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USANews版 - Fred Barnes: The President's Shutdown
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Where leadership is needed, Obama stays on the sidelines—except when he's
attacking Republicans.

By
FRED BARNES
President Obama is sitting out one of the most important policy struggles
since he entered the White House. With the government shutdown, it has
reached the crisis stage. His statement about the shutdown on Tuesday from
the White House Rose Garden was more a case of kibitzing than leading. He
still refuses to take charge. He won't negotiate with Republicans, though
the fate of ObamaCare, funding of the government and the future of the
economic recovery are at stake. He insists on staying on the sidelines—well
, almost.
Mr. Obama has rejected conciliation and compromise with Republicans. Instead
, he attacks them in sharp, partisan language in speech after speech. His
approach—dealing with a deadlock by not dealing with it—is unprecedented.
He has gone where no president has gone before.
Can anyone imagine an American president—from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald
Reagan, from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton—doing this? Of course not. They
didn't see presidential leadership as optional. For them and nearly every
other president, it was mandatory. It was part of the job, the biggest part.
LBJ kept in touch daily with Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader in the
Senate, and never missed an opportunity to engage him in reaching agreement
on civil rights, taxes, school construction and other contentious issues. Mr
. Obama didn't meet one-on-one with Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader,
until 18 months into his presidency and doesn't call on him now to
collaborate.
Presidents have two roles. In the current impasse, Mr. Obama emphasizes his
partisan role as leader of the Democratic Party. It's a legitimate role. But
as president, he's the only national leader elected by the entire nation.
He alone represents all the people. And this second, nonpartisan role takes
precedence in times of trouble, division or dangerous stalemate. A president
is expected to take command. Mr. Obama hasn't done that.
The extent to which he has abdicated this role shows up in his speeches. On
the eve of the shutdown, he warned that a government closure "will have a
very real economic impact on real people, right away." Defunding or delaying
his health-care program—the goal of Republicans—would have even worse
consequences, he suggested. "Tens of thousands of Americans die every single
year because they don't have access to affordable health care," Mr. Obama
said.
In an appearance in the White House pressroom, he said that "military
personnel—including those risking their lives overseas for us right now—
will not get paid on time" should Republicans force a shutdown. At an
appearance in Largo, Md., the president accused Republicans of "threatening
steps that would actually badly hurt our economy . . . Even if you believe
that ObamaCare somehow was going to hurt the economy, it won't hurt the
economy as bad as a government shutdown."
Yet as he was predicting widespread suffering, Mr. Obama steadfastly refused
to negotiate with Republicans. He told House Speaker John Boehner in a
phone call that he wouldn't be talking to him anymore. With the shutdown
hours away, he called Mr. Boehner again. He still didn't negotiate and said
he wouldn't on the debt limit either.
Mr. Obama has made Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid his surrogate in the
conflict with Republicans. Mr. Reid has also declined to negotiate. In fact,
Politico reported that when the president considered meeting with Mr.
Boehner and Mr. McConnell, along with the two Democratic congressional
leaders, Mr. Reid said he wouldn't attend and urged Mr. Obama to abandon the
idea. The president did just that.
By anointing Mr. Reid, President Obama put power in the hands of the person
with potentially the most to gain from a shutdown. Mr. Reid's position as
Senate leader is imperiled in next year's midterm election. Republicans are
expected to gain seats. They need a net of six pickups to take control and
oust Mr. Reid. His strategy is to persuade voters that the shutdown was
caused by tea-party crazies in the GOP, and that turning over the Senate to
them would be foolhardy. If Mr. Reid's claim resonates with voters, it might
keep Republicans from gaining control of the Senate.
Mr. Obama insists that he is ready to discuss tweaks in ObamaCare "through
the normal democratic processes." But, he said last week, "that will not
happen under the threat of a showdown."
It probably won't happen in less frantic situations either. The president in
the past has proved to be a difficult negotiating partner. In his first
term, he blew up a "grand bargain" on taxes and spending with Mr. Boehner by
demanding even higher taxes at the last minute. Without what Mr. McConnell
calls a "forcing mechanism," no major agreement on domestic issues has been
reached.
The three deals that Mr. Obama has signed off on—all negotiated by Vice
President Joe Biden—were forced. The president agreed in 2010 to extend the
Bush tax cuts for two years as they were about to expire. In 2012, he made
the Bush cuts permanent except for the wealthiest taxpayers. In 2011, he
agreed to spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the debt limit as it
was close to being breached.
The president's tactic of attacking Republicans during a crisis while
spurning negotiations bodes for a season of discord and animosity in the
final three-and-one-quarter years of the Obama presidency. That he has
alienated Republicans doesn't seem to trouble Mr. Obama.
"He's been a terrible president, just awful," Mr. McConnell told me. The
McConnell agenda consists of stopping the president from raising taxes and
boosting spending. And the focus on ObamaCare will continue. "The ObamaCare
fight is not over," Mr. McConnell says. "This is the gift that keeps on
giving."
Mr. Boehner has vowed to stay away from efforts to come to terms with the
president on deficit reduction. Mr. Obama says he is willing to curb
spending by reforming entitlements, but Republicans no longer believe him.
They've given up on the possibility of a grand bargain.
Today the buzz in media circles in Washington is that the shutdown is a
defining moment for Mr. Boehner. It may well be. But it's also a critical
test of Mr. Obama's leadership. And by declining to lead, so far, he has
failed that test.
Mr. Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard, is a Fox News
commentator.
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话题: mr话题: he话题: obama话题: president