Kick It

Great post by P.M. Carpenter on BuzzFlash, "The Joy of Republican Hysteria":

In short, Republican arguments are swiftly becoming a laughingstock. Why it took so long for the White House to engage those arguments and enforce some semblance of message discipline -- uh, folks, a spent dollar is a stimulating dollar -- can, in part perhaps, be written off to election battle fatigue, but Obama & Co. now seems to be shaking off any besieged stupor.

The president is finally toughening up, and I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that his toughening process is taking the same calculated trajectory as it did in previous battles against Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

First came Obama's exhortations for reasoned debate and civilized behavior, then came the inevitable unreasonable and uncivilized assaults in retort, and finally came a reinvigorated candidate, giving as much -- and then more -- as he got.

Obama is something of a robust self-contradiction, if not a living oxymoron: He is, it seems, a kind of delicate but thunderingly hardass Illinois pol.

Hey, it worked for Lincoln, and there were many who misunderestimated that man throughout his inexorable marches to triumph, too.

Per Cardshark on Daily Kos, this is Obama's moment to seize the nation for good:

The stimulus package has been so watered down with tax cuts and reductions in real focused spending programs that it may not be effective in its present form. But all is not lost--at least not yet. Obama is going out on the campaign trail this week to try to sell it to an American people, who Frank Rich observes, are seething with populist anger. That anger is rightly directed against the obstructionist Republicans, but that is not a given. The power to direct it goes to the one who can seize the moment and turn it in a direction.

This anger is real and Obama really only has two choices: he can allow himself to be overtaken by it or he can get in front of it and lead it against the Republicans full scale, weilding it like a batl'eth. There can be no hesitation. He must go for the jugular, pointing the public anger with a will and a fury. He must call these people what they are--obstructionists interested only in their own political advantage to the detriment of the country and to the jobs, lives and homes of decent hard-working Americans. Point out all the lies, link it to the debacle in Iraq. Give it a full-court press because there will be no second chance.

So, as previewed at the end of last week, how is Obama kicking it into gear:

In an effort to build support for his signature economic stimulus plan, Mr. Obama is setting off for Indiana on Monday, holding his first prime-time news conference on Monday night and heading to Florida on Tuesday. In both states, he will be working to counter Republican criticism of his $800 billion recovery package and take greater control of the debate.

He also is hoping to refill his reservoir of political capital and escape Washington after a bruising week in the White House.

“Washington can be a little suffocating that way,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, said in an interview on Sunday. “It’s good to go out where the American people are, where they have a very strong view about what we should be doing.”

And to cap off the roadtrip:

On Monday night, Mr. Obama will address the nation for the first time in a prime-time appearance from the East Room of the White House and make his argument for why the economic bill is necessary. When he does, aides said, he will recount his visit earlier in the day to Elkhart, Ind., a city he visited twice during the presidential race that has seen its unemployment rate rise to 15.3 percent, largely because of layoffs in the recreational vehicle industry.

“They’ve watched their unemployment triple,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary. “This isn’t just something that people debate. It’s something that they live every day.”

We asked for a leader, after eight years without a clear one. We voted for Obama to bring it, come what may.

Flame on.