I’m not really sure what the point of this piece in the WaPo is:
Obama’s more frequent and acid reminders that former president George W. Bush left behind a trillion-dollar budget deficit, a 14-month recession and a broken financial system have come at the same time Republicans have ramped up criticism that the current president’s policies are compounding the nation’s economic problems.
Obama had initially been content to leave partisan defense strategy to his proxies, but as the fiscal picture has continued to darken, he has appeared more willing to risk his image as a politician who is above petty partisanship to personally remind the public of Bush’s legacy.
His approval ratings remain strong — above 60 percent, according to the most recent Gallup poll — but have dropped from their highs almost entirely because of falling support among Republicans since he took office.
I’m not sure how noting he inherited the mess is petty partisan politics, as it seems to me it is just plain fact. He also inherited two wars. Is it petty partisan politics to note that? He also inherited Air Force One and the White House. Is it petty partisan politics to note that?
Keith
I saw that front and center on MSNBC this morning and thought my homepage got secretly replace by The Washington Times.
Radon Chong
Criticizing George W. Bush has always been petty, partisan politics as far as the WaPo is concerned. And Republican support is much more important than Democratic support. Duh.
Laura W
Ari Fleischer demands that I remind you that he also INHERITED A WORLD FREE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN.
kid bitzer
criticising republicans makes david broder cry.
and whatever makes david broder cry is petty partisan politics.
that’s what you’re missing.
HRA
They are flailing. They use broad terms as in the "failing support of the Republicans" to mask the most dire failures of the Bush administration. What the sensible populace sees is a Republican party with no plans for the future unless you can count the NO as one.
Bill H
While I agree with you entirely the refrain, from him to some degree, but more extremely so from his Dem supporters, is starting to grate on me, and I am a strong supporter of Obama and his policies, thinking only that his spending is too small, which is a result of opposition intransigence.
But the knee jerk "Well this problem is Bush’s fault" in response to a question about current policy is getting old. It does not address the question asked, and it is defensive when defensiveness is not needed. If you believe in your policy, don’t give some vapid answer about the problem not being your fault, give an answer about why the policy is sound. There are many, so use them.
They are beginning to sould like a couple of pre-teens argueing in the back seat of a car. "Mom, Jeremy touched me." "Well, she touched me first."
Obama talks about wanting to look forward, not back, and then he reminds you that he "inherited the current financial crisis." Please.
TR
I guess they don’t have editors at the WaPo.
Fixed.
valdivia
Is this not more of the Obama is already a failure meme? In Newsweek Howard Fineman declares Obama is now found ‘lacking’ by the powers that be (someone had already linked to this article yesterday on another thread). All this says to me is that the Village is trying to understand how the people of this country still trust their president when they find him to be not susceptible to their usual tactics. They want him to come crying to them and because he does not they have to explain away the poll numbers no? so the new tack is to say that the elites int his country now know that Obama is a failure while the rest fo us are just deluded.
TR
This is true. I heard him denounce animal dander and ragweed as partisan politics.
jrosen
I note that the Dow was +11% this week. Is it still the Obama market?
Of course, one week is not a trend…although I do enjoy watching my losses decrease even in the short term. But my point is that if you want to blame Obama for the downside, you have to credit him for the upside.
But that is consistency and integrity. Not GOP strengths. What say, you, Brick Oven Bill? Come back, come back, I miss you!
gex
@Bill H: But when the media keeps giving prominent voice to right wing hacks who call this the Obama recession and the Obama deficit, what else are you going to do?
I guess you could find it grating. I myself am glad to have Democrats actually defend themselves from the baseless accusations by the GOP and the media and call bullshit for what it is.
ronathan richardson
I think you’re forgetting how it works, John:
Republican makes offensive lie about Democrats: media repeats the lie without questioning.
Democrat factually notes that a Republican once made what all moderates agree to be a damaging mistake: media decries petty democrat politics.
amorphous
Media stupidity, it kind of warms the heart, no? And John, I may have been about sixteen, but yes, I think this is what it was like during the Clinton years.
Zifnab25
It’s not like Bush spent his first year in office yammering on about returning "Honor and Integrity to the White House" day in and day out, between month long brush clearing vacations.
Remember kids, IOKIYAR, otherwise sit down and be quiet you uppity elitist welfare queens.
smiley
There you go with that mordant wit again.
JL
Was this an opinion piece in the Business Section? Oh yeah, the Post no longer has a business section.
