With His Poll Numbers Slipping, Barack “New Politics” Obama Goes Back To Bashing Bush
Welcome to Obama’s “new era of responsibility.” You know, the one he promised would transcend partisan politics.
Facing the first real rough patch of his presidency, President Obama and his supporters are once again resorting to a tried-and-true tactic: attacking George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
In his White House press conference last week, Mr. Obama referred to the Bush era at least nine times, three times lamenting that he “inherited” a $1.3 trillion debt that has set back his administration’s efforts to fix the economy.
With the former president lying low in Dallas, largely focused on crafting his memoirs, Mr. Obama has increasingly attempted to exploit Mr. Bush when discussing the weak economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the difficulty closing the military prison at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
As he took power, Mr. Obama promised a “new era of responsibility” that would transcend partisan politics.
I’m not going to pretend like everything Bush and Cheney did was perfect. Under Bush/Cheney and the Republican Congress we had deficit spending, to be sure, as well as unnecessary expansion of government. But for anyone to suggest that Obama hasn’t overseen an expansion of deficits and unnecessary government that is several orders of magnitude greater than what we saw under Bush/Cheney and Republican majorities is just plain foolish.
But effective politics, perhaps, in a media environment filled with reporters who are reluctant to criticize Obama but consider bashing Bush to be a national pastime.
