The Importance of Being Earnest
Howard Fineman thinks Barack Obama is spending too much time on Olympia Snowe. He also says:
Despite a bit of grandiloquence and a habit of quoting Longfellow (who was, in her defense, a Mainer), she is likable and earnest. She was believable when she told me that she had not sought such a prominent role. “It’s not me dictating anything,” she said.
Why would you say someone is earnest “despite” a habit of quoting Longfellow? That seems like a very earnest thing to do. And are earnest people really generally likable? It seems to me they’re often a bit annoying. Generally political reporters seem to prefer politicians like Bob Dole and John McCain who have a keen sense of irony.
At any rate, Fineman’s key point is this:
Nor would Snowe’s vote mollify the GOP grassroots: they don’t think of her as a Republican anyway.
You can think of the aftermath of the stimulus vote. Securing the votes of three moderate Republicans didn’t lead anyone to characterize the bill as a bipartisan endeavor. Instead, it simply served to delegitimize the “real Republican” credentials of the three Republicans who voted for it.
28 Responses to “The Importance of Being Earnest”
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October 26th, 2009 at 10:03 am
it simply served to delegitimize the “real Republican” credentials of the three Republicans who voted for it.
One hopes this is why the White House really wants Snowe on board with reform — not for bipartisan republic, but to make her into another Spectre.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
If the Fox News Party wants to totally write off New England they’re welcome to do so as far as I’m concerned.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Generally political reporters seem to prefer politicians like Bob Dole and John McCain who have a keen sense of irony.
This may be one of your funnier lines
October 26th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I think Obama doesn’t want to go the reconciliation route and really feels he needs her vote to get to 60 (and not merely for the sake of “bipartisanship”), given that he is likely to lose at least one of Traitor Joe, Nelson, or Bayh. So this is not totally irrational behavior, except insofar as being willing to water down a key legislative priority for the sake of avoiding reconciliation is irrational (and indeed it is, in my view.)
October 26th, 2009 at 10:16 am
I applaud Matt’s use of “at any rate” instead of the maddening “that said,” which needs a permanent rest.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:30 am
neil
I had the same thought, but that is a pretty high risk gamble. If she does flip it will be good in the longer term, but in the short term such wooing could scuttle a real chance at health reform.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:34 am
It strikes me that someone who frequently quotes Longfellow might come across as both unlikable and highly affected. Also, “likable” is not the same as “someone I like.”
October 26th, 2009 at 10:35 am
John McCain tweeted:
Late evening with Col. Qadhafi at his “ranch” in Libya – interesting meeting with an interesting man.
Days later the Lockerbie bomber was released from a Scottish jail. Irony?
October 26th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Isnt it the case that this has little to do with winning over one particular Republican, so much as appealing to the 4 to 6 most conservative Democrats, for whom winning over Snowe gives them a penumbra to remain with the majority? And shouldnt a smart guy like Howard Fineman be able to discern this, since he’s an actual reporter in Washington doing this for pay?
These people act like the president has some fetish for moderate women from Maine, when its pretty obvious that keeping Snowe’s support is shorthand for keeping Nelson, Bayh, the two walmart senators, lieberman et al on the reservation.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Bob Dole is a lobbyist for Alston & Bird, which has many health care clients. He spoke in favor of health care reform on ABC’s This Week, never disclosing his employment or potential conflicts of interest.
Next to Bob was fellow Alston & Birdian, Dirty Tom Daschle. He didn’t declare either.
Irony or earnestness of greed?
October 26th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I think the question for bipartisanship is less about appealing to the grassroots as it is appeasing Broder and his ever-growing number of acolytes. If health care reform, with a public option, is a success as I think and hope it will be, these people will still be asking if it wouldn’t have been better to compromise with Republicans.
