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The Spectacle Blog

Are Conservatives Helping Obama With the Left?

By Philip Klein on 10.5.09 @ 10:16AM

The Wall Street Journal has an article exploring whether conservative attacks on President Obama have allowed him to shore up support among liberals even as he disappoints them on a number of issues. This is something that first struck me during the Joe Wilson "You Lie!" episode. Even though President Obama gave a health care speech to a joint session of Congress in which he opened the door to ditching the government health insurance plan, liberals were too busy snarling about Wilson to get angry about it.

This phenomenon is nothing new to politics. President Bush, for instance, still enjoyed strong support among conservatives for much of his presidency, even as he passed the largest expansion of entitlements since the Great Society and expanded the federal role in education. While there was always criticism along the margins, and a temporary uproar, it would be quickly forgotten once a liberal made some outrageous charge. It wasn't really until Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers in 2005 that we saw a widespread and sustained conservative revolt from which he never really recovered.

So as Obama enters the stage of the health care debate in which he'll have to find a way to talk liberals into accepting less, his best ally may be his critics on the right. One can see a White House pitch to liberals that more or less amounts to, a loss on health care means victory for Joe Wilson, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

View all comments (8) | Leave a comment

Deborah D| 10.5.09 @ 10:37AM

So does that mean we should shut up? Obama knows how to throw red meat. It won't matter what we say or don't say...he'll blame Rush or Palin or Bush or those terrorist Tea Partiers. We'll just have to scream louder than the left. The left will support him no matter what gets passed.

tj| 10.5.09 @ 10:46AM

Once a twit I guess always a twit. VOTE EM OUT 2010. It doesn't get an more stupid??

Ken (Old Texican)| 10.5.09 @ 11:07AM

Deborah
perfect! You took the words right out of my mouth.

VOTE THE COMMUNISTS OUT IN 2010!

astorian| 10.5.09 @ 11:27AM

It wouldn't be the first time ideologues rallied around a President they SHOULDN'T have liked, just because their enemies liked him even less.

How many times did conservatives come to the defense of George W. Bush (who let them down again and again) just because so many of Dubya's most virulent attackers were so repulsive?

No matter what you believe in, when "of of yours" is under attack by outsiders, it's human nature to circle the wagons and fire back, whether that person is worthy of your loyalty or not.

JP| 10.5.09 @ 1:11PM

President never has/had problems with the Left. Niether did Bill Clinton, despite his moving Right (or to the Center) after 1995. President Obama's problem as well as the problem for his party in general will be the the swing voters (or as some say, independents), RINOS, and assorted Moderates. These people generally put him over the top in 2008. The Virginia gubenatorial race in November will be a barometer to how much political capital the President and his party have lost.

The President and his party forgot James Carvilles famous quip, "It's the economy, stupid!". Perhaps 2010 will be kinder than 2009; but last month's jobs data does not portend well for the US economy. In almost every single category, there was less labor in September than August (the most concerning statistic concerned hours worked).

Simply put, President Obama, House Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Leader Reid are scaring the heck out of US employers. Those that can are looking to Asia as a safe harbor. At least there there is still life in both the consumer and business markets. The threat of increased taxes and mandates via ObamaCare, huge new taxes on energy via Cap and Trade, the expiration of the 2003 Bush Tax Cuts, and the possibility of a 20% VAT Tax on consumer goods is having the predictable effect of dampening any kind of potential economic rebound. With continued bank failures, foreclosures, and bankruptcies people are still worried about the soundness of our national finances. And the defecit looms larger and larger with each passing month.

Yet, Obama and his party remains stuck in fantasyland. The GOP will pick up voters for just not being Democrats. If they every get thier heads out of thier a$$es they may yet come up with a viable alternative.