TR
Or like the Bush administration insisted — to this day — that 9/11 was the result of national security failures made on Clinton’s watch.
Eight months into Bush’s term, a major foreign policy disaster (that he was warned about, repeatedly) was credited to his predecessor. Two months into Obama’s term, a major economic disaster (that actually began months before he was even elected, much less in office) is being credited to him.
IOKIYAR.
argh
Bill H: "But the knee jerk "Well this problem is Bush’s fault" in response to a question about current policy is getting old. It does not address the question asked, and it is defensive when defensiveness is not needed."
You are missing the state of affairs in our fine nation, Bill. It has become important to tell people obvious things that happen before their very eyes–otherwise they seem to forget them/never recognize them/willfully ignore them.
You may be personally coming from a sound place of objective realism, but increasingly this teevee’d out culture is lost in a sea of self-styled opinions, fantasy and wishful thinking. Reality checks are disparately needed for all our sakes.
Zifnab25
@jrosen:
You’ll also note Obama slide a few points in the polls as Glenn, Michelle, and the NRO all started gearing up to Go Galt. I imagine John Galt is the real driving force behind our economic recovery.
That or the news that Jennifer Aniston just broke up with John Mayer. You’ll notice that Aniston and Mayer started going out just seven or eight months ago, right as the market began to tank out. So, as long as they don’t get back together, we should be on the road to recovery. I’ve been doing voodoo chants and sacrificing virgins on an alter of granite countertops, WSJ editorial pages, and AIG stock options. So I’m doing my part at least.
MattF
The WaPo is complaining because one of the current Republican themes is "Let’s pretend it’s 1992 all over again"– thereby deleting Clinton’s accomplishments and Bush’s failures from the historical record. Obama’s reasonable response to this (besides just ignoring it as stooopid) is to note that things happened in the interval from 1992 to 2008 and that in particular, that Bush & Co. left behind a series of catastrophic screwups. So, WaPo says "Bad Obama".
Mike
Or that their real problem in Iraq is that Clinton left them a decimated military.
BC
If you don’t acknowledge the mess that the economy was in on January 20, then there is no reason for the stimulus package. Remember: most of the stimulus package has not even gone to states yet – they have until April 3 to get it. Most of the $$ in stim package hasn’t been spent yet. But there is an expectation that we should be seeing results from the stim package because that was passed last month! When there is push back on the stimulus package, there has to be a reason for the stimulus package in response. This is the situation where Obama makes the response that he inherited a mess. The theme from my Republican congressman here in Montana is that the stim package was a rush job and we should have just used targeted tax cuts to get us out of the situation. So: Republicans are trying to stuff the economic situation on January 20 down the memory hole and Obama is not letting them do it. WaPo would just like to forget the bad economy of 2008 and start over now with a new administration and all. Just wipe the slate and start over. Like there is no history.
TR
"History, we don’t know. We’ll all be dead."
–He Who Shall Not Be Named
norbizness
Quiet, you’ll interrupt the entrenched Ministry of Information clerks and editors who are trying to disappear the time period between January 2001 and January 2009.
jcricket
I agree with the others who’ve said this is one of those IOKIYAR things. Plus, Democrats never affix blame, and it’s one of our key problems. People need to come out of scandals understanding where the majority of the blame belongs. So next time around, when Republicans peddle the same lies ("tax cuts + no regulation = nirvana") they will understand it’s BS.
Democrats need to get more effective at the blame game, not less.
1) Make it clear Republicans are responsible
2) Fix stuff
3) Make it clear it was you who fixed stuff (and remind people Republicans obstructed you)
And then when some Republican says, "this is all great, but wouldn’t it be better if everyone paid no taxes? and had no regulations?" you say no, and people believe you, because you laid the ground-work with #1.
Republicans are already using this strategy, despite being totally wrong. They have the media/public so convinced that Democrats "hate" the markets and success that the media dutifully reports Obama might be spooking the markets, etc. We need to use this same media to our advantage, not just pretend they don’t exist.
J.D. Rhoades
Facts have a well-known liberal bias.
Aqualad
Exactly…it’s like entering your sexual maturity with a world free of pubic lice…yeah that’s fine and all, but I still need a raincoat…
Pennypacker
John, stop confusing the issue with facts.
Just Some Fuckhead
@jcricket: Democrats never affix blame because there’s always a good number of them with windblown hair and maniacal grins joyriding straight to hell with Republicans.
