Just for fun, let me be a blogger gone wild.
Allow me to suggest that Barack Obama's advisers believed he could gain some political cover if he distracted America from spotting the systemic weaknesses in his party's health care reform plans by claiming the "Cambridge (MA) Police Department acted stupidly." Perhaps he also sought to distract Americans from the fact that his health care press conference performance was rather mediocre (at best). Call it red-herring politics: drag a stinky fish across the trail to prevent the dogs from finding the sickly fox posed as health care reform.
OK. Fine. Let's say that Mr. Obama and his team thought this a good idea. There even seems some evidence that this is not one whit fantastical on my part for the simple reason that Mr. Obama ENDED his press conference on health care by taking a question about the arrest of his friend, Robert Louis Gates Jr. (Reports I've heard state that the president was told beforehand to expect such a question.) But if this is true, what a ridiculously risky tack to take: it seems the Obama Yacht will smash into the breakers. But...maybe not.
Barack Obama today has called the attention his remarks have earned a "distraction" and "an obsession." How nice. Every dubious thing this president has done, as well as the dubious things his associates have done, are dismissed by him as a distraction. But what if this really was meant to be a distraction; what if the president sought protection behind this "gaffe," and his health care objectives actually pass through the House and Senate? What then? Was his gaffe a mistake? Was it worth the risk?
But if his health care goals are not achieved in part because of his gaffe, intentional or not, Mr. Obama will find himself in far more trouble than if he had simply said Wednesday night, "No comment."
(I doubt he did any of this to cover himself.)
©2009/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
Allow me to suggest that Barack Obama's advisers believed he could gain some political cover if he distracted America from spotting the systemic weaknesses in his party's health care reform plans by claiming the "Cambridge (MA) Police Department acted stupidly." Perhaps he also sought to distract Americans from the fact that his health care press conference performance was rather mediocre (at best). Call it red-herring politics: drag a stinky fish across the trail to prevent the dogs from finding the sickly fox posed as health care reform.
OK. Fine. Let's say that Mr. Obama and his team thought this a good idea. There even seems some evidence that this is not one whit fantastical on my part for the simple reason that Mr. Obama ENDED his press conference on health care by taking a question about the arrest of his friend, Robert Louis Gates Jr. (Reports I've heard state that the president was told beforehand to expect such a question.) But if this is true, what a ridiculously risky tack to take: it seems the Obama Yacht will smash into the breakers. But...maybe not.
Barack Obama today has called the attention his remarks have earned a "distraction" and "an obsession." How nice. Every dubious thing this president has done, as well as the dubious things his associates have done, are dismissed by him as a distraction. But what if this really was meant to be a distraction; what if the president sought protection behind this "gaffe," and his health care objectives actually pass through the House and Senate? What then? Was his gaffe a mistake? Was it worth the risk?
But if his health care goals are not achieved in part because of his gaffe, intentional or not, Mr. Obama will find himself in far more trouble than if he had simply said Wednesday night, "No comment."
(I doubt he did any of this to cover himself.)
©2009/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
