I don’t know how much credibility Schoen and Caddell have as Democratic advisers, but the very fact that the Washington Post is publishing this proposal is odd at minimum, if not stunning.
One and done: To be a great president, Obama should not seek reelection in 2012
By Douglas E. Schoen and Patrick H. Caddell
Sunday, November 14, 2010
If the president goes down the reelection road, we are guaranteed two years of political gridlock, at a time when we can ill afford it. But by explicitly saying he will be a one-term president, Obama can deliver on his central campaign promise of 2008, draining the poison from our culture of polarization and ending the resentment and division that have eroded our national identity and common purpose.
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The best way for him to address both our national challenges and the serious threats to his credibility and stature is to make clear that, for the next two years, he will focus exclusively on the problems we face as Americans, rather than the politics of the moment – or of the 2012 campaign.
Quite simply, given our political divisions and economic problems, governing and campaigning have become incompatible. Obama can and should dispense with the pollsters, the advisers, the consultants and the strategists who dissect all decisions and judgments in terms of their impact on the president’s political prospects.
Obama himself once said to Diane Sawyer: “I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.” He now has the chance to deliver on that idea.
~~
Obama owes his election in large measure to the fact that he rejected this approach during his historic campaign. Indeed, we were among those millions of Democrats, Republicans and independents who were genuinely moved by his rhetoric and purpose. Now, the only way he can make real progress is to return to those values and to say that for the good of the country, he will not be a candidate in 2012.
Should the president do that, he – and the country – would face virtually no bad outcomes. The worst-case scenario for Obama? In January 2013, he walks away from the White House having been transformative in two ways: as the first black president, yes, but also as a man who governed in a manner unmatched by any modern leader. He will have reconciled the nation, continued the economic recovery, gained a measure of control over the fiscal problems that threaten our future, and forged critical solutions to our international challenges. He will, at last, be the unifying figure globally he has sought to be, and will almost certainly leave a better regarded president than he is today. History will look upon him kindly – and so will the public.
It is no secret that we have been openly critical of the president in recent days, but we make this proposal with the deepest sincerity and hope for him and for the country.
I can’t imagine the Post publishing such an “opinion” without cause. Ideas anyone? Do you think this is related to the WSJ’s bizarre suggestion a couple of weeks ago that Obama had not yet decided whether to run for re-election? Why Would Donors Be Wondering in Nov. 2010 Whether Obama will Run for Re-election
My best guess-not so subtle hint to Obama to go get lost in an attempt to save the little that remains of the Democrat Party, which now could be replaced by the Tea Party. No Third Party the replacement party and we would still have a two party system. In their dreams he is/was a good potus, the worst anyone has ever seen, results of his 2 year reign of terror/stupidity/corruption, lies, cover-ups and much etc. reflected by the citizens on Nov. 2 turning the Dems out, with much more planned.
Every time I received a request for donation from Dems I got sick all over again, not only will I never vote for them again, but a donation are they nuts? All they had to do was NOT commit election fraud at the DNC convention in 08, not only did that open our eyes to that corruption but so much more.
Spread this and make it viral…google these words…crash morgan and buy silver…
then, read this..and all Americans buy one ounce of silver to crash JP Morgan…
Specifically, Max Keiser said that if everyone buys just 1 ounce of silver, it will force JP Morgan – a giant manipulator of the silver market – to cover its short positions, and drive it out of business.
It’s already 30,000 contracts short (150 million ounces of silver) and I heard yesterday wealthy are calling in their contracts and want delivery!!!
So KEWL!!
as the first black president, yes, but also as a man who governed in a manner unmatched by any modern leader. He will have reconciled the nation, continued the economic recovery, gained a measure of control over the fiscal problems that threaten our future, and forged critical solutions to our international challenges
but also as a man who governed in a manner unmatched by any modern leader(you can say that again!)
He will have reconciled the nation..(oh, puhleeze–there aren’t enough years to reconcile the race damage this idiot has caused)
continued the economic recovery, (continued???I don’t see any evidence it’s even started!!)
