Desperation
Posted on July 1, 2010
To paraphrase Pink Floyd, “desperation is the Obama way.”The President and his Democratic colleagues are desperate to find any angle to try to change the course of the coming election.
Yesterday, Mr. Obama sharply criticized House Minority Leader John Boehner for using the word “ant.” Seriously.
Mr. Boehner said earlier in the week that the financial reform package supported by the President was like "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon." An interesting analysis of this legislation is that it will likely stunt job growth, hurt investments and put government firmly in the middle of Wall Street.
Boehner’s comments were not outrageous. They weren’t scandalous. They weren’t provocative. But the President’s people, hoping upon hope that they could find any issue to get on offense, immediately launched an attack.
“Boehner likens financial crisis to an ant!!!” they claimed breathlessly.
“Boehner calls the meltdown small,” they strongly implied, because, well, ants are small.
The DNC immediately produced a commercial, as they often do, featuring a bunch of ants running around.
If this is the best they have got, boy oh boy, they are in trouble.
A couple of weeks ago, Democrats did the same thing to Joe Barton. Barton said something stupid, the President condemned the remarks, the DNC produced a bunch of ads, and all of those liberal talk show hosts did their best to make ole Joe Barton the legislative equivalent of the Devil himself.
The problem with that attack is that nobody (and I mean nobody) outside of Joe Barton’s family could pick Joe Barton out of lineup.
Joe Barton is no Newt Gingrich.
Boehner and Barton are not getting attacked for what they did or what they are going to do. They are getting attacked for what they said. And what they said is really no big deal.
Boehner himself did a great job of responding to Mr. Obama’s silly attacks, calling them childish and unpresidential.
Boehner is right. Attacking the minority leader for using the word “ant” is not Presidential.
Mr. Obama has forgotten one salient fact about being President. When you are overly partisan in your attacks, you actually end up hurting yourself.
The President shouldn’t be leading his own rapid response unit. He shouldn’t be closely monitoring everything John Boehner says so that he can launch his own campaign zinger.
He should, instead, be running the country. He should be focused on finding solutions. He should be leading, not blaming others for his lack of leadership.
Mr. Obama, I know you are getting desperate, but this is ridiculous.