NYT reporter already mapping out Obama's failure
January 12, 2009 8:55 am ET by Eric Boehlert
Reports Politico:
If his stimulus plan "doesn’t work out, he may very well be a one-term president,” said [the Times'] Jeff Zeleny, who covered Obama’s campaign. “It’s hard to imagine that he could be reelected if the economy’s in the exact same position four years from now.”
Funny, we don't recall any Times reporters suggesting Bush would be a one-term president days before his inauguration. But of course we do remember lots of reporters and pundits announcing that Bill Clinton had failed in his first month in office.
Note the double standard?
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It is more than hard to imagine how Mr. Obama could be re-elected if we are in the same position we are in today...and why should he be if that is the case.
Everyone wants and needs Mr. Obama to succeed because it is not just his success but the survival of our economy.
However, this reporter was rather factual in his observations....anyone who does not get it should not even have a drivers license as they don't have the common sense to be allowed to drive on the open road.
Marynyc - You missed the part about the double standard ... Punditry in the NYT and Politico are pushing these stories already before Obama has even taken office that Dems are in dissaray, Obama is doomed to fail and he is being challenged by left & right.
It seems the country has been in a tightly-controlled locked room for the past 8 years where no discourse in public is allowed. Nor is it acceptable to challenge your own party.
Therefore, the double standard is that whenever any sniff of a challenge or issue to tackle occurs, already before even innauguration day, the press is putting headline stories that Obama may be a 1-term president, while Bush was not labeled as such.
Also be sure to check out the same way that the supposed liberal media pushed the same quick failure stories on Clinton in 1993.
Of course George W. Bush would have been a one-term President, had not his "good friends" and business partners attacked the U.S. on September 11 2001, murdering 3,000 Americans, and as a result of that act of POLITICAL TERRORISM, rallying a traumatized nation (and Congress) to George W. Bush, granting him unparalleled Presidential powers and a blank check drawn on the U.S. Treasury, in the name of defense contractors and defense spending...
And of course a second term.
And so what is it now that stands in President Obama's way, as an obstacle to his success as a U.S. President?
He has to convince millions upon millions of Americans to loosen their purse strings again, and start spending money they don't have, and incur bills they can't pay, and blow up the capital markets baloon again, inflate the dang thing to 10,000 NYSE Index points (rupert murdoch now owns that Dow Index you know), to 13,000 20,000 50,000 who cares so what...
That's not the measure of the American People's Health and Welfare and Safety and Protection anyway: and so it's not the measure of President Obama's service to those People.
President Obama will be as successful a President the American People have ever had, if he can Protect them from the world's (and the United States') newest most powerful POLITICAL WEAPON: the terrorist attack.
And in Protecting us from such terror and loss of life, the President should never neglect the pursuit of JUSTICE (investigation and retaliation) for any attack future, as well as past...
Of course, George W. Bush achieved no such thing as Protection for us, or JUSTICE either, in the case of what his "good friends" and business partners had license to do on 9/11: license from him, for those unparalleled powers and spending mentioned, and for a second term...
But sure, President Obama is already a failure, despite having not yet served a single day as President to the American People.
And George W. Bush slides out the back door, leaving so much blood and loss of life (and loss of treasure) to be suffered by the American People during his terror-marked tenure.
He gets out of jail free, just like his "good friends" and business partners did.
It's simple.
If the Obama stimulus plans fail it is hard to imagine, as this reporter stated, how he could get re-elected.
If the voters give any republican the time of day just 4 years after all this, I will seriously leave the country. It cannot be more obvious. Republicans cannot govern under any circumstances.
Sure, its early in the day to predict a failed administration. But it is also sure that Obama has been alienating many of his backers. Remember he still had 44% of the voters against him. All he has to do is to convince his core constituencies to stay away from the polls in 2012. And he is in a fair way to doing so.
Chris Herz
And who has he alienated? Nobody. The man hasn't taken office yet. Has no power, and hasn't alienated anyone. He may actually pick up MORE republicans next time, mostly because he's trying to work very hard across party lines, and doing so pretty sucessfully so far.
I love all of this doom and gloom, even before the man takes office. Let him get in the chair first before predicting his demise...
Eric, you're comparing apples to oranges, at least if you're really comparing Obama to the outgoing president. Bush II didn't inherit a mammoth recession froom Clinton like Obama is from Bush II. Nor did Bush II propose a mammonth, risky stimulus package as president-elect like Obama's doing now. THAT'S why you didn't see any pre-inaugural predictions of Bush's re-election chances by the press.
Old W was on the podium today talking about how he inherited a recession from the previous administration (it wasn't, but that's OK George is a little fact challenged anyway), not to mention that sock puppet was talking about how strong and robust our economy was a few weeks before the bottom REALLY dropped out...
I don't really see how it could get worse under Obama after his first 4 years.