Hawkeye Review

President Obama: Stop Campaigning and Start Governing

Someday in a store near you, I won't be surprised if we can buy our own Barack Obama doll where you pull the string in his back and out come the words, "It's all George Bush's fault."

Just for the sake of argument today, let's accept that premise.  George W. Bush had governed us into the housing meltdown, the banking crisis, massive unemployment and two un-winnable wars overseas. 

We have one irreconcilable problem here.  In the months and days before the near meltdown of the financial markets, did then candidate Barack Obama identify any of these major issues as problematic to the health, wealth and long term stability of our country?  No.

Let me be clear: NO HE DID NOT.

Before the election, the Obama campaign dispensed it's message through the "Organizing for America" platform.  House parties were conducted to rally voters and the key issues were free health care for 30 million Americans, bringing transparency and ethics back to our government and don't forget the Obama "green" house parties to save our country from foreign oil by installing new light bulbs. (Yes, in the process of saving our country that evening, you were also to raise $2000 for the campaign checking account).  You campaigned against a war that your own Vice President now considers one of your administrations's greatest achievements.

Fact Check WebSite for all issues here.  Hat tip to my faithful reader "Smurfy."

To my point: The key reason the Obama administration is severely failing our country is their inability to govern based on "Political Reality" as opposed to "Political Promises."

Exhibit A is the President's Annual Economic Report.  My eyes still hurt from pouring through the health care bills this last summer but if you're a glutton for punishment, here's another 462 pages to dive into.

Yes, to save you the pain, I'll simply refer to you a powerful example found on page 40 in the report:

Slowing the growth rate of health care costs will have benefits throughout the economy: it will raise the standards of living for families, help reduce the Federal budget deficit relative to what it otherwise would be, benefit state and local governments and encourage job growth and improved macroeconomic performance.

Did you get that?  To paraphrase; the health care bill will remedy all that ills our country, save money and create jobs.  Remember the soaring campaign rhetoric?  The promises. The transparency?

The critical thinking skills necessary to repair all levels of government is absent from this report.  The paradigms contained within this document are the very reason Barack Obama will serve one term as President of the United States.

Even seasoned analysts are starting to agree, it's almost too late for a game change and Obama didn't moderate and move to the center as Bill Clinton did so deftly back in the 90's.  Obama fought back and so will the electorate.  He'll lose because he's too proud to listen to the common sense members of his own party but more importantly, his own country.

Romney On Obama: "The Lost Year"

If pressed for my opinion, I would suggest to you that President Obama's most significant failure in his first year of office was his inability to focus himself, his administration and capital hill on the issue of jobs.

Governor Mitt Romney was more striking in his assessment:

"We've lost a year."

 

I know there are some who can't embrace Romney on the social issues, but I've yet to hear anyone provide me with compelling evidence that Romney isn't the strongest Republican voice in the economic arena.  I don't think it's an accident that he provides a subtle, yet crushing critique of the Obama administration without sounding personal or too critical.  This is a key to the Republican dialog as we still need the large voting block of independent voters to join us before we can reclaim the mantles of government.

As much as he was defensive and yes, almost combative on some of his legislative priorities, Obama did mimic the tactics of President Bill Clinton with a pragmatic "move to the middle" on the jobs issue. Obama knows it will take bi-partisan, heavy lifting to advance any legislation that has the chance to stimulate job growth in time for his own re-election efforts.  Mentions of tax cuts and simplified regulations are evidence of this sudden policy shift.

During Obama's first year in office, he should have focused like a laser beam on jobs.  Now, like it or not, the agenda for his second year is already cast in stone....survival.

Will Obama Be A One Term Wonder?

The new Rasmussen poll reflects shocking discontent with voters whose primary concern is fiscal issues. In this category, only 1% strongly approve of the President's performance while 81% strongly disagree.

The political fate of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid may be imperiled beyond repair.

For those of you who ponder this with glee and anticipation, let me remind you there are greater threats in play that require our immediate attention. 

Democrats are without doubt in jeopardy of losing power.  That's beyond "wishful thinking."  Let's assume for the purposes of this theory that Republicans don't shoot themselves in the foot between now and the next election cycle.

The political reality becomes this:  Realizing that time is slipping away to enjoy majority rule, Obama teams up with the beltway's most dysfunctional power couple (Reid-Pelosi) and they cooperate to ram 7 years worth of liberal-socialistic change through a legislative gauntlet before November's elections.

How much damage would this inflict upon our country?  Certainly there are scenarios where a new Republican majority can attempt to "undo" this damage. But realize too that repealing legislation is very time consuming and without an overwhelming mandate from the American people, even some of the most contentious bills will still be difficult to maneuver through the halls of congress.

