THE must-read of the weekend – NYTimes: Democrats fret aloud over Obama’s re-election
An absolute must-read from the New York Times:
Democrats are expressing growing alarm about President Obama’s re-election prospects and, in interviews, are openly acknowledging anxiety about the White House’s ability to strengthen the president’s standing over the next 14 months.
Elected officials and party leaders at all levels said their worries have intensified as the economy has displayed new signs of weakness. They said the likelihood of a highly competitive 2012 race is increasing as the Republican field, once dismissed by many Democrats as too inexperienced and conservative to pose a serious threat, has started narrowing to two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who have executive experience and messages built around job creation.
And in a campaign cycle in which Democrats had entertained hopes of reversing losses from last year’s midterm elections, some in the party fear that Mr. Obama’s troubles could reverberate down the ballot into Congressional, state and local races.
“In my district, the enthusiasm for him has mostly evaporated,” said Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon. “There is tremendous discontent with his direction.”
The president’s economic address last week offered a measure of solace to discouraged Democrats by employing an assertive and scrappy style that many supporters complain has been absent for the last year as he has struggled to rise above Washington gridlock. Several Democrats suggested that he watch a tape of the jobs speech over and over and use it as a guide until the election.
But a survey of two dozen Democratic officials found a palpable sense of concern that transcended a single week of ups and downs. The conversations signaled a change in mood from only a few months ago, when Democrats widely believed that Mr. Obama’s path to re-election, while challenging, was secure.
“The frustrations are real,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, who was the state chairman of Mr. Obama’s campaign four years ago. “I think we know that there is a Barack Obama that’s deep in there, but he’s got to synchronize it with passion and principles.”
Continue reading here.
LONG overdue…and already scarily close to Too Little Too Late. I’ve been a big Obama fan from early on – I was at the DNC, at his acceptance speech, and even at his VIP thank you reception afterwards: the man and his platform were very compelling.
The centrists and independents came aboard for Obama in droves in 2008 for Change We Can Believe In after 8 years of rampant trampling of civil and human rights, non-existent fiscal discipline and insider giveaways, and the undermining of broader societal goods from environmental and consumer regulation to education and health access, and the list goes on and on.
Change We Can Believe In was great – but what we’ve gotten was More Of What We Didn’t Believe In And Voted Against. I think a lot of that comes down to a calculated effort to appear post-partisan and stay above the congressional fray. That’s great if you’re a commentator on CNN. It is NOT what people crossed many party, demographic and other lines to elect Obama for.
We need more strong positions that are clearly differentiable from Republican obstructionism-as-usual. For just a couple recent examples: that means implementing the EPA’s recommendations on ozone regulations over industry objections (which draw more than a little from that great reasoned apologist Chicken Little); pushing for the strongest possible regulations on financial institutions from the Dodd-Frank act (or even better, making the case for a return to Glass-Steagal and banking in the service of industry, communities and families rather than the converse); and then there’s the jobs plan…
This is NOT Change We Can Believe In. This is Business As Usual By The Other Guys’ Rules: It’s mainly extending (and only very slightly expanding) an existing tax cut – the average American will see less than $10 new a week, and for those without jobs, of course, a payroll tax cut is useless. And it’s doing it all at the cost of tradeoff budget cuts, rather than Change We Could Believe In: “The economy hasn’t improved enough for far too many of us, so my administration is going to pull out all the stops to pour more badly needed dollars into the economy, and we will not make drastic cuts in services now or in the future to do it. Any high school economics student could tell you that’s the core of what government should be doing in a recession, and my opponents are cyncially manipulating the situation to try to ram through policies that the American people don’t support – cutting back Social Security, Medicare, education and infrastructure funding – by presenting it as unfortunate necessity in these tough times. No more!”
That’s staking out a clearly different vision and path ahead – and it’s what this country is hungry for. Mr. President, that strong, bright, distinctive vision is what got you elected. Time to put the Audacity back in the Hope if you’re going to get re-elected – and set this country on the right new course.
I for one am not concerned about Obama’s reelection chances. The @$$Perry Bush Train is going nonstop to GOP Nomination City and after that will hit a wall called “The American Voter” once the commercials about his Social Security stance hit the airwaves.