Well, not really. But over and over again, President Obama does something that rises above — way higher than — ordinary political discourse. Just as Bill Clinton in the 90s was without doubt the best retail politician I’ve seen in my lifetime, Obama does an epic job of being president.
He’s the Ted Williams of the job: he’s got that quality of gracefulness, a stillness within himself, joined to an analogue to Williams’ sweet swing — the capacity to unwind suddenly, and produce so precisely, so effectively, that the audience doesn’t have time to register how hard it was to do what they just saw. He’s a virtuoso.
What I’m trying to say is that there are people — easy to identify in sports, I think — whom even opposing fans can simply admire, suspending for a moment their tribal obligation to deride and deny anyone wearing the wrong laundry. Opposing fans could boo Williams. But they watched, knowing that they might witness something special. Nowadays, for a sport closer to Obama’s heart, think Steph Curry; even when he destroys your team, you can’t take your eyes off him.
But pity the poor GOP. President Obama owns his role by this point. With increasing confidence and skill over his time in office, he defines objectives and outplays opponents* to get what he wants. As the occupant of the bully pulpit, he nails the lay-ups** and he blows away the impossible shots. It’s been really special to watch — someone sustaining a formidably complicated performance with ever increasing elegance.
All of which to say is that were you to find politics and public life fascinating as well as vital, you should be enjoying this presidency as performance even if you deplored its content. But the GOP, it seems, can’t allow themselves even that pleasure.
All of that is prologue to say that I don’t think Obama’s speech in Cuba yesterday has gotten enough attention — at least part, understandably enough, because of the Brussels attacks. But it’s still worth a listen, for what it means within the process of US-Cuba reconciliation, certainly, but at least as much for its formal excellence. The speech is simply a masterpiece, in my view, a remarkable demonstration of saying difficult things to multiple audiences while moving the rock, at least a little, on that long journey up the hill. Here’s the transcript, and here’s the speech itself:
It really is an amazing piece of work. I love the small touches — he clearly worked on his Spanish accent, to pretty good effect, and it was such a hoot to hear him throw a little shade on Raul Castro and his … let’s say, garrulousness. But the speech as a whole was much more than the sum of its parts and gestures. It’s completely worth your time, so I’m only going to quote one passage:
…before I discuss those issues, we also need to recognize how much we share. Because in many ways, the United States and Cuba are like two brothers that have been estranged for many years, even as we share the same blood. We both live in a new world, colonized by Europeans.
Cuba, like the United States, was built in part by slaves brought here from Africa. Like the United States, the Cuban people can trace their heritage to both slaves and slave owners. We’ve welcomed both immigrants who came a great distance to start new lives in the Americas.
Over the years, our cultures have blended together. Dr. Carlos Finlay worked in Cuba, paved the way for generations of doctors, including Walter Reed, who drew on Dr. Finlay’s work to help combat yellow fever. Just as Marti wrote some of his famous words in New York, Earnest Hemingway made a home in Cuba and found inspiration in the waters of these shores.
We share a national past time, la pelotero, and later today our players will compete on the same Havana field that Jackie Robinson played on before he made his major league debut.
And it is said that our greatest boxer, Muhammad Ali, once paid tribute to a Cuban that he could never fight, saying that he would only be able to reach a draw with the great Cuban, Teofilo Stevenson.
As I read that, it’s addressed to the Cuban people of course, just like the title of the speech says. But it’s impossible not to notice who else Obama engages here: an America whose self-portrait is changing faster than its [dwindling white majority] perception of it has shifted. As the president noted,
You had two Cuban Americans in the Republican party running against the legacy of a Black man who was president while arguing that they’re the best person to beat the Democratic nominee, who will either be a woman or a democracy socialist.
Again — spoken to Cubans; addressed to those back home.
Relish what you’re seeing in this president. Perfect he ain’t, of course; that’s no one’s inheritance short of the grave. But he’s so damn good at this now. We won’t see his like again soon.
*I’m not saying Garland’s appointment will go through — though the odds are better than I thought they’d be. My point is that Obama’s handling of this on both its substance and politics has been elegant.
**ETA: And bang! Obama slams another one home. To Ted Cruz’s proposal to “patrol and secure” Muslim neighborhoods in the US, POTUS replied, “I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance…Which, by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America.”
That one leaves a mark.
Image: Edgar Degas, Ballet – l’étoile (Rosita Mauri), c. 1878.
Gussie
‘Democratic socialist’ strikes me as odd. You don’t hear the omission, Tom, given the previous descriptors?
SiubhanDuinne
All of this, Tom. I am reduced to tears when I think of and hear and see President Obama — tears of joy and pride that he represents all of us so beautifully, tears of sadness that his remaining time in office is now countable in months, and tears of rage at the obstruction and hatred that have been constantly thrown up in his path since he first swore the oath of office.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gussie:
Yes, I wondered about that when I heard the speech yesterday. Not sure why he was so careful to refrain from identifying Bernie as Jewish, but because Obama chooses his words carefully I imagine he had a reason.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T but I’m listening to Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy speech on terrorism right now. She sounds very presidential.
