Althouse: "For many people, the President of the United States is the government of the United States. It’s why he gets the credit and blame for so many things..."

May 21, 2015

"For many people, the President of the United States is the government of the United States. It’s why he gets the credit and blame for so many things..."

"... like the economy, where his influence can be hard to discern. This is particularly true for a subject in which the President has invested so much of his personal and political capital. If the Supreme Court rules against him, the President can blame the Justices or the Republicans or anyone he likes, and he may even be correct. But the buck will stop with him."

Writes Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker about the King v. Burwell case.

45 comments:

campy said...: That may have been true once; it isn't any more.; 5/21/15, 8:27 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: The media has created that over the last 40 years. And the use of deficit spending by the feds has entangled states and cities more and more into the fed's web which is headed by POTUS.

30-40 years ago you could watch your local news and never hear a thing about the Imperial City or the president. Now, they feel compelled to tell you when the president has a bowel movement. Making the POTUS a celebrity [at least when he is a DEM] has blurred the LIV's conception of state rights vs fed govt and so they sneer at constitutional issues which should preclude the president form doing whatever the hell he wants.; 5/21/15, 8:31 AM
MayBee said...: AJ Lynch said...

local news and never hear a thing about the Imperial City or the president. Now, they feel compelled to tell you when the president has a bowel movement. Making the POTUS a celebrity [at least when he is a DEM] ......

This this this! I can't think of some cultural event that has happened recently where we haven't been informed by the press what the president thinks about it, how he has responded to it, or what he has to say on the matter.
His Twitter account made national news! His sports picks are covered! He congratulates Grammy winners! In every cultural aspect, we have to hear what the president thinks.

It's creepy!; 5/21/15, 8:38 AM
MayBee said...: Obama has to be interviewed before all major sporting events.
And remember when he used to do the televised address to school children at the beginning of the year?

Creepy!!!!; 5/21/15, 8:39 AM
Unknown said...: "The people with the most riding on the outcome, of course, are those thirteen million. Without subsidies, it’s likely that most of them will no longer be able to afford their insurance."

Fundamental problem, if health care insurance is unaffordable then paying for it with government funds does not magically make it "affordable," only masks the problem. The Pres SHOULD get 'credit' for trying to hide the problem.; 5/21/15, 8:48 AM
Jaq said...: If the Republicans win this case and don't use it as an opportunity to re-open the entire law to revision, the Republicans have no purpose.; 5/21/15, 8:52 AM
Jaq said...: There is some very unpopular stuff in that law that it would be great fun to see the Democrats defend with a filibuster and veto.; 5/21/15, 8:54 AM
Patrick Henry was right! said...: Is the President not responsible for the Regulations adopted by his IRS?; 5/21/15, 8:56 AM
LYNNDH said...: This President is Never responsible for anything. He only finds out about it in the newspapers.; 5/21/15, 9:02 AM
Wince said...: Live by the low information voter, die by the low information voter.; 5/21/15, 9:04 AM
cubanbob said...: "... like the economy, where his influence can be hard to discern. This is particularly true for a subject in which the President has invested so much of his personal and political capital. If the Supreme Court rules against him, the President can blame the Justices or the Republicans or anyone he likes, and he may even be correct. But the buck will stop with him."

That's funny. The buck will most definitely not stop with him. He isn't a Republican.; 5/21/15, 9:06 AM
Brando said...: He did sign the damn thing. Maybe he should have read it first, and once he realized it was a shoddy draft version, sent it back to Congress so they could do their job.

And if it doesn't pass that time? Then maybe the people have spoken.; 5/21/15, 9:08 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I blame Walt Disney.; 5/21/15, 9:08 AM
Brando said...: "If the Republicans win this case and don't use it as an opportunity to re-open the entire law to revision, the Republicans have no purpose."

Win or lose, they should open the law to revision. The vast majority of the electorate acknowledge at least some problems with it, and they can fix or delete the more damaging parts.; 5/21/15, 9:09 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Maybee:

A prez candidate could get votes by promising he would do away with the weekly radio address and he would not comment on things that do involve his job duties.; 5/21/15, 9:10 AM
MadisonMan said...: There is some very unpopular stuff in that law that it would be great fun to see the Democrats defend with a filibuster and veto

Health-care costs here are supposed to increase greatly next year so as to avoid 'Cadillac Care' taxes.

So you can either pay through the nose for your medical care, or you can pay through the nose for Cadillac Care taxes.

Because fairness.; 5/21/15, 9:11 AM
who-knew said...: Since, when convenient, Obama ignores the written law, the congress, and the courts, Americans are not wrong to think the president of the U.S. is the government of the U.S.; 5/21/15, 9:21 AM
virgil xenophon said...: I remember a famous press conference held by JFK in which he replied to some question about a now forgotten (by me) policy matter by grinning and saying: ""Well, that's how I feel about the matter, but I don't know if the Government will feel the same way."

