WHO'S THE ENEMY?

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND

The old Arab proverb about who's a friend and who's an enemy may be the key to an Obama victory in this year's election. It worked for Truman in '48 and it appears to be the Democratic strategy again. Voters are the “enemy” of Congress and Congress is sure as hell Obama's enemy, so his attacks on both the House and Senate should garner him votes on election day.

Today's papers (Jan 1) report that the GOP campaign will try to use Obama against Obama, picking quotes that contradict. That seems looney to me since the Republican candidate, unless it's Bachmann, can be quoted has having taken six sides on issues that have only two; for or against. But the even greater problem with that strategy is, as noted above, that the public dislikes Congress far more than it dislikes Obama.

All this will become clearer in the next two months as Congress deals with the extension of unemployment benefits, the need to raise the debt limit, and – oh yes – jobs. (Unlike Governor Perry, I remembered the third thing.) And here's where we can all count on the Tea Party fringe to work their butts off helping Obama win reelection. But then there's the economy (stupid.) Most economists predict slow but steady growth but they said the same thing last New Years and it turned out to be only the most minimal growth. Here too, however, the ball is in the Republican's court, and the Tea Party folk seem to be promising to fumble when ever it's in their hands. It's only ten months to the goal line and the Democrats have by far the better quarterback, even if his favorite game is basketball. So let's call it a slam dunk rather than a touchdown.