As a symbol of political weakness, it’s too soon to say whether Barack Obama getting bashed in the lip while playing hoops will become the functional equivalent of Jimmy Carter getting chased by a Killer Rabbit. What is clear that the president now looks so hapless and enfeebled that he’s on the verge of becoming a national joke.
With national Democrats in disarray and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Obama seems completely unmoored, as the White House drifts politically amid a sea of ineptitude and bobs disconnected from the economic policy concerns of recession wracked Americans.
Could be, but incompetence often makes a fine cover for culpability. Obama certainly has been a big pal to Wall Street and seemingly has never met a Republican he won’t start negotiations with by immediately ceding something. This hardly seems accidental.
And all the while he just won’t stop droning in that annoying voice of clipped condescension and arrogance that he seems to think makes him sound authoritative.
We are the Urban Technocrats. We know what is best for you. Yes, that really goes over big in the heartland.
Negotiating with Republicans is like negotiating with terrorists, and may even be slightly worse: “Usually, terrorists are more straight-forward with their demands. Republican demands shift with every day.”
And they’ll keep doing as long as the Democrats never really fight back. Were they to fight hard hard and draw blood, then we might see the Republicans backing off.
An interesting perspective on this (if you’ve never read this author’s stuff, even though it is on Daily Kos, he’s great…one of the better progressive bloggers out there, although he’s pretty unknown):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/4/925278/-Please-drop-the-weak-Obama-meme