“In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11.. I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come.” – Pres. Barack Obama
If only Pres. Barack Obama had personally reacted as if the BP blowout was our environment 9/11 (as I wrote here long before Obama invoked it). He did not. All this statement does is remind us all, not only of the Rolling Stone article and the reporting of Lisa Myers, but that Obama didn’t feel the need to react personally until the narrative got out of his control. But never fear, Obama’s teflon presidency is not in any danger. They like him. They really like him.
One can only imagine what would have happened if George W. Bush did what Barack Obama did yesterday. Oh, right, he did. Michael Moore documented it. However, it’s unlikely that Mr. Obama will receive the same treatment, even if it’s richly deserved.
It’s good to be Barack.
And after all this time, Barack Obama still won’t pit Republican policy bankruptcy against the enlightenment of Democratic Party principles. Obama’s focus is on brand, his brand and nothing else. It takes time to make Teflon non-stick. In fact, he won’t even call out the culprits stopping the Democratic agenda during this historic time of a Democratic majority.
The politics of purpose has meant no we can’t.
I’ve linked to and mentioned several times Matt Bai’s “Democrat in Chief?” recently, because it pits Obama’s brand obsession against the real need the Democratic Party has to have a leader that takes Democratic policy beliefs and points them forward to solving our immense challenges. After hearing the activist left rail against Bill Clinton’s inability to build a wider base in the 1990s, it’s no wonder we’re hearing even louder dissent grow against Pres. Obama who is more interested in the politics of compromise and consensus than the principles of Democratic purpose. As we saw in the health care debate, Obama is reactive, not pro-active, otherwise he would never have let Sarah Palin’s “death panels” squeal rise up above the Democratic public option narrative, and Ken Salazar would never have been unleashed on the environment, to concoct the worst record since Reagan’s James Watt.
Segue to Roger Simon’s odd interview with Pres. Obama, which was posted yesterday on Politico:
“Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying ‘do something’ are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much. Some of the same people who are saying the president needs to show leadership and solve this problem are some of the same folks who, just a few months ago, were saying, this guy is trying to engineer a takeover of our society through the federal government that is going to restrict our freedoms.”
There was some real irritation in his voice when he said: “And so — and this translates into very concrete terms — I think it’s fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies, and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, Big Government over-regulation and wasteful spending.”
Why Pres. Obama is acting like an insurance claims officer is beyond me.
The last paragraph above, delivered as a big fat whine, reveals such weakness and egotism as to be embarrassing for the man who holds the most powerful office in the world. Obama actually seems to care that there are some people who would complain about big government at a time when only government can solve the problem. However, considering what a colossal screw up Interior Sect. Ken Salazar has proven to be, even complicit in BP’s blowout, it’s not surprising. Obama’s whine is so anti-FDR as to be completely devoid of any Democratic foundation whatsoever. You’d think this was all about him. Unfortunately, for he and his loyalists it is.
Out of a long post on which I agree, Joan Walsh wrote four words that transcend both of our lengthy opining on Obama’s lack of leadership and current state of whining: Grow up, Mr. President.
Amidst an environmental 9/11 and ecological holocaust we’ve got a President who didn’t notice the moment until his own brand started to sag. Lucky for his Teflon presidency he caught it in time. But really, who can be angry at a man who never picks fights when needed, let alone on purpose, preferring to blame an amorphous “Washington” where Democrats work long hours in Congress to make changes that will help the American people.
Poor Congress. They suck up to Mr. Executive Branch, but all they’ve got to show for it is the back of Obama’s hand. I only wish it would teach these legislators that the founders’ gift of independence and separateness from the Executive Branch is power that should never be ceded.
All Obama’s whining comes on the wings of a disaster he and his administration helped create and where his actually policy prescriptions bode ill for any truly Democratic progress, but also for the brand that will be around long after Barack Obama is history.
The Democratic Party is rudderless, regardless of having a majority. Obama may survive and one hopes he will, as the alternatives appear worse at this point, though that’s not even a given at this point. But Obama does remain liked by the majority of Democrats, which Obama loyalists are always quick to point out and on which they remain correct.
But the Teflon coating sticking to the Obama brand is remarkably similar to the oil slicked Gulf that was allowed to happen on his watch. For Democrats it may leave a slimy sheen they won’t be able to wash off for years.
Obama is not a Democrat he is a moderate Republican. He used the party as his vehicle,he knew he would be irresistible to them. Career liberals love to talk about race. They are not much interested in highlighting structural problems affecting race (for example the disproportionate number of young african males filling our privitized and profitable prisons)they just love to talk about it. They make themselves feel rightous condeming others for their percieved racism. I’m on to their game and so was Obama and his team. He is a fraud.
