Tone Deaf

One of the problems I have with Obama is his unwillingness to face difficulty head on, other than to take relatively “cheap shots” at Republicans. His reaction to rising prices for gasoline is typical. From The Hill newspaper a couple of days ago,

He will highlight the fact that production is up and imports have fallen, and will note additional steps the nation can take to deal with higher gas prices, the officials said.

None of which addresses the problem. Admittedly, he can’t really do anything about high gas prices, so instead of exercising leadership and telling people to face facts, he tries to pretend the problem doesn’t exist, or that it isn’t really a problem, and does his version of “drill baby drill.”

And he seems, at times, to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what the American people will hear. His proposal to cut corporate taxes and “close loopholes” at this point strikes me as utterly inane. Voters are going to hear the “cut taxes” part in great numbers, but few are going to hear the “close loopholes” part, and of those who do very few are going to believe that any loopholes are actually going to get cut.

So what people are hearing is that he wants to raise taxes on the rich and cut taxes on corporations, and I doubt there are going to be very many voters who think that makes any sense.

Count me, by the way, among those who think that corporate rates will be cut, that no loopholes will be closed, and that Obama is idiotic to propose this in the present environment.