Boston Globe: The Republican Party has a serious problem. Or rather, a seriousness problem … Although the left sometimes chafes under President Obama’s measured and mild manner, grousing that he lacks the combativeness the political era requires, Obama understands something they don’t: Voters want a calm, reasonable adult, not a partisan warrior, in the Oval Office.
Obama takes a page from both Ronald Reagan, who perfected the role of national leader high-minded enough to rise above his detractors, and Bill Clinton, who projected the air of a reasonable man ruefully trying to reason with a horde of hyper-partisans who preferred combat to compromise. The president knows that he enhances his image by comporting himself that way. But mostly, that’s just Obama leaning into who he is.
And as for the men and women who would replace him? ….Mike Huckabee spent some time mucking about in that favorite quagmire of conservative kooks: the Obama-really-isn’t-one-of-us swamp. First, Huckabee transplanted Obama’s four out-of-country boyhood years from Indonesia to Kenya, maintaining that that (supposed) span of time in a former British colony explained the president’s (supposedly) anti-British outlook. Huckabee later portrayed it as an innocent mistake and said that in his new book he had “clearly said’’ that Obama “grew up’’ in Indonesia.
Two problems. The book actually doesn’t say that. And the section Huckabee cited traffics in equally egregious — and revealing — nonsense … the best one can say about Huckabee’s insidiousness is that it’s not as outright idiotic as Gingrich’s new book, in which the author asserts that Obama and his allies represent “as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.’’ But then, when it comes to howl-at-the-moon hysteria, Newt is tough to top.
…It has been a diverting spectacle, certainly. Unfortunately, it’s one that suggests part of the Grand Old Party is suffering from Adult Deficit Disorder.
Full terrific article here
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Thanks so much for the link to this article, Suzanne, absolutely loved it. 😉
The Obama Diary 
good lord that was nice to read.THANK YOU BG 😀
thanks Chip for that 😉
Well just to add that Mitch Daniels, our governor, is in a big mess that he started with IBM and trying to privatize everything. I also think he is the architect of all the Republican governors’ power grabs. He just would have recommended they do it gradually and has been doing just that in our state until the new legislature decided to go after Right to Work at the same time they tried to go after teachers. If they had done what Daniels wanted them to do which was one at a time we probably wouldn’t have come together to offer resistance.
I also wouldn’t agree that Daniels is a reasonable aproach, given that he was the architect of the plunge from Clinton’s surplus to extreme deficit under Bush. And the same for Romney and Pawlenty – the flip-flopper and the bigot. If these three are the best that the Republicans have to offer, with their awesome media machine, then we’re in real trouble. If voters are bamboozled, then the country will fall into very dangerous hands – and the world will enter an era that will make the Bush/Cheney years look like pragmatic, reasoned governing.
Great article. I haven’t commented on BG site in forever. I had to go and comment on this article…took forever to log in, since they changed the easy twitter/fb log in access. Whenever I see a positive article I make a point to comment, so its not just the voice of the paid trolls being scene/heard….I don’t read the comments tho. 😀
I don’t think Obama ‘takes a page’ from either Reagan nor Clinton. I think what we see from President Obama is who he is, and has always been. His feathers are not easily ruffled, he is not reactive, he is instead thoughtful and deliberate in his actions, especially in his management of foreign policy and interaction. His style is uniquely his own.
Someone is always trying to take the “shine” off our brilliant President. I agree Claire, President Obama is his own man, and an exceptional man at that.
I agree with you Claire 100%. I am so dam glad I voted for that man.
Mahna Mahna –
LOL. I like the muppets pic.
Automatic embed. Way cool. The song above reminds me of what I hear when Republicans speak. They got nothing.
Speaker Boehner bears a striking resemblance to more than a few of these “orange-hued” Muppets. Coincidence or family tree?
The news media want to try to throw that New Jersey Governor in our face, but I have a feeling the citizens of NJ regret their decision to elect him. These 2010 voters said it was all about the economy, so they weren’t satisfied with things in 2010 so they went back to the Republicans. I would love to ask them since the Republicans have been in charge of the House, what have they done about the economy. About jobs. When do you ever hear any of them talking about jobs?