Are we about to see a more aggressive Obama?
The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan taught us.
With that in mind, what should we make of the fact that President Obama has requested a joint session of Congress on the evening of Sept. 7 to lay out his jobs program?
The high-profile setting, with live coverage by the networks and news channels almost guaranteed, would suggest that Obama intends to be ambitious in his proposal. A more cynical mind would also note that Obama might be treating this as the kickoff to his 2012 election campaign, using the speech to lay out a series of proposals and publicly challenge a highly unpopular Congress to adopt them.
If Obama has decided to model his campaign on Harry Truman’s 1948 successful campaign, in which “Give ‘em Hell” Harry ran hard against a do-nothing Congress, this would seem to be a great opportunity to drive that message home.
Of course, that’s not how the White House put it in the letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:
“It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small business, helping Americans get back to work and putting more money in the paychecks of the middle class and working Americans, while still reducing the deficit and getting our fiscal house in order. It is our responsibility to find bipartisan solutions to help grow our economy, and if we are willing to put country before party, I am confident we can do just that.”
The timing of the speech is also interesting. As it happens, the first in a series of debates among the GOP presidential candidates, this one to be broadcast on MSNBC and held at the Reagan Library in California, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday, the exact time requested by Obama.
Imagine that. One would almost think that Obama was using his power as president to steal the spotlight from his would-be challengers and remind them that he has no intention of being upstaged.
In a press briefing this afternoon, White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked whether that was the intended message. You can guess his answer.
“No, of course not. There were a lot of considerations. Once you want to do a speech to Congress and you have to deal with congressional schedules and there are many other factors here … one debate of many that is on one channel of many was not enough reason not to have this speech at the time that we decided to have it.”
“There are many opportunities for the American people. There’s a choice they can make to watch the president, to watch the debate,” Carney said. “A network could make a decision to alter the timing of the debate by an hour.”
Or, in the immortal words of Hank Williams, “move over little dog, because the big dog’s movin’ in.”
– Jay Bookman
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946 comments Add your comment
josef
August 31st, 2011
7:50 pm
BROSEPHUS
At SE….
JKL2
August 31st, 2011
7:52 pm
getalife- He needs a new house.
I really don’t care if he gets a new house as long as he moves out. He would have to find a new crook/ real estate agent to help him since Rezco is still in jail. I’m sure Dodd could hook him up with some good financing though.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
7:53 pm
Is that a get Obama spell Dusty?
You should watch True Blood.
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
7:53 pm
Mick, you said “this too shall pass”.
Well, it would pass a lot faster if you quit talking about Bush at every turn.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
7:54 pm
jk,
Another con talking point parrot.
Yawn……
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
7:56 pm
getalife,
I’ve never had an Obama “spell” but he surely has cast one over you.
josef
August 31st, 2011
7:56 pm
MICK
As a general rule I don’t hold “symbolism” in the highest regard when coming from elected officials…however, his address to the schoolchildren each year is something I can stand on a chair and applaud…It’s something to watch as our little ones are addressed by their president…that is civics in action…
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
7:56 pm
Gosh! I miss the “good old days!
getalife
August 31st, 2011
7:58 pm
Dusty,
Compared to what?
A weird robot or another idiot cowboy?
Four more years because there is no other choice.
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
7:58 pm
Josef,
Truman was considered “ordinary” too. So get your nose out of the air and wait and see what happens. Some good kickin’ boots may be just what we need to clear out Washington.
Curious Observer
August 31st, 2011
7:59 pm
Here’s an interesting piece on at least one state’s effort to get away from viewing stadardized test scores as the be-all and end-all of education:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/29/education.wv.finland/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:00 pm
Josef what u think of the new sup?
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:01 pm
Getalife u get your OFA check yet?
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
8:01 pm
getalife,
“a weird robot or another idiot cowboy”.
You should not talk about your Dem buddies like that.
josef
August 31st, 2011
8:03 pm
DUSTY
For the record, I consider Truman the best president at least of the 20th Century…
But none of the lot vying for 1600, I certainly hope and pray, are “ordinary.” If they are, we’re in bigger trouble than I would have thought…My nose is not in the air…else how could I be looking down it?
getalife
August 31st, 2011
8:03 pm
jm,
Mind your business con.
JKL2
August 31st, 2011
8:04 pm
Quit making a big deal out of what kind of C-130 Perry flew. It doesn’t matter
Why can’t the guy get a party plane like Nancy Pelosi to run around in…
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
8:05 pm
jo
Gotcha!!
josef
August 31st, 2011
8:06 pm
Jm
My jury is, of course, out…but so far, so good…he has a really good self-effacing sense of humor and has proven to be highly approachable…in the long run, though, I’m afraid he may have bitten off more than he can chew…
getalife
August 31st, 2011
8:06 pm
Dusty,
You got nothing and will lose.
Tell your friends to show him some respect.
Be patriotic.
JKL2
August 31st, 2011
8:10 pm
getalife- A weird robot or another idiot cowboy?
Isn’t obama the idiot cowboy? You really like the oxymorons.
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
8:14 pm
Curious Observer
Quite the interesting read. I’ll have to make a note to follow WV over the next few years to see how that turns out. Sounds like they’re turning their ship in the right direction to push foward.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 31st, 2011
8:14 pm
Obama is an idiot cowboy? Probably….much like Clevon Little: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqL7dNujNc
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:15 pm
Josef
He seems like a good guy to me
Hope he can turn the ship around and get it ready for a new superintendent in a few years
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:20 pm
Jay seems like the political hacks at the WH rolled the dice and may have lost
Now they look really dumb and petty
They have two choices
Whine and look petty about insulting the president and look weak arguing about a 24 hr scheduling issue
Accept Boehners proposal and look stupid and weak
Raise the ante and try to muscle boehner and ruin a relationship, any room for compromise, and maybe still lose
That’s 3 but hey who’s counting…..
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:20 pm
WH pols look duuuuuuuuuumb
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
8:21 pm
getalife,
Whoooe I am so patriotic I turn red white and blue at stop lights.
My friends think for themselves so I don’t have to do it for them.
You got any other advice? I have. The BRAVES are ahead. Go watch ‘em.
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
8:23 pm
Gosh! I just can’t help myself. I know I need help. Forgive me!
Mick
August 31st, 2011
8:25 pm
dusty
Sorry, but I have to give the devil his due
at the end of his term, this country was through.
The next guy came and gets the blame;
but the people ain’t buying that game.
In the end what did we get?
more of the same,
just a different name…
JKL2
August 31st, 2011
8:25 pm
keep- A weird robot or another idiot cowboy? Probably….much like Clevon Little:
Just like him (except Clevon was funny and intelligent. Notice the lack of teleprompter).
I also want it noted I had nothing to do with the racial comments in the movie or it’s reference.
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:26 pm
Does TX not have term limits? Wacky
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:29 pm
U know this fiasco is emblematic of obama’s managerial incompetence
Mick
August 31st, 2011
8:30 pm
jm
What’s even more wacky is that the legislature only convenes once every two years. That might have been OK 100 years ago but in today’s world – not too smart…
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:31 pm
Jay any guesses as to what happens next? I certainly haven’t the faintest idea…..
Mick
August 31st, 2011
8:32 pm
jm
You are creating a non issue, its another 14 months till the election, this repub debate is pretty insignificant at this point in political time, that’s a fact…
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:32 pm
Mick 8:30 agree on that point
You’d think every rational state would have term limits too
Ah TX
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:34 pm
Mick 8:32 it’s brinkmanship will be interesting to see how this plays out
And I wouldnt call any presidential debate insignificant
AmVet - Read my lips. No new Texans!
August 31st, 2011
8:34 pm
Jm and the other neo-cons here, a question for you.
You do remember that the Republicans ran their entire 2010 campaign on creating jobs, correct? Their campaign slogan was actually “where are the jobs?”
Yet, they have again shown a miserable failure to follow through on their promises, correct?
And based on results this year they haven’t done squat to help American families find gainful employment.
So tell me exactly, what have they done in all of these months regarding jobs?
You don’t know?
Well, I do.
They’ve spent all of their time trying to repeal healthcare reform, defunding NPR and Planned Parenthood, abolishing Medicare and playing idiotic games with the debt limit.
NOTHING has been done by them regarding jobs.
