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Back when I was a much younger man, there was an arcade boxing game called Punch-Out. The first level fighter you faced was Glass Joe, a tall, skinny drink of water, much like our president. Now Glass Joe could duck and dodge pretty well, but he would also do the faceplant KO even if you hardly touched him, again, much like President Obama.
While Glass Joe was an amusing opponent to face on the video screen, his fighting prowess is not what we would look for in a Democratic presidents. Traditionally Democratic presidents were hardy scrappers, folks who wouldn't flee the fight. From Clinton, who called Gingritch's bluff over the budget(and Gingritch never quite recovered) to Johnson, who roared and harangued at recalcitrant Senators about the Civil Rights act, in their own state, until the legislation was passed, from Kennedy to FDR, Democratic presidents were fighters. Even Carter, long regarded as the weakest of the Democratic presidents, though his style was much more like an angry Mr. Rogers than Truman's cussing street fighter, would fight when the chips were on the line.
That is how legislation would get passed. The House would pass legislation that the president had advocated and promised, send it on to the Senate, and if this legislation would run into roadblocks in the Senate, the president would climb into the ring. He would go out to the states of vulnerable Senators and damn them, shame them, rail at them among their own constituents, and the pressure and embarrassment would bring that Senator's vote into line with the president's wishes.
What we have in President Obama is a president who doesn't want to fight. We have seen, time and again, that this president doesn't want to fight, that he will give away the farm in order that he not have to fight. But now Obama has been caught in a spot that forces him to fight. With the House in open revolt, unwilling to pass tax extensions without serious changes being made, and Senate 'Pugs who are holding out for tax cuts for the rich, have corned Obama, and thus forced him into a spot where he has to fight somebody.
Now the question becomes what will the President fight for? Will he fight for what is right, for what he promised repeatedly in his campaign and early presidency? Or will he fight for what the 'Pugs want, a complete repudiation of Obama's core promise, his signature issue. The answer to this question is an important one, because the answer to another question hinges on the answer to that first one. That second question, why should we fight for a president who is willing to betray all he supposedly held dear and fight against the House, the people of this country instead?
I sincerely hope that Obama wakes up and decides to fight for his issues, for the promises he made, after all, it is not too late. I fear, instead, that Obama will fight against his own party, his own issues, his own promises. If he fights for the 'Pugs, against the people, against the house, against his own party, then Obama will have proven that he is indeed, a real life Glass Joe, a president who can duck and dodge, but it either unwilling or incapable of throwing a solid punch.
Glass Joe is not who we need for as a president, and if Obama proves to be Glass Joe, then we don't need him. Actions have consequences, and in less than two years there is an election. If Obama does turn out to be Glass Joe, then we need to find somebody else, somebody who truly fits the mold of a Democratic president, somebody who gets out, gets dirty, and fights for the issues that they hold dear, and fight for what is right for the people. We simply can't afford, or abide another Glass Joe in the White House. Glass Joe is an amusing character from an old arcade game, but he is not a model you want to base your president on.
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