Obama. Get some backbone!

Who exactly is running this show? Because right now the GOP seems to be leading the President by the nose. They complain and Obama seems to take heed. They whine about not paying taxes being terrible when half of their caucus was up to their neck in the Abramoff scandal.

Integrity can be a double-edged sword. If you swear by it too much, it can come back and bite you. Obama seems more concerned about polishing his bipartisan credentials than getting anything serious done. The GOP has decided that he’s a liberal that they have to block while the President has decided he wants ‘cross the aisle’. Those two concepts aren’t compatible. He has to abandon this bipartisan obsession now or see his critical first hundred days go up in smoke.

The GOP must be loving this moment. Far from being hustled into obscurity, they’ve been courted and coddled. First, Obama genuflects to the GOP house caucus and gets nothing, then he nominates Judd Gregg for Commerce, after Richardson, a superb public servant gets dumped. And meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is demanding that the President get the Democratic caucus in order if he wants bipartisanship. The gall of that is stupendous, but does Obama respond with the derision it deserves? No, he jumps to it.

Things are getting out of hand. Obama needs to remember who he is. He’s a Democrat, elected by Democrats to bring real “change” to this country. Or was his election mantra just another clever slogan?

Obama – The Time to be Unpopular is Now

Obama is all about popularity. But he forgets that popularity is least important after you’ve just won an election. He went out of his way to court the GOP on his stimulus bill, and despite an awful lot of bipartisan BS, not one voted knuckle-dragger for it.

For a President apparently more politically savvy than most on arrival in the White House, he let himself down badly. He forgot that Bipartisanship BS is only meant to be trotted out for winning elections. After they’re over, you kick the losers when they’re down. But Obama’s flaw is that he hates the idea of being hated. So instead, the President got an earful of whining from the GOP who had ample opportunity to diss the plan, and Obama ends up looking like an unconvincin blowhard, after only a week on the job.

The lesson of the day is pretty simple. The GOP is more right-wing, doctrinaire and disagreeable than ever. They’re MO is very simple. If the President had ignored them they would have bleated on that nobody listens. If the President gives them the time of day, they give him the finger. Neither apporach is without costs, but the former is a far better alternative, considering that right now Republicans are more discredited than at virtually any time since Roosevelt.

Politics is not a pretty business. It never was and it never will be. The sooner Obama realizes that the better, because right now he’s at risk of becoming a victim of his own magnanimity. Most kids learn it in the school yard. There are certain people that are just dangerous to be friends with. Obama apparently missed that memo.

Obama Just Can’t Get Enough Love

i want to be loved...

Obama is leading like a President who wants to be loved. In case he hasn’t noticed, he’s about as loved and admired as anyone can be without levitating.

It’s time to try something a little different. Like leading.

This morning the President announced that he’d ordered the EPA to ‘review’ the block on California’s strict emission regulations.

Everybody knows what that review is going to do. It’s going to remove the block on California’s strict emission regulations. By delaying he just gives his enemies a chance to rally their lobbyists.

Last week, Obama met with GOP house leaders and asked for their input on the economic stimulus package.

Everyone knew what was going to happen. The GOP did give Obama their input. It consisted of a single finger. With America on the brink in so many respects, we really don’t have time to chit chat, especially with a Republican party that’s on the verge of marginalizing itself. What they say isn’t important. We need to ignore them. That will make them look even more truculent and outmoded than ever.

The trend here is simple. Obama wants his enemies to be his friends. That’s very sweet, but it’s going to get frustrating real fast.

I’ve been hearing an awful lot of talk these days about how Obama is using bipartisanship as a Trojan horse to get good policies through the quagmire.

Not going to work. There isn’t a quagmire. We run the show. With the help of Senators Spector, Collins, and Snowe, and a strong whip in the Senate, we have total filibuster-proof control. The days when preventing the tyranny of the majority are gone. Bipartisanship is only good when the other side agree to what you want to do your way.

Now is not the time for offering compromises. We won. They lost. It’s our turn to lead. And if the people don’t like it. They can vote us out next time.

It’s called democracy.

I once directed a feature film. The experience taught me more about leadership than anything I’ve ever done. These are the rules; 1. Keep your mouth shut unless it matters. 2. Be decisive. 3. Keep it brief. 4. Never ask for advice. Keep your game face on. 5. Forget about being liked.

Great film directors are not nice people on set.

Presidents are always on set.

The True Power Of Charm – Obama’s Killer Smile

Barack Goes Nuclear

Obama’s got it. McCain don’t got it. Bill Clinton had it. Sarah Palin can’t spell it.

It’s 2008’s special sauce.

Charm.

If there’s one phrase that can truly chart Obama’s rise to glory it’s charm offensive. He never gets angry, he never gets mad, he always forgives, he’s always polite. In about three years time Obama’s charm is going to drive us all nuts, but right now, it’s the best way as “That One” would describe it, to get things done.

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but I don’t for one minute think that Obama really believes all that bipartisanship BS he keeps spouting. It’s great to get you elected, but it’s a terrible way to run a country.

Bipartisanship = BS

There’s a grand tradition of Bipartisan BS in the immediate aftermath of an election campaign. The vicious attacks are soon forgotten, and the talk of “unificating” and “coming together” take center stage. The press dutifully lap up all the talk because they can’t see beyond it. To his credit, Obama went further than most by actually making bipartisan BS actually part of his campaign. But let’s face it, a smart politician like the President-Elect will say anything to get elected.