Obama's got his midterm mantra down, so why isn't anybody listening?

As usual, the Washington-wise Howard Kurtz has produced another cogent analysis of communications in the nation's capital -- "White House goes into bunker mode."

According to Kurtz over at his new Daily Beast online domicile, as the S.S. Obama cruises toward its midnight rendezvous with a gigantic electoral iceberg on Nov. 2, the president's communications aides are running around on deck, frustrated that their alternative storyline isn't gaining traction in the cacophonous world of modern political babble.

It's like "spitting in the ocean," White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer complains to Kurtz.

There can't be more than two or three breathing Americans who haven't heard ...

... Obama's economy storyline several times by now: You know, about the eight years of failed you-know-whats by you-know-who, about the huge hole Obama inherited after spending $750 million of other people's money to buy responsibility for the presidency and how the national ship isn't sinking as fast as it was 22 months ago. Never mind all those new 0's on the national debt. And the still missing Recovery Summer. And Guantanamo. And DADT.

And who crashed the national car into the ditch? And who wants the keys now? And who has to get in the back seat? And something about a Slurpee, moving forward?

In fact, there's a little-known theory that Osama bin Laden isn't hiding in a Waziristan cave for fear of American attacks, but to avoid exposure to Obama's economy yada-yada even one more time.

Obama has several problems. The worst is he's the Real Good Talker.

That's how he made his first national splash at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, as the Real Good Talker. That's been his strong suit, thanks to Teleprompters that enable him to read the words while focusing more on delivery. Like some MLB pitcher going to his trademark fastball way too often.

To put it bluntly, it's arrogance. Prof. Obama is so sure that he's right -- and, therefore, so is his insular staff -- that he keeps on talking full speed because if he just explains his thinking one or two or 30 more times using the same metaphors and jokes, even the dimmest of his pupils is bound to get it. And to realize that what they thought they wanted isn't really what their president knows they need.

That's why last year Obama wasted 59, as in nearly five dozen, town hall meetings selling his colossal healthcare bill to the public and to dozens of Democratic House members, who are now inching fatalistically forward in the sad line toward Tuesday's political firing squads.

For 22 months of the Obama Era now, frightened Americans have been watching their friends, families and neighbors lose the onetime givens in American life -- jobs, homes, savings, spouses and hope.

And they've been telling every pollster and reporter and Republican, "It's the economy, Mr. President." And until the last few weeks the president's response has been, "No, it's not, stupid."

American voters are never the most attentive. Through most waking hours, they collect fragments of information from an amazing array of sources -- TV, online, radio, co-workers, cellphones, family, neighbors.

Again without paying attention, over time those bits and pieces coagulate into an impression. And once that impression sets, it's like a deep grass stain impervious to even New, Improved Tide, regardless of verity. Was Gerald Ford clumsy? Is George W. Bush smart? Does Bill Clinton have an eye for ladies?

Despite all his Great Society social legislation, Lyndon Johnson paid for the nation's impression of the awful Vietnam War and the searing social poison that spread everywhere back home. Richard Nixon denied he was a crook, but that same public wasn't buying it by then.

The other night, David Letterman said he woke up that morning, went to let the dog out, but instead found an uninvited Obama in the backyard talking about the economy. And millions laughed, revealing they shared the same set impression about the predictably tireless talker just weeks before the midterm elections that will be a referendum on him.

And that impression is that Obama may be a Real Good Talker. But he's a Real Bad Listener.

In Kurtz's credible scenario, the vast diversity of competing info sources has diminished the presidential bully pulpit such that the chief executive has to shout to be heard. Every few hours Obama or Mrs. Obama or Joe Biden or Mrs. Biden leave carbon footprints all over the country making the same tardy case to choirs of supporters who are, by definition, already convinced.

If Obama visits Ohio much more, he'll need a driver's license. He'll be back there again and elsewhere this weekend, demanding of crowds, "Are you fired up?" As someone's father once said, "When everyone around you is shouting, the way to be heard is a whisper."

As inattentive as they are, American voters can also be very forgiving of contrite politicians.

After soundly spanking a liberal Clinton in his first midterms by delivering both houses of Congress to the GOP for the first time in four decades, voters watched that savvy former governor run back to the middle of the road that he had originally promised. And two years later, in 1996, those voters eagerly reelected him over another old white Republican legislator.

Though their ranks are much thinner now, Obama's surviving supporters should hope that he focuses on the defeats next Tuesday, not a few slim successes. And that he finally listens to the same civics lesson as Clinton heard 16 years ago. Judging from the differing personalities of the engaging Arkansan chief executive and the aloof Illinois legislator, that may be a vain hope, however.

When's the last time you heard someone from Harvard admit they were wrong?

(UPDATE: Thomas Lifson over at the aptly-named American Thinker sends along this update on his own career confession.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press; Pete Souza / White House.

