The Art of Underestimating Obama

[HopeOverFear]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/deanie_mills/2009/07/the-art-of-underestimating-oba.php?ref=fpd


When George W. Bush took office in January of 2001, Talking Points Memo did not exist.

Huffington Post did not exist.

Buzzflash.com did not exist. (Update: Buzzflash.com did exist, as of May of 2000, the first that I know of.)

Keith Olberman did not yet have a political program on MSNBC.

Rachel Maddow did not yet have a political program on MSNBC.

That Ed guy for sure didn't yet.

However, FOX news, Rush Limbaugh, and many of the other Lords of the Right-Wing Air dominated discourse, drove the political narrative, and basically provided a controversy-free platform for anything and everything the Republican president wanted to do with his Republican congress.

In fact, they made it their business--or I should say, busine$$--viciously attacking anyone who DARED oppose their god and savior, Bush, and his wondrous disciples, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. To disagree even on minor points was to indulge in "Bush-Bashing."

Most people don't remember this, but Bush's first few months in office were so unremarkable that most pundits didn't think he'd last past a first term. Once he and his minions had rammed through massive tax cuts for all their buddies and benefactors, Bush drifted along, musing about Star Wars and privatizing Social Security, while his evil twin, Karl Rove, moved into the West Wing and set about politicizing the entire government.

Once 9/11 happened, the Lords of the Right-Wing Air freaked out along with their paranoid political bosses, sketching nightmare scenarios, shoving wars and rumors of wars down the country's collective throat with nary a voice, except for maybe Al Franken, to stop them.

(Rembember, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them?)

When I first started prowling around, looking for sympathetic sites other than just the DNC, it was during the presidential campaign of 2004, and Talking Points Memo was just getting cranked up. HuffPo didn't exist yet. Buzzflash was already out there, along with a few others, like Media Matters. Keith Olberman had gotten underway.

And of course, Jon Stewart, God bless him.

(This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list, believe me, and I'm not providing links and specific dates because this is just an opening, not the point of the post. I'm getting there. Bear with me.)

As their first term waned, Bush/Cheney and their wars and their spying on Americans had finally awakened a sleeping giant, and the pushback came very near to unseating him that November.

(Stealing Ohio helped. But I digress.)

By 2006 the outrages had spiraled damn near out of control. From New Orleans to Abu Ghraib, there was virtually no part of this planet that had not been royally screwed by that administration in one way or another, and the Internet became, for those of us to the left of the aisle, what talk-radio and television had been for the right in the 90's.

In 2007, when the presidential campaign got underway, opposition to All Things Right-Wing was in full-throated howl, and during the contentious contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, I noticed a trend among not just pundits and pollsters and pontificators, but also among politicians--of underestimating Obama.

(Please read the whole thing, it's amazing)

[BlooInBloo]

1. Bad link.... And yes, that's a great article...

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/deanie_mills/2009/07/the-art-of-underestimating-oba.php

So many money quotes, but here's one:

"But he didn't run for president so that he could spend the next four years running for president, as Bush did, and four years after that trying to lock in Republican power in all three branches of government.

He ran to govern.

Governing is tense and messy but good governing gets results. Those who underestimate Barack Obama do so because they are writing a dramatic narrative in their heads that he does not fit, and so they dismiss him."

[Political Tiger]

2. A must read! Highly recommended! n/t

[HopeOverFear]

3. the article is soooooo long otherwise I would've posted the entire thing

I think maybe throughout the day I'll post highlights from it

[suzie]

4. Yes, do.

[HopeOverFear]

5. Here's another great snippet

When South Carolina's dimwitted senator, Jim DeMint, made the mistake of chortling on-mic that if the Republicans could "shut down" Obama on health care, it would be his "Waterloo" and would "break him," Obama was quick to respond in a rapid-fire soundbite, that health care was not about HIM, not about politics, but that it was "breaking American families."

Look at headlines on blogposts or op-eds, and already they're talking about how Obama is "struggling," how this is make-or-break time, how the plan is "unraveling" and how this titanic battle could bring down the ship of state.

It makes good drama. Makes a good story. I used to tell good stories for a living. I understand the power of sustaining suspense, of keeping the reader breathlessly turning pages until the big climax.

We are a nation who loves our heroic narratives and our high drama, whether it be so-called "reality TV" or sports or the latest political contest. We like competition and suspense. We like to see the good guy win and the bad guy stomped.

And in recent years, we like to express our opinions, loudly and often. That's fine. It's democracy as it was meant to be.

