Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Defining Obama's presidency

Theda Skocpol gets it.

[Obama] spent the last two weeks empowering Republicans -- including
negotiating with them to get more into Senate and his administration
and giving them virtual veto-power over his agenda... The country is in danger and he ran for president to solve this crisis
in a socially inclusionary way. He should be fighting on that front all
the time with all his energies -- and he certainly should give a major
speech to help educate the public and shape the agenda. That is the
least he can and should do. Only that will bypass the media-conservative
dynamic that is now in charge.

My guess is that Obama has until the end of February before the course of his first term is defined for him by the Republicans, and their Corporate-Run Media allies. He seems to be going out of his way to make it easy for them. In fact, unless he takes to the pulpit in the next few days and enlists the help of the American people, he risks being wrongly branded as Carter was. The bully pulpit is the only real shot now. With the Democrats being outnumbered by Republicans with airtime, Obama is the only Democrat that can compete on the airwaves.

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