Townhall...
Why
Obama Should Withdraw
by Steve Chapman
9/18/2011
When
Ronald Reagan ran for re-election
in 1984, his slogan was “Morning in America.” For Barack Obama, it’s
more like
midnight in a coal mine.
The
sputtering economy is about to
stall out, unemployment is high, his jobs program may not pass,
foreclosures
are rampant, and the poor guy can’t even sneak a cigarette.
His
approval rating is at its lowest
level ever. His party just lost two House elections -- one in a
district it had
held for 88 consecutive years. He’s staked his future on the jobs bill,
which
most Americans don’t think would work.
The
vultures are starting to circle.
Former White House spokesman Bill Burton said that unless Obama can
rally the
Democratic base, which is disillusioned with him, “it’s going to be
impossible
for the president to win.” Democratic consultant James Carville had one
word of
advice for Obama: “Panic.”
But
there is good news for the
president. I checked the Constitution, and he is under no compulsion to
run for
re-election. He can scrap the campaign, bag the fundraising calls and
never
endure another Republican debate as long as he’s willing to vacate the
premises
by Jan. 20, 2013.
That
might be the sensible thing to
do. It’s hard for a president to win a second term when unemployment is
painfully high. If the economy were in full rebound mode, Obama might
win
anyway. But it isn’t, and it may fall into a second recession -- in
which case
voters will decide his middle name is Hoover, not Hussein. Why not
leave of his
own volition instead of waiting to get the ax?
It’s
not as though there is much
enticement to stick around. Presidents who win re-election have
generally
found, wrote John Fortier and Norman Ornstein in their 2007 book,
“Second-Term
Blues,” that “their second terms did not measure up to their first.”
Read
the rest of the column at
Townhall
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