Comments

[Timothy L. Pennell]

Nobody's "Listening" cause we're not STUPID. He's a B.S. Artist. He's a Con Man. He LIES like a rug. And we KNOW who and WHAT he is. And we want none of it. And, if YOU had DONE YOUR JOB in 08. we wouldn't be looking at Banana Republic Status, now.

[Barry Hussein]

Very well put, Obozo is a master of the Teleprompter and public speaking but doesn't have a clue about the American middle class since he is only interested in the underclass and the elite. He will never figure out that he is only preaching to the converted and that the majority of Americans are fed up with profligate waste, bailouts, earmarks, special interests, wasted time and lives in Afghanistan and the politics of racial pandering. I can guarantee that he will respond to this crushing political defeat by going on yet another round of interviews and speeches designed to educate us ignorant peons.

[David]

Gotta love the racial shot. So instead of electing an old Republican white guy, they elected a white Southerner.

[john]

Obama has scammed the American public (with main stream media backing) into believing he was the brightest bulb in the box. However We The People have seen the light and the fact is this man is the dimmest bulb. He can talk all he wants we have heard his BS and are not listening any more, go live with your half brother in Kenya may be he will listen to you

[Alphadog]

BIG PLANE, little man.

[Lightning Jack]

Politics in America is nothing but a crummy play where all the worst actors get the best parts and fools abound to buy the tickets.

[Victor Erimita]

"Obama's surviving supporters should hope that he focuses on the defeats next Tuesday, not a few slim successes. And that he finally listens to the same civics lesson as Clinton heard 16 years ago. Judging from the differing personalities of the engaging Arkansan chief executive and the aloof Illinois legislator, that may be a vain hope, however."

I would think it would be clear to everyone by now that Obama will do no such thing. Clinton and Obama think very differently. Obama is a movement radical, a committed, bitter ideologue, who is convinced of the fundamental iniquity of this country and of the pure righteousness of his cause. His cause is to destroy as many of the institutions that make this country what it is as possible before the voters, lulled to sleep during the 2008 campaign of hype and deception, catch on and boot him out. Not because he is evil, but because his entire background has conditioned him to believe that America and its founding principles are wrong to the core, and that they must be destroyed before being replaced an all-powerful state organized according to socialist principles and doctrine. He has no interest in being president unless he can remake the nation in this mold. He will not "pivot," top "moderate" policies, because that would in his view squander the opportunity of a generation or more to realize the long-planned goals of the radical Left in America, who see Obama as The One they have been waiting for. Their long campaign of deception and plotting has finally vaulted one of their own to power, and they are not about to squander it by "pivoting." Bill Clinton doesn't think like that.

Obama will continue to lecture, bully, and ridicule the voters, whether "tea baggers" or impatient leftists, furious that America is not yet a Maoist paradise. Fortunately, the veil of deception placed over Obama by his campaign and its stenographers and inmage makers in the media and pop culture, has been pierced. The core of voters see him now for who he is, two years too late, but irrevocably. His capacity to fool and to wow are gone. They cannot be reclaimed because they were based on deception and illusion to begin with. That souffle will not rise again.

No, Obama will not "pivot." He will use all the power he can muster to use the executive branch to impose as much socialist structure as possible and to weaken or destroy as much of America's substance as he can in the next two years. We will witness a war on the nation by this president such as has never been seen. In two years he will be the most detested man in America.

[LK]

AMEN-
Victor Erimita.

[Jonathan]

Pretty good analysis overall EXCEPT that the underlying presumption from Kurtz and most of the other media critics out there is that Obama actually wants the economy to recover. He doesn't. If he did, he would not have spent 2009 trying to muscle through a hugely unpopular healthcare takeover. He would not have created deficits and debt that will bankrupt future generations yet to be born. He is a radical marxist to whom profits and business are evil and must be destroyed. Good grief. Yes he talks and he talks some more. But it's not what he says - it's what he does for crying out loud. A tax cheat for US Treasury Secretary? What country is this? Sending troops off to war while in the next breath announcing a withdrawal date? Giving the Queen of England an I-pod filled with his own speeches? We've NEVER seen such a narcissist on the national stage. And all Americans are paying a huge price for electing this Prince of Fools.

[R.I.P. GOP]

It is understandable that Repubs want the econonomy brought back to the pre Bush era prosperity with all the drive and and vigor which they used to drive it into the ground. They have an uncanny inability to grasp the difference between the effort required for full recovery and the ease with which they were able to annhilate our economy.

[MaryA]

Many of us are sick to death of Obama's constant teleprompter reading, lies and that finger in our faces. I can't wait for him to be neutered next week. Then he'll really be angry and lashing out at us. What will he call us next? We'll call him a one-termer, or less.

