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Liberals, Lay Off Obama
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He’s on his way to an historic health-care win. The stimulus was huge. The market’s back. The left should stop complaining the president hasn’t accomplished anything.
Maybe that Saturday Night Live skit wasn’t so funny after all. Four days after Fred Armisen announced that Barack Obama’s signature accomplishments were “jack” and “squat,” our do-nothing president did something that Democratic presidents have been trying to do for most of the last century: He celebrated a universal health care bill’s passage through Senate Committee. For good measure, the Dow topped 10,000 for the first time since last fall’s meltdown. Obama’s polling has even ticked up: According to Gallup, he’s more popular than he’s been since summer.
If he gets health-care reform, Obama will have done more to rebuild the American welfare state in one year than his two Democratic predecessors, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, did in a combined twelve.
Get ready for the “Obama comeback” stories, in which the same publications that recently declared that “he’s failing miserably” (Politico) and “suddenly looking unsure of himself” (The Economist) discover that he’s thriving again. But the boring truth is that he was pretty much thriving all along. Journalists are non-fiction script-writers. They need plot-twists: Barack meets public; Barack loses public; Barack regains public. Bill Clinton was great this way: Whenever things were getting monotonous, he’d grope an intern just to make life interesting. Obama, on the other hand, is relentlessly disciplined, pragmatic, and successful. Beneath the fascinating exterior, he’s dull as hell.
And it’s not just that Obama is predictable. Politically, we live in fairly predictable times. The demographic shifts that have put the Democrats in power—more young voters, more Hispanic voters, more highly-educated voters—have been decades in the making, and aren’t likely to reverse themselves anytime soon. Nor are voters likely to forget George W. Bush. Obama is blessed to have taken office in the aftermath of disaster—which means that he’ll probably be judged against a low bar. When Franklin Roosevelt ran for reelection in 1936, unemployment was still 17 percent, but it was no longer 25 percent, so FDR won all but two states. In 1984, unemployment was seven percent, but that was lower than when Ronald Reagan took office, and it was headed down. And so Reagan asked Americans whether they were better off than they were four years ago, and Walter Mondale told them the answer didn’t matter because Reagan had run up huge deficits, and Reagan won 49 states.
Now Obama is in a similarly fortunate position. Most of the fiscal stimulus passed by Congress hasn’t kicked in yet, and it may not kick in time to save Democrats from grizzly results in next fall’s midterms. But Reagan got clobbered in the 1982 midterms as well, and it didn’t ultimately matter. If the economy is better in 2012 than it was in 2009, even if it’s not all that great, history suggests that Obama will reap the rewards and Republican arguments about deficits will work about as well as Mondale’s did.
It’s like giving Peyton Manning the ball at your own 20 yard line: there’s not a lot of suspense. Even this summer, when the press was announcing a dip in Obama’s fortunes, the health care bills were moving steadily through Congress, the stimulus was gradually slowing the nation’s economic descent, and Obama’s approval ratings never fell below 50 percent.
So liberals should stop complaining that Obama hasn’t done anything. Sure, he hadn’t yet done much to bring world peace, but the stimulus bill—which includes vast sums for college tuition, renewable energy and mass transit—is one of the most important pieces of progressive domestic legislation in decades. And if Obama twins that with health care reform, he’ll have done more to rebuild the American welfare state in one year than his two Democratic predecessors, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, did in a combined twelve.
As for journalists, you can hardly blame them for trying to inject some volatility into the Obama storyline. But if this fall is any indication, much of the volatility will be imagined. The dreary truth is that politically, Obama is both lucky and good, and he’s well on his way to a successful first term. Oh, well. We still have Sarah Palin.
Peter Beinart, Senior Political Writer for The Daily Beast, is a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at City University of New York and a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation.
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DevilsLawyer
He's hardly being judged by a low bar. He may have been hired to clean up a big mess, but expectations are correspondingly high. People seem to expect him to walk on water and then part it, or maybe it was the other way around, in less than a year in office. That partly explains the prevalent media storyline. The ship of state don't sail that fast, people.
pennsykid2000
And the GOP and their propaganda arm, FoxNews, will never give him any credit, even though their wealthy paymasters have benefited enormously from the recovering stock market. They will always focus on the lagging indicators to claim Obama hasn't done much, and then will move on to some other topic when those lagging indicators finally improve.