It's one thing to watch the American voters reject policy. (As reflected in these polls). It's entirely different to watch our nation's leaders conduct the political equivalent of a "kamikaze mission" with their agenda for change.

Tomorrow: Another likely "one term wonder;" Governor Chet Culver.

The "Blue Dog Days" of of Obamacare...

The next fortnight is likely to determine the balance of the Obama presidency and the trajectory of power in our country until voters participate in the next federal elections. Political operatives and strategists alike are all paying very close attention to the daily developments and as this debate unfolds, we are witnessing first hand the catastrophic incompetence of Obama's senior leadership team.

Politics is a contact sport, it's also a match of tactics and some even compare it to a game of chess, where opposing sides carefully plot moves and strategy.

Websters defines “dog days” as...

1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere
2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity

The origin of "dog days" goes back to the ancient Greeks and Sirius, the "dog star."  During the summer months, Sirius rises and sets with the sun, so the Greeks assumed their close proximity lent to the extra heat and humidity.  Thus we have the "dog days of summer."

 From a technical standpoint, the "dog days" now occurs between July 3rd and August 11th.  How ironic that Obama introduced his health care initiative to the American people on June 24th and it's likely that by August 11th we will know the fate of this legislation.

As Senator Jim DeMint has said, it appears this to be Obama's "Waterloo."

“If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”

Obama skipped the traditional spokespersons roles and personally responded to DeMint:

“This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This about a health care system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses and breaking America’s economy. And we can’t afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time, not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake.”

I wrote not too long ago that the Obama strategy was to "Rahm" this bill through with little attention to details and much like the stimulus package, the legislative process was gamed for speed. The most astonishing development was the breathtaking loss of support this bill received from a congress that reflects a 72 seat majority in the House and a 20 seat majority in the Senate.  Add to this the collapse of public opinion and you now have the lead up to the ill-fated Obama press conference last Wednesday evening.  The once confident Obama strode up the podium and ushered in a "political disaster" of his own making...no cover on this performance from the MSM.

Obama was lambasted by stalwart institutions of the MSM and Howard Fineman said it best:

“His prime time press conference was worse than a waste of time. He spent an hour (with the aide of a soporific White House press corps) pouring sand (one grain at a time) into the already-slowing gears of the machinery of health-care reform.”

Obama loses his halo...

Now what?

As with the stimulus bill, the Obama operatives resolved to return to the most successful tactic in their arsenal of political tricks: Campaigning...

That was the premise for the press conference and with this recent failure looming over his head, you can only resort now to an "LBJ" style of lobbying congress and strong-arming the Blue Dogs to support this legislation with back room "earmarks" promised in their home districts.  However, be assured Barak Obama is no LBJ and he has no ability to "knock heads together" like LBJ did so effectively.

Doris Kearns Goodwin has called for Obama to find his Johnson moment:

"To take charge, to draw lines, to pressure, to threaten, to cajole," to basically herd the cats on the Hill.

Goodwin also writes: "So this is the moment for Obama to mobilize his troops in the field, to play hard ball, to do whatever it takes to get a bill passed."

When the next round of data is released on the US economy, you'll find Obama to be fighting a war on two fronts.  Once the psychological barrier of 10% is reached regarding unemployment, you'll start hearing more analogies to "Carter era economics" and truthfully, I've already read the word malaise used in conjunction to the Obama administration.  Folks, it's only a matter of time and it's quite clear to me and others that Obama has fumbled his opportunity to champion our economy.

I believe the most effective Republican strategy right now is continued opposition to the socialization of private medical care which is by the way, a huge chunk of our national economy.  But more important than our opposition is our ability to keep the "Blue Dogs" in their current mode of opposition to Obamacare.

As much as we'd like to think we control anything on capital hill, the truth is we don't and our collective fate lies in the hands of a small group of Democrat lawmakers who've had the courage to stand out against Pelosi and Reid.  We should be thanking them for their political backbone and encouraging them to continue their stand on principles that run contrary to the Obama administrations policies.

If this occurs, this very fortnight will be written about in future years as the catalyst that caused the downfall of what was proposed to be the most sweeping Presidency of our generation.  I believe the next 14 days will make the case for a single term of office for Obama and our opportunity to start up a new Republican revolution. 

Even the Democrats are starting to apologize for Obama...right here in Iowa!  Who will our next President be?  Well, I won't play my card yet but here's the hint....the next election will center and orbit around economic policies.  As much as we'd like to have "debate" about other issues such as health care reform or foreign policy, our country can't afford to take our eye off the imploding revenue streams to the US Treasury and the entire political apparatus turns its focus back to:

 "It's the Economy Stupid!"