Not a good week for the President...

Since the November elections that saw Republicans pick up multiple seats at each and every level of government, many alleged Washington insiders and political columnists have been debating whether or not President Obama will realize that in order to help his re-election campaign in 2012, move to the center and compromise with Republicans in Congress.

As many have pointed out, following the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, President Clinton, at the advice of his former political advisor Dick Morris adapted a policy of “Triangulation” where the President adopted small conservative ideas and was successful in getting them passed into law. The idea behind this political strategy was to appeal to independent voters who hope that those in Washington can work together for the betterment of the country. Last weekend, the President announced an agreement with the Republican leadership on a package to maintain the current tax rates for all Americans, provide unemployment assistance for an additional year and cut the payroll tax for a year. The announcement caused many political commentators to state that this was the first step for President Obama to bring himself more toward the middle of American politics after nearly two years on the far left.

There has been a lot of discussion on why President Obama campaigned as a moderate Democrat but has ruled as a liberal. As has been reported, following a meeting with Republicans following his election, he told Representative Eric Cantor, now the number two Republican in the House of Representatives, that “I won” as the reason his policies were going to be implemented without any real Republican input. The announcement of the deal caused a lot of questions within Washington. Many liberals are incensed that he agreed to a deal that maintained the current tax rates for all Americans. They believe that “rich” Americans must pay more in taxes to finance the governments programs. Republicans believe that with an economy that is growing slower than necessary and with unemployment creeping closer to ten percent, that no one should see an increase in their taxes.

President Obama came before the press on Tuesday to try and explain the rationale for his decision to agree with the Republican Congressional leadership. During the press conference, instead of speaking about why it was important to maintain the tax rates at their current level, the President attacked both Republicans for “holding the middle class hostage” and the Democrats for holding to a too rigid policy belief. President Obama was unable to make a concise statement as to why the agreement was good for Americans. In fact, he was unable to explain almost anything related to the agreement. He looked like a spoiled kid that complained that all the other kids were being mean to him and so he took his baseball and left the game. All last week, the White House pushed out endorsements of the deal from anyone and everyone who might possibly endorse the deal. Does the fact that the major of Kokomo, IN supports the deal, make any major difference in getting the deal accepted during the lame duck session? Not really, all it does it make the President look irrelevant and small. When the press conference and endorsements garnered negative reaction from almost everyone, the President turned to the one politician who most Americans still admire (politically, not personally), Bill Clinton.

On Friday the two President’s met at the White House to discuss the agreement and then went to a press conference in the White House press briefing room. President Obama provide a few opening remarks and then provided President Clinton the opportunity to provide his impression of the agreement. President Clinton, without a teleprompter or notes, was able to easily and concisely describe the benefits of the agreement for all Americans. President Clinton continued to speak and it became apparent that President Obama needed to leave and didn’t want to be in the press briefing room any longer. He jumped in and stated that he had another appointment to attend (a holiday party) and that his wife would be upset if he didn’t arrive soon. President Clinton, without missing a beat, stated that he should go but he would continue to answer the press’ questions, which he did for another twenty minutes or so.

President Clinton showed to many Americans why he is still so respected – he knew the issue, was able to articulate it in a manner that Americans would understand, and he was able to do it without a teleprompter telling him exactly what to say. The differences between President Obama and President Clinton was no more apparent then the press conference. Americans saw why they like Clinton still today and why they don’t seem to trust or respect Obama in this one event. I would bet that most Democrats, after watching the press conference longed for the days of the Clinton Administration and wondered how the Obama Administration has gotten so far off track. What America saw was a former President who appeals to all, or at least most, Americans and the current President who is losing more and more Americans every day. I would imagine that Democratic political consultants and policy advisors to the current President will be using this event as an example of how not to handle a post election loss as well as a policy loss on a major issue facing the American public. The past week has made the President look small, ineffective. It has made his liberal supporters look worse, if that was possible. It was not a good week to be President Obama…