The President Should Not Say Things That He Believes To Be Untrue


James Fallows wrote the article I Wonder If President Obama Really Believes This. He starts with the following paragraphs:

Read the two bits of testimony by Congressional staffers — one Democratic, one Republican — about the nihilist freefire zone that is the modern Congress. Then consider President Obama’s Labor Day pledge:

“We’ve got a lot more work to do to recover fully from this recession,” Mr. Obama said. “I’m going to propose ways to put America back to work that both parties can agree to because I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems.”

An objective observer must of course conclude that in fact there is no way “to put America back to work that both parties can agree to,” because not agreeing is, for today’s Republican leadership, a paramount goal.

Brad DeLong’s post James Fallows: I Wonder If President Obama Really Believes This makes the following remark:

Put me down as somebody who believes that the President of the United States should not say things that he believes to be untrue. He is then relying on people’s believing that they know what you really mean–that they are in on the con–to keep them from thinking that he is a fool.

Brad DeLong has captured exactly what it is that makes me so upset when the President acts like he can get some agreement from the Republicans.  Does Obama think it is Presidential to act the fool?

Obama’s recent pronouncements where he talks about what he almost really wants for tax policy and talks about veto if he doesn’t get what he wants is the beginning of the reversal of playing the role of the fool.  Let’s see if his actions back up his words.  Too many times before we have seen Obama negotiate with himself and lose.

The point of not responding to Obama’s latest remarks with “All is forgiven” is to keep the pressure on him to follow through with actions commensurate with the talk.

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