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TOPIC: "What Went Wrong - A ‘pre-mortem’ for the Democrats" (Howard Fineman, Newsweek.com 9/12/10)


Diamond

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"What Went Wrong - A ‘pre-mortem’ for the Democrats" (Howard Fineman, Newsweek.com 9/12/10)
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Read @ Newsweek.com

What Went Wrong

A ‘pre-mortem’ for the Democrats.

by Howard Fineman
September 12, 2010

EXCERPT:

Obama—an overachiever, the guy who fills up a second blue book on the extra-credit question—tried to do it all. His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, eager to please the new boss, declared before Inauguration Day: “Never allow a crisis to go to waste. There are opportunities to do big things.” But in doing big things, they failed to fully attend to (and be seen attending to) the immediate economic needs of the middle class. “There hasn’t been the laserlike focus on the economy there could have, and should have, been,” says a top Democratic strategist who declined to be named criticizing the White House.

Take health-care reform. Ten years hence, perhaps, it will be seen as the signal achievement of the Obama years. But for now, it’s an unpopular law that took a divisive year to enact, that liberals and conservatives loathe, that is full of bureaucratic and fiscal IEDs, and that drained attention from dealing with the economy. If you disagree, look at Obama’s speech last week in Cleveland. In 47 minutes, he mentioned health care for about 25 seconds.

Democrats Attempt to Reclaim the Offensive NEWSWEEK's Howard Fineman discusses whether the state of the economy will create a huge Democratic loss during the midterm elections.

Obama misread the clock. Obama was warned before the election that Republicans would try to slow-walk his every nominee, but he never figured out a way around the problem. The administration was slow to staff up, which hampered everything, especially the impact of the stimulus. “Shovel ready” projects identified in the spring of 2009 are often still “unshoveled” because officials aren’t in place to approve them, says Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. “The fact is,” he says, “Obama never really ran anything, even legislatively.” Neither has his closest adviser, message guru David Axelrod.

This might explain why Obama blew so much capital so quickly. In the spring of 2009, the White House strong-armed House Democrats into voting for a cap-and-trade environmental bill, even though it was clear the Senate wouldn’t go along. With this one early vote, the president exhausted his chits with Blue Dog, swing-state moderates and the coal-staters, who were then reluctant to help him on other matters, like the tax changes he wants, and who are refusing now to defend him or the party back home.

Obama misread his surroundings. The president is an agreeable guy, but aloof, and not one who likes to come face to face with the enemy.

Continues @ Newsweek.com
======================

Another article from someone who was a big proponent of Candidate Obama.

This is a very good article dissecting what happened with this presidency.

It is possible that the POTUS took on too much too soon and too much all at once and the messages got diluted...  It is a very plausible explanation.  But I still feel there is more to it than that.  He really does not communicate well. That's where the real issue is.
And, of course, he did not focus on the economic issue that was staring him the face ever ince October 2008.

-- Edited by Sanders on Sunday 12th of September 2010 11:30:45 AM

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Moderator

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It's definitely about more than a communication problem, IMO. It's rare that a politician can't speak with passion about his/her own country, political party, and policy initiatives, etc. They either feel the passion, or learn to fake it. Obama doesn't feel it, and he hasn't bothered to learn to fake it.

Yes, he did bite off more than he could chew. Since he basically had no record prior to 2008, on which to base the belief that he was qualified to be potus, or capable of handling the position, those who were convinced he was some kind of god failed to apply critical thinking skills. There is little reason to be surprised at Obama's inability to lead.

Fineman and other representatives of MSM can accept a portion of the blame. They give Obama a total pass during 2008, no doubt, leading him to believe he would not be held as accountable as other presidents have. The media supported him, campaigned for him, and helped put him in office. Once he was in office, they continued to protect him to some extent, with most of their reporting about the Obama WH being positive. Eventually, they had to begin to ask him the tough questions and hold him more accountable (though still not as much as with past presidents).

MSM helped convinced the public that Obama was The One. No doubt, Obama began to believe he would always receive protection from MSM. His giant ego, his narcissism, and his belief that the usual rules didn't apply to him helped delude him into thinking he could actually do the job - or at least to pretend he could.

-- Edited by freespirit on Monday 13th of September 2010 02:37:27 AM

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