Obama's Long Game

Andrew Sullivan - a liberal pundit - wrote recently in The Daily Beast

"How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics" check it out.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/andrew-sullivan-how-obama-s-long-game-will-outsmart-his-critics.html

If you choose not to plow through Sullivan's piece, the essence of what he is saying is that the majority of voters will eventually see the light on the President's accomplishments and therefore the merits of hanging in with Obama's long game. The article outlines the typical liberal argument that Obama has saved the Country from a depression - has created millions of jobs - captured Bin Laden - stopped wasting money in Iraq and therefore has done most of what a Republican president would have done. He does not mention that Obama's (nonexistent) budget calls for making America look like Europe in the next 10 years and that his failure to support a strong dollar will make us a 3rd rate economic power. Nor is there a single word in his piece acknowledging that there are 13 million unemployed Americans whose only hope is to find a job in the private sector - which the President hates with a passion because we are not supporting his "principles of fairness".
A Blog follower wrote asking to know the counter arguments to Sullivan's key points that appeal to liberals whose view will carry the election. These are underlined below - followed by the Blog's counter argument - printed in bold.

They (meaning most liberals) miss, ------"the simple scale of what has been accomplished on issues liberals say they care about":

A depression was averted. No basis, in fact, to support this statement - no way anyone could possibly know this - this is a classic case of the President and his supporters repeating a message until it becomes a fact. It is fact that the actual crisis moment occurred on Bush/Paulson's watch - yet you don't hear either of these guys beating their chest about who "saved us". Private sector success and failure occurs on the watch of every President - it is ludicrous for any President to claim credit for creating success ( e.g. jobs) or averting failure. This point is THE key question to be decided in November - are the ups and downs of economic cycles primarily controlled by the government or by the private sector?

The bail-out of the auto industry was amazingly successful.  There is not an ounce of fact to support this point unless the majority of the voting public agrees that success is measured by saving jobs at well above global competitive wage rates. That is the liberal's definition of "amazing" success - not an ounce of evidence to support that the majority of voters believe this. GM and Chrysler - just like every single airline - could have gone through a bankruptcy proceeding and come out with new management and competitive wages and pensions. Furthermore - GM and Chrysler are dead losers in financial terms - which in a free market is the normal indicator of "success". The original preferred bondholders were washed out in the bailout in favor of the employees and the common shareholders - a travesty of justice - and the taxpayers will never recover its investment on either of these companies. The Chrysler equity investment was sold to Fiat at a $1.3 billion loss!! GMC stock is selling at 60% below the taxpayers cost - no one believes that any private investor will ever buy back that investment at $59/share.

Even the bank bailouts have been repaid to a great extent by a recovering banking sector. Again - there are no facts to support this statement - we only know the amount of loans to the Banks that have been repaid - the huge amount of dollars printed by the Federal Reserve to bolster the banks' reserves have never been disclosed. We will never know the complete truth.

The Iraq War - the issue that made Obama the nominee - has been ended on time and, vitally, with no troops left behind. Defense is being cut steadily, even as Obama has moved his own party away from a Pelosi-style reflexive defense of all federal entitlements. This is true - but the final outcome of these actions in terms of having a stable Arab ally is unknown. If all hell breaks out in Iraq as a result of them embracing Iran as an ally - and the oil supply is halted to the Western world - then we will know the rest of the story. Bottom line: it is too early for Obama to declare victory on this and - if all hell breaks loose in Iraq before the election - the issue will become fodder for the swing voters.

Under Obama, support for marriage equality and marijuana legalization has crested to record levels. This is a liberal priority and pleases Obama's base - there is zero evidence to support the 'fact' that the majority of the voters care.

Under Obama, a crucial state, New York, made marriage equality for gays an irreversible fact of American life. It is utter nonsense for Obama to take credit for this action.

Gays now openly serve in the military, and the Defense of Marriage Act is dying in the courts, undefended by the Obama Justice Department. No comment - who cares?

Vast government money has been poured into noncarbon energy investments, via the stimulus. Agreed - but what is the return on this investment? Check out this post:

http://wealthcreatesgood.blogspot.com/2012/01/when-will-we-awake-from-obamas-bad.html

Fuel-emission standards have been drastically increased. I checked the web and can find no evidence to support this statement - therefore doubt it is true. Maybe he means fuel efficiency standards. If so - every administration in the last 30 years has 'drastically increased' these standards and the fact is that the automobile companies have NEVER met the standards. This is a never ending political game - the gov't sets new standards - time passes - the standards aren't met - the auto companies get a waiver from the gov't - the standards are thus meaningless.

Torture was ended. Who has defined "torture"? Who was "tortured"? Polls show that the majority of Americans believe that waterboarding is not torture.

Two moderately liberal women replaced men on the Supreme Court. This is only important to liberals - who represent only 30% of voters - the rest of the Country believes that judges should be chosen on the basis of merit. .

Oh, yes, and the liberal holy grail that eluded Johnson and Carter and Clinton, nearly universal health care, has been set into law. Not a single poll has ever indicated that the majority of Americans want universal health care. There is no evidence that supports the premise that 'universal health care' improves the lives of Americans.

Politifact recently noted that of 508 specific promises, a third had been fulfilled and only two have not had some action taken on them. To have done all this while simultaneously battling an economic hurricane makes Obama about as honest a follow-through artist as anyone can expect from a politician. Absolute drivel!!