met.” Coming from Bloomberg I’m not certain if he didn’t mean that as a complement. But for the rest of us it pretty much confirms what we already perceived through his various interactions with other people caught on on video. Most people would tell a Joe the Plumber, “I just want you and whatever business your undertake to succeed is most important to me.” But no, we get a instant and defiant, ‘Damn skippy…”I’m gonna spread your wealth around.” Or the little round table that he had with tourism business owners down in the Gulf while the oil spill was threatening the coast. With shoulders slumped and condescension dripping from the expression on his face, “I can’t just go down there and suck up all the oil with a straw.” Oh really Mr. President? And you stood so convincingly next to that statue of Superman. Us unwashed hillbillies just must of gotten really confused there for a sec. But now that I think about it, I’ve heard 12 year olds dole out better sarcasm than that.
With shoulders slumped and condescension dripping from the expression on his face, “I can’t just go down there and suck up all the oil with a straw.” Oh really Mr. President? And you stood so convincingly next to that statue of Superman.
He claimed that his election would stop the oceans from rising, so why couldn’t he be expected to stop the oil from spilling?
Two years is a long time and many things could happen to rehab Obama’s reputation.
Two years is a long time and many things could happen to rehab Obama’s reputation. Two years is a long time and many things could happen to rehab Obama’s reputation.
True, but when is Obama going to start? If you recall, Donald Rumsfeld resigned the day after the Democrats took over Congress in 2006. I think a similar act of contrition would be the minimum. Say the removal of Geithner or Holder, the two most notable problem children in the administration.
Another successful green job initiative: jobs lost and taxpayers left holding the bag.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/05/stimulus-follies-535-million-down-the-drain-in-california-in-green-jobs/?print=1
Is he foolish, or is this what he wants?
…a much better candidate…
The left got the republican they wanted. It wasn’t an accident. This is a life and death game and the left is playing it to the death… all of ours.
Reid was losing until he called the casino bosses. The ground game doesn’t take as much money as it does intensity. Look at the high percentage of win Angle had outside of Clark county. Some of those people could have been brought in to help to make the difference in Clark county. At least we still have Reid to punch around.
Would the left go after one of their own? (no. They circle the wagon around the most heinous.) What does the GOP do? They allow the most trivial things become a huge negative for Christine who probably knows we don’t have 57 states and isn’t guilty of manslaughter or a member of the KKK. Karl Rove is like those in the McCain camp that went after Sarah. They’re part of the enemy.
The GOP elites do not represent the American people. The GOP tent would get bigger if we eliminated most GOP leaders. That’s what needs to be done in the next decade of elections. The media knows a lot of crap that isn’t true and get pretty swarmy about it. We need to do the same with them as the puppy that poops on the carpet. Rub their nose in it and give them a smack on the nose with the rolled up magazine they write for.
It’s a lot easier for liars to sound intelligent. A person trying to be honest will hesitate to search for the best answer. We’ve got to stop allowing the media (no intellectual giants) from defining smart from stupid. ‘Stimulus’ is stupid. Cutting government spending is smarter.
Eliminating most of the departments of government would be a smart move. Once they didn’t exist. Now we’re to believe we couldn’t exist without them? (That’s the false media position.) Why don’t we start over and eliminate a bunch of departments and replace them with a single department of investigation? One branch of it gets a subordinate that takes the place of the FBI. An other the CIA. Another the NSA and so forth. They all report to one guy that reports to but is independent of the president. It can’t be used to go after political enemies. Instead of a former governor that wouldn’t protect her own states borders we put a police officer or district attorney in charge. Somebody that knows who the bad guys are. Hmmm, Lt. Col and Congressman-elect Allen West might be a good choice. He understands how history brings us to today. A guy that would run through hell with a gas can is the kind of patriot that would have all our backs and would put some fear in his subordinates to take the job seriously (rather than undermining a president because of his/her politics.)
If we’re going to be pragmatic we’ve got to stay angry at the stupidity… for the next dozen elections.
“Why do you think Nixon was a bad president? ” Gee, I dunno, Soliciting multiple felonies, obstruction of justice, subornation of perjury, bribery, more obstruction of justice, perjury… Nope, you’re right. Nixon and his boys were squeaky-clean. Sad part he didn’t need any of that to win in ’72.
I agree with Wingo that running back to DC hurt McCain, but Romney is and always will be a horrible choice. He’s the GOP Obama in that all of his positions come with expiration dates. Remember how he used to vehemently deny he had anything to do, politically, with Reagan or Reaganism?
Mr. Anthony, on the other hand, needs to take a deep breath. Reid won Clark County because Vegas is a union town. You have to do better than bringing in some enthusiasts for a ground game. Also, lets lay off all the “fantasy politics “(although that might make for an entertaining game {g}) and focus on the economy and Obamacare. That’s more than enough to start.
I will give the Obama people this much: they (not Obama) ran an excellent ground campaign getting the vote out all across the country.
Many of our nation’s intellectual leaders wonder why the rest of the country isn’t more respectful of their claims to be guided by and speak for the cool voice of celestial reason.