See Runaway Spending, 2000-2008.
See Iraq Wa-
Hell, see everything.
aimai
Shorter WaPo "leave george bush alooooooooone."
But seriously, there’s simply no *other* way to talk about long range planning than to acknowledge and refer back to the last eight years. Obama and the dems would have to observe some almost Japanese form of indirectness and delicacy to avoid all mention of the actual history of this country. what, is Obama supposed to say "despite the best efforts of all concerned evnts have not transpired exactly as we would have wished?" and leave it at that?
aimai
Tom
DC journos are being bombarded by a coordinated Republican onslaught to discredit the Obama Administration and the Democrats. They have an extremely sophisticated and effective message machine that the Dems can’t match and always, always catches them by surprise. The only counter to that onslaught is to hit the journos hard and often on their biased reporting. They get this kind of crap in their emails 20 times a day, and there aren’t any Dems to counter it. The Dems don’t even return calls. A lot of the journos do listen when you complain. Write to the journo with your complaint, write to the editor with your complaint, write to the ombud with your complaint. A consistent effort will help. There’s no need to be nasty either. Just make the consistent point that this kind of story is ridiculous.
Dr. Squid
The point is that criticizing Republicans is frowned upon inside the Beltway.
wasabi gasp
This is probably a good time to remind everyone that 9/11 was all Bill Cinton’s fault.
Svensker
@Aqualad:
For flashing?
Svensker
Just heard Karl Rove on Fox explaining how it was very mean and unpresidential for Obama to call out Rush. And that presidents shouldn’t stoop to low partisan politics. I’m very surprised he didn’t add that presidents should leave the stooping to their fat aides.
crustaceanette
Bill H: One must identify the source of a problem to diagnose and fix it. Otherwise, it’s like a surgeon going in to operate on a guy with a broken leg and saying, eh, I hear he’s got a broken limb, think I’ll just take this arm off and see if that helps.
Also, when the media and repubes are *already* actively trying to blame this crisis on Obama (e.g., completely disregarding the facts), it is most helpful for Obama to remind the public that he had nothing to do with this pile of shit he inherited, considering that is a *most* important nugget of information the corporate owned media seem to forget.
woody
By this time next year (2010), with the gracious assistance of the SCUM (SoCalledUnbiasedMedia), the only people who will remember that this is Bush’s war, and Bush’s depression, will be (left) bloggers, and historians.
This will be, by then, the 2010 election cycle, 6 months out.
You will find references to Bush’s responsibility as scarce as Bernie Madoff’s honor.
Fulcanelli
It’s like Josh Marshall said: Washington DC is wired for Republican rule. GOP bullshit travels at T3 speed in every direction around the world before Progressive and Democratic messages, tooling along on weak, morse code telegraph lines and Pony Express even has it’s pants on.
It’s like when you’re having one of those nightmares where you talk and nothing comes out of your mouth or when you run and run from something that’s after you and you stay in the same place. It’s the ‘invisible hand’ (of the market?) that has you in it’s grip.
After the 28 year MSM stranglehold the BigMoney/GOP/BigBusiness has had, made exponentially worse by 8 years of Bush/Cheney/Rove and FOX noise, any positive information coming from an Obama administration’s policies, like Sissyphus, will have a relentless uphill battle getting through, unless of course it has the anointed blessing of the monied interests in this country for some unforseen reason, whether it’s the owners of the media or big business.
Expect this to continue for at least a few years until it’s too big to ignore and we call them on it relentlessly. Or it hits them where it really hurts, i.e. The Wallet.
This is why when I hear "liberal media", without even realizing it I reflexively lunge for the nearest heavy, blunt object to club the source. I’ve become like a rabid Pavlov’s dog in this regard.
When it becomes as profitable to the MSM to publish positive, progressive information which helps improve the lot of 95% of America, as it does the negative big money power structure crap that perpetuates the fucking economic slavery of that 95% in this country it will change, and I don’t recommend holding your breath.
These assholes still control a shitload of power and money and they ain’t going quietly. It’s gonna be a long war of attrition, but we will win eventually. Take comfort John, that your blog has become part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem. You didn’t miss anything.
/end Jamison’s+black coffee Saturday morning rant…
Laura W
@Svensker: You’re on a roll today.
Good laughs.
Libby Spencer
But, but… Bush inherited a recession from Clinton. And did you forget those lines at the gas station when Carter was president? And Michael Moore is fat.
