Mark Halperin: Obama Is in the Jaws of Political Death: Can He Survive?

[dennis4868]

Barack Obama is being politically crushed in a vise. From above, by elite opinion about his competence. From below, by mass anger and anxiety over unemployment. And it is too late for him to do anything about this predicament until after November's elections.

With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters. This view is held by Fox News pundits, executives and anchors at the major old-media outlets, reporters who cover the White House, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and governors, many Democratic business people and lawyers who raised big money for Obama in 2008, and even some members of the Administration just beyond the inner circle. (See Obama's troubled first year, issue by issue.)

On Friday, after the release of the latest bleak unemployment data - the last major jobs figures before the midterms - Obama said, "Putting the American people back to work, expanding opportunity, rebuilding the economic security of the middle class is the moral and national challenge of our time." But elites feel the President has failed to meet that challenge and are convinced he will be unable to do so in the remainder of his term. Moreover, there is a growing perception that Obama's decisions are causing harm - that businesses are being hurt by the Administration's legislation and that economic recovery is stalling because of the uncertainty surrounding energy policy, health care, deficits, housing, immigration and spending.

more....http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599202471800

Not sure what you all think about this editorail but Halperin is a first class asshole! He actually uses a repub campaign commercial to show that people don't like Obama. WTF? He also says that dems question his ability to turn things around but doesn't actually name any names of people. This was HIT PIECE from a A1 ASSHOLE! Halperin says that Obama inherited alot of problems from Bush but this is not accurate...Obama inherited the fucking TITANTIC from Bush. He also admites that repubs have obstructed for political gains anything that may help to create jobs and then he goes on to blame Obama for everything. FUCK YOU HALPERION. GO TO HELL!

[bemildred]

1. No doubt Mr Halperin considers himself a member of those "elites" he speaks of? nt

[emulatorloo]

2. Sounds like Halperin is in the Jaws of the Republican Party, Or is it another body part

which is used for expelling waste material like this editorial?

[frazzled]

3. Oh, pass the smelling salts!

Woe! Alas! and a big steaming cuppa Hand Wringing and Panty Twisting!

Mark Halperin's political analysis reads like a romance novel gone overboard.

[nevergiveup]

4. If everything Halperin says is true then

we should be seeing Obama's approval ratings in the upper 20's/ lower 30's. :shrug:

[WhiteTara]

5. this is a hit piece from an A**Hole!

to quote you. I'm tired of all this crap.

[jaxx]

6. Somebody writes a book and thinks they're god.

I vote him off the island.

[OHdem10]

7. Sometimes it is best not to shoot the messenger. It is best to listen

to the message and then figure out what to do to change it.

Others have been giving these hints for months now--just
not so directly.

The question has been asked on TV shows--Is he in over
his head.

I do not think so. My impression is: The Elites in this
country are Pro Business. Business makes them Rich and
therefore keeps them "the Elites". The Obama Administration
and Democrats have pushed back on Business Power. We do
not have a Media who understands Business well enough to
know what is good for the Country and what harms the
country. For the most part they just take talking points
and run with them. They look at the politics never the
substance. Who is up who is down. Furthermore they earn
their keep from Corporations. Need I say more.

I do not think Halperin is saying what is right or wrong
He is just saying politically what is going on.

Obama is up against a hard rock trying to push back on
Business. Wall Street and Big Business want to go back
to their same old games. Democrats had better unite behind
Obama or we are approving the most Right Wing Country
you can imagine. Back to a tiered Society of epic proportions.

They are going to use any excuse to put a Rw Government in
power. Rich get richer poor get poorer and we lose the
middle class. We may be disappointed with Obama but
he is doing the best he can.

Halperin is not the first---just the most direct. He
is doing Democrats a favor.

[Aramchek]

10. he's not a messenger. he's a paid propagandist.

