{"id":737,"date":"2010-08-30T13:42:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-30T20:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/?p=737"},"modified":"2010-08-30T13:44:16","modified_gmt":"2010-08-30T20:44:16","slug":"unforced-errors-hughhewitt-com-08-30-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/2010\/08\/30\/unforced-errors-hughhewitt-com-08-30-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Unforced Errors | HughHewitt.com | 08.30.10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a rule of thumb: When looking for the true emotions under a top-level politician\u2019s necessarily controlled exterior, take note of the unforced errors. \u00a0On Sunday, President Obama committed an unforced error.<\/p>\n

It came in his interview with NBC\u2019s Brian Williams. Mr. Williams asked him about the strange polling phenomenon that nearly a fifth of Americans tell interviewers they believe the president is a Muslim. \u00a0\u00a0As just about everyone now knows, Mr. Obama testily replied, \u201cI can\u2019t spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered to my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forget that the question was about faith and the reply was about that other oddity, the Birthers. \u00a0In and of themselves, neither those who suspect the president is a Muslim nor those who doubt he is a natural-born American (as the Constitution requires of those holding his office) deserve the attention the media has showered on them. \u00a0They reflect the over-the-top dislike and distrust that major politicians inevitably excite in elements of their opposition.<\/p>\n

All the talk out of the loose-screw left, loonies like Moveon.org, about George Bush being a Nazi and delaying help to New Orleans after Katrina from racist motives was no different. \u00a0Today many Americans \u2013 and not just his one-time supporters — would say that Mr. Bush\u2019s response to Katrina was lightning-like and the height of competence compared to Mr. Obama\u2019s response to the Gulf oil spill. But push a little and you will still find the same spite and hear the same calumny from the same anti-Bush quarters as raged against the former chief executive during his presidency. It goes with the office. You live with it.<\/p>\n

Mr. Obama\u2019s error was not in what he said in response to Mr. Williams, but in responding at all. \u00a0He should have given the question a shrug and gone to the next question. \u00a0He should not have betrayed irritation. \u00a0That he did suggests an underlying tension.<\/p>\n

Of course, why shouldn\u2019t Mr. Obama be tense? \u00a0Polling numbers are for presidents what hair was for Samson — the bigger the approval rating, the stronger the man. \u00a0But just when he must have thought his standing couldn\u2019t fall any lower, Mr. Obama has had to watch his ratings continue to deteriorate. \u00a0For example, pollster.com\u2019s average of all public polls shows public disapproval of the president steadily moving up (http:\/\/tiny.cc\/dj3kc<\/a> ), breaking all previous unpopularity records for this time after a first election.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the so-called \u201cRecovery Summer\u201d has been anything but. \u00a0The term apparently originated with Vice President Biden, which may explain how the administration could make itself so vulnerable to ridicule. \u00a0But in the event, the summer has heard the death knell of all credibility for the administration\u2019s economic strategy. \u00a0You can\u2019t loudly predict economic revival and declining unemployment, deliver all but zero growth and job losses, and expect anyone to take your economic policies seriously. \u00a0The president\u2019s leftward supporters are now criticizing him for not going far enough \u2013 a sure sign that they are looking for a way to abandon the ship that they built and that has been sailed by a crew of their own.<\/p>\n

To date the White House has surely taken comfort in the lack of strong challengers for 2012. \u00a0They may have started to recognize that their own bumbling is making once implausible officials look not just like likely but even formidable candidates for next time.<\/p>\n

You want to control spending, limit government, and balance a budget? \u00a0Indiana governor Mitch Daniels and New Jersey governor Chris Christie have cut the supposedly uncuttable and controlled the supposedly uncontrollable. They took and are taking the heat and are getting an undoable job done, even as Mr. Obama has left the nation aghast with his trillions in deficits and new spending.<\/p>\n

You want strength and a cool head in a crisis? Mississippi governor Haley Barbour was the one public official who came out of Katrina with an enhanced reputation. \u00a0He did equally well during the Gulf oil spill crisis, as did Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. Meanwhile, the administration took months to approve construction of berms to protect coast wetlands from the drifting petroleum.<\/p>\n

You want a forthright response to illegal immigration and the growing crisis on our border? \u00a0Arizona governor Jan Brewer is becoming a national star by insisting that her state has the right to enforce national laws linked to public safety when Washington is unwilling or unable.<\/p>\n

I could go on, but is it any wonder the president is irritable? \u00a0His poll numbers are tanking. \u00a0On one front after another his policies are failing. \u00a0And he is creating his own opposition. \u00a0Some recovery. \u00a0Some summer. \u00a0Some unforced errors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a rule of thumb: When looking for the true emotions under a top-level politician\u2019s necessarily controlled exterior, take note of the unforced errors. \u00a0On Sunday, President Obama committed an unforced error. It came in his interview with NBC\u2019s Brian Williams. Mr. Williams asked him about the strange polling phenomenon that nearly a fifth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-commentary-general","tag-hugh-hewitt"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarkjudge.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}