President Obama might have regained some good will but it will come as no surprise to me if he squanders it all by this time next year.
With 2010 drawing to a close, President Obama appears to be ending the year on a positive note.
After passing the tax cut compromise with Republicans, Charles Krauthammer hailed Obama as "the new comeback kid."1 When you throw in the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the ratification of the new START Treaty with Russia into the equation, one could make the case that Obama has made a remarkable comeback after the "shellacking" he and the Democratic Party took in the November mid-term elections . . . which now seem like a lifetime ago. Could it be that President Obama's "mojo" has returned?2
Well, perhaps it has returned. But as the old adage goes, "A week in politics is a lifetime." In seven days time, talk of President Obama having his "mojo" back or being bestowed as "the new comeback kid" could be as fleeting as a snowstorm in Boston.
To be fair, we don't know what the future holds for President Obama. However, if 2010 is any indication, he will invariably say and do things in 2011 that won't inspire the confidence of his fellow Americans. With this in mind, let us take a look back at a few of the most egregious things Obama said and did in 2010.
Publicly Dressing Down the Supreme Court at the State of the Union
Last January, while addressing the nation at the SOTU address, President Obama publicly rebuked the Supreme Court for its decision earlier the previous week in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down limits on donations made to political campaigns by corporations. Obama said the decision "reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections."3
As Obama was dressing down the Supremes, Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the phrase "not true." While Obama is not the first President to take the Supreme Court to task and it can be argued it was within his right to do so, it is nonetheless his obligation to ensure his criticisms are steeped in fact and in law. Even Jeffrey Toobin, a noted critic of Alito, took Obama to task for his command of the facts.4 Toobin, a legal analyst for CNN, said the decision did not apply to foreign corporations.5 But why would Obama let the facts get in the way of a good argument?
Yet his posturing might do damage for years to come. Last October, Alito indicated he would not likely be in attendance during President Obama's 2011 SOTU address.6 Chief Justice John Roberts has also indicated he might be absent.7 Of course, Obama could remedy the situation with an apology. But don't count on it.
We Say Corpsman, Obama Says Corpseman
For that matter, don't count on President Obama apologizing to the U.S. military either. Last February, during his speech before the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama pronounced corpsman as "corpseman" – twice.8 Now one could argue that such a transgression was unintentional and thus insignificant. Yet the last I checked President Obama is the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces. Pronouncing the rank of our men and women in uniform correctly is the very least he can do.
How Obama Treats His Guests
Being invited to the White House to have an audience with the President is considered an honor. However, in the case of this President, even invited guests sometimes find themselves unwelcome.
In late February, President Obama had a White House meeting with The Dalai Lama. At first, it was seen as a good move after Obama had snubbed the Tibetan spiritual leader during his previous visit to Washington in October 2009.9 Obama's snub was correctly viewed as a means to placate China before his visit to Beijing the following month.10 The problem was that Obama treated The Dalai Lama like garbage – figuratively and literally. Their meeting was neither open to the press nor were official White House photographs taken to document the event. Then to make matters worse, Obama showed The Dalai Lama the door. It was a door which led to a large pile of refuse.11
Let's just say The Dalai Lama was afforded considerably more respect by Obama's predecessor. When The Dalai Lama visited Washington in October 2007, President Bush presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal.12
It should then come as no surprise to anyone that President Bush treated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with considerably more courtesy than has President Obama. Unlike Obama, Bush never walked out of a White House meeting with Netanyahu, telling him to let himself out.13 But this is precisely what Obama did when the entire force of his Administration came down on Netanyahu for building housing in East Jerusalem back in late March. If only Obama had shown this kind of passion against Iran's nuclear program.
The 2010 Sgt. James Crowley Award For Casting Aspersions Against Law Enforcement
This year's award goes to every state, county and local law enforcement official in Arizona. Last April, after Arizona had introduced tough new measures to combat illegal immigration in the state, President Obama wasted little time in telling police officers in Arizona what he thought of them. During a speech at a townhall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa, the President said, "But now, suddenly, if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed."14 The President said that as if Arizona state troopers were planning to stake out every Baskin-Robbins along I-17. What would they call such a mission? Operation Rocky Road?
President Obama might have regained some good will but it will come as no surprise to me if he squanders it all by this time next year.
