Storified by Brian Empric· Mon, Mar 18 2013 18:27:23
“There's an increasing sense in America now that the facades are intact but the machinery inside is broken.”
“The jobless rate, officially 7.7%, is almost twice that if you include those who have stopped looking, work part time, or are only ‘marginally attached’ to the workforce… Meanwhile, the president is stuck in his games and his history. He should have seen unemployment entering a crisis stage four years ago, and he did not. At that time I was certain he'd go for public-works projects, which could give training to the young and jobs to the experienced underemployed, would create jobs in the private sector and, in the end, yield up something needed—a bridge, a strengthened power grid. He instead gave his first term to health care. And now ObamaCare is being cited as a reason employers are laying people off and not hiring, according to a report from the Federal Reserve.”
“Right now his attention has turned to dinner with Republican senators and meetings with members of both parties on Capitol Hill. He is trying to show, after a hit in the polls, that he can reach out. He's trying to convince America he's capable of making a deal.
“The new engagement may work if in the past few days the president has changed his political style, approach and assumptions. But people don't usually change overnight…”
“It is interesting that almost at the same time as the dinner the president's people had once again begun warning of doom. A blast email from Organizing for Action, signed by Stephanie Cutter, used these words: ‘Devastating,’ ‘obstructionism,’ ‘destructive,’ ‘this is real’… Their whole approach is still stoke and scare—stoke resentment and scare the vulnerable into pressuring Republicans.”
“Barack Obama really is a study in contrasts, such as aloof and omnipresent. He's never fully present and he won't leave. He speaks constantly, endlessly, but always seems to be withholding his true thoughts and plans. He was the candidate of hope and change, of ‘Yes, we can,’ but the mood of his governance has been dire, full of warnings, threats, cliffs and ceilings, full of words like suffering and punishment and sacrifice.”
“Mr. Obama is making the same mistake he made four years ago. We are in a jobs crisis and he does not see it. He thinks he's in a wrestling match about taxing and spending, he thinks he's in a game with those dread Republicans. But the real question is whether the American people will be able to have jobs… He's missing the boat on the central crisis of his second term.”
“Thus, he invited a gang of Republican senators to din-dins at the swank (and legendary) Jefferson Hotel, one of the city’s more discreet (and expensive) gathering places… Indeed, the president picked up the tab, a gesture of generosity or, one might speculate, a tiny deposit on a big investment, the returns of which are already rolling in: the media extrapolation that the president is extending an olive branch to his adversaries in search of a solution.”
“Not to be cynical, but does anyone really suppose that a Republican representative or senator is going to go against the party because Obama gave him a call?”
“It was nothing but a PR move,” says one seasoned insider. “Obama wants to run against obstructionist Republicans. The fact of the matter is, unless something really bad happens, there’s no reason for [Republicans] at this point to cave on taxes. Why would [House Speaker] John Boehner ever cave on taxes at this point?”
“Bottom line — for once a term aptly applied rather than a cliché — the only long-term deficit reduction involves serious entitlement reform, which everyone knows and Democrats don’t want to do... Republicans simply are not going to budge on taxes without real entitlement reform.”
“Democrats will run against those terrible Republicans who refused to raise taxes. Republicans will run on the Democrats’ record of no-growth and out-of-control spending, assuming, that is, they can figure out how to effectively communicate the message that no-growth is connected to Obama policies.”
“Why do presidents get in trouble in their second terms? They think they have a mandate when they don’t. They believe they’re stronger politically than they really are. They’re convinced they can get away with things other presidents couldn’t. They think too highly of themselves personally and act accordingly.”
“Sign number one is the sequester. It’s given Obama numerous opportunities to overreach, and he seems determined to seize all of them… Obama himself led the fear-mongering… But after the House and Senate rejected his vague plan for more tax increases than spending cuts, the president faces the temptation to further overreach and make his worst-case scenario come alive—to vindicate his dire predictions.”
“OFA (Organizing for Action) is unprecedented. No previous president had such an organization or even considered having one. It’s a kind of private political pressure group. Had President George W. Bush set one up, the media would have pounced and demanded he jettison it. But Obama has gotten minimal pushback from the press.”
“OFA is an invitation to crony capitalism and scandal… In reality, it’s a subsidiary of the White House, answers to Obama, is run by his campaign aides, and is empowered by the campaign’s vast database of supporters and Obama followers on Twitter, almost 28 million strong.”
“Obama, from all appearances, isn’t worried about serious second-term difficulties. He’s more full of himself than usual. He’s made it clear he prefers hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities to spending time with Washington’s political class. And he may be right in thinking his situation, postreelection, makes him immune to the woes of earlier presidents. But maybe not.
