Obama has been in office now for five years. You would think that in that time he would have built some solid relationships with the rest of the Democratic party, seeing as how he needs them to get his agenda through and they campaign together.
Apparently not.
According to various sources, the Democrats are “frustrated” by Obama, whom they see as too insular and too distant and too arrogant. Said one senior Democratic aide of the past few years, “The communication was terrible, and the overall strategy wasn’t much better ... let’s put it this way, it couldn’t get any worse.”
In fact, Capitol Hill Democrats have some very unflattering things to say:
● Some say he has no attention span: “He hasn’t really ever wanted to have long conversations with my boss. It always seems like he’s watching the clock.”Interestingly, they seem to think that the only reason Obama is willing to talk to them now is because he’s been crushed by Obamacare, by various scandals that have eaten into his reputation, and by his failure to do anything concrete about Syria. This is also why they think Obama has shaken-up his staff.
● Another said, “He’s almost a nonentity almost.”
● Joe Manchin complained last year that Obama waits until “it’s almost to a crisis stage” before he engages Congress.
Is it working? Said one aide, “There’s definitely smoother coordination and they seem more open to hearing what we think.”
LOL! Think about that. This suggests that for the past five years, Obama and his crew didn’t want to hear from the Democrats on the Hill and didn’t care what they thought. This is amazing. For a president to ignore his own party is about as stupid as a general ignoring his commanders or a CEO ignoring his advisors. This really highlights why Obama has been such an utter failure. And for those who don’t think he has been a failure, keep this in mind:
● His popularity is at historic lows and 9 million fewer people (15%) voted for him in 2012 than did in 2008.This is not a record any President would envy.
● His only piece of signature legislation is failing miserably and the public wants it repealed.
● His economic record is the worst since the Great Depression.
● He has zero foreign policy achievements.
● Most of the actions he’s taken by Executive fiat have been reversed by the courts, and every single action he’s taken at the agency level can be undone by the next President on day one.
What’s funny is that the Democrats actually think he's changing. Obama is back from his vacation in Hawaii (the one the celebrity press is now claiming shows that he and Madame O are on the verge of a divorce) and he claims he feels all energized to make a big push to get his second term started... a year late.
It won’t work. Not only do people like Obama not change, but the word “lame duck” is being tossed around liberally (though I wonder if they meant to swap out an 'i' for the 'u'), and as long as the Republicans keep the House, Obama will be a lame duck until the end of his term. The best he can do is issue Executive Orders which can’t give his people what they want and which can’t form the basis of a legacy. These are not happy days for Team Obama.
Well, this is what you get when you hire a man whose track record is aloofness and unearned advancement. And people used to worry that this guy was an evil genius? Good grief.
** This was written before Obama started whining about racism, which is a pretty strong momentum killer.
25 comments:
As a strange aside, there is this from Glenn Beck today, talking about his time on Fox News:
“I remember it as an awful lot of fun, and that I made an awful lot of mistakes, and I wish I could go back and be more uniting in my language because I think I played a role unfortunately in helping tear the country apart,” he told host Megyn Kelly. “And it’s not who we are. I didn’t realize how really fragile the people were. I thought we were kind of a little more in it together. And now I look back and I realize if we could have talked about the uniting principles a little more, instead of just the problems, I think I would look back on it a little more fondly. But that’s only my role.”
More self-aggrandizing BS from Glenn or does he finally get just how far he pushed his followers to the fringe?
On Beck, time and action will tell. Many of my friends and family have slipped off the deep end at times so I'm willing to give him a chance.
I just hope some of the GOP leaders are smart enough not to pull "I told you so's" and start offering real plans.
Koshcat, It's hard to say with Beck. He's "admitted" this before and then kept right on doing what he's doing. Hopefully though, this time is different and he'll start to talk his people back off the ledge.
On the GOP, I'm seeing a real change in how they are approaching things. It's certainly not something I would call great yet, but it is a few baby steps in the right direction. I guess we'll see.
Andrew, Beck is a nut and I think what he's done with his followers can't be fixed. They've reached a level of messianic paranoia that only a Jonestown can fix.
