Carole
Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2009
- Messages
- 81
- Reaction score
- 47
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
President Barack Obama's brand of compulsive campaigning only works when he has an enemy to attack. Without his immature attempts at sarcasm and ridicule, personal insults and finger pointing, all he has left is his record of abject failure and plummeting job approval rating. But in this election cycle the only enemy left for him to attack is the majority of the American people.
With the nation still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and still facing the very real threat of terrorism at home, President Obama might have been able to define himself as a strong leader fighting against the Islamic extremist enemies. But his record of treating acts of war as civil offenses and his never-ending apologies for US foreign policy have made it impossible to believe him as a fighter against terrorism.
Trying to improve his own political standing by attacking former President George W. Bush doesn't work anymore. As all but the most rabid Democratic partisan knows, the current president and congressional majorities own the problems the nation now faces. Trillions of dollars in deficit spending by Obama & Company have left the economy struggling. The unemployment rate hovers just below 10% even though the president promised it would remain below 8% after his obscenely expensive stimulus bill was passed. Health insurance rates are rising steadily despite Mr. Obama's promise that Obamacare would lower costs. And his constant threats of higher taxes and more crippling regulation is further depressing the job market.
Without former President Bush to blame, President Obama momentarily turned to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) to be his new arch-enemy. Setting aside the fact that the overwhelming Democratic majority in the House has so far made Mr. Boehner little more than a footnote in the Obama presidency, all Mr. Boehner has done during the past two years is speak and vote like any average Republican. While most Americans have never even heard of John Boehner, Mr. Obama's desperate need for someone to fight somehow lead to this ridiculous choice of nemesis in recent speeches.
Without a traditional political opponent, President Obama can't even go after the usual default enemy most presidents have counted on in the past. The mainstream media has abandoned all pretense of critical reporting and has been in Mr. Obama's pocket from the beginning. They are still desperately trying to defend the indefensible results of his policies and therefore do not make a good adversary for him.
Of course Mr. Obama tried to attack the so-called new media early in his presidency but failed miserably when not-so-veiled attacks on outlets like Fox News and certain online sources resulted in a strong negative backlash and legitimate accusations that the president was thin-skinned.
So President Obama is left in the unenviable position of needing someone to fight in order to remain relevant but having no one to fight except those who oppose his policies and ideas. Unfortunately for him, that is the majority of the American people. A new Associated Press-GfK poll out Wednesday showed 57% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, more now disapprove of the job Mr. Obama is doing than before the primary season began and more now want to see Republicans in control of Congress rather than Democrats.
The next 47 days should prove quite difficult for President Obama and any Democratic candidate he'll be "helping" on the campaign trail.
With the nation still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and still facing the very real threat of terrorism at home, President Obama might have been able to define himself as a strong leader fighting against the Islamic extremist enemies. But his record of treating acts of war as civil offenses and his never-ending apologies for US foreign policy have made it impossible to believe him as a fighter against terrorism.
Trying to improve his own political standing by attacking former President George W. Bush doesn't work anymore. As all but the most rabid Democratic partisan knows, the current president and congressional majorities own the problems the nation now faces. Trillions of dollars in deficit spending by Obama & Company have left the economy struggling. The unemployment rate hovers just below 10% even though the president promised it would remain below 8% after his obscenely expensive stimulus bill was passed. Health insurance rates are rising steadily despite Mr. Obama's promise that Obamacare would lower costs. And his constant threats of higher taxes and more crippling regulation is further depressing the job market.
Without former President Bush to blame, President Obama momentarily turned to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) to be his new arch-enemy. Setting aside the fact that the overwhelming Democratic majority in the House has so far made Mr. Boehner little more than a footnote in the Obama presidency, all Mr. Boehner has done during the past two years is speak and vote like any average Republican. While most Americans have never even heard of John Boehner, Mr. Obama's desperate need for someone to fight somehow lead to this ridiculous choice of nemesis in recent speeches.
Without a traditional political opponent, President Obama can't even go after the usual default enemy most presidents have counted on in the past. The mainstream media has abandoned all pretense of critical reporting and has been in Mr. Obama's pocket from the beginning. They are still desperately trying to defend the indefensible results of his policies and therefore do not make a good adversary for him.
Of course Mr. Obama tried to attack the so-called new media early in his presidency but failed miserably when not-so-veiled attacks on outlets like Fox News and certain online sources resulted in a strong negative backlash and legitimate accusations that the president was thin-skinned.
So President Obama is left in the unenviable position of needing someone to fight in order to remain relevant but having no one to fight except those who oppose his policies and ideas. Unfortunately for him, that is the majority of the American people. A new Associated Press-GfK poll out Wednesday showed 57% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, more now disapprove of the job Mr. Obama is doing than before the primary season began and more now want to see Republicans in control of Congress rather than Democrats.
The next 47 days should prove quite difficult for President Obama and any Democratic candidate he'll be "helping" on the campaign trail.
