A person who wants to be President of the United States should meet at least two criteria:
Campaigning: raising campaign money; earning support of party leaders; connecting with and motivating voters.
Leadership: selecting and directing a competent staff; setting a clear agenda for his administration; communicating his vision with the congress and the people.
Barack Obama clearly meets Criterion 1. He was an able campaigner and fund-raiser. He energized and motivated voters, and he won.
As for Criterion 2, he’s been less than successful. The Bailout, Healthcare, Afghanistan, Global Warming—none of these has drawn high marks. Already, if we are to believe the polls and the voters of Massachusetts, the country has pretty well had it with Mr. Obama’s leadership.
So, if a president fails as a leader, what does he do? He goes back to campaigning! And that’s exactly what Mr. Obama has done, starting with an appearance in Elyria, Ohio, a poster child for rust-belt unemployment, decay, and ennui. An abridged version of his January 22 text follows. Everything in bold face is Mr. Obama’s. I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few comments.
It’s great to be here in Elyria. (I wanted to go to Cleveland but Michelle said, “Barry dear. Let’s go back to Elyria. It was such fun!”). It’s always nice to get out of Washington. (Any combat veteran will tell you it’s always nice to get out of a killing zone).
I know these have been difficult and unsettling times for people in Elyria, in Ohio, and across our country. I walked into office a year ago in the middle of a raging economic storm that was wreaking devastation on your town and communities everywhere. (None of this is my fault—the TARP mess, Cash for Clunkers, dicking with health care when what people really need is jobs—we can blame this whole mess on You Know Who).
In my first months in office, we also helped save two of the big three automakers from collapse. Some people weren’t happy about that, either. They felt that if you make a bad decision, you ought to reap the consequences, just like any business would. But if we had let GM and Chrysler simply go under, hundreds of thousands of Americans would have been hurt. (We just had to save the jobs of UAW members who were making $120 an hour running a fork lift).
So, we said, if you’re willing to take the tough and painful steps to make yourselves more competitive, we’re willing to invest in your future. (Because we know that when it comes time to raise money for Hope and Change 2012, the UAW and the execs at GM and Chrysler will remember who their friends are).
We gave aid to states to help them through these tough times. (Believe it or not, this is a smoke and mirrors trick we learned from Richard Nixon: “Revenue Sharing.” We use the taxing power of the federal government to reach into individual states and towns, taking money away from their citizens. Then we turn around and give it back to them, usually with strings attached. People have been buying this “revenue sharing” shit for forty years).
Today, because of the actions we took, the worst of this economic storm has passed. (I’m trying to persuade you that our economists can predict the future better than our weather forecasters.)
I had no illusions when I took on health care. It was always going to be hard. I knew from the beginning that seven Presidents had tried it and seven Presidents had failed. But I also knew that insurance premiums had more than doubled in the past decade, that out-of-pocket expenses had skyrocketed, that millions more people had lost their insurance, and that it would only get worse (mostly because the federal government kept piling more and more requirements on health care providers).
I have to admit, we’ve run into a bit of a buzz saw along the way. (Frankly, it never occurred to us that people would actually wake up and ask “What the hell are you doing?”).
Let me tell you – so long as I have the privilege of serving as your President
I’ll never stop fighting for you
I’ll never stop fighting to bring jobs back to Elyria
I’ll never stop fighting for policies that will help restore home values
I’ll never stop fighting to give our kids the best education possible
I’ll never stop fighting to give every American a fair shake
I’ll never stop fighting to protect you from the kind of deceptive practices we’ve seen from some in the financial sector
I’ll never stop fighting to open up government
I’ll never stop fighting to cut waste and abuse in Washington
I’m going to keep up the fight for real, meaningful health insurance reforms
(In fact, I love fighting so much I think I’m going to join the Marines and do recons in Afghanistan. It sounds like our troops are having such fun over there. Kind of like being in Elyria).
“This is not about me. It’s you. I didn’t take up this issue to boost my poll numbers. You know the way to boost your poll numbers is not do anything. That’s how you do it. You don’t offend anybody. I’d have real high poll numbers. All of Washington would be saying, what a genius (while the rest of America was saying “What an asshole.”).
