The President’s Bluff

James Taranto has some thoughts on the fading/faded powers of Barack Obama:

A lot of people have been making fun of the president for supposedly saying, “Don’t call my bluff,” as if he’s admitting he’s bluffing. That seems to us a bit pedantic. Surely what he meant was something like “Don’t think you can call my bluff.”

What got our attention about this exchange as reported by Cantor is the president’s threat to take his case “to the American people.” Would those be the same American people who aren’t paying attention and don’t understand all this complicated stuff?

This seems to us an empty threat not least because since his election, Obama has a poor track record when it comes to taking his case to the American people–who still overwhelmingly oppose ObamaCare, give him poor marks on the economy, and think the debt limit shouldn’t be raised even though it pretty much has to be. He always ends up wishing he’d done a better job “explaining” his position, which at least sounds more humble than saying the American people don’t get it.

Of course, even if that’s what he meant, he’s still implying (in fact clearly stating) that it’s a bluff. And he’s right.

[Update a few minutes later]

Charles K. — “Call Obama’s bluff.”

[Update a couple minutes later]

Eric Cantor — “This is not a game.”

[Update a while later]

“Sounds like Obama won’t even call his own bluff.”

51 thoughts on “The President’s Bluff”

  1. gedaliya Says:

    “Leasing lands with recoverable mineral ores will bring in vastly more sums of revenue, continuing over many decades, then those acquired from what would amount to a bankruptcy sale to head off financial ruin.”

    Fine lease them. But they’d have to open them all up. And of course this is not happening.

    I share your notion that we might have to wait til 2012, but that’s too long a wait. As Ken Anthony wrote above: that’s 18 months of the cliff getting higher, programs becoming more ingrained, and – worst of all – the public USED to those programs.

    That’s what libs count on…getting the public used to the bigger trough so that politicians will be afraid of your predicted lynchings and chaos.

    Just look at Greece….and think about that.

    You also said:

    “This is 18% (as opposed to the 10% I said earlier) of the $1.27 trillion (projected) deficit for this year.”

    An 18% cut in the deficit (as a first step) would have hugely positive impacts, practically and psychologically.

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