Who are Schoen and Caddell and what rock have they been living under?? I agree with Michelle—dems have left the building!!
Wow…that’s insane!!
I think Schoen was business partners with Mark Penn, Hillary’s pollster — which I find interesting.
Caddell is considered a bit of genius, and he was never enthusiastic about Obama during the election.
very, very interesting.
It is very interesting, Bud.
Still, I am a realist and I believe in the power of narcissism. I just don’t see BoBo stepping down unless 1) to avoid a scandal or 2) to avoid losing.
I cannot imagine him stepping down for the good of the country.
Let’s hope and dream.
TD, I don’t think he’ll step down voluntarily but just let enough of the donors and party leaders get a sense of his impending doom, and they’ll push him out. Would have to be done carefully to avoid mass riots but, perhaps a scandal or two would do the trick.
Maybe if enough of the big guns put him on notice, he will not run in 2012 and we can get an adult like Hillary in.
Wouldn’t it be great if Obama had a contract with a buyout for the final year? Just fill his pockets with benjamins and send his butt packin’.
What a crock! bho the fraud is incompetent, inexperienced, arrogant, grossly misogynistic and deeply dishonest–and anti-American. This sleazy, rump kissing WaPo article is ridiculous. What these media morons, political hacks and ignorant citizens see in this puppet squatting in OUR WH is pure fantasy.
I guess the Obamabots can now include the WaPo in their growing list of racist rags.
The editorial, if real, has the the spin of “concern troll” written all over it. If not running again somehow will mean Barack Obama will be regarded as a great one term president, then it is a backhanded way of saying the country is racist for not wanting him to even run for a second term.
What a bunch of nonsense. In my opinion Barack Obama has violated the Federal Hobbs Act and over a million americans have lost their homes as result of the HAMP for HAMPsters program he still brags about to this day.
Pat Cadell and Doug Shoen are long time Democratic strategists/pollsters. They may not be looked upon well by newer Dems because they each appear as contributors on Fox and other outlets, but they have institutional history and know lots of people. Don’t you recognize this is one of the shots across his bow that is alluded to in the WH Insider series? Each has been critical of O for a long time, but to have this published in the WaPost is serious. I highly doubt they expect he will be regarded as wonderful no matter what he does, but this is an attempt to plant big seeds of doubt from serious party insiders. Watch for more to come.
Knowing the Narcissist in the White House, he will NOT take the hints being voiced for him to not run again for POTUS. There will undoubtably be challengers for the nomination in the Democratic primaries, but The One will still manage to beat them back. Those donors will then have to decide whether or not to sit out the 2012 Presidential elections.
It is all about the money. If the big donors tell Zero to go F himself, he will not run again.
I’ve thought for quite a long time that it is going to be one of Obama’s own that takes him down.
This is the opening salvo … besides NOTHING surprises me anymore.
I question if he will complete a full term. There is something “not right” about the man, and many “insiders” know this. Whether or not it can be kept from public view for a full four years is the gamble. It relates to the “birther” issue. (This site was one of the first to question the birth certificate issue.)
Because Obama is so narcissitic, the hint is being put out that he needs to let go. He will not be able to maintain his ruse beyond four years, if that long.
I believe the ruse is not the birther issue, per se. The birther issue is a distraction that may have been promoted by Obama himself and his cohorts. The ruse has to do with his true identity. As far-fetched as it sounds at first, I believe Israeli Intell knows the truth: the story that broke at the site, Israel Insider, presented back in 2008.
It appears to be a “whacko” thing, but the more one looks into it, the less whacko it becomes. Obama is not Obama. His real name is Barry Soetoro, as adopted by his step-father, but his biological father was not Barack Obama of Kenya, but a mixed race celebrity of the Muslim persuasion: Malcolm Little.
