There is a growing sense that Barack Obama needs to show righteous indignation of the kind that Jim Cramer, or for that matter, Jon Stewart evince.
Even the normally sober-minded Frank Rich is on board:
The question is not just why the White House was the last to learn about bonuses that Democratic congressmen had sought hearings about back in December, but why it was so slow to realize that the public’s anger couldn’t be sated by Summers’s legalese or by constant reiteration of the word outrage. By the time Obama acted, even the G.O.P. leader Mitch McConnell was ahead of him in full (if hypocritical) fulmination.
It’s odd how much this lien of reasoning mirrors talk during the campaign: From Michelle Cottle:
All of which strikes me as a bit of a problem at this point. While the cool, composed, no-drama demeanor helps Obama appear presidential–and no doubt allays some subliminal white racial anxieties–it also threatens to make him look a bit detached from the many and multiplying crises around him. These are not, to put it mildly, the most soothing of times for Americans. The economy is shaky. Unemployment is up. Growth is down. Oil prices have hit the roof just as home prices have crashed through the floor. Detroit is facing a full-fledged meltdown. We are still embroiled in two wars, neither of which offers much hope for a happy ending. Al Qaeda is running wild in western Pakistan. And now, like some bad acid flashback, Russia is acting like it wants to restart the Cold War.
Confronted by these dramas, Obama offers thoughtful, balanced, pragmatic responses.
It was wrong then and it’s wrong now. Keeping up with the bloviatiors though is actually the worst thing that Obama could do now, even as populism is supposedly on the rise.
The angry mobs have outlets enough. What Obama needs to do is calmly and patiently explain what is happening, why it is happening, and what the administration is doing to right ship.
From the address to Congress:
But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job – our job – is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage.
That’s what this is about. It’s not about helping banks – it’s about helping people. Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they’ll finally buy that car, or open their own business. Investors will return to the market, and American families will see their retirement secured once more. Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover.
Indeed, if Obama can project calm and confidence, markets are likely to recover. If markets recover, those left holding the pitchforks will look kinda silly.
