07/14/2010
Aren’t Chicago pols supposed to be slick wheeler-dealers, who can trade seats and manipulate the electorate with great expertise? Obie must not be quite the smooth operator we were led to believe, judging from his klutzy handling of tough political sledding of late.
Interestingly, the public’s image of the ideal Obama, carefully crafted during the campaign by spinmeister political consultants, has been under assault by reality. The idea that he was perfect, a messiah who walked on water fell steadily into amnesia and is now little mentioned by embarrassed former acolytes.
Now we are seeing that the image of brilliant politician, a man able to combine various ethnic tribes and interest groups effectively, is similarly false
The fading embers of Obama’s coalition, Washington Post, July 13, 2010
With midterm elections less than four months away, Republicans are fired up and ready to go. But they are not the only ones upset with Barack Obama. The president has also angered many of the key Democratic constituencies he needs to keep control of the House and Senate, and now Democrats are blowing furiously on the fading embers of their electoral coalition, hoping to stave off disaster this November. In the process they are abdicating their responsibilities to govern — failing to pass a budget or any of their annual spending bills, while using their executive and legislative powers to appease their special interests instead. It is a far cry from the hope and change they promised two years ago.
Take organized labor. Unions are incensed with Obama and congressional Democrats for their failure to deliver on key priorities such as card-check legislation. Gerry McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, complained earlier this year, “We can’t get anything done for the people we represent.” The White House made things worse by publicly ridiculing the AFL-CIO for supporting a primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), prompting the union to fire back: “Labor isn’t an arm of the Democratic Party.” […]
Another disenchanted constituency is Hispanics. Latino support for Obama has dropped 12 points since the start of the year, as anger has grown over the Democrats’ failure to make immigration reform a priority. Instead of putting forward legislation, Obama delivered a speech this month in which he laid the blame for his failure to act on Republican demagoguery. Then last Tuesday, the administration filed a lawsuit in federal court to block Arizona’s immigration law. This was unnecessary, according to Kris Kobach, the former Justice Department official who helped draft the Arizona law, because the law was already being challenged by the ACLU and other groups: The issue was already tied up in the courts. The Justice Department doesn’t add anything by bringing its own lawsuit. These actions were designed to bolster Hispanic support, but they doomed any hope of bipartisan cooperation on immigration. Democrats appear more interested in posturing to win Hispanic votes than getting something accomplished for Hispanic voters. But the strategy may backfire if Latinos see through the charade, and the Arizona lawsuit ends up bringing down Democrats facing tough reelection battles in the West.
During the campaign, candidate Obama promised full amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. Instead, they are getting a substitute prize of a lawsuit against Arizona. Does he really think that anti-American amnesty-supporting hispanics will go to the polls in November in gratitude? It seems unlikely to me.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.