Editorials & Other Articles

Bill USA

(6,436 posts) Tue May 29, 2012, 10:53 AM May 2012

Give ’em hell, Barry - E.J. Dionne, WaPo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/give-em-hell-barry/2012/05/27/gJQASckGvU_story.html

Progressives have yearned for President Obama to follow Harry Truman’s strategy from the 1948 campaign by giving his Republican opponents hell. Now that Obama is doing just that, his critics say he’s not looking presidential.

As a longtime advocate of the Truman approach (and a fan of Give ’Em Hell Harry and his way of doing politics), I think Obama is doing the right thing. Critics of the battling style miss what Obama needs to get done in this campaign and also ignore the extent to which so many of his foes refuse to treat him in a presidential way. Far better for him to be a fully engaged fighter with passion for what he’s saying than a distant, regal figure pretending that the other side is playing by a dainty set of rules.

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To the extent that Romney can be tied to an unpopular Republican House and an obstructionist minority in the Senate, their unpopularity will rub off on him. But unlike Dewey, Romney has largely endorsed his congressional colleagues’ agenda. Obama’s task is to argue that whatever moderate sounds Romney made during his career in Massachusetts politics, these are irrelevant to how he would govern with the GOP likely to be in the congressional saddle. ...

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.....What Truman taught is that Americans would rather see a president with the strength to fight than a politician with such sensitive sensibilities that he leaves all the tough stuff to others.

Glad to see this article by Dionne. Obama hasn't seemed to grasp that there are millions of voters out there who he has confused in that they wonder if he's willing to fight for what rational people recognize as the correct policies against a 'strike force' (Orenstein and Mann of Brookings Inst. have designated the GOP as the "insurgent outlier&quot

which has turned our political scene into a battlefield, and who's only political strategy is to sabotage anything he tries to do to help our nation recover from this Republican Trickle Down-Deregulation Disaster. Delivering speeches that sound like seminars for Harvard graduate students is not the way to convince people you are ready and willing to fight for what is right ...and for THEM. We need a fighter Mr. President.

I remember the words of FDR when asked about the implacable hatred the Repulblicans had for him. His answer: "I welcome their hatred."

here's a more complete extract of FDR's comment. Notice how relevant the comments are to todays REPUBLICAN DYSTOPIA (all emphases my own):

http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/od2ndst.html

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[font size="3"]For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government.* The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! [font color="red"]Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent. [/font]

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. [font color="red"]We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. [/font]

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--[font size="4"]and I welcome their hatred.[/font]

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.

* FDR refers here tothe Hoover administration. Today we had the Bush administration, which created the largest U.S. public debt in history .... BEFORE the TRICKLE DOWN - DEREGULATION DISASTER.. and ignored pleas to tighten credit and rein in Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Banksters. The GOP answer to concerns raised by Democrats overthe exploding public debt was: "Deficits Don't Matter." Alan (Mr. Magoo) Greenspan fought efforts to regulate Wall Street and to rein in Predatory Lendrs (see Predatory Lenders Partner in Crime.)

FDR was a leader who could be a diplomat, but was not afraid to fight the forces of ignorance in our society on the political battlefield. Please take note Mr. President, sometimes you can't get something worthwhile done, without offending some people.
But take heart, Mr. President. If you fight for what's right. The people will be with you. We will man your army.