The President and His Team
These days, I try to avoid conversations about President Obama. It's not that I've lost interest in politics. It's just that most of them don't go anywhere. They start with all the hope people had when he was elected and then go quickly downhill to disappointment. And because it is much easier to blame the people around him than the man himself, I'm constantly faced with questions I can't answer — or rather, questions that I can answer but that satisfy no one.
Why don't they tell him that he needs to stand up for something?
Why don't they tell him that he needs to focus on jobs instead of the deficit?
Why don't they tell him that he needs to put the Republicans on the defensive for protecting corporate America instead of the middle class?
Why don't they tell him that people hate these games of chicken that are being played in Washington?
Why don't they tell him not to schedule a speech on Wednesday when the Republicans are debating, only to look weak when he has to move it to Thursday?
Why don't they tell him not to go to Martha's Vineyard on vacation when so many Americans are out of work and can't afford vacations?
ETC.
Here's the short answer: They do.
When you're on top, you're a genius. Everyone tells you how smart you are.
When you're not, all you get is advice. The one thing I am sure the president is not short on right now is advice. The one thing I am sure White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, one of the smartest politicos I've ever met, is doing is passing along advice.
It's not that no one is telling the president. They are. They're not holding back on good ideas. It might be that there is some brilliant answer on the table that he is just not seeing. But I have my doubts.
The truth is that the buck stops there. If you want to blame someone for the president's missteps, blame him. He chooses his advisers. He decides what advice to accept and what to reject.
Speaking for myself, if I had a silver bullet, I'd pick up the phone.
Some things are easy to see. It's still the economy, stupid, as James Carville famously pointed out during the Clinton campaign. There is no problem Obama has right now that couldn't be solved by a substantial reduction of the unemployment rate.
Oh, they could play the political dance better — look stronger, make different scheduling decisions; he could vacation less and play less golf. But none of that matters very much one way or the other if one in 10 people is looking for work and can't find it.
The president will, no doubt, unveil a laundry list of programs that he is pushing now and remind us of the ones he pushed in the past to try to create jobs. The Republicans will respond by saying big government is part of the problem, not part of the solution; the private sector needs to be unleashed; red tape needs to be cut. Rhetoric is easy. Plans you don't have to pass are easy. Progress is hard.
What the Obama presidency has revealed, painfully, is not how much power a president has, but how little, particularly when Congress is in the hands of the opposing party and it's an election year and the leaders of that party — both in the House and the Senate — are determined to defeat him.
What he has — all he has — is the power to persuade: the power to persuade Congress that they will pay a price if they don't act, the power to persuade the media that he is doing everything that can be done, and ultimately, the power to persuade the public not only to stand behind him, but to show their confidence by spending money and buying houses and, most importantly, creating jobs.
This president showed an uncanny ability to persuade during his run for the presidency. He persuaded the country to trust an African-American first-term Senator over candidates who, on paper, had far more experience than he. As president, he seems to have lost that power, that touch. Too many people, including those who supported him, see him as arrogant and aloof. Too many believe he has lost his way, succumbed to Washington, forgotten his message. Appearance is reality.
Yes, we can. Millions responded to candidate Obama. Now it's time for him to prove that, yes, he can.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM
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18 Comments | Post Comment
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Per Estrich "This president showed an uncanny ability to persuade during his run for the presidency. He persuaded the country to trust an African-American first-term Senator over candidates who, on paper, had far more experience than he"
God help me. Obama as he then was, little president zero as he now is, did not "persuade" the country but aided by a corrupt media that not only failed to report upon him, his radical liberal fascist background and criminal associates and connections but became part of his election team and actively and dishonestly smeared every opponent, presuaded no-one other than already smitten negrophiles, white guilt sufferers, limo liberals, stupid soccer mums, America haters and those lacking in judgment and awareness seriously enough to be fooled by "hope and change".
Little president zero has outed himself as being entirely incompetent and entirely hapless and so consciously hateful of America and its values to be president. But that is not the real danger. As was said best by another " The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like Obama with the presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Obama who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools [and parasites] that made him their prince. The Republic will survive a Barack Obama, who after all is merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools [and parasites] such as those that made him their president."
Count Estrich as one of that confederacy of fools.
Comment: #1
Posted by: joseph wright
Tue Sep 6, 2011 6:36 PM
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Dear Susan:
Nice column as usual. Sometimes quiet competence far outshines noisy rhetoric. It is like the old story of the tortise and the Hare. Slow and steady wins the race. A case in point is the way the recent hurricane was handled on the East Coast. About 40 people died...it could easily have been 400. The leadership of the president was not given any credit for how this disaster was handled so smoothly but his appointment many months ago of Mr Fugate to lead FEMA was a masterstroke. Along came the disaster and FEMA was well prepared IN ADVANCE rather than trying to respond belatedly with equipment it did not have as happened in Katrina when "Good Job" Brownie , a political hack appointee, was heading this agency. A disaster waiting for a disaster. This time quiet competence prevailed. Even Republican governor Chris Christie was quick with his praise of the Federal response.