Endnotes
1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121604846.html
2. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/12/23/hes-baaaaack-obamas-mojo-returned/
3. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address
6. http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Alito-State-Union-obama/2010/10/14/id/373682
8. http://dailycaller.com/2010/02/05/obama-confuses-corpseman-with-corpse-man-video/
9. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574449420327844600.html
12. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15374199
13. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7076431.ece
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-ottumwa-iowa-town-hall
I’m sure that Mr. Goldstein is correct–Obama will find new and fresh ways to screw up. Of course, every president does this to some extent, but Obama’s predilections in this area are fueled by his monumental ego and his appalling lack of knowledge of how to do his job. Perhaps, just perhaps, his experiences with Congress toward the end of this year taught him that maybe, just maybe, he might actually have to bargain with Republicans. I doubt if this lesson has really sunken in very deeply for Obama. I’ve noted on this site my frustration with Obama’s lack of political skill. I had thought I was voting for a hard-boiled backroom deal-cutter, steeled by Chicago politics [this is the sort of liberal politician I actually prefer], able to sup with the devil [aka Congresional Republicans] if he could get some fraction of what he wanted.
Alas, I was wrong. Obama has few skills in the arcane art of the deal. Even worse, he is opposed to deals on both ideological and temperamental grounds. Obama may be turning in the direction I like, but his learning curve is going to be very steep and I’m not convinced he’s smart enough to figure this out.
Some observant IC residents may think they’ve spotted a contradiction. After all, I’m always saying that in ideological warfare, there can be no compromises. I think that’s true, but I also don’t think that real-world politics always has to model itself on ideological warfare. There’s a line from Reinhold Niebuhr I like on this point. He wrote that politics is about “proximate solutions to insoluble problems.” It’s unfortunate that so few politicians these days understand this. Left and Right work together, instead, to create and sustain a style of politics that consists of ideological posturing and vendetta. Many people on my side don’t think there’s a problem with this, and they are echoed by many on the Right.
In other words, Obama isn’t the only fool in Washington.
“I’m not convinced he’s smart enough to figure this out.”
Gee, that’s odd. I was never moved to think he was smart, except maybe the first time I saw him in the debate with Alan Keyes. But then Keyes was especially inept in that debate and we have not seen much of him since. Then came 2008 and all the “I’m not Bush” GOP candidates that made Obama look good. I suppose that is what made all the Dem supporters say “Oh, he’s so smart!” Then again, we can give Ms. Clinton some credit for that also. And then there were those smart supporters, one who I know, that is a PhD student said to me “Obama is going to win by 70%!” I really didn’t know how to respond except to say “Well then you can count me with the 30% like I was with the other Barry” Now I have to laugh as she didn’t know who I was talking about.
The list is too long to go over again, but two items must be mentioned:
The first “”I don’t know – not having been there and not seeing all the facts – what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two that he Cambridge police acted stupidly…”
And second; according to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie he said Re. Michael Vick “So many people who serve time never get a fair second chance. He was … passionate about it. He said it’s never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail. And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage…”
There are so many things wrong in the first case from saying “I don’t know…but it’s fair to say…” to the POTUS chiming in on a purely local problem with an obvious racial preference. In the second case he shows he hasn’t learned anything in the last two years by again spouting off about something that is below the POTUS and obviously racial. It must piss off the people at PETA that he thinks a dog killer needs a second chance.
“In other words, Obama isn’t the only fool in Washington.”
This sounds a lot like “Mom, all the other kids are doing it” and it feeds into the Throw The Bums Out mentality. That worked in 2008, but it does not bode well for Obama in 2012.
Compare this with that “dummy” George W. Bush standing on a pile of rubble with a NYC firefighter and a bull horn in hand on 9/14/2000 saying “I can hear you! I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you … and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
And he did it without a teleprompter.
As Forest Gump said “Stupid is as stupid does”
Happy New Year!
Besides being completely enamoured with socialist dogma, Obama’s two biggest faults are his enormous ego and near-total lack of experience. He has been isolated from criticism for his entire life and has never been held accoutable for anything. I have no doubt that he will continue on his path in 2011 as he knows no other way. This man is not even a one-trick pony. That would imply that he could learn at least one trick.
reply to Bucky,
Yeah, I think Obama’s definitely a no-trick pony. Good one!
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