Obama's Halo Fades at High Speed

       The past week has shown evidence of some cracks in the 'Obama as Godhead' theory.  Ole Barry has done a near perfect job thus far, masterfully handling the PR of the bank stress tests, passing a monstrous fiscal stimulus package, moving swiftly to shut down Gitmo and end torture, and picking a very qualified Latina Sup Court justice. His crowning achievement at this stage: dominating four Somali pirates on a fiberglass life boat surrounded by a massive fleet of U.S. Navy battle ships (note: he didn't actually fire the shots).  With his NAACP speech last night, he's further solidified the end of the era of the two stooges of racial politics in America: the very Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Give the guy credit, there's no doubt that Obama has been a highly effective and in many ways, visionary, president during his first 6 months.

       Yet there's no doubt that he is stagnating.  It was inevitable, even the nastiest win streaks come to an end, and the administration was bound to fall short of expectations or produce a snafu eventually.  The president is forthright and exceedingly honest (in the political sense): he doesn't try to play games with the American people, something that alone will get you far in politics (both Clinton and Bush played farcical games with the public).  And you'd be a fool not to call his agenda revolutionary, though perhaps slightly misguided at times.  His primary fault is ambition.  Especially in regards to time, as he's trying to move monumental climate change and health care legislation through Congress at the speed of a Mag LEV train.  In addition, I fear a storm might be developing in regards to Iran.  Over the next three days I'll do a write up on each of these three issues where I think Obama is starting to lose his edge.

       Though I experience extreme pangs of dislike for Republican Party Chair-blackman Michael Steele (mainly because he's not down with the hood) I think his speech accusing Obama of experimenting on the economy with healthcare reform is unusually on point.  Disregarding the kindergarten level rhetoric and complete lack of policy details in Steele's speech, it is true that Obama's October deadline is not only absurd when talking about a $trillion  bill meant to revolutionize a sixth of the American economy, its uncharacteristically stupid of him.  The second 'Great Communicator' should understand that healthcare reform is a debate that should play out in public over a period of time.  Such a complicated and multifaceted issue can't be finished by October, at least not responsibly.  And it won't.  The same goes for cap-and-trade. Haste makes a shitty bill that won't solve our problems, and they are certainly pressing.  

       Obama is losing political capital playing NASCAR on Capitol Hill.  He also has been serially embarrassed by the CBO.  A major story I think the Republicans and the press are dropping is the lack of stimulus coming out of the $787 billion Obama recently signed.  It was horribly designed, especially because most of the money will be spent over the next few years on pet projects that do little to stimulate.  Only 24% of the spending will take place by the end of 2009.  We seem to be experiencing a turn around in economic data, not attributable to the stimulus in any way.  The sad part is that some fools are calling for a 2nd stimulus (I wouldn't completely rule it out but let's wait and see, this thing could be over in 6 months).  Obama should consider canceling some of the spending outlined in the bill, especially since long-term national debt will be the next economic shitshow.  Its a sad day when we have to take macroeconomic stimulus lessons from the Chinese.  Here is a great article from Robert Samuelson on the stimulus. 

       I'll drop some posts on the two super bills over the next few days.