What the hell happened? Democrats across the country are wondering why, what happened? It was not that Obama failed to achieve significant accomplishments. But, you can’t prove it by the American voters. Democrats by and large got slapped silly and are wondering what happened to them.
And now, in an introspective moment, it looks like our President is going to look for ways to find common ground with the Republicans. The same Republicans who obstructed his agenda every step of the way and whose stated goal is to limit him to one term. As General McAuliffe replied to German demands for his surrender at Bastogne, “Nuts.”
The fact is, Obama has been trying to run the country while at the same time the Republicans have been practicing politics. Each political skirmish has taken a toll on this administration. It started with Republicans thwarting Obama’s desire to close Guantanamo and has not let up since. From the outside looking in, stopping Obama’s efforts to close Guantanamo made him look weak and disorganized. Pundits had us wondering what kind of internal Kabuki was going on with such politically savvy insiders as Rahm Emmanuel to guide these measures through to passage. How could it happen the President was embarrassed so early on?
I believe the Guantanamo debacle reflected a key weakness in the Obama administration that continues to plague it even today. That weakness is the administration’s inability to control the message of the importance of issues key to their agenda in moving the nation forward.
I think about the prelude to the attack on Iraq. The attack was a foregone conclusion even earlier than March of 2002 when President Bush finally stated his pursuit of Osama bin Laden was no longer his most important mission. His administration continued moving forces out of Afghanistan and into position to attack Iraq. Once the August 2002 Congressional Recess was over until well into our war with Iraq GW Bush’s team forcefully pushed the message for war with Iraq. For more than 8 months Bush’s entire administration was on message and pushing hard for the direction Bush had chosen. In Congress, Republicans overwhelmingly supported Bush’s objectives. Daily, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Ari Fleischer, and Stephen Hadley forcefully and uniformly pushed the message of the danger Iraq posed to the US.
Contrast that to the push the Obama administration gave to closing Guantanamo. This was a measure both Bush and McCain had endorsed at one time but wound up being the first cudgel used to beat up on Obama. Who remembers the merits of closing Guantanamo? Who championed civilian trials for our prisoners at Guantanamo? Who in the Obama administration stood up to beat down the false idea of the death panels? Who in the Obama administration made sure voters unequivocally understood that not only did the stimulus include a tax cut for them but also made sure they knew their taxes stood at the lowest levels in more than 60 years.
A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds that by a two-to-one margin, likely voters in the Nov. 2 midterm elections think taxes have gone up under the Obama administration, when in fact, Obama cut taxes by $240 billion since taking office.
Clearly, the problem Obama and this administration has is that it can’t sell the truth to the American people while his predecessor had little problem selling lies. Until this administration learns how to get its message out and convince Americans of the truth and get them to comprehend, it will make less progress and ultimately may be driven from office.
Rather than a Kumbayah moment with the Republicans, Obama needs to find a team and a means to forcefully get his message to the American people. At one point 69 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein played a role in the 9-11 attacks on our nation. If Bush and his cronies could get Americans to believe a lie Obama and his team need to find the way to get the American people to see the truth. Until Democrats resolve that dilemma they’ll spend more than a few years in the political wilderness.
