O No!
He had a bad day. The lefty chatter is that it was all local politics. Which is true, somewhat, maybe, though you can’t exactly have it both ways when your messiah commits himself to the local races. Reynolds rubs it in at NY Post: “The Obama magic has faded.”
The Obama invincibility that was so much in evidence then seems to have lost its power. People can argue the reasons why these elections, all in places Obama carried handily, were so close. But if he were the political marvel he was thought to be, these races wouldn’t have been contests, but walkovers. So one consequence of this Election Day is the end of his special political magic.
That’s no surprise — as that magic was a largely substanceless froth whipped up by campaign consultants and compliant big-media cheerleaders.
The truth is, Obama wasn’t ready to be president when he ran in 2008. When he started, he probably thought he had no real chance — he himself admitted upon entering the Senate that he wasn’t qualified to be president — and that his first run would simply be a PR effort that would lift him to the top ranks of Senate Democrats.
When, to everyone’s surprise, resentment of the Clinton machine crystallized around him, he wound up beating Hillary for the nomination, and found himself riding an out-of-control express train. He rode it to victory, with some help from erratic McCain actions.
But he was right the first time about not being ready for the Oval Office. As president, he seems confused and a bit distant on the issues, leaving the details to congressional Democrats and an ever-growing number of “czars” while he golfs and launches attacks at Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
Ouch. Hurtful, yet true.
So was NY-23’s race a Dem win, or a conservative one? RedState and Malkin like it as a headsup for the GOP.
Speaking of conservative electoral wins, Maine voters by 53 percent administered the first ballot-box knockdown of a legislative gay marriage law. NYT. The tide of history apparently has some ebb and flow to it. Same-sex marriage’s big wins remain largely the work of judges and left-leaning legislatures or, in the case of Massachusetts, both, where the judges passed it and the Legislature prevented citizens from having a chance to vote on it.
Anyway, back to the night’s biggest loser, O’s down two high-profile races in one night, just hours after Harry Reid decided to trot out the news that the health-care reform they planned to pass before their August break won’t be out until after New Year’s. What? Surrendering again?
Obama may want to go to Crawford and talk to George about how to get stuff past a surrender-happy Dem Cong. Or across the river to see Dick in McLean. His party controls House, Senate and White House, and between them, they can’t even produce a bill let alone get a vote on it. Bush, reviled and mocked, was adept at working both with his own party and working the Dems. A notable exception was when he tried going bipartisan with McCain and Kennedy on legalizing illegals, with Obama-like results. Rather than trying to please that fickle bunch, Obama might look to Bush for pointers on how he led a hostile Democratic-led Congress around by the nose to effect his own top agenda item, prevailing in a war they were convinced was lost, with their assistance, even as they were frantically waving the white flag.
HotAir, “WaPo: Elections not a referendum on Obama but … ” Also, Morrissey’s Lessons from Election Night. And maybe the cruelest cut, why there are no Obamists: Because Obamism has no “core principles.”
Weekly Standard: “Headline of the Day, From the Los Angeles Times:”
Democrats score congressional victories in California, New York
The GOP fares better in Virginia and New Jersey as both states elect Republican governors.
That’s looking on the bright side.
Sadly No! seems sadly disinterested in talking about Virginia, New Jersey and health care at all. Last night was all about a last-minute squeaker in NY 23. Ditto, TBogg. Have to hunt around to find someone who can explain how O losing the two big races was a win. Meanwhile, here’s Moderate Voice: Governors don’t matter. It’s all about Congress and he won there … yeah, like he needs more Dems to screw things up for him on Capitol Hill.
Goldberg at NRO unwinds the spin:
It’s already the conventional wisdom: This was all about anti-incumbency not anti-Obama. David Gregory just spent 10 minutes rambling about this point … For the most part I have no problem with this interpretation. There is a profound anti-incumbency spirit out there …
But if I might clarify something for the folks at the “Today” show and elsewhere … The Democratic Party is the incumbent party.
O, the hurtful cruelty! More to the Moderate Voice’s point about Congress, Goldberg unspins helpfully:
… at the end of the day what pundits, editors, talking heads and even voters think about the meaning of the election results doesn’t matter nearly as much as what a mere 100 people think about it.
Those 100 people are the 80 Democratic Congressmen and 20 senators who represent districts or states that voted for John McCain … Will they go out on a limb for a president whose personal popularity is not only falling, but seems to have no transitive properties whatsoever?
Surber: Maybe NY 23 voters were telling outsiders to butt out. Not by much, though. Also, “Did Obamacare die tonight?” Includes a cruel photo illustration of what I take to be “Obamacare,” aging badly, in a wheelchair, on an ice floe. O, the unkind hurtfulness of it all! Hey, is that old woman wearing a Palestinian headscarf!?! No, maybe not that hurtful.
Steyn, with some tough-love tactical advice for Obama:
Obama? Well, the post-partisan hopeychanger is just another 50/50 Mister Divisive. We’re a long way from January 20. But, considering the spending and the health care and the summer of discontent, we’re not quite as far as we should be. On the basis of these results, if I were the president, I’d be tempted to ram health care down the throats of America and figure I’d take a hit in 2010 but that it wouldn’t be a wipeout, and that the payoff down the road would be worth it.
OK, maybe “tough love” isn’t exatly the right word. Anyway, Steyn’s advice relies on more decisiveness, ruthlessness and long game than Obama or any of his team have shown as yet. Except that, I doubt 2012 in a universal health-care America is going to offer much payOff.
O, more cruel and hurtful unkindness to go out on! From Tehran, via Gateway: “Obama, Obama, Are You With Regime Or With Us.”
Now that’s an encouraging variation on the usual hostage-taking anniversary chants of “Death to America!” Timing, not so good for O, though.
Topics: Obama
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:52 am on Wednesday, November 4, 2009
4 Responses to “O No!”
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November 4th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
My understanding of the NY-23 results is that Owens, although a Democrat, is fairly moderate, while Hoffman is pretty far right, which may or may not have been a drawback. In any case, Hoffman may have lost the election (narrowly), but his supporters gave the Republican Party a much-needed wake-up smack in the face.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden: “Obama may want to go to Crawford and talk to George about how it’s done. Or across the river to see Dick in McLean. His party controls House, Senate and White House, and between them, they can’t even produce a bill let alone get a vote on it. Bush, reviled and mocked, was adept at working both with his own party and working the Dems.” [...]
November 4th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
[...] Malkin Mark Steyn: Quietly musing Drew @Ace:Elections a little something for everyone Crittenden: He had a bad day… Just One Minute: End of Health Care Reform? Comments [...]
November 4th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
The GOP put a straight up neo marxist douche to run for that party.
That alone convinced enough decent folk to just ignore the whole shebang this time around.
Then there’s the numbnuts that wont vote for anyone outside the two parties of corruption and destruction, because they dont want to “throw away their vote”.
The GOP lost because it’s run by morons, idiots, intellectually inbred fools and degenerate “big tent”ers who stand for nothing but party victory with no compromise of principals too great.