dbro0009
i agree. good point
egw7777
FOX news is not a GOP propaganda arm, you idiot. They are fair & balanced. Have you ever really sat down & listen to anyone or anything on the channel or are you just going by what people tell you. Shepard Smith & Geraldo & several others are liberals Fox. I admit a lot of the commentators like Sean Hannity is a Republican. But Glen Beck is an independent & so is O'Reilly. O'Reilly is so fair & balanced he makes me mad when he takes up for Obama or makes excuses for some of Obama's screw ups, but I still watch. At least he tells both sides of the story. John Stossel from 20/20 ABC is a liberal & is getting his own show there. So try watching & stop going by what you are told.
galeso
I though John Stossel was a Libertarian, not a liberal.
so-cal-centrist
No EGW,they don't watch. Every day that I do, everyone minus Beck and Hannity always has something positive to say about BHO and always gives credit where credit is due. If this administration and the other thin skinned far left liberal chumps would get a clue and listen to something other than MSNBC, they might learn something? Even Beck and Hannity are killing the scumbags at MSNBC who are filled with hate and vitriol at anyone that doesn't bend to the liberal cause.
Beck and Hannity have brought to light corruption and "bad" people he has chosen as Czars....everyone should be curious, many should be concerned.
I've noticed lately because of the tantrums the administration has been throwing (liberal tactic) Fox has been even nicer.
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n--Y--IlovebushVeronicaxy
DL,
Part of the challenge is having an articulate voice on behalf of how the world is different.
Peter thanks for the reminders of how it's a different world from a year ago.
johnnyapplecd
If he walked on water and then parted it, his critics would be all over that: "There he goes having a good time splashing around in the Red Sea while back at home, unemployment and deficits continue to soar!"
DevilsLawyer
Too true!
galeso
The stock market is up (yeah!), so who needs jobs?
The economy dipped at the end of Clinton administration (but Congress was Republican for the last 6 years!!!!) and the W tried to claim credit for the turn around and record manufacturing output (but there were fewer manufacturing jobs - sound familiar?) . Now Bush III, I mean Obama wants to claim credit for the turn around when very little of his stimulus package has been spent and we have 17% unemployed or underemployed.
Of course Obama will not publicly blame the Democrats who have run Congress for the last 2.8 years, just as W did not blame the Republican congress. And it is Congress that spends & regulates.
newswoman
Congress seems to have its own agenda. After all, they have to get reelected, too!
JFK said when he was in the Senate, he thought the president had so much power, but when he became president, he thought Congress had so much power. Congress seems to move so slooowly and presidents, even if their party is in the majority, can't seem to move tham any faster.
democracyforall
The stock market could crash tomorrow. Our country is in a LOT of debt and the value of the American dollar is at stake. For those who think Obama has helped to bring us out of debt and into stable waters, you are in for a very rude awakening.
Dave1959
You are being very,very,very optimistic. This health care bill needs to pass with the Public Option. The war in Afghanistan, now spreading to Pakistan, is going to weigh on this man. Another major attack on US soil !!
Optimistic.
BrokenArrow
Another attack, you say, almost sounds like you want it to happen. TELL ME, would it be okay if the current admin. received an email w/the subject line: bin Laden Determined to Attack US, and IGNORED IT???
Never forget the bu$h year$.
Dave1959
Do you not mean under WJC ? Just an error on your side I'm sure !!
loveyou777
with people who can only compain about the bush years the country will never reach its potential. we will all feel better once of the many issues he is addressing bears fruit. by the way it takes a congress to make health care a reality, also lets not forget the people who will die between now and 2013 before we celebrate.
NorCalGladiator
WJC would have been able to do something about Bin Laden if the GOP didn't have their panties in a bunch about kicking him out of office for getting some sideline nookie. They were going after Bin Landen and had to stop because he put his peter in monica's parking meter
al-nafs
Dave, please clarify. Are you hoping that there will be another major attack on US soil? Did you notice the arrests of those suspected of plotting attacks recently?
diamondgirl
al-nafs,A little too close for comfort.. As for what he has accomplished, it aint over until the Fat Lady sings, there is no health care yet, still two wars, unemployment is at 10%. Deficit is out of control from all the spending/stimulus, which no matter how many times they tell you, its working, "show me the jobs".
Unless you are playing on Wall Street, which i am, you are feeling pretty bad right now about Obama. The reason wall street is doing so well, is all the businesses have cut wages, jobs, and found they could make more money this way. So the earnings for the most part are going to be good, at least for now...
Dave1959
NO !! ... To be taken in context of article.
