Mark Halperin has a post up at The Page called, "10 True Things About President Obama His Opponents Are Wrong About." Let's see if these "truths" are actually true.
1. He will not pressure Israel into some deal that will undermine its security That depends entirely on how you define security for Israel, and also on whether Israel allows itself to be pressured. Would Obama deliberately try to undermine Israeli security? I don't think so. But his naivete & incompetence on foreign policy could pose a threat.
2. He will not push for a health care plan without regard for cost savings. Oh please. What nonsense. Anyone who thinks there will be any "savings" through a massive expansion of government is a complete idiot.
3. He is not captive to his party's liberal interest groups. Just because he might occasionally fail to please a particular interest group doesn't mean he isn't heavily influenced by them. What has Obama done to show he isn't in lockstep with unions, for example? He's as captive as possible without being actually controlled by them.
4. He is not captive to liberals in Congress. True, he has his own agenda.
5. He has a ferocious political operation that is thinking clearly everyday about avoiding a nomination fight and about re-election in 2012. That certainly appears to be true.
6. He cannot be rattled by the right-wing Freak Show echo chamber. Is that supposed to be some sort of deep insight? It's also pretty stupid. Obama can probably be rattled by certain attacks no matter where they come from -- just like anyone else. It would depend on the particular attack.
7. He is a free marketeer. In the sense that he's not a socialist or communist, yes. In the sense of actually believing in free market principles, obviously not. Halperin is either being willfully blind or intellectually dishonest.
8. His hold on his supporters (including those in the press) is firmer than even Reagan's was. That may be true. There are plenty of Obama-worshipping fools out there.
9. He will not hesitate to use force to fight terror. Nonsense. He'll hesitate as much as possible. The evidence indicates that his first instinct is empty talk.
10. He likes a lot of Republicans. There's no reason to think that he doesn't. Politicians often have friends across the aisle.
Re: #9: He's not likely to fight something whose very existence he denies. We don't have "terror[ism]" anymore. Only "man-caused disasters." I think that means FEMA is going to take care of everything.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the one exception to that seems to be Afghanistan. But even there they are going to be reading terrorists rights now.
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