In New York State, and the United States, it’s a whole new political order. And it means a new way of doing business in Washington. President Obama spent a major portion of his first two years trying to get his health care bill passed. In the end, despite giant odds, he succeeded. But it may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory for the President.
Obama went on Jon Stewart’s show last week, and probably expected friendly questions from a reliably liberal talk show host. But Stewart did not stick to the expected script. In fact, with a heavy dose of sarcasm, he gave the President a tough time.
The interview provides insight as to where the President is going wrong.
For one, he spent much of the time on the defensive, explaining why his health care plan was best for America. The President wasted minutes of valuable airtime giving a professorial lecture to Stewart and the audience. Stewart asked, "You ran on very high rhetoric, hope and change, and the democrats this year seem to be running on, ‘Please baby one more chance’ . . . are you disappointed in how it has gone?"
The President answered by talking about all he’s overcome despite being dealt a terrible hand. "When we promised during the campaign ‘change you can believe in’, it wasn’t ‘change you can believe in, in 18 months,’ Obama said." "It was ‘change you can believe in’ but you’re gonna have to work for it."
Essentially, the President is telling Americans that he has a hard job. Well, yea, nobody said it was going to be easy. And unemployed Americans might say, at least YOU have a job. So stop whining and get to it.
But Obama seems to think that Democrats are doing poorly because the voters just aren’t smart enough. "Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time," the President said last week, "is that we are hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country is scared, and they have good reason to be."
Oh, so that’s it. It’s the voters fault! We are not thinking clearly. I guess if we were, we would feel good about the unemployment rate, the sinking economy, and about being taxed to death. Gee, silly voters. If only we were smart like the President.
There is a phrase in the retail business: "The customer is always right."
It works the same way in the political business. Whether voters are not thinking clearly, or are scared, or are clinging to something, the voters are always right.
And they always have the last word.
