XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics, or.politics
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.homosexuality
My Red State colleague, Jeff Charles, has already reported on former
President Barack Obama’s recent attempted public shaming of black men
who don’t want to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, supposedly
because of their misogyny.
I would like to associate with most of his column. The one exception I
have is to this statement – “it’s the type of mistake that Obama doesn’t
normally make.”
I beg to differ. Actually, I think it is the type of mistake that
Barack Obama often made.
You know, Obama is the guy who once said, in 2008, “And it’s not
surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or
antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” And who
said, that same year, that he was going to "spread the wealth around" of
people to “Joe the Plumber.” And who said, in 2012, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
Let me stand even further athwart the conventional wisdom regarding
President Obama. His recent statement is just another example that
demonstrates that Barack Obama is, and always was, a very overrated
politician.
I have written below a list of characteristics that good candidates for political office are frequently thought to have. This list comes from my observations on American politics since the 1988 election, my extensive campaign experience since the early 90s, my long-time experience in the
Hill, and my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Political Science (it's good that I can finally use the latter for something).
According to most knowledgeable political observers, a good political
candidate is one who:
Wins most of his/her elections, including in competitive races.
Has a good appearance, voice, and charisma.
Is a good political strategist and has good political instincts.
Gives good speeches.
Is good on his feet.
Has a "moderate" record on the issues. Not too far to the left, and not
too far to the right.
Avoids saying and doing politically foolish things.
Avoids associating with shady, radical, criminal and/or controversial characters.
Is energetic and hardworking, and is certainly not lazy.
Is a good fundraiser.
Is able to stick to his/her talking points.
Can be a pragmatist on some important issues. (A pragmatist is willing
to make compromises, while a moderate tends to have moderate issue
positions.)
Chooses competent people to run his/her campaign, and is willing to
listen to them.
Is, at the very least, above average in intelligence.
Is loyal to "them that brought you."
Comes across as authentic.
Is likable to the non-political average person. You know, the “beer question.”
Now, let’s focus on President Obama and how he compares to this list:
1. Obama won his two presidential campaigns, including a competitive
primary in 2008 when he was the underdog. He won a U.S. Senate race in Illinois. And he won three state senate races. He only lost his attempt
to move up to the U.S. Congress in 2000, against a longtime sitting Congressman. However, Obama’s record is more mixed than it would
initially seem. He won his state senate seat and U.S. Senate seat
largely by playing dirty pool against his opponents, and his 2008
presidential general election victory was easy – he won in a terrible
year for the Republicans and against a bad candidate – that almost any Democrat could have done it. Nonetheless, I will officially give Obama
the check for having this quality. √
2. Obama certainly has a good appearance, voice, and charisma. √
3. Obama never impressed me as a political strategist. One personal
example, in 2007-2008, when Obama ran for president, he faced a major
criticism – he was a talker and not a doer, and as a U.S. senator, he
had accomplished virtually nothing concrete. To rectify this, Obama
pushed bipartisan legislation called the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement
Act of 2007. What the bill did was unimportant. However, instead of
doing the smart thing and being willing to compromise with the Bush administration to get this bill passed into law, Obama’s team allowed
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, a Democrat partisan if
there ever was one, to “negotiate” it to death with the Bush administration. This “negotiation” was something I attended: endless meetings where the Leahy staff berated the White House negotiators,
repeating the same allegations over and over again, and never attempted
to actually compromise on something that might get passed. Which was not
in Obama’s interest, since he wanted to brag about his passed law. ×
4. Obama gave one good speech, in 2004, which led to his presidential
run in 2008. Other than that, I fail to remember anything positively
memorable that he has ever said. But I am feeling generous, so I will
give this to him. √
5. Obama was not particularly good on his feet. He often said
unfortunate things, including the above statements, and also including
his promise: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," which
became the lie of the year in 2013. It is not good for a politician to
be caught in a lie. And here are some more ill-fated statements Obama
made. ×
6. Obama was a radical leftist who had a left-wing state senate record (including on abortion), but he got “lucky” (see above) in 2004. In
2008, his left-wing U.S. Senate record was overshadowed by the poor
economy and the war in Iraq. And in 2012, his left-wing presidential
record forced him to go negative against Romney (he’ll “put you all back
in chains”) to win. ×
7. Obama often said and did politically foolish things. See above. ×
8. Obama often associated with controversial persons. See racist and antisemite Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whom Obama sought religious guidance
from and prayed with (unlike Oprah, who wisely moved to another church).
See terrorist Bill Ayers. See convicted fraudster Tony Rezko. See racist
and antisemite Louis Farrakhan. He also associated and assisted other
corrupt individuals. ×
9. Obama was considered rather lazy, even by himself. As was said of him
in the passage of some legislation in the Illinois state senate that he
was given credit for, “He was not the nuts-and-bolts guy. He got credit
for it, but he did not put it together. This was a lot of hard work and negotiation between lawyers and law enforcement.” Indeed, much of what
Obama supposedly accomplished in the state senate was actually
accomplished by the Democrat leader who wanted Obama to be a U.S.
Senator. ×
10. Obama was certainly an excellent fundraiser. √
11. Obama had a big problem sticking to his talking points (and avoiding sticking his foot in his mouth). See above. ×
12. Obama may or may not have been a pragmatist. Left-wing sources felt
he was. But I, and many conservatives, beg to differ. =
13. Obama certainly chose competent people to advise him when he ran for
public office. See, for example, David Axelrod, who got his opponents
bounced in Obama’s race for the U.S. Senate. √
14. Obama is intelligent, although, like almost all Democrat presidents
(but not Biden), his intelligence is probably somewhat overestimated
(JFK, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Obama were all portrayed as
geniuses). √
15. Obama was generally very loyal to his own people, who returned his
loyalty. √
16. Obama came across as a leftist who was trying to conceal his
left-wing radicalism. See above. Making him inauthentic. That was also
one of the reasons his frequent voting “present” in the state senate
became an issue in his races. ×
17. Obama was considered sort of a “cold fish” who would fail the beer question. And indeed, his beer summit with Henry Gates was reportedly
somewhat uncomfortable. ×
Since, in my view, Barack Obama has more negative qualities than
positive ones, I don’t believe the conventional wisdom considering his qualities as a political candidate.
Therefore, I think Obama was, and is, overrated as a politician. And his
recent statement shows that, once again.
https://redstate.com/adam-turner/2024/10/19/the-overrated-obama-n2180777
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