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n--Y--JAsMomLAneverlate
The Dow at 10,000 is due to a realization on the part of investors that the market over-reacted on the downside, as well as a result of improved profits from cost cutting (read job loses). The stimulus was inconsequential to recovery and only adds to the final tab that will come due very shortly (see falling dollar). Obama's determination to forge ahead in his dream of turning america into a liberal la la land while american business is on the ropes will only hurt him in the end. Unfortunately the troika of Obama-Reid and Pelosi are doing serious damage to the american economy in the mean time.
PhilMcRoin
You are right about the stimulus, the one that handed all that money to wall street right before Bush left office.. absolutely ridiculous.. we still have to see what will become of the one that was passed after he took office.. You know, the one with all that pork (read programs to help people get back on their feet and not the top 1%) We'll see what happens.. You can only speculate and hope the economy fails with the rest of the unpatriotic unamercian neo-con(federates)
sonofloud
So which is it......does Obama get credit for the stimulus, or was it a horrible idea by Bush ?
Peter seems to think that Obama should get credit for it.
swr112261
You must be kidding? Remember that "stimulus" package that was supposed to keep unemployment below eight percent? Well, it's 10 percent, and climbing. Our enemies in Iran, Russia, and North Korea are laughing their asses off at this pacifist clown. The Government who can't even run a railroad and Postal Service profitably is about to take over the best healthcare system in the world, something that will certainly ration care and increase costs. Our economy is in the toilet because there isn't the available capital to spur job creation. This man, a liberal community organizer who has never met a payroll in his life, is an absolute embarassment.
PhilMcRoin
I think I was pretty clear in my message.. Obama gets credit for his stimulus package, Bush gets credit for his.. You guys are aware that there were 2 right? One where they just "made it rain" on wall street (bush's) and another that mostly hasn't even been spent yet(Obama's)
swr.. nice job restating the neo-con talking points of the last few months.. but I obviously haven't bought that line of crap yet.. and your pitch is weak.
sonofloud
Why does Obama get credit for something that "hasn't even been spent yet" ?
ShutUpAndThink
Blah, blah, blah...
newswoman
SWR, we do NOT have the best healthcare system in the world. Where did you get that notion? (You haven't studied the Dutch or Canadian or French systems, have you?) That is why we need healthcare reform, dummie.
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n--Y--grumpyguyunclelew
Well said, Grumpy.
We can never forget that these days neocon means building greed and selfishness into dogma. That means any any attempt to help the average citizen is automatically against their "principles."
neverlate
It would be nice chatting with you people if you even had the foggiest notion what a Neocon is. A hint - they are not conservatives and the term has nothing to do with economic policy.
AlexHamilton
It's quite easy to have a high GDP when you're a country of only a few million people, almost none of whom are illegal immigrants, and you have vast natural resources to boot.
It stands to reason that in a country of over 300 million, there's going to be a more varied cross section of society. Not to mention that in many ways Scandinavian countries are incredibly socially conservative and insular compared with the rest of Europe - Norway isn't even a member of the European Union (lucky tykes...).
denmark98
I live in Denmark and we are the 3rd most productive country in the world after the US and Switzerland and we thrive on technology and research. We have the the largest shipping company in the world; Maersk, We have The Lego Company, The largest producer of Insulin; NovoNordisk and much much more. All that socialist crap I hear on American television is worth very little...
so-cal-centrist
And not to mention that liberal causes have kept the unproductive unproductive through welfare and people always telling them they're victims.
democracyforall
I agree totally. The liberal spending run-a-muck is going to destroy our dollar and it's status around the world. We will be kicked out of global benefits when the dollar is replaced with the Euro. We don't have the money to do everything the liberals are pushing for. People are getting checks from the government who never earned them. Obama is hurting the working class. We can't shoulder all this liberal spending, even the 1% rich can't cover it.
GPatton
Obamacare may make the situation worse. Remember, they've cut a deal with big Pharma and the insurance companies and this recent dust up with the insurance companies might be just play acting. Pres. O could direct AIG to offer bare bones low cost policies to the American public. And he could also direct the Sec. of HHS and Defense to compel drug companies to bid on supplying drugs to Asprin clinics and dispenseries open to all Americans under the VA system just by signing an order. The market's experiencing a sucker rally. And the "recovery" from the "recession" is a jobless one. Meanwhile on Wall St. it's back to business as usual. So. Obama stands a chance of being as lame a President as William Jefferson Clinton was. Put that in your fuckin' pipe and smoke it. George Patton
DevilsLawyer
William Jefferson Clinton led a decade of peace and security, which George Walker Bush inherited and managed to completely trash. I'd tell you to put that in your pipe and smoke it, except I think it's medically dangerous for you to get any higher.
