President Obama Doesn’t Care What We Think About His Golfing
 |
Morning Jolt August 22, 2014 President Obama Doesn't Care What We Think About His Golfing After that brutal New York Daily News cover Thursday afternoon, hitting him for going golfing right after his remarks about the beheading of an American, President Obama responded Thursday afternoon . . . by going golfing. President Obama doesn't care if the optics are bad. He doesn't care if there's an awful contrast because U.K. prime minister David Cameron canceled his vacation plans. He doesn't care if he's getting grief from once-stalwart fans like Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd. He doesn't are if congressional Democrats are openly griping about his lack of interest and disconnect in the New York Times, and he doesn't care if senior Democrats are declaring that he's completely checked out of his presidency other than attending fundraisers. He doesn't care what any of us think.
There are times when resisting the cries of the crowd can be an act of courage. It is brave to stay true to your own conscience and judgment in the face of howls of outrage. Paraphrasing that old saying, "One man with a conviction is a But I'm not sure "I'm entitled to this time off, and I don't care what anybody says," is the right line to draw in the sand. And we've already seen what happens to President Obama's other red lines. It's not just the number of rounds of golf. It's that Obama's actions subsequent to his bold words demonstrate that he doesn't really mean anything he's saying. Back when I came up with the "All statements from Barack Obama come with an expiration date, all of them" rule, my aim wasn't quite to say Obama is a pathological liar. (Admittedly, you're free to draw that conclusion from the record.) In many cases, Obama probably meant what he said when he said it . . . but then, at some future point, keeping his word became difficult. And he conveniently forgot about his pledge. For example, Obama was probably perfectly fine with the idea of accepting public financing and its attached spending limits in 2008 until the moment he realized or was informed he would be giving up one of his campaign advantages. So he came up with some nonsense about how his campaign's fundraising success amounts to a "parallel public financing structure" and thus he didn't need to accept the spending limits. Most of us look at that and say, "Hey, you broke your promise." Obama would pat us on the head and tell us it's complicated. He likes to tell us, and probably himself, that he's a pragmatist. He's just looking for what works, and keeping a promise that now looks disadvantageous just doesn't "work," or, to use one of his hackneyed phrases, "just doesn't make sense." He's got a country to fundamentally transform. Omelettes, broken eggs, etc. He hand-waves away the little detail that he's proven himself someone willing to break his word in order to get what he wants and in fact is echoing all of the "cynical voices" he campaigned against his whole life. You recall Obama's exhausted "we will not rest" pledge, deployed after every crisis. Even when he gives a decent delivery of his remarks, like he did Wednesday, talking about how relentless and determined the U.S. government is . . . afterwards, it's back to the links. There's no action that follows; no emergency meetings or summits, no new deployment of military resources to the region. Business as usual. Does anyone really believe his pledges of relentlessness anymore? Does the Islamic State? I suppose someone will say, "The president golfing shows the terrorists can't shake him out of his routine." What's so vital about that routine that an interruption of it constitutes a terrorist victory? Finally, the New Hampshire Senate Race Gets Interesting This is pleasant news for Republicans, but not entirely surprising. Yes, this poll could be an outlier, but . . . Scott Brown's a good retail politician and is keeping up a busy schedule up in New Hampshire.
Obama won 51–46 in 2012, with that higher turnout of a presidential year, so a decent Republican candidate — and I think a case can be made that Brown is better-than-decent candidate — should be in at least the low to mid-40s.
In a country in a sour mood, particularly souring on Obama, how much will the electorate break against Democratic incumbents? Oh, Look, More Insurance Cancellations in Colorado! Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, you may want to go back to bed:
You'll learn to love it, Colorado! You'll learn to love it! Among those 340,000 cancellations? Representative Cory Gardner, the GOP candidate for Senate: I'm sure that some of those 340,000 would like to help contribute to Gardner, but they have to pay for their new plans right now. ADDENDA: A cute moment as Democratic Senate candidate Rick Weiland refers to his Republican opponent as "soon-to-be Senator Mike Rounds." It's a bit early to concede defeat, but he's taking it well! Join the 500-plus NR Post-Election Cruisers who've signed up for a glorious week with over 3 dozen conservative all stars, including VDH, Allen West, John Yoo, Ralph Reed, Jonah, Rich, Mona, Jay, Tim Pawlenty, Fred Thompson, Jon Kyl, and many more. Click here for details. To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com
National Review, Inc.
Manage your National Review subscriptions. We respect your right to privacy. View our policy. This email was sent by: |
Comments
Post a Comment