E. J. Dionne writes about what we’ve talked about repeatedly here, the silly procedural focus of our national political dialog:
A deep narrative is taking root in the political class, and it goes something like this: Obama is biting off way more than he can chew, “overloading” the system and dealing with all sorts of “side issues,” when he should be focusing solely on the broken economy. He is said to be asking Congress to do too much.
Note that anyone who makes an argument of this sort is freed from responsibility to mention any of the specific problems Obama is proposing to take on. Insisting the economy trumps everything means you don’t have to say a thing about health-care reform, energy, education and taxes.
I have no idea if Dionne got the idea of writing about this from the blogosphere, but this is an important media critique that I hope we’ll see more of.
The Other Steve
There’s something else at play here.
GW Bush was notorious for being a single task guy. He jumped back and forth from one thing to another, but he was always focused on but one thing at a time.
Could part of this just be a defense of the status quo?
DougJ
Yes, definitely. Most media memes are elaborate defenses of the status quo.
JenJen
Ya know, I wasn’t really sure how powerful this meme had become until I watched Bill Maher Friday night, where some NYT (I think, maybe WSJ?) financial "journalist" said with a straight face, "Isn’t Obama trying to do too much, though?"
Anyone else see this? I laughed out loud while watching… it came at a moment where the guy didn’t seem to have anything to add to the conversation, so he just spurted it out in full-on Tourette style, it came out of nowhere.
It struck me as ludicrous, but also hilarious.
BDeevDad
I’d just like someone to mention that just because John McCain and George Bush could not multitask, does not mean others cannot. Wasn’t Obama’s multitasking abilities one of the talking points to getting him elected.
Zifnab25
The soft bigotry of low expectations? Or may the economy is the only thing Obama should be allowed to fix?
guest
@JenJen:
what republicans and lobbyists charged with preserving the status quo are really complaining is that they don’t want to be forced to work so hard in fighting to block obama’s agenda. they’re tired and can’t keep up.
joe from Lowell
Perhaps the correct answer to that question is, "Do you think there isn’t a lot to do?"
GottaLaff
Forgive the off-topic comment, but to be frank, I’m trying to keep the story about Cheney’s assassination ring alive, and got some more info:
"First-hand knowledge of Cheney’s assassination ring’s existence":
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009/03/political-carnival-exclusive-first-hand.html
I hope it was okay to pop in with this.
DougJ
What’s so dumb is that the federal government is always multitasking. There are, of course, several different agencies working on different things at any given time.
I just don’t see how people who follow government for a living don’t understand that.
Joshua Norton
Blah, blah, blah. Every damned op-ed piece since the day after election has started with "What Obama needs to do about…."
Suddenly the presidency has one front seat and about a million back seats. And the preponderance of know-it-all-ism is getting tiresome as hell.
guest
@joe from Lowell:
sweet.
KG
@9: yes, but those are agencies, they’re the professionals, deal with that stuff regardless of who the president is. The president and Congress, they’re really just temps, shouldn’t be doing too much, or really anything at all. They’re suppose to just be there for show, don’t ya know?
Or something like that.
itsbenj
jeeez I hope so, the great whining sound coming from the liberal blogosphere the last couple of weeks threatens to drown out all other whining in the universe. I can’t tell who is more insufferable between self-appointed "populist" economic experts on the interwebs, and self-aggrandizing captains of industry hoping against hope that they’ll get just one more chance to rob us all before they’re all tarred & feathered by an incoherent mob
NonyNony
@Zifnab25:
Factoid – most political pundits complaining that Obama is trying to do "too much" make six figures a year. At least.
Factoid – most of these folks have health care paid for by their employer. Probably damn good coverage too.
Factoid – most of these folks don’t have energy costs (heating, gasoline, etc.) as a major percentage of their income. And if they do, they can afford to buy new cars/install more energy efficient appliances/get new windows and insulation/buy a smaller house/etc.
Factoid – most of these folks don’t worry about their kids’ education because they can afford to send their kids to private schools. What’s more, most of them probably wouldn’t even think to NOT send their kids to private schools.
Their number one concern seems to be that their 401Ks have imploded and they’re never going to be able to retire. Fair enough – that’s a concern. They seem to think that’s EVERYONE’S concern, though, and it really isn’t. But I’m totally used to the myopic vision of our highly paid and secure press corpse. They’ve been that way ever since I can remember, actually.
argh
The economy is dead: the only question is whether we are going to spend our remaining wealth to have a new aristocracy rule us, or if we manage to band together and make a New Deal for America. And it’s pretty obvious we’re going to all fight like crabs in a bucket and end up peasants.
What this "meme" (ie, talking point propaganda) does is keep President Obama from doing anything constructive for the nation while there is still a chance. We can forget the Congressional Dems, as Nader tried to point out. After the economy is "fixed" (ie, completely dead), then there won’t be any way to have national health care or education or anything else. The Con succeeds.
It’s the Cause of the Con Right-wing to destroy liberalism (the Middle Class) and stealing the Treasury is their backdoor plan. So of course the Establishment mouthpieces are going to try to prevent assistance to The People until the heist is finished. At that point it won’t matter.
