President Barack Obama seems to have less consistency than chicken liver or pigeon brains passed through warm oil. But he also seems to act with icy coldness — almost Eskimo-like — but he moves with the feline flexibility of a Hawaiian hula dancer. This unusual duality explains why the population at large is so fascinated with him.
With the Democrats controlling Congress, Obama decided to please the Republicans. He will extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich and pay unemployment insurance for 13 months.
What will happen after January, when Republicans control the House of Representatives?
That is precisely the point. If Obama does not make them happy now, pretending to defend the unemployed, everything would be much worse. In January the unemployed won’t have checks, all taxes will increase, and the nation will curse him. Then the Republicans from the House of Representatives will be our “heroes,” liberating us from the “Obama tax tyranny.”
It would seem that Obama surrendered, that he committed political suicide. There are Democratic lawmakers antagonizing him and planning to dispute the 2012 presidential nomination. In politics, as in Christianity, death is not always definitive; some may revert to a resurrection.
Bill Clinton resurrected from a similar death in 1994, was re-elected in 1996 and assures us that Obama did “the right thing.”
Obama’s recovery will depend on the damage his credibility suffered after giving money to those who have a lot and little to the ones in need. We live in the worst distribution of wealth since 1931. Billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett want to pay more taxes to redistribute wealth, but Obama concentrates more on giving them money.
No one can claim victory yet, because, as Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over”; we are in the second of four years. If in the second half the best plays of the game come, then we will know if Obama has won or lost.
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