Chris Christie: WTF Has The SCOAMF Been Doing With His Me-Time?

The spin, as Christie relates it, is that Obama stayed away from the SuperCommittee because he knew it was doomed to failure. So, that's a reason for taking a month off or something.

Obama actually doesn't claim that. Or I haven't heard that spin. He claims instead that he would not have been helpful in the discussions, because, he claims, the Republicans are so partisan and so want to deny him a "win" they will automatically gainsay his arguments.

But that assumes that he's there to take the side of Democratic congressmen and just pitch new arguments in favor of the Democratic congressional (campaign) agenda to Republicans.

True, if that would be the extent of his involvement, it's useless. Obama is not, as he believes, some kind of amazing persuader. He's invested a lot of ego in the proposition that he can convince people of the rightness of progressivism if he can just jawbone them for a while. It doesn't matter how much this is disproven; believing this is central to his conception of himself.

But why would Obama -- supposedly the President of everyone in America, not just the president of the Democrats in Congress -- assume his only role was to play quarterback for the Democrats? Why would he not assume that as President of the whole country he is also tasked with prodding his own party towards a compromise?

The answer is obvious: Obama and the Democrats have nothing to run on, so they'll be running against the "Do-Nothing Republicans" and on Mediscare. That is their only plausible path to victory, so they're making sure nothing gets done, and they sign no agreements involving Medicare.

Rating agency Fitch has put US credit on a negative outlook, indicating a greater than 50% chance it will be lowered from AAA to AA in the next two years, on news that the US failed once again to address its long-term, and long anticipated, financing crisis.

posted by Ace at 11:16 AM

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