Bill H
One of the things I like about BJ is civil discourse when civil discourse is begun, and acid retort when stupidity erupts. All of the retorts to my comments have been reasonable and civil. And they have made good points.
Indeed one must refute the absurd accusations that are made, one must look back sufficiently in order to find that which needs correction. Why then, I ask myself, as a liberal and an Obama admirer, is it beginning to grate on me?
In part, I think it is a matter of degree. When something is said long enough and often enough it starts to sound like a refrain. Too much of our political discourse consists of refrains rather than thoughtful commentary.
The other thing is when it us used nonresponsively. When Obama’s policy is challenged, defend the policy, talk about the strengths of the policy. When you start by saying the problem is Bush’s fault that is not responsive to what Obama is doing, and that was the question.
When a kid is caught with his hand in the cookie jar and crys "It’s Jimmy’s fault" that doesn’t address that fact that it’s his hand in the cookie jar. Bad analogy, I know, because Obama’s hand isn’t in the cookie jar, but…
ThymeZoneThePlumber
No, and don’t forget the Annual Presidential Turkey Pardon, and the White House Easter Egg Roll.
The latter Saddam-Free(tm) event is on April 13 this year. Just another thing Osama bin Obama can be thankful for.
grandpajohn
Its from the WP, its not supposed to have a point
ThymeZoneThePlumber
@Bill H:
Obama is the president. Not some guy you have coffee with on the way to the hardware store.
My opinion is that he should reinforce the Bush legacy aspect of the problem set every day until the very last hour of the very last day that it continues to serve its purpose, which is to shield him from criticism.
Another angle is that if he suddenly shifted away from that message component, the tiresome concern trolls would be whingeing over the message shift.
Obama at this point is just a screen onto which the morans of the world are busily projecting their moraniness. My response is to ignore the morans. I have enough of them in my own family, thank you very much.
patrick
During the primaries, I voted for John Edwards. Now it is obvious that vote was a big mistake, but at the time I did it because I thought Edwards was the most frank of the candidates about the terrible condition of the country at the time (although by current standards he was not negative enough). He said Bush was the worst president, the economy was terrible, and that it had turned into two economies and two countries — one for rich and one for poor. He also said Obama’s "let’s just get along" politics were not going to work with people liked their money more than people, making the point by having the parents of a young lady who died from a lack of an operation that might have saved her life while the head of that company took home a hundred million dollar bonus go on the campaign trail with him. He asserted that when Obama sat down at the table with these types of people and asked them to give something up he was dealing with people who would let people die rather than give up a nickel. They would not budge out of anything but self interest.
Anyhow, Obama won, and it is clear he is a better politician than me or Edwards by a large margin. But I have always felt by not making the case for how bad things were, that it would be difficult later to ask for the change he seems to want. That the country he painted during the campagin would not warrant big, difficult changes, and as it became more clear how bad things are he would get blamed since he had not established how bad things were before he was in charge.
He seems to have gambled that by being such a nice, get-along go-along type of guy he would build a large enough marjority that he could do what he wanted. I would have preferred a somewhat smaller but more motivated majority. And I don’t really think it would have been much smaller — people were tired of the republicans.
Now, however, he is being "partisan" every time he says something that happens to be true about the sitution he inherited. I think he would have been better off making that clear from the beginning. But then maybe he would have lost the primaries or the election. I don’t know.
Tom
@Fulcanelli:
I don’t know. I think the time to act is now. Now is the time to call them on it relentlessly. The Republican message machine strokes those guys relentlessly, plumping up their egos, giving them plum leaks and story points, sources at the ready, the whole bit. They have a whole catalog of trained talkers ready to go on TV at a moments notice.
The Dems have none of that. Why not? They’ve done a good job with their Dear Leader Limbaugh thing, which was good, but they need much more of that. Writing to these journos calling them on their bias is a good start and something that everyone can do.
Person of Choler
The article means that Obama has already found it necessary to open the first envelope.
kay
I don’t think they’ve come up with anything like a consistent anti-Obama rap, either in the media or in the Republican Party. I think they’re all over the place, on any given day. This is just today’s attempt. It will be something else by next week. They can’t even decide if he’s just like George W Bush or instead is a wild-eyed socialist.
Obama is much more consistent.
Obama is going to say the following at every speech and every event until his various economic plans take some kind of effect: "I inherited this mess". That’s because it’s true and politically advantageous to repeat. He’s also going to list the 4 pillars of sustainable economic recovery until they are etched into every American’s brain. Credit markets, health care, education, energy. Like a jingle.
