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The Spectacle Blog
This morning White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was quoted as saying that movement liberals “ought to be drug tested” for comparing Barack Obama to George W. Bush and that “[t]hey will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon,” and now deputy press secretary Bill Burton has replaced Gibbs at the podium for the daily press briefing.
Of course the usual left-wing suspects were outraged by Gibbs’s comments — and rightfully so. Gibbs has already walked back his comments and it remains to be seen whether his time as press secretary is over, but it’s worth considering whether this represents the beginning of a new phase in liberal disenchantment with the president.
For example, Nate Silver makes the case that Obama is starting to lose control of the narrative of his own successes:
…I suspect that for most liberals, any real sense of progress has now been lost. Yes, the left got a good-but-not-great health care bill, a good-but-not-great stimulus package, a good-but-not-great financial reform plan: these are a formidable bounty, and Obama and the Democratic Congress worked hard for them. But they now read as a basically par-for-the-course result from a time when all the stars were aligned for the Democrats — rather than anything predictive of a new direction, or of a more progressive future. In contrast, as should become emphatically clear on November 2nd, the reversion to the mean has been incredibly swift.
…
I don’t know whether Gibbs was going “off-message” out of frustration, or whether the White House has become so jaded that they actually think this was a good strategy. Either way, it speaks to the need for some fresh blood and some fresh ideas in the White House. The famously unflappable Obama is losing his cool.
And Ben Smith suggests that liberals might just now be remembering that Obama was never fully a movement member:
But a key thing to understand about Obama’s presidency is the unusual relationship between the former Illinois Senator and the traditional Democratic infrastructure of power. Most candidates build their campaigns by courting one constituency — auto-workers, Asian-Americans, tech executives, etc. — at a time, often for many years. But Obama had no shot at most of these groups. Hillary Clinton had been courting the key components of the institutional party — most of big labor, members of Congress, the civil rights establishment — for decades. John Edwards had tacked far enough left to win the allegiance of anti-war and anti-trade factions.
Obama — making a virtue out of necessity — didn’t bother with much of the deal-making and courtship because he didn’t have a chance anyway.
…
Ultimately, the organized left got on board, of course. They couldn’t do anything else and many — like MoveOn, which vastly expanded its email list — enhanced their own strength in the process. They worked hard for Obama’s election.
But Gibbs’ dig is a reminder that at the heart of this White House is a belief that Obama is president despite the Democratic Party, not because of it.
It’s enough to make one wonder about the wisdom of maintaining the same press secretary for over a year. Gibbs’s job is to deflect tough questions and to withhold information that people really want. Given enough time in this role, he was bound to develop some animosity with his toughest critics. Now that animosity has surfaced, and it’s Obama who must deal with the fallout.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/08/10/gibbs-enemies-to-the-left
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Oldefarte| 8.10.10 @ 1:38PM
Hopefully, the American taxpayer-voters will WALK BACK the press secretary, his boss and their domestic terrorists constituents starting in November!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dixie Pixie| 8.10.10 @ 1:45PM
So Baghdad Bob Gibbs is on his way out due to losing credibility with the Liberals. Did anyone in the Obama administration consider the constant lying and MSM manipulation was going to fall apart someday.
Best of luck to Mr. Gibbs, the detox from the White House fantasy bubble is going to be brutal.
Genera| 8.10.10 @ 2:12PM
I am so sad to hear of Gibbs departure. He was such a comical daily distraction. Bill Burton is too sharp and has his ego in check. Maybe, Maybe, who knows the press will find his hot buttons and he will come unglued as well. Well there is always hope!
ncatty| 8.10.10 @ 3:06PM
I enjoy the phrase "movement liberals." I find a regular movement is important to good health.
SPO101 | 8.10.10 @ 3:46PM
We still support Obama/Biden BUT...
JEEZ Gibbs, Can you say OUT-OF-TOUCH? Progressive don’t live in the REAL WORLD? #*~/ you too! Progressives have a better grasp of reality than ANYONE in the White House. We cherish our Vincent Bugliosi and Randi Rhodes. We have our Representatives Alan Grayson, Dennis Kucinich, Anthony Weiner or Senators Bernie Sanders and Al Franken. We have our DEMANDS for ethics. responsibility and ACCOUNTABILITY!
Y’know, make sure those who commit CRIMES are PUNISHED, so 2000-2008 NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN!
Progressive believe that Republicans/Conservatives already HAD THEIR CHANCE (8 years Bush/Cheney, Republican controlled Congress 1994-2006) …and you morons almost destroyed the greatest nation on Earth. It’s time for you corporate flunkies to step aside and allow some PROGRESS!