Muslims were recruited by the CIA to fight the Soviets. A great book on this subject is Ian Johnson’s A MOSQUE IN MUNICH. The man in the White House was recruited and helped our efforts in the Afghan war against the Soviets. That is how he is able to keep his false identity as “Barack Obama II.” His records are classified. But how long will the questions be kept at bay?
It sounds crazy, I know. The son of Malcolm X? (DREAMS FROM MY FATHER–his real father, Malcolm???) It sounds completely crazy. But sometimes is not the truth stranger than fiction?
Dean, who is the bio mother — african mother or ruth? Did o sr. and ruth adopt o? And then lolo and ann in indonesia?
I believe Stanley Ann Dunham is the actual biological mother. Malcolm X came to Seattle in 1960 to found a mosque. Stanley Ann was an idealistic radical leftwing student infatuated by Malcolm and became pregnant by him. The family suddenly moved to Hawaii where they thought a mixed race baby would have a better chance of acceptance. They got the only African black on the island at the time to claim paternity, Obama Sr. He could do so under a Shiite doctrine of Nikah Mut’ah, temporary marriage. It allows Muslims to marry Christians or Jews “to avoid sin.” Polygamy is allowed in Islam.
The reason Obama said both his parents marched together in civil rights marches is because they did. He got the time and place wrong, but that is just part of the general dissimulation he uses in the role he is playing.
it was leaked today that Russ Feingold will most likely be running against Obama in 2012.
Lets hope someone does…. (Hillary – can you hear me?)
I got a tip from an intern at a major news network that in Dec or Jan, a prominent Dem would be speaking out stridently against Obama.
Then, like you, I found all of the Schoen and Cadell transcripts a bit too vague with regard to their “source”, but secretly thought that Hillary might do this (even with the Dem’s urging to retain the White House any way they could)
I also thought Feingold might be the one to do this, since he gambled (and lost) by campaigning on the Health Care initiative.
Today, more than a few sources mentioned that.
http://thesibylspeaks.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/feingold-to-challenge-potus-in-2012/
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/11/15/1722600/will-obama-face-a-primary-challenge.html
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/11/04/liberal-primary-challenge-to-obama-in-2012-feingold-dean-say/
http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/a-new-solution-for-deficit-reduction/
Hi TD! Long time
Have you seen/heard this?
http://www.hapblog.com/2010/11/hannity-sources-telling-me-infighting.html
HANNITY: “There are some Democrats that cue me into things. The feeling among some people in the White House is that this president is unhinged, that he’s detacted, that he’s losing it, he’s obsessed with critics, very specifically obsessed with Fox news, he can’t stand Biden, he hates the Clintons, the Clintons hate him. Infighting apparently, and finger pointing is at an all-time high, if the President is brought bad news on the economy he has a meltdown everytime he hears it. And this is what people-and I’m telling you-my sources are reliable are telling me”
Very interesting. Thanks.
That sounds like the Ulsterman source. Not too credible.
i don’t think Hannity would rely 3rd hand on an anonymous “source” on the Internet. He has too much reputation at stake for that. I believe he is reporting buzz he’s picked up directly from his own sources.
TD,
From Sean Hannity regarding his contacts at White House.
http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2010/11/hannity-sources-tell-me-obama-is-unhinged-hes-losing-it-he-cant-stand-biden-video/
He is telling us everything the Ulsterman “insider” said awhile back.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/critics-slam-obama-administration-hiding-massive-saudi-arms/story?id=12192558
“Our six-decade-long security relationship with Saudi Arabia is a primary security pillar in the region,” Defense Sec. Robert M. Gates and SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON wrote in a Nov. 16 letter to congress. “THIS PACKAGE CONTINUES THAT TRADITION.”
It’s pretty obvious who pulls the fraud’s stings..but has anyone discovered who Hillary really works for ……or is it the highest bidder??
Perhaps this article gives Obama some cover if he decides not to run for reelection in 2012, especially if one of the states pass a law requiring all presidential and vice presidential candidates to prove that they are NBCs.