Response To The Obama Presser

President Obama gave his second Prime time speech and news conference. If you missed it, or don't watch TV because it makes you stupid, you can read it here.

My response was a very simple, two part thought. He is truly gifted at abstractly arguing for his position in rhetorical terms, and at sounding extremely centrist. He is able to do this for the very simple reason that he was won the battle over the battlefield. That is to say, he has succeeded in framing the argument in a framework where is positions are moderate and reasonable.

Conversely, Republicans have failed because they took the bait, and tried to argue with the President on his own terms. They are trying to argue over what course of State action would be the most effective, rather than arguing over what the role of the state is. As long as they do not challenge the role of the State, they will always lose. They are going against a relatively popular President who succeeded a extremely unpopular President of their party, and have historically represented some constituencies that are extremely unpopular currently. Going on his turf and arguing his issues on his terms is not a formula for success. In order to have a chance, they need to force the debate out of his home field and onto their field. In this case, their home field is the role of government in abstract. Most Americans are still against Statism. Hopefully, they will figure this out before the midterm elections which may well prove pivotal for the country.