Everyone in the press room roared with laughter, acknowledging by their laughter that the President is NOT El Cid and that Congress and the courts often have a major role to play--sometimes moreso than does the President. Obama represents the ultimate morphing of the body politic over the last half century into a public which now eagerly embraces/worships the Fuhrerprinzip. Obama has taken full advantage of it, and its continued existence is exhibited by the Pavlovian support Hillery gets from Democrats despite unending scandals and multiple policy failures..; 5/21/15, 9:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Obama could commit murder on video, and the Main Stream media would blame George Bush for it.; 5/21/15, 9:28 AM
traditionalguy said...: Is King Obama till pretending that he is President under our old Constitution? That old fashioned Obama Monarchy is the temporary transition stage into the new world Confederation.

Times are a changing faster.; 5/21/15, 9:41 AM
Known Unknown said...: Can we still call Lindsay Graham 'Preezy of the United Steezy' if he pulls off the big upset?; 5/21/15, 9:55 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: For 47% of voters, the President of the United States is the Government of the United States.; 5/21/15, 9:56 AM
Mick said...: The Federal Government cannot force the States to take Federal Money (the Medicaid expansion). They can entice (like giving that money no strings attached for 3 years), but not force. That is well held many times. That is why the law is written the way it is. It was done that way purposefully (that the subsidies, which come from the government expansion of medicaid, have to come from a state created exchange). It is not a "typo" or an "oversight".

Roberts even said in the previous case that the acceptance by the states of the expansion of medicaid would doom or sustain the law.

Open and Shut.; 5/21/15, 10:00 AM
Anonymous said...: In what way has Obama been blamed for anything?

On the contrary, he is the excuse President. Nothing bad has been his fault.; 5/21/15, 10:06 AM
rhhardin said...: Belmont Club on blame in a particular current case:

The Washington Post’s editorial on the unfolding catastrophe in Iraq has the quality of a man mumbling after waking from a dream — or a nightmare. Written by the editorial board it begins by repeating a falsehood. Perhaps not a deliberate one, but a falsehood all the same.

It has been apparent for some time that the United States lacks a strategy to fulfill President Obama’s pledge to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State since it has no plan to root out the terrorists’ base in Syria. There was hope, though, that Mr. Obama’s half-measures might be enough to blunt the Islamic State’s advances in Iraq, leaving the Syria problem for the next U.S. president. With the stunning fall of Ramadi on Sunday, even that modest optimism is questionable.

This falsehood is so basic that it needs to be fixed. It should read: “President Obama began a course of action at the start of his term to leave Iraq and Syria to their fates. He hoped the fallout of this action might be blunted until the next US president could be stuck with it. Now, with the stunning fall of Ramadi, ISIS is presenting the president in advance with the logical consequence of his strategic decision.”; 5/21/15, 10:06 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Toobin is an idiot. The buck never, ever stops with Obama. It's always someone else's fault.; 5/21/15, 10:52 AM
Brando said...: "In what way has Obama been blamed for anything?"

It's hard to be blamed when you don't actually do anything. Even the ACA and stimulus--the two legislative "accomplishments" attributed to him--were done by letting Pelosi and Reid run with it. His Libya invasion was more leading from behind, letting his allies take the initiative and backing them up, and when they balked at doing the same in Syria we ended up leaving that one on the floor too.

For all his talk, Obama has been remarkably passive--even his "executive orders" are rather limited in scope.; 5/21/15, 11:00 AM
Owen said...: Maybee @ 5/21/15 8:38 AM:

"This this this! I can't think of some cultural event that has happened recently where we haven't been informed by the press what the president thinks about it,..."

Charisma. Cult of personality. Collapse of analysis and logic into leader-worship.

Simple.; 5/21/15, 11:11 AM
Unknown said...: Obama has been impressively successful at reducing the oppressive American influence on the world stage. He campaigned on it, he made it happen. He should clearly get the credit. On the other hand, the results of this initiative have been spectacularly bad.; 5/21/15, 11:13 AM
mccullough said...: If Hillary agreed to not say anything and keep a low profile as she has since announcing her run for President, I might vote for her. We need someone like silent Cal Coolidge.; 5/21/15, 11:23 AM
Christopher B said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/21/15, 11:29 AM
dbp said...: "Suddenly, though, and paradoxically, it has come to seem that Obamacare’s Republican opponents are most at risk if the decision goes their way. They have the most to lose by winning. As Jonathan Chait wrote recently, “The chaos their lawsuit would unleash might blow back in a way few Republicans had considered until recently, and now, on the eve of a possible triumph, they find themselves scrambling to contain the damage.” In this view, the peril is especially great for Republicans, because, as Jonathan Cohn recently pointed out, the G.O.P. has failed to propose any kind of plan to address the loss of insurance for so many millions of people."