Why not?
md
August 31st, 2011
8:35 pm
“Rightie Whities would just LUUUUUUUV for Hillary to challenge Obama, further divide the Dems, weaken whatever chance they have to retain the White House.”
Am I the only one that scratched my head on that one??
It wouldn’t be an either or vote in the general……………
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
8:35 pm
“U know this fiasco is emblematic of obama’s managerial incompetence”
Hang in there Jm, just 14 more months and you’ll be ’splainin’ why Dumbass #2, Little Rickie cain’t do no better.
In all honesty, I just cain’t wait! It’s gonna be so great to whip Little Rickie!
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 31st, 2011
8:37 pm
Dusty,
You got nothing and will lose.
Tell your friends to show him some respect.
Be patriotic.
Well, I don’t know about anyone else but this sure sounds like No. 1 Foxy Lady to me. She’s what’s really at stake in this election. I can take four more years of Obama if I have to. I can even stand having Obamacare forced on me. But I can’t take that post that’s sure to come on the Wednesday following election night if Obama wins: “SUCK IT, LOSERS!”
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 31st, 2011
8:38 pm
Just like him (except Clevon was funny and intelligent. Notice the lack of teleprompter).
If you have to use “except….” then you what are you agreeing with? As for teleprompter, you believe that the actors did the movie in a straight shot without referring to scripts or without retakes… How silly but your hate must be expressed , right?
(And for the record, never claimed you are responsible for the content of the movie, its humor, its satire, or the reference).
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
8:39 pm
As per usual, the Righties strut around here like the “cocks of the walk.” Heck, just wait till we git in there. We’ll show you Lefties.
Well, Gosh! What about them 8 years you had just before Obama got into office?
No, wait! That’s different! We had a different dumbass in there. We’ve got a new dumbass now! You’ll see, he’ll do better than that other dumbass! You’ll see!
bookman parrot
August 31st, 2011
8:40 pm
Obama and cohorts… destroying America one day at a time.
Kamchak
August 31st, 2011
8:40 pm
You’d think every rational state would have term limits too
Term limits = elections.
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
8:40 pm
Jm and the other neo-cons here, a question for you.
You do remember that the Republicans ran their entire 2010 campaign on creating jobs, correct? Their campaign slogan was actually “where are the jobs?”
Yet, they have again shown a miserable failure to follow through on their promises, correct?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXz5ZDrzX-w
Ring a bell???
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
8:42 pm
You’d think every rational state would have term limits too
Term limits are for states who are too damned lazy to get involved in the entire voting process.
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
8:45 pm
Very good, Mick
but
More of the same,
With the same name?
Let’s skip the blame.
And find a NEW name.
The mess made now
WAs done with “no how”.
Inexperience at best,
With bumbling next.
We might as well keep right on lookin’
And hope and wish that something’s cookin’!!
So let us proceed
To get whom we need.
md
August 31st, 2011
8:46 pm
“What’s even more wacky is that the legislature only convenes once every two years.”
Not too sure that isn’t a good idea…….keep the misfits out of DC? Might have merit.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:46 pm
HA! HA! and Triple HA!
“Even the eye simply materializes, fully formed, in the pre-Cambrian fossil record.”
“Intelligent design scientists look at the evidence and develop their theories; Darwinists start with a theory and then rearrange the evidence.”
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2011-08-31.html
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
8:47 pm
Yes, I know, this is decadence at it’s very core. (Record burnings and such!) But, what the heck, you only go around once . . .
md
August 31st, 2011
8:48 pm
“Hang in there Jm, just 14 more months and you’ll be ’splainin’ why Dumbass #2, Little Rickie cain’t do no better.”
Mighty kind Sooth to give the new guy what….a day?
Actually…..negative days………
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
8:49 pm
Not too sure that isn’t a good idea…….keep the misfits out of DC? Might have merit.
Screw that. They easily trump me in pay, and I have to have my ass at the airport 5 days a week, 52 weeks out of the year. I don’t think I’m getting my money’s worth from them. They have yet to pass the FY2012 budget, for starters. FY12 starts on 1Oct, so they don’t have much time to dilly dally around either. They campaigned for the job, so they’d better damn well do it.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:49 pm
Kammie:
O.K. How about this?
We need a law/Constitutional Amendment that prohibits someone from serving more than three terms in the Senate (ever) regardless of popular vote.
How’s that ?
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:50 pm
Sooth – you want ever hear me blindly defending perry if he is elected…..
md
August 31st, 2011
8:50 pm
soco……and we don’t pay them while they are not there………….
AmVet - Read my lips. No new Texans!
August 31st, 2011
8:50 pm
Well if the Manteats in Black fancies himself a climatologist, it figurese that Mann Coulter. thinks she can even spell paleontology.
Maroons…
Jm
August 31st, 2011
8:50 pm
Want = won’t
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
8:52 pm
1811 turns to Ann Coulter as proof of intelligent design. Excuse me!
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
8:53 pm
soco……and we don’t pay them while they are not there………….
That makes it even worse. They’re paid $175k for half-assing a job, yet they wanna point the finger at me saying I’m government waste. BULLSH*T!!!
getalife
August 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
I hope the gop fails.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
I don’t hold Congress in very high esteem right about now.
What! You’re not a 12 percenter! I thought everyone was!
Joe the Plutocrat
August 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
Scout, I’m gonna pre-emot Kam; we do have a law that limits Senate terms, it is called elections. this reminds me of the old SNL skit in which Tom Hanks has a half gallon of sour milk and he says; “hey, I think this milk is sour…” he sniff it, “..whew, it smells like rotten cheese…” then he drinks it and spits itout; “…it IS sour…. why don’t you try it to be sure it’s sour….” something like that. I don’t know which is more disturbing, the fact that we have the same politicians every cycle, or the fact that Americans believe they have “skin” in the election game?
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
“New Gay Military Magazine Headed for Base Newsstands”
Well, there you go. The first article is about the “Fighting 69th” and how they never leave their “Buddy’s Behind” on the field of battle.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/31/new-gay-military-magazine-headed-for-base-newsstands/?test=latestnews
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
“Sooth – you want ever hear me blindly defending perry if he is elected…..”
By that I assume you mean that you won’t ever hear me blindly defending perry if he is elected…..
And, for that, I laud you.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia :
“Macro-evolution” is a religion.
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
Plutocrat:
I hear you but if the American people want to improve on that …………. then they can.
USMC
August 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
“I hope the gop fails.”–GETALIFE
LOL!!
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
Headling: “Obama’s timing for speech: Coincidence, cunning or crazy?”
None of the above.
Arrogant !
1811/0311
August 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
“I hope the gop fails.”–GETALIFE
That’s a fair statement and so is “I hope Obama fails”.
Kamchak
August 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
We need a law/Constitutional Amendment that prohibits someone from serving more than three terms in the Senate (ever) regardless of popular vote.
<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php"Reelection rates in both houses of Congress is hovering at about 90%.
Whenever I hear someone whinging about term limits, it always someone elses congress critter they are cry babying about.
Campaign finance reform is the silver bullet.
But just like term limits, the very people it will effect must change the status quo.
Ain’t happening.
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
What! You’re not a 12 percenter! I thought everyone was!
I’ve been called many things, but never a 12 percenter. I’ve even known 5 percenters and met some 1 percenters…
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
“Macro-evolution” is a religion.
There’s some “science” you can have faith in then, 1811.
Kamchak
August 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
Oops dropped the link.
http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
Campaign finance reform is the silver bullet.
But just like term limits, the very people it will effect must change the status quo.
Ain’t happening.
AMEN!!!!!!
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
Scout’s homophobia is on the rise…… wait till he tells us how funny his joke was about the 1st article…..
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
Twelve percenters are special. They approve of Congress.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
Fighting back is not arrogant.
It’s the 12 Presidential elections.
Stop crying.
Disgusted
August 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
Sooth – you want ever hear me blindly defending perry if he is elected…..”
Oh, bull hockey! I never read one word of criticism of W from any of you conservatives in all the years I was on Wooten’s and Bookman’s blogs. We even had Dusty reproaching us for disrespecting the office of President of the United States if we uttered so much as a word of criticism. If, by some cruel fate, Perry is ever elected president, ol’ jm will be silent as the proverbial church mouse, whatever the transgressions and depredations Perry will have committed. The only exception will be jm and friends’s stepping in to defend any blatant act of favoritism toward the wealthy and the well-connected.
Go sell that impartial act somewhere else, jm. I’ve already seen the game played.
USMC
August 31st, 2011
9:06 pm
“Fighting back is not arrogant.
It’s the 12 Presidential elections.
Stop crying.”–GETALIFE
LOL!!
GETALIFE is on a roll, as usual, tonight!
getalife
August 31st, 2011
9:07 pm
Time to take off your diapers and put on your big boy pants cons.
The President has unlimited donations to crush you this time.
You wanted it so here it comes.
Dusty
August 31st, 2011
9:07 pm
Well, well,
The Democrats got the president they were crazy for and what do we hear? Gripe, gripe and the Repubs are not doing their job.
The president is not doing his job.
He is a Democrat.
He is SUPPOSED to be the leader.
He is not performing well.
You Dems got what you wanted. We, the Republicans, got what we did not want. So we listen while you gripe. We watch while he stumbles.
It is no fun to watch and not what we want for the country But do not blame Republicans. We did not put him in office.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
9:08 pm
I don’t recall ever seeing Dusty pop in and chastise anyone for posting anything derogatory about President Obama. Her silence in such cases in most telling.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
Did Dusty break the head off of her Bush Ken doll. She sure has been showing up here a lot lately.
USMC
August 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
Solar company touted by Obama closing — despite $535 million from feds…
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Solyndra-Shutting-Down-128802718.html
tick tock, tick tock…
out of the blue
August 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
Ann Colture claims Bill Clinton is a homosexual…………..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjmZjswucms
Kamchak
August 31st, 2011
9:11 pm
GETALIFE is on a roll, as usual, tonight!
Onion roll?
Kaiser roll?
Potato roll?
Parker house roll?
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
9:12 pm
Kamchak,
If getalife comes back as says “bite me” it’s your fault.
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
9:12 pm
You Dems got what you wanted. We, the Republicans, got what we did not want. So we listen while you gripe. We watch while he stumbles.
It is no fun to watch and not what we want for the country But do not blame Republicans. We did not put him in office.
All in all, had we put another GOP president into office, who’s to say we’d be any different now. With the aversion to spending, there’s a chance we’d be much worse off economically if that GOP didn’t have the cojones to step in and stop the economy from nose diving into the concrete sidewalk.
It’s all a game of woulda… coulda… shoulda… and ifs.. As the old saying goes, if a frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his ass every time he hopped.
oldguy
August 31st, 2011
9:14 pm
And who would have thought Get was political?!?!
Get = the coolade king!!!
Brosephus
August 31st, 2011
9:14 pm
TIme for me to hit the kill switch for the evenin’
Catch y’all later..
Kamchak
August 31st, 2011
9:14 pm
If getalife comes back as says “bite me” it’s your fault.
(heh, heh, heh) I can own that.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
9:15 pm
He is center right like our country.
Did you think he was a lib?
Gotcha.
oldguy
August 31st, 2011
9:15 pm
Soooo Get…… Money buys the presidency???
USMC
August 31st, 2011
9:15 pm
“Onion roll?Kaiser roll?Potato roll?Parker house roll?”
They all work well to cover up the taste of that WELFARE CHEESE!
double
August 31st, 2011
9:17 pm
His war Lybia.Got support-Low cost-No American lives lost-You gonna improve on that.5 more years to overcome his inheritance.
getalife
August 31st, 2011
9:17 pm
“Soooo Get…… Money buys the presidency???”
Have you been living under a rock?
Those with the money make the rules.
Soothsayer
August 31st, 2011
9:17 pm
All hail Disgusted!
Kamchak
August 31st, 2011
9:17 pm
They all work well to cover up the taste of that WELFARE CHEESE!
Wouldn’t know.
Lactose intolerant.
Thanks to the Lottery Players in Georgia
August 31st, 2011
9:18 pm
If McCain had been elected, Phil Gramm would be calling the shots with the economy and Sarah Palin would have had her trigger finger on the red button. If that doesn’t scare the crap out of ya and make you start looking forward to that Rapture thingy…