If You Want To Be A Leader, Then You Have To Lead

Obama burps Boehner after the Knuckle Sandwich he gave him made Boehner a little gassy.

I've read and watched the capper to Obama's new conference yesterday a few times.  I think it distilled for me why Obama seems so willing to meet these nihilists halfway.

Obama understands that half a loaf is better than going hungry.  He also understands a fundamental truth that Americans have about our government: For the most part, Americans think almost everyone in Washington is a freaking clown.

The reason people think this is because the people in Washington frequently behave like clowns.  They also know that Washington hasn't done a whole lot to help them.  Other people, yeah, but not them.  (Part of this is because a lot of what the government does for us is usually invisible.)

Obama has been accused by people like Krugman for "embracing right wing frames and memes".  And there is some truth to that.

But above all, what Obama is trying to do, it seems to me, is to show that American government can work.  That on a basic level, government can make things better.  Health care, wars, equality... government can be a force for good.

But to do that, he has to negotiate with a bunch of moronic nihilists who just want to burn everything down.

So he accommodates and accommodates and accommodates.  And it drives us mad.

But I think he feels that if he can't show that government can work then all the policy in the world is just gilded paint on rotting wood.

Polls show that the public supports Obama's position overwhelmingly.  In fact, Republicans support Obama's position more than the House GOP.  I wish I could say that I was sanguine that this "public" would become voters who would reward the one party that seems prepared to govern.

But Casey Anthony is out of jail and OMG Amy Winehouse ODed..  So, whatevs.