From Corey O’Brien, a Democratic commissioner in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, expressing frustration with President Obama:
Enough with the soft approach. He’s got to say, “I’m in charge, and I’m going to get it done with or without Congress.” People are furious. Everybody here is petrified they are going to lose their jobs tomorrow, and I mean everybody.
Republicans have to be chortling at this. It’s exactly the response they’ve been hoping for as we head into election season. Greg Sargent spells it out:
Mr. O’Brien appears to be suggesting that this is a widespread sentiment among Pennsylvanians, and it’s worth entertaining the possiblity that this is right. In a climate of extreme fear and anger over the economy, people may not care why Obama can’t get his policies through….If the guy in charge can’t deliver it, the risk is that people may conclude he’s well intentioned, but too weak or ineffective to get it done. How Obama handles this problem is going to be a key dynamic to watch, particularly today in this key bellwether region.
When it comes to domestic policy, there’s virtually nothing the president can do without congressional approval. The American public, however, rather famously seems not to understand this, and Republicans know it perfectly well. With no real knowledge of how public policy works, and without a press willing to make it clear, congressional obstruction is essentially invisible and cost-free. So Republicans have spent the past two years doing everything in their power to make sure the economy doesn’t recover, and now they’re planning to ride that bad economy to victory in November.
Pretty great strategy, isn’t it?