GPatton
WSJ just kicked the can down the road. Don't forget he could have had healthcare, but blew it. He could and should have nailed the Saddam and Bin Laden problems before they led to where they led. He signed the frinaical modernization act that put the skids under the world financial system because he needed the banksters to preclude the Senate from convicting him for sodomizing a White House intern and lying about it. You can take a pipe and shove it, Bozo. George Patton
NorCalGladiator
most conservatives have moved on to the needle so smoking anything doesn't do much more damage.
and props to Clinton for keepin it real in the Oral office
*Oval
JohnnyAces
and I suppose Clinton didn't deserve any credit for having a budget surplus, right GP? and that your dear friend GWB was fiscally resposible? and that every President going back to Reagan wasn't also responsible for kicking the can down the road?
It's amazing that you have yourself convinced that liberals are responsible for all of the nation's woes. Time to look inward pipe smoker. There's plenty of blame to go around.
al-nafs
Nice choice of words. 'may make the situation worse'. 'sucker rally'. This could happen. That could happen.
If the President ordered a private corporation to change their policies, ( to offer low cost policies, or to compel drug companies to do xyz ) that would go against the wishes of many Americans. He didn't do it with AIG, or GM, or any other company. He did compel them to change management, since their existing management was obviously a failure.
Jobs are a lagging indicator, they probably won't pickup until next year.
You want the Pres to not be "lame"? Perhaps you want a leader to be more exciting and provide entertainment and headlines. I want Obama to just get the job done, and I'm not an impatient and bitter old man.
Put that in your fucking pipe and smoke it.
viviliberoomuori
If the President ordered a private corporation to change their policies, ( to offer low cost policies, or to compel drug companies to do xyz ) that would go against the wishes of many Americans. He didn't do it with AIG, or GM, or any other company. He did compel them to change management, since their existing management was obviously a failure.
Umm, he didn't compel anything. He took ovr the businesses, and added that to the list of the economy controlled by the gov't. There has never been a time in recent US history where a president fired a CEO, and took over a corporation (GM) Now he wants to take over the energy industry (cap-n-trade, making up 17% of the economy) and health-care(making up another 16% of the economy). He is not diong this for the good of the country, it is a power grab, and an underhanded one at that. Harry Reid just admitted that the health care bill will cost $2 trillion dollars. Now, if we go back into history, when Medicare was voted in, we now see that Medicare has cost 10X the amount originally thought. So, do the math. $20 trillion dollars? Yet it won't affect our taxes, or our income? Vaporware. Where is the money going to come from? The rich? you mean those mean people who own businesses and employ us? There isn't a big enough bowl on any pipe for you to smoke. Try an anal-cranial removal procedure sir.
Ozone69
I don't recall the media gushing over and giving President Bush credit when the DJIA reached it's all-time high of 14,164 on October 9, 2007. This is the market being the market. it goes up, it goes down. Then it goes up again and on and on. I just hope it continues to go up regardless of who is in the Oval Office.
GPatton
It's a sucker rally. George Patton
billybob
Weird - b/c when the market was crashing, the whole thing was being blamed on Obama? If it goes up, it has nothing to do with him...if it goes down its all his fault?
bonafortuna8
This is the funniest thing I've read in a while. Thanks for the laugh, Peter!
WestVillager
Strange b/c his introduction indicates he has no sense of humor -- or has never seen SNL exaggerate or use irony in hopes of laughs.
rtchap2
Peter Beinart needs to work on the tube for MSNBC. I am sure through that outlet he could show the world his massive altar he has to Obama. Please give credit where credit is due. Obama has done and accomplished NOTHING!
masanf
Hahahahaha, you have to be kidding right? You're giving this president kudos on a health care bill that hasn't passed yet and a stimulus that was supposed to prevent unemployment from hitting 8% and now is well on its way to hitting 10%. The stimulus was huge all right. A huge failure. Who cares if the DOW is at 10,000? When unemployment hits double digits, I will make sure to watch out for all the "but look at the Dow comments from those on the left". Will you be writing an "OBAMA 10%" column then?
zetathree
Does this mean that the conservatives finally agree with liberals that big business doing well doesn't have a strong correlation with betterment of working citizens via trickle-down economics?
khepri
Accomplished nothing? No. Continued some of the worst Bush practices and shenanigans? Yes.
ncopas
baseless ignorance isn't needed here. go blast one out to a picture of palin or something
johnnyapplecd
P'shaw! I mean, I disagree with khepri, but baseless ignorance is the vast majority of TDB comments. Drop in the bucket, really.