But none of that, ultimately, has a whole helluva lot to do with President Obama and how he governs. Like most pragmatists, he understands that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and that in any compromise, everybody is going to be a little bit disappointed. The more set in your views, the more disappointed you will be.

[HughMoran]

6. I can see the drama being written as we sit here reading DU

"and then just when it seemed like all forces were amassed against him, President Obama..."

I do get a little annoyed at the headlines and discussion here that takes this drama a little too seriously, though I think most of us here realize that all the negativity is just part of the plan.

[HopeOverFear]

8. it's gonna make one hell of a movie, my friend

:rofl:

[HughMoran]

10. I've already reserved a copy of the DVD

:P

[chill_wind]

7. The memory in this passage really jumps out (and still makes me ill):

Dionne makes an excellent point in his piece, that Democrats were pretty much battered and bruised under 12 years of Republican abuse. When you have a respected Democratic congressman who left two legs and an arm in the jungles of Vietnam and ran the Veteran's Administration under President Jimmy Carter--Max Cleland--get attacked in political ads for not being patriotic enough, and DEFEATED because of it, then you have only a HINT of the kind of battering Democrats in congress were accustomed to when they first tentatively took over in 2006.

Some of them have not held positions of power for many years, and some of them never have. Some are still intimidated by right-wingers who once pummeled them in the polls.

"The only things fellow Democrats...have to fear are the fears and insecurities bred into them when they were a battered minority," writes Dionne. "Obama is free of those doubts because he never knew them."

[HopeOverFear]

9. this is it right here...

"The only things fellow Democrats...have to fear are the fears and insecurities bred into them when they were a battered minority," writes Dionne. "Obama is free of those doubts because he never knew them."

[Spazito]

11. I haven't finished reading this but...

I just had to take a pause and post this stand alone sentence because it encapsulated my feelings which, until reading it, I could not put that feeling into words:

"It's kind of like the difference between, say, an old Vaudeville variety show...and Cirque de Soleil."


Now, back to reading what is turning out to be, imo, a MUST READ link.

Thanks for posting this, it is much appreciated!

Recommended.

[Phx_Dem]

12. Best post I've read in ages! Thanks for sharing.

Love this part, among many others.

There are other ways Obama is often underestimated. The fact that he is willing to listen to all points of view--even encourages this--is often mistaken as a sign of some kind of weakness, as if he has no core values of his own and must try on others to see if they fit.

There is no weakness in considering all points of view, adopting those that are the most pragmatic and workable, and discarding those that are not. But in the end, it is one man who makes the decisions, and it's a mistake to think that he somehow lacks the strength of character to stand by those decisions.

[Kid Dynamite]

13. One underestimated point that goes unmentioned

everyone entirely underestimated how little he would do as the economy burns. From the perspective of the 500k/mo newly unemployed and the 3.5 million losing their home this year..how could he possibly have done LESS? Its staggering.

There are 30-40 million people who are destitute and "waiting on the stimulus" while Wall Street makes off with trillions.

[nolabels]

14. There might be a couple of other things also being missed

The left has to spend much less energy fighting dimwitted republicans because they can't operate out of the Whitehouse. Secondly the dimwits will try to continue with their ways because they once used it as a winning strategy. The right fractured it's own movement by trying to divide others.

As for us living at the left, the water might seem as clear or crisp but what did you expect, it's a community pool and several hundred have just jumped in :shrug:

[scheming daemons]

16. Welcome to DU

:eyes:

[HopeOverFear]

22. eh, put him ignore and K.I.M. (Keep It Movin')

;)

[Boomerang Diddle]

15. KICK!

:fistbump: :headbang: :fistbump: :headbang: :fistbump:

[scheming daemons]

17. I've been saying this about Obama since August of 2007....

....

Not as eloquently, mind you.


Everyone keeps underestimating the guy... and they will continue to get burned.

[FatDave]

18. The stuff about Huffpo. Olbermann, Stewart, et al....

I've been saying that for years. It's only been recently that we democrats and liberals have had avenues for getting our messages out. The right got to spout their claptrap unanswered for a couple decades. It's remarkable the progress we've made in just a few years, but then our message has the advantage of not being pure bullshit.

[livvy]

19. knr This is long, but a good piece.

I agree. Be sure to read the whole thing. It's worth it.
Thanks for posting.

[Kind of Blue]

20. It is truly an amazing piece. I'm so sick and

tired of reading the bashing from both sides. It's unbelievable that so many buy into the GOP's "Magic Negro," when Obama is managing a full blown disaster and doing it well.
K&R, baby!

[SunsetDreams]

21. K&R for a MUST Read! Thank you for posting :)