The DC media aren’t Obama’s intended audience. Casual watchers and listeners are. What’s the income level at which Obama’s tax increase kicks in? Say it with me….250,000. How many times did he have to repeat that? Hundreds. Thousands.
Brian J
When he gave his first big speech to congress and came to the part of the address where he discussed the deficit, he made a point of mentioning that he came into office with deficits like this. I noticed that several of the Democrats, noticeably Chuck Schumer, got off their asses to cheer this on, while several Republicans looked pissed that he went there.
I was glad he did. He’s inherited the biggest pile of shit of any incoming president in quite some time, most of which was the fault of the previous administration. They can piss and moan all they like, but that’s not going to change reality.
Luckily for us, this sort of nonsense doesn’t seem to throw Obama and his team off their game.
kay
@Brian J:
Your point about the Democrats in the chamber cheering the Bush lines at that speech reminded me. It always amazes me that Republicans and media completely disregard the whole idea of a Democrat having a "base". They pretend such a thing simply does not exist, although we’re regularly treated to long, boring dissertations on the GOP base, and how vitally important they are to democracy.
Obama gets a rise out of Democrats, probably nearly ALL Democrats, when he mentions Bush. That’s perfectly justified and completely predictable. Yet it’s treated as if he’s violating some sacred DC honor code when he speaks to Democrats in language they want to hear. He’s a Democrat. They thought he’d be lauding Bush’s accomplishments? Why would he do that?
D. Mason
Yes because to do so would mean also being able to wrap their heads around the undeniable fact that by their definition of "socialist", it’s not possible to be just one of these things.
Brian J
@kay:
Who really gives a shit? I think I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring at what to ignore from the chattering classes (anything that resembles insider gossip concerning the Beltway) and what to pay attention to (a description of an event that actually resembles reality, a fact that I hadn’t heard elsewhere). I don’t want to seem like I have anything against these people, but I do think there’s something to the idea that their world is very insular and they don’t always realize how the rest of the country feels. With that in mind, I don’t really care if they think nothing of the Democratic base. Obama realizes it’s there, and that’s what’s important.
Tax Analyst
Uh…yes, bingo. The whole thing. "Consistency". That is exactly what this President is about and it will either serve him (and us) well or it won’t. I happen to think that in the long run it will, but in either case he’s going to consistently push his major points forward. The pointless among us will inanely bray and natter on and on regardless. For a priceless example, some of you may have heard Senator Grassley’s "Republican response" to President Obama’s weekly Saturday morning radio address. If you missed it, well, you didn’t miss it. It was very nearly 100% pure annoying nonsense. He was all over the lot and barely coherent, much less convincing.
gwangung
Question: how important is it for the rest of the country to realize that, as a group? I think a few people think that These People aren’t relevant to them, personally, but is it clear that the rest of the country realizes that These People aren’t relevant to the rest of the country as a whole? And how important is that?
kay
@D. Mason:
Yesterday he was Bush again. Two weeks ago he was a Marxist. The business community disliked and distrusted him, until they announced, well, they actually don’t. He destroyed the stock market, until he didn’t. The Republicans had the issue of the year on stimulus, but maybe not. There was some sort of grass roots revolt brewing over the mortgage plan, but it hadn’t reached a tipping point, just yet. Tim Geithner is going to get fired. Robert Gibbs is going to get fired. Americans hate how Michelle Obama dresses, and bares her arms.
This theme has (interestingly) been abandoned: Hillary Clinton will run a rogue State Department. Pure speculation. They just made it up. When it didn’t happen, they dropped it.
kay
@Brian J:
I agree with you in the abstract. We shouldn’t care. But, here I am, right? I only know why I read what Cole and others write in this vein. I do read it, willingly, so it must have some value to me. I’m seeking this and other sites out. This isn’t accidental.
I feel (maybe ridiculously) that if I can sort of stay one step ahead of whatever bullshit they’re earnestly peddling I’m better off. These are powerful people, in their own tiny world, and their world (sadly) intersects with mine. I’m…less powerful. I want to keep an eye on them.
Mnemosyne
Can you give a specific example? I’m not being snarky, just trying to figure out where the disconnect is.
joe from Lowell
kay’s smart.
I liked this:
Didn’t we learn this during the campaign?
and this:
Remember when they thought repeating "Spread the Wealth" was going to hurt Barack Obama?