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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Bill O'Reilly and Maureen Dowd now agree Obama is toast ---Only Tea Party extremism can save him

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Bill O'Reilly and Maureen Dowd now agree Obama is toast ---Only Tea Party extremism can save him

Posted on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 07:00 AM

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Bill O'Reilly thinks the only thing that can save the Obama presidency is the extremism of the Tea Party followers in Congress.

And he's right.

Maureen Dowd compares Obama to Jimmy Carter today in her Sunday New York Times column, clearly overwhelmed by the job, bowing to Republican demands at every turn, out of his depth.

And she's right.

Both leading Irish American columnists essentially agree that the only thing that can save this ineffectual president is the extremism on the right .

The two leading Irish American voices (pictured together at an Irish Central/Irish Voice event above) rarely agree on anything, but see Obama increasingly as a failed leader.

Dowd worries why Obama didn't just cite the 14th amendment clause that the Democrats including Bill Clinton believe allows the president to raise the debt ceiling an challenge Republicans to take him on in the courts.

Not this president unfortunately.

Here is what Dowd wrote today;

"The world is watching in fearful — and sometimes gleeful — fascination as the Tea Party drives a Thunderbird off the cliff with the president and speaker of the House strapped in the back. The Dow is hiding under the bed with a glass of single malt. Can it get more excruciating? Apple has more cash than the U.S. government.

Amid the chilling anarchy, there’s not a single strong leader to be seen — not even a misguided one. All the leaders are followers. You have to wonder if President Obama at some level doesn’t want to lead. Maybe he just wants to be loved."

Here's what Bill O'Reilly said;

"The only thing that can save Barack Obama at this point is craziness on the right…It’s not only going to hurt the Republican party, which has already been hurt, but it’s going to save President Obama who they hate…The irony is, the people who dislike President Obama the most…are helping him the most. You’ve got to stop this hateful rhetoric. Some of the rhetoric is so hateful…it’d spin your head around. You have to say, listen, we’re at a point in the history when we have to save the country…But I just hope they’ll all just say let’s do what’s good for the country."

O'Reilly is absolutely right. Obama can still energize the power Democratic base by pointing to what will happen if he is defeated. 'After me, the deluge' indeed.

But even that may not be enough to save Obama.

If the Republicans choose a half decent candidate such as Mitt Romney and the economy is still foundering, then Obama is toast .

But if they slew off and follow the siren call of a Michele Bachmann or a Rick Perry then they will lose out badly.

O'Reilly is right, Obama is there for the taking only Republican extremism can save him.

Dowd is right that Obama has gone from 'Yes we can' to 'No we can't. '

But given the current level of hateful rhetoric among Republicans they may fail to defeat the weakest American Democratic president in generations.

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27 comments

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GeorgeDillon | Jul 31, 2011, 01:01 PM EDT

TomSwinford: Another dumb post, in which you address a point I never made. If you had read my post with a minimum of comprehension. you'd find no reference in it to whether Reagan was a conservative or not. Hence your response is senseless. I made no judgment on Reagan, my point was about the Democrats and media back in 1980, the first election I remember. I recall that they flooded the airwaves saying Reagan could never be elected. In fact it was that kind of propaganda which gave rise to the hubris of John Anderson in running as a Third Party. I didn't vote in that election, because I had been a Ted Kennedy supporter. I despised Carter, Reagan and Anderson. The only one of the three I changed my opinion of in the subsequent decades is Carter, who now strikes me as a good man.

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Nicomax | Jul 31, 2011, 12:40 PM EDT

If we were to cut spending to a level to match current revenue, which at 15% of GDP is at its lowest level since 1950, would it be OK to gut a huge portion or the defense budget that many view as pure waste, especially those useless wars in the Middl-East?

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Nicomax | Jul 31, 2011, 12:13 PM EDT

McNamara31, I agree with you, what other options do we have to Obama, save perhaps for a challenge from within his own party. patrickesq, you make noteworthy points re. the constitutional limitations on the presidency. I have not given up on Obama but the man has got to play hardball against the team that invented the game. And now we learn of hypocrisy on a new scale. Michele Bachmann who despises the federal govt and denounces it daily, supports the Ryan plan which would privatize social security and gut medicare and medicaid and would eliminate entire federal agencies. Well it happens that Bachmann has been feeding at the public trough all or most of her professional life. As a congresswoman she has the best healthcare and retirement program that taxpayer money can buy - but would happily deny America's seniors (over 30% have no income other than a modest social security check)of the simply dignity of living without fear of hunger or illness. Bachmann's husband also lives on the public trough, through medicaid and medicare payments to his practice, part of which is to convert gays back to straights by prayer. In short, the Bachmanns are not just living off the public trough, they are wolfing off of it.

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seagreen | Jul 31, 2011, 11:30 AM EDT

O'Reilly and Dowd, is that like Madden and Cosell? Whatever Obama"s situation, the US is finished. There are plenty of rich people of course, but the general population is screwed, and it going to get a lot worse after the covers are taken off all of the supressions that are keeping the lid on. If China calls in the mark monetarily, hang onto your hat ! Have a couple of youg college grads in the family? Tell them to get bi, or tri lingual quick and get out while the getting is good.

