Friday, November 15, 2013

DEMS: WHEN OUR PRESIDENT IS DROWNING, WE THROW HIM AN ANVIL

From a Politico story about White House attempts to reassure restive House Democrats on Obamacare:
"I don't know how he f—-ed this up so badly," said one House Democrat who has been very supportive of Obama in the past.
This was apparently said in a closed-door meeting between House Democrats and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough. What the hell is it doing in the press? I'm seeing the Obamacare rollout being compared in The New York Times to George W. Bush's mismanagement of Katrina. Were there Republicans pissing and moaning to the press about that? Or a more apt comparison: How many Republicans were pissing and moaning to the press about Bush's ineptitude in Iraq when there was looting just after the fall of Baghdad, or during the insurgency, or when the Abu Ghraib revelations emerged, or when WMDs weren't found?

I said on Twitter this morning that Republicans don't attack one another this way. A lot of people told me that Republicans did a hell of a lot of sniping at one another during the shutdown. That's true. But they're much less inclined to do it to a president. I don't care how many Cruzites are attacking Mitch McConnell or undermining John Boehner -- Republicans know that that's not the same thing as undermining a president of their own party.

Even in the 2008 presidential race, with Iraq as the metaphor for everything wrong with Bush, no one apart from Ron Paul would break with Bush. That's how Republicans do it. Their presidents are their figureheads. They know they weaken themselves when they weaken the one person everyone in America regards as the embodiment of the party. (Sorry, political insiders -- if you spoke to some normal Americans once in a while, you'd know how many of them don't regard Boehner or McConnell as the GOP analogue to Obama, because they barely know Boehner and McConnell at all.)

White House self-abasement is not helping, either. Bush never did any mea culpas on Iraq, and he got through the '04 elections just fine. I've always assumed that the slow drip of bad Iraq news is what really destroyed the Bush presidency, but I find myself wondering if the decline in his popularity in the second term actually became irreversible when he acted contrite over Katrina.

In a sensible world, reluctance to admit error would be a liability, not an advantage, for a leader or a party. But Bill Clinton, alas, was right when he said that people would "rather have somebody who is strong and wrong than someone who's weak and right."

9 comments:

Victor said...

WTF are they thinking about?!?!?!

These dumbass Democrats had better realize that they have to hang together, or they'll surely hang alone.

Zandar said...

"I said on Twitter this morning that Republicans don't attack one another this way. A lot of people told me that Republicans did a hell of a lot of sniping at one another during the shutdown. That's true. But they're much less inclined to do it to a president."

Unless that president is a blah person.

Four Bs said...

Even the liberal Duncan Black is calling for someone's head in response to Glitchgazigate. I hope Obama resists the temptation to buckle under all the stupid criticism. He's been pretty good at staying the course and proving people wrong in the end.

Victor said...

He can't afford to get rid of Sibelius, because the Republicans in the Senate will not allow him to replace her.

And I suspect he knows that.

The only worse thing than the mess she oversaw and continues to oversee, is having no one overseeing fixing the mess - and THAT, is exactly what the Republicans are hoping for.

Democrats pitched in to help on Medicare Part D.
Republicans, instead, are pitching epic hissy-fits, and throwing everything they can into the PPACA machinery, and at the President.

aimai said...

Look: someone leaked a closed door meeting? Shock. Horror! People say angry shit all the time--we heard plenty about what people said at Ted Cruz's closed door meeting. The walls have ears in a capitol city. Always have, always will. Perhaps the Dems will learn a lesson from this and keep their fucking mouths shut. But it isn't a sign that dems are any different from Republicans.

Steve M. said...

Perhaps the Dems will learn a lesson from this and keep their fucking mouths shut.

Which was my point.

Ten Bears said...

Gosh, the initial rollout of a massive web-site has glitches, I am so surprised. Not like any of these dumb fucks ever rolled out a web-site. I've got web-sites out there seven, ten and twelve years old, that still have glitches. The bottomline remains there is a (half) black man in office and the white-dogs just can't handle it.

No fear.

trizzlor said...

Perhaps the Dems will learn a lesson from this and keep their fucking mouths shut.

Which was my point.


Really? The lesson from the Bush years is that not criticizing the president when he makes obvious blunders is a solid long-term strategy for the party? That's what you've learned from Bush, that he was a master of leadership who left behind a strong, united party and we should emulate him?

Examinator said...

Obama has blundered ???! How?
Did HE choose the contractor?
Did he provide the coding brief?
Did he vet the system, White box and black box it! etc.
Did he install the computer system?
Did he install the programs?
No to all of the above so WTF is Dennis on about?

The truth is it wasn't his job . His job was to provide the say so to start the process....It was an OPERATIONAL screw up.

Does either of the Koch Brothers get involved in the operational level of their myriad of computer/software installations to the Cornucopia of corporate entities? Of course they don't! Should they take direct responsibility for the inevitable "tits up" IT catastrophes? Don't be absolutely inane. Neither should Obama carry the can for a F'ed Up computer implementation after all as POTUS HE CONCERNS ARE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more complex beyond those of the Koch Bros!

My understanding is that POTUS has done what a Nations leader should do put in to place a strategy for a solution.
SHOCK horror , 30 years in mainframe solution design sales installations, software design etc IT TAKES TIME.

The reality is this whole political chaos is MANUFACTURED bull Shit.
The difference between "ACA" implementation and Katrina response is that the latter WAS o a White house (Board level)failure of:
1/ White house Strategic Oversight to have the system plan much less approved.
2/ The Failure of White House to implement coherent re actions.
3/ lives were at stake as a consequence of the White house's Failure to take charge.

None of the these apply to ACA implementation.
Comparing the two is a false equivalence. ACA is a political invention. AND
Katrina Was a POTUS/ White house, in Dennis' words a Custerfuck ( incompetence)

Dennis.... In short you are showing your ignorance in the most clear and aggressive way.