Tom Levenson
@Gussie: I do. And I think I know why. To many Jews, including, on my bad days, me, to single that word out as the sole identifier has a nasty edge/echo.
It’s tricky. I’ll say I’m Jewish, or, more often these days, a Jewish atheist, and its fine. I hear someone I don’t know call me a Jew, I wonder what lies behind the choice of that epithet.
Also, just in terms of the scansion of the line, what Obama said is better.
LAO
I am especially going to miss no more fucks to give Obama.
Mnemosyne
@Gussie:
I think it’s because the Republicans haven’t really brought up Bernie’s religion so far (though I’m sure they’d be all over it if he got the nomination — they can’t help themselves). So “Democratic Socialist” is going to be more familiar to people on both sides than “Jewish.”
randy khan
@Gussie:
It was another nod to Cuba, rather than an omission, I suspect. Also, the “democratic” part is a little bit of a jab, which fits in with some of the other things he said about opening up the government.
Mnemosyne
@Gussie:
Also, too, don’t forget that “communist” and “socialist” both have a long history of being euphemisms for “Jewish.”
Tom Levenson
@randy khan: Yeah — this is right, I think. A better, or at least the first answer, compared to the one I gave above. That one reveals more about me, I think, than it does about POTUS and his speech writers.
Tom Levenson
@Mnemosyne: I represent that remark…
Comrade.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Speak for yourself, Tom, I am capable of booing and hissing at all Red Sox. And even Steph Curry. Damn Silicon Valley bastards.
Gussie
Good points, thanks all.
ruemara
@Gussie: Bernie self describes his views this way and why would anyone bring up his religion? Not sure what’s odd about it.
Mnemosyne
@Gussie:
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more clear on the video. Just a little quirk of an eyebrow would get the double meaning across in a way that reading the speech could not.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Obama is the Babe Ruth, the Wilt Chamberlain, the Eli Manning of politics.
berliner2
Love this post.
Ex Libris
I have relatives (I know, who doesn’t?) who in sincere both-siderist blindness say: you said W was a bad president, I say Obama is, so that’s just the way it goes. The inability to see that there are substantive, clear, profound differences between the political skills, knowledge of the world and its complexities, and IQ points, not to mention rhetorical chops, between Obama and Bush leaves me dumbfounded. I don’t even know how to respond. They would not see Ted Williams as a good baseball hitter. They would see him as a threat to their team, and that’s all. It’s just tribalism, I guess. I don’t know how we ever overcome that.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
No, I get why it reads a little oddly — it’s “ethnicity, ethnicity, race, gender … Democratic Socialist?” One of these things is not like the other, until you think about it. Which is why he’s the President, and we’re not.
:-)
schrodinger's cat
One of the things that I like the most about Obama is how he doesn’t pander and speaks to us like we are adults.
Archon
I was pleased but not ecstatic with Obama’s first term (although I recognize some of the more controversial decisions he made has resounded to his benefit in the 2nd term i.e, like pretending Republicans were operating in good faith).
Obama’s 2nd term however has been an absolute masterpiece in Presidential politics and legacy building. One I predict historians and political scientists will study in awe for a long, long time.
pluege
that he is good “now” is a key point of obama – he wasn’t ready for the job and took a looonnnggg time to get where he is. Now that he’s almost done, he is finally there ready to do a really good job, but with little time to put it to good use.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: I guess so. To me, Sanders is culturally Jewish but an atheist, which I’d be trumpeting about more, honestly.
I’m at the point where I want him to win just to witness the harikari the first time he just has to president.
@pluege: I’m sure you have scads of experience in presidenting.
SFAW
@Ex Libris:
I believe the Balloon-Juice-approved response is: “Well, maybe — except I, and most Obama supporters, have more than two functioning brain cells to rub together. Bush supporters, on the other hand … well, let’s just leave it at that, shall we?”
Hilarity will ensue.
Elie
It remains a mystery to me that his opponents have embraced repugnance, pettiness and filth… They don’t apparently see how they look not only to us but to the rest of the world. Losers — deep in their souls, losers. Not even ashamed enough to aspire to ANY higher vision. I guess this is the final stage of Obama derangement syndrome — permanent dementia.
I hate to comment on the vulgarian in this nice post, but I have to say, on reading Trump’s interview with the WAPO, I am more and more convinced that there is some sort of problem with this guy’s thinking process. I don’t know if its worth comparing any video of him speaking even ten years ago, but I think that his cognition “aint right”. The mood/anger thing is part of that…. Just sayin…
Gin & Tonic
@Thoroughly Pizzled: One of these things is not like the others.
Thoroughly Pizzled
The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a masterful performance comparable to Von Miller’s and DeMarcus Ware’s pass-rushing clinic in the 2016 AFC Championship Game.
SFAW
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Hate Boston much?
ET
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz really are the anti-Obama.
Brachiator
Great summation of what Obama has done, so far.
