Where Obama Took a Wrong Turn

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright October 22, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

           When President Barack Obama was sworn in Jan. 20, 2009, the country was riding high on great expectations, yielding the 48-year-old president a 70% approval rating.  Handed a Democratic Congress, there were high hopes Barack could reverse Washington’s bitter partisanship.  Faced with a economic meltdown of historic proportions, Obama had his work cut out for him, promising the press unprecedented access.  At the time of Barack’s inauguration, few doubted his eloquence, getting rave reviews as a public speaker from even his worst critics.  Since taking office, something changed.  During his first year in office, Barack found out the hard way delivering 27 press conferences, his way of keeping the people informed.  After his approval ratings unraveled, the president slowed down his press conference schedule and speaking, creating a bunker mentality..

            Barack’s wrong turn, you might say, started with Democratic control of the House and Senate.  Promising a new era of bipartisanship, Barack, a young and relatively inexperienced U.S. senator from Illinois, proceeded to allow freshly minted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), two of the most partisan members of Congress, to set his domestic and foreign policy.  Instead of catching his wind after the election, the young president deferred to his Chief of Staff former Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) to set his legislative and foreign policy agenda with Reid and Pelosi.  Instead of working on the economy, Rahm chose to push for sweeping health care reform, citing the best opportunity since former President Bill Clinton and his First Lady wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, attempted the feat in 1993.

            Unable to see the big picture, Barack allowed Emanuel, Pelosi and Reid to railroad health care reform, regardless of the political fallout.  Instead of working with  Republicans, Obama pushed ahead with a one-sided Democratic vote for health care reform.  Unable to get a single-payer system, Barack compromised for a mandatory insurance plan, forcing every man, woman and child to have health insurance by 2014 or face stiff government fines.  Despite passing health care reform March 21, not a single Republican signed onto the legislation.  Democratic strategists were convinced that losing health care would open up a can of worms at the 2010 midterm elections and 2012 presidential sweepstakes.  Polls showed over 60% of U.S. voters opposed Barack’s health care overhaul.  Opposed by much of the middle class, Barack’s plan catered primarily to the nation’s poor.

            When Barack decided in Dec. 2009 and June 2010 to add more troops to Afghanstan, a number of his antiwar supporters jumped ship.  They couldn’t reconcile his criticisms of Bush with what looked like a continuation of the same policy.  Sure, Barack promised to deescalate the Iraq War, redirecting resources of Afghanistan.  But with no end in sight and the economy still sputtering, independents and crossover Republicans couldn’t fathom any escalation.  Adding 50,000 more troops and pushing for national health care seemed out of touch with voters’ worries about a deteriorating jobs market and economy.  Instead of building bridges, Barack pushed for the most partisan legislation in U.S. history:  Seeking to overhaul the health care system.   Too little emphasis on the economy and too much emphasis on war disillusioned independents and crossover Republicans, accounting for the backlash now promising to give back Congress to the GOP.      

            After unpopular decisions, Obama now scrambles to reverse what appears like a train wreck for Democrats on Nov. 2.  While the economy continues to sputter, Obama should have used his bully pulpit to sell his programs.  Too many press events pushing for national health care eclipsed the Democrats work on the economy.  As the economy moved sideways, pushing for health care boomeranged, leaving voters unable to point to Obama’s productive legislative accomplishment.  What makes health care look so onerous is the fact not one Republicans supported the legislation.   Yet despite the polls, Barack, Rahm, Pelosi and Reid, pushed for the procedural vote, passing the most sweeping partisan legislation in U.S. history.  As the economy ran sideways over the summer, voters got more angry.  Now Barack finds himself crisscrossing the country, scrambling to get out the vote.

            Whatever problems exist with the U.S. economy, Obama made some fateful decisions to avoid more press conferences and speeches trying to sell his agenda.  Without proof of an improving economy, Democrats can’t get too excited heading into Nov. 2.  All the get out the vote efforts by Barack and former President Bill Clinton can’t stop the current GOP drive for payback at the polls.  Just like voters punished Republicans in 2008 for Bush’s failures, they now seem posed to send Obama a message that he can’t take them for granted.  “Don’t let them tell you that what you did didn’t make a difference,” said Barack at a campaign stop for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calf.) in Los Angeles.  Voters know they made a difference sending Barack to the White House in  2008.  They also know there’s hell to pay at the polls for not delivering campaign promises, especially on more bipartisanship.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2012 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.