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Getting Obama Back in the Game
White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
The White House response to Tuesday's results has been listless at best. Richard Wolffe on the 2008 campaign lessons that could help Obama rally Democrats again.
Since Tuesday night’s election results, the White House has repeated a simple mantra about the Democratic losses in New Jersey and Virginia: that the defeats had nothing to do with them.
For a political team so deeply involved in state races that it famously pressured Gov. David Paterson not to run again in New York, this is a tricky stance. Voters may not have pulled the lever because of Obama, but Obama’s aides surely tried to help guide their choices along the way.
The challenge for a new president is to maintain a sense of the unconventional—to preserve the brand of Change — while also embodying an institution and filling the role of commander in chief.
As their fellow Democrats try to figure out what 2009 means, and what course to chart in 2010, Team Obama would do well to think back on 2008.
After all, Obama and his inner circle have endured political setbacks before. The momentum he generated between January and March of last year—between the Iowa caucuses and the Texas primary—was not unlike the honeymoon period of his presidency. But then, candidate Obama hit a wall, slogging through Pennsylvania and two bouts of bad news surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. For a team that campaigned across the country for twice as long as they have worked inside the White House, the headlines about Tuesday’s losses in Virginia and New Jersey were hardly the devastating blows portrayed by many pundits.
But there is a lesson to be drawn from all those months on the campaign trail—a lesson that goes beyond economic distress and the identity crisis among new independents. How Obama and his team responded to setbacks on the campaign trail could help them regain the political initiative now after a disappointing day at the polls.
When Team Obama resorted to their older, safer routine, they tended to lose. They grew overconfident in New Hampshire and failed to engage their main rival. They grew complacent and cautious after Super Tuesday, spouting boilerplate condemnations of NAFTA before losing in Texas and Ohio. And they plodded their way through Pennsylvania with a dull series of photo ops that failed to underscore their core message of Change We Can Believe In.
But when Team Obama took chances—tore up the playbook in response to crises—they unsettled opponents and reminded voters why the outsider was different. That happened in South Carolina, when Obama unnerved Bill Clinton. And it happened in North Carolina and Indiana, when Obama rejected the populist idea of a gas-tax holiday. In both cases, Obama succeeded by calling an audible instead of playing the usual politics of gimmicks and personal attacks.
The strategy worked when he took his campaign plane overseas, when he took his acceptance speech outdoors, and when he aired a prime-time TV infomercial. Almost any time Obama was unconventional, the gamble paid off.
Where could the Obama White House be unconventional now? The targets are clear: the economy and independent voters.
Obama’s political strategists and pollsters have argued for several months that economic distress—and the natural deflation after the bubble of the inauguration—have led to the president’s numbers falling into the mid-50s range. Just as troubling is the steady decline in support among independents—the voting bloc that Obama courted so rigorously through Iowa, the general election and the first several months of his presidency. Obama’s aides insist that the slide in independent support is largely the result of the growth of the independent bloc itself, as it has swelled with disillusioned Republicans.
That is precisely why David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, focuses so intently on the 23rd District in New York: not just because the Democratic candidate won, but because the GOP found it so hard to bridge the gap between its own supporters and the disaffected independents who used to call themselves Republicans. That victory shows the narrow and centrist path Obama hopes to walk through the year leading to next year’s congressional elections.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
Geithner's Stock Plummeting
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Obama's Bad Trip
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
Bush's Rose-Colored Glasses
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
Obama's Campaign Mastermind
Richard Wolffe is Daily Beast columnist and an award-winning journalist, and senior strategist at Public Strategies. He covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine. His book, Renegade: The Making of a President, was published by Crown in June.
The bottom line is we are a center-right country and Obama, though pragmatic and soft spoken, is a Leftist who is doing his best to turn this country into Sweden. There is an inevitable clash between his SEIU "inspired' programs and what the American electorate really want. They like him, but they like their American ways even more.
