Obama as a Poker Player

Here is a savage attack in Slate magazine calling out Obama for his pitiful "negotiating" with the Republicans after the mid-term election over the Bush tax cuts. Here's is just a taste of what the article offers:

Folding a winning hand. Obama had a lot on his side in the tax-cut debate: the fairness argument, the deficit argument, populist outrage, and the legitimate case that Republicans were holding working people hostage so that millionaires could get a tax break. What did the GOP have going for it? Mainly the potential to confuse the issue so badly that middle-class people thought higher taxes for the rich would somehow apply to them. In his Springfield days, Obama was known as a conservative player who would only bet big on a decent hand. But if ever there was an opportunity for Obama to bluff, this was it. Republicans cutting off unemployment benefits and raising taxes on working people could have been another version of the government shutdown. He could have won big by simply saying no to a raw deal and putting the blame on the other side.

There's an old poker adage that if you don't see the mark at the table, you're it. Bad news, Mr. President. You're the mark.

Go read the whole article. It is well worth your time.

The tragedy is that Obama, who I thought was a smart guy, has demonstrated not just bad negotiating skills, but a consistency over two years in failing as a leader. He hasn't delivered on promises (despite his steamed up denial of this at a press conference after making "the deal"). He has failed to understand the Republican strategy. He has shown a willful ignorance about his own failings as a leader.

Obama should step aside in 2012 and allow a real leader a chance to rally the 99% of the population currently suffering under Republican "trickle down" economics.