“It makes an enormous difference whether he stumbles badly over the next year. If the president is forced on the defensive, Democratic prospects for winning the House in 2014 will evaporate and Republican hopes of gaining the Senate will soar again. And Obama may realize he isn’t exempt from the normal workings of politics, as he once thought.”
“The big story of the moment is that President Obama has suddenly decided to talk with lesser political beings. The famously aloof President who began his second term as if the 2012 election campaign wasn't over is inviting Members of Congress, and even some of its evil Republicans, to lunch and dinner. The question is whether this is merely a tactical feint or if Mr. Obama really wants to accomplish something in the next two years and realizes he needs Republicans to do it.”
“Mr. Obama and his White House aides have made clear that their highest priority is to return Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker in 2015. He and 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina are already mobilizing donors toward that goal, and his inaugural address, State of the Union speech and budget proposals have framed the issues in a way that suggests his priority is a grand liberal finale in his last two years.
“The appearance of a new bipartisanship is perfectly consistent with such a partisan 2014 strategy. The more reasonable he appears today, the better positioned he might be to blame Republicans for failure next year. Independent voters love to see politicians working together, however haplessly, so Mr. Obama may figure he has nothing to lose by dropping his Democrats-only strategy for now. He can always sandbag the GOP again later. In particular, he'd love to carve out deals in the Senate that isolate House Republicans.”
“In my view, there’s little reason to believe that the president wants such a grand bargain—or at least that he wants it enough to jeopardize his second-term political strategy. That plan? To win back the House of Representatives for Democrats, with heavy Obama involvement, by portraying Republicans once again as extremists… Then, having secured control of Congress, the president can consolidate and build on his implementation of the progressive agenda he began in his first term and laid out in his second inaugural and most recent State of the Union Address.”
“By ‘reaching out’ to Republicans, he is attempting to position himself as the ‘reasonable’ party in Washington even if his big ask—additional revenues—is something Republicans already gave him as part of the fiscal cliff deal.”
“The president has shown little appetite for real entitlement reform over his first four years in office, aside from a tweak to the calculation of inflation on Social Security and whispers to John Boehner during the original debt ceiling talks…”
“If the White House is bragging about its unwillingness to concede on entitlement reform, the one thing that could conceivably allow Republicans to be part of a ‘grand bargain,’ how likely is it that the president is serious about getting a deal?”
“Thanks to the FOIA, the transparency issue will be widely discussed this week as journalists, non-profit advocates, academics and others celebrate Sunshine Week with speeches, news reports and features, forums, surveys and panel discussions across the country. The week is timed to coincide with the March 16 birthdate of First Amendment author James Madison, who was also the country's fourth president.”
“A recent study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found a 28 percent increase in the number of FOIA suits filed during the last two years of Obama’s first term, compared to the last two years of President George W. Bush’s second term, from 562 to 720 cases.”
“[J]ournalists and activists will keep on fighting for more official transparency because, as the Project on Government Oversight’s Danielle Brian (@daniellebrian) told The Washington Examiner, ‘it is our job to push back and crack open those closed doors that hide corruption, mismanagement and other wrongdoing.’”
“She called transparency ‘the most powerful tool citizens have to ensure government is operating ethically and effectively. Although there are some things that should remain secret, the government tends to err on the side of over-classifying and hiding behind secrecy to keep nosy citizen activists and journalists out of its business …’”
“Those who make the rules should play by them. Especially a White House that lectures the rest of America about the importance of paying your ‘fair share’ of taxes.
“So we were struck by IRS reports that no fewer than 40 aides to President Obama still owe the federal government a combined $333,485 in back taxes… This year, some 312,000 of Uncle Sam’s own employees owe the IRS a whopping $3.52 billion.”
“For all its sermons on fairness, this administration has never seemed too bothered when its own people somehow forget to send the IRS the check they owe.”
Storified by Brian Empric· Mon, Mar 04 2013 11:10:44
“[T]here is a more general sense that Obama, sleeves rolled up and taking his case to the people, wants to avoid letting Republicans up off the mat.”
“Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) said that stump-style appearances are ‘what he’s best at. It’s why he got elected twice. It is his core strength. People voted for him because they wanted him to shake things up and go in a different direction and that’s exactly what he’s doing.’”
“Obama faces the dilemma that confronts all second-term presidents. He needs to accomplish as much as possible before lame-duck status kicks in — and postpone that day for as long as possible.”
