‘I Won,’ He Explained: Obama's out of better arguments

National Review ^ | February 6, 2009 | Rich Lowry

[reaganaut1]

Barack Obama, a reputed master of the persuasive art, has settled on his central argument for the stimulus bill: I won.

That Obama is reduced to this crude appeal is a symptom of the intellectual collapse of the case for his stimulus bill, a congressional spendfest untethered from its stated goal of providing a rapid “jolt” to the economy.

As far as political arguments go, “I won” has its power—provided it’s made on behalf of an agenda ratified by the American electorate. But Obama didn’t campaign on a sprawling, nearly $1 trillion new spending plan. If he had pledged in October to double federal domestic discretionary spending in a matter of weeks—including increasing the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts by a third, spending hundreds of millions more on federal buildings and throwing tens of billions on every traditional liberal priority from job training to Pell Grants—he’d have been hard-pressed to win at all.

The president should read the transcript of the third presidential debate. He claimed his program represented “a net spending cut.” He called himself “a strong proponent of pay-as-you-go. Every dollar that I’ve proposed, I’ve proposed an additional cut so that it matches.” He added, “We need to eliminate a whole host of programs that don’t work.”

Now, circumstances change, and no president can adhere to every jot and tittle from his campaign, but the “I won” argument only works if the campaign program matches the governing program. Obama himself seems confused on what exactly “I won” means.

In a meeting with congressional Republicans, he brandished “I won” as a defense of his version of tax relief.

[jveritas]

Barack Obama, a reputed master of the persuasive art

Only according to his sycophants in the media.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"That Obama is reduced to this crude appeal is a symptom of the intellectual collapse of the case for his stimulus bill, a congressional spendfest untethered from its stated goal of providing a rapid “jolt” to the economy. In a meeting with congressional Republicans, he brandished “I won” as a defense of his version of tax relief."

In answers to questions, he continued, "I know what you are, but what am I?"

He's been collapsing intellectually since he enthroned himself as world emperor during that manic episode in Berlin.

[puroresu]

Obama suffers from delusions of adequacy.

[bgill]

The man will be an utter failure before his first State of the Union address.

Two weeks in and he's already an utter failure. You know, I'm starting to feel sorry for the terrorists. How embarrassing it must be to admit what a dufus their mortal enemy is.

[SparkyBass]

And it took him three hours with his head speechwriter to come up with that rapier retort.

[numberonepal]

Lord protect us from the sh!t storm that’s about to rain down on the American people. I knew life has been too easy.

[numberonepal]

I just looked at my W-2 and I took care of about 4 families last year. What do I get?

[texmexis best]

Ths guy should be wildly happy and hopeful so he can work that hopey-changey thingy that he claimed to have during the campaign.

[SanFranDan]

“No Trelayne.”

Summed up perfectly in two words! Love it!

[pennyfarmer]

By your numbers I would receive around $26,000. Boy I would have no more debt except the house. I would even have a bit left over for purchasing some other things.

That is tempting but not the correct moral thing to do. Handing out cash is rarely the right thing to do.

[Need4Truth]

How long will it be until folks in the Black community start to mention that O is half white? This guy really is an embarrassment.

[allmendream]

I like the article but disagree with the premise.

Even if President 0bama ran on this as his agenda item, it doesn't mean that Congress needs to “roll over” and not exercise their Constitutional power, any more than the Supreme Court should say “Well the law is Unconstitutional, but he ran on that as his issue and won, so we will let it go.”

Moreover the Presidential power defined by the Constitution is not distributed on a “sliding scale” of electoral support, the myth of the “mandate”; neither is the power situation depending upon its conformance to campaign rhetoric.

“I won” is a dumb argument.

“You didn't win running on THAT” accepts the premise of the dumb argument.

[freekitty]

Sorry, Obama we have already had our fill of really good speakers and that was Clinton. No thanks.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Obama is a pompous a$$ and we will pay the price for his nieve (sp?) stupidity.

[pennyfarmer]

What do you get? WHAT DO YOU GET?

You get to do it again except it is going to be 6 families this year. Just buckle down and get ready for the ride.

[bt_dooftlook]

like when he said Air Force One was “a spiffy ride”?

[numberonepal]

I’ll get nothing and like it then I reckon. Why do I even try? This Atlas may just very well shrug. I’d probably be happier with a manual labor job making a fraction of what I make now anyway with less stress. Maybe I’ll go back to baking bread except you have to get up so dad-gum early. Having a trade does have some advantages.

[Sig Sauer P220]

Sounds like affirmative action logic.

[engrpat]

[Venturer]

I worked in Washington DC under Mayor Marion Barry, This isnt the first time I have seen the “I won” syndrome. I predicted it and I could sit back now and laugh if it didnt hurt so much.