Good to see that Simon is back to health.
Its hard to even talk about the gulf without getting depressed and sad. The president should have said all this along time ago. I think he is in panic mode for political reasons !! I might be wrong and I hope he is really feeling the pain, but I am not convinced right now !! The democrats are going to pay a price for this sadly.
I’m not sure what your criticism is here, other than dissatisfaction that people are not transferring their displeasure over the Gulf Oil spill to the Obama Presidency as a whole.
I to your answer comes from your reference to FDR. In short: people just disagree with you.
Few people blame Pearl Harbor on FDR, yet systemic arrogance, incompetence, and naive mistrust from the President on down resulted in the tragedy. People also rarely blame George W. Bush personally for September 11, despite that pesky memo.
People are smarter than you give them credit for. They realize that the President it not responsible for conceiving the inconceivable, that the Japenese would be planning a surprise ambush on Pearl Harbor will talking of peace, that hijackers would use box cutters and commit an unspeakable horror, or that everything that could go wrong would go wrong 5000 feet under the ocean.
That should read: “I think the answer to your question comes from your reference to FDR”. I wish you could edit entries…:/
The way I interrupt Taylor’s reference to FDR was less about Pearl Harbor and more about how he used his power in the service of americans. So far Obama’s main interest is Obama
It had nothing whatsoever to do with Pearl Harbor, you are correct.
People also need to face that it was Obama’s “drill, baby, drill” energy policy and his pick of Ken Salazar that helped get us into the BP blowout mess in the first place. That’s a harder one for Democrats to swallow, as it reveals something deeper, which is the whole point.
I think the only reason he said drill baby drill was because it was popular (Must have polled well with some focus group or something)…..and had it not be for the Oil Spill he would still be saying Drill Baby Drill…..
Well, everyone was talking about how he needed to be a populist, right?
Offshore drilling was extremely popular, and I suspect in a few months, it will return to being popular.
interpret…sorry
Is Obama’s emerging Teflon presidency, which comes at the expense of ideological and political purpose, good for the Democratic Party?
That’s the question Democrats will have to answer for themselves.
For Obama loyalists like yourself, NFS, the answer is obvious. For others it’s more complicated, to say the least.
This isn’t about loaylists, or pumas, or however you wish to assign labels.
You noted that Obama’s approval ratings have not been significantly affected by this tragedy. Poling confirms they have not. I offered a hypothesis as to why, with FDR as an example.
Speaking of Republicans, I am beginning to wonder if they really DON’T want to win the House back. If they don’t it might position them better for 2012.
A little OT, sorry.
“Is Obama’s emerging Teflon presidency, which comes at the expense of ideological and political purpose, good for the Democratic Party?”
In 8 special elections dems have won 7. The one we lost has an asterisk. Hawaii was an easy pickup but neither dem wanted to drop out. In the head to head the Democratic brand is winning.
Health care reform is the largest expansion of the social safety net in 5 decades. We can debate the method they chose to get there but the end result is progressive. No President or Congress ever brought a vote to the House and Senate floor let alone passed anything. LBJ had a super majority and the luxury of dealing with sane Republicans and even he couldn’t do it.
As for Financial Reg here’s an article in May from the Fiscal Times when it passed the Senate.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Issues/The-Economy/2010/05/20/Senate-Hands-Big-Banks-Major-Political-Setback.aspx
The most sweeping overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression. Up next climate change, jobs and immigration. We’ve got a ways to go on jobs but from losing 750,000 in the last month of Bush to positive growth is pretty good.
That’s Democrat stuff. Republican stuff is the stuff that got us here. I think people in November will understand that.
It would be worth noting that those 8 special elections were in Democratic leaning consituencies….also…I don’t knnow how you skipped over the scott brown fiasco.
You speak “Democrat stuff,” I speak democratic stuff. Never the two shall meet. It’s that simple.
It’s an ironic error that you didn’t capitalize the word ‘democratic’ describing your beliefs.
I cringe when I hear individuals talking about what the Democratic Party stands for. I would rather let democrats as a whole decide.
If you find you don’t fit under what most consider to be a large tent, that doesn’t necessarily mean the tent isn’t big enough.
As an aside, by Mark Knoller’s (CBS News Radio, DC) count on Twitter, the president has taken to the links at least 38 times since inauguration day. And we are just talking golf here. We aren’t talking about pick-up games or visiting sports teams in locker rooms.
I want to feel like the president is working as hard at his job as I am at mine, my mother is at hers, my father is at his. I don’t.
All Presidents, except maybe the last, work extremely hard.
