Miss Me Yet? Obama's Troubles Suggest That Democrats Were A Bit Too Glib About How Easy This All Is, Says... Amateur Online Webzine Slate

Slate? Slate? The amateur online webzine staffed by people who couldn't get hired by TNR?

Apparently so.

Not So Easy, Is It?

How Obama's struggles with disaster and war may be casting Bush's presidency in a more favorable light.

By John Dickerson
Posted Monday, Aug. 30, 2010, at 7:51 PM ET

In November, George W. Bush will publish a memoir, Decision Points, in which he will try to put the tough moments of his presidency into perspective. His successor is already helping. On Sunday, President Obama spoke in New Orleans to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On Tuesday, he will speak to the nation about the final stage of the Iraq war. The back-to-back events could be called the Cleaning Up Bush's Messes Tour—what many Democrats would call the entire Obama presidency so far—and yet both events highlight Obama's struggles with disaster and war, potentially putting his predecessor in a more favorable light.

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The relevant similarity between the federal response to Katrina and the BP oil spill (other than geography) is that both show the limits of the presidency and the federal government....

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Sen. Obama not only expected the surge to fail; he saw it, incorrectly, as yet another example of Bush's inability to adapt to reality. President Obama, at least, does not face that criticism. He has based his strategy in Afghanistan on the same counterinsurgency strategy that was central to Bush's surge. He's done more than borrow his predecessor's strategy—he's also borrowing his language. Of these two quotes, which is Obama and which is Bush?

A) "If I didn't think that it was important for our national security to finish the job … then I would pull them out today, because I have to sign letters to these families who have lost loved ones."

B) "If we can't win, I'll pull us out. … I'm not going to keep those kids in there and have to deal with their loved ones."

DrewM. mentions that in a recent PPP poll, independents (and all voters as a group) in Ohio prefer Bush over Obama.

We'll start rolling out our Ohio poll results tomorrow but there's one finding on the poll that pretty much sums it up: by a 50-42 margin voters there say they'd rather have George W. Bush in the White House right now than Barack Obama.

Independents hold that view by a 44-37 margin and there are more Democrats who would take Bush back (11%) than there are Republicans who think Obama's preferable (3%.)

Answer to the quote question, BTW: A was Obama and B was Bush.

posted by Ace at 03:00 PM

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