Just add this recent event to the long line of positive accomplishments of this president.
If you want a rah,,Rah,,,cheerleader as president,,,look to Michelle Bachmann who seems to be running for first cheerleader rather than presenting us with any rational ideas for dealing with our daily problems...otherwise just stick with a guy with the sense to appoint very competent people and has the sense to get out of their way and let them do the jobs they have been delegated to do.
Of couse, it is easy for some to trash this president with insults and UNSPECIFIED generalities and smears, but rational people are in the majority in this country and they will respond to this style of leadership in a positive manner.
Comment: #2
Posted by: robert lipka
Tue Sep 6, 2011 7:52 PM
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Re: robert lipka
As expected, Lipka adds his name to the confederacy of fools. Now awaiting cadbury and capsican.
Comment: #3
Posted by: joseph wright
Tue Sep 6, 2011 8:30 PM
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Hi All,
The problem really isn't President Obama per se, but the conditions prevalent in the world at large. No president has much say for conditions in Europe, China, Japan etc.
The real problem is that when the president is a Republican, he gets fried by the Liberals, and of course when he's a Democrat turn about is so-called 'Fair Play'. Both parties need to quit stating how good they are when things boom, and how bad the other guy is when things go bust.
Joseph Wright [above] is quite correct when he states the news media were pro Obama [remember Hillary and especially Ferraro stating such] even Ray Charles could see how lop-sided the positive Obama coverage was.
Ms. Estrich is correct when she states "how little power the president has. She's also correct he's getting a mountain of feedback. We all have worked at jobs where we tried to tell top mgmt. what the problems were, and what would help, only to have our advice ignored, and the company come crashing down.
Nuff Said...Dennis
Comment: #4
Posted by: Dennis
Tue Sep 6, 2011 11:29 PM
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Re: joseph wright
Well spoken. Facts are facts. The liberals hate facts.
Comment: #5
Posted by: Early
Wed Sep 7, 2011 8:00 AM
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The problem Obama has is that he is a true beleive rin big Government and has surrounded himself witht the gang that can't shoot straight.
Want Banks to loosen up and make loans? Let's bash them every chance we get and in fact, let's sue them.
Want green jobs? Let's give hundreds of millions to companies that either have gone broke or shipped the money to China and India so that they can do the work there.
Gee, we'd like to have Corporations hire more people. Let's regulate the crap out of them and call them crooks in every speech or press release.
Want the middle class to make a few bucks? Let's keep things so uncertain that the market continues to tank. That will help all those 401K and other funds.
It goes on and on. Obama can't see, or chooses not see that his policies have failed. He's excersising a form of insanity, keep dong the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
He is truly a seriouslt flawed man.
Comment: #6
Posted by: Dave
Wed Sep 7, 2011 10:36 AM
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Re: DAve
So I guess your answer to the Wall Street problem is to deregulate and go back to the days of Walcomm and Enron? Boy were those frauds a big boost to a lot of people's 401k's Especially the employees of Enron who were barred from cahing in their stock when "Kenny Boy" Lay was cashing in his stock before it became worthless.
I got out of the stock market years ago and only play a few stocks every now and then because you just can't trust the market with all the program traders. If you completely deregulate them, with the modern technology now in place, the small investor is helpless. I have most of my money invested in Silver dollars, silver coins and gold and have been there for many years. I read an interesting book years ago titled, THE COMING CURRENCY COLLAPSE. And that book taught me to be wary. The book was published during the Reagan years but it is still valid today.
I would not call Wall Streters crooks but the word Opportunists fits them very well. If you give someone the opportunity to grab a fast buck, you can be sure that they will.
I recently bought Bank of America stock because I listened to some very intelligent investors talk about how their lawsuits would be tossed out of court and those banks would go back up to their book value and above. The justice department has an obligation to the public to file those lawsuits. What happens in court before a Federal jury is another matter. And any bank that wants to stay in business, has to stop sitting on it's money and get out into the marketplace and make money the way it used to ,,,by making loans. Ditto other big corporations. If they want to make money , they have to stop sitting on cash(which produces nothing) and use it to start getting products back into the pipeline. If you are sitting on the sidelines, you can never score a touchdown. You go into the game and play by the rules.
I know a certain lunatic will trash my post, he always does because he does not have the brains to come up with orignal ideas on his own, but I think I am right about the danger of deregulation.
Comment: #7
Posted by: robert lipka
Wed Sep 7, 2011 12:00 PM
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Poor little Barry, he told us his plans would keep unemployment below 8%, and he failed
And even worse is a comment that Trumpka made. While most reports are of 14 million unemployed, Trumpka stated 25 million unemployed. If that is the case, the media is hiding the true unemployment facts. Because if 14 million equates to 9%, then 25 million would be closer to 18% unemployed.
So the question is should we believe the government figures, or should we believe Trumpka, a union leader, speaking for the those unemployed.
