2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumIs Obama Intentionally Driving Republicans Crazy?
I don't know, but I love the title!
http://www.nationalmemo.com/article/obama-intentionally-driving-republicans-crazy
Is Obama Intentionally Driving Republicans Crazy?
2
Wed, 02/01/2012 - 10:15am
National Memo Staff
In his new column, "Obama's Long Game," Gene Lyons suggests that making Republicans act insane may actually be part of President Obama's plan:
If anything, Obamas GOP political rivals have gone even further off the deep end. Mitt Romney has this passage in his stump speech where he all but accuses the president of being a communist.
President Obama, Romney insists, believes that government should create equal outcomes. In an entitlement society, everyone receives the same or similar rewards, regardless of education, effort, and willingness to take risk. That which is earned by some is redistributed to the others. And the only people who truly enjoy any real rewards are those who do the redistributingthe government.
This when the multimillionaire Wall Street investment banker isnt accusing hecklers of envying his wealthrarely a successful political tactic, in my experience.
This is nuts, Glenn Becklevel insane, writes New York magazines Jonathan Chait. Restoring Clinton-era taxes is not a plan to equalize outcomes, or even close. It's not even a plan to stop rising inequality. Obama's America will continue to be the most unequal society in the advanced worldonly slightly less so.
So is it possible that driving Republicans crazy is Obamas deepest political strategy of all? His key to re-election in 2012? In Newsweek, Andrew Sullivan argues thats precisely the case: that having inherited an economy in near-catastrophic free-falllosing jobs at a rate of 750,000 a month in early 2009problems he knew couldnt be fixed overnight, President Obama has been playing a long game all along.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/content/obamas-long-game
Gene Lyons' article:
Obama's Long Game
Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:37am
Gene Lyons
snip//
So is it possible that driving Republicans crazy is Obamas deepest political strategy of all? His key to re-election in 2012? In Newsweek, Andrew Sullivan argues thats precisely the case: that having inherited an economy in near-catastrophic free-falllosing jobs at a rate of 750,000 a month in early 2009problems he knew couldnt be fixed overnight, President Obama has been playing a long game all along.
That is, thinking in terms of eight years rather than four, and employing a Zen-like strategy that makes him appear to the untrained eye incapable of defending himself. Time and again, Sullivan tells us the president begins by extending a hand to his opponents; when they respond by raising a fist, he demonstrates that they are the source of the problem; then, finally, he moves to his preferred position of moderate liberalism and fights for it without being effectively tarred as an ideologue or a divider.
Fair enough. But this isnt the genius-level strategy of a political savant; its how a good poker player thinks. Play the cards youre dealt, not the ones you wish you had. One hand at a time. To anybody not hypnotized by the Hopey-Changey business, President Obamas never been anything else: a pragmatic mainstream Democrat, more Bill Clinton than, say, Dennis Kucinich.
As for Republicans, the Bush administrations epic failures confronted them with two options: fold or double-down on ideology.
Most simply pushed all their chips onto the table.
TheWraith
(24,331 posts)Although that might just be for his own amusement.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,018 posts)TlalocW
(15,389 posts)TlalocW
xfundy
(5,105 posts)drive "libruls" crazy. Clearly it was part of their program, and it shook me up drastically.
I tend to think it's Fox Noise that's really driving the bus to crazytown. Them, and all the "godly" conservaturd sites that continue to actively look for ANYTHING to get scared and pissed off about.
x
Zambero
(8,965 posts)Obama merely gives these whack jobs an "excuse" to exercise their inherent craziness.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,437 posts)That and the Palin hate rallies during the campaign. Their seeming inability to completely crush the guy before and after the election despite their scorched earth tactics, hostage-taking, and endless smearing of Obama as "Barack X" has driven them completely insane. Them deciding to embrace the "Tea Party" and their fanaticism and allowing them to influence the direction of the party as a means of regaining some semblance of control last year has also contributed to their disintegration, mental and otherwise.
BillyV123
(26 posts)And Now A Word From An Asshole.Thoughts at 3 A.M.: The Politics of Professor Snark http://thoughtsatthreeam.blogspot.com/2012/02/and-now-word-from-asshole.html?spref=tw
bemildred
(90,061 posts)There is a cliche in chess: "the threat is stronger than the move", which I am reminded of. The meaning is that a good move can sometimes "punch above its weight" by not being taken at the earliest opportunity, but rather being used as a threat to shape ones opponent's tactics and strategy in a way one prefers. That's what I see Obama doing a lot. Then, every once in a while, he takes a piece.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)They think that Obama is doing everything he does on purpose, to antagonize them. I think he's letting them hang themselves with their own rope.
They gripe and complain and block all legislation in Congress. They look like crybabies. He looks statesmanlike. And he goes to the people and says "Tell Congress to pass jobs legislation". They have no jobs legislation, and no ideas, so they look like idiots.
Narcissists think you're deliberately trying to piss them off, even if you're acting like your normal self.