David Brooks, "Congress In the Lead": The Week When Obama Lost It

What a difference a week makes . . .

Recall David Brooks's op-ed from a week ago, entitled "The Road Not Taken" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/opinion/19brooks.html?hp), in which Brooks excoriated the Republicans for failing to reach compromise with Obama over the debt ceiling. Brooks then oozed empathy for the president:

"There was a Democratic president eager to move to the center. He floated certain ideas that would be normally unheard of from a Democrat. According to widespread reports, White House officials talked about raising the Medicare eligibility age, cutting Social Security by changing the inflation index, freezing domestic discretionary spending and offering to pre-empt the end of the Bush tax cuts in exchange for a broad tax-reform process."

Seven days later, in "Congress In the Lead" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/opinion/26brooks.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Brooks has changed his tune:

"[T]he White House negotiating process was inadequate. Neither the president nor the House speaker ever wrote down and released their negotiating positions. Everything was mysterious, shifting and slippery. One day the president was agreeing to an $800 billion revenue increase; the next day he was asking for $400 billion more.

. . . .

[T]he president lost his cool. Obama never should have gone in front of the cameras just minutes after the talks faltered Friday evening. His appearance was suffused with that 'I’m the only mature person in Washington' condescension that drives everybody else crazy. Obama lectured the leaders of the House and Senate in the sort of patronizing tone that a junior high principal might use with immature delinquents.

. . . .

This should be a humbling moment for the White House, and maybe a learning experience. There are other people who have been around Washington a long time. They know how to play this game. As a result of their efforts, we may see some debt reduction but nothing big and transformational. Obama won’t get his centrist election boost."

A "learning experience" for Obama in July 2011? Even if an omniscient Obama could be taught anything, isn't it a little late in the game, with so much at stake, for on-the-job training?

Obama only "lost his cool"? In fact, Obama lost his ability to lead and govern.

It's over for Obama. Congress will reach a compromise without him. Obama sought to take center stage (pun intended), displayed grievous inexperience in negotiations and a pious self-righteousness which will hamstring him as we approach November 2012. Absent an economic miracle, his condescending arrogance will not be forgiven by the American electorate.

All that remains for the Republicans to do in order to recapture the White House is to settle upon some reasonable alternative, capable of wresting the middle from the Democrats. On the other hand, this, too, could prove mission impossible, given the unwillingness of those who might prove palatable (New Jersey's Chris Christie?) to throw their hats in the ring. However, given the vulnerability displayed by the president on national television on Friday, this now could also change.