And this is the problem. They’re assumption of intellectual superiority, simply because they SAY SO!! And BTW, SUPERIOR to whom?
Farmers who feed them? Policemen and military personnel who protect them and who protect their very right to SAY incredibly stupid things? Truck drivers who move their goods around? Cooks, plumbers, waitresses, pizza delivery drivers, computer techs, customers service agents, Texas Hold’Um poker dealers, bar maids, chamber maids, welders, mechanics…….who do the tasks they are neither trained for nor are willing to do for themselves? Just who is it they are so superior to? Which one of the great NON-intellectuals on the list are they willing to live without?
The list of people they look down on could go on for hours, but why do that? We know it’s everyone who doesn’t carry their water, won’t kiss Obama’s mocha @$$, and who had the audacity to vote for their own interests and against more socialism? BFD. It’s majority rule, and this time the majority voted against the intellectual, socialist ideals. They sure as hell thought the majority should rule when it went their way 2 years ago!!
I’m sick of the level of gloating and condescension I’ve heard since Wednesday morning. Most of which began Tuesday night during the actual election reporting. It’s one thing to be defined as the “enemy” of a Neo-Marxist, stuffed shirt, teleprompter dependent, pretty boy. I’m glad Obama set that tone, and I wear being his “enemy” as a badge of honor.
But to be called “unwashed”, “racist”, “foolish”, “unthinking”, “nut”……and again, the list could go on for hours. To be called these things by the Courics, Olbermans, Stephanopouli, of the MSM, is TOO MUCH for me. WhoTF do these people think they ARE?
In order to get both sides of the news I news surf.
I watch the Big 3 MSM and FOX. I read Drudge and NYT. In the 40 odd years I’ve been voting I have NEVER seen or heard this level of post election hate and name calling. And it’s coming from the LOSERS!! I knew they had no objectivity or integrity, but I never thought they’d show this level of pettiness. It was quite shocking. And I am not easily shocked.
I think I’ve gotten a small taste of what it must have been like to be a reasonably educated, thinking, working, black man, in the American South 50 years ago and beyond. Because if being a member of the “Liberal intelligentsia”, and saying anyone who isn’t a member and who doesn’t believe like you and vote like you and follow the creed like you do is in someway “of inferior intellect” or “mean”, or “stupid”, “foolish”, “uneducated”, …there’s the list again…if you are a member who does that, then YOU are the racist, the sexist, and the phobic.
Hating and despising someone who is different, without knowing or trying to meet and understand them is the very definition of ALL the things they accuse others of being!!
In the end I guess I’ve truly come to pity them since Tuesday night.
Mr. Anthony, on the other hand, needs to take a deep breath. Reid won Clark County because Vegas is a union town. You have to do better than bringing in some enthusiasts for a ground game.
Sorry Casey, taking a deep breath is not an option for me (I wish it were.)
Reid won by less than 6% (40k) In other parts of the the state he lost by about 25%. In the morning he realized he was losing in Clark county and put out the word and the bosses stepped up. That’s the ground game in a union town.
My point is that is exactly the battle we need to win. We overwhelmingly won the battle for hearts and minds. 25% is huge.
We can’t let cheaters win. We can’t say, if it’s close, let them have it. We need to embarrass the hell out of them when they’re busing them in and handing them a meal ticket with the name of their candidate just before going into the poll.
Here in AZ they got a homeless guy on as a green party candidate. The left cried foul, but too bad. We’re winning the argument and losing elections we should be winning. We need to be effective in countering that… battling fire with fire. Taking no quarter. We’ll have plenty of time to breath when we’ve fixed all the crap the government has saddled us with.
I’m hoping Miller can do to Murkowski, what Clown Franken did. Perhaps we can discover a few million write ins for Miller (a much easier name to spell, right?) Ok, just kidding. But disqualifying all the invalid write ins is perfectly legitimate.
Gee, I dunno, Soliciting multiple felonies, obstruction of justice, subornation of perjury, bribery, more obstruction of justice, perjury… Nope, you’re right. Nixon and his boys were squeaky-clean. Sad part he didn’t need any of that to win in ‘72.
Ah, but I asked “apart from the dirty tricks”, not because I thought they didn’t matter, but because I got the impression Rand disapproved of his policies too.
Why do you think Nixon was a bad president? Apart from the dirty tricks that is, something many presidents before him were guilty of. It didn’t start with Watergate as they say.
For me, two things. First, that he was a coward, for example, in his dealings with J. Edgar Hoover (rather than get rid of a man he loathed, Nixon waited six years for Hoover to die). Second, that he was probably owned by the Mob (for example, there seems to be a lot of evidence tying Nixon to Mob activities in pre-communist Cuba) for most of his political career (until things started falling apart for the Mob in the early 70s).
I presume Hoover was blackmailing him. And JFK (and JPK Sr) also had interesting links with mob connected people (Sinatra, Exner), especially given RFK’s crusade against the mafia, which ran partially concurrently with CIA-mob operations against Cuba which were also overseen by RFK.