This
Christine M. Flowers: On Election Day, the words mattered
Quote:
Our 44th president is a man who has an excellent brain and a not-infrequently childish disposition and who thinks he knows what is best for everyone but has neither the patience nor the humility to deal with those who preach a different way. He's both brilliant - and exceedingly petulant.
His opponents sometimes aren't much better, of course. In politics, you always have to deal with the undisciplined and unmannered fellow who screams out in a public venue, "You lie!"
But the man who rode in on a wave of hope and change, accompanied by doves and butterflies, should be better than that. His "enemies" comment is only one example of how he really isn't.
It's not completely his fault. Our president has been spoon-fed the myth of his own exceptionalism ever since he first hit the national scene with a speech that urged us to follow our better angels and work together.
It was poetry, however, without conviction. Obama seems to confuse disagreement with his policies with attacks on his character. And that's why he meant what he said when he used the word "enemies." Many of the voters who cast their ballots Tuesday understood that.
And unfortunately, the above gives us a clue as to what President Obama may decide to do over the next few months. In 1994, when President Clinton got thumped in his first mid-term election, he embarked on the process of triangulation and a move to the center...and as a result, was re-elected and most consider his two terms a success.
I would look for a key predictor to see if President Obama is going to follow the same path as President Clinton: listen to his explanation of why the Democrats lost. It is worth remembering that the elections in 1994 were preceded by the September 1994 enactment of the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban," and Clinton believed it was the enactment of that law that cost Democrats their majorities in Congress. One would conclude that Clinton was politically savvy enough to realize that if he wanted to accomplish anything in the rest of his term, he'd better move closer to that group of voters who delivered the thumpin'.
Unfortunately, if Christine Flowers is correct then it may not be within President Obama's personality to do the same thing that President Clinton did. As a result, we may be in for more gridlock and conflict ahead.
The people have spoken. But then we spoke last year as well, during the summer of 2009 when we turned out en masse and told members of Congress that we didn't like the law. They ignored us...at their peril, as it turns out.
Do I think President Obama will heed Tuesday's warning and move his policies to be more in line with mainstream America? I'm not optimistic.
Quote:
Our 44th president is a man who has an excellent brain and a not-infrequently childish disposition and who thinks he knows what is best for everyone but has neither the patience nor the humility to deal with those who preach a different way. He's both brilliant - and exceedingly petulant.
His opponents sometimes aren't much better, of course. In politics, you always have to deal with the undisciplined and unmannered fellow who screams out in a public venue, "You lie!"
But the man who rode in on a wave of hope and change, accompanied by doves and butterflies, should be better than that. His "enemies" comment is only one example of how he really isn't.
It's not completely his fault. Our president has been spoon-fed the myth of his own exceptionalism ever since he first hit the national scene with a speech that urged us to follow our better angels and work together.
It was poetry, however, without conviction. Obama seems to confuse disagreement with his policies with attacks on his character. And that's why he meant what he said when he used the word "enemies." Many of the voters who cast their ballots Tuesday understood that.
And unfortunately, the above gives us a clue as to what President Obama may decide to do over the next few months. In 1994, when President Clinton got thumped in his first mid-term election, he embarked on the process of triangulation and a move to the center...and as a result, was re-elected and most consider his two terms a success.
I would look for a key predictor to see if President Obama is going to follow the same path as President Clinton: listen to his explanation of why the Democrats lost. It is worth remembering that the elections in 1994 were preceded by the September 1994 enactment of the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban," and Clinton believed it was the enactment of that law that cost Democrats their majorities in Congress. One would conclude that Clinton was politically savvy enough to realize that if he wanted to accomplish anything in the rest of his term, he'd better move closer to that group of voters who delivered the thumpin'.
Unfortunately, if Christine Flowers is correct then it may not be within President Obama's personality to do the same thing that President Clinton did. As a result, we may be in for more gridlock and conflict ahead.
The people have spoken. But then we spoke last year as well, during the summer of 2009 when we turned out en masse and told members of Congress that we didn't like the law. They ignored us...at their peril, as it turns out.
Do I think President Obama will heed Tuesday's warning and move his policies to be more in line with mainstream America? I'm not optimistic.