“Obama’s current strategy might not only help him advance toward those goals; it could also assist Democrats in their battles to hold onto their Senate majority and even seize control of the House of Representatives in the 2014 midterm elections… There are no guarantees that the Democrats can buck precedent, which indicates that the party of a second-term president usually loses seats in midterm elections.”
“The risk of an endless campaign is neglecting the task of running government,” GOP strategist Ken Lundberg (@newscall) told The Hill. “All the affiliated rhetoric, brow-beating and posturing will produce very few tangible results because it alienates potential allies and energizes political adversaries.”
“There is another, simpler part of Obama’s current approach, however. The president sometimes has a thinly veiled impatience with the ways of Washington in general and the idiosyncrasies of Congress in particular. Supporters and independent observers note that, temperamentally, he is more suited to the stump than to legislative sausage-making.”
“In private meetings and phone calls, Mr. Obama’s aides have made clear that the new organization will rely heavily on a small number of deep-pocketed donors, not unlike the ‘super PACs’ whose influence on political campaigns Mr. Obama once deplored.
“At least half of the group’s budget will come from a select group of donors who will each contribute or raise $500,000 or more, according to donors and strategists involved in the effort.”
“[I]t is not bound by federal contribution limits, laws that bar White House officials from soliciting contributions, or the stringent reporting requirements for campaigns.”
“The money will pay for salaries, rent and advertising, and will also be used to maintain the expensive voter database and technological infrastructure that knits together Mr. Obama’s 2 million volunteers, 17 million e-mail subscribers and 22 million Twitter followers.”
“Next month, Organizing for Action will hold a ‘founders summit’ at a hotel near the White House, where donors paying $50,000 each will mingle with Mr. Obama’s former campaign manager, Jim Messina, and Mr. [Jon] Carson [OFA’s new executive director], who previohttp://storify.com/brian_empric/monday-s-menagerie-3-4-13/editusly led the White House Office of Public Engagement.
“Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House. Moreover, the new cash demands on Mr. Obama’s top donors and bundlers come as many of them are angling for appointments to administration jobs or ambassadorships.”
“Organizing for Action appears to be an extension of the administration, stocked with alumni of Mr. Obama’s White House and campaign teams and devoted solely to the president’s second-term agenda.”
“Organizing for Action said it would accept unlimited personal and corporate contributions, but no money from political action committees, lobbyists or foreign citizens. Officials said they would focus — for now — on grass-roots organizing, amplified by Internet advertising…”
“After his electoral wipeout in November — and motivated by years of resentment that’s spilling over — Rove’s credibility within his own party is at an all-time low.”
“He’s been re-signed by Fox, which guarantees him a powerful bully pulpit going forward. But, while it might be a stretch to say he’s gone from guru to goat, he will have to spend months making a case to skeptical donors, several Republican fundraisers conceded.”
“’He’s got a donor backlash and he’s got an activists backlash,’ said one prominent Republican donor. Several people who cut big checks to Crossroads feel burned, this person said, adding some believe Rove is letting his group off too easy with his insistence that the problem last year was bad candidates.”
“A few rich Republicans have flatly rejected solicitations from Rove since Election Day, according to a GOP strategist who works with donors.”
“Nobody played more ironclad hardball than Karl for a long, long time,” said one operative. “When you don’t have all the power or cards, don’t be surprised [that] when you make mistakes … that long knives come out.”
“In the states, Republicans are governing successfully. At the think tanks, conservatives are arguing intelligently. Around the country, activists are organizing energetically. All well and good. And important. But not enough.”
“If Republicans in Congress lack the nerve to stand up to President Obama, or the moxie to do so effectively, all other admirable efforts could end up being for naught. The federal nanny state could be so expanded, its tentacles could become so much more deeply embedded in the fabric of American life, that it would prove almost impossible for the next administration, however well-intentioned, to extricate us from it…”
“It may be that resistance is less edifying than reform. It’s perhaps true that resistance is less intellectually stimulating than devising remedies. It could well be the case that resistance is less inspiring than reviving a party or rebuilding a movement. And there may well be occasions where emergencies and the national interest will call us to work with the president. But the chief duty for Republicans over the next four years will be resistance.”
“This is a moment, as we face Obama, to emphasize the superiority of conservatism’s facts even at the expense of the accusation of meanness. There will be time, in 2016, to leave the meanness behind. But fact-based resistance is needed now.”
“The British have known for centuries that it’s not enough to hope for happy and glorious days in the future. It’s also necessary, with God’s help, to act in the present to scatter our enemies and make them fall. It’s necessary to confound their politics and frustrate their knavish tricks.”
