Daily News: the consensus—the Democratic consensus—is that Obama’s not up to the job

Amazing. It’s not just a minority view any more; it’s not just a conservative or Republican view any more; it’s become the conventional Democratic wisdom. Thomas DeFrank, Washington bureau chief of the New York Daily News (a paper whose main readership consists of municipal-employees union members) writes:

WASHINGTON—President Obama is running out of time to remedy a threat far more lethal to his political survival than a cratering economy—a growing perception he just isn’t up to the task.

A Daily News survey of party officials, campaign strategists and political consultants reveals that Obama is perilously close to being tuned out.

“People simply don’t have much confidence that the President has either the experience or the credibility to make a difference in the economy,” one of his most stalwart supporters told The News.

“He has until the end of the year to persuade them otherwise, or he’ll be a one-term President.”

Friend and foe alike believe his speech to Congress Thursday is Obama’s last best chance to reverse his downward spiral and offer swing voters reason for a “second look” before attitudes harden.

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Jim C. writes:

I don’t agree with the article’s premise, that a speech can redeem Zippy. Zippy is over his head because he is not cognitively prepared to manage complex things like the American economy, and expecting either Zippy or his handpicked minions to offer any viable solution is quite frankly laughable. Zippy is done. Long live affirmative action.

LA replies:

I think you lessen the force of your argument by making it purely a matter of Obama’s cognitive abilities. Ideology also has a great deal to do with his inability to get on top of things.

Jim C. replies:

I agree, but you should concede the point that Zippy’s adherence to flabby, discredited redistributive and stimulative economic paradigms reflects his intellectual inferiority.

LA replies:

I’d like to be agreeable, but how can I concede the point, when people who are much more intelligent than he adhere to those same paradigms?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 07, 2011 08:33 AM | Send