Legal Commentary

Can Obama "Politick" For Dems?

By Big Tent Democrat

Via blackwaterdog at daily kos, President Obama said:

"We have spent the last 20 months governing. They spent the last 20 months politicking. Now we've got three months to go, and so we've decided, well, we can politick for three months. They’ve forgotten I know how to politick pretty good."

I have a couple of reactions to this. First, there is no doubt that President Obama is a terrific politician when it comes to gathering votes for himself. And when he is on the ballot, that also becomes "politicking" for Dems, because President Obama on the ballot brings out irregular voters who lean Democratic (this is a perennial problem for Dems.) But President Obama is not on the ballot, and whatever you think of his 20 months of governing (my review is mixed) it is not unvarnished win politically.

The second thought I had was the President should never have said what he said. One of the President's strengths has been that he is viewed as being less of a politician than most.The whole PPUS. I never cared for it, in governing or politics, but President Obama took that road. Why toss it out now overtly? In other words, the President could have done the 3 months of politicking without announcing he was doing that. I suppose some will argue this will energize the base. Perhaps. But I think the actual politicking would do that. This seems part of the bad Dem habit of discussing the politics of issues, instead of just doing the politics.

One final thought - at least the President seems to understand that he will not escape responsibility for the election results this November. For a while, there seemed to be the attitude in the White House that the 2010 elections had nothing to do with them. Good to see that silliness has gone away.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 10, 2010 (boomark / email).