It is passing strange that the Republicans cannot yield an inch, cannot give Obama credit for anything, and insist on their strange mythology that they are striving to win the Republican nomination so that they can undo all the damage that Obama has wreaked upon the nation.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Cruz just got endorsed by JEB?, so I expect to see him die under a safe that falls from the sky any day now.
schrodinger's cat
OT:
Happy Holi! I blogged you some awesome Holi songs, which is the favorite holiday of Hindi filmmakers.
SFAW
@Elie:
It’s who they are. It’s all they know.
rikyrah
Ain’t no shade like Presidential Shade.
Thoroughly Pizzled
The way Romney blew the 2012 election makes me think that he spent September playing video games, eating fried chicken and drinking beer instead of campaigning.
mapaghimagsik
Wow, that backhand at Cruz was brilliant.
Thanks, Obama
NotMax
Whoever provided the transcript – in both blockquotes – needs to hire a typist. Rife with errors.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
He spent the entire month in the Red Sox clubhouse?
Monala
@Mnemosyne: Until I saw the comments here, I took it as things that relate to Cubans in particular, as a way to connect our two countries – “Cuban ancestry, Cuban ancestry, African ancestry, [gender], Democratic socialist.” In that reading, gender is the odd one out – while certainly about 50% of Cubans can relate to it, it doesn’t in the same way.
Not sure I’m explaining it well. I guess I see it like me finding common ground with someone else by saying, for example, “Hey, we both love to write Jane Austen fanfic, both grew up in Ohio, both have asthma, and are both human!” The human connection is obvious (akin to gender in Obama’s formulation), but the other three probably are ways to connect.
SFAW
@srv:
Esta Ud. incluyendo Bahia de Cochinos (o, si prefiere, Playa Giron)?
petesh
@pluege: No one gets presidenting right immediately. Think Bill Clinton & gays & healthcare. Think JFK & the Bay of Pigs. Think GWB & terrrrrism. Etc etc. Obama’s learned better and quicker than most, while some of us had trouble keeping up with him.
The only consolation from his being termed out is that I really look forward to Obama on the campaign trail.
Archon
@Brachiator:
It’s not just the he’s a black man part, which goes without saying is a big deal, it’s Obama’ dignity, magnanimity, and grace under almost unprecedented attacks that has literally driven the Republican party crazy. Whether it’s all an extraordinarily disciplined act or he really is that way speaks to the President being made of the strongest stuff.
Secretly they can’t believe an opponent like Obama is real and it’s putting Republicans in a very, very strange and frustrated place
jl
On the description of Sanders, maybe Obama is just being precise. Lieberman is Jewish and candidate for VP. Goldwater was of Jewish heritage and a major party candidate for president.
Obama just wanted to point out in a general way that the US makes progress on tolerance and diversity using presidential election as an example, and play up Cuban role in US (too bad he had to work with such poor specimens for his example).
I’m not sure Sanders is an atheist in the secular tradition. Maybe he is influenced by the Priestly Source conception of God, except good works and charity are his rituals and ceremonies. In our culture, conceptions of God are more Yahwist/Elohist, you know, the old guy with the white beard sewing some clothes for Adam and Eve because he has to kick them damn disobedient kids out of paradise, and get off his damn lawn. There are other conceptions of God.
Elie
Just had to take a look. This is a video of a Trump interview that Oprah did in 1988. Sure, this is a while ago, and his shtick about America being kicked around (in this case by Japan) is familiar — but look at his style.. He is smooth, articulate even — Now think about the angry vulgar person we see today.
(edit: could not get the link to work) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZpMJeynBeg
It reminds me of when my Dad (forgive me Daddy), began exhibiting symptoms of the dementia that ultimately claimed his personality and thought process. He was angry and became more vulgar in his language and crude in his ideas– very much unlike the Daddy I knew as polished and the soul of good manners and self restraint.
Maybe I am wrong but I think that there could be something very wrong with Donald Trump’s brain.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Obama’s handling of the twilight of his presidency is akin to getting a sack and winning a Super Bowl in the final game of a Hall of Fame career before successfully transitioning to a gig in daytime television.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
May coloured chalk and paint get all over your face but not in your eyes!
(I should add, an Indian friend of mine here told me the worst thing was getting the colour out of her hair — took multiple shampooings to get it fully clean!)
smith
@Elie:
Hilarious extended metaphor on that interview at Lawyers Guns and Money here
However, I don’t see a huge lot of difference between Trump’s word salad and those of Sarah Palin, Louie Gohmert, and any number of others I could name. The formula is the same: You string together buzzwords and stock phrases that have some special resonance with a wingnut audience and don’t bother with any logical linkage among them or development of a coherent thought. It works because you’re just evoking a set of conditioned emotional responses, not even trying to provoke any actual thought.
canuckistani
@Mnemosyne:
I’m guessing that by November, when a Trumplet hears “Democratic Socialist”, he’ll hear in his head the same thing a Russian heard when someone said “Rootless Cosmopolitan”
SFAW
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
I don’t remember LT going into daytime TV.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Hah, I only play virtual Holi!
ETA: Yes. Some of the colors can be difficult to get off.
Miss Bianca
I just keep saying how much I am going to miss this President.
And even tho’ I’m not the keenest appreciator of sportsball analogies, I have to say that there is something profoundly wrong with a political opposition who cannot, as Tom points out, at least appreciate on a tactical, strategic level how a player at PBO’s level completely outclasses his competition.
But then, how long did it take for racist baseball fans to acknowledge the extraordinary grace under pressure of Jackie Robinson? To say nothing of his chops…
nastybrutishntall
@pluege: yeah, universal healthcare and saving the economy were terrible rookie blunders. Too bad he was so inexperienced that he didn’t set up internment camps, or he could have been as good as FDR!
Citizen Alan
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
One of those three does not belong there. Hint: it was the jackass who went to Ole Miss while I was in law school there.
Tom Levenson
@smith: That LG & M post is the shizznit. To go all wayback on you, Oh My Stars and Garters, that’s sweet.
Elie
@smith:
I am doing a pre/post analysis. Yes, he is comparable today to a bunch of the Republican morons, but compared to how smooth he once was, there has been a significant change. Oh, his beliefs are at the core the same, but his expressions and command of language and his mood are not the same. Could be nothing but I am not so sure. I say this because if my thinking is correct, we will see ever more alarming manifestations. These should not be normalized as “just Donald”.
SFAW
@Citizen Alan:
I think my reply at 28 might shed some light. (I agree with you, by the way. Eli is pretty much Triple-A – to mix sports metaphors — while the other two are/were in the Bigs.)
Thoroughly Pizzled
I do think that education policy has been the great unforced error of Obama’s administration, much like throwing a dropped pass on 4th-and-2 deep in enemy territory and immediately giving up the lead to lose the game.
jl
And, there have been socialist and atheists who held public offices in US history in 19th and early 20th centuries: governors, mayors, legislators, etc. So, Sanders is not even new on that score (assuming that Sanders is a secular atheist, which is more than we really know).
I think the rise of the Communist movement, Russian Revolution leading to Communist government there, at end of 19th and beginning of 20th century produced a kind of political and cultural repression in the US. I think in early 20th century, socialists were actively persecuted and kicked out of government positions in one way or another. And the atheist angle in Communist governments produced a forced religiosity in the US. We were supposed to be a ‘Godly’ country in contrast and atheist need not apply.
I think US politics and culture, kind of like the Roman Catholic Church, was pretty badly warped by threats from Communism, which resulted in cultural repression and hypocritical conformity and appearance of homogeneity. We are just coming out of it, so hard to recover the lost history of greater, in some senses apart from race and ethnicity, diversity and tolerance of former years
Means that the Judeo-Christian heritage, and other Xtianist and fake pious Christian posing we see all around is even more BS than we realize. There is no lost homogeneous culture of slavish devotion to libertarian style free market fanaticism and conventional conservative Christianity over the first 150 years of US history, it just seems so now. I think charges of atheism were a big deal in early US history, look at what happened to Tom Paine, but not later on in 19th century.
I could be all wet on this or going to far in my enthusiasm, Probably a BJ expert here on it who can set me right if I am exaggerating.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elie:
It’s as though he’s developed a kind of Tourette’s over the past 25 years, or at least something that removes the filters and the sense of what’s appropriate in what setting. And, you know, at a deep, probably unexplored level, I think he has some awareness that he and the Presidency just aren’t right for each other. I’ve said before here at BJ that I think he’ll find a reason to get out of the race in the next few months even if he keeps winning delegates. I think he’s scared to death of what would be demanded of him if he were POTUS, and again, I think he recognises (subconsciously) that he’s not up to it and never will be. I think he’s terrified of what happened when he ordered the brooms to carry buckets of water, and no matter how hard he smashes them with the hatchet they just multiply and carry more water.
I wrote this comment earlier today over at Gin & Tacos:
WJS
As the great Freddie DeBoer has often pointed out, Obama is not liberal enough and he’s doing it wrong, so you can all go to hell because I can’t find a teaching job with tenure.
The Lodger
@CONGRATULATIONS!: I can see Wile E. Coyote opening a big package that says “ACME PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT. “
qwerty42
@Brachiator:
Are they still doing “failed (insert name of Democratic President here) Presidency”? I have not heard it in a while, but it used to be a real go-to for them.
patrick II
@srv:
How many Cuban troops were in Iraq?
Elie
@SiubhanDuinne:
That is certainly one outcome — actually the most positive scenario. I am not convinced however that his narcissism will prevent him from doing that. We will see… I hope so! He would let down millions of his supporters who would ultimately be quite angry… again, depends on his ability to listen to something else beyond his ego. My concern is that his decision making capacity is not sharp and he is surrounded by sycophants with their own agendas and ambitions — they might keep him in something that he progressively shows less and less ability to handle. I truly was surprised by the content of the WAPO interview and think that they soft pedaled their own alarm at what they heard. My guess is that there will be more and more of that kind of stuff and that the initial temptation to “make it be ok” will eventually give way to much more obvious alarm. He is tired. His brain is impaired. Aint gonna be good, I believe.
jl
Unbelievable ignorance and incompetence of GOP reactionary tools on the SCOTUS.
I thought TPM editor’s blog must be over selling the dipshitness on display but they weren’t.
This stuff is getting into serious ‘don’t know how to wipe their ass’ territory. I mean, hell, if a SCOTUS judge didn’t know how traffic lights work, should they be on the court, or be impeached convicted and removed for some kind of very basic malfeasance and incompetence at standard issue type ‘life hacks’?
SCOTUS Bros Clearly Don’t Understand How Women Get Contraceptives
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/scotus-zubik-healthcare
aimai
I couldn’t agree more, Tom. I am moved to tears when I see Obama, and think about what he has accomplished. And with what grace, as you said. I’m moved to tears of rage when I think how he and his family (and his party) have been attacked and pilloried by the Republicans. I find it hard to imagine any Democratic President in the future filling Obama’s shoes half so well. I was looking at the White House Instagram of Pete Souza just yesterday–I think someone hear linked to it–and I was struck by how effortlessly at ease he and Michelle have been. What a strong, clean, organized, no drama White House they ran. How lovingly they are looked upon by everyone from Ushers to Visitors to Janitors. While I’m a strong HRC supporter I think it has to be hard on Bill Clinton to realize that Obama is the President and will be the Elder Statesman that Clinton himself was too undisciplined to be.
Gravenstone
@Thoroughly Pizzled: One of these things is not like the other. One is different from the rest …
Mnemosyne
@Monala:
I think that’s in there, too. That’s one of the things I appreciate about Obama’s speechwriters — they’re able to put a lot of layers into just a few sentences.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
President Obama has just been such a pleasure to witness in every way – from the way he ran his campaign against Clinton, beating the “Clinton Machine” from literally out of nowhere to get the nom, then watching as the financial world literally collapsed right before GWB left his office. PBO graciously, and with calmness and forethought, accepted all of that craziness while beating the Bush Establishment GOP, at the same time receiving nothing but the most hateful and racist vilification I’ve ever seen any public figure receive, and then to be sniped at from his left flank by purity ponies through the next 2 years, and STILL accomplished one of the most consequential pieces of legislation we’ll ever see. He has the most stable mind of any world politician of my life time. He’s next level calm, and cooler than anyone. Remember him sinking that 3 pointer on the campaign trail, wearing his dockers? President Black Ninja.
The complaint of our supposedly liberal betters that they’re looking for another FDR infuriates me like nothing else – he’s right under your nose, idiots. Pay attention and learn something.
smith
@Elie: I don’t have the nerve to do even the post-, much less the pre- analysis, so I will bow to your dedication and strong stomach. I do remember some similar analyses done during the reign of Bush the Lesser, with speculation that he’d suffered progressive brain damage from long-term alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, his obvious cognitive deficiencies didn’t prevent our fellow Americans from awarding him an additional 4 years. See also Alzheimer’s, Reagan.
I do hope that those who think Trump himself sees himself as not up to the job are right, and that he will look for a way to bail rather than fail at the most high profile job in the world. Problem is, sometimes that flaws that make someone incompetent also make them unable to perceive their own incompetence.
starscream
Term limits are stupid. The best guy for the job already has it.
scav
The other good thing about Socialist is that it plays to the underlying idea of the possibility of change, and moreover change in both countries. The US is integrating socialist ideas, Cuba with democratic ones, both in their own messy ways. I’m also finding the theme of being unafraid of change a targeted message for both Cubans and Americans. “We should not fear change: we should embrace it.”
Thoroughly Pizzled
One of the greatest “what-ifs” of the Obama era concerns the untimely passing of Richard Holbrooke. Though it’s impossible to say how the last few years of negotiation in Afghanistan would have differed with this titan of diplomacy still working, his loss was as devastating as drafting a guaranteed star second overall only to have them immediately OD on cocaine and die.
Linnaeus
@jl:
I don’t think you’re far off here. Hostility to socialism in the US predated the Russian Revolution, but that revolution certainly intensified it. Socialism has long been the quintessential villain in US politics.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Also, unless I’m misremembering, didn’t PBO’s grandmother – his last parental figure – die the night he won the first time? How does that even fucking happen, and he couldn’t really do anything about it? He was like some kind of mythical being, rising out of the GWB years to offer me an escape from my total despair for this country. I still have to keep reminding myself we elected him twice, both times legitimately in landslides. That’s my go to binkie thought when I see Trump’s pie hole opening and shutting.
Matt McIrvin
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: FDR was made by the situation he found himself in. I heard someone say once that, while it’d have been worse for the country, Obama would have been much better off politically if the financial crisis had hit acute phase in, say, fall 2005 rather than fall 2008. Bush’s administration had already been creating years of disasters by then, but if the recession had gotten really bad before Obama took office, it’d have been harder to pin on him and there might have been no Tea Party wave. That was how the timing worked out with Hoover and Roosevelt.
Soylent Green
His mother was Episcopalian, which under Jewish law makes him not a Jew. And during his life, Barry G. was a semi-observant Christian.
I’m actually surprised that Bernie’s Jewishness hasn’t really been a factor in this campaign.
One of the interesting things about being a Jew in America is that we can be card-carrying atheists yet still retain full membership in the tribe.
chopper
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
i’d go with willie mays, but yeah.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Matt McIrvin:
The recession was well under way when PBO took office, with millions of jobs already lost and the crises about the bailout and the car companies were in full swing – even Republicans at the time knew Obama had nothing to do with any of it – it was ALL on Bush. Remember Bush being paraded out in front of the White House by Hank Paulson to say stupid shit about the market crashing? Each time he spoke, the market fall got steeper. PBO’s situation was exactly akin to FDR’s. I think the crisis was necessary for Obama to even be elected, because he was so self assured. Even my very conservative FIL voted for him, because “how much worse could he do?”
The Tea Party had their first “take our country back” rally in April 0f 2009 – exactly 3 months after PBO took office – I assure you, it had NOTHING to do with the economy.
schrodinger's cat
@Soylent Green: Same goes for Hindus, you don’t have to believe in anything particular or even follow a certain ritual. Your born a Hindu then you are Hindu, unless you actually convert or renounce your religion. Its more a cultural thing than a religious one.
ETA: People shopping around and trying different religions like shoes is an alien concept to me (like Rod Dreher, Gingrich etc.,)
japa21
I will look fondly back on his Presidency for many reasons. But probably the things that will stick in my mind the most are those pictures of him interacting with people. He displayed a genuine delight in meeting people of all ages and backgrounds. They could be professional sports teams coming to celebrate a title or school kids at a science fair or workers at a plant.
I always wondered how people could see how he interacted with people and call him aloof. Now I realize it was based on jealousy that he never panicked. To them being cool under fire was the same as aloofness.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Gallup Poll — March 17-19 — President Obama Job Approval
Approve………….52%
Disapprove…….44%
*
NBC/WSJ Poll — March 3-6 — Donald Trump Approval
Approve………….25%
Disapprove…….64%
Gin & Tonic
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Somebody really, really has a hate-on for the Hub.
retiredeng
@Mnemosyne: I have no idea how common it is. But my extended family is mixed Jewish/Christian. We are family first and I don’t think about my cousins as Jews nor do they consider my Christianity. We are all part of a large extended loving family.
Matt McIrvin
@schrodinger’s cat: It’s a very Protestant idea, that your religious identity depends on what you believe in your heart. People raised in Protestant-heavy American culture tend to take it as the default, to the extent that they have trouble understanding even Catholics, let alone Jews or Hindus. I see it a lot in the atheist movement: bafflement that people continue to self-identify as X if they don’t believe Y.
AkaDad
As a Trump supporter, I can admit Obama has his moments and that he doesn’t deserve to be hated 100% of the time. I think he should only be hated 3/5ths of the time.
patroclus
I think Obama is the Jackie Robinson of politics. There are just too many parallels. (He could also be the Tiger Woods too).
aimai
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Correct.
MattF
The big event in this political season is that it has revealed the character of an actual President and forced comparisons between him and a long list of wannabes. I can’t imagine that Trump and Cruz (and about twenty others I could name) are pleased with that. And, yeah, you can blame Obama– why not?
Matt McIrvin
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: That same poll has Hillary at 38-51. She’s ahead of Trump (and Cruz) but it’s not a great situation.
schrodinger's cat
@Matt McIrvin: Its not just about what you believe, its about continuity and where you came from, food, music, culture what makes you, you. In case of both Judaism and Hinduism that continuity goes back thousands of years.
p.a.
Ted Williams- meh. He’s Joe D: all the tools ;-)
jl
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I did a quick survey of econ blogs that monitor business cycle. They see continued expansion through the end of the year. Fed chair Yellen indicated easing off rate hikes, due to early signs of investment weakness (that is, they are going to ease off the brakes before any sign of problems in job or wages).
And we are entering period were political scientists say voters look around and their general welfare and start deciding which path to go down for election. I think people like Silver over-interpret their regression results in importance of economic fundamentals for election results, but it is important, there is a definite relationship on average (though uncertainty very high for individual elections) So, things are looking up on that front. And not totally horse race BS, since sound public policy is related to good economic performance, at least more often than not.
trollhattan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
So true. 4-15-09 was the day middle-age and old white folks got their lifetime freakout membership cards, much thanks going to Fox, who marketed, cheer-led and largely organized the whole shebang. Yee-haw, we’re takin’ that election back until we get it right!
Note that at the time, Sarah!(tm) was still a brand, since it was old man McCain who lost the ding-dang election. Good times.
catclub
@qwerty42: “this is Obama’s Katrina” has also been kind of dropped from regular usage.
dogwood
@aimai:
Here! Here! In ’08 a friend of mine said that Barack Obama was the grand prize winner in the gene pool sweepstakes. He got brains, looks, even temperament and charm. His way of being in the world, that easy grace, is natural – completely authentic. He has governed as himself. The idea someone mentioned earlier that he was unprepared for the job is ludicrous. What he accomplished while the economy was collapsing is pretty remarkable. And this meme about liking Obama now that he has “no f***s to give” is also annoying. He is not the president of the Democratic Party; he’s the president of the United States,and he will govern like it matters until the day he leaves office because it does matter.
jl
@catclub: The GOP finally noticed that they have their own political Katrina that they can’t ignore anymore, maybe.
catclub
@japa21:
I hope you saw that link a few weeks ago to pictures of Obama and kids.
Brachiator
@Archon:
Very true.
In 2008, they pitted a War Hero (McCain) and his Go Go Dancer VP against Obama. That failed.
In 2012, they tried a starched Whitebread Pillar of the GOP Establishment, Robotic Romney. That failed.
To try to fight against Obama’s legacy and either Hillary or Bernie, they had to unleash a baker’s dozen of potential candidates, and are now trying to decide between the worst of them, the Bombastic Mr Trump and the Terrible Cruz (we really can’t factor in the Invisible Kasich).
An astounding collection of stumble bums. And much of Trump’s campaign is fueled by personal resentment at Obama easily dismissing Trump’s pathetic attempt to push the birther issue.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@SFAW: LT is not Michael Strahan. :)
catclub
@Elie:
Trump has been on a light campaign schedule for about 9 months. And is worn out.
Hillary has been going hard for years – and Bill is the one who is now tired.
JustRuss
@dogwood: I think you’re missing the point of the “no f***s” meme. It’s not that he doesn’t care about things, he just doesn’t care what his detractors will say, or about the fee-fees of Republican leaders, who are going to gripe no matter what he does.
There’s no way “reach across the aisle” Obama would go to Cuba. After getting his hand mauled a dozen times, he’s moved on to his bucket list, which seems to include driving a stake into our stupid Cuba policy. I love it, can’t wait to see what’s next.
rikyrah
@patroclus:
ICAM
which is why I worry about his health.
Jackie Robinson being Jackie Robinson is what put him in an early grave.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@catclub: Bill has to be tired from the heart problems. My gramps had boundless energy and once he started taking statins it slowed him down overnight.
debbie
With his ability to resist the eleventy billion provocations thrown at him, yes, Obama’s been a spectacular president.
Brachiator
@dogwood:
Works for me, because it does not mean here that he does not care, but that he does not care about the petty attempts by the Republicans to play obstructionist games.
You are absolutely right here. Well said.
I was listening to some dope talk radio hosts claim that both Obama and Congress were playing political games over the Supreme Court nominee.
But it should be clear to anyone with a brain that Obama cannot let the Senate redefine the constitutional powers of the president, which he would be doing if he deferred to them and did not exercise his duty in appointing a nominee. It would set a horrible precedent that would affect all future presidents, Democrat and Republican.
Obama is protecting the office of president of the United States from the short term political foolishness of the Republicans.
gogol's wife
@SiubhanDuinne:
Even the liberal New Yorker — I started to read a blurb in Talk of the Town by Jeffrey Toobin, and I saw a passage that said that Obama had been disastrous for the Democratic party, and I was just so angry. I take it so personally when people diss him!!!!
ETA: Should have italicized “New Yorker” — I mean the magazine.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Matt McIrvin: I wasn’t talking about Hillary. I put those numbers up cuz the post is about the gop’s obama derangement syndrome.
last night the wingers were ranting about how great trump is and bad obama is and these numbers prove their views are the result of derangement, not reality
gogol's wife
@pluege:
Oh please.
TooTall
@AkaDad: I see what you did there…
Mnemosyne
@dogwood:
Other people beat me to it, but to me President NMFTG is about him ignoring petty BS and doing what’s right (like going to Cuba).
If you prefer, you can use the line from Labyrinth: “You have no power over me.”
Hoodie
@JustRuss: I doubt “f**ks to give” plays much of a role in Obama’s calculus. Obama generally doesn’t do something until the groundwork has been laid and conditions sufficiently increase the odds for success. This is what some of his critics on the left often fail to take into account. With Cuba, he steadily worked to prepare the ground with Castro. That was a hell of speech to be delivering in front of him, and you have suspect that Castro knows that Cuba has to change and thinks Obama is best guy to start that process, even if he has to let Obama throw a little shade on him. Obama had to know that was going to be ok, but he had to lay the groundwork to get to that point. Obama also waited to get a clear sense of who in the US would support normalization (e.g., midwestern farmers and other businesses) and who would not be able to put up much of a fight (aged out exiles). He took advantage of the presence of Pope Francis. You see the same pattern in many of his other actions, e.g., marriage equality, withdrawal from Iraq, etc. Obama is all about slow and steady, but somehow he achieves pretty dramatic changes because he understands that even the smallest deviation from the beaten path can deliver you to an entirely new destination in a relatively short time, especially if it happens without undue drama.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@Ex Libris:
Use this line “there are people who say the world is 4,000 years old and is flat”
Elie
@catclub:
Yeah. We are going to see what he’s got in a few months…. he talks about waterboarding but I think he is about to undergo the sleep deprivation trial. BTW, he has said before that he has trouble sleeping. Sleep disturbance is also a feature of some dementia..
I’m a little worried about Bill, frankly. He is also susceptible to saying stupid things and I suspect being tired won’t help.
Kathleen
@rikyrah: I agree with you, rikyrah.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
Since we’re talking about what impresses us about Obama; it’s the concept that some teenager in the 70s with his name decided he wanted to be the president of the United States and made it happen. That I think is amazing.
Rand Careaga
@srv:
Excellent point! After all, Cubana de Aviación Flight 455, which was blown out of the sky in 1976 by some of Langley’s pet but, alas, not housebroken emigrés, went into the Caribbean well outside of Cuban airspace. Incidentally, one of the accused bombers received a full pardon from Bush the Elder over the objections of the US Defense Department.
Elie
@rikyrah:
I hear you and agree about the risk. He has taken on so much on his shoulders. Black people know that — it is why some of us are so fierce in his defense. It is so unfair that he has that burden and yet I know he would have it no other way, bless him. On the other hand, he may be blessed to weather this whole thing better than we know… I pray for and wish that he will be granted the grace of a long and fruitful life….
Elie
@Enhanced Voting Techinques:
Yes — IT IS — THIS
Elie
@Hoodie:
Very well said analysis of O’s decision making style….
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
His family history makes it hard to judge. Both of his parents died relatively young, but his maternal grandmother lived a long time. The fact that he used to smoke worries me — in my family, that’s a guaranteed life-shortener (Irish and Italian). And that’s even before you get to the stress factor.
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
I hear ya…
That said, whatever his fate, he does not seem in the least bit daunted or afraid. That is a victory no matter how long he is given, I think.
SFAW
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Thank FSM for that. Strahan wishes he were three-quarters the player LT was. (I’ll grant you that Strahan might have been half as good as LT, however.) At least the opponents that LT sacked didn’t take a dive. (And I expect you know EXACTLY which Strahan sack I’m referring to.)
And, yeah, I knew who you meant, without you having to spell it out.
Look, I have no love for the Pats, either, but Eli? Phil would have been a better choice (except for the two rings thing).
kkp444
@SiubhanDuinne: OK, this makes me CRAZY when people on the left underestimate this man’s insatiable greed for power. No, he will never drop out. He has been ‘threatening’ to run for president for 30+ years. FFS, when his butler at Mar-a-Lago is warned that Mr. Trump is in a bad mood, the obsequious little shit hires a bugler to play ‘Hail to the Chief’. This man is NOT going away.
burnspbesq
@Hoodie:
I give (perhaps incorrectly) Raul Castro credit for being a patriot who genuinely wants what’s best for the Cuban people. All the Communist/Socialist sugar daddies are gone. In terms of funding development, Tio Sam is the only game in town, so he’s swallowing hard, going slowly, and hoping for the best. And I think he knows that he needs at least eight more years of Democrats in La Casa Blanca In order for it to grow roots too deep for an asshole Republican to pull out.
mclaren
I’m impressed, Tom. People usually don’t describe “burning brown babies with Hellfire missiles in Pakistan” this way.
Frankly, you’ve got a great future as a publicist for serial killers’ autobiographies. I haven’t seen hagiogprahy this abject and craven since the last batch of letter from single women arrived at the death row cell of serial murderer Ed Gein.
redshirt
@mclaren: So it’s “down” tonight.
Great post Tom.
My only response is to say I sincerely love Barack Hussein Obama and respect him far, far beyond any public figure in my longish life.
Mike G
That’s a flamethrower-level of BURN
Paul in KY
@Elie: My father, who has been diagnosed with senile dementia, used to be an antique collector & had impeccable taste. As he aged & this condition manifested itself, he lost all taste & started bringing home pieces of absolute junk that he would insist were fine, etc.
Paul in KY
@schrodinger’s cat: I have been told you cannot convert to Hinduism. You are either born one or you are not. Have I been told wrong?
Paul in KY
@AkaDad: That’s mighty white of you, dickwad.
Jado
Obama is height-of-his-career Deon Sanders, without the bravado and arrogance. He just sits back there doing what he does, until something (anything) gets sent his way. Then, suddenly, he isn’t where you though he was, and now he has the ball, and he just beat the last man and is streaking toward the goal line.
And if he is on your side, you are thinking “That’s amazing. This is the way the game should be played, That was almost poetic, the way he did that.”
And is he is on the other side, you are thinking “Arrrggg. Not AGAIN!! Damn, can’t anyone deal with this guy? He’s making us all look like children out there. Damn, i wish he played for us…”
The Republicans are better off curtailing their rhetoric to Sanders and Clinton, cause Obama has them shut down in the public debate forum. DO NOT throw the ball to anyone on Sanders’ side of the field.