[OHdem10]

11. Why do you think Chris Matthews (only a couple of weeks back)

spent a portion of his program practically begging Obama
to bring Bloomberg and Colin Powell into the Admistration.

Why do you think some "Business Reporters" on Business TV
Channels have started to briefly ask? Is he(Obama) in
over his head.

This is not new. Halperin just came out and explained
what is going on.

I am not saying I agree with them. I am saying when things
hit TV, you had better take action as Democrats.

[Aramchek]

13. I think you are saying you agree with him. It's sad, really.

[wisteria]

15. Twitty changes with every political opportunity and the media message is being controlled by

corporate interests right now. Our President does not look like he is in over his head. Powell has problems from his testimony of lies about the dangers Iraq posed on America and Bloomberg is NOT that influential.

[Demeter]

18. I'm from Michigan and Stand With My Ohio Neighbor

It never hurts to listen to someone who isn't drinking any flavor of Koolaid.

[Misskittycat]

8. Agreed. This is a shoddy hit-piece from an A1 asshole. n/t

[Aramchek]

9. why even dignify this with a post?

[wisteria]

16. Good point. n/t

[Me.]

12. Move On, Move On, Nothing To See Here

A. Halperin is never correct, I;d say right but he is that

B. He has hated Obama ever since he had his pictured as a dirty rat on the Times web-site and which was taken down almost immediately.

edited to add:
Reading The Pictures: TIME's Halperin Pictures Obama As Dirty Rat

“As Obama moves to respond to the "kitchen sink," Mark Halperin at TIME launches a stunningly pejorative visual preemptive strike.

The photo-illustration above appears under the foreboding headline: HALPERIN'S TAKE: The Dangers Which Might Await Obama If He Makes Negative Attacks Central To His Campaign. (On TIME's home page, the lead reads: "Mulling Obama's Negative Strategy.")

So, what's wrong with the picture?

Well, here's the short list:

1. Obama not only deserves an equal place among the likes of Atwater, Shrum, Carville and Rove, but he deserves the central place.

2. Given that the source of the photo is a famous shot of the "Rat Pack," Obama reveals himself as a true rat.

3. By casting these political backstabbers as crooners, it soft-peddles their handiwork as entertainment, while at the same time, by linking Obama to Sammy Davis Jr.,
it stereotypes the lone politician in the group as just one more black guy with rhythm.

4. Notice how Halperin's illustration shows Obama looking down. In the original Rat Pack photo, however, Sammy Davis Jr. was looking directly into the camera. So, what gives? ... The body language suggests that Obama, going negative, has too much shame to look us in the eye. "Shame on you, Obama." ...Sound familiar?”…xont…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shaw/reading-the-pictures-time_b_90672.html

[wisteria]

14. Halperin is a blowhard who actually knows very little about what is going on. n/t

[SkyDaddy7]

17. SAME SHIT DIFFERENT A$$-HOLE...

These folks who bitch and moan never say what it is that should be done! Other than tax cuts for the wealthy!

Yes, there should be uncertainty over health care, energy, deficits, housing & immigration...These are all problems that have been put off for decades & now it is time to to pay!

I swear this country is done! Everyone knows we have huge problems but the minute someone tries to fix them then no one wants to sacrifice or pay what we should have been paying for all along!

Folks need to stop crying!

[roseBudd]

19. Scarborough tried to get Halperin to defend McConnell...

the implication is if the GOP has lost Halperin...

I took that to mean Halperin is a Republican defending journalist

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023421.php

"hat was especially interesting this morning was the moment when host Joe Scarborough turned to Time's Mark Halperin, and urged him to "defend the Republican position" on the legislation. Halperin, who often seems more than sympathetic to the GOP line, couldn't bring himself to support the Republican arguments.

"I cannot defend what they're doing," Halperin said. "They are willfully misreading the bill or they are engaged in a cynical attempt to keep the president from achieving something."

Note to Republicans: when even Mark Halperin is calling you out for lying, the conventional wisdom is turning against you."