Excuse me but unions are American. You may not like it but the fact remains that when incomes go up so does GDP. Unions are not perfect but niether are corporations. Laborers standing up for their rights is what has kept you out of a sweat shop. Just remember that.
djani, except when Obama buys GM because the UNIONS sucked the company dry with all those benefits for the retirees, and we have to foot the bill. SEIU and all other unions want this government run health care so they can dump all their people in it and they can wash their hands of them, and we foot the bill. No thank you buddy,Obama needs to go and I don't give a dam about these lousy unions.
Having spent time in a major Union, I beg to differ. Unions, like all large entities, have only one goal - sustain their power base.
Excuse me. Unions used to have a place. Today even the members don't know how they're being screwed by the crooks to run their lives. They don't care if they cripple a city, or a whole damn country. Just send in the dues so I can go too the country club you bought for me. I have watched the bastards close companies down, then tell the members well you can't win 'em all. Then drive away in their expensive cars and leave hundreds out of work. Yeh, you keep on believing in the sonabitches until they throw your job away. Then tell me how great they are.
while I'm at it I'm gonna print you something: Obama hates white people. Read this." I ceased to advertise my mother's white race when I was 12 or 13 when I began to suspect that by doing so I ingratiating myself to whites. I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's white race. Thers was something about her that made me wary, a little too sure of herself maybe, and white. It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses. I never emulate white men. And finally I will stand with Muslims should political winds shift in an ugly direction. All this is from Barak H. Obama himself. Read his books.
crypto, No wonder some people said Obama didn't like white people, I never read his book, It makes sense now, why he criticized that police man before he knew the whole story. You should read "Rules for Radicals" that is Obama's rule book, his mentor Saul Alinski wrote it. It will open your eyes as to where he gets his socialism views from...
"cry too" and "zirconia girl"; You, "Bonnie & Clyde" make it much too easy. "cry too" you are simply a LIAR. If you read and understood the expression Barack Obama made, You're either stupid and lack the intelligence to understand the SPECIFIC CONTEXT that was used OR YOU'RE JUST LYING INTENTIONALLY!!! And as for you "fake gem girl", you date yourself, not realizing this Distracting Malignment of President Obama was DEBUNKED over a year ago.
And Ma'am your Continual "Pig Sty Whining" and subtle Slanderous comments are MOST TRYING. Your reliance on Outdated Hard-Right-Edge- Radical" Talking Points highlight your inadequacy to participate in Adult Debate.
The truth is although president Obama's poll numbers might be less then desired compared to former president Clinton or Bush at this time especially compared to his his historic win, but I can assure you this is all part of the plan, the whitehouse feels they could burn through some of his approval to pass a historical healthcare law. THE SOONER HE PASSES THIS THE SOONER HE CAN ONCE AGAIN FOCUS ON A POSITIVE DIRECTION ON HIS RATINGS, THIS ALSO APPLIES TO THE DEMOCRATS AS A WHOLE, and given how they have withstood all the nonsense of two or three months ago, don't count out their slow and steady approach just yet, (although maybe just a teensy bit too slow).
Richard is PIN HEAD, he is a left wing nut who goes on Chris Matthews show and makes a complete fool of himself when he opens his stupid ass mouth. He spews Democrat talking points and I thank God for remotes. Click and he is outa here
AND, you are an idiot.
That's your bottom line, not the majority's. The republicans had 30 years to get it right and they gave us a boom-bust economic cycle, big deficits and 2 f'd up wars. In the last 30 years Clinton is the only president that delivered a surplus and prosperous times.
We are not a center right country. We are a country that starts in the center and swings slightly one way or the other. We're swinging away from center right to solid center right now, and that's what's causing your like apoplexy.
The pendulum swings in a small arc, and right now it's swinging away from conservatives because they have performed so poorly. Their ideas have not worked so they are being given a big fat time out to rethink.
