Re: Obama's Free Fall :: Political News and commentaries

« Video: The Talking Tree | Main | Obama does something right, for a change (Updated) »

September 9, 2011

Re: Obama's Free Fall

Has Barack Obama lost the ability to influence Congressional domestic legislation in any significant way? Hugh Hewitt points to two assessments of the president's speech last night suggesting a general sense that this is the case.

Peter Wehner writes in Commentary:

Presidencies can go through various stages in terms of their effect on the opposition ... from eliciting respect and some amount of fear, to provoking anger, to becoming the object of ridicule.

Barack Obama ... has reached the third stage.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post has written a column in which he cites passages from Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress last night and then chronicles the reaction among congressional Republicans, which included chuckles, guffaws and giggles. Hostility to Obama has given way to indifference to what he says; witness the fact the GOP did not even feel the need to provide a televised response to Obama's speech. And of course, it didn't help that the president's address was relegated to pre-primetime, in order not to compete with an NFL game.

Just as significantly, Milbank reports there were empty seats on the Democratic side last night. "Democrats lumbered to their feet to give the president several standing ovations, but they struggled at times to demonstrate enthusiasm," according to Milbank. "When Obama proposed payroll tax cuts for small businesses, three Democrats stood to applaud. Summer jobs for disadvantaged youth brought six Democrats to their feet, and a tax credit for hiring the long-term unemployed produced 11 standees. Obama spoke quickly, urgently, even angrily. Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.) stared at the ceiling. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) scanned the gallery. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) was seen reading a newspaper. And Republicans, when they weren't giggling, were mostly silent."

Keep reading here ... in which Wehner reminds us about Obama being the man who surrounded himself with aides who referred to him as "Black Jesus" during the campaign, believes he is "the moment that the world is waiting for," views himself as "the symbol of the possibility and best traditions of America" ... and a man whose wings of wax have finally melted away.

Jeffrey Anderson writes in The Weekly Standard:

I find it truly comforting that some things never change -- and two of those things are President Obama's ideas and rhetoric. Obama's long-awaited jobs speech offered his usual mix of hyper-partisanship (no longer convincingly masquerading as post-partisanship), class warfare, and thinly veiled resentment that, in our form of government, he cannot simply do whatever he wants.

But after many weeks of buildup and two years of arguably the worst post-recession recovery in six decades, the real tip-off that Obama is utterly incapable of changing course was when he again referred, Saturday Night Live-like, to fast trains. It's now clear that this president's idea of moving toward the center is staying away from the parts of the faculty lounge that border either the windows or the door. His disconnectedness from most Americans' concerns, and from their way of thinking, becomes clearer by the day.

In addition to its stale, insular quality, the most striking thing about Obama's speech was its petulant tone. Here is an edited version of the remarks he made to the 535 men and women who compose our nation's legislative branch, from inside one of their chambers (the actual tone of his voice only added to the overall effect):

Keep reading here ... and be sure to keep count how many times the president utters the words, "You should pass this plan right away" (accompanied by chuckles and laughter).

Little wonder that at the time of this writing, every single "response" to the "American Jobs Act" that the White House lists on its website as being from an 'organization or business' is from a union or a far-left organization (including several LGBT groups and La Raza), with the exception of ClayCo, Inc., whose CEO, Robert Clark, is a contributor to Democratic committees and campaigns. Apparently, the White House couldn't find any small business owners or CEO's that have bought-in to Obama's latest spendabus presented with what Jeffrey Anderson refers to as his usual mix of hyper-partisanship, class warfare, and thinly veiled resentment.

Posted by Hyscience at September 9, 2011 5:30 PM

Articles Related to Political News and commentaries: