Obama outfoxes his critics every time
Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 10:29 PM
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It's official: Obama's ascendency has finally made the GOP lose every political instinct they ever had. They just don't think he should be president. He's not folks. He's the Obamanation from Kenya. He's Karl Mark. He's Malcolm X. Their incredulity and sheer racism is making them stupid. It's fascinating to watch.
Joe Barton's apology to BP today wasn't a "gaffe"; it was premeditated and heartfelt: because neither he nor his party think that Obama should be president and they're apologizing to every major industry that bankrolls them.
It was an outrageous apology, considering the anger and helplessness that the average American feels just looking at this unprecedented disaster unfold.
It's a measure of how extremist and out of touch the GOP has become that they'd even contemplate playing this card at this time. For over a year now they've cried Marx, Hitler and Stalin so loudly and so often they've almost made the comparisons meaningless.
But reality actually matters. So does a sense of decency and scale. Neither of those were present in Barton's apology today. I dread to think what's next? Perhaps an apology to the Confederacy for the hit they took to their cotton industry?
If Glen Beck thinks it will damage Obama it will run on his show tonight. That's how craven his (tea) party has become.
Between this and Arizona, the GOP (or is that the GO-PB!) are painting themselves into the narrowest corner in America. Anyone who bets against Obama always, always loses. It's past time his enemies and fair-weather friends found that out.
34 comments
Monsoonman | Jun 23, 2010, 10:07 AM EDT
Yes I like obamas rope a dope strategy, playing golf and partying while the gulf oil spill gushes and iran goes nuclear. Kim Jong Ill is hiding under his bed after torpedoing the south Korean ship and killing all of those sailors, he knows obamas silver hammer will rain down on him for that. Obamas style and tactics sure seem to be impressing the armed forces, they are in awe of him and vice president who...LOL, people are starting to see who is behind the curtain in the land of oz.
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DennisQ | Jun 22, 2010, 06:03 AM EDT
If Obama's enemies could get away with it, they'd claim that he has a devil. In fact there are variants on this theme - that he's a foreigner, that he's a Muslim, that he's in league with America's enemies. None of this has done much damage, nor is it likely to. Obama has a knack of not being where they pounce, so they end up looking foolish. However, there is another alternative available to them - they might try cooperation for a change. At some point they'll realize that Obama's not the dummy he'd have to be for their strategies to succeed. It's a question of how much ground they'll have yielded by the time they catch on.
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IrishAndProud | Jun 20, 2010, 07:22 PM EDT
Incidentally, hollabackgirl...Carter's approval ratings were ABOVE Obama's, at this point in his presidency...so again, your point?
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IrishAndProud | Jun 20, 2010, 12:16 AM EDT
And btw olovely...you undercut your own point by bringing up Barton as you have. If as you say he ends up in a leadership position because the GOP regains control of the House, then obviously the voters WANT the GOP in control of the House, and Barton's role in defending BP obviously isn't anywhere near as much of a concern to them as Obama's flat-out incompetence in this matter -- as the polls I've already showed you below presently indicate, with the people in the Gulf who are facing the worst of this.
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IrishAndProud | Jun 20, 2010, 12:09 AM EDT
Further, here's a collection of what some prominent folks normally SUPPORTIVE of Obama are saying, about his oil-spill speech, the other night (as noted by columnist Peggy Noonan) "Reaction among his usual supporters was, in the words of Time's Mark Halperin, "fierce, unforeseen disappointment." Dan Froomkin of the Huffington Post called the speech "profoundly underwhelming," a "feeble call to action." Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich called the speech "vapid." Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times said the president looked "awkward and robotic." MSNBC's Keith Olbermann famously said "It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days." Chris Matthews scored "a lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk." Mr. Olbermann, on Mr. Obama's well-written peroration: "It's nice but, again, how? Where was the 'how' in this speech when the nation is crying out for 'how'?" (END QUOTE) When his own left-wing supporters are talking like this about him, it ain't good.
