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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

2012 / Election Rep. McDermott: "Obama Was a Monster Tonight"

Posted by Goldy on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 4:28 PM

Squeezed into a loud bar, feebly attempting to out-duel Cienna with live-Slog witticisms, it was hard to get a good feel for President Obama's State of the Union speech last night. But US Representative Jim McDermott (D-The Part of Seattle I Don't Live In), sitting (and often standing) in the House chamber, got a firsthand look at the president in battle mode, and he came away quite impressed.

"Obama was a monster tonight," McDermott told me by phone about an hour after the speech. "By far and away, this was the best speech I've ever heard him give." Really.

No doubt McDermott is as partisan as they come, and he can be prone to fits of enthusiasm, but this was about as bubbly and effusive as I've ever heard him. Throughout the interview, McDermott literally giggled with delight at the thought of taking on Mitt Romney as the nominee, let alone his old foe Newt Gingrich. "They're trying not look scared," McDermott said of his Republican colleagues, "but they're looking at an unmitigated disaster."

By challenging congress to act on a series of popular, economically populist policy initiatives, McDermott says Obama has put the Republican leadership between a rock (the Tea Party Caucus) and hard place (Nancy Pelosi). "He's like the captain of the Costa Concordia," says McDermott of Speaker John Boehner: "He can either steer clear of the rocks, or stay on course and watch his ship roll over on its side."

As for the specifics of Obama's proposals, McDermott could have personally done without the stuff about off-shore drilling, but was philosophical about the president's need to appeal to the nation as a whole. "Some proposals I like, and some are not at the top of my list," McDermott admits.

"But I think the middle class loved that speech," says McDermott. And it's the middle class, after all, who is going to determine the outcome of this election.

Comments (18) RSS

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Obama has set up a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario for Republicans. Do what he asks, Obama campaigns on bipartisan success while their base shrivels. Stonewall his agenda, and Obama campaigns for populist/middle-class policies and against "do-nothing" Republicans.

Posted by cloudveil1 on January 25, 2012 at 4:50 PM

McDermott succumbed to the Chicago hustle, the fairy dust, the bamboozle, the hope and change rhetoric.

Posted by McDermott drank a lot of Kool-Aid too. on January 25, 2012 at 5:34 PM

@2: Go ahead and post it in every thread.

Posted by It's Totally Worth Your Time on January 25, 2012 at 5:37 PM

I live in a rural area with few job opportunities and plentiful natural resources. When you have a family to feed, fracking doesn't look so bad.

Posted by Mischa Vainburg on January 25, 2012 at 6:09 PM

@4 - Your family doesn't just have to eat, they have to breathe too.

Posted by Dipsas on January 25, 2012 at 6:21 PM

It was classic President Obama, not State Senator Obama. So neutral that nobody could have been offended. I listened to it on the radio, so I don't know how many Republicans didn't clap. But it seemed like mostly: These are things that if you boo, you hate America.

Posted by CbytheSea on January 25, 2012 at 6:42 PM

@5 You mean drink, but the point is the same. Have to say that the speech was fairly underwhelming; thought he could've more strongly framed the part on inequality. SOTUs are hard to make much of, but this country needs a grand narrative not more piecemeal legislation.

Posted by pioneer on January 25, 2012 at 6:49 PM

@4: resource extraction jobs are ultimately temporary. the need for drinking water is eternal. if they can avoid contaminating the water table, fine. but so far it looks like they can't, and they don't give a fuck.

Posted by Max Solomon on January 25, 2012 at 7:01 PM

So what are we supposed to do? Migrate to cities and look for service jobs?

Posted by Mischa Vainburg on January 25, 2012 at 7:23 PM

I understand the need for conservation. But people who are desperate for work don't really care about the long term. What passes for common sense in an urban setting seems precious and unrealistic to people in places where resource extraction has been integral to the economy and culture for generations. I'm not saying that fracking isn't terrible, or that it's a viable long-term source of jobs, just that I can't blame people for wanting it.

Posted by Mischa Vainburg on January 25, 2012 at 7:31 PM

In that sense, we might have been saying Vada a bordo, cazzo, since about 2010!

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on January 25, 2012 at 7:40 PM

McDermott needs to step down and let a real Progressive - one who can enact change without pissing everyone off and making themselves irrelevant in the process - take charge.

-jw

Posted by Just Jeff

on January 25, 2012 at 10:37 PM

So David Icke was right?

kekekekekekekeke!

Posted by sirkowski

on January 25, 2012 at 10:51 PM

That Costa Concordia remark made no sense.

Posted by sarah70 on January 25, 2012 at 11:02 PM

@10, And when the resources run out, then what? As a liberal, I think the government should be proactive with these regional economic issues. But people need to have a plan as well. My dad's family mined coal for generations, but my grandpa was smart enough to get the hell out before my dad had finished high school. The mine closed, and the people who stayed? They're "lucky" to make $7 an hour at Walmart, selling Chinese things that they should be making here for $20/hour. Government should make sure whole regions don't have all their eggs in one basket as far as jobs go. And individuals shouldn't have to choose among environmental destruction, Walmart or welfare to feed their families.

Posted by Subdued Excitement on January 25, 2012 at 11:47 PM

never seen bull shit stacked so high before . here's a hot fact over 1,000 days and no budget , only raised debt ceilings and bigger government . his employment figures are a joke , can't wait for him to be of of office , even if he get's replaced with that greasy weasel newt . 4 trillion in debt bush to 16 trillion in debt obama . nuff said ?

Posted by whatsbeckgottadowithit on January 25, 2012 at 11:59 PM

""He's like the captain of the Costa Concordia," says McDermott of Speaker John Boehner: "He can either steer clear of the rocks, or stay on course and watch his ship roll over on its side."

Only trouble is the captain of the Concordia got in trouble because he did vary from the charted course.

Posted by Weekilter on January 26, 2012 at 4:36 AM

@15: amen. I agree with everything you're saying. But I also have sympathy for those whose financial insecurity, and the fear that it engenders, makes them amenable to environmentally destructive practices. I no longer see this as a black and white issue of people being ignorant and callous.This is why we need government involvement.

Posted by Mischa Vainburg on January 26, 2012 at 10:11 AM