Obama’s Remarks on Budget Deal Shows What He Thinks of Americans

posted at 8:11 pm on April 9, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Moonbats ]   

A corollary to Barack Obama’s ridiculously high opinion of himself is his low opinion of the rest of us—the American electorate. By almost anyone’s lights, the president had his head handed to him last night. The budget agreement he and the Democratic leadership affixed their signatures to could very well be a death warrant for ObamaCare, a program the president has already paid dearly for in political capital. His “compromise” on spending cuts—he wanted to freeze spending at current levels, Republicans wanted to slash $61 billion—will cost him even more as his base gradually wakes up to the reality that their fearless leader has once again caved to a stronger opponent.

You might think following the battering he took, especially after his chest-thumping earlier in the week, that the president would appear chastened. Instead he did what he always does when he gets kicked in the pants. He attempted to play up the bruising defeat as a personal achievement. In his midnight remarks while the cameras rolled, he bragged of “making the largest annual spending cut in our history.”

The question is, Who does he think he’s fooling? He treats the electorate as though they are children and he’s the wise parent. He believes if he tells them that his accidentally running over the family pet with his car is a good thing, somehow they will believe him.

Indeed maybe some of those who voted for him do buy into his bouts of self-congratulation following personal setbacks. But their numbers seem to be dwindling. Even a staunch supporter like arch-liberal Ezra Klein is catching on to Obama’s not terribly persuasive sleight of hand. Klein writes in today’s Washington Post that the bargain reached last night

wasn’t even in the middle. It was slightly center-left. But you would’ve never known it from President Obama’s encomium to the agreement.

Klein goes on to berate the president and Harry Reid for high-fiving over what was clearly a victory for John Boehner. Making rare sense, Klein goes on to say:

The Democrats believe it’s good to look like a winner, even if you’ve lost. But they’re sacrificing more than they let on. By celebrating spending cuts, they’ve opened the door to further austerity measures at a moment when the recovery remains fragile. Claiming political victory now opens the door to further policy defeats later.

But for Obama, admitting defeat remains an unthinkable option. One can only wonder how his concession speech will read in the event he loses the election in 2012. How long will it be before his most ardent acolytes even know he is no longer commander-in-chief?

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• Why ObamaCare needs to be repealed, not tweaked

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