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| Pres. Obama congratulates John Boehner on election night |
The analysts at the National Journal - an inside the beltway bible - are more level-headed than the copy cats who dominate cable TV and the rest of the daily press. It is painful but necessary to confront the hard facts.
Matthew Cooper observes:
Despite Clinton and Reagan’s recovery [after big mid-term election losses], the prospects are not good for Obama. Midterm defeats in 1966, 1978, 1990, and 2006 presaged the party in power losing the White House. What is certain is that Obama, who ran on hope, now needs to worry about survival.
Whether Obama can be as politically nimble as Clinton or Reagan and whether the Republicans will exceed their mandate remains to be seen. When he holds a press conference in the East Room of the White House to discuss the election results, he may well be asked the same question that was posed to Clinton shortly after his 1994 drubbing: Are you still relevant? Clinton answered that the Constitution made him so. And if Obama is at all like Clinton, he'll signal his willingness to work with the new Republican leadership and save a combative tone for another day. On election night, the president monitored the results from the residence of the White House.
If he's looking to Clinton for an example, the president may also consider a serious staff realignment. While he kept his Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, he brought in Morris as a near parallel chief of staff. Of course, Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, has already departed and other senior staff, such as David Axelrod, his top political adviser, will head for the campaign in 2011. But it's entirely possible that other seats may change hands. Obama will send a signal of his intentions when he announces a replacement for Larry Summers as head of the National Economic Council. On MSNBC, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said that the president would be wise to reach out to someone with executive experience such as Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State who endorsed Obama's presidential bid in 2008.
Full article HERE
It is hard to get the magic back. Obama's theme of change led to a tough slog on healthcare - which enraged the right and disappointed the left.
Clinton had the health care defeat but the economy was flowing the right way. Though he didn't have the burden of the racism that tinges anti-Obama sentiment he did have bitter enemies. But since the economy was strong he could weather the calumnies and gained re-election. Which was followed of course by the impeachment debacle.
I'm thinking the key to an Obama breakout will be major, major personnel changes by State of the Union time, along the lines of Colin Powell at Sec Def, Ed Rendell at chief of staff, David Gergen as political adviser, Volcker to replace Summers, i.e., a bipartisan group of tested supercompetents with veteran Dems in key staff positions. I'm also looking for new people that can aggressively push an industrial policy and government assistance to get green business and tech off the ground, as well as modernize transportation and infrastructure to bring us into the 21st century -- even at the risk of Obama being a one-term president. The key to all policy is economic now..
ReplyDeleteI am all in favor of Ed Rendell in a key position. The more public the better.
ReplyDeleteVolcker - maybe.
Powell would be dramatic. does he want to work that hard at his age?
- GWC