Roger Simon said, “If Obama can’t sell government as a force for good that is who he is, and if he can’t sell that then he can’t sell his presidency.”
Before President Obama made his media blitz this past Sunday he went on the road. He played host in small towns and hamlets to audiences that regaled him. The crowds listened to the President recount how one voice began the rally cry "fired up and ready to go!" He shook his head and laughed at himself as he recalled his displeasure to find he was soaking wet in front of an audience of twenty people. But it was that atypical setting where he got the word and found his candidate voice. Obama hoped that the magic and the fire would return by, well, if he retold how he found it in the first place. Those who sat close to the fire of his speech were warmed by it; however the crowds outside held up clear signs of the times that could not be ignored. Somebody was fired up this time – the right.
Obama Cares!
I watched three interviews and felt talked down to in all of them. But I was not outside among the fired up nor among those who cat-called “communist.” Socialism was the mortar but the rocks of the five interviews — the Carter comments about overwhelming racism behind the ugly mocking of Obama and health care reform. In the Meet the Press interview when asked about Carter’s contention, Obama calmly disagreed. He stated that for the media race and controversy was “catnip.” He repeated this at each interview, which was as homogenous as the nightly news that racism was not solely behind the outrage.
While the President was right to defuse the reminder that he was black, he missed an important opportunity to talk to the people. Instead he talked down to them. His only specific was the “3 principles” he mentioned on This Week: 1) affordable health insurance (if you don’t have) 2) reforms will give you more security (If you do have insurance) 3) deficit-neutral spending while driving down costs in the long term. How can a complex overhaul of a thousand pages be boiled down to a couple of sentences? President Obama put away Professor Obama when he needed him most.
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
Thank you for the breakdown on Sunday's antics. Here I thought I might have missed something.
2 - Jeannie Danna
I would really like to know what these two books ( True Compass & The Death of A President )have to do with this article.
I was gone for the summer and upon returning to BC I have discovered that the political section is still being run with a right-leaning slant as always...:)
3 - Clavos
How the heck are those two books, chosen by the article's author, indicative of a "right wing slant" in the Politics section? They're about Kennedys, hardly darlings of the right.
4 - roger nowosielski
To tell the truth, Heloise, I'm not certain about the thrust of your article. Looks I'm gonna have to give it a second read.
5 - Heloise
Jeannie if you visited the Trough or the Polikos you would know. I am not right nor left, just spot-on. I record much and report the little that is worth savoring and repeating.
Heloise is a true centrist. If you mean BC leaning right, then you are, well, right. I did a review of "Death of A President" at the Trough because of its link to Jackie's article in Vanity Fair.
And Ted was jfk's brother, so there you have the nexus.
Heloise
6 - Heloise
Clavos, I was trying to be objective, did I get lost? :) or did you?