So far they're doubling down on the ideological lock stepping that lost them the last election. Doesn't matter which party you are, you can't fight history and the foundation of this country. America has NEVER elected the extreme point of view. NEVER.
You're damn right! Stop playing president and become a leader. Be progressive. That's where your strength is. Tell the truth and act on it. If it's necessary with the Party of No, kiss ass and take names. The days of submissive Democrats must end ... NOW.
No. In fact the country has shifted center-left, and Obama hasn't tilted that way enough. Richard Wolfee has it correct- Obama nees to be an amalgam of Teddy Roosevelt and Bobby Kennedy.
There are no credible polls that back your contention. At best, "progressives" are 20% of the electorate.
Well 20% call themselves Republican (conservative) , I believe the poll u mentioning here only gave the option; Liberal and not progressive.
Sorry, neverlate. NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey [10/25/09]
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/wsjnbc-10272009.pdf
43% Democrat or lean Democrat
17% Independent
31% Republican or lean Republican
Looks center-left to me... And surely the WSJ is credible.
Mr. Wolffe, this country does NOT need him to be a community organizer from Chicago, they need him to be a the American Leader. Put American interests firsts and not how we need to "look" in the world.
Considering how we look to the world IS "putting American interests first." Do you really not get that Bush/Cheney dimmed the light of America's beacon almost to the point of darkness? That we live in a global community and without respect we become a target for those who envy our resources and wealth?
Study history a bit and find out how well countries who act like an ostrich succeed. Better yet, if you can't get outside the bubble of this country, read up on how other countries feel about us under Obama, vs. under Bush.
As for Obama going back into Community Organizing again, Hello, he never left it, ACORN in the White House at all times.
SEIU slept there how many times? Obama has been in campain mode since he got in office, thats the problem. He needs to govern from the middle, or he is going to be a ONE TERM PRESIDENT!
Sosmebody's gotta do it but I don't know who would even want to be president after big ears gets through with it. After the holiday retail sales reports I suspect that we will be in an even greater mess than we are now. Remember they have borrowed from everywhere there is to borrow from, even the FDIC which is supposed to take care of the depositors. One hundred and seventy seven banks have closed already and they (FDIC) predicts another 300 in 2010. I have been a successful businessman. But I'm getting out and I sure wouldn't want the job of trying to straighten this mess out.
crypto, all of us with big ears out here in cyberland are mystified by your slanderous remark.
Personally, I will take big ears over big sneers anyday. You would rather have Cheney back in the game?
President Obama is not all-powerful, and yes, he is indeed a politician. Get over that part of it. The real problem he is facing isn't the Acorn connection.
In fact, the "expose" of the Fox crew wasn't all that well done. The guy with the supposedly hidden camera overdubbed his words in the studio, while the trusting Acorn lady continued talking. Even a fool like a cryptosporium could understand that the tape was completely rigged, as was the "set-up".
But, cryptosporium spores don't concern themselves with accuracy, after all, they love how the former criminal regime at the head of our country, actually stole a National Election with phantom hanging chads, a brother governor, a Supreme Court stacked with fellow cryptosporium, like empty-headed Clarence Thomas.
Then progressing from phantom "hanging chads" to phantom "weapons of mass destruction", the cheney criminal cartel went after our Federal Reserve, after failing to get their hands on our Social Security funding.
Please do not revise this short history. Most of us remember that it was Hank Paulson who cracked the safe and began tossing the bundles around.
As to President Obama's real problem, it could be his fellow Democrats in the Senate and House, who are so beholden to the lobbyists' money, that they water down any meaningful change.
Diamondgirl,
Obama is governing from the middle, you just can't see it because from where you and most of your party are sitting----way out on the farthest reach of the right wing limb----the middle looks like the left.
The governorships in NJ and VA are more reflective of local issues, not national issues. However, the big wins in NY-23 and CA-10 add two more DEM votes for HC reform, etc. Both new Reps have expressed support for a public option. These two new Reps will do more to advance the Obama agenda than the two new Govs. This is good for America.
