Ouch! William McGurn: The post-gracious president
ByIn case you haven’t noticed, President Obama and his mouthpieces love bashing Obama’s predecessor. It seems like it’ll never stop. If only we’d all just agree that everything is hunky dory under the guidance of Dear Leader perhaps he’d let up. As long as things suck expect the attacks to continue.
Nine months after Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, his most adamant critics must concede he’s delivered on “change.” And we see it in our first post-gracious presidency.
The most visible manifestations of the new ungraciousness are the repeated digs the president and his senior staffers continue to make against George W. Bush. Recently, the administration has given us two fresh examples. The first is about Afghanistan, the other about the economy.
On Afghanistan, Mr. Obama’s chief of staff went on CNN’s “State of the Union” earlier this month to discuss the presidential decision on Afghanistan that everyone is waiting for. “It’s clear that basically we had a war for eight years that was going on, that’s adrift,” said Rahm Emanuel. “That we’re beginning at scratch, and just from the starting point, after eight years.” Translation: If we screw up Afghanistan, blame Mr. Bush.
The other came from Mr. Obama himself, speaking at various Democratic fund-raisers last week. “I don’t mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made,” the president said. “That’s what I signed up to do. But while I’m there mopping the floor, I don’t want somebody standing there saying, ‘You’re not mopping fast enough.’”
This is a frequent Obama complaint. The logic is clear if curious: While it’s OK to blame Mr. Bush for spending too much, it’s not OK to point out that Mr. Obama is already well on track to spend much more.
[It only gets worse.]
Policy differences, of course, are fair game for sharp debate, and in the end history will apportion the credit and blame due Mr. Bush. By any measure, however, Mr. Obama’s ongoing snipes against a predecessor who is no longer involved in setting policy are extraordinary. They are more extraordinary still issuing from a president who campaigned on a promise to transcend the political divisions of the past.
Barack Obama may believe that his incessant whining about all the challenges his predecessor left him lets America know how tough he has it. The danger to his presidency is that it can sound awfully like “I’m not up to the job.”
I have a sinking feeling that the man who “isn’t up to the job” knows he isn’t up to it. He also knows he’s good at campaigning, which is why his campaign isn’t going to end. We’ve got at least three more years of this. Get used to it.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Well, when you ain’t got what it takes, blame somebody else.
Pure undiluted human nature;
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
A major part of Obama’s getting elected was the left’s hate for Bush.
They have yet to stop.
Hence Obama
Hence what’s posted on most lib blogs
I doubt they will ever let go.