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Feb. 8, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications

Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank
Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate
Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights?
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license
The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics
Feb. 6, 2013

Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA
Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner
Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll
Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker
Feb. 4, 2013

Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel?

David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders
Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted
Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA
Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert
Feb. 1, 2013

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption

Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home
Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow
Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years
Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid?
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't
Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO)
The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish
January 30, 2013

Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day'

America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans!
Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown!
Germany remembers Hitler rise to power
Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats
Ballot riles Guinness World Records
The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin
January 28, 2013

Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos

Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback'
Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer
Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating?
David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied
Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends
David Clark Scott Lego Racism?
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south


Jewish World Review Dec. 14, 2011 / 18 Kislev, 5772

Obama is running from his record, but he can't hide it

By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann


Printer Friendly Version



http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In his "60 Minutes" interview, President Obama offered a keen insight into his 2012 reelection strategy. It takes some decoding, but his underlying strategic goals emerge. He said:


"The question next year is going to be — and then this is how a democracy is supposed to work — do they see a more compelling vision coming out from the other side? Do they think that cutting taxes further, including on the wealthy, cutting taxes on corporations, of gutting regulations — do we think that that is going to be somehow more successful? And if the American people think that that's a recipe for success and a majority are persuaded by that, then I'm going to lose."


Three relevant points emerge from an analysis of his comment:


  • He wants the election to be a referendum on the Republican candidate and his political philosophy. By posing the key question as whether the GOP remedy for the economy will be "somehow more successful," he makes it clear that he wants this contest to be about the opposition proposals.

  • The president is determined to run as a non-incumbent, abandoning all but a pro forma defense of his record and instead running as he would were there an open seat. He wants it to be 2008 all over again, where he is free to float ideas without taking any responsibility for his performance in office or that of the economy on his watch.

  • He is determined to make the election a contest between two policy alternatives, deliberately omitting the issue of competence. He wants all the votes his point of view will permit him to garner despite his obvious incompetence in implementing it. He's like an incompetent employee hoping to save his job by advocating a broad-based shift in his corporation's philosophy in the hopes that his bosses will ignore his own poor performance.


Obama seems to want to turn the election into a referendum on policy, almost as if it were an issue on the ballot rather than a president seeking reelection. While this preference is understandable, given his dismal record, the Republicans cannot let him get away with it.

The key question Republicans must pose to the president: "What are you planning to do in the next four years to get the economy moving that you have not tried and failed with during your first term, especially during that portion of the term when you had total control of Congress and still couldn't fix the economy?"

Of course, the other part of Obama's reelection strategy will be a slash-and-burn approach to attacking his opponent. Using the cooperation of the media, he will throw any accusation that comes to mind against his Republican adversary in the hope that enough sticks to help him win.

But in this essentially negative approach to the campaign, he is laboring under the handicap that the Republican candidate will have been thoroughly vetted during the primaries. Any negatives that exist will have been aired so extensively that they will pack little punch in the fall. In this respect, the primary contest is serving to inoculate the eventual Republican candidate by raising all the negatives and exhausting them before the fall election even starts.

As for the rest of Obama's strategy — it won't work. Nobody is going to forget the current state of the economy or fail to remember how ineffective the stimulus program was at doing anything other than digging us deeper into self-destructive debt. The fact is that an incumbent president is up for reelection and there is more than a clash of philosophies at issue. There will be two men, and one of them is a demonstrated failure.

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