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Over the last week or so, President Obama and his team have begun, to use the Westen parlance, to tell a new story. As the White House sees it, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the nation, its institutions, or even the structure of its underperforming economy. What’s broken is American politics. The economy is a symptom of a larger disease — policymakers are fully capable of addressing this and other problems if our politics weren’t so badly broken.
Don’t blame one person or one piece of legislation for what frustrates you, the argument goes; blame those who won’t cooperate, won’t work in good faith, won’t take problem-solving seriously, and won’t put country above party. In other words, the nation is struggling because of the political extremists, like those dominating the Republican Party lately.
We heard Obama push this theme pretty hard last week in Michigan, and he’s been just as aggressive on this message during his bus tour in the Midwest this week.
With that in mind, in walks Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), using borderline-violent rhetoric towards Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and casually throwing around words like “treacherous” and “treasonous.” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters today, “When you’re president or you’re running for president you have to think about what you’re saying because your words have greater impact. President Obama and we take the independence of the Federal Reserve very seriously and certainly think threatening the Fed chairman is probably not a good idea.”
As Greg Sargent explained very well this afternoon, rhetoric like Perry’s is exactly the sort of thing the White House needs to reinforce its larger message.
Here’s another reason Republican establishment figures have to be unhappy about Rick Perry’s implied threat towards Ben Bernanke: It plays into the Obama strategy of presenting himself as the “adult in the room” while elevating more prominent expressions of Republican excess or outright whackjobbery and using them as a convenient foil. […]
As Kevin Drum notes today, Obama has settled on a reelection narrative that is centered on the idea that he’s the only “sober, serious guy who’s fit to be president” in the room. He’s running against “Teh Crazy.” You can debate endlessly whether Obama is focusing his attacks too generally on “Congress” or whether he should be calling out Republicans more directly, but the overall objective is clear: Obama’s foil is Republican extremism and excess. Having the most prominent and accomplished true conservative in the presidential race suggest that a Republican Fed chairman may be guilty of treason, while implicitly threatening him with a species of Texas frontier justice — even in jest, if that’s how it was intended — can only help in this regard.
Exactly right. One of the lines I’ve heard Obama use three times in two days is, “I know you’re frustrated; I’m frustrated, too.” It’s part of a not-so-subtle effort to draw voters a picture: sensible people believe American politics is broken, and the president is on their side. The question for voters is whether someone like Obama, the grown-up who solves problems, or someone like Perry, the buffoon who accuses Ben Bernanke of treason, can be trusted to help make politics work again.
Perry is making the White House’s job much easier.
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howard on August 16, 2011 4:48 PM:
the problem is, the public wants jobs, not a discussion of relative maturity levels.
Danp on August 16, 2011 4:50 PM:
The question for voters is whether someone like Obama, the grown-up who solves problems, or someone like Perry, the buffoon who accuses Ben Bernanke of treason, can be trusted to help make politics work again.
The problem is that Obama is not and will never be the dictator who creates and enacts legislation by himself. The message should not just be Obama v Perry. It is all Dems v all Reps. And while, the Dems also have a few whackadoodles, at least they aren't a bunch of carnival barkers like virtually all of the spokesmen for the R party.
When Obama talks about how Congress has to do its job, he needs to be more explicit. The problem is not the whole body, though the rules favor the minority.
JMG on August 16, 2011 4:57 PM:
Since the voters, at least a majority of them, believe that politics should be simple and that all problems have solutions which don't involve the loss of any time, energy or money on their part, they will favor the immature, simple-minded candidate every time, especially if he caters to the psychosexual inadequacies of the white American male as Perry does.
T2 on August 16, 2011 5:13 PM:
I was listening to a news show where the thought was...."Perry said some dumb stuff, and now he'll have to start toning it down a bit".
Ha! that will be fun to watch. Rick Perry doesn't do "tone down". He's never had to because, well, he's Rick Perry the Governor...says what he wants and lets the press giggle it away. Perry will continue with the stupid outbursts because he can't help it, and even if he were struck mute, there is still his wonderful book to choose juicy quotes from. I mean, this guy pulled a gun and killed a dog that "attacked" him while he was jogging...piece of work. Fun times ahead.
bubba on August 16, 2011 5:16 PM:
I have been telling my wife for weeks now that Obama's bumpersticker slogan should be something like:
"Re-elect Obama--At least he ain't CRAZY"
Archon on August 16, 2011 5:24 PM:
Seeing him on the stump, if I didn't know better I would have thought he was caricaturing George W. Bush, that's how ridiculous he sounded.
If the terminator 2 version of George Bush is what Republican's think America wants then they are even crazier than I thought.
