TalkLeft: How's That "Pragmatism" Working Out Politically?

[markpkessinger]

How's That "Pragmatism" Working Out Politically?

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Mon Sep 05, 2011 at 09:10:00 AM EST

John Cole endorses Jon Chait's critique of fantasy (http://firedoglake.com/2011/09/04/wrong-jonathan-chait-not-everybody-thought-the-stimulus-was-mind-bogglingly-large/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed">Jon Chait's fantasy) liberal critiques of President Obama. Here's my question - how is President Obama's "pragmatism" working out politically? Is being a one term President part of the "pragmatism?"

How's Obama's Theory of Change working out?

Obama's "theory of change" was aimed at offering the political opposition a choice between cooperation on progressive policy initiatives or self-isolation through obstruction and extremism. In other words, in a country unhappy with partisan gridlock, Republicans would either go along with key elements of a progressive agenda, or shrink themselves into an ever-more-extreme ideological rump that was irrelevant to the direction of the country.

(Emphasis supplied.) One GOP landslide in 2010 and an Obama approval rating of 40 later, it seems difficult to argue that the Theory of Change has worked politically. Will Obama stick to it through the 2012 election and will it be advisable for him to do so? I argue, and I think "liberals" argue, that no, that would be a political mistake. Jon Chait and John Cole seem to be arguing that Obama needs to "stay the course."

< . . . >

. . . Come Thursday night, when the President, in essence, kicks off his 2012 reelection campaign, we'll have an idea if the President is going to believe in the Chaitesque political "magical thinking" that the Post Partisan Unity Schtick will lead to reelection.

< . . . >

Read full article at: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2011/9/5/10100/32279

[TheWraith]

1. Damn, getting closer and closer to using Sarah Palin's own words.

How's that "Pragmatism" working out for you?
How's that "hopey changey thing" working out for you?

[markpkessinger]

2. Uh, I believe it's an idiom that was in use long before Sarah Palin hit the scene n/t

[TheWraith]

3. Right, it's just a coincidence.

It's also just a coincidence that the second the Republicans get in trouble for trying to kill Social Security, there's a coordinated campaign from the "left" to accuse President Obama of trying to kill Social Security. And it's a coincidence that the smears on Obama from the supposed "left" exactly mirror the ones from the right: weak, incompetent, ineffectual, just pretty words, etcetera. And it's a coincidence that all of the "left wing" Obama-bashing sites suddenly start spewing the same talking points at the same time.

[FrenchieCat]

5. It's ratfucking 101......

not a coincidence at all. There are no such thing in politics.

[markpkessinger]

6. "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

The idiom, "How's that _______ working out for you?", has been around in common, everyday usage for years. The mere fact that Palin used it mockingly does not in any way imply a connection to the way it was used in the TalkLeft article. There is nothing about the tone of the article that is in any way mocking of the President. It certainly does not, as Palin did, mock his appeals to "hope" or "change." If anything, the article is pointing out how President Obama's purported pragmatic approach is working at cross purposes with the hope and change candidate Barack Obama inspired so many millions to believe in. If you read the full article at the link, I think you will find that the author is not pulling for Obama's defeat. He's merely pointing out that the political strategy the President has used to date has not served him terribly well; and the article ends on a note of hoping for something different.

[eilen]

7. It's just a coincidence Obama put social security and medicare

reform on the debt ceiling talks-- talks that had a very short time limit.

I don't believe he put them there d/t pressure from the left or it was in our imagination. When Obama feels any pressure from the left, he swats at us like flies, making or having his aides make cheap shots instead of listening and "having a conversation" being he's such an "adult."

[JoeyT]

9. Facts?

Those don't matter. Doesn't matter that he's the one that put "entitlements" on the table. It was either a lie and never happened, brilliant chess and a bluff, or completely necessary and pragmatic depending on who's doing the talking and who they're talking to.

If I remember the narrative orders correctly from when it happened, it went from "He didn't offer it. Stop lying!" to "Brilliant chess move! He played them by offering it!" to "He was bluffing! Brilliant poker player!" to "Entitlement reform doesn't mean benefit cuts!" and now we've looped back around to "He never offered it! Stop lying!" which is what they seem to get stuck in after a while. I'd link to the OPs, but I think that's considered a callout.

[eilen]

11. Enough to give you whiplash, isn't it? nt

[upi402]

4. +1,000 Right. If that woman had a single original thought

...even I might listen to her. But she is a parrot that gets it much of the time.

[Confusious]

10. We can't use or do anything the Republics have used

so the only usable word in your post was "idiom"

Ops, and I look at all the words I used, that republicans have used, to explain it all.

I shall promptly go flog myself..

[jeff47]

8. She does not own those words

Please stop pretending that Sarah Palin is all-powerful. "How's that ____ working out for you?" predates her birth.