I don't have a problem with science fiction and fairy tales, but I hate when people start mixing fantasy with real life. So I am eternally grateful to Fox Democratic pollsters Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell for straightening me out about what's going on in the White House.
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.
Of course! Why haven't I seen it before now. And why stop there? If Obama not only announces he's going to step down, immediately becoming a lame duck President, and maybe even persuades Harry Reid to power share with Mitch McConnell and Jim De Mint (that's the Republican's battle; we Democrats don't sully ourselves with fighting), we can get this country moving again. After all, it's a lack of bipartisanship that made Democratic base voters stay home in 2010.
The glowing reviews for this excellent proposal are coming in as we speak. And not just my own.
Dean Baker:
This proposal is utterly asinine.
David Biespiel:
One and done is DOA.
Theda Skocpol:
Schoen and Caddell are not Democratic pollsters. They work for Republicans and should be treated by the media as such.
Oh, and don't let the CBS poll fool you.
The deficit came in at a big, whopping 4% while economy/jobs lag badly at 56%. Clearly, the American public are demanding deficit reduction now! And by becoming a transcendent non-partisan President, he can get Republican cooperation and compromise simply by refusing to play the partisan games that make Democrats (46%) less popular than Republicans (42%).
And the public agrees with me, especially Democrats and independents! They know Republicans are itching to compromise.
Now, I do apologize for throwing in so many polling data points, but Schoen and Caddell are pollsters and therefore read the polls and know what they're talking about. They know that Obama is now in the mid 40's and should step down. When George W. Bush was in the mid thirties, he should, of course, have been made President for life, but that's a different story.
He was a Republican.
