Comment of Frank Rich column, "The Comatose Republic"

In his Sunday essay in the NY Times, Frank Rich commends Obama's put-down of the Court's ruling on Citizens United (that got Alito to mouth "not true." And then speculates how Obama could turn on Congress as a case of triangulation on steroids (my phrase) IF he had positions on issues that the people who like him would be able to identify with so that the State of the Union would improve. Here's my take:

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As your yourself note, Frank, the use of the bully pulpit to get Congress off the dime might yet rescue the comatose Republic PROVIDED that the President had strong positions on the issues that threaten our future. That he had the courage to speak out against the Court's (actually, its "strict constructionist" five's) most recent and most egregious case of judicial activism hardly makes him a populist hero or even a Democratic version of Ronald Reagan.

Reagan stigmatized and demonized without hesitation, using the Bully Pulpit with great effect in getting those who would defend government as anything other than the employer of our troops as embarrassed and voiceless in the face of an argument that was effective only because it was not challenged. Obama had an opportunity to correct this classiclly conditioned association of "government" with "puzzle palace on the Potomac" (or the widely disdained "welfare queens" anecdotally seized upon to delegitmize welfare or social spending), when the "public option" facet of healthcare reform was allowed to put the House and Senate Finance bills at odds.

The President could have used it as a teachable moment, as a perfect platform for pulling down the lingering yet emasculating view of politics and government that remains Reagan's most pernicious legacy. That he chose not to -- or that in not choosing to do so, he didn't see the political meaning implicit in that moment -- says quite a lot, the least of which is that this President may be a bright, well-spoken, and talented public figure, but as a politician, he is no LBJ.