Said the President at a campaign rally/fundraiser for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds:
He pointed to massive financial challenges and an exploding deficit he said he inherited from Republican President George W. Bush.“That was gift-wrapped and waiting for me,” Obama said. “I don’t want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking.”
Source, KOLD: In Virginia, Obama says US needs pragmatic leaders.
Video clip here:
I concur that a lot of the mess that the current administration has to deal with was made before January 20, 2024.
However, the line above about the opposition not doing a lot of talking is campaign language, not governing language. Yes, it was made at a campaign event, but Obama is not currently running, he instead has to govern and suggesting that the opposition ought to be quiet isn’t an appropriate thing for a President of the United States to be saying. It is anti-democratic in tenor and counter-productive vis-à-vis dealing with said opposition. People who are told to shut and get out of the way rarely do either, and instead are prone to become more vocal and difficult to deal with.
I will say, however, that the sentiment expressed has likely been felt by every president who assumed power after defeating the opposite party (and probably by some who followed a co-partisan). Still, it isn’t kind of thing one ought to say out loud.
Rather than seeking for the opposition to be quiet, one ought to seek a way to best their arguments, which given the unfortunate quality of argumentation coming from the GOP these days, really shouldn’t be that difficult.
h/t for the video clip, OTB.
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August 8th, 2024 at 9:15 pm
I thought there were 2 things interesting about this speech:
1. This wasn’t off the cuff remarks. He was speaking from a teleprompter. Supposedly this speech had been written and approved by the usual staff folks before it was given. I understand that it needed a little red meat since it was a political event. However with the tension around the country right now it seems like this was a particularly bad time to give lines to tell folks to shut up.
2. It’s obvious that this is the environment he likes. You can tell the parts of the job that Obama likes. Earlier in this speech (not in this clip) he talks about bipartisanship, about working with Republicans, etc. In that part you want to check his pulse to see if he’s still alive. When he gets to this part he gets his swagger going, the cadence is much more predictable, almost musical. This is the part of the speech he enjoys — the in-your-face style of politics that he learned in Chicago.
The “what he likes vs. what he doesn’t like” was on display in the health care news conference a few weeks ago. To the health care questions he gave predictable boring answers. No hand gestures, very little facial expression. When a reporter asked about Gates suddenly he was in the zone. The hand gestures were more confident, the smile was there, suddenly he was talking about something he knows and enjoys talking about — race.
It’ll be interesting to see how he does in the next few years when dealing with issues out of his comfort zone. If he can force himself to care about stuff like military force levels, trade agreements, and agricultural bills he’ll do much better than the current trajectory.
August 8th, 2024 at 10:31 pm
He seems determined to undermine his appeals for bipartisanship, country not party, etc. Could also be said that he is deliberately turning up the wick.
August 9th, 2024 at 6:31 am
Isn’t it ironic that the policies of a man who campaigned on his ability to bring the country together seem to be having the opposite effect?
August 9th, 2024 at 7:28 pm
Well, I suppose he needs to do more campaigning before he can do more governing.
There is nothing “anti-democratic” about suggesting that a party that won substantial majorities in the last election ought to be able to govern like a party that won substantial majorities in the last election.
Maybe it is “anti-American,” but only in the sense that American institutions are fundamentally anti-democratic, as in non-responsive.
And for that reason, you may be right that Obama’s statement is counter-productive, but that only underlines the problem I am referring to.
Sometimes I think that Obama is doomed to fail–through no fault of his own.
(And yeah, I am just offering now another version of myself –referring to the thread up a bit on health insurance reform).
August 9th, 2024 at 7:58 pm
There is nothing “anti-democratic” about suggesting that a party that won substantial majorities in the last election ought to be able to govern like a party that won substantial majorities in the last election.
I don’t disagree with that. The part I don’t like is the whole suggestion that the opposition ought to be quiet.
I do take the point about American institutions and responsiveness.