When Jimmy Carter gave his infamous "malaise speech," you could have argued that "Jimmah" was divorced from reality. Last night Jennifer Rubin wrote about the current occupant of the White House.
President Obama's decision to give a speech tonight was proof that things have not gone well for him. He threw (another) tantrum in the Friday news conference, he turned down a bipartisan deal presented to him Sunday and thereby took himself out of the limelight. Tonight's speech was not intended to "solve" the impasse but to make sure Obama would get credit if a deal is struck and avoid blame if it is not.Technorati tags:
The speech itself was part panic attack, part platitudes and a whole lot of class warfare (corporate jets! hedge fund managers!). He stood awkwardly at the East Room podium, minus any press corps. He began with a ponderous recap of the budget train wreck, and then described his grand bargain (light on the details, because, of course, he never put a concrete plan out there). He ridiculed the Republican plan, saying it didn't ask for sacrifices from the rich. But wait, Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) doesn’t have taxes in his plan. In fact, his whole plan was an indictment of Reid’s no-tax plan. Apparently, he assumed no one was keeping up with current developments.
He then desperately argued against the short-term deal that is available to him and could pass the House. He talked down our credit rating. ("a six-month extension of the debt ceiling might not be enough to avoid a credit downgrade and the higher interest rates that all Americans would have to pay as a result") and said he couldn't do a second deal because Republicans would again object to taxes. However, realizing that there is no chance of a deal that includes taxes and takes us through 2012, he left a little wiggle room. ("I think that's a much better path, although serious deficit reduction would still require us to tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform. Either way, I have told leaders of both parties that they must come up with a fair compromise in the next few days that can pass both houses of Congress — a compromise I can sign.")
It was a speech entirely divorced from reality. The Senate Democrats can't pass tax hikes. The grand bargain can't get through the Congress with jumbo tax hikes. It is he who rejected a deal that had the agreeement of House and Senate leaders. You have to wonder why he set the bar so high. He'll face the flood of "President Capitulates!" headlines when it doesn't come about. But the answer lies in the sole and consuming passion of this White House: reelection. Hence, the class warfare and the excuse-mongering.
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