You know, I said at the beginning how much it means to me to be in Elyria. (I think you’re also smart enough to realize that I would have said the same thing about Devil’s Island or the Black Hole of Calcutta).
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. (See! I finally figured out that Jeremiah Wright saying “God damn America” wasn’t doing my poll numbers any good).
This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 4:26 PM and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It’s Great to be in Elyria
A person who wants to be President of the United States should meet at least two criteria:
Barack Obama clearly meets Criterion 1. He was an able campaigner and fund-raiser. He energized and motivated voters, and he won.
As for Criterion 2, he’s been less than successful. The Bailout, Healthcare, Afghanistan, Global Warming—none of these has drawn high marks. Already, if we are to believe the polls and the voters of Massachusetts, the country has pretty well had it with Mr. Obama’s leadership.
So, if a president fails as a leader, what does he do? He goes back to campaigning! And that’s exactly what Mr. Obama has done, starting with an appearance in Elyria, Ohio, a poster child for rust-belt unemployment, decay, and ennui. An abridged version of his January 22 text follows. Everything in bold face is Mr. Obama’s. I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few comments.
It’s great to be here in Elyria. (I wanted to go to Cleveland but Michelle said, “Barry dear. Let’s go back to Elyria. It was such fun!”). It’s always nice to get out of Washington. (Any combat veteran will tell you it’s always nice to get out of a killing zone).
I know these have been difficult and unsettling times for people in Elyria, in Ohio, and across our country. I walked into office a year ago in the middle of a raging economic storm that was wreaking devastation on your town and communities everywhere. (None of this is my fault—the TARP mess, Cash for Clunkers, dicking with health care when what people really need is jobs—we can blame this whole mess on You Know Who).
In my first months in office, we also helped save two of the big three automakers from collapse. Some people weren’t happy about that, either. They felt that if you make a bad decision, you ought to reap the consequences, just like any business would. But if we had let GM and Chrysler simply go under, hundreds of thousands of Americans would have been hurt. (We just had to save the jobs of UAW members who were making $120 an hour running a fork lift).
So, we said, if you’re willing to take the tough and painful steps to make yourselves more competitive, we’re willing to invest in your future. (Because we know that when it comes time to raise money for Hope and Change 2012, the UAW and the execs at GM and Chrysler will remember who their friends are).
We gave aid to states to help them through these tough times. (Believe it or not, this is a smoke and mirrors trick we learned from Richard Nixon: “Revenue Sharing.” We use the taxing power of the federal government to reach into individual states and towns, taking money away from their citizens. Then we turn around and give it back to them, usually with strings attached. People have been buying this “revenue sharing” shit for forty years).
Today, because of the actions we took, the worst of this economic storm has passed. (I’m trying to persuade you that our economists can predict the future better than our weather forecasters.)
I had no illusions when I took on health care. It was always going to be hard. I knew from the beginning that seven Presidents had tried it and seven Presidents had failed. But I also knew that insurance premiums had more than doubled in the past decade, that out-of-pocket expenses had skyrocketed, that millions more people had lost their insurance, and that it would only get worse (mostly because the federal government kept piling more and more requirements on health care providers).
I have to admit, we’ve run into a bit of a buzz saw along the way. (Frankly, it never occurred to us that people would actually wake up and ask “What the hell are you doing?”).
Let me tell you – so long as I have the privilege of serving as your President
(In fact, I love fighting so much I think I’m going to join the Marines and do recons in Afghanistan. It sounds like our troops are having such fun over there. Kind of like being in Elyria).
“This is not about me. It’s you. I didn’t take up this issue to boost my poll numbers. You know the way to boost your poll numbers is not do anything. That’s how you do it. You don’t offend anybody. I’d have real high poll numbers. All of Washington would be saying, what a genius (while the rest of America was saying “What an asshole.”).
You know, I said at the beginning how much it means to me to be in Elyria. (I think you’re also smart enough to realize that I would have said the same thing about Devil’s Island or the Black Hole of Calcutta).
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. (See! I finally figured out that Jeremiah Wright saying “God damn America” wasn’t doing my poll numbers any good).
Like this:
This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 4:26 PM and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.