"The WH seems to have forgotten...that we elected a commander-in-chief, not mediator-in-chief."

[highplainsdem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/power-and-passion_b_780715.html

Trey Ellis
Novelist, Screenwriter, and Assistant Professor at Columbia University
Posted: November 8, 2010 07:03 PM
Power and Passion


Of course the Democratic establishment says, "move to the center," despite being unable to tell you what that actually means, despite being able to find any progressive Democrats who thinks the White House ever budged from the center in the first place, and despite the fact that that's exactly the same advice generously proffered by Fox, Palin and Jim DeMint.

What few seem to realize is that the center is vast and malleable. Once you get out of Washington and trim away the birthers, militias, Trostskyites and eco-terrorists you're left with the vast majority of the American people. What compels them to choose sides anywhere near the political center is the success of the candidate to tell the most reasonable, powerful and passionate story.

Unfortunately our fiercely intelligent, charismatic and perfectly reasonable president has stowed away his passion, muzzled his own power and refused to bind disparate policy into a compelling narrative ever since the inauguration.

-snip-

I'm not saying never reach across the aisle. It is not only a moral goal but one the public hungers for. But compromising from leader to legislature is a lot different from compromising among equals. What the White House still seems to have forgotten, even after the recent "shellacking," is that we elected a commander-in-chief, not mediator-in-chief. A mediator rarely offers his own opinions but steers both sides toward civility. That was exactly the role the president chose for himself during the public's best chance to get to know him -- the health care war; a war which isn't over yet and which the White House will continue to lose politically if they keep responding defensively to the onslaught of powerful GOP attacks.

-snip-

Please read the entire piece at HuffPo, including the contrasting quotes from Boehner and Obama, and Ellis's comment on that.

[frazzled]

1. Commander-in-Chief refers to the president's role with respect to the military

He or she is the civilian leader of highest command of the armed forces. It does not refer to his or her relationship to Congress--which is a co-equal branch of government to the Executive. Obama is NOT Commander-in-Chief of the Legislative branch. That would make him a dictator, and we certainly don't want that.

Okay?

[Ozymanithrax]

6. +6 to the 6th to the 6th power n/t

[jody]

2. US hasn't won a war since WWII but it has negotiated several cease-fires with dishonor. nt

[budkin]

3. Bipartisanship!

[stray cat]

4. And people seem to forget the constitution and branches of government

[Marr]

5. What Obama's liberal critics seem to miss is

that he's not a liberal. He purposely gave that impression to the proper crowds at the proper times to get himself elected, but that's all. He's actually much more conservative than his exasperated supporters, who wonder endlessly why he won't fight for what they're so sure he believes.

I'm often reminded of an interview with one of Obama's former law professors during the campaign. The interviewer asked the professor if he'd ever imagined that Obama would someday win the Democratic presidential primary, and he responded in the negative, saying he'd always assumed Obama was a Republican, judging from the positions he took in class.

[BzaDem]

7. And with respect to the military, he is acting as the commander in chief. I'm amazed this article is

seriously equating domestic policy to military policy. The President is much less powerful than Congress in terms of enacting domestic policy.

[mulsh]

8. We civilians do not have a "commander-in-chief"

that's only for people in the military. We civilians elected a President, a chief executive. I"m sick of ignorant piss ants referring to the "commander-in-chief" as though it were the end all and be all of that elected office.