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Home Front: Politix

Obama's New Strategy - Blame Bush

2009-03-14

Front-Page WaPo. They must be feeling the financial pressures.
In his inaugural address, President Obama proclaimed "an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics."

It hasn't taken long for the recriminations to return -- or for the Obama administration to begin talking about the unwelcome "inheritance" of its predecessor.

Obama had initially been content to leave partisan defense strategy to his proxies, but as the fiscal picture has continued to darken, he has appeared more willing to risk his image as a politician who is above petty partisanship to personally remind the public of Bush's legacy.

"There's a fascinating behind-the-scenes trend taking place for someone who remains a very popular president," said Ari Fleischer, a former Bush press secretary, describing the decline in Obama's approval ratings and an increase in disapproval numbers. "His response to that trend is to turn up the blame on George Bush and everything that came before him. And he was the one who talked about getting past partisanship."

Posted by:Bobby

#17 Perhaps we need to replace The People.

I'd prefer we simply return power to them and strip Washington of most of its authority. The People could hardly do worse.

Posted by: AzCat 2009-03-14 20:09

#16 WOW, Barry, only seven weeks, it's already time to open the first envelope.

A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large tech corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. "Open one of these if you run up against a problem you don't think you can solve," he said.

Things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and the CEO was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit's end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, "Blame your predecessor."

The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press - and Wall Street - responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, "Reorganize."

This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope. The message said, "Prepare three envelopes."

Posted by: GK 2009-03-14 18:02

#15 I agree with the "behind the scenes" thing. There is a half-hidden war among Dems, essentially a war between Washington and New York, with some heavy firepower coming from Omaha (Warren Buffet basically told O to cut the crap). The big Wall Street money men are mostly Dems and are big contributors to the Dem party, and they are in revolt. The pressure on O got really bad last week. By strange coincidence (?) the market rallied a bit this week just in time to relieve some pressure.

Posted by: Cynicism Inc 2009-03-14 17:16

#14 This administration run by the Pope of Hope is sounding more and more like The Audacity of Dopes.

Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-03-14 14:30

#13 Was this in the expanded business section A?

Posted by: Steve White 2009-03-14 14:11

#12 ...including into the "deficit he inherited"

Hmmm...the man was a Senator. He help create it. As they would say - an co-conspirator to the crime.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-03-14 13:29

#11 What I find telling is that here we are agian with a major crisis caused by inept goverment and NOBODY is losing their job over it.

Actually, Paulson lost his job over it. And just about everybody else in the executive branch, except Gates. The problem in this case is not so much the firing process as the hiring process. Perhaps we need to replace The People.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-03-14 12:59

#10 Let me think, if I reward personal responsibility unnder socialism that is failure. If I blame someone else and not take personal responsibility under socialism that is success. That's it. I will blame Bush and I will be a failure but under socialism I will be a success. Right on. Where is my speech writer?

Posted by: Art 2009-03-14 12:36

#9 Can't remember the show or article when they claimed that the dot-com bubble burst was caused by Bush even though it started months before he became a candidate. What I find telling is that here we are agian with a major crisis caused by inept goverment and NOBODY is losing their job over it. Somebody at Freddie, Fanny, SEC, Treasury, or the many CEOs should be doing time in prison. It would do wonders to shore up confidence in the markets. IMHO a few heads at CIA, FBI, DOD, and State should have rolled over blowing that one.

Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-03-14 12:04

#8 Obama has had no problem rolling back Bush policies regarding Abortion, stem-cell, enemy combatents, gitmo... but when it comes to spending borrowed money he just can not seem to want to reverse the worst Bush idea of his Presidency. Obama and his tax-cheat commie Asshats are in way over their heads.

There is an old Henry Fonda Western line "when you are up to chin is Shit you should keep your mouth shut"

Posted by: airandee 2009-03-14 11:09

#7 "Upon entering the White House in 2001, Bush pinned the lackluster economy on his predecessor, using the "Clinton recession" to successfully argue in favor of tax cuts that won some Democratic support."

Ahhh yesssye ole blind quote. So WaPoexactly who coined the phrase "Clinton recession" anyway? Im thinking who ever wrote this drivel did. Certainly Bush wasnt timid in correctly stating that he started his first term after the burst of the dot-com bubble. I could be wrong but I dont recall him blaming that on Bubba. And, IIRC, the Bush Administration secured the second TARP money before leaving office and handed it to Obama wrapped with a nice bow. You knowthat little 350 bill Obama gladly spent but now has no shame including into the deficit he inherited. Fucking classless ingrates the lot of em!

Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-03-14 11:04

#6 Partisanship is the weapon of defense. Could it be that our president is feeling a bit under siege? If so, good. Shows he's paying attention to the crumbling of his dreams.

Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-03-14 10:29

#5 A Google search for the words Obama Inherited yeilds about 1,460,000 hits.

Nothing new here.

Posted by: Parabellum 2009-03-14 10:27

#4 When George met Obama for their transition meeting, he passed on three envelopes labeled consecutively 1, 2, and 3. He told his replacement that to open each in sequence, but only after really deep crap hit the fan. Obama took the envelopes and set them aside. Then as the new President's crisis started to overwhelm him, he remembered the envelopes. He took the envelope numbered One and opened it to find a simple plain note with the advise - Blame your predecessor. He found that worked with his usual followers but the rest of the country quickly tired of the excuses. So Obama found and opened the second envelope to read the advice - Reorganize. However, he thought to himself, 'how in the blazes can I reorganize when I haven't even achieved any organization around here in the first place'. He rips open the third envelope to read - Prepare three envelopes.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-03-14 09:33

#3 Only WaPO thinks its new.
They haven't been paying attention evidently.
Anyway it's time for phase II and start calling any criticism of Oblahblah racist.

Posted by: regular joe 2009-03-14 09:25

#2 Only WaPO thinks its new.

Posted by: DoDo 2009-03-14 09:17

#1 Obama's ~~New~~ Only Strategy - Blame Bush

More leftest drivel. Hardly anything "new" about it. We've been listening to it since Barry first arrived on the scene.

Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-14 07:57

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