Eleanor Clift & the Endurance of Bush-Hatred
Former President George W. Bush has long been the all-purpose bogeyman of Democratic Party and their various echo chamber in the mainstream media and left-of-center blogosphere. They blamed all manner of woes on him during his tenure his office, ran against him in 2008 (even though he wasn’t on the ballot) and his successor continues to blame his difficulties on him.
Now, Newsweek columnist Eleanor Clift tells us, he just ”isn’t blaming George W. Bush enough.”
Obama inherited a big mess, and people are frustrated that he hasn’t fixed the economy. Counseling patience together with a show of resolve and determination helped President Reagan weather the storm in his first midterm election under conditions remarkably similar to today. Unemployment stood at 10.8 percent when voters went to the polls in November 1982, and Reagan’s numbers were 49-47, almost identical to Obama’s (50-47).
One key difference: Obama hasn’t done as good a job as Reagan of blaming his predecessor. Jimmy Carter for years served as the GOP’s version of Herbert Hoover while Obama let George W. Bush slip away into the ether, a former president so invisible that he might as well be in a witness-protection program. Bush’s upcoming book, Decision Points, won’t be released until a week after the November election, reinforcing the GOP’s decision to keep the unpopular president out of the mix in the midterms.
(H/t: CampaignSpot.)
Seems Ms. Clift is using the poll most favorable to the president and she’s forgetting that we’re not yet in November. Polls could still go down. Also recall this, Ronald Reagan’s economic plan, while enacted in 1981, didn’t kick in until 1983. The Gipper never promised us unemployment would remain below 8% within six months of the passage of his tax cuts.
And then there’s this and let me quote Ms. Clift again to emphasize something she said: ”Obama hasn’t done as good a job as Reagan of blaming his predecessor.” Emphasis added. Please, Eleanor, please show us where after January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan blamed Jimmy Carter for the mess he inherited. Indeed, see if you can find him blaming his the then-defeated incumbent between November 4, 1980 and his inauguration ten weeks later.
Folks like Ms. Clift really can’t let go of their obsession with George W. Bush nor their misunderstandings of Ronald Wilson Reagan. So fixated have they become on the immediate past president that they think all will be made well (in their psyches at least) if they keep reminding themselves people how horrible, no good and very bad he really is was.
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I’m sure he did it a few times, but not nearly as much as Obama has in the last two months. Remember, Reagan still had to work with Democrat majorities in the House, and at various times, in the Senate. Obama? He’s free, for now.
Uh oh…. Is that racist?
Comment by Sonicfrog — July 14, 2010 @ 1:12 pm - July 14, 2010
Sonicfrog, great point about the Democratic congress Reagan had to deal with. While the buck should always stop with the person in the Oval Office, especially after more than a year in office, Obama, unlike Reagan, has really had no opposition capable of stopping his agenda. Obama’s gotten pretty much everything he wanted with respect to policy but he and his allies in Congress and the media pretend they have been powerless to change things.
I really do hope Democrats continue to blame Bush. I am afraid that they will realize Americans want accountability rather than blame and actually start campaigning in a reasonable way, but, well, I’m not that afraid.
One thing I would say is that we should expect to see Democrats running against Palin. I’ve already seen an ad against the presumptive GOP candidate for governor here in Minnesota for being Palin-endorsed. That may not work in some states, but it probably isn’t that bad a strategy for Democrats in a state like Minnesota. I’m not sure it will work, even here, but I do think Republicans do need to be able to deflect such an attack.
Comment by chad — July 14, 2010 @ 1:35 pm - July 14, 2010
Left-liberals seem to have an oddly ‘declarative’ view of the world. They seem to think they if they simply declare a thing, that makes it so. It must be all that convenient, but worthless post-modern gibberish on ‘narrative’, semiotics and ‘critical theory’ which makes them think it.
In this case: Reagan didn’t blame his predecessor, as Dan points out. But reality did. That Reagan’s predecessor sucked ass, was virtually impossible to deny. The American people merely proceeded to perceive reality correctly. Reagan did not need to blame his predecessor.
Obama, on the other hand, sucks ass in his own right. Obama’s policies, not Bush’s, are to blame for today’s non-recovery from the 2008 recession. No amount of Obama blaming Bush or engaging in the right spin campaign or whatever, will change that. Again, the American people correctly perceive reality.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 14, 2010 @ 1:46 pm - July 14, 2010
Liberals simply won’t, won’t, won’t say Obama is a bad President, possibly the worst President ever. He’s black. He can’t actually be incompetent because affirmative action has proved that blacks are fully the equals of whites in every respect. Except for Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and Clarence Thomas, who are Uncle Toms and House Slaves. But Obama represents every black person besides those three. He must be the greatest President ever because he was supposed to show all us racist folk how wrong we were to support a woman for President (or VP). He’s not the worst President, despite the war in Afghanistan, the economy, the oil spill, and all that stuff which is Bush’s fault. So stop saying that!
