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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

The Veiled Reference to Nixon

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  February 27th, 2013 at 07:27 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Bob Woodward was pretty clearly making a comparison between Barack Obama and Richard Nixon.

Here is his remark:

Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying ‘Oh, by the way, I can’t do this because of some budget document?’ Or George W. Bush saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to invade Iraq because I can’t get the aircraft carriers I need’ or even Bill Clinton saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to attack Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters,’ as he did when Clinton was president because of some budget document? Under the Constitution, the president is commander-in-chief and employs the force. And so we now have the president going out because of this piece of paper and this agreement, I can’t do what I need to do to protect the country. That’s a kind of madness that I haven’t seen in a long time.

He name checks the last three Presidents to serve into a second term.

That leaves three guys who did not: G. H. W. Bush, Carter, and Ford.

We can be honest enough to rule them out.

That takes us back to the last guy to get a second term: Tricky Dick Nixon.

Given the revelation tonight from Bob Woodward that a “very senior person” at the White House tells him he’ll regret saying the above, I think we can call agree with Woodward.

Barack Obama is becoming the Democrats’ Richard Nixon.

On the bright side, if the President is sincere about the disaster that will befall the nation on Friday, I’m sure he can hire some plumbers to start providing prostate exams since the TSA will all be furloughed.

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COMMENTS

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  • sjccoach

    I’m waiting for the mainstream media to rally around Woodward. I doubt that it will happen because they are no longer journalist. They are propagandists for the Democrat party. Somewhere Joseph Goebbels is smiling.

  • Wubbies

    It may be me but I genuinely see the beginnings of a very large backlash against Obama and the Democrats.

    I am not saying this due to this particular incident. I am saying this is part of a steadily increasing bunch of incidents. The mass release of illegals is sparking a sharp response publicly too. Obama’s narcissistic arrogance has emboldened him and the White House. They sent Woodward an email! An email that can be made public if Woodward gets too annoyed with them and this prospect does not seem to phase the White House!

    Give them all the rope they want. I think they about to hang themselves.

    …. but this is just my opinion.

  • Wubbies

    The media has made this monster and now with reelection he is arrogantly emboldened.

  • westcoastpatriette

    I think you’re on to something, Wubbies. I smell real trouble in the air for Obama.

  • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

    Bob Woodward has been rather careful, I think, to phrase these answers and comments in political-speak. I heard this comment on the radio this morning and I thought that it was pretty ambiguous. Did he mean that the madness was that BO believes the claim, or the madness that he wasn’t going to do anything while using the claim as an excuse?

    Either way is bad for Obama, but I’ve noticed more of it recently in other interviews he’s given. He’s even given BO a semi excuse in the “It was his idea!” flap. He tempers it by saying that “Republicans signed on, too,” when the point is actually that BO lied about having proposed the sequester, not that he signed it into law.

  • http://dezignworx-ae.com tsquare

    The questions at hand here gentlefolks are these: Does Bob Woodward have it in him to take on another president? And if so, will the Washington Post print it? And is there anyone ‘disaffected’ inside the Obama White House? If the answer to those questions is yes, these next few years could become very interesting…

  • freemkts

    I’d bet anything it was that witch Valerie Jarrett who threatened Woodward. She’s more cold blooded that Rahm Emanuel.

  • http://mikeassad.com Mike Assad

    They have got to be out of their minds to try to intimidate the man who took on a president previously, and won. Not only that, but they did so in an email. A traceable, printable, email. If that doesn’t show arrogance, I don’t know what does.

  • rabun1016

    We just need to make sure John Boehner doesn’t inadvertently stick his neck in that rope.

  • http://www.bohnetlaw.com rightappeal

    One enormous difference: lots of Nixon’s supporters cared enough about ethics and morality to turn on him when he was shown to be lacking in those attributes. I doubt that is true of many of Obama’s supporters.

  • freemkts

    He needs to out who it was. This is not Deep Throat. Obama says he’s got a transparent administration. Woodward should say you’ve got 24 hrs to publicy admit to what you did or I will.

  • lineholder

    I guess you may be correct about the reference to Nixon, Erick. Personally, I thought it was much simpler than that. Obama does have narcissistic tendencies. People who possess that particular quality can be very vengeful, in a vindictive, malicious kind of way, when things don’t go the way they want them to go (with the definition of malice being the desire and intent to do harm).

    It fits with plenty of the actions we’ve seen from Obama, including his response to Woodward that he (Woodward) “will regret doing this”. It’s true to Obama’s character to respond this way. They’re going to make sure that Woodward “learns his lesson”…that he’s “taught his place”, etc. That’s how people with narcissistic tendencies are.

    What drives them nuts is when they are ignored…when people just go on about their business and stop allowing the person with narcissistic tendencies become the center of the equation.

  • kreplach

    It was Gene Sperling. http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/inside_the_woodward_fainting_couch.php

  • gyakuzuki

    Sperling will need to resign quickly if this is not to grow into a bigger tumor for BO. But we know BO won’t countenance admitting a screwup like this and it will be the gift that keeps on giving.

    Any other reporters out there been threatened by this Administration? Any bloggers?

    Any members of the “unfriendly” press been audited?

    Woodward combined with Robert Gibbs admitting he was told to deny the existence of a drone program is the last chance for the pro-Obama press to reclaim a shred of integrity.

  • reggie1

    “Any other reporters out there been threatened….?” That would require any other reporters actually reporting.

  • reggie1

    That’s because lots of Nixon’s supporters were on the right side of the aisle.

  • reggie1

    “They have got to be out of their minds”, or alternative explanation, they have got to be pretty comfortable and confident that the press is theirs.

  • reggie1

    I hope you’re right about this being “the beginning of a backlash”, but I’ve been conditioned to be prepared for this to more in the category of Romney’s first debate win. These guys have a decent repair effort when they’ve backed themselves into a corner.

  • rbdwiggins

    By orders of magnitude, Woodward’s “veiled” reference was more transparent than the Obama Administration.

  • elayman

    Whatever Woodward has or hasn’t done in the past, publicly going after the most recognizable print journalist in the country, a living, breathing liberal icon that is still basically defending the president is seriously crazy. As someone who believes in the balance and power of a two party system, I hope moderate Democrats and other reporters speak up in defense or this sort of radical power grab is going to overreach to the point it will bring down the entire Left down with it.

  • chriser

    I”m just wondering how long it will be until Woodward starts to backtrack, saying it’s all been overblown and is really no big deal? Maybe not, but I won’t be surprised if he does.

  • jasonr

    I came of age during the Watergate era, and the similarities between Nixon and the current White House occupant are breathtaking. Both are (were) petulant, petty, and vindictive. That said, Obama has all of Nixon’s bad qualities, and none of his good attributes….e.g., high intellect and extraordinary work ethic.
    Nowhere are the similarities more striking (frightening?) than in the revelations this past Spring that indeed, team Obama was keeping an enemies list. Eight private citizens who had donated to Gov. Romney’s campaign were posted on Obama’s campaign website, for the purpose of being “named and shamed”. One of these, a respected businessman from Idaho named Frank VanderSloot, was notifed in June of a pending IRS audit…for the first time in his life.
    Kim Strassel of the WSJ did some excellent investigative reporting on this modern day enemies list, and her columns are worth a read if you haven’t seen them: “The President Has a List” (4/27/2012), and “Trolling for Dirt on the President’s List” (5/11/2012).

  • Samsara

    Bob Woodward….the new Dick Morris

  • Samsara

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoPVC4YxDlI