Democrats are scrambling. What must their internal poll numbers look like? Today in the WSJ, two Democratic pollsters said that for the good of the party, Obama must not run again. Even far left wing opinion leader Chris Matthews got a tingle and criticized the President.
Many Democrats are crying out for Hillary. The problem is, Hillary is Obama. She was an integral part of his administration-both foreign policy and domestic policy. Going back to 2008, what was different in her platform than Obama’s? She would have had the same advisors. She wanted universal taxpayer health care. She would have been for Dodd-Frank, and all the spending. Nothing would have been different.
Obama is not LBJ. LBJ was a genius when it came to politics. He didn’t need to put his finger up in the wind to find out what was going on. Instinctively, he knew.
When he decided not to run, he knew he couldn’t win his own party in 1968. The war in Vietnam was going badly, according to the press, and he just couldn’t fight it no matter how he tried. It would have been interesting to see how 1968 would have been different if there was the immediacy and social networking available then as there is today. Instead of left wing journalists shaping our opinion of the war, we would have had more diverse sources. Would the Tet offensive have been as psychologically damaging if we had Twitter?
Obama is more comfortable ruling by edict than ruling by consensus. He lacks the persuasive skills of an LBJ to get it done. Aloof. Indecisive. Believer in government, not people. Doesn’t really care about all of America, only that he puts into action policies that strengthen Democratic Party principles. He would be a better dictator than he is a President.
We have lots of information about the damage Obama has done. We have evidence in our joblessness and GDP numbers. The war on terror is long, hard and arduous. If the economy were better, I think the American public would have more patience for war. However, they don’t see progress in the Middle East, and they see regression in domestic stability.
Today, Obama is unpopular on the far left, and he has lost independents. The only people supporting him are either black, or Democratic apparatchicks. He has lost the rest of the country. Hillary cannot be a savior for the Democrats because her beliefs are exactly the same as Obama’s. Her husband, President Bill Clinton, only moderated after the 1994 change in Congress. A wolf is still a wolf, even though it may come dressed to the party in sheep’s clothing.
For their part, the Republicans are not helping themselves too much yet. Most of the time is spent on making statements with no substance behind them. They attack each other a little, and fail to tap into what is driving public opinion these days. People want smaller government, the debt problem solved without higher taxes and more spending, and less government interference in their lives. On the other hand, they want to know that government is going to do what it can to give everyone a fair shake.
What we need is clear economic leadership out of the White House. Congress will respond. Two candidates for the Republican presidential nomination strike me as the people who could do it, Romney and Gingrich. Social issues take a back seat to everything when no one has a job. We really can’t talk about them until people feel secure about putting food on the table.
In 2008, McCain made a huge mistake when he acknowledged economics wasn’t his strong suit. Obama wasn’t strong in economics either. We didn’t know it then, we know for certain today. That’s why the market cannot sustain a rally, and the economy can’t sustain momentum forward.
Obama and people that think like him need to go, that includes Hillary.
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