Al Hunt on Obama the Insular

Al Hunt is a flaming liberal with snowy white hair. I think he was born with the latter, for I remember watching him on the tube back when I was still in grad school. He has a piece today on Bloomberg.com: Team Obama Shows Dangerous Penchant for Hubris.

The hubris that Hunt is worried about concerns Obama's reelection, which Hunt is worried about. I note that his story confirms what I have been arguing about the President's exercise (or lack thereof) of his office.

Today, the administration's chest-thumping over the State of the Union address is illustrative. It was a good political pitch, putting Republicans on the defensive on the fairness issue. It also was devoid of governing substance, something political handlers and White House spin doctors have tried to deny.

The president didn't mention the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission. He appointed that panel two years ago. Then, when it issued a bipartisan report on how to fix the government's books in December 2010, the president went silent. Privately, the White House's explanation was that they kept quiet because they wanted to smoke out the budget proposal of the House Republicans, which was being drafted by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. That was unveiled almost a year ago, and the Democrats got lots of political mileage out of it.

The Bowles-Simpson commission was Obama's one good chance to actually address the debt issue. The President created the commission and then studiously ignored its report. Apparently, "smoking out" House Republicans was more important than actually tending to the public business. Or perhaps there wasn't a Bowles-Simpson box for the President to check on one of his midnight memos.

Hunt has another revealing story.

Another illustration of presidential hubris involved the Bush family. The White House put out a picture of a private meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 27 that included former President George H.W. Bush and his son, Jeb, the former governor of Florida.

The Bushes were in town for the annual black tie dinner the next night at the Alfalfa Club, a gathering of business and political elites. The two featured speakers, both intended to be brief and humorous, were Obama and Jeb Bush. The president spoke to good reviews. He left before Bush spoke.

Obama hates such dinners. Some of his aides, in particular his political adviser David Plouffe, urged him not to spend an evening mingling with the 1 percent. Yet he chose to go, and attendees said it was the first time they could recall a speaker leaving before the other side had its fun. In addition, Obama's 87-year-old predecessor was present.

Imagine the criticism five years ago if President George W. Bush had walked out on a dinner before Hillary Clinton spoke, with Bill Clinton in the audience.

Hunt is honest enough to admit the Press's double standard and that the President was being unprecedentedly rude. But why should anyone expect Obama to stick around? That isn't his M.O.

Most revealing, however, is this:

The most dangerous sign of arrogance is Team Obama's insularity. It's an exclusive club, with no room for outsiders. Inside the White House, that dynamic is personified by Valerie Jarrett, the president and first lady's longtime confidante, who conducts the loyalty litmus tests…

The same generally applies to the political team. Conversations last week with five of the smartest and most experienced Democratic political strategists -- none associated with the Obama campaign -- yielded the same bottom line: They're only consulted occasionally and the outreach is pro forma. If it's a runaway election, that approach will work out fine for the White House; if it gets tight, Obama may need some other counsel.

You have to love that bit about "loyalty litmus tests." This supports the argument I have been making: that the culture of White House is a series of concentric circles, increasingly insular as one nears the man in the center.

As I noted, Hunt is worried only that this might put the President's reelection in jeopardy if the election is close. There might be more important things to worry about. The President's inner circle is just as insular with respect to Congress. If they consult "the smartest and most experienced Democratic political strategists" only a occasionally and in a pro forma way regarding the campaign, they likely do the same with smart and experienced strategists on policy issues. What if something more important than an election needs attention? Perhaps part of the problem is the Obama inner circle cannot conceive of anything more important than that.

Comments

[Donald Pay]

Why didn't Obama mention Bowles-Simpson? I suppose it had to do with the fact that Republicans refused to enact anything close to what was recommended. The fact that Hunt and you have short-term memory problems doesn't mean the President does. Been there, done that, Republicans won't do it. Move on.