But for all those that love little Barry, Obozo, our clown in chief, anyone laughing about his plans to see energy costs skyrocket. Every time I put gas in my car and am reminded that prices are double when he came into office, I just fall all over myself laughing.
Comment: #8
Posted by: barry1817
Wed Sep 7, 2011 12:28 PM
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You are on the right track that Obama is an inexperienced Bozo as far as being a president...but where you are missing it is: HE WANTS THE US TO FAIL! He is an ideologue, a Marxist, Socialist, whatever, etc. Don't know which, but look who his czars are and that should tell you something. Obama is just a figurehead that doesn't know shit from applebutter about running a business let alone a country. But he is managing to destroy the country in one term and he said as much. I can't believe the people can't see the forest for the trees and think that Obama is really trying to accomplish something positive! But I must say, the little assistant law professor has certainly gotten rich since he was elected. Ummm, food for thought. He likes the high style for sure...
Comment: #9
Posted by: Charlie
Wed Sep 7, 2011 2:13 PM
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Oh how the liberals would love for us to forget how the Democrats had total control of the House, Senate and White House for two years and still did nothing to lower employment. I should'nt say they did nothing. They did increase the debt by over $4 trillion. And of course for them that wasn't enough; which is why they say it didn't work. If government spending trillions of dollars was the right direction, should it not have worked just a little!!!
Keep on blaming the Republicans as obstructionist Susan. It makes it easier for all to see how stupid you and other elitist think we are.
-Ed Ortiz
Comment: #10
Posted by: E Ortiz
Wed Sep 7, 2011 2:25 PM
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A community organizer does not a President make.
Comment: #11
Posted by: Paul
Wed Sep 7, 2011 7:32 PM
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Re: robert lipka
I don't believe you read ( or understood) what Dave wrote. You just hate Capitlaism. Maybe you had invested in Enron and Worldcom and got stung so you would prefer to treat all of Wall Street as evil. The large percentage of Americans who invest have done very well over the years with their investments; not so true with the money (taxes) they 'invested' with the federal government.
Comment: #12
Posted by: Early
Thu Sep 8, 2011 8:14 AM
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Ed is right on the money. The Democrats controlled the whole show (House, Senate, and the POUS) for two years. They spent money like it was going out of style. They didn't even pass a budget. Now, tonight the president will ask for another $400 Billion. What the hell did they do with the $780 Billion they got from the people the last time!? President Obama needs to go play golf...forever. This guy has no idea what he's doing. In reality it is very simple: tell the American people where the boundries are, tell them what the rules are, and get the hell out of the way...simple. You see, one thing scares the hell out of liberals more than anything else...people doing what the hell they want to do.
Comment: #13
Posted by: tony
Thu Sep 8, 2011 11:24 AM
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RE:EARLY
I think you should have read my post more carefully. I love capitalism,it has made me quite comfortable. But I hate uncontrolled insider trading. Members of my family got stung when they invested in Harken Oil a company led by George W. Bush. Bush traded off over 800,000 worth of his stock (you can find the stories on the internet just google Harken Oil) after leaving a board meeting where he was told the company was tanking because certain deals did not go through. He sold that stock and failed to make the public disclosure required of board members and corporate executives. The price of the stock dropped in half almost overnight. How he escaped prosecution is still a mystery but it is suspected that since his father was President of the United States at the time, that was the deciding factor. You tread lightly after your family gets burned like that. And I began a long career of investing in gold coins buying twenty dollar gold coins at 52.50 each and silver dollars , most of them for five and six dollars each and silver coins . The price of a twenty dollar gold coin today is 1,830dollars minimum , silver dollars are at 42 dollars each today and a simple silver quarter is worth ten bucks. So I think I chose the right investment, at least for me. And the best thing about that investment is that I have possession of those coins and therefore, ultimate control. I love capitalism, but it takes many forms. You have to be ready to adapt. Post you home address sometime and I'll send you a nice coin to start your collection.
Comment: #14
Posted by: robert lipka
Thu Sep 8, 2011 12:58 PM
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Re: robert lipka
Unfortunately we don't really have 'capitalism' in the US. What we do have is legal and illegal price fixing among the big companies. To add insult to injury, these same companies and the super rich don't pay taxes, but they're quick to use the interstate road system to move their products, the court system to get injunctions and bankruptcy, the military to protect them, and the gov't to bail them out if they get in over their heads yet w/o taxes to pay for these gov't services they wouldn't have them. Duh, where is the 'capitalism'???
Nuff Said...Dennis
Comment: #15
Posted by: Dennis
Fri Sep 9, 2011 3:15 AM
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Re: Dennis
So you don't like America and want "CHANGE."
Comment: #16
Posted by: Early
Fri Sep 9, 2011 4:51 AM
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Re: Early
Huh????
Nuff Said...Dennis
Comment: #17
Posted by: Dennis
Fri Sep 9, 2011 6:50 AM
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Comment: #18
Posted by: Jomar Robles
Fri Sep 9, 2011 3:16 PM
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