Signals: What Will an Obama Presidency Be Like?
By Chris Martin on January 16, 2009 at 11:00 AM in Barack Obama
Ed. Note: Bumped up by Susan so everyone can read it this morning. This is a guest post by a valued friend of PatRacimora, our great cartoonist.
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One of my favorite episodes of Seinfeld is the pilot. If you haven’t seen the episode, it is about George and Jerry trying to interpret the mixed signals from one of Jerry’s lady friends. I won’t spoil the end, but this clip gives you a flavor of what the episode is about:
Every time I’m asked about what an Obama presidency will be like, I think of this episode.
Why? Since the media–which led us into an ill conceived, unjustified war in Iraq (amongst other things)–has failed to critically examine Obama’s record or force clarity from him, we are really only left with a series of mixed signals.
Unlike many people, I have little interest in predicting what an Obama presidency will be like; to me, he could be anything from the best president in the history of the entire universe or he could be worse than Bush.
When I evaluate an Obama presidency in its infancy, it’s all about the signals. Rather than analyze every single act Obama has done, this post will focus on a handful of signals I noticed before Obama even won the general election. These signals largely determine the lens with which I will be evaluating the upcoming Obama presidency.
The very first signal for me came very early on, and it was the general sentiment of hostility toward Hillary Clinton and non-Obama supporters generally. (Remember the Hillary Nutcrackers showing up at Democratic events?) A candidate speaking of hope and change fostering such hostility in so many others was not a good sign. Then, after a media reluctant to attack Hillary’s character avoided doing so throughout the summer, Barack Obama and John Edwards opened the floodgates of hate by rehashing some of the early Hillary hate themes: she is “polarizing” and will “say or do anything to win.”
After giving the media the go-ahead to go after Hillary and her character, Obama and a few others, including his eventual running mate Joe Biden, attempted to thwart the primary process by trying to silence two states and 2.5 million voters.
The caucus fraud and intimidation, the bullying of Democratic leadership to prevent Hillary from even taking her case to the voters, and the RBC giving delegates earned by Hillary to Barack Obama were similarly ominous. I am very skeptical of a politician and a Party willing to engage in such undemocratic behavior. To me, it speaks to their willingness to ignore fundamental tenants of democracy in order to gain, or retain power.
Upon receiving the nomination by illegitimate means, one of the first acts of the Democratic nominee was also a bad sign.
First, Obama states that he will fight against FISA reform that gives immunity to telecom law breakers. A few days later, the Democratic nominee votes for a bill granting immunity to the telecom industry. I’ll let others debate the pros and cons of granting immunity as it is secondary to the say-one-thing-do-another approach this demonstrates.
These early signals suggest a temperament that I am personally uncomfortable with, and too similar to the worst in George W. Bush.
First, he seems content to allow hateful bigotry to be used as a weapon to defeat foes. (Let’s face it, the sexism we saw was nothing other than bigotry. See this interview with Kathleen Hall Jamieson that explains how the frames used by Obama and Edwards were clearly based on a sexist narrative. Scroll past the initial segment to get to the interview.)
Second, he seems content to throw out fundamental tenets of democracy to further his career/agenda. Finally, the soon-to-be president has demonstrated the ability to say one thing one day and do something completely different just days later.
As I discuss Obama’s steps since his November election and going forward, my commentary will be shaped by the temperament these signals suggest and the skepticism that they warrant, even of positive steps taken by Obama.
As a final note, I’ve spent a decent amount of time studying the rise of Movement Conservatives, so many of my thoughts are on how Obama’s inexperience and temperament fit into the plans of the conservative movement, even if Obama does not share their convictions or intentions. In other words, even a well-intentioned person with poor leadership can lead to disaster.
by Ronald Scott
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