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Obama’s dog comment a mistake, say experts
Press chews over Obama’s accusation that Washington lobbyists talk about him ‘like a dog’
Barack Obama is in the doghouse again following the seemingly innocuous crime of suggesting to a Labor Day rally in Wisconsin that he is not universally loved by Washington lobbyists.
Obama told a gathering of union members that rebuilding the middle class has "meant taking on some powerful interests - some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time.
"And they're not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, but it's true."
Obama's words have been debated in excruciating detail – even their origin is contested, with some saying the words are from Jimi Hendrix's Stone Free: "Everyday in the week I'm in a different city/ If I stay too long people try to pull me down/ They talk about me like a dog, talkin' about the clothes I wear/ But they don't realise they're the ones who's square."
Others have pointed out Muhammad Ali was the original source – saying the phrase before a rematch against Sonny Liston in
1965: "They gonna talk about me like a dog when I lose, so when I win I let them all know it."
Either way, Obama has committed the cardinal sin of showing he is wounded by the daily barrage of criticism levelled at him, from accusations that he is a socialist or a Muslim, to suggestions he was not born in America.
Former Democrat strategist Larry Sabato told the Times that Obama "shouldn't have said it".
"You never want to let them see you sweat. Presidents are supposed to take the criticism and come up smiling."
David Frum, George W Bush's former speechwriter, likened Obama's "terrible mistake" to a similar gaffe by Richard Nixon, who in 1962 told journalists: "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more."
Nixon had to battle his image as cry baby for years afterwards.
But whether or not Obama's choice of words was a mistake, the debate over them has successfully focused attention on Obama's poor poll ratings – paint him as very much the underdog going into November's midterm elections - and general attitude, rather than his economic policies.
And his words have totally overshadowed the real reason for his speech in Wisconsin: a $50bn transportation infrastructure spending plan, which although it is a stimulus of sorts, is not being described as such thanks to the poor reviews enjoyed by his previous $900bn stimulus earlier this year.
But there is a silver lining to 'dog-gate'. As Alexandra Petri points out in the Washington Post, perhaps if lobbyists are talking about Obama like a dog, it is evidence that he is on the right track.
"Being president means using his political capital to enact changes he believes in. Often, people don't agree with those changes... Dogs never have this problem. They have no hard choices, and we don't seriously expect them to fix the economy - facts that account for their continued popularity. If we actually were talking about Barack Obama like a dog, he'd be doing something wrong." ·
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Barack Obama. I recall a former president saying. If you cant stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. And here is a old ENGLISH saying. Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.
In terms of pecking order, a President ranks as person even though President Obama has flaws galore and a lobbyist and indeed an "expert" is so far down the scale that within poetic licence they might be regarded a the scavengers or dogs.
Looks like the first bonehead is barking up the wrong tree. Again.
AHHH! "Former Democrat strategist Larry Sabato told the Times that Obama "shouldn't have said it"...."You never want to let them see you sweat. Presidents are supposed to take the criticism and come up smiling."
As Cartman would say, "Sweet". It is good to see him sweat, he has done so much harm already, with his vacuous rhetoric of "hope and change". I certainly hope for a change from a Manchurian candidate to a real American, regardless of where born, it is, as Martin Luther King said - a far better man than Obama - "he looks forward to a day when people are judged by character and not by skin colour". If Obama lacks in character, the animal references are fair enough...you need a skin like a rhino to succeed in politics...oops, another animal got in there...