Richard, let me tell you something that you left wing nut jobs don't seem to understand, we hope Obama keeps on believing all the crap you and your bit.h Chris Matthew's spews. Keep up the good work, fill peoples head with your crap and we will laugh Obama out of office in 2012, we will take over congress in 2010..LOL
That's right, diamond - Palin for President in 2012! The Democratic dream...
If Obama would stop acting like a Republican and stop letting the financial and military honchos drain this country - and start acting on his campaign promises/slogans then maybe - just maybe - people would be able to see that their is a difference between the two parties and start seeing that change is possible.
mdzend,
Obama is acting like a Republican as you say, but he also wants to be thought of as a progressive Democrat. He has already reneged on many of his promises, and his apathy about proactively engaging about his healthcare preferences reveals him as just another Pol looking for political cover.
Obama's current MO is such that change for the better is impossible. So far
he's headed for one term and wrecking the Democrats. Have you seen the new Chair of the Democratic Party? Sad. A corporate robotic. Howard Dean got thrown under the bus as his desire for a robust public option was the real thing.
His financial honchos are the same fellas who helped wreck our economy,and no creative job programs that could offer hope and relief are forthcoming either.
If Obama wants to be a Repocrat he's looking at one term.
morris1030: So you're going to oust Obama for Sarah Palin? Or Newt Gingrich? Or one of the other Republican wannabes?
Seems to me that Obama is a pretty good bet for two terms.
I love it when Obama is compared to Teddy Roosevelt. He could definitely take a lesson from the old trust-buster.
Good Democrats are supposed to defend "dem" policies and representatives. But when you allow a political party to consume your logical thinking you're in trouble, personally, as well as politically. You're going to find yourselves in extremely deep trouble and frankly I wouldn't give a damn. Except that when you go, the rest of us go with you. So although in the minority right now we are forced to take any lead we can in the hopes of stopping Obama, Pelosi, and Reid before this social agenda is in place. It would not help the rest of us to be able to say "I told you so." At that point it will be much too late.
Crypto, you are the typical stupid or lying conservative drone. Your quotes from Obama's books are lies, taken out of context and pasted into one paragraph as if it were written that way. Hannity would be so proud of you. The truth: The quotes below are taken out of context. It's a pretty standard practice; taking quotes out of context is a great tactic with people because, unlike you, very few will look beyond the one-liner to see if the quote is actually true or has a different meaning than the one-liner implies. Repubs and Dems alike do this and it usually works pretty well. Anyway, the synopsis of the truth/fiction of the comments is available on internet and I just pasted it in below.
Love, Z
"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."-Truth!
This is an accurate quote from the introduction to Dreams from My Father. The book chronicles Obama's experience as the son of an African father and an American mother.
~~~~
"I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."-Fiction!
This quote does not exist in either of Obama's books.
~~~~
"There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."-Truth!
This is a quote from Dreams from My Father. It is in a section in which Obama describes a job interview with a man in Chicago. Race had been a part of their discussion and the full quote is,
"He offered to start me off at ten thousand dollars the first year, with a two-thousand-dollar travel allowance to buy a car; the salary would go up if things worked out. After he was gone, I took the long way home, along the East River promenade, and tried to figure out what to make of the man."
~~~~
"It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."-Truth!
This one is also from Dreams from My Father. It is from a section when Obama was a college student and wrestling with his identity including as an African-American. The quote describes his observation of what was required among his fellow students.
~~~~
"I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela."-Truth!
