Barry's Failing Blame Game

[Geee]

American Spectator:

From the golf courses of Martha's Vineyard to the shores of Tripoli, President Obama's re-election strategy is running out of steam. As our economy remains stalled and unemployment remains high, it's tougher and tougher for even Obama's closest allies to swallow his "it's all the Republicans' fault" line.

If he can't shift the blame, he can't win. But the Teflon has worn off. Unless the media can save him -- or the Republicans nominate another John McCain -- Obama will be "one and done."

Obama's blame-shifting strategy isn't working well among the sentient (and even some liberals) because it's clearer each day that the nation's economic ills are mostly of Obama's making, and that his proposals to spend more will only accelerate our economic decline. (The outright lie he keeps telling about the three trade agreements Congress can act on immediately is very instructive. All three are still sitting on his desk, and haven't yet been submitted for congressional action. Only the likes of MSNBC and the New York Times will cover for him on so big a lie.)
And to the extent people are even thinking about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the coming Palestinian intifada against Israel, it's equally clear that these problems are also of Obama's making.

The media will break their picks helping Obama shift the blame on economic issues because that's their focus. But the Obama-media partnership can only seek to conceal by not covering the explosions we'll see abroad. If the problems in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel become as big and bloody as they may well be next year, even the media won't be able to protect Obama, and the blame will be his and his alone.
As I've written here before, Obama is desperate to prevent Iraq and Afghanistan from falling apart before Election Day 2012. In Iraq, the situation is -- already -- nearly desperate. Terrorist bombings have taken dozens of lives in just the past two weeks, there is a resurgent al-Qaeda presence there, and it's all too obvious that Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki is too closely tied to Iran to do anything to prevent Iraq's neighbor from planning and implementing its strategy to gain hegemony over Iraq once we leave.

To pull the covers over this, Obama -- and now his newly installed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- have been trying to get the Iraqi government to modify the agreement reached by the Bush administration which mandates that all U.S. forces be removed from Iraq by year's end. Panetta's diplomatic skills are not yet evident. After eleven days in office, Panetta was widely reported as telling the Iraqi government, "But damnit, make a decision" on whether U.S. troops would stay.