Eugene Robinson: Pres. Obama must put action behind his rhetoric

[bigtree]

01/26/2010

It's ironic that President Obama could never be convincing as populist in chief. He had a modest upbringing - his family was on food stamps for a time - and he needed scholarships and loans to pay for his fancy education. He is no stranger to the struggles of everyday Americans.

By contrast, George W. Bush was born to Old Money and raised amid great wealth, privilege and power. Yet Bush was able to project an Everyman folksiness that made people forget his patrician heritage. Obama just doesn't give off that guy-next-door vibe. Even if he were to roll up his sleeves, loosen his tie and start talkin' like his predecessor, droppin' his final g's left and right, nobody would buy the act.

So I hope the White House pays no attention to the critics calling on Obama to cultivate a more populist image. Regaining the political initiative will be a matter of substance, not style - and also a matter of passion.

Bringing in David Plouffe, the architect of Obama's brilliant election campaign, is a smart move that will surely help the president deliver his message more effectively. But part of that message has to be a clear sense of Obama's bottom line. It's not enough to use variations of the word "fight" more than 20 times in the course of relatively brief remarks, as he did Friday in Ohio. At some point, he needs to - metaphorically, of course - actually slug somebody.

I'm not talking about perceptions here. The point isn't that Obama should be seen slapping opponents and obstructionists around as a way of demonstrating his presidential alpha-maleness. It's that if Obama's agenda is as vital and necessary as he says it is, the White House should make its actions match up with its words . . .

read more: http://www.presstelegram.com/opinions/ci_14274415


related:

November doesn't need to be a nightmare for Democrats
by David Plouffe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012204216_pf.html

[TomCADem]

1. Love Eugene - Constructive Criticism!

Eugene is correct without engaging fatalism or over the top rhetoric.

[scheming daemons]

4. A lot of DUers could learn from this. *THIS* is how you criticize the President...

...especially when he is on your side of the political divide.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

2. Yay, Kick and Rec for Eugene Robinson.

I love Eugene Robinson. One of my favorites evah.

[Major Hogwash]

3. That Robinson guy is a real braniac, ain't he?

Oh, well, we voted for the rhetoric, what the hell.

[bigtree]

9. who? This guy?

Post columnist Eugene Robinson wins Pulitzer Prize
Robinson received journalism's top prize for his columns about the presidential campaign of Barack Obama
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/04/20/daily15.html

[BlueJac]

5. Obama took the word "hope" and made it just another 4 letter word.

[Karmadillo]

6. This is ridiculous. Obama does put action behind his rhetoric. It's just that the action contradicts

the rhetoric. That's not surprising because the very point of the rhetoric is to distract us so that we don't notice the action. The increasing failure of the Obama administration can be measured by the degree to which liberal Democrats are now ignoring the rhetoric and, instead, objecting to the action. This is good and necessary if we are to salvage the situation, but, depending on how much one had invested in believing the rhetoric, also painful.

[tblue]

7. If only his actions matched his words on something other than this freeze sbd

the Afghanistan war.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[depakid]

10. "At some point, he needs to - metaphorically, of course - actually slug somebody."

There's a long list out there of worthy candidates....