Following the Republican gains in the 2010 midterm elections, many conservatives have already been writing the political obituary for President Obama. The same kind of obituaries were written about President Clinton following the Republican tide in the 1994 midterms. However, up until this point, no serious commentator has suggested that President Obama should quit. However, now The Washington Post has graced us with an op-ed piece that seriously suggests that President Obama should not run again in 2012. According to the writers, President Obama should adopt "Palin patriotism" by quitting for the good of the country.
The op-ed piece purports to be from Democratic strategists who are simply giving President Obama some friendly advice. They argue that if President Obama runs for office, the next two years will be filled with politics. The result, they argue, will be a country that suffers from gridlock. Instead, these "Democrats" argue that the President should do the "right thing" by announcing he will not run in 2012. These "Democratic strategists" are actually paid commentators for Fox News who rarely, if ever, actually advocate for Democratic causes. Most of their commentary on Fox News is spent agreeing with someone like Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly when they go over the most recent controversy.
Besides the questionable nature of the source, there are a number of other problems with the argument made in the op-ed piece.
First, if the reasoning of the piece really does hold true, then it should also apply to elected Republicans. If the writers are really concerned about removing the politics from Washington, then future-Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should both announce that they will retire after 2012. In fact, every elected Republican and Democrat should simply announce their resignation so as to remove any hint of partisanship. Curiously, these writers do not make the same "quit now" recommendation for Republicans that they make for President Obama.
The truth is that every elected representative is concerned with politics, and they should be. A representative democracy is ultimately built upon the idea that the elected leaders be responsive to public demands. President Obama should be concerned with what the public thinks about him ahead of his re-election bid. Some of the worst presidential behavior (i.e. infamous pardons) actually come about when presidents are no longer concerned about re-election.
Secondly, the piece from the writers pretends that politics would go away if President Obama unilaterally called it quits. If the midterm elections taught us anything, they should have taught us that Republicans are emboldened by victories. The bringing down of President Obama would not encourage Republicans to compromise all of a sudden. On the contrary, they would simply try to strengthen their own political position even more ahead of the 2012 elections. Democrats also would immediately start trying to position themselves to make gains in 2012.
Finally, the writers suffer from their own logic in another way. Presumably, the writers believe that two years of "lame duck" President Obama would be a good thing. However, if President Obama won in 2012, he would serve the country the next four years with no hope of re-election, due to the presidential term limit. If the writers' reasoning holds true, the country would benefit twice as much by having President Obama's serving four years as a "lame duck" president.
Comments
The treasonous Barry Soetoro should be impeached ASAP for the good of the country and all those imbeciles who voted for him should be banned from ever voting again.
How pathetic. You liberal lame brains are so jealous and so terrified of Sarah Palin that you gratuitously slam her at every opportunity. We are laughing at you.
And, BTW, I don't remember any "obituaries" for Clinton after the historic victory in 1994.
Wait a minute.
Clinton wins, pushes leftist agenda and the country responds by ousting the Dems in an historic election.
Obama wins, pushes leftist agenda and the country responds by ousting the Dems in an historic election.
I guess there are some similarities at that.
1. Choosing not to run, is not the same thing as 'quitting'. Anything to bring up Palin...weird.
2. Who cars if he runs again. That's about as threatening to conservatives as when Carter ran again. Our eyes are now open. We won't be fooled again.
True, chosing not to run for re-election is far more honorable than walking out of a governorship in mid-term because it isn't 'fun' anymore.
As for fooled again - are you admitting you actually voted FOR Obama in 2008?
And the comparison shouldn't be to Carter - but to Clinton.
Obummer QUIT his senate seat for better things.
Palin quit her job for better things.
Go eat teabags Gigi.
Good points, and interesting how conservatives are getting mad at your article just because you do not view the world the way you do. In elections people often vote either for Republicans or Democrats, but that does not mean all Americans are conservative, or all Americans are liberal. Actually many Americans did vote for Obama in 2008, and it appears many conservatives will never let that go, just like some people are still obsessed with maligning Jimmy Carter since his term in office ended thirty years ago. Oh well, I do not go around to every article I find to complain about the conservative politicians I would never vote for.
As bad as this one is he would have to do a heck of a lot worse to be lower than Jimmy Carter.
I think Big government types like Boehner and McConnell should step aside. Heck, even I like your line of thinking where you said, "In fact, every elected Republican and Democrat should simply announce their resignation.
Ryan, I sense a change in your politics. Does this mean you are finally starting to understand how to clean up the mess called Washington DC. Your reports in future won't be nearly so interesting if you decide to step out into the light
Obama already IS a quitter! He QUIT his state senate seat then he QUIT his Senate seat.
So whats your point?
Aw trufie, even an imbecile like you should understand the difference between quiting a job because of a promotion (in this case, because of a vote by the people giving Obama the promotions) and quiting in the middle of a term simply because she doesn't like the job anymore.
If Obama quit that would leave us with...President Joe Biden? Heck, either way you slice it, it just gets easier and easier to make sure Obama is an interim Presdient, a historical footnote and precursor to the real restoration of America.
The WP article suggests that the President simply give into Republican pressure to regress the country backward to Bush-ear policies and lies from the RIGHT WING media. I feel that if President Obama was to ACT as if he wasn't running in 2012 by forgetting "bipartisanship" (just a euphemism for selling out to the Corporate Republican bullies) - he may disenfranchise some of the middle-of -the-road morons - but he will gain his BASE BACK. I know many young people that r disheartened by the difference between the campaign rhetoric and the reality of the President's first two years. Let's forget these Mad Haters and go look for a way HOME!
lol (ear =era)
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