If you read Presidential History, you will learn that despite what the public perceives, it is a grueling, 24/7 demanding job that never ceases. The stress and mental taxation is often unbearable. Still don’t believe me? Look at how much Obama has aged in the past 18 months.
President Obama is entitled to his rest and relaxation like the 43 guys before him.
nyt has a piece today on obama and his support in the polls.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/criticism-flowing-like-oil-but-obamas-rating-is-steady/?ref=politics
Yep. It’s linked in the very first paragraph of my essay, t4h.
Chuck Todd seems pretty incredulous at Obama’s whining. Ha!
The Left, me included, will no lomger defend this president until he does something defensible. Which means that the Left is now at odds not only with liberal Jews but with blacks as well. Oh well. Sometimes doing the right thing leaves you very alone. Peace
MMS has been known to be a corrupt, incompetent and nonperforming agency for years. On the job drug use, bribery and even sex with literal or figurative prostitutes provided by regulated companies.
Obama Obama, like anyone who read a newspaper, must have known what was going on. seems not to have taken any steps. Rather he said:
“I think it’s fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big-government overregulation and wasteful spending.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38447.html#ixzz0qsCL6cB7
”
Obama might have gotten away with this if he had gone to Congress at the beginning of his term and he was turned down. Had he made the effort, he could have claimed that it was impossible to clean up the Bush mess in time.
But Obama did not go to Congress, did not make any significant attempt to clean up a known corrupt agency, and let it continue to ignore its regulatory mission in favor of drugs, money and sex. Obama owns every last drop of oil in the water.
It’s interesting how we all now talk about the problems in MMS, but I have a very hard time finding news articles on the problems in MMS before the tragedy.
Above, I use Pearl Harbor as an example. Reading FDR’s history, it is widely noted that intelligence, arrogance, and naivete on up to the President contributed to the disaster, yet few blamed FDR. Some did, like some blame Obama for this tragedy, but not many.
I clearly remember the problems with MMS under Bush because they were so bizarre. I can’t understand why they were’t all fired after it hit the news.
Obama knew about MMS, because he told Salazar to clean it up.
NFS, *nobody* is blaming Obama for this tragedy. At some point even presidents have to rely on whom they appoint.
That said, Obama is the president and he let the management stay in BP’s hands way too long.
You BO loyalists should thank James Carville and many other Dems for getting the White House off their collective political ass and getting them to engage. All the people were seeing was spewing oil. They blew the optics.
Also, Pres. Obama has tons of power to go after BP. He needs to use it. He also needs to fire Ken Salazar.
http://www.epa.gov/Region7/laws_regulations/CWA/section311.htm
…and the FDR – Pearl Harbor – Obama – BP blowout is a dog that won’t hunt.
Howard Fineman and Rodger Simon were both on Hardball. It is obvious that Simon is still in love,not so with Fineman.
Yes, it was obvious in his Politica piece which I think I remember Taylor called a rather “odd” piece of writing. It felt like reading a schoolboy’s crush.
I thought everyone hated Ol’ Snakehead, James Carville?
“Obama knew about MMS, because he told Salazar to clean it up. NFS, *nobody* is blaming Obama for this tragedy. At some point even presidents have to rely on whom they appoint… You BO loyalists should thank James Carville and many other Dems for getting the White House off their collective political ass and getting them to engage. All the people were seeing was spewing oil. They blew the optics.”
How can I be an Obot and be in 100% complete agreement with you?
I was gravely concerned about the handling of the politics and policy after the spill (although I still disagree with you on the timing of seizing control of BP).
In fact, I can go one step further, and can draw parallels between the handling of the BP oil spill disaster and other political mistakes made by the Administration. They’re there.
We all knew during the Bush years that Rove was implanting moles in all of the agencies. That became obvious during the Attorney General scandel.He put a political hack at the head of each and then that hack went down one or two supervisory levels and got rid of the civil servants and put in more hacks (movement conservatives)many from Christian Universities.It was a lot to clean up and I know Obama’s appointments have been blocked by the rethugs for unseemly long periods of time. They are all broken. More shoes are going to drop.
I really had this fantasy,I remember writing about it here during the inaugeration,that an army of really smart people were going to come to Washington and dig in and clean house and put able,qualified people in key places.When Obama started making appointments I was happy with Browner and others remembering them as very effective during the Clinton years.
It has been such a disappointment that this apparently has not happened.People like Browner seem to have become different people with no juice for the job.
I know he came in with serious and complex problems to deal with all at once. I know that having such a stressful job requires breaks for relaxation to perform at optimum.But when I see him playing golf or meeting with athletes, I think about people I know who have big jobs,who don’t take vacations and work 24/7 to get it done.
I agree with Peter Daou:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/last-chance-mr-president_b_611228.html