[TYRONE]

HIS BASE IS WANDERING AROUND IN A DRUG ADDLED STATE , UNEMPLOYED, ON FOOD STAMPS, AND WELFARE, WITH THEIR PANTS HANGING DOWN BELOW THEIR SMELLY AZZ CRACK, STILL WAITING FOR OBUMA TO PAY THEIR RENT , BUY THEM A CAR, AND GIVE THEM MORE MONEY THAN THE GOVERNMENT IS ALREADY HANDING THEM AND IT JUST HASNT HAPPENED, AND THEY ARE ANGRY...HERES A FLASH FOR THEM...IT AINT EVER GOING TO HAPPEN

[RDK]

His supporters will not listen because they have heard the same message too many times and are turned off. His critics will not listen because they have learned to not believe a thing that Obama says.

[Elizabeth Adams]

You people are so full of it. Yes, this leader inherited a messy economy and two wars. It is beyond imagination that he could fix everything that has ruined our economy, has us embroiled in dealing with illegal immigration, as well as bringing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a close in two years. I would challenge everyone who speaks so vilely about our president to jump into his position, make no mistakes and fix everything that is wrong in a like time period. The reason no one is listening is because Obama is not telling them what they WANT to hear. It is so much easier to throw stones than to generate ideas that will solve complex issues. Why waste valuable time spewing blather and trying to sound intelligent? Open your minds instead of your mouths and get off the negativity.

[jeff]

LOL nobody is listening because everyone realizes this man is unstable. What is there to say. We need to product a lot of straight jackets, cause those the still are listening to him, need one.

[Sixto Ortiz]

Elizabeth,

No one is focused on negativity here. The issue is that Obama has NOT FIXED the results of Bush-era policies. He has made them worse. Do you actually think creating a four trillion dollar yearly deficit is a cure for a trillion dollar deficit? Not even the most committed Keynesian would argue that this logic is sound. In fact, it's madness.

Instead of focusing on the economy, Obama veered off-course by spending all his political capital ramming through a health care bill nobody wants. Ditto for cap and trade (even though, thankfully, that has not come to pass and won't). Same goes for the endless bailouts and takeovers of entire industries. And let's not forget the failed porkulus program widely considered an abject failure by most economists.

Obama should have focused on buttressing the middle class and creating a pro-business environment that encourages expansion, investment and job creation. Instead, he has created an uncertain business environment that has caused organizations large and small to hoard cash in historic amounts.

These are not negative rantings. They are inescapable facts.

[This Person]

First of all, I am not on Obama's side, nor on the side of any politician or party.

I do, however, want to say that many people are very misled about Obama. He is NOT a socialist and it is clear that anyone who thinks that he is has absolutely no clue what socialism is.

Next, we need to stop harping on about the pro-business environment. They aren't hoarding cash because they're afraid of their futures. They know that their futures are sealed and paid in full, thanks to their enormous political contributions; they own Congress, they own the country, this is the United States of Corporations.

Businesses hoard cash because they are driven by greed. They export our jobs because they are driven by greed. This entire economy is based upon greed and that is why we are all getting poorer while the rich get ever-richer. Businesses have no desire to create jobs for us because they don't need to. They can more easily purchase slave labor at a much lower cost overseas and that is their interest. Businesses care about profit margins, not the social good. They don't care about your job or your life, just the bottom line.

[ACE citizen]

People are listening to Obama, but telling people that people are not listening is part of the problem with the media. You report and say things that then become reality. People who are thinking realize that Obama has made mistakes, but that these mistakes are NOTHING compared to the nightmare that we will have with the right wing, head- stomping, gun-toting, lunatics that are running with corporate money. Those guys are truly scary. Better to have a smart president that talks to people as if they still have brains.

[HonestyPlease]

Dear Media: Please stop telling us “nobody is listening;” I’m listening. Please stop telling us “nobody wanted health insurance reform;” I wanted health insurance reform. Please stop telling us President Obama is a Socialist and a Muslim; he is neither. Please stop ignoring that Bush excluded the cost of the wars from the budget, and now it is accounted for. As ACE Citizen pointed out, part of the problem is the media telling people what they think. Media reports and says things to make them a reality when they are not reality.

This 55-year old laments the loss of real news.

[HTuttle]

He conned people that he WAS a good listener. If you researched his history that would be clear. He gives the impression that he listens and considers different points of view but if you look at the REALITY of his history, he NEVER actually does anything to verify that he ever actually considered for a second what alternatives were presented, he merely created that impression as a tactical tool to disarm his opponents and con them. And he does it so well that his opponents continue to admire the feel-good charm he lays on their egos.

[Mike Stringham]

Hey, King Jonathan, where are your clothes, anyway.

Seems someone finds health care legislation hugely unpopular. Just which part: The mythical death panels? The prohibition of denial based on pre-existing conditions such as pregnancy? The heinous intent of government rather than private providers to choose which medical procedures a covered individual is entitled to? Also, does your "hugely" hyperbole refer to most citizens or just your posse of 5 to 6 conspiracy chasers.

"Giving the Queen of England an I-pod filled with his own speeches?" And we know this because?

And though we may have "NEVER seen such a narcissist on the national stage." ,we certainly CAN see your narcissism, and it's not pretty either.