Friendly Advice to the Whiner-in-Chief
“They talk about me like a dog,” President Obama said of his Republican critics.
It’s easy to remember that the president is still new to this thing. Normally when politicians talk like that, the standard response is: “Welcome to national politics, buddy. It can hurt during the first few years.”
The tea party movement is getting under his skin. That’s not good. Statesmen have to remain above it all. They can’t ignore legitimate concerns, but they can’t get dragged down into the caprice of the media cycle, either. Before he lost his bearings, Chris Matthews offered this sagely advice to politicians who found their fortunes waning: “Don’t get mad, don’t get even: get ahead.” Obama chooses to get mad. “No Drama Obama,” indeed.
It’s been said that some people ascend to the presidency because they want to do something, while others fight for the job because they want to be someone. That is: some men come into the office captured by a vision of what the world should look like — Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan can be counted among them — while others, usually less consequential, want to be president simply because it’s another notch in their belt. Think George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (and Mitt Romney). The tea party movement thinks that Obama is in the former camp: that he is trying to remake America in a socialist image. They are wrong. Men with a vision don’t let the cries of protesters shake their poise. Rather, they tend to believe, much like George W. Bush did, that the course of history will vindicate their choices. Obama, interestingly, seems not to believe this. Instead — and this is not just bad for the Democrats, but for the country — he is panicking.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
