Obama's self-pitying vanishing act

The incredible shrinking president insists on brushing off criticism of his presidency as unwarranted and personal. That's ridiculous.

Obama
(Image credit: (Mark Wilson/Getty Images))

Democrats are flailing in their hunt for a new narrative to reverse the story of their sixth-year midterm blues. Like Republicans who had the same problem in 2006 with George W. Bush, members of Barack Obama's party find themselves tied to a president with plummeting approval ratings, a series of scandals and bungled priorities, and crises unfolding at America's southern border and at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Obama has grown so unpopular, The Hill reports, that some Democratic incumbents consider him a "pariah," and have already begun ducking out of presidential visits in their states and districts.

The White House has thus tried to shift attention from Obama and onto Republicans, even though midterm elections normally act as votes of confidence (or lack thereof) in the president. First the administration attempted to make income inequality, which Democrats laid at the feet of Republicans, the overarching theme of the 2014 midterms. Then Hillary Clinton's gaffes in June about the family's "struggle" while earning more than $100 million in speaking fees since leaving the White House stepped all over that narrative. Democrats fell all over themselves trying to draw a distinction between the Clintons' wealth and that of Mitt Romney, and ended up arguing that personal wealth wasn't really an issue after all.

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Edward Morrissey

Edward Morrissey has been writing about politics since 2003 in his blog, Captain's Quarters, and now writes for HotAir.com. His columns have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Post, The New York Sun, the Washington Times, and other newspapers. Morrissey has a daily Internet talk show on politics and culture at Hot Air. Since 2004, Morrissey has had a weekend talk radio show in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and often fills in as a guest on Salem Radio Network's nationally-syndicated shows. He lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, and his two granddaughters. Morrissey's new book, GOING RED, will be published by Crown Forum on April 5, 2016.