T2 on August 16, 2011 5:32 PM:
geez...its a gaffe per hour with Perry....apparently he bit on the urban legend about requiring drivers license to drive a tractor. At this rate, I'm wondering if he'll still be in the race by the time the actual Iowa caucus happens? And New Hampshire? They will hate him.
DAY on August 16, 2011 5:36 PM:
Nuclear trigger, as in: finger on. . .
xando foote on August 16, 2011 5:38 PM:
This appears to be the best the GOP can muster for 2012, a sad commentary for a once noble party.
Well, let's look ahead to 2016. A compelling ticket would be Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio. Let the games begin ...
Emile on August 16, 2011 5:59 PM:
"It’s part of a not-so-subtle effort to draw voters a picture: sensible people believe American politics is broken, and the president is on their side."
Not-so-subtle is too subtle for this electorate. Obama needs to use the most heavy handed approach he can find in order to reach the bored. clueless voter
bdop4 on August 16, 2011 6:58 PM:
What I'de like to know is when do we get to the point where there is an objective examination on the merits of each party's agenda?
When do conservatives have to show their math on how they would create jobs and revive the economy?
Right now, being the "adult in the room" means having to compromise with child. That's not how it works in real life.
I just read that Rep. Jim Clyburn has already conceded that there will be no discussion of increased taxes in the "super congress." Smooth move, Jim. Did Obama give you that adroit negotiating tip?
My confidence in Dems is overflowing right now. /snark
sapient on August 16, 2011 7:15 PM:
bdop4 "I just read that Rep. Jim Clyburn has already conceded that there will be no discussion of increased taxes in the 'super congress.'"
Why should they discuss increased taxes in the super congress when the Bush tax cuts will be sunset? They don't need a Super Congress for tax revenue to happen so why bring it up?
Doug on August 16, 2011 8:04 PM:
"It's part of a not-so-subtle effort to draw voters a picture: sensible people believe American politics is broken, and the President is on their side." Steve Benen
"Not-so-subtle is too subtle for this electorate." Emile @ 5:59 PM
And if the President begins "naming names" or referring to the Republican Party as the culprit, he immediately becomes "partisan" and thus part of the problem. When, or if, voters can't or won't recognize those culpable without the President spelling it out for them, THEN we can worry.
rick on August 16, 2011 9:10 PM:
Don't worry, the campaign adds are writing themselves as we speak. Obama can take the highish road and he'll let his peeps do the diry necessary dirty work.
exlibra on August 16, 2011 9:50 PM:
My husband who, 40+yrs ago, had been introduced to me as "the last gentleman of the South" dislikes strife and overly (also overtly) partisan attitudes. He can't abide the Tea Party and he thinks I'm a flaming commie. But he watches TV (Not Fox; something called "the news hour"?), which provides a nice "reality check" for me, vis-a-vis what "real America" is learning about the people I read about on the "lefty blogs".
He hasn't reached Steve's "thuggish buffoon" stage yet. But, 3 days into Perry's run, he was puzzled. "Is this man for real? He looks and sounds like a classic caricature". That's a good place for him to *start from* :)
"orlikedi 194." Have no clue who Eddy the Eaglet is, nor the meaning of the number (1+9+4? 14?). Much less why it should be so final.
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bob h on August 17, 2011 7:02 AM:
Obama got the job in the first place because he projected adult calm in the first phase of the financial crisis. Now that we are in another phase of the crisis, the same aura could attach to him again.
max on August 17, 2011 8:39 AM:
"Perry is making the White House’s job much easier."
Perry will become one of the biggest Obama fundraisers. We've seen the George W. Bush show already, and no working person can afford Act II.
E. D. on August 17, 2011 9:19 AM:
@ Danp: I thought Steve Benen's "thuggish buffoon" a wonderfully apt description, until I saw your "carnival barker." That's exactly the phrase for describing Perry. Thanks!
Lance on August 17, 2011 6:41 PM:
There may be more to this Federal Reserve issue than is apparent at first blush. Perry, it seems, has undermined the Texas Constitution and laws and their intent to make the Governor a very weak office by putting his cronies into all the supposedly 'independent' agencies of the Texas government, and now lets them be run out of the Governor's office (I doubt he put much effort himself into it).
Maybe he thinks the Chairman of the Federal Reserve should be treated in the same way (pretty ugly?).
But if so, if Perry is a subscriber to the Unitary Executive theory (even if he can't explain it), the Obama would have the perfect right to tell Bernanki to implement any policies the President wants. Why, if the Fed can give no interest loans to banks worth Trillions of dollars, why not give every American a no interest loan for $50,000?
That should kick start the economy, no?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory