BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com
America likes winners. They vote against losers.
Obamacare is not the reason that the Republicans are going to win big this fall. Or at least, not the sole reason.
President Obama is.
The American people abhor weak leadership.
George H.W. Bush was called a wimp by George Will. He lost in his reelection bid.
The Iranian hostage crisis made Jimmy Carter look weak, and he lost in his reelection bid.
Lyndon Johnson couldn’t quell the social rebellions in the street in 1968 and the Tet Offensive called American strategy in Viet Nam into question. He decided not to run for reelection and Republicans won the next election.
George W. Bush looked strong after 9/11, but by 2006, the American people and the rest of the world lost faith in his leadership.
President Obama won reelection, but like his predecessor, the patience of the public is running thin.
Vladimir Putin is kicking sand in Mr. Obama’s face in Crimea and all he can muster as a response is weak economic sanctions. The former KGB spy has mocked the selective sanctions aimed at some of his top compatriots.
The Chinese are expanding their spheres of influence and intimidating their neighbors and the President is powerless to respond.
The President couldn’t convince the Congress to support him in Syria, and now Bashir Assad is stronger than ever. The Obama Administration pulled its support of our long-term ally, Hosni Mubarak, backed the Muslim Brotherhood when it came to power and then watched as the Egyptians overthrew that regime, and installed a new version of Mubarak. All the while, the White House looked on helplessly.
In the meantime, the President’s budget cuts the Army to a size not seen since before the Second World War. His signature legislative achievement is widely derided by the general public, as he is forced to delay huge chunks of it at a time. The rest of his legislative agenda is hopelessly stalled in a divided Congress. He can’t even get his top picks for Judiciary or for the Executive Branch through the Senate despite a historic change in the Upper Chamber’s rules.
There is a wide-spread belief that the dollar is weakening, that our national defense is weakening, that our political system is weakening, that our international reputation is weakening, and that the President is weak.
And that is the real reason that the Democrats are going to get smacked around this upcoming election. The American people will vote against a weak President.
They don’t like losers and right now, the President is looking like a loser.
Editor’s Note: John Feehery worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans in Congress. Feehery is president of Quinn Gillespie Communications. He is a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com.