"I reiterated my commitment to getting the START treaty done during the lame-duck session," Obama said, noting that Congress returns next week for its postelection session
Personally, I don't think the President is doing all that bad a job. Certainly not perfect, far from it, but I think we can all agree we need a little bit of the 2008 Obama back. Back then, Obama was only good at speaking, right? Now he seems to be much better at the other stuff, governing.
If you take a good look at what's happened these first two years, it seems pretty clear that Obama knows how to solve this country's problems. For the most part, he's actually had his priorities straight the whole time. His failures have all be political. And that's why we got weak health care, a weak stimulus, DADT kicked down the road, etc. Just imagine for a moment the GOP didn't exist. No politics to deal with. What would have happened then? Imagine if everything Obama brought up, everything he wanted to do, was passed. What an amazing two years this would have been. I bet we'd even have some single payer!
My point? Nearly everything thing that's gone wrong, everything that should have passed that didn't, every Obama disappointment, has been a political screw up, usually because Obama either failed to defend a progressive agenda or else he didn't even have a chance because of GOP obstructionism.
That's why we need Obama the campaigner back. We need once of his classic campaign home-runs. A Reverend Wright Speech turnaround if you will. I think the moment is now for Obama to seize on an issue and stand his ground. To use his political wit to back the GOP into a corner. He needs to make a speech that captures our attention and allows him to get back on track and put some wind in the sails.
There is no better time then upon returning from his overseas trip.
The way some tell it, Obama's trip didn't go so well. But even if that's true, does that really matter? During the campaign, Obama seemed to thrive at many of his worst moments. One man's failure is another man's opportunity. Obama just needed to flip the whole issue on its head.
I think he can do that now. He's just got to get up there and tell us why he went, what he did, and what he hopes can come out of it. He can use this opportunity to sell America on his ideas, for foreign policy and the economy, as this trip certainly involved both. And then, he can turn to something tangible. And make a real sales pitch for a legislative goal, and put the pressure on the GOP.
The START treaty, which has been pending in the Senate for months, would reduce the limit on strategic warheads to 1,550 for each country from the current ceiling of 2,200. It also would set up new procedures to allow both countries to inspect each other's arsenals to verify compliance.
I can't think of a better one for Mr. Obama. Nuclear non-proliferation. Here we have one of those classics. If Obama stands up and does nothing, the GOP will scream "weakness!" reducing our nuclear arsenal? But if Obama comes out swinging, he can instead make this an issue of national defense. To protect America, we must reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world. Obama needs to frame this debate.
And while he's at it, why not use this opportunity to explain how we can fix our economy and make our nation stronger and safer by reducing the waste in our defense budget and modernizing our military.
The treaty has drawn resistance, principally from minority Republicans.
Really? Surprise. But go on the offensive, make this your issue and not theirs, and you can frame this debate and make them scared to vote against this. Make the GOP the party of the weak on defense.
That's all I got. But one, more thing, just a little note to the AP:
The GOP already has set afoot an ambitious legislative plan of its own for the new Congress that convenes in January.
Repealing legislation isn't exactly an "ambitious legislative plan."