Hold the Mayo

January 20, 2010

The Politics of Projection

First, Congratulations to Scott Brown for his victory in the Massachusetts special election. And to the people of Massachusetts, thank you for electing the 41st vote against socialized medicine.

The headline on this story should be "Obama Lost. Again."

And I think I understand part of why he lost, and why his poll numbers have sunk so incredibly fast, and why so many are so disappointed with his presidency.

I have seen many write-ups on the content of his speech on behalf of massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley. The elitist condescension of his repeated barbs at Scott Brown's truck while well received in the elitist crowd he was delivering them to, were probably seen as insulting by a good portion of the electorate. Outside of the Boston area elites there are probably a lot of truck owners in Mass.

But what really struck me was his pathetic attempt to blame his failure on George Bush.

Appearing at a rally at Northeastern University here, President Obama said out-of-power Republicans had taken advantage of the economic crisis to make Democrats the political fall guy during difficult times.

"We’re going to let them make the tough choices, and let them rescue the economy, and then we’re going to tap into that anger and frustration," was how Obama described the GOP strategy -- deeming it a "sleight of hand...."

"There were going to be some who stood on the sidelines, who were protectors of the big banks, protectors of the big insurance companies, protectors of the big drug companies who were going to say, 'You know what, we can take advantage of this crisis,'" [Obama] told the crowd.

Let's take a closer look at that last statement.

"There were going to be some who stood on the sidelines..." Who exactly was it who stood on the sidelines and allowed congress to create "his" economic stimulus package and turn it into cesspool of pork barrel spending? Who was it who stood on the sidelines and let congress create multiple irreconcilable versions of healthcare reform? Whose presidency can be most accurately described as making speeches from the sidelines instead of leading?

"who were protectors of the big banks..." Whose Tax Cheat of the Treasury used the AIG bailout to funnel money to big banks? Who is it that repeatedly points to having stabilized the banking industry as an example of his success? Which administration made a Christmas Eve announcement that it was going to provide unlimited financial support to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

"protectors of the big insurance companies..." Who was it that was supporting legislation mandating that EVERYONE buy health insurance from big insurance companies? Who is it trying to make it illegal to deny someone their mandatory insurance due to a pre-existing condition resulting in higher premium costs for everyone?

"protectors of the big drug companies..." Remind me who it was that negotiated a deal with the pharmaceutical industry promising not to have medicare and the public option "negotiate" lower drug prices in exchange for industry support for health care reform?

"who were going to say, 'You know what, we can take advantage of this crisis'..." I agree it is deplorable and disgusting politics for a member of any presidential administration to say something like "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

When I heard him give that part of his speech, I had to wonder if someone from the Brown campaign had hacked into his teleprompter. Did he really think is would work to lay the blame for everything wrong with his administration on his opposition? Did he really think that people are stupid enough to believe that?

There was a brief glimmer of hope when The One accepted responsibility for the security failures that lead to the failed Undie Bomber attack. But given how he wants to assign the failures of his administration to anyone else it seems that moment was more like the kid dragged back to the store to return the candy bar he lifted. Contrite because he had to be. The lesson clearly not learned.

Epic Fail.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 09:09 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment

1 "Did he really think that people are stupid enough to believe that?"

Duhhhh, yup! The blame others strategy has been the Dem game plan for years and will continue as long as it works. A good number of folks who vote Dem are not well informed.

Posted by: T F Stern at January 21, 2010 09:18 AM (Ruh11)

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