On Obama, I love it. I love seeing the left so frustrated with him. Politico did this article today in which another group of rabid environmentalists are blasting him for destroying the earth. With friends like that, who needs enemies! Here's the link: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/fracking-natural-gas-exports-climate-change-102452.html?hp=l3#.Ut9axbRlBp8
Terry, I know what you mean, but it takes constant reinforcement to maintain that level of anger and paranoia. If people like Beck stop, and others don't take their place, then that will give people a chance to snap out of their condition.
On Obama, I see articles everywhere from leftists about how he's betrayed them. And the Democrats don't like him either. If the next President turns the economy around, look for Obama to become a forgotten footnote in history.
If there's one thing I've never doubted about Beck, it's his sincerity. I might go so far as to credit him with the sincerity of the ignorant. You know, the honest fervor with which a child will tell you something that is completely false because they believe it's true. And, of course, he gathered a following of people who encouraged his every move, so there's all that reinforcement whether he intended it or not. It's easy to armchair quarterback, but from my vantage, it seems that Beck has learned everything there is to know about celebrity the hard way. That's something I don't think he can change no matter how sincere he is about fixing it. He's done a lot of things for which there is no undoing, that's for sure.
---and they feel that Hillary will do a better job.
hahahahahahaha
It's about time the Dems started fighting back. All the Dems up for reelection in the Senate (and House) are terrified of a repeat performance of 2010. They are now going to have to run on the REAL Obamacare fallout and not just the then new legislation.and all that you list above...and possibly a Nuclear Iran! The Republicans will have more to gain by going to the polls just like in 2010 too
I think the whole racist "rant" was directed at the multitudes of Kool-aid swilling Dems who have gone into rehab and the fog is lifting. And the frustration with the promises vs. the reality are kicking in. Obama needs to get them back into the fold and how better than accuse them of being racists. It doesn't really effect Republicans, conservatives, or TP people because we have been called racists so many times in the last 5 years by the Left that it means nothing to us and certainly won't change our minds.
But if you call out faltering white liberal Democrats for being racists because they have grown frustrated with you, that must cut them to the core...because they can tell you that they are NOT racists because they voted for a person of color...and have lots of friends of color (and they'll name each one too!)
LL, they have to believe that Hillary will do better. And I mean that quite literally. Their existence as liberals depends on it. Their whole mindset is built on the idea that if the right person, by virtue of their [insert attributes here], will fix all the problems. Their ideas are never the problem. If they were, they couldn't be liberals any longer.
Bev, Obama isn't going to bring anybody back into the fold by calling them racists. Nor does he have to. As both a lame duck (sic) and a political failure, the Dems are going to distance themselves from him anyway. As I reminded LL, the ideas aren't the problem--so they think--just the individual in question. The Democrats are going to campaign against Obama just as hard as the Republicans will.
You are correct that Obama is directing his "racist" remarks at fellow Democrats, though. He's trying the only way he knows how to stave off the inevitable. He may be able to buy himself some time before the media lynching (OMG, did he just use that word?) begins by calling every criticism racist, but at some point the MSM is going to join in calling "B.S."
Don't expect them to call racism dead, however. They'll just be op-eds and commentary about how Obama doesn't really understand racism, isn't personally affected by it, isn't really "down for the struggle," etc. "Racism is real, but Obama is paranoid." It means ceding a little ground for the race hustlers, but it's ground they'll cede to keep their grievances alive.
tryanmax, Interesting answer. I too think Beck is sincere, I just don't know that it makes a difference. He strikes me as an attention addict. So even if he realizes that he's been causing all kinds of problems, I'm not sure he can stop himself. In many ways, he would make a fascinating Hollywood villain.
LL, Liberals are nothing if not gullible. They'll slowly decide that the next one is the real messiah and will finally take them into the liberal promises land... which doesn't exist. Then they'll slowly become disenchanted when everything goes wrong all over again. Liberalism is what happens when the unteachable people meet the teachable moment... the teachable moment goes unlearned.
Bev, The next time one of them names one of their POC friends... you should ask for a current address so you can verify the claim. ;-)
I think you're right about the racism claim. Screaming racism no longer works with the public, who are sick of it, or with conservatives who have come to take it as a badge of honor. It only works on liberal whites (or to rally liberal blacks)... crying wolf strikes again. So when he said that, I too think his goal was to shore up his white liberal support and gain an easy 5-10% in the polls. Apparently, it didn't work though.
As for the Democrats, this is going to be an interesting election. I have no clue right now how it's going to go. Turn out is key, but I see no evidence that any Democrats plan to turn out, and I hear talk radio trying to stop conservatives from turning out. So this could be an election decided solely by friends and families of the candidates... or close to that.
tryanmax, "as both a lame duck (sic)" LOL! Bravo!
As for your comment, agreed. I think you're absolutely right that liberals protect their ideology by never believing that it has failed. Thus, they turn on the person who was in charge and blame them for failing to do it right. Since Obama is failing, he will be attacked for failing/betraying liberalism and a new messiah will arise. Hillary is the currently designated messiah, but I get the feeling they want someone else. We'll see.
Agreed on the racism charge too. This isn't going to help him because liberalism isn't about what you do, it's about who you do it to. And if Obama is removed from the list of "good liberals" and placed on the list of "false idols" or "corporate Trojan Horses," then he loses the protections afforded to liberals. Hence, no one will jump when he screams racism.
Being a liberal is really complicated. You have to have a set of beliefs that makes no sense... you need to figure out who the herd sees as the next messiah and you need to clap your hands until they can fly... then you need to turn on them at the exact time the herd does, only to repeat the cycle... all the while enforcing a completely hypocritical set of rules. Sheesh.
While I agree with you about liberals protecting the ideology, our side does it just as often (if not more). Until the GOP guts the current platform and replaces it with a less crazy one, the dems will continue to have a chance by just being less crazy.
Bev, did you see this: NYC and snow?
Koshcat, Very true. In fact, it's kind of shocking to see the obvious cause and effect of how people are fleeing conservatism because of the fringe platform for which it stands, and then to hear the fringe scream that the reason we aren't winning is because secret RINOs have kept us from going full retard. It's delusional.
Andrew - It snowed in NYC?? ;-D I live on the Upper Eastside and no, we did not get much love from the city yesterday. It was a mess in Manhattan yesterday except I did notice from the article that the streets around Gracie Mansion (the Mayor's new home) got plowed...even though the Mayor is photographed shoveling his own snow in front of his Brooklyn mini-mansion.
Oh, yeah, just in case you didn't know, Gracie Mansion is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Bev, I thought you might be interested in the whole class warfare aspect and Al Roker taking sides. I thought it was interesting. How many days has this dipstick been mayor?
Let's see, de Blasio has been mayor for 22 days now. And he is all about the class warfare or his "Tale of Two Cities" theme. That's all he talks about how the rich are so rich and the poor are so poor...haven't notices much talk of the middle class though.
Bev, Is there a middle class in NYC?
Barrack Obama was so over-hyped and over-sold politician in history. He used all those tricks he learned from Reverend Wright (theatrical lighting, greek columns, a hidden record, and so on. In essence, he is an almost maniacal egotist (not to mention ideologue.) It truly is all about him. I think he wants to be chairman and C.E.O. of the United Socialist Republic, Inc. Congress and the courts all work for him. I am very tired of him.
Great article. Obama is not only a liberal, he is not a networker or a manager, and both of those abilities are crucial for good presidents. He's Carter II at best.
It will be interesting to see how well Obama can set the table for whoever the Democratic nominee is in 2016. He won't get anything done and his mismanagement and incompetence will continue to piss off people, but if he focuses on the right issues (say, social issues like immigration reform, gay marriage and abortion) he can probably keep Republicans from making much in the way of inroads into most democratic voting blocs.
I'm not saying those issues are losers for Republicans but they are issues where the argument is what is moral, not competence or honesty.
Thanks Anthony! I agree. He lacks the normal political skills it takes to be an effective president.
I don't think Obama will set the table at all. Honestly, I don't think he cares in the least who comes after him, just so long as Obamacare can't be repealed.
On those issues, that is where he'll go to get support. And I think they are losers for the Republicans.
Jed, I'm getting a sense you don't like our Kenyan Overlord?
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