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Obama's Way Back by John M. Curtis Copyright
Jan..22, 2010 Tuesday’s Jan. 15 humiliating defeat in Massachusetts, where the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat was surrendered to Republican State Sen. Scott Brown, rained on Democrats’ health care parade. Brown’s victory exposed some of Democrats’ vulnerability during an election year, in part due to local issues but, more importantly, a White House with barely passing grades. President Barack Obama and his bevy of White House strategists must suck it up or look ungracious to voters seeking guidance next for November. Losing one Senate seat, no matter how symbolic, shouldn’t cause panic but reflection about what went wrong. White House officials couldn’t stop Brown’s opponent, Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley, from calling former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling a Yankee fan. To hardcore Sox fans that was deal-breaker, not Coakley’s liberal politics. One year into Obama’s term, the economy reels from high unemployment, despite his $687 billion Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Despite Barack’s campaign promise, Washington remains in partisan gridlock. While that’s not entirely Obama’s fault, he must set the tone for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both acted as rabidly partisan as anyone during the Bush years. Barack was not able to get one Republican vote for his health care reform plan, signaling, if nothing else, that it was too Democratically biased. Instead of seeking middle ground with Republicans, Barack adopted Pelosi and Reid’s attitude of railroading health reform with an expected 60-vote supermajority. When Brown killed that plan, Obama was forced to reevaluate his priorities, promising to focus on the economy and jobs before the 2010 midterm election. Democrats need to stop whining about losing Kennedy’s Senate seat and get back to Barack’s original message. He must communicate more clearly with voters about his vision for the future, just like he did in the campaign. Barack didn’t campaign to rubber stamp Democrats’ agenda on Capitol Hill. He’s guilty of letting Pelosi and Reid drive his political agenda, something that left voters feeling betrayed, or at least disappointed, that he didn’t get Pelosi and Reid to fall in line. “I won’t stop fighting for you,” Barack told supporters at a Elyria rally in Northeastern Ohio, renewing his commitment to create more jobs. “This is not about me. I didn’t take up this issue to boost my poll numbers . . . “ said Obama, vowing to continue the fight for health care. Barack’s approval ratings have dropped 20% to around 50% in one year, because he let Capitol Hill dictate his legislative agenda. Returning to the Rust Belt, Barack knows that he must do a better job of communicating with voters. His emphasis on health care was criticized for its narrow focus when most polls showed his plan was opposed by nearly 60% of voters. Whatever the reason, the public never jumped on the health care bandwagon, partly because they didn’t believe it would help the economy. Continued recession and high unemployment made Barack’s health care overhaul less tenable. Opponents to health care reform made more compelling arguments to middle class voters, worried about losing their employer-based health insurance. When Barack talks of helping chronically uninsured, he addressed an unreliable constituency of poor people, not the vast middle class more concerned about employment than health insurance. His new focus on jobs should resonate with voters. Looking at the bigger picture, Barack lost touch with voters not because he couldn’t, because of security concerns, press more flesh but because he let Congress dictate his political agenda. He disappointed many antiwar independents, Democrats and Republicans deciding Dec. 2, 2009, after months of deliberation, to add 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. His long deliberation showed, if nothing else, that he had mixed feelings about rubber-stamping the Pentagon. Brown’s victory was rude awakening to get Obama back on the right track, not taking orders from Congress. Recognized as the most brilliant orator of his time, Barack has wasted too many opportunities to speak about his own agenda. Letting health care dominate the national debate played into Republican hands, leaving Barack on the defensive. Shifting back to the economy should play well in Middle America. Barack’s ticket back to better approval ratings involves paying attention to mainstream voters, more worried about jobs and the economy than getting better health insurance. Working on national health care must take a backseat to working with Wall Street and creating the conditions for economic recovery. Talking lately about reforming Wall Street also shows poor timing, where the public is more concerned about jobs creation than technical government regulations. No one wants to see another repetition of the same market collapse. As former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan points out, it was once in a century event, not something likely to repeat. Barack needs to stop blaming former President George W. Bush and work with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to fix the economy. Giving more speeches and focusing on jobs should pay off. About the Author John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
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