We've finally have a President who spends a little time with the 99 percent and working on important issues with issue papers from those outside the inner circle, rather than making nice with the elite and the Washington insiders. That's something to celebrate.

You seem to view the elite and insiders as some sort of release from the bubble. You have it exactly backward.

[duggersd]

Yes, I see him with the 99 percenters out there on the golf course all of the time. And they are always surrounding him at Martha's Vineyard and in Hawaii! This guy is the definition of the "elite". He wants to "help" the 99 percenters, but please, don't make him mingle with them. He might start to smell like the rest of us!

[Ken Blanchard]

Donald: yeah, the 99% at that fantastic vacation home in Hawaii. Meanwhile nothing is EVER his fault, is it? He ignores his own commission. Why? Both sides were offended by the report. That's a sign that it was a step in the right direction. It's the President's job to encourage them to take that step. Whatever he is doing before ten at night, it isn't his job. But good try making excuses. You are a shining example of the long line of enablers that made him what he is today.

[Bette]

I guess he doesn't have any manners or he just doesn't want to get re-elected! See you on Charlie Rose all the time. Like your views!

Bette J. Mooney

[Stan Gibilisco]

As I see it now, Obama will win no matter which Republican opposes him.

In the minds of most Americans, Obama will successfully paint any Republican opponent as someone who would help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. He almost has me convinced of it.

President Obama will conveniently neglect to mention the real possibility that four more years under him will render all of us poor, except an exceedingly rarefied minority (including himself).

[Mark Anderson]

Ken, how long has Willard Mitt Romney been running for President, six years? How long has the GOP's main goal been "to make Obama a one term president"? How badly did the GOP leave the economy when they had charge? Remember, they came in under a big surplus, took just two years to turn that around, thanks Mitch. You have a curious definition of enabler, Obama is favored by the majority of American people over any Republicans candidate. Your side seems to be the one with self-destructive behavior.

[A.I.]

This insular/aloof/absent theme is about all Republicans have left to campaign on...if the economy continues to improve. I understand your partisan motives for promoting it KB. Hunt's and others' criticisms you've noted are a little harder to understand. Perhaps they are so certain Obama will be reelected they think their critiques will do no real harm and only prod Obama to be what they consider a better President. One thing is certain, they are not advocating for the four remaining Republican hopefuls.

[Dave]

8 years under the definition of HUBRUS (W) but now, suddenly your offended? Get real...

[Ken Blanchard]

A.I.: no, the Republicans have nothing to campaign on, other than the fact that there are about a million fewer people employed now than when Obama took office. I understand why you want fervently to believe that one month of statistically generated job growth means everything is now fine. Labor force participation is at its lowest level in 30 years. That alone makes the unemployment figures look good. If you consider the underemployed, as Gallup does, the figure is about ten percent higher. I might also mention the utter neglect of the national fiscal crisis by the Administration, but I know by now that you refused to acknowledge that.

You cannot understand why some on the left criticize the President. I have presented a case based on a considerable number of sources, all of them on the left more or less. They paint a very consist picture of our Chief Executive. Everyone can see it but you and Donald.

Mark: Obama will leave the next President (perhaps himself) in a dramatically worse position economically and fiscally than Bush left him. Maybe he will spend the next four years as he has this one: blaming his predecessor Barack Obama.

Dave: I did not accuse the President of HUBRUS, of even hubris. Al Hunt did. I focused on his insularity.

[Truth Be Told]

Who really cares other than the typical Republican politicos if the president walked out on Jeb Bush's speech? Al Hunt is trying to make himself relevant. Bottom line: Obama is going to win re-election in 2012 and the continuous sniping by the righties will continue.

[larry kurtz]

President Obama has two young daughters with whom he is enraptured: family guy, good ethics, good morals. Too bad he inherited any number of shit sandwiches from his predecessor and has had to rely on drone strikes instead of the courts.

[Stan Gibilisco]

If not for those poo-poo puffs that President Obama inherited, we could engage our furies by roasting President McCain.