Obama again urges voters: “Call your congressperson” (except in NY-9)

posted at 10:21 am on September 14, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Fiscal Stimulus ]   

At a political rally in Ohio yesterday, President Obama urged the crowd to “call and email and tweet and visit and tell your congressperson that the time for gridlock, the time for games is over.” It is not the first time he has asked voters to fight his battles for him, but there are few firsts left for this president.

It is hard after 32 months at the helm for Obama to deny ownership of the stagnant economy and persuade voters it is still the fault of his predecessor, so he needs to find new scapegoats. Last month he claimed that his $800 billion stimulus was working just fine and would have restored the nation to fiscal solvency had it not been for circumstances beyond his control:

We’ve weathered the Arab Spring’s effect on oil and gas prices. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami’s effect on supply chains. The extraordinary economic uncertainty in Europe and recently markets around the globe have taken a bumpy ride.

That didn’t seem to resonate with the electorate either, so he is back to Plan B: importuning supporters to contact members of the eight-month-old House majority and tell them to play nice. Never mind that it appears small and petty and weak for a president—especially one who rose rapidly through the political ranks largely due to his oratorical skills and powers of persuasion.

The bigger problem is that the job of sending supporters out to read the riot act to GOP Congress members just became more of an uphill climb. As of yesterday, there are two more Republicans to “call and email and tweet and visit,” one of them, nnotably, fresh off a victory in the special election to fill the seat vacated by the disgraced Anthony Weiner.

At some point, Obama is going to have to wake up to the stark reality that the economy and unemployment are “on him.” If he doesn’t, he will likely receive a rude awakening on November 7, 2012.

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