mobius1ski
yeeesh, based on the comments above, one would have to suppose that the tea-baggers have a mailing list alerting followers to go leave nasty comments on any and all articles favoring obama.
as for mr. beinart, last week he too joined the chorus of authors claiming that obama's receipt of the nobel prize was a "farce" as he had "done nothing" to deserve it. this, despite the fact that obama's first actions in office were to reaffirm america's opposition to torture and to issue the closure of guantanamo bay -- actions, which in my opinion, are nobel prize worthy. now mr. beinart says, obama has accomplished plenty.
i say, mr. beinart serves only to demonstrate that the daily beast is overstuffed with those who pontificate from their rears.
khepri
Speaking of TDB: has anyone else noticed an increase in tabloid type stories on TDB?
onward-and-upward
Yes...if you look at the sidebar under "most popular" or "most read" (whichever it is), they're almost always tabloid-related stories. I guess TDB is just following what most of their readers seem to be gravitating toward. However, the political opinion pieces seem to bring in the most comments.
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n--Y--JAsMomLANukeItFromOrbit
This article was linked to by RealClearPolitics, which has its share of wingnuts. I've noticed similar right-wing comment deluges happen when RCP links to articles in other publications that usually attract a left crowd, like the Guardian.
robjh1
Maybe they are complaining because they never thought he would do anything, but listen to them moan and groan.
"and we are not saved..."
plumpynut
Obvious level. Decaff anyone?
UnrosyScenario
Yes, the stimulus has been "HUGE"... a huge giveaway to the banks and a huge rip-off of the tax payers (not to mention a huge failure at stimulating growth on Main Street). The Baucus/Obama Insurance Industry Bailout/"Health Care Package" will have similar consequences if gets passed. I don't think Obama is incapable of doing great things. I just think he's surrounded himself with the wrong people (Geithner, Emanuel, et al) and unless he cuts them loose America will crumble completely within the next couple of years. It seems, though, that like his predecessor he puts personal loyalty above the good of the country, so their jobs looks safe.
penscott
A bill actually got out of committee. What a proud boast!!!!
Truly a desperate argument.
Praising or blaming a president for the behavior of the stock market is foolish. As Ozone69 pointed out, it reached its all time high under Bush. Did Beinart applaud? If we credit Obama for the Dow now reaching a 2009 high, then I suppose we have to blame him for its reaching its low in March, causing people to flee from the market and mostly stay out even now, with many being forced to stay at work rather than retire.
This is a silly, dumb apology for Obama.
ncopas
"silly" AND "dumb," real thought-provoking rhetoric here :P
penscott
There really isn't a lot to think about. The article is absurd.
ncopas
""I don't understand this article. I know, I'll just say it's silly, dumb and absurd instead of trying to think about it. That way I'll seem like I'm above it."" Nice.
sonofloud
"He's on his way to an historic health-care win. The stimulus was huge. The market's back"
Hey Peter, put down the kool aid.
First of all, the majority of people are against the "historic health-care win" and wasn't that the point of Obama's utter surrender to the republicans, to get them on board? Well, he failed, 1 senator does not bipartisanship make.
Secondly while you trumpet $700 billion in corporate welfare and a DOW over 10000, unemployment is still at 10%, mortgages are still defaulting at a record rate, wages are falling.....well except for Wall Street, they are making record profits.
Remember when the democrats used to fight for the poor and middle class?
Reason
You are wrong. Despite the right-wing propaganda, the majority of people want health care reform. Waht you refer to as "surrender", thinking people call compromise. If Obama is guilty of anything it is believing that the republicans would work in good faith for the common good of the nation.
Additionally, when in the history of any modern civilization has a near economic collapse been completely reversed in less than a year? Never! This administrations stimulous prevented a catastrophic meltdown and has slowed the decline. Over the next couple years we will see the turn-around. It just takes time.
sonofloud
Your absolutely right, the people do want health care reform.
They just don't want Obama's health care reform because they see it for the charade it really is.
Just because the democrats "compromised" and gave Bush every single thing he wanted for 8 years, don't expect the republicans to return the favor.
swr112261
Yes, most do want healthcare reform, but are against the current proposed Government takeover. Many, myself included, see the increased Government involvement with corporate takeovers (GM/Chrysler) and pork spending as erosion of their personal liberties. What is happening now is that a real possibility exists for a more Libertarian third party movement, and I wouldn't be surprised if that happens in 2012.
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