That is, unless majority America turns away from the teevee, thinks independently and rationally, rediscovers the principles of commonwealth (ie, liberalism), and takes matters into its own hands. Wish us luck with that.
Brachiator
The guest hosts on the Stephanie Miller Show (an AM progressive talk program with a comedy bent noted) noted that one week Obama was accused of trying to take on too much, and the next week he’s accused of focusing too much on the economy. Conservatives attack Obama with this because it is part of their general strategy to attack everything that Obama does, even if their attacks are inconsistent, illogcal or self-contradictory. This backfired on them in the general election, but they are creatures of habit.
On the other hand, when reporters pick up on this as though it is a legitimate news story, they’re just being lazy. Or stoopid. You might think that, with newspapers dying and the media being in general disrepute, these guys might try to do some real journalism. But I guess they enjoy being trapped in the Beltway echo chamber.
Michael
Its all a huge defense of the status quo. There was a lot of hope in some quarters that the banking crisis would be all consuming and would distract the national conversation away from (particularly) tackling big items like health care and adequate regulation.
Frankly, I’m kind of at a point where I think it would be great if every pundit:
1. Detailed every accomplishment they had in life as a preface to their column; and
2. Would refrain from commenting more than once a week.
Charity
And people talk as if the economy is one separate thing, and not tied into everything else. As if spending on health care is a separate entity. Helloooo: spending –> economy! Building crumbling schools –> infrastructure spending –> job creation –> economy!
The system is broken. Why NOT take the opportunity to try some things that will lower costs for everyone. Like modernizing government buildings, so they spend less on energy. Less of OUR tax dollars.
Andrew J. Lazarus
Most of these media clowns are too stupid to multitask themselves. They still haven’t figured out that Obama plays at another level.
Zifnab
@Charity: Crazy talk. You can’t just go around "fixing health care" and "improving middle-class worker compensation" and expect to fix the economy? What does health care have to do with the economy? Oh, boo hoo. You’ve got cancer. Get back to work! There, problem solved. What does lower class salary have to do with the economy? It’s not like these people drive sales on the majority of goods and services in this country. Pay a thousand people a thousand dollars, and they’ll just fritter it away on flat screen TVs or grocery bills or credit card debt or mortgage payments – you know, irrelevant stuff no one cares about. Give one CEO a $1 mil, and he can buy up tens of thousands of shares in Bank of America, raising the price and saving the economy!
Obama is doing this all wrong. Why doesn’t he listen to the Masters of the Universe, who clearly know better?
argh
DougJ: I just don’t see how people who follow government for a living don’t understand that.
Sure you do. They are caught in the class undertow that has corrupted mankind for all recorded history: they are kowtowing to Power. They are bought. They are the new Court of the Establishment. It is obvious. Beyond obvious. Shining clear crystal obvious. But so many "just don’t see." That’s the part I don’t understand.
And Brachiator misses it:when reporters pick up on this as though it is a legitimate news story, they’re just being lazy. Or stoopid. You might think that, with newspapers dying and the media being in general disrepute…
Of course the greatest virtue of propaganda is that you think your thoughts are your own. Remedy: Quick making up excuses for it and stop watching.
itsbenj whines: the great whining sound coming from the liberal blogosphere the last couple of weeks threatens to drown out all other whining in the universe. [whine, whine, whine…]
I see what you did there. Do you?
TenguPhule
Their salaries depend on them not understanding it, that’s why.
BC
No one wants a debate on the issues, they’d rather do the "inside baseball" stuff about who says what, how the politics shape up, etc. Actually debating the tax increase (which is now a "massive tax increase" btw), how we reform health care, how to increase renewable or alternative energy sources, etc., means doing some homework and getting to know what the pros and cons of the issues are. That’s hard and takes away from your twitter feeds. On another subject – Dougj, I know you follow the WaPo chats – have you noticed how many questions come from someone watching Joe Scarborough or reading Drudge? Today’s quesions to Howie Kurtz on Obama’s interview on 60 Minutes is from there, it seems to me.
sparky
@argh: Buuuut, duuuude, these new marble floors are teh alsome!
bago
Yeah. Can’t top that unless I had a fiddle with 50 gasoline trucks and a match.
Llelldorin
I love the "trying to do to much" attack, simply because it’s so very transparent to anyone living in the actual economy. How cluelessly sheltered do you have to be to think that ever-worsening insurance coverage and energy costs randomly changing by factors of two have nothing to do with the economy? I mean, does it never occur to these guys to wonder what might lead someone to default on their mortgage?
(Answer to self: No, it really, really never does. People who default on mortgages are, by definition, Bad People. The fact that banks were handing out these loans like supermarket samples while leveraging them by factors in the low dozens simply makes them Brave, Risk-Taking Capitalists. By the prosperity gospel of conservatism, Good==Rich and Bad==Poor.)
bob h
Focus on the economy: postpone all necessary government action to address social problems, perferably forever.
Anoniminous
The empty headed vacuousness of Public Debate™ in the US never ceases to amaze.