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patrickesq | Jul 31, 2011, 11:26 AM EDT

With all due respect for your cited Irish journalists, their opinions as to the outcome of the election in 2012 are off base. While the American people can make bad choices, such as electing the tea party ideologues and Mr. Bush for a 2nd term, they usually correct course when they are convinced of the havoc they have wrought. I 2010 the people voted for a divided government with the result that the Republican House of Representatives has pushed their ultra conservative agenda to the extreme to the detriment of most Americans. The President's powers are limited by the constitutional division of power among the Congress, the President and the Courts. So the Republicans have used their Congressional power to block, attack and roll back everything the President has done or is trying to do to improve our economy and the lives of most Americans. In their current effort to wrongfully blame the President for our debt crisis, which Congress created during the past 10 years, they have jeopardized the economic well being of every American by refusing to agree to any revenue increases to help reduce our deficit. In 2012 the American people will remember which Party is seeking to gut the Clean Air and Water Acts, allow more degradation of our environment by big corporate interests, weaken consumer protections against corporate greed and gouging, and in general putting the interests of the wealthy and corporate powers above that of ordinary citizens. In short I believe the American people will see the light and President Obama will be reelected.

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newcanaan | Jul 31, 2011, 11:07 AM EDT

The country can not afford 4 more years of this incompetence

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Redrowan | Jul 31, 2011, 10:58 AM EDT

I think that if I had a high stakes poker game , I would want Obama sitting directly across from me. His acquiescence on jobs, the BP oil disaster, and now the debt ceiling, balanced budget and a broken economy as seen by the latest GDP numbers hidden among this mess is disgraceful. His lack of leadership now surpasses Jimmy Carter. The Domestic mess is bad enough but the enemies of this country must be licking their chops at having this vacillating impostor in the White House. China builds it's naval strength and Putin wants a return to the good old days in Russia. Many presidents surrounded themselves with intelligent men and women to help in decision making, where are his advisers? Or, is he relying on his own total lack of knowledge on economics and world politics. If this country defaults he will be holding the bag and he may be the last Dem you see elected to the Executive branch for a long long time.

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McNamara31 | Jul 31, 2011, 10:10 AM EDT

Since being elected Obama has encountered the greatest attack ever launched by the GOP including a 24 hour major media machine (fox) who set out to scare the uninformed about his every action, his origins and his intentions. Whether it was his first attempt to encourage school children early in his presidency that the GOP framed as spreading socialism to the debt ceiling debate that all worldwide see as manufactured to bring down Obama the nonstop slanderous barrage has had its effect even on his diehard supporters. But I ask what’s the other option? Fox manufactured intellectual lightweights like Palin or Bachman with their simplistic answers to very complicated problem. Rick Perry who has been holding prayer rallies in Texas to "use" religion to get potential votes while pushing bill’s he presently supports to allow college students to carry “guns on campus”. Or Mitt Romney who made fortunes similar to the way Gordon Gecko did in the movie Wall St by breaking down companies and selling off assets. Is he you're new job creator? When I look at the field as it stands today Obama still stands first in line. However, if Medicare and Social Security are adversely affected then you may see another democratic candidate run against him in 2012.

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tomdoh345 | Jul 31, 2011, 10:08 AM EDT

If Obama had any guts ( did not earn nicknames "Great Capitulator" and "Casper Milktoes" for no reason , he would invoke the 14th Amendment. FDR, IKE, JFK, Truman and Reagan would have put up with the Obstructionist Tea Party. Many people in the US would like to see the Tea Party members of the House and Senate jailed on charges of Treason and Obstruction of the Government. John MaCain ( who probably would have been President now if he had not let the extreme right wing of the Republican Party force Palin on him as VP ) has called the Tea Party members of the House "Hobbits" in the world of real people trying to get Real Government Work done.

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tomdoh345 | Jul 31, 2011, 10:07 AM EDT

George, you must surely know by now that the Republican myth of Reagan the conservative is the purest kind of baloney. Reagan was, above all, a pragmatist - and politically a moderate. He talked a good line of old fashioned values and small government, yet in his 8 years in office he increased taxes multiple times, more than tripled the national debt and enlarged the federal government. I am dismayed at Obama's lack of backbone. Before the GOP, at every critical moment, he has blinked. The result will be severe cuts in spending with no increase in revenues. For the record, amongst the G-7 countries the U.S. is tied with Japan for lowest taxes (our highest earners are the lowest by far) and amongst the 34 OECD countries (the so-called "Developed World") the U.S. is third from the bottom in taxation as a percentage of GDP. Taxes are much higher in very successful economies like Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark. The republicans in general and their less rational elements in particular continue to perpetuate the lie that we are over-taxed. We are not - at least not when matched against our bloated expectations of what we want from government. The GOP answer is to completely gut the entitlement programs but Americans overwhelmingly have said no to this - so we have little choice but to increase revenues to pay for the services we demand. The only real question is how to fairly and rationally do this.

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hooligan6a | Jul 31, 2011, 09:48 AM EDT

We need a strong leader and I don't see one on the horizon I think we will have to put up with Obuma for an other term. He will crash and burn on his 2nd term. I think we are in for some bad years ahead. If only Zell Miller would come out of retirement.

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GeorgeDillon | Jul 31, 2011, 08:55 AM EDT

Liberals like Roberts always tell the Republicans to go with the most centrist candidate. That's why we got President Dole and President McCain. And I'm just about old enough to remember Roberts' predecessors warning the Republicans that Reagan couldn't be elected.

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