Once upon a time, in Hawaii, an unmarried, unwealthy white woman gave birth to a baby boy fathered by a black man from Africa. And tonight, less than half a century later, the man that child grew up to be will ride a very short distance along Pennsylvania Avenue to deliver the state of the union address to Congress and perhaps to the world as well. There are times when I am stunned by this country’s flair for narrative, and today is one of them.
Unfortunately, the narrative extends to the industry that talks for a living, for which it must be bonus season because they will simply not shut the hell up for more than four consecutive seconds. Obama is in trouble. Obama’s way down in the polls. November is going to be rough for Obama. Obama is too cerebral. Obama does not show enough emotion, or passion. Ohio is not looking good for Obama in 2012. In 2008 in Cleveland Obama polled higher than he did a year later, in 2009. But among white females in two districts just outside of Cleveland, but not too far outside, only 42 percent think Obama had delivered on his promises as of August 2009, and that’s down from 73 percent of the black males between the ages of 24 and 36 who believed that, in February 2009, Obama was the president they’d hoped for. Nebraska is a different story for Obama. Obama still does well among independents living in mid-sized communities in California. But that just might be offset by a shakeup among the senatorial contingent from North Dakota, and this could have some long- to medium-term impact on Obama, but Obama will likely not be affected in the immediate future. Obama is calling in the big guns – the guy who managed his presidential campaign – because he’s scared. Obama is getting ready to clean some serious house, the big white one, where he lives and works. Obama is too radical. Obama is just a conservative, disguised as a liberal. When the people of Massachusetts elected a senator last week, that was really a vote against Obama. Obama lost. Obama will not win a second term. Obama may not even run for a second term. It’s all over for Obama. How will history remember Barack Obama?
Late in 1999, I cancelled my subscription to Newsweek, after a guy from Texas named George W. Bush was given the magazine’s cover three times prior to winning the Republican nomination. If I still had a subscription, I’d cancel it again today, based on this gem of a headline: The Problem with Barack Obama. The president is leading with his head instead of his heart. It’s followed, even more insidiously, I think, by this: Is Obama paving the way for a Palin presidency? Well, given the magazine’s habit of covering politics as if it were analyzing a season of Survivor, I suppose it’s a fair question. The editor of the magazine, who has one of the most smug television personas I’ve yet to see, sat on the Charlie Rose show Monday night and said that we really, really need to know more about what Obama feels. We need to see Obama be more emotional. On Tuesday morning, John McCain offered up the Republican response to a pre-address interview Obama did with Diane Sawyer, doing away with the tradition, apparently, of waiting until after the state of the union address to have a member of the opposing party respond to it.
God, please send help our way now, and as much of it as possible.
I have plenty of criticisms of Obama, but rather than force them to fit within the very tight quarters of a single speech, tonight I am going to try to ignore the fact that the address itself – once considered a dignified occasion – will be perverted and degraded by input from the pollsters, the lobbyists and the legion of people who earn lots of money hashing and rehashing and spinning and twisting everything Obama does, from sending more troops to Afghanistan to cutting a fart in C sharp rather D flat. Since I have yet to receive an offer from the White House to help out with communications, which I would gladly accept, tonight I am going to try to just listen.
Unfortunately, the narrative extends to the industry that talks for a living, for which it must be bonus season because they will simply not shut the hell up for more than four consecutive seconds. Obama is in trouble. Obama’s way down in the polls. November is going to be rough for Obama. Obama is too cerebral. Obama does not show enough emotion, or passion. Ohio is not looking good for Obama in 2012. In 2008 in Cleveland Obama polled higher than he did a year later, in 2009. But among white females in two districts just outside of Cleveland, but not too far outside, only 42 percent think Obama had delivered on his promises as of August 2009, and that’s down from 73 percent of the black males between the ages of 24 and 36 who believed that, in February 2009, Obama was the president they’d hoped for. Nebraska is a different story for Obama. Obama still does well among independents living in mid-sized communities in California. But that just might be offset by a shakeup among the senatorial contingent from North Dakota, and this could have some long- to medium-term impact on Obama, but Obama will likely not be affected in the immediate future. Obama is calling in the big guns – the guy who managed his presidential campaign – because he’s scared. Obama is getting ready to clean some serious house, the big white one, where he lives and works. Obama is too radical. Obama is just a conservative, disguised as a liberal. When the people of Massachusetts elected a senator last week, that was really a vote against Obama. Obama lost. Obama will not win a second term. Obama may not even run for a second term. It’s all over for Obama. How will history remember Barack Obama?
Late in 1999, I cancelled my subscription to Newsweek, after a guy from Texas named George W. Bush was given the magazine’s cover three times prior to winning the Republican nomination. If I still had a subscription, I’d cancel it again today, based on this gem of a headline: The Problem with Barack Obama. The president is leading with his head instead of his heart. It’s followed, even more insidiously, I think, by this: Is Obama paving the way for a Palin presidency? Well, given the magazine’s habit of covering politics as if it were analyzing a season of Survivor, I suppose it’s a fair question. The editor of the magazine, who has one of the most smug television personas I’ve yet to see, sat on the Charlie Rose show Monday night and said that we really, really need to know more about what Obama feels. We need to see Obama be more emotional. On Tuesday morning, John McCain offered up the Republican response to a pre-address interview Obama did with Diane Sawyer, doing away with the tradition, apparently, of waiting until after the state of the union address to have a member of the opposing party respond to it.
God, please send help our way now, and as much of it as possible.
I have plenty of criticisms of Obama, but rather than force them to fit within the very tight quarters of a single speech, tonight I am going to try to ignore the fact that the address itself – once considered a dignified occasion – will be perverted and degraded by input from the pollsters, the lobbyists and the legion of people who earn lots of money hashing and rehashing and spinning and twisting everything Obama does, from sending more troops to Afghanistan to cutting a fart in C sharp rather D flat. Since I have yet to receive an offer from the White House to help out with communications, which I would gladly accept, tonight I am going to try to just listen.
