Doom Rhetoric Seen By Some as Not Presidential
Joseph Curl
February 9, 2009
From crisis to catastrophe. Off a cliff. Dark, darker, darkest.
Mortal danger of absolute collapse. Armageddon.
President Obama and top Democrats
on Capitol Hill are deploying these and other stark predictions of doom and
gloom to push through their economic-stimulus package. In terms not heard in
While President Bush was accused shortly after taking office
in 2001 of "talking down the economy" - and for saying the economy
was "slowing down" - Mr. Obama is using
ever-heightening hyperbole to hammer home his message. But the strategy brings
great risk for the "Yes, We Can" man, who just three weeks ago told
America in his inaugural address that despite "a sapping of confidence
across our land," his election meant Americans had "chosen hope over
fear."
"Mr. Hope has to be careful not to become Dr.
Doom," said Frank Luntz, a political consultant
and author of the book "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear."
"The danger for him is using the Jimmy Carter malaise rhetoric,
particularly for Mr. Obama, who was elected because
people thought he was the solution. There's only so much negativity they will
tolerate from him before they will feel betrayed," Mr. Luntz
said.
Brad Blakeman, a senior aide to
Mr. Bush from 2001 to 2004, said the new president's language is immature.
"It's not presidential. An American leader needs to be
hopeful and optimistic - and truthful. Everything he says is parsed; everything
he says is searched for deep meaning. When he goes to 'DefCon
5' on the economy and says that we're on the brink of catastrophe, it's
absolutely insane."
With his fiery rhetoric, the new president runs the risk of
terrifying consumers and investors, which could depress the economy even
further. While the economy is bad, it is a far cry from Great Depression
levels, when as many as 30 percent of Americans were unemployed, compared with
the 7.6 percent now.
Every president must walk a rhetorical tightrope when
talking about the economy, a lesson Mr. Bush learned quickly, being bashed just
after taking office for delivering somber news. The
Liberals went berserk.
"Every time we turn around, this guy is bad-mouthing
the economy. Is that lifting our spirit or dumping on it in order to sell his
tax cut?" liberal comentator Bill Press said on
CNN. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, in an article headlined "Thanks Ever So
Much, President Poor-Mouth," said, "Even if Bush turns out to be
right in his predictions of gloom, that doesn't mean he was right to make
them." The New York Times lectured Mr. Bush, saying that presidents were
supposed to be "cheerleaders for the nation's economy."
But Mr. Bush tried that, too. As the
For all his effort, he was portrayed as a Pollyannish rube whose naivete so
clouded his vision that he could not see the stark reality of the economic
situation. How else to explain his optimism in the face of $4-a-gallon gas or
exploding unemployment, or presidential statements a year ago, such as "I
don't think we're headed to a recession, but no question we're in a
slowdown."
Mr. Obama has gone much further
than that. Just Friday, Mr. Obama said a report that
600,000 jobs were lost in January meant "it's getting worse, not getting
better. ... Although we had a terrible year with respect to jobs last year, the
problem is accelerating, not decelerating." Last week he said, "A
failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."
But he isn't the only Democrat ramping up the rhetoric while
talking down the economy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of