This is from Dreams from my Father. The more complete quote is, "All my life, I had carried a single image of my father, one that I had sometimes rebelled against but had never questioned, one that I had later tried to take as my own. The brilliant scholar, the generous friend, the upstanding leader-my father had been all those things. All those things and more, because except for that one brief visit in Hawaii, he had never been present to foil the image, because I hadn't seen what perhaps most men see at some point in their lives: their father's body shrinking, their father's best hopes dashed, their father's face lined with grief and regret. Yes, I'd seen weakness in other men- Gramps and his disappointments, Lolo and his compromise. But these men had become object lessons for me, men I might love but never emulate, white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela. And if later I saw that the black men I knew-Frank or Ray or Will or Rafiq-fell short of such lofty standards; if I had learned to respect these men for the struggles they went through, recognizing them as my own-my father's voice had nevertheless remained untainted, inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval. You do not work hard enough, Barry. You must help in your people's struggle. Wake up, black man!
Now, as I sat in the glow of a single light bulb, rocking slightly on a hard-backed chair, that image had suddenly vanished. Replaced by...what? A bitter drunk? An abusive husband? A defeated, lonely bureaucrat? To think that all my life I had been wrestling with nothing more than a ghost!"
~~~~
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."-Fiction!
This is a corruption of a quote from Obama's book The Audacity of Hope. It is from a section that talks about the concerns of immigrants who are American citizens.
Here is the accurate and more complete quote talking about American citizens who have immigrated: "But mostly they want affirmation that they, too, are Americans. Whenever I appear before immigrant audiences, I can count on some good-natured ribbing from my staff after my speech; according to them, my remarks always follow a three-part structure: "I am your friend," " has been a cradle of civilization," and "You embody the American dream." They're right, my message is simple, for what I've come to understand is that my mere presence before these newly minted Americans serves notice that they matter, that they are voters critical to my success and full-fledged citizens deserving of respect.
Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
That's exactly what I wanted somebody to do. Yes I pulled the parts together. Had I done in the begining, what you did, nobody would have read it. Now I take this a step further. When you read these books, in or out of context, you begin to connect the dots. During the campaign he convinced us that his underworld connections were misunderstood, and in fact called them lies. He called the right Reverend Wright his mentor and friend even though Wright Damned America for twenty years in the church. He backed Wright's visits, even supported them. to our enemies overseas.with Louis Farakhan. He has even had Wright to the White house and had him to baptise his children. He jumped on the cops for doing their job, called them stupid, for the sake of a black Harvard professor. Had the professor been white...? Right now you have seven black representatives on charges for illegal dealings and tax evasion. No comments there from the whitehouse. Surrounding himself with so many questionable people in the whitehouse, he has made no efforts to correct it except when the media brought it public. Now you called me names for doing this. I can live with it. Can you live with stupid?? That's where you stand if you keep sucking up to this guy.
" to preserve the brand of Change "
Nobody wants " Change " that involves Government getting even bigger and more powerful.
Thomas Jefferson:
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of TAKING CARE OF THEM."
"Most bad government has grown out of too much government."
- Thomas Jefferson
That's funny, Sophia. Government grew under Reagan and both Bushs. I guess they were RINOs too, right?
Sophia, be careful believing emailed Jefferson quotes. Most of them are bogus. You hit 50% on these ...
where?
Hey, Diamondgirl, you're getting dull. No, it wasn't the workers who were "sucking the life" out of GM. Try executive pay. When I worked for a company, it reminded me often of how much my benefits were worth--as if those benefits were salary. Try paying the grocery bill with "benefits." The pay for workers has been greatly overstated.
Obama will cost the Democrats losses in the midterms. And if he keeps up this twittering,dodging,indecisive behavior he will cost the Democrats big time in 2012.
This is not what we signed up for. Wolfe is an apologist who is not helpful as he offers no insight into Obama's waffling. He's an Obamaton on auto pilot.
Obama is not emotionally engaged. His evasion is one thing, but his detachment and indecisiveness make me wonder what happened to his core principles? Did he ever have them?
Although I'm not one of his biggest fans I like what Newt Gringrich said.
"As an american I'm not surprised that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the lack of accomplishments he had. But I am surprised he was elected president of the United States on those same accomplishments"
Thank you.
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