Obamateurism of the Day

As explanations go, this one is a lot like driving a car into a ditch, and then trying to pull it out with a Slurpee or a latté.  Last Saturday, Barack Obama tried explaining just how awful Republicans have been to him by calculating that the Democratic agenda would be a complete flop and distancing themselves from the stench (h/t Rob R, emphasis his):

John (Kerry) is absolutely right when he says that the Republicans made a very calculated decision — and it was — look, I give them credit. It was a smart tactical decision.  When I was sworn in with a lot of high spirits, they had two ways to go.  They could have cooperated with us, in which case everybody would have ownership in solving problems but if we were successful then people would still — would probably give the Democrats’ majority more credit.  And if we weren’t successful, they’d share the blame.

So what they instead said was, we’ll just let them try it out, and we’re not going to lift a finger to help, and because they figured we had made such a mess it’s going to take them a really long time to clean it up.

Well, if Obama needed Republican policies to succeed, then he should have told Nancy Pelosi to allow them to help write the legislation.  What did Obama say about that on the third day of his presidency?  “I won.” Obama’s complaining that Republicans, after getting locked out of negotiations for the bill, didn’t provide “help” by voting for it anyway and taking ownership of a bill that they didn’t author, which implemented policies and spending that they didn’t support.  Obama, Pelosi, and Harry Reid demanded to go it alone, and Republicans let them.

And why is it an issue?  After all, if Obama’s policies had worked, he’d be more popular than ever and his party wouldn’t be facing a historic butt-kicking in the midterms.  Obama’s complaining because Republicans didn’t join him in political hara-kiri.  Basically, this is just a big admission that his policies have flopped, and he’s complaining that he can’t share the blame with the GOP.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!