1. Granting his very first interview to an Arab network. I heard a great analysis of this from an expert on intelligence who was on one of the MSNBC shows. He noted that we must remember that terrorists are political actors, playing on the world stage. He went on to observe that Obama's strategy is not to kill the terrorists but rather to steal their audience. By reaching out to the vast Muslim world and paying it respect, the President against shows just how smart and together he is.
2. Handling the Republicans. Many left-leaning pundits, and some of my friends, are already complaining about the President being too nice to the congressional Repulicans. They really want him to punish them instead, or to just snub them. I fully understand their anger and frustration, but again, the President knows exactly what he is doing. I could go into this in great detail, but instead I will refer you to a genius, (and often hilarious) post by Bob Cesca on HuffPo.
You really should read the whole thing, but in case you don't have the time or inclination, here are some choice excerpts.
Cesca starts by taking us back to the aftermath of the Repubican convention and noting that all of us were afraid that we would blow the election yet again. He notes that in the midst of that a few had faith, and they posted a graphic on a website:
The web graphic is actually a photograph of Barack Obama from his Invesco Field acceptance speech. In it, he's looking directly into the camera with an expression of fierce determination on his face -- his teeth gnashed in an Eastwood snarl, his left hand gesturing as though he's kung fu fighting his way through an oversized cinderblock made of SlapChop-minced Republican skulls.
The large, white text superimposed at the top reads: "Everyone chill the fuck out." The text at the bottom exclaims: "I got this!"
Later in the Cesca post:
Their [Republicans on the Hill] political audacity, while never surprising, always seems to confound expectations and defy logic. Having relegated themselves to the status of a regional, minor party due to their unserious, fear-mongering wedge politics and well-documented record of disastrous policy-making, they remain so hubristic as to crap their cages and demand a seat at the Big Boy Table, as if they're the majority party in Congress -- as if they somehow earned an equal voice in this thing by way of their awesome record on the economy.
They haven't. It's only due to the magnanimity of the president that they haven't been completely steamrolled on this recovery bill. Magnanimity which, by the way, isn't nearly as plentiful or renewable as the Republicans might think. Especially when the Republicans are doing what they're doing right now.
So, I say to you all, "Trust the Prez. He's got this."
1 comment:
I think you're right. But in my own reactions, I also think the Republicans are still very good at manipulating and influencing the media here at home and that the Obama team hasn't been as adept at that as they have been at everything else. And once the rightwing Republican media machine sets the agenda or at least the terms of the argument, Dems are in trouble, no matter how smart Obama has proven to be. His moves yesterday in bringing the argument back to the greed on Wall Street was a smart correction to the previous few days' attempts to show respect to the Republicans while they turned around and blamed Democrats for our present predicament with their usual hubris.
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