Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:40:25 AM
A few months ago, I wrote "
It Sounds Strange", arguing that if the Republicans win in 2010 and take back the congress in a rerun of 1994, an event which is appearing more likely as Obama becomes ever less popular, that Obama could turn such a defeat into a victory by repeating the Clinton trick of taking credit for the good ideas of his opposition.
Today, reading
the WSJ opinion pages, I found someone else has been plagiarizing my ideas:
In his book "The Pact," historian Steven M. Gillon puts it this way:
"Ironically, Gingrich's revolution may have saved the Clinton
presidency by freeing him from the control of his party's more liberal
base in Congress, giving him the opportunity to return to the moderate
message that helped him win election in the first place.
Putting aside my facetious charges of plagiarism, this is an interesting point, as there is every chance that, should the right retake congress, or should they even come close and the blue dog Democrats band together with them in hopes of keeping their seats, Obama could face a hostile congress.
What remains to be seen is if Obama is clever enough to repeat the Clinton miracle of stealing credit from his opposition, or if he is too stubborn to do so. Current evidence is that he lacks Clinton's finesse and flexibility, but I have been proved wrong before. And Obama doe shave a much more friendly press than Clinton ever had.
Only time will tell. But it will be interesting to see what happens.
POSTSCRIPT
As I argued in "
Winning By Losing? Not A Chance!", this is not an argument against retaking the congress. Though originally I said it might be better to let the left keep the congress until 2012, I now think it best to take what we can get. We just need to be wary of any attempts to attribute Republican initiatives to Obama, and to act swiftly to make sure credit is given to the right parties.
POSTSCRIPT II
On the other hand, as I mentioned in "
Cassandra Watch", "
Confirmation" and the many posts preceding them, the Democrats are already trying to distance themselves from Obama, at least some are, so it is possible that the Democrat insurrection may save the congress for the blue dogs. While the Democrats did not repudiate Clinton in 1994 and lost, it is possible they will act quickly enough to throw Obama overboard and the Republicans will not have a majority in 2010. Which would make all of these worries moot.