Opinions

There are anonymous and unreliable reports that "some people" in the White House are upset with Joe Biden. The president himself was quoted as saying the VPOTUS, got “out a little over his skis”on the gay marriage issue.

As faithful readers know, I am a Biden fan, so I take umbrage at these comments. In fact, they remind me of a scene from the movie “Airplane,” in which the old pro basketball player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is challenged by a young punk who says, if memory serves, "My father says you've lost a step." Abdul-Jabbar responds, "Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes."

  Joe Biden is an old pro. He goes into the paint every night for Team Obama and does the dirty work of the offensive and defensive boards. He throws the picks that lets other people score. Sure, he fouls every now and then, but who else on the team will carry his load? A recent poll says he is taking some hits in his popularity.

Loyalty and putting team before self are rare qualities in politics. Maybe an "Atta, boy" or even a request for an autograph is a more appropriate response from the youngsters.

I agree with a lot of what Carter said this afternoon. Joe Scarborough is particularly thoughtful, and his show provides a useful forum for reasonable discourse and rational ideas. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Joe is an alumni of the University of Alabama and a distinguished fan of the Crimson Tide. 

Anyway, for Obama to pick up the Simpson-Bowles plan now would be awkward, and he would be a little late to the game, but it would be better than the vacuum that currently exists among the Democrats.  I don’t agree with much of what the Simpson-Bowles commission recommended, but at least it starts from an honest place.

Obama urgently needs to recapture some credibility on the budget and the deficit. He and the Democrats don’t have a plan or a budget at all.  They ridicule the Ryan budget, but at least that’s a sincere effort by the Republicans to solve our nation’s problems and to move the debate forward.

On the Morning Joe program today, I heard an interesting idea floated by Joe Scarborough and heartily endorsed by the panel, including the political realist, Ed Rendell. Scarborough suggested that Obama make a passage of Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan a centerpiece of his campaign. This suggestion reminded me of Harry Truman’s 1948 campaign in which he called Congress back into session and presented them with an ambitious agenda on health care, education and civil rights. Although most of it didn’t pass, Truman was able to reinforce his central political message of a “do-nothing” Congress.

While much is different in 2012, there are some interesting parallels to 1948. Like then, now, much of Washington, the capital markets, and many major business initiatives are in a state of suspended animation, awaiting the results of the election. Meanwhile, the sword of Damocles — the debt ceiling fight and sequestration — hangs over our politics and our economy. As both Ed and I — and countless other bloggers and commentators — have bemoaned, the election, as it is being waged today, offers no prospect of clarity or mandate on any of these issues.

So, in this context, I like Scarborough’s idea. Instead of waiting for a reelection, which is uncertain anyway, and will offer no mandate, why doesn’t Obama push a big, popular and important solution to some of our economic woes right now? He could campaign across the country, and as Scarborough pointed out, really put Republicans on the spot while appealing to independents and moderate Democrats who believe we need a dramatic and balanced approach — new revenue and entitlement cuts — to reduce the deficit. Morever, he could package the Simpsons-Bowles plan with his jobs bill and say that the country doesn’t need to wait for an election to do what is right. My guess is, if the President did this, he would have almost as much fun as Harry Truman did in 1948 and he might be a lot more successful, not just in winning reelection, but in doing something big for the country.

If you want to see what market research looks like on the screen, check out Karl Rove's new super PAC ad supporting Mitt Romney. The New York Times gushed over the ad as a more subtle and effective take-down of the president's record than previous efforts by the Republicans. The ad reads like a compendium of middle-class nightmares — the future uncertain, retirement savings in doubt, health-care costs out of control. The narrator-actress portrays a former soccer mom — actually a basketball mom — who now presides not only over her worries but also over her brood, who have had to move back home because there are no job prospects. (Talk about a nightmare — the kids back home!)

The key research piece that informs the ad is that the way to discredit President Obama must be done more in sorrow than in anger. In other words, the president isn't disliked as much as he is viewed as a disappointment, and a frontal assault wouldn't be successful. You have to come at him from the side, which this ad does.

Republicans can enjoy the spectacle of President Obama being a little embarrassed by the results of the Arkansas primary, and earlier, the West Virginia Democratic primary, but these results don't suggest anything we didn't already know. Republicans should not overinterpret the results.

Obama had lackluster wins in small primaries in a couple of states that he has no chance of winning in November. The outcome of these primaries won't be news by Friday morning, and they won't even be footnotes in the post-campaign books about the 2012 election.

We know Obama is nowhere near the imposing political presence he was in 2008, we know his economic policies have failed and that he will pay a price, we know his lurch to the left has hurt him, and finally we assume this will be a very close race with Mitt Romney.  All this reinforces what needs to be used against Obama in Ohio and a few other key states.

There are some voter blocs in Ohio and other swing states that resemble those in Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia. They may not be crazy about Romney, but they may have made up their minds to abandon Obama, his liberalism and his offer for the future.

I've always said that Mitt Romney cannot beat President Obama, but President Obama still might lose. Romney needs to build his image as a serious alternative with a different approach and style. He has to be credible when people inspect him as the Obama alternative later this fall. But beyond enjoying the Obama campaign having an awkward day explaining the dud results of his "victories," we shouldn't think these votes indicate anything new.

Probably most important, yesterday's votes contribute to an overall gloomy atmosphere for Obama. He needs something to brighten the aura around his presidency. There is no spark.  Even the Facebook IPO fall has probably done some harm to Obama by contributing to the fear that our economy can't shine anywhere. It suggests malaise at best and more insider chicanery at worst, just what Obama was supposed to be the savior antidote for. More than anything else, Obama needs some good news.