Obama raises stakes and redefines debate for the midterm election
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
WashPost
Thursday, September 9, 2010
President Obama decided this week to raise the stakes in this fall's election by making the choice about something instead of nothing but anger.
In the process, he will confront a deeply embedded media narrative that sees a Republican triumph as all but inevitable. Paradoxically, such extravagant expectations may be the GOP's biggest problem -- by raising the bar for what will constitute success and by discouraging necessary strategic adjustments if our newly combative president begins to alter the political battlefield.
Until Obama's Labor Day speech in Milwaukee and his statement of principles Wednesday near Cleveland, it was not clear how much heart he had in the fight or whether he would ever offer a comprehensive argument for the advantage of his party's approach.
In the absence of a coherent case, Republicans were winning by default on a wave of protest votes. Without this new effort at self-definition, Obama was a blur: a socialist to conservatives, a sellout to some progressives, and a disappointment to younger Americans who wondered what happened to the ebullient, hopeful guy they voted for.
(More here.)
WashPost
Thursday, September 9, 2010
President Obama decided this week to raise the stakes in this fall's election by making the choice about something instead of nothing but anger.
In the process, he will confront a deeply embedded media narrative that sees a Republican triumph as all but inevitable. Paradoxically, such extravagant expectations may be the GOP's biggest problem -- by raising the bar for what will constitute success and by discouraging necessary strategic adjustments if our newly combative president begins to alter the political battlefield.
Until Obama's Labor Day speech in Milwaukee and his statement of principles Wednesday near Cleveland, it was not clear how much heart he had in the fight or whether he would ever offer a comprehensive argument for the advantage of his party's approach.
In the absence of a coherent case, Republicans were winning by default on a wave of protest votes. Without this new effort at self-definition, Obama was a blur: a socialist to conservatives, a sellout to some progressives, and a disappointment to younger Americans who wondered what happened to the ebullient, hopeful guy they voted for.
(More here.)
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