Obama's Honeymoon is Over
Like a piece of ordinary furniture painted over to appear to be something it’s not, the veneer is cracking off president Obama’s image of hope and change and what’s emerging is a not so appealing image of arrogance. A man so absorbed in his celebrity he believes the American people will swallow his deficit spending agenda even if it curdles their stomach. But Obama’s determination to get healthcare reform done this summer was the tipping point for Americans. They just couldn’t take it anymore and unleashed their anger and frustration like a tsunami on one town hall meeting after another.
To my surprise an ardent Obama supporter told me recently she didn’t even understand all the reform bills and was tired of hearing the president’s warning that “healthcare is going to bankrupt us.” She added “what does that mean? He says this over and over again but what does it mean?” Though she admitted some type of reform should occur, the fear mongering wasn’t convincing her the time was now. From left, right and center, others agreed they did NOT want the $1 trillion overhaul being proposed but seemed more willing to accept reforms to the existing healthcare system.
But Obama and his stewards chose not to listen and instead dismissed the crowds as "angry mobs" who didn’t represent the majority of American opinion and were orchestrated by you guessed it - that pesky “right wing.” As August got hotter and the voices of discontent grew louder, the public stopped buying the spin. Even liberal-leaning mainstream news outlets, worshipful of the Obama agenda for so long now, have finally become more critical of his agenda, focusing more on his policies and less on his personality. In Sunday’s Washington Post, several articles appeared questioning the president’s ability to lead and his costly, expansion of government, agenda which Americans say like a foreboding Greek chorus “isn’t what they voted for.”
“Today, the energy that powered Obama to victory has begun to dissipate. Some of his supporters remain on the sidelines; others are, if not disillusioned, questioning what has happened to his presidency,” Dan Balz wrote in the Post on September 6th.
Despite what the people are saying, the president appears unwilling to listen, act like a leader, rise above politics, change course and admit he tried to do too much too fast. It seems the media’s idolization of him as the nation’s first charismatic, black president has gone to his head and he believed his election was a mandate to govern as he pleased. Because the media and voters treated him like a rock star, he thought he could use his presidency and good oratory skills to woo the masses into accepting his radical left-wing agenda at any cost.
Not so. The American people have grown weary of the smooth talk, smirks, finger pointing and fear mongering. Before other reporters started writing about it this week, I observed in my first post in May on Frum Forum that President Obama was talking too much and people were starting to tune him out, only hearing “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” I wrote:
It seems like the president’s image is unraveling in recent months and we’re getting a look at the real Obama underneath the PR, razzle, dazzle veneer he sports so well. I think Americans are growing weary of the sparkle, shine and high-spending policies this president is selling and want to see something more. Every week he is on TV holding a press conference for this or that announcement on funding, bailouts or programs to expand government exponentially. As my father exclaimed recently, “when does he have time to run the country, if he’s on television everyday.” This is a question to be pondered. Team Obama may have won the presidency through an innovative public relations campaign but winning over the confidence of Americans and setting the country on the right course will require careful thought, temperance and bipartisan collaboration.
A smile and eloquent speech won’t make it all right.
Back then I warned that the American people would stop listening and that’s exactly what’s happening. “It’s sort of Faux Eloquent Boring, especially on healthcare” wrote Peggy Noonan. “News is surprise, and he never makes news.” (See Peggy Noonan’s article "Coruscating on Thin Ice" and Matt Latimer’s Washington Post piece "A Speeechwriter’s Tip for Obama: Silence is Golden.")
Responding to my overexposure claim, a Frum Forum reader chided me for suggesting such a thing, writing:
“As my father exclaimed recently, “when does Obama have time to run the country, if he’s on television everyday.” This is a question to be pondered.”
The only question to be pondered here is how a media consultant with 15 years of experience could write such drivel. Like him or not, Obama clearly has the intellect and skill to give a weekly presser AND carry out the rest of his duties, i.e., walk and chew gum simultaneously. (Remember, he’s not clearing brush or getting fellated in his office, so he can “waste” some of his valuable time to communicate with the public.)
That Ms. Wright would post this “argument” as the conclusion to a long post suggests a lack of seriousness and/or depth. Some commenters here want her axed for ideological impurity; but it’s simpler than that–just give her the boot for crappy writing. - palomino70 // May 31, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Fast forward to September: Obama doesn’t seem to be communicating effectively with the public. (Contrary to the blogger’s opinion, I suspect the president has bitten off more than he can chew.) Rather than simply being heard and dismissed as puerile, “angry mobs,” the American people want to be listened to... by the president and members of Congress. They’ve awakened from their infatuation with his personality and his being the “first” in the country’s most exclusive club and finally see him as President of the United States, fallible, and accountable to the American people.
Obama doesn’t like this criticism. (Who would after receiving such princely news coverage before and after his election.) But what’s problematic is he doesn’t appear to be ready to give up his hubris and admit his lofty plans, particularly that the behemoth of healthcare reform is too big a pill for Americans to swallow, even with a spoonful of sugar.
It will be interesting to see if the president offers a fresh plan to Americans on healthcare reform in his speech Wednesday night or more blah, blah, the country doesn’t hear. But if he persists along his current righteous course, he will soon enter the winter of his discontent and eventually may find himself as a not so unique member of the club of one-termers.
If I were in the GOP leadership, I would begin crafting a strategy that offers REAL alternatives to healthcare reform, palatable to the American people, and which clearly demonstrate that some politicians are tuning in to the pulse of the country.