Morning Jay: Obama Is Just Plain Bad at Politics

If Gerald Ford had uttered any of these ridiculous comments, Chevy Chase and the Not Ready for Primetime Players would have had a field day. Yet somehow Obama manages to get a pass. The latest example of his free ride can be seen in this AP article on Obama’s deficit speech. Nowhere does it mention that this is the president’s second stab at a deficit reduction program this year. This CNN article grudgingly concedes as much, but puts the complaint in the mouths of Republicans (emphasis added):

To Republicans, the Obama stance is an about-face from his own 2012 budget proposal released in February that called for no significant reforms to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that contribute the most to growing deficits. 

None of this should come as a surprise. Obama has been demonstrating his political tone deafness since he emerged as the frontrunner in early 2008: his comment about how “bitter” rural Pennsylvanians “cling” to guns and God, how Hillary Clinton is “likeable enough,” the “vero possumus” seal, the arrogant trip to Europe that summer, the grand Barackopolis, and the weirdo artwork. All of these were politically short-sighted comments or images that the media intentionally overlooked. When you get right down to it, Obama hit his high point at Iowa’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner in November, 2007. It’s been downhill ever since – with one verbal gaffe or policy misstep after another.

Of course, the media overlooking all this stuff does not make the problem go away. And the proof is in the pudding: the right can’t stand him, the middle has abandoned him, and now even the left is criticizing him out in the open.

Let’s face it: this president is just plain bad at politics.