I look forward to the day when some prominent liberal pundit comes out and says, “OK, I give up–Obama really is a crappy President.”
Comment by Ashpenaz — July 14, 2010 @ 1:57 pm - July 14, 2010
Some liberals have done that Ash, you seem to be a little behind. (Unless you’re just game-playing your meta-point again, that your favorite liberals are actually, really, somehow conservatives. Which of course they are not.)
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — July 14, 2010 @ 2:22 pm - July 14, 2010
So this guy cheats on his wife and gets caught many times. When she is packing her bags to leave him, he thinks to himself “I guess I haven’t done a very good job communicating how much I love her”
The Democrats don’t have a problem with PR. Their problem is that they keep doing bad things and everyone sees that. Explaining better won’t change that.
Comment by John — July 14, 2010 @ 2:48 pm - July 14, 2010
Poor Carter. He was bad, but he did try to do some good things. Late in his tenure, he did decide to try and reign in federal spending, and sent a pretty lean budget to the congress. Problem was, politically, he had already lost their confidence. They had no intentions of parring down any of their porky pet projects. What Carter wanted was, and still is, anathema to the Democrat Party.
Comment by Sonicfrog — July 14, 2010 @ 2:50 pm - July 14, 2010
Re #6:
So this guy cheats on his wife and gets caught many times. When she is packing her bags to leave him, he thinks to himself, “Wow, that last guy she dated before me really messed her up!!!”
Comment by Wesley M. — July 14, 2010 @ 3:13 pm - July 14, 2010
[...] Eleanor Clift & the Endurance of Bush-Hatred [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » Bush-bashing: left’s favorite pastime? — July 14, 2010 @ 5:54 pm - July 14, 2010
I’m not sure what you’re problem is with Ms. Clift’s statements – she’s very correct about the blaming; It’s possible she’s saying it somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I find it interesting she mentions Bush in a big way, but neglects to mention that Bush and his supporters blamed Clinton for years for any ills that came their way. This of course given that Clinton was president during the biggest expansion of the American economy and did much more to counteract terrorism that Bush did prior to 9/11.
Comment by Kevin — July 15, 2010 @ 1:06 am - July 15, 2010
@ #10
Please show one instance where Bush and supporters blamed Clinton.
As an outsider we get plenty of press reports and not once did I see Bush blaming Clinton… not even the fact that he messed up capturing Bin Laden did Bush blame Clinton.
Bush did not go around the world bashing Clinton, let alone bashing the USA to other nations.
Now I am not a Bush supporter, as I am totally neutral on the man, but I would indeed blame Clinton for the attacks on the WTC. Yes, I do blame Clinton, not because of actions in Bosnia, which was Bin Laden’s motivation to get people to do the dirty work, but because of his weak response to two bombing incidents – the first attack on the WTC plus the Oklahoma bombing. (Timothy McVeigh was there but so was John Doe2 who looked suspiciously like Hussein al-Husseini). By not following through and covering up the facts Clinton showed Bin Laden that he was weak. That was when the 2nd attack was planned.
Yet, Bush never uttered a word of blame because the attack happened on his watch.
On top of that I never heard Bush make any remarks about the state of the economy when Clinton left office….
So stop with the lying and man up a bit… the poseur in the White House is extremely childish with all of this blaming.
Comment by straight Aussie — July 15, 2010 @ 6:16 am - July 15, 2010
Elenor Clift is a permanent resident in ObamaLand; she’s trying her best to find employment for Rainbow Brite since Obama took over her land for himself.
Comment by Sebastian Shaw — July 17, 2010 @ 11:45 am - July 17, 2010
11: How far back do the archives of this site go? Frankly, it’s when I started looking at the site where first found supporters who loved to bash Clinton – DOMA & DADT come to mind pretty easily. And, as we all know, the Republican controlled White House/congress did a brilliant job of reversing those Clinton mistakes, didn’t they?
Well, you’re wrong on blaming Clinton for 9/11. Look at the anti-terrorism initiatives that were begun/expanded after the frist World Trade Center bombing. Look at how Bush & Co. ignored the warnings given them by members of the Clinton administration as Clinton left office, as well as warning signs for over 7 months.
As far as Obama blaming Bush – on the one hand, he’s dong hat a huge number of people in this country (and throughout the world) have been doing for many years. On the other hand, I firmly believe that it’s what the president and his administration do that is ultimately the real test.
Comment by Kevin — July 18, 2010 @ 1:40 am - July 18, 2010