President Congeniality talks tough
Calling the opposition’s stance “absurd,” Obama advised Republicans that they “have two choices here: They can act responsibly and pay America’s bills, or they can act irresponsibly and put America through another economic crisis. But they will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy. . . . And they better choose quickly, because time is running short.” …
Arguably, Obama’s no-more-Mr.-Nice-Guy approach is good politics. His first-term experience made clear that he gained nothing from Republicans when he took a passive approach. When it comes to getting things done in Washington, there’s no substitute for forceful presidential leadership. …
Yet the performance was also a reminder of why Obama isn’t noted for his interpersonal warmth — a topic Jackie Calmes of the New York Times asked him to address when she mentioned the criticism that he and his staff are insular and that he doesn’t socialize. …
That may be true, but until recent years, sharp disagreements were smoothed by personal ties. On Monday, by contrast, Obama showed unrelenting hostility toward the opposition, accompanying his remarks with dismissive shrugs and skeptical frowns.
Blowback
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Sociopaths don’t socialize, they manipulate. The Obama Campaign is now only interest is consolidating power and destroying enemies. Stooges like Milbank will start to miss all the feel good BS, but it’s too late to wise up now.
forest on January 15, 2013 at 8:39 AM
The loser spent his entire first term campaigning, I’d like to see the RNC start running ads against him. Show ads about how poorly he handle Sandy and how Libya/Mali is spinning out of control thanks to his ineptness. Now is the time to start to humiliate him. Run ads during his inaugaration showing how much tax payer money he’s spending for his party. Pile on. Every day should be ads showing his personal spending habits. Show the clip of him saying they were going to try and use stealth methods to grab the guns. Just make the point of the ads to drive obozo’s numbers in the 20s. But this is of course the GOP we’re talking about, and they prefer obozo than pursuing anything remotely conservative.
Flange on January 15, 2013 at 9:08 AM
They can act responsibly on spending first…first we need a budget so we know what bills to pay and when they are due to be paid…families, business, cities, states, countries, run on budgets…except for the U.S.A.
right2bright on January 15, 2013 at 9:16 AM
As far as I can tell, he’s been doing that all along, President of 51% of the people, hateful to the rest. Thanks for finally noticing, Mr. Milbank.
Night Owl on January 15, 2013 at 9:36 AM
I am fine with being considered the enemy.
Bmore on January 15, 2013 at 10:07 AM
Lord Barker has already proved he is a post-partisan executive by implementing the Obamacare program which passed with over 900% of the country’s approval.
In so doing he saved the lives of 15 trillion people.
/NBC,ABC,CBS,MSNBC,NPR,NYT,LAT
CorporatePiggy on January 15, 2013 at 10:31 AM
When has the bully, Obama, ever shown conciliation?
The name is Barack Hubris Hussein Mohammed Obama…
dockywocky on January 15, 2013 at 10:45 AM
Shut it down!!!!!!!
ButterflyDragon on January 15, 2013 at 11:00 AM
So let me get this straight – We will not debate about spending cuts because we have to raise the debt limit – but spending cuts is a debate we need to have?
Interesting position coming from the president.
jaydee_007 on January 15, 2013 at 11:53 AM