NOTE: (I don’t think the Obama people realize it wasn’t any one thing they did that won them the election… The reason they won is because they were the furthest thing the American PEOPLE could find from Bush/Cheney)
We don’t want to work with Republican/Conservatives… We want to kick the Republican Party down to 3rd Party status and throw their top officials in crowded holding cells wearing jail issue chains AND THEN… we can use the chance to enact our policies and ideas. FINALLY!
See cyberbitchslap2.blogspot.com for more.
TO THE CHILDREN/GRANDCHILDREN OF AVERAGE REPUBLICAN VOTERS - Blame them for ruining your future:
Paul Krugman’s article in the NY times “Addicted to Bush” supported my conclusions about the Conservative right wing… they’re MAD! Loony as a Warner Bros cartoon. Going back to Bush/Cheney policy so soon after the 8 year disaster proves their insanity. Over and over again expecting different results, RIGHT? But you want Democrats/Progressives to believe if only Conservatism had one more chance it can work?
MORE of the waste, fraud, abuse, scandal, sexual deviancy, corruption, lies, incompetence, job outsourcing, off-shore tax evasion, media consolidation, reckless economics, war profiteering, Constitutional violations AND a Corporate Crime Wave of epic proportions…. The WORST looting of a nation’s wealth and resources in the history of MANKIND!
Where was the Tea Party anger THEN?
Tax cuts for the rich stimulating the economy, huh? How about we reward the top 1% when they actually DO something for the USA? Yea, you #*~/‘n silver spoons get tax breaks after you bring factory jobs back to US soil. The American PEOPLE have spent the last 30 years paying those tax cuts for the top 1%… and what did we get? What ever “trickled down” rich people’s leg wasn’t economic stimulus.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 8.10.10 @ 6:34PM
Retard!!
Conservative Bob| 8.10.10 @ 7:30PM
SPO101
Wow!
I don’t know how old you are so I have no idea how much of what you describe is based on first hand observation…,. it is probably not important. Our observations differ greatly to say the least.
I have watched the relentless unbroken expansion of government for over 50 years. Regardless of party in control government has expanded.
This nation was founded on individual liberty, self reliance, private property rights and limited government, we are so far off course as to be almost unrecognizable.
Every time the government expands for whatever reason our freedoms are diminished.
Not to pick on the most recent examples but can you honestly say you approve of the passage of 2000 plus page bills that no one has read taking over healthcare, the total abrogation of existing law giving the auto industry to the unions literally stealing the assets of the secured creditors, another 2000+ unread pages totally overhauling the financial industry, trillions of dollars in again unread spending bills for political cronies called “stimulus” is the governance you favor?
What exactly is it about government control that you like so much?
I encourage you to buy a constitution and maybe some original papers of the founders to get an idea as to their intent. This is a republic where the power is vested in the various states and the people, not the central government.
No matter how hard you squint your eyes the constitution does not grant the federal government the power to fine someone because they do not purchase a product or require them to purchase a product or service. Nowhere in the document can you find authorization for the department of interior, education, energy, labor, health and human services. Every last power exercised by these behemoth agencies is specifically reserved for the states and the individual citizens. The power of the federal government is spelled out in detail and is very limited.
Your and my liberties and those of our fellow countrymen are trampled and stolen daily, whether it is claimed to be for the benefit of ‘evil corporations’ or the ‘working poor’ what does it matter? When taken for whatever reason we are still made less free.
greghawk| 8.11.10 @ 7:04AM
Great satire... the ALL CAPS for EMPHASIS really gives it away. Sen Franken, right?
you-know-who| 8.11.10 @ 10:21AM
Bush did better than One-Big-Ass-Mistake-America, or Obama, has ever done. Let your anger be directed at the person responsible for destroying our nation. He even got the Nobel Peace Prize for being in office. FOR BEING BLACK!!! He is a joke as a president!! Good-Bye
Bj| 8.10.10 @ 5:40PM
SPO101
You have it wrong. We didn't have trillion dollar deficits until 2009. 2 years after the Dems took control of the House and Senate. If you didn't already know that the House holds the purse strings..... Bush was deemed a "lame duck" those last 2 years as well. Many Democrats, especially in the media, loved reminding us of it.
Not saying Bush is not guilty of the bank and auto bailouts, he is! And many deem him a Progressive as well. Didn't secure the borders, passed a major entitlement program, and then 2 big bailouts. That is a definition of a Progressive, don't you think? There are at least 3 Progressive Republicans in the Senate that we can easily name too, don't you think?
Progressive doesn't just belong to the Dems. And it has been Progressive IDEAS the past 100 years in this country that has destroyed us.
And many of us are trying to salvage what is left. And try sinking some common sense back into our Congress. A long, and bumpy road for sure.
rick oneil| 8.14.10 @ 10:58PM
Progressive is when your grandmother has to fight tooth and nail over a rotten potato on the MBTA.