The Daily Beast reports Democrats are beginning to seriously regret choosing President Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008 – and who can blame them after the president’s performance today and during the last few weeks? Throughout the debt ceiling debate, Obama has regularly swooped in to play “referee” between Republican and Democratic lawmakers but has shied away from proposing any serious debt-cutting plans of his own.
Today, Obama once again blamed partisan gridlock for blocking progress, while refusing to acknowledge any personal fault. He claimed he’s been aware of the severity of the debt problem since his first day in office. So why has he done practically nothing so far to address it? If Republicans hadn’t taken up the debt ceiling fight, does anyone actually believe Obama would have taken any serious steps to deal with the deficit crisis?
The president conceded today that “moderate” entitlement reform has to take place. If he’s known that to be true, then why hasn’t he been spearheading it? And why have his policies only added to the entitlement problem since taking office? Instead of showing leadership, Obama has tried to play the role of the impartial mediator. He offers blame for both sides but few solutions. And when his proposals fail, he ducks responsibility.
Instead of bringing both parties together, this finger pointing has only added to the antagonism between the two sides. In the process, Obama has also lost the trust of his fellow Democrats, who resent him for trying to shift his share of the blame for the gridlock onto them.
It’s no wonder disgusted Democrats have started whispering about a primary challenger to Obama. After all, if he’s done this much damage to the party’s brand in three years, imagine what he can do in eight.
Alana Goodman
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