Low Broderism

Is it possible to come up with a dumber “Obama would be leading the Democrats to a victory in the midterms if only he had sucked up even more to Republicans” argument than Clive Crook’s? Well, I don’t know, but some participants in this forum are certainly giving it the ol’ diploma mill try. Our first candidate is the nominally Democratic answer to Alan Simpson, Mr. Bob Kerrey. According to Kerrey, Obama needs (like a good Nebraska Republican, which for all intents and purposed Kerrey now is) to embrace states’ rights, some vague mush about “private sector innovation,” the Catfood Commission, and:

Second, the president should downsize the federal government. Don’t let anyone say it cannot be shrunk by at least 10 percent; there is always room to cut. He should connect this with his efforts to make policymaking more open and transparent and use the savings to finance a small-business recovery plan.

Bonus points for saying that the federal government can be cut 10% while conveniently omitting anything that should actually be cut, beyond some of the usual waste/fraud/abuse handwaving, which is now called “transparency.”

Can this be topped? You might not think so, but you haven’t reckoned with the farcically fraudulent hack who was inexplicably paid millions of dollars to destroy Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. I give you Mark Penn, Union Buster (TM), who would like you to know that the housing bubble won’t reinflate itself, and unemployed people want more money going to NASA :

Rather than cut the space program, he should double its size. [!] He should make sure that every American with a broadband connection has access to online education.[?]

[…]

Voters will re-elect President Obama only if they believe that America is on the move, creating and building things. Homeownership is still a vital part of the American dream and must remain a goal of his administration, despite the housing crisis. [What could possibly go wrong?] And he should work with both parties to come to a reasonable compromise on immigration reform, one that would create a clearer path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and effectively control the borders. [And a pony!]

After the midterms, President Obama will likely face the same decision that President Clinton faced in 1994 — to stay the course on the left or return to the center. His choice could be the difference between a one-term presidency and four more years governing with the coalition that elected him. [Why, Mark, whatever path do you think he could choose?]

I think I’m going to give this to Penn, if only on the grounds of sheer laziness. He can’t even be bothered to come up with some new arbitrary group of rich conservative white people who Obama should pander to this time…