Rare News Desk
On Tuesday President Obama joked that, given his inability to get anything done in Washington, maybe he should pack up and go home. Sounds like a good idea.
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There has been little coverage of President Obama’s second “First Hundred Days.” Then again, there isn’t much to cover. Mr. Obama’s almost fatalistic performance at his press conference on Tuesday was a far cry from the exultation that greeted term two’s advent. Remember the inauguration? His tone was more confident than in 2009, his message more ideological. Freed of the moderating influences of a future election, he pushed hard to the left. Mr. Obama demanded gun control, warned of the peril of climate change, and endorsed same-sex marriage. He decried partisanship, vowed to take on hard issues of budget and the economy. Ecstatic pundits compared it to Lincoln’s second inaugural. It was a new birth of liberalism.
Mr. Obama pushed even harder a few weeks later at the State of the Union address. The emboldened second-termer preached challenge rather than compromise. He said if Congress did not act on climate change he would do so unilaterally through executive orders. He pressed the Republicans on his government-centric jobs plan. He called for billions in new government infrastructure spending raising the minimum wage, funding state-mandated preschool, reforming immigration and grabbing guns. It was Obama unbound.
But only 100 days into his second term Mr. Obama is much diminished. He has achieved none of his ambitious agenda. He failed to avert the budget sequester, which arrived with more whimper than bang. Gun control, in which he had invested immense personal political capital, misfired. The big-spending plans outlined in the State of the Union address have gone nowhere. His budget proposal arrived on Capitol Hill a month late and a trillion dollars short. His hurry-up Senate immigration offensive is grinding to a halt in the House. He is seen as weak and ineffective internationally, most recently with his backtracking on Syria. At home, he has to explain why a massive intelligence failure allowed jihadist terrorists to attack Boston on his watch. “It’s hard,” he says, shrugging, when asked about any issue at all.
Mr. Obama reflexively blames Republicans for his problems, which makes him look even weaker. He complains that the House Republicans won’t “behave” and says it is not his job to make them cooperate. But his inability to forge compromise with the opposition is a symptom of leadership failure. Ronald Reagan faced a divided Congress yet still was able to achieve much of his legislative agenda. Of course, Mr. Reagan was more popular than Mr. Obama. For that matter so was George W. Bush.
“Maybe I should just pack up and go home,” Mr. Obama joked at his presser. Well, maybe so. He brings little to the debate. He cannot bring the two parties together; indeed he does not even try. His policy proposals are stale and unrealistic. And his stature internationally is fading. Perhaps Joe Biden could do a better job. He has deeper roots in Washington, has long relationships with senior Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, and does not suffer from Mr. Obama’s widening credibility gap. If nothing else he would have the benefit of exceedingly low expectations. Could Mr. Biden do worse? Give him 100 days and see what happens. It couldn’t hurt.
James S. Robbins is Deputy Editor of Rare
