E.J. Dionne, Jr.: Obama and the Virtues of ‘Politicking’

[babylonsister]

Obama and the Virtues of ‘Politicking’


By E.J. Dionne, Jr.


President Obama’s address to the nation on Iraq this week underscores the agony of his presidency, and its core political problem.

Seen from the inside, the administration is an astonishing success. Obama has kept his principal promises and can take credit for achievements that eluded his Democratic predecessors.

He pledged to have all combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this month and, as Obama will remind us on Tuesday, he’s accomplished just that. Congress enacted a comprehensive health care bill and a sweeping reform of how the financial system is regulated. His rescue of the American auto industry worked, foiling predictions that he’d run GM and Chrysler as if they were arms of Chicago’s Democratic machine. There are many other legislative and administrative actions that, in normal circumstances, would loom larger if these were not such exceptional—and difficult—times.

Yet the challenging nature of the times does not explain all the president’s struggles. It’s true that his accomplishments will have important long-term effects, even if they have not resolved the country’s central concern: the continuing sluggishness of the economy.

But Obama and his party are also in a hole because the president has chosen not to engage the nation in an extended dialogue about what holds all his achievements together, or why his attitude toward government makes more sense than the scattershot conservative attacks on everything Washington might do to improve the nation’s lot.

more...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/obama_and_the_virtues_of_politicking_20100829/

[bluestateguy]

1. Georgetown cocktail party analysis

Geesh! Was that all the buzz at this weekend's pow wow at Sally Quinn's house?

:eyes:

[babylonsister]

2. I doubt Sally Quinn approves of Obama, so your comment

is interesting. What exactly do you take issue with?

[bluestateguy]

3. Just the prissy, psuedointellectualism that in the end doesn't say very much at all

I remember hearing similar drivel about Bill Clinton in 1993-94.

[flpoljunkie]

4. I do agree with E. J.'s conclusion...

He (Obama) has created a vacuum, filled by the wild charges of Glenn Beck, the disappointment of progressives who emphasize what he hasn't done, and the tired "government is always the problem" rhetoric of his mainstream conservative opponents. He has thus left himself and his Democratic allies with weak defenses against a tide of economic melancholy.

It is too late to turn this election into a triumph for the administration, but not too late to salvage his party's congressional majorities. Given dismal Democratic expectations, that would now be rated as a victory. But doing so will require Obama to think anew about what "politicking" really means, to pick more than tactical fights with his adversaries, and to lay out, without equivocation or apology, where he is trying to move the country. It's just too bad he didn't start earlier.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/29/AR2010082902899.html

[BeFree]

5. 50% are happy w/Obama

The other 50% are divided into 25% each.

There are those who are wisely worried about the future of our country and the world and how modern politics is ignoring the realities of global warming, population, energy, ecology and humanity.

And the remaining are a bunch of loud mouth ignorant maniacs intent on doing all they can to make this planet into a living hell.

So which bunch is Obama most like?

[NYC_SKP]

6. President Obama is most like This Bunch:

There are those who are wisely worried about the future of our country and the world and how modern politics is ignoring the realities of global warming, population, energy, ecology and humanity.

:patriot: