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AmSpecBlog
Here It Is, Mr. President
President Obama shouldn't have a leg to stand on in the budget fight. As I detailed yesterday, every shred of actual data points to unprecedented debt as a result of his policies, while his promised "savings" materialize only in some mystery world in the future. But he does have two important things going for him -- the fact that Democrats have a significant majority in Congress, and the fact that Republicans have not yet gotten their act together.
Facing some uncharacteristically tough questions about his budget during Tuesday's press conference, Obama turned the tables, taunting, "the critics tend to criticize, but they don't offer an alternative budget." Rather than wait until they were ready to unveil an alternative plan, Republicans took the bait. In a hastily arranged press conference yesterday, Minority Leader John Boehner waved a booklet, and boasted, "Two nights ago the president said, 'We haven't seen a budget yet out of Republicans.' Well, it's just not true because – Here it is, Mr. President." (Video below.)
Unfortunately, despite the macho talk, the 19-page document Boehner waved included general proposals, but no actual projections of how it would impact the deficit relative to the White House budget. Pretty soon, Republicans were downplaying the booklet as a mere blueprint of their actual budget, to be released next week. And the Politico reported infighting among Republicans, because some members felt (rightly, in my view) that it would be better to wait an extra week to release a serious alternative, rather than rush out a half-baked proposal with few specifics that would be easy to mock.
The Economist makes an apt analogy:
SCHOOLYARD bullies have a simple trick that usually gets results. Challenge another kid to a fight. If he declines, call him a "chicken". Presto—his dignity under assault, he'll come back and accept your challenge, and lose.
Today, Republicans in the House of Representatives got called "chicken", rolled up their sleeves, and got kicked in the mud.
Many conservatives continue to underestimate Obama, pinning him as some naive rube who is in over his head and unable speak without a telepromter. But, while his policies may be dangerous, he remains a skilled politician, and he played this one beautifully.
Comments
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Pingback| 3.27.09 @ 8:00AM
Here It Is, Mr. President — But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
John| 3.27.09 @ 9:29AM
Ah... yes and no...
The One is a skilled manipulator that is a point on which we will agree.
AND No, the GOP didn't do themselves anything particularly bad... since they have no power and few resources, just exactly what sort of budget proposal is anyone considering. Conservative policy wonk statements are about as popular as fleas in bed. In addition, truly comprehensive federal budget proposals are not the stuff to be waved around in the air, even by Mr. Universe.
Where The One benefited, yet again, is in the amazing ability of the disorganized Right to organize one thing and one thing only... the circular firing squad...
Maybe... just maybe... a combination of the likes of AmSpec, Heritage, Hudson... Manhattan... and a few of the other think tanks out there could pony up to the bar and come up with a serious structurally sound proposal on the federal budget...
Then throw some money in a pot, get a 1 terabyte RAID disk, a Decent sized x86 server running a nicely secured verision of a certain popular free OS, and PUBLISH that budget on the WEB...
Hummm... then the pundit class would have in hand, their dreamed of comprehensive Conservative solution to the budget mess.
Until then... pundits complaining that Congressional Republicans don't have a plan is like being in a car, lost on the road. You can slap the driver silly and blame him for being confused... but if you have no map and no idea... you are just as guilty.
r/John
Bob| 3.27.09 @ 10:00AM
Again, Philip, you are getting yourself in deep trouble. I fully agree with you on this one.
While I have no proof, I believe this is an Axelrod led strategy to position Republicans as "chicken little" and "naysayers". This is clearly a "rope-a-dope" strategy and the dumb Republican leaders (I hesitate to use that term) are falling for it.
The Republicans need a strategist -- and perhaps even a brain transplant. Even Rove and Gingrich are playing into Obama's hands.
The strategy is simple -- set up objectives, stop complaining, concentrate on pragmatic solutions, and agree to vote "yes" on bills on which they have substantial input. Then tell voters how they were able to make the legislation better. Furthermore, rather than hoping that Obama fails, concentrate on making him successful. Then create a series of Republican retreats where you invite both conservative and liberal subject matter experts and have a frank discussion about the issues. Get away from these short term tricks, and aim for longer term goals.
Republicans now seem to be anti-patriotic. Saying stupid things like "the teleprompter president" makes the party look ignorant. All presidents used teleprompters. Obama just gives a lot more speeches than any other President. Sometimes I wished that Bush always used a teleprompter as it made him less effective not to use one.
MLG| 3.27.09 @ 11:00AM
I like the idea taking the President up on his challenge and offer an alternative budget. Posting it on the web is a nice touch to snork at the W.H. vain attempt at transparency.
As for the tele prompter, well, if Bush used one as often as the current President does, the media would have used it as proof positive he couldn't think for himself and needed others to feed him his ideas.... Sigh, but somehow for this President its a plus... go figure.
Bob| 3.27.09 @ 11:52AM
MLG -- Bush did use a teleprompter for EVERY speech. However, he did often interject his own comments much to the chagrin of his speechwriters. Here's interesting detail on one of his speeches to the U.N.:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKN2540350420070926
By the way, it was a bad idea to post the 19 page blueprint. It lacked consistency and, of course, the numbers. What is a budget without the numbers?
bstroup| 3.27.09 @ 2:07PM
As long as we are using school yard metaphors, that "budget" really looked a high school students attempt to pad an essay. Ridiculously large fonts, huge margins, meaningless bubble graphs -- take that all out and it was about 2 pages of actual text and no citations.
I can't believe that they worked for weeks on this. I can only conclude, like procrastinating students, they threw something together at 2 am and called it good.
Which really begs the question: What have the republican congress been spending all their time doing?
Daphne| 3.28.09 @ 1:14PM
Bob, how do you know W used a teleprompter at every speech? Were you there? Did W also use a JUMBO-TRON Screen at his pressers? Did he use a teleprompter to say good night to his daughters? Can always count on you to annoy.
Bob| 3.28.09 @ 1:42PM
Daphne, Ari Fleischer, a former spokesman for George W. Bush, said while it's entirely a matter of personal style, using a teleprompter at these smaller events has its drawbacks. Bush, Fleischer added, 'would use the teleprompter for his major big events, but when he would travel around the country or do events, he would almost always work off of large index cards.'
So Bush's press secretary admitted that Bush always used the teleprompter with large speeches. Otherwise, he used notes on "large" cards. Bush never wrote his own speeches, we know that Obama can write.
Objectivity, Daphne, will set you free.
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