President Obama Plans A “Combative Turn”?

19 Jan, 2010 by Melissa Clouthier

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Would the Presidents combative turn be in contrast to his bipartisan chumminess up until now? Oh wait….

President Barack Obama plans a combative response if, as White House aides fear, Democrats lose Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts, close advisers say.

“This is not a moment that causes the president or anybody who works for him to express any doubt,” a senior administration official said. “It more reinforces the conviction to fight hard.”

A defeat by Martha Coakley for the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy would be embarrassing for the party – and potentially debilitating, since Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof, 60-vote hold on the Senate.

A potential casualty: the health care bill that was to be the crowning achievement of the president’s first year in office.

The health care backdrop has given the White House a strong incentive to strike a defiant posture, at least rhetorically, in response to what would be an undeniable embarrassment for the president and his party.

Let’s see, Scott Brown is making a game of it in Massachusetts where he ran a positive, optimistic, cheerful campaign. The American people were hoping for a brand new political day and got the Chicago machine. Ergo, President Obama is going to be defiant.

Well, at least he’ll be consistent. I can’t see this helping him at all. So he’s blamed Bush his first year and we see how well that’s worked. And this year, he plans to get combative with the American people.

Pure genius, this guy.