For those Americans of a certain age,the low point of Jerry Ford’s unimpressive 2 1/2 year presidency was not the Nixon pardon (although that was the right thing to do), but his calling for people to wear W.I.N. (Whip Inflation Now!) buttons.Fred Barnes thinks that Barack Obama may have reached that point with his latest speech before a joint session of congress.
by Fred Barnes
It’s come to this: The president touted for his brainpower, idealism, and global esteem has been reduced to leading captive audiences in chants of “Pass this bill,” a measure that Republicans loathe, Democrats regard warily, and Congress is un-likely to approve even in truncated form.
The Obama presidency has entered the pathetic phase. This occurs when a president acts in a demeaning fashion while trying to rebuild his popularity and political strength. It’s a product of desperation.
There are numerous examples from earlier presidencies. Gerald Ford had his WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now). George H. W. Bush told New Hampshire voters, “Don’t cry for me, Argentina.” Jimmy Carter boasted endlessly he hadn’t “panicked in the crisis” and insisted he wasn’t contrasting his conduct with rival Teddy Kennedy’s at Chappaquiddick.
For Obama, the pathetic phase began over the summer when the economy weakened further and his job approval rating tanked. He recklessly called for a joint session of Congress to announce his jobs initiative. During his speech, he demanded 18 times, “Pass this bill.”
That was on September 8. Then Obama hit the road. He spoke at two colleges and one high school to crowds whose enthusiasm was expected. Mary Bruce of ABC News kept count of the injunctions to “pass the bill”: 18 at the University of Richmond, 24 at North Carolina State, 18 at Fort Hayes High School in Columbus, Ohio.
He looped back to the White House last week to announce he’d sent the bill to Capitol Hill and uttered “pass the bill”—by then his signature slogan—another dozen times. When he addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington later in the week, there were a dozen more instructions to “pass the bill.”
What’s wrong with all this? At least the president has shown a burst of energy. This was salve to Democrats and his supporters in the media who have been pleading with the president for months to step up his fight against congressional Republicans.
But the fight is not going well, and for good reason. For one thing, Obama suffers from what Maureen Dowd of the New York Times has identified as the “speech illusion.” This is the notion that he can swoop down from on high, deliver a speech, persuade millions, and move the political needle in favor of his legislation. And, naturally, make himself more popular.
Quite the opposite has happened. The speech wasn’t a bomb, but it was close. Individual parts of his proposal—the payroll tax cut, for instance—drew a positive response in polls. Overall, though, it was a downer. Poll numbers for both the president and his plan sank gradually after the speech. The truth is, Obama is simply not persuasive.
[…]
Obama’s conceit is that he stands high above the crass politics of Congress and represents the needs of the entire country, while Congress—he means Republicans—pursues narrow party interests. Does anyone, including those in the White House, believe this? I don’t think so.
One reason is the president has protested too much. “It’s the members of Congress who put party before country because they believe the only way to resolve our differences is to wait 14 months till the next election,” he told the Hispanic group. “I’ve got news for them. The American people don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months.” And so on.
[…]
Obama isn’t as clever as he thinks. A back-to-the-future strategy from 63 years ago isn’t likely to work. Politics has changed, and the president’s devices and desires are transparent. Truman himself couldn’t pull off the strategy today.
But Obama’s machinations aren’t the clearest evidence of his desperation. His unpresidential conduct is. In 2008, he led crowds in chanting, “Yes, we can.” He was a candidate then, and it demonstrated the loftiness of his appeal and the passion of his partisans.
Now he’s president. We can have fast railroads like China’s, he said in Columbus. “So let’s tell Congress, pass this bill right away.” The crowd shouted back. “Pass this bill! Pass this bill! Pass this bill!”
Now get ready for the “Pass this bill” buttons.
Read the rest: Whip Unemployment Now?
