On the 2:00 PM segment of CNN Newsroom today, anchor Don Lemon concluded with a message for President Obama. Prefacing his comment with the obligatory, "This isn't about Republican or Democrat. It's about being an American," Lemon got to the point:
I'm not a pollster, but here is what I hear in the barber shops, the grocery store, the gym, the gas station, hey, CNN, guy, what's up with our president, man?
What is he waiting on? What is he afraid of? Just this morning at the coffee shop, a man walked up to me and he said, Don, I didn't support President Bush's policies, but I respected his confidence to carry them out no matter what the opposition.
The same guy went on to say, the Republicans are never going to like Obama. Why does he keep trying so hard to please them? Mr. President, I don't the answer. I hope you do.
If Obama's trying so hard to please Republicans, he's as big a failure as his stimulus. In the most recent Gallup poll, only 14% of Republicans approve of his job performance. Congressional Republicans have overwhelmingly, and in some instances unanimously, opposed Obama's proposals so they're obviously not pleased. The only Republican in the House to vote in favor of ObamaCare wasn't pleased that Obama recorded an ad for his opponent.
Bipartisanship would be a priority if he were elected president, Obama promised. Yet in his first days in office, he pointedly reminded Republicans "I won" when resistance to his stimulus plan emerged. Yep, that must have been a real people pleaser. His routine approach: "I don't want folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to just get out of the way so we can clean up the mess." That certainly pleased Republicans and surely nurtured a frank and open exchange of ideas.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) provided his evaluation of Barry's GOP pleasing ways last May: “On the big issues, on healthcare, on so-called financial regulation, the stimulus, the White House has been absolutely tone-deaf to bipartisanship.” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) had advice for The One: “He needs to take a Valium before he comes in and talks to Republicans. He’s pretty thin-skinned.”
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller wrote in February an article titled, "Obama Says Bipartisanship, But What He Wants Is GOP Surrender." After quoting several Obama calls to work together, he noted: "What these presidential appeals for bipartisanship always mean is: do it my way."
Yet to Lemon, Obama is trying so very hard to please the GOP, presumably stretching to the right just as far as he can. Talking such nonsense must be a form of job protection at CNN.