The left expects to lose and are setting up the battle space to make this look like a loss for the Republicans. Republicans have zero reason to "save" a law that was so one-sided that it got no Republican votes.

And yes, Obama will somehow escape all blame even as he signed the bill and Republicans opposed it all along.; 5/21/15, 12:36 PM
TRISTRAM said...: Obama could commit murder on video, and the Main Stream media would blame George Bush for it.
See Also: Drone Strikes, Collateral Damage, Bush started it!; 5/21/15, 12:41 PM
Christopher B said...: For many people, the President of the United States is the government of the United States. It’s why he gets the credit and blame for so many things like the economy, where his influence can be hard to discern.

Paraphrasing from a sign seen in many shops ...

You break it, you own it.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing that the President has relatively little control over the economy but if you campaign on your (and your party's) specific ability to 'fix things' then you should be judged by the results of your attempts to do just that.; 5/21/15, 1:03 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: The most frightening thing Obama said:

“TO EVERYONE who voted, I want you to know that I hear you,” President Obama said Wednesday, following the GOP’s victory this week in midterm elections. But, he added pointedly, “to the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/to-raise-voter-turnout-simplify-the-voting-process/2014/11/07/83577b66-6606-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html

The first reason that this is frightening is because it expresses a hatred of democracy. Obama will decide what the people want, regardless of how they vote.
The second reason that this is frightening is that media barely mentioned this wannabe-dictator's refusal to acknowledge the vote of the People. The linked article with the quote goes to a WaPo editorial that promotes making voting easier and simpler -- as though their is a cause and effect relationship between higher turnout and better government.
Simple economics indicates that the people who are not voting -- despite efforts to make it simpler and almost mandatory in recent years -- value their vote the least.; 5/21/15, 1:27 PM
richard mcenroe said...: The President's influence on the economy can be hard to discern? THIS President? The golfer?

Name ONE sector of the economy he has n't influenced, always for the worse, often illegally. Just one.; 5/21/15, 1:28 PM
richard mcenroe said...: "Now, they feel compelled to tell you when the president has a bowel movement."

Because he's taking it on us.; 5/21/15, 1:29 PM
richard mcenroe said...: "For 47% of voters, the President of the United States is the Government of the United States."

Hey, it be his stash, yo.; 5/21/15, 1:30 PM
furious_a said...: the President can blame the Justices or the Republicans or anyone he likes, and he may even be correct. But the buck will stop with him."

No, the buck will stop with whatever Republican straw man the President throws up as an excuse.

The Palace Media will see to that.; 5/21/15, 2:08 PM
furious_a said...: I can't think of some cultural event that has happened recently where we haven't been informed by the press what the president thinks about it, how he has responded to it, or what he has to say on the matter.

The only person ESPN sucks up more to than the President is Lebron.; 5/21/15, 2:11 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: richard mcenroe said...

Name ONE sector of the economy he has n't influenced, always for the worse, often illegally. Just one.

The government? I'm not saying their doing a good job, but if you're a government bureaucrat, business is booming.; 5/21/15, 2:26 PM
Will said...: You do not do fundamental change without consensus.

Obama ignored Rahmbo's advice and pushed forward with a Plan that a majority of the country hated. Since then Democrats have been punished at the polls.

If you have an unpopular Law that you rammed down the country's throat, then you better execute to perfection. Instead, Obama golfed and did not sweat the details and his website blew up.

Obama is reaping what he sowed.

The Democrats shit the bed on this one, and now they expect someone else to lie in it? Not gonna happen.

They aren't open to making changes because it is "settled law"? Well if it is so "settled" why has his majesty changed the law 20 times by executive fiat, pushing it beyond elections to shield his party from the fallout of the horrible disaster they inflicted upon us?

There were so many better ways to accomplish these goals. Throw it out and start over!

Obama is like the '63 Mets. He can't hit (domestic policy) and he also can't pitch (foreign policy.)

He will go down in History as our worst President ever. And he has nobody to blame but his own arrogant self.; 5/21/15, 2:31 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Maybe it should be left up to the next president, to pull the US out of... ObamaCare.; 5/21/15, 2:56 PM
n.n said...: Perhaps not technically, but practically he is . Now sit down and shut up.; 5/21/15, 3:35 PM
clint said...: Obama is now a lame duck.

The MSM doesn't even need to support him enough to fight off the GOP in a midterm election.

The next election will be Hillary vs. GOPwhoever.

So the MSM is done covering for Obama. They're covering for Hillary instead.

This isn't rocket science.; 5/21/15, 7:50 PM