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IrishAndProud | Jun 20, 2010, 12:06 AM EDT
hollabackgirl wrote: "Obama's poll numbers are high than Bush's (I and II), Clinton's and Regan's at this point in their presidency's. That's reality." *** And, your point? Reagan and Clinton did things that ultimately helped the USA, and their numbers (not to mention re-elections) bounced back right along with them. Obama, by contrast, is governing DIRECTLY AGAINST the will of the people, on virtually every single issue, and militantly so -- with an in-your-face approach. He's doing precisely all the WRONG things to bring about economic recovery (unlike Reagan or Clinton), and so he will not reap the same political results as the others you've mentioned. The Democratic Congress is lucky if they reach even 20% approval, nowadays -- and their leader, Harry Reid, is on the ropes in Nevada. The situation is politically DIRE, for Obama.
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olovely | Jun 18, 2010, 01:41 PM EDT
Joe Barton would be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee if the Republicans regain control of the House in November elections. He's the man who's apologizing to BP over the biggest environmental disaster the US has ever seen. Nice going, chump. That's the real face of the GOP.
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Monsoonman | Jun 18, 2010, 10:11 AM EDT
The crux of the matter is perception to the author and his kool aid drinkers. Perception: how flowery and ardent was obama when he read his teleprompter,did he use big words? That's all that matters to them. In the meantime Rome is burning, while he plays 18...but he makes his flock feeeel good, when he "looks" presidential...Don't want them to get jittery and nervous and start a stampede, they could all rush over the cliffs and swim out to the ocean. Then where would obama be with no voter base?
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MalcomAC | Jun 18, 2010, 08:34 AM EDT
Rob Simmons bailing out of the Connecticut Republican senatorial primary because he was being grossly outspent by a wealthy kook [whose husband made bazillions from promoting professional wrestling] is as solid of evidence as there is that a crazy right faction is hijacking the party - to the benefit of Democrats. It's the final nail in the death of 'Rockefeller' Republicans. Simmons is a good man and would have made a strong candidate. Oh well. The Republican Party continues to do all it can to advance Democrats.
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hollabackgurl | Jun 18, 2010, 07:46 AM EDT
Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, apologized to BP after biggest ecological disaster in the history of America (and the world). There's your headline. Barton has taken more than $1.4 million in political contributions from the oil industry, so there is little doubt whose side he is on. Joe Barton would be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee if the Republicans regain control of the House in November elections. That is the committee that writes any legislation governing
Thank you, Mr. Barton. Keep talking.
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hollabackgurl | Jun 18, 2010, 07:42 AM EDT
Obama's poll numbers are high than Bush's (I and II), Clinton's and Regan's at this point in their presidency's. That's reality.
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IrishAndProud | Jun 18, 2010, 05:28 AM EDT
So...in light of all this, I must ask, exactly what tv do YOU watch, olovely? MSNBC? CNN, perhaps? ABC? Exactly how are any of those networks (which have far fewer viewers than Fox, btw) any less liberal than Fox is conservative? You cannot pretend that only Fox is 'biased' while of course the networks YOU watch are 'just normal' and 'just the way things are.' That doesn't work.
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IrishAndProud | Jun 18, 2010, 05:23 AM EDT
Gallup, too: "With five months to go before the general election, a new poll finds that Republicans have opened their widest lead yet when it comes to which party voters prefer this fall. Gallup's generic congressional ballot finds that the number of voters who say they will vote GOP has jumped to 49 percent, compared with 43 percent for Democrats. That's not only the biggest lead Gallup has recorded for the GOP this election cycle, it's the largest lead Republicans have ever had in the poll, which Gallup has run since 1950." Mind you, this poll was taken well after the events in the Gulf of Mexico were running their political course. If this is somehow hurting the GOP, I sure don't see where.
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IrishAndProud | Jun 18, 2010, 05:17 AM EDT
Here, for instance, is Public Policy Polling: "Our new Louisiana poll has a lot of data points to show how unhappy voters in the state are with Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill but one perhaps sums it up better than anything else- a majority of voters there think George W. Bush did a better job with Katrina than Obama's done dealing with the spill. 50% of voters in the state, even including 31% of Democrats, give Bush higher marks on that question compared to 35% who pick Obama. Overall only 32% of Louisianans approve of how Obama has handled the spill to 62% who disapprove. 34% of those polled say they approved of how Bush dealt with Katrina to 58% who disapproved."
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