Milbank's latest bowel movement embraces that embodiment of light and human progress, Rahm (or as Milbank swooningly calls him Rahmbo -- oh yeah, what a stud this dwarf is) Emanuel. Milbank begins by declaring that it is now "the current fashion" to call for the removal of Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, in light of the state of total political disaster in which the President currently finds himself. (And we know how hard the Milbanks of the world always fight against the current fashion). Exactly what is that state of disaster? When Barack Obama entered office 13 1/2 months ago, he, the Democratic Party, Congress, and "progressivism" were riding high, in both polls and historic expectation. Why not? The country was being ripped apart by several major disasters at the same time, it was in revulsion against all things Bush/Cheney, the Democrats had stronger majorities in both houses than at any time since Richard Nixon was stealing the White House silver, and the man just elected was blessed with extraordinary political gifts and likeabilty.
Now? It is to laugh. Obama's poll numbers are the lowest ever recorded this early in a President's first term. The positive numbers for Congress and the Democrats are at about the same level as those of the New Jersey Nets. Democratic Senators and Representatives are quitting and running for the hills en masse. MSM commentators across the dial are predicting this November's midterms could break all records for an in-party's smashing.
Where oh where went?:
Card check
Cap-and-trade
Health care reform
An Iraq withdrawal
The closing of Gitmo
A wind-down of the Afghan war
Immigration reform
The Consumer Protection Agency
Financial reform/hearings/trials/prosecutions
Torture reform/hearings/trials/executions
Everything the Adminstration ran on has been denied or scotched, as Obama "leads" ever further to the right. Yet that anti-fashionista Dana Milbank thinks the problem is Obama hasn't been enough of a greasy sell-out and coward -- he hasn't listened or followed enough of Rahm Emanuel's precious advice.
Obama's first year fell apart in large part because he didn't follow his chief of staff's advice on crucial matters. Arguably, Emanuel is the only person keeping Obama from becoming Jimmy Carter.Keeping Obama from becoming Jimmy Carter? Carter is the Michael Jordan of Presidents compared to ObieRahm's first year -- a man with many valuable Congressional accomplishments, along with brokering the still-active peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. It was only after Carter turned to the right, losing his 1976 base and opening the door for a 1980 Ted Kennedy primary challenge when things began to fall apart. (Iran being the final nail in the coffin.)
[Emanuel] understands the congressional mind, in which small stuff counts for more than broad strokes.Yes, he understands it about as well as the Captain of the Titanic understood icebergs. Nothing of significance has passed a Congress in which the incumbent held -- until Rahmbo's twiddling turned Massachusetts on its head -- overwhelming, filibuster-proof majorities in both houses; while accomplishing nothing in so-called "bipartisanship" with Republicans.
Obama's problem is his other confidants -- particularly Valerie Jarrett and Robert Gibbs, and, to a lesser extent, David Axelrod.The Three Stooges, no doubt. And no defense can be made of the political effectiveness of these people. However, there are many incompetent stooge-worthy names in the Administration. Yet Milbank just happens to select the three most liberal (or least-reactionary) members of the team.
The president would have been better off heeding Emanuel's counsel. For example, Emanuel bitterly opposed former White House counsel Greg Craig's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year, arguing that it wasn't politically feasible. Obama overruled Emanuel, the deadline wasn't met, and Republicans pounced on the president and the Democrats for trying to bring terrorists to U.S. prisons. Likewise, Emanuel fought fiercely against Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to send Khalid Sheik Mohammed to New York for a trial. Emanuel lost, and the result was another political fiasco.'Course the other possible option for Obama -- the winning option -- would've been to actually LEAD on these issues, instead of tap-dancing and letting others (Rahm Emanuel) define the debate. And both are constitutional issues, the LAW, in which Obama and Holder had no choice. (But they went ahead and broke the law anyway). And aside from the fact that campaigner Obama promised he would close Gitmo and move the Mohammed trial to New York.
Obama's greatest mistake was failing to listen to Emanuel on health care. Early on, Emanuel argued for a smaller bill with popular items, such as expanding health coverage for children and young adults, that could win some Republican support. He opposed the public option as a needless distraction.That needless distraction -- the Public Option -- is by far the most popular of the long list of items Obama sold out on in this debate, all the sell-outs recommended to him by Emanuel. And now the failure to pass any sort of genuine health care reform will be Barack Obama's political tomb.
The president disregarded that strategy and sided with Capitol Hill liberals who hoped to ram a larger, less popular bill through Congress with Democratic votes only. The result was, as the world now knows, disastrous.Up is down, black is white, right is most certainly left. Not only did Uncle O. not side with "Capitol Hill liberals" (all eight of them), he went out of his way to secretly form the Blue Dogs (while whining about them in public) in order to block any threat of a runaway progressive House. Since Milbank does nothing but kiss insider ass all day long, he knows this. He just assumes you don't.
One more shot at liberal Valerie Jarrett.
Contrast Emanuel's wisdom with that of Jarrett, in charge of "intergovernmental affairs and public engagement" -- two areas of conspicuous failure. Jarrett also brought in Desiree Rogers as White House social secretary; the Salahi embarrassment ensued.Oh, no -- the Salahi embarrassment! Sure ranks up there with skyrocketing unemployment, the ideological emasculation of the Democratic Party, the explosion of the Tea Party, the niggerization of Labor, and the destruction of all hopes for comprehensive Wall Street reform.
Robert Gibbs has his turn.
Then there's Gibbs. It's hard to make the case that you're a post-partisan president when your on-camera spokesman is a hyper-partisan former campaign flack.Translation: Robert Gibbs is not a reactionary. Perhaps Rahmbo's Israel-Firster fellow-traveler Ari Fleischer is available.
No wonder Emanuel has set up his own small press operation and outreach function to circumvent the dysfunctional ones that Jarrett and Gibbs run.He has? Does Barack Obama know this? Is Dana Milquetoast's column, pray tell, its first product? But there is a piece of actual news amidst the Beltway pimping.
The failure of the president's message also reflects on his message maven, Axelrod, who is an adept strategist but blinded by Obama love. A good example was Obama's unproductive China trip in November. Jarrett, Gibbs and Axelrod went along as courtiers; Emanuel remained at his desk in Washington, struggling to keep alive the big health-care bill that he didn't want in the first place.And there it is. Barack Obama's Chief-of-Staff was sabotaging the bill behind his boss's back. Thanks, Dana. Now back to your only real talent: licking boots.