“I’m told we’re living in a Moderate Moment. After Mitt Romney lost the election, moderate Republicans started emerging from every corner of the country, from Northwest Washington, D.C. to Arlington, Virginia. It was time, they declared, for calm voices to prevail in the Republican Party. The Tea Party, the right-wing, the ‘Conservative Entertainment Complex’ — all this must be cast overboard for the GOP to win again.”
“Parker calls for a RINO uprising, a new faction on the right to counter the Tea Party. That’s all well and good. There are genuine differences of opinion on the right, and a little inward dialectic never hurt anyone… But how would her brand of Republicanism differ from the conservative base she derides?”
“Since the election, we’ve heard a lot of nebulous chatter from self-styled moderates about how the GOP must reach out to the middle class, appeal to Latino voters, change, modernize.
“But how exactly do we do that? So far the only concrete answer seems to be softening the conservative stance on immigration. But according to the Pew Hispanic Center, education, jobs and the economy, health care, and the deficit all rate as bigger concerns for Latinos than immigration. Well then, counter moderates, conservatives need to gear their message towards jobs instead of deficit reduction. But Romney talked about jobs constantly during the campaign (‘Mr. President, where are the jobs?’). And many conservatives believe job creation is directly linked to reducing the debt and regulatory burdens on small businesses. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“Beyond that one line about policy, her column is little more than a train of supercilious advice about how to distinguish RINOs from righties. Righties are ‘the fringe.’ RINOs are ‘defiantly proud, aggressively centrist and unapologetically sane.’ Righties carry ‘gigantic photos of aborted fetuses to political conventions.’ RINOs are ‘too busy Being Normal to organize.’”
“Parker’s primary objection seems to be one of culture and temperament rather than substance. Those tri-cornered-hat-wearing Tea Partiers are embarrassing all the normal and well-bred people out there.
“This is the dichotomy established by many moderate Republicans: shrill, rigid, movement conservatives on one side and open-minded RINOs on the other.”
“In reality, the conservative movement consists of traditionalists, libertarians, and hawks; politicians, writers, scholars, and radio hosts; angry and wonky, loud and soft, following in the tradition of Burke and the politics of Reagan, but disagreeing vibrantly on both issues and techniques…”
“The RINO movement consists of…well, people who say they’re RINOs. They’re pro-library-voices and anti-tri-cornered hats and pro-middle-class. Beyond that it’s hard to tell. But the left seems to approve.”
“62% of the public says the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56% think it is not open to change and 52% say the party is too extreme.”
“The Republican Party’s image has been hit hard over the past decade. In January, just 33% said they viewed the party favorably, among the lowest marks of the last 20 years. The GOP’s favorable rating has not been above 50% since shortly after George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004.”
“Republicans are more critical of their party than Democrats are of theirs on most issues. For example, 36% of Republicans say the GOP is out of touch with the American people. Just 23% of Democrats say their party is out of touch…”
“However, Republicans overwhelmingly credit their party for having strong principles; 85% say the GOP has strong principles while 13% say it does not. And 80% of Republicans say their party is looking out for the country’s long-term future.”
“Among Republicans themselves, 69% had a favorable impression (of the GOP), down from a recent high of 89% reported after the GOP convention.”
“The national party is leaderless and nearly issue-less, but besides that, is thriving and in fine fighting trim.
“It used to be that the Republicans were nasty people because they exploited ‘wedge issues,’ which was the pejorative way to describe issues that were popular with the public but made Democrats uncomfortable. The phrase has been long-ago retired. Even if it hadn’t been, it’s not clear what Republican issue it would apply to anymore.
“Once, taxes and national security were the party’s pillars, supplemented by domestic issues like welfare reform and crime and by symbolic issues like the Pledge of Allegiance and flag burning. Now, the pillars are in a state of despair.”
“The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has Democrats leading on the following issues: looking out for the middle class, Medicare, health care, reducing gun violence, Social Security, immigration, taxes and the economy. The good news for Republicans is that they lead on everything else. The bad news is that everything else is only spending, the deficit and national security.
“The problem with the deficit as an issue is that people care about economic growth more, and the problem with spending cuts is that people like them more in the abstract than in reality.”
“The House Republicans mainly have blocking power… Woe to the republic if they didn’t. But if you block things, you’re easily labeled an obstructionist and wouldn’t you know it, people don’t like obstructionists.
“Their only hope to deflect the nation a bit from its profligate budgetary path is confrontations coinciding with key fiscal inflection points…”
“Two hundred and thirty members of the House don’t have a chance against a president, let alone a celebrity. This won’t change anytime soon. It is way too early to have a presidential candidate or even a presidential field, so the party lacks a head and therefore a unified voice.”