And what Steve LaBonne and neil said.
and the image of Barbara Mikulski hailing Ollie as the “belle of the ball” is nauseating. Snowe may not be the brightest (while far from the dimmest) bulb in the Senatorial chandelier, but that kind of fawning would make a Bourbon roll their eyes.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:46 am
“The Importance of being Earnest” is the best play on words. Ever.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Securing the vote of moderate Republicans only results in inferior legislation.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:53 am
What Neil said (although I think he meant another Specter and not another evil organization which is always trying to feed James Bond to sharks).
You know Yglesias comment threads are a bit irritating. I mean I don’t hope to have something intelligent to add, but I would like it if my brilliant original idea occasionally made it past the very first comment.
Fact is that one of the unreal Republicans who didn’t make the stimulus a bipartisan deal is now a passionate* advocate ov the public option.
* yes I know he looks and acts like a dead fish, but deep down he’s very passionate. Trust me. I looked into his soul when he was on TV once.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:57 am
“The Importance of being Earnest” is the best play. Ever.
IFYP
October 26th, 2009 at 10:57 am
The “ov” for “of” was a totally honest typo and not an feeble effort to make fun of our hosts homonym problem or of the Spectre for Specter typo. The “of” might have been the effect of nemisis, but it wasn’t due to sophomoric sarcasm.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:50 am
It’s kind of amusing that, although we have a few mandatory references to Oscar Wilde, no one seems to have picked up the obvious reference to Longfellow’s Psalm of Life, once one of the best known American poems. (The specific reference being to the line “Life is real, life is earnest.”)
By the way, Longfellow is actually kind of likeable, and it’s probably fairly important to have read him with sympathy before one comments on, say, 19th century American cultural history or the ideals of the culturally dominant people in the Gilded Age. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a lot more accessible than the science fiction so many commenters seem to swallow whole.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Terry nails it. There are Democrats who are not going to play along on a bill with zero Republican support. Or at least that’s the impression I have. So courting Snowe is about keeping every Democrat on the reservation. I can’t imagine Obama cares at all about the symbolism of having a Republican on board, he wants a bill that he knows will pass.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
What does IFYP mean? First two pages of Google results don’t get it for me.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
In hindsight it would have been better to leave Arlen Specter as a Republican and have him do a wrestling move on the Senate floor, make a big speech saying how he hated what Republcans were doing, hit Mitch McConnell over the head with the proverbial folding chair, and then switch and vote with the Democrats. The press would understand that as bipartisanship. Instead Specter flipped to the Democratic Party the regular way and has been conveniently ignored ever since.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
IFYP = I fixed your post.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Obama’s whole notion that this would be bipartisan if he has Snowe on board beggars belief, defies common sense, and suggests a lack of authenticity and intelligence.
Perhaps if other Republicans jumped on at the last minute this might make sense, otherwise it’s just dumb, you can’t play bipartisan with a party that has publicly and irreconcilably rejected you and sworn themselves to bring the country down if necessary to bring you down.
We’ve seen this act before, and it doesn’t end well if you aim to be bipartisan.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Re: IFYP
I meant the original. Perhaps both are correct.
On seeing a production, the title-joke made me laugh, and made me laugh throughout the play.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Snowe is the excuse, and it’s a nice spot to be in for her. But if not Snowe, then Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman or Evan Bayh or Frankenberry or the Hamburgler. Really the votes are there for a good HCR bill. All the shuffling casts doubt on the WH’s earnestness.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Snowe is the excuse, and it’s a nice spot to be in for her. But if not Snowe, then Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman or Evan Bayh or Frankenberry or the Hamburgler. Really the votes are there for a good HCR bill. All the shuffling casts doubt on the WH’s earnestness.
where’s the proof or is this just speculation of the White House as the prime mover behind the scenes. Seems like conspiratorial thinking to me given its a brand new administration run by a former junior Senator, even if their Presidential campaign was really well done.
This just assumes Obama is a sellout and I haven’t seen any evidence.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
“It didn’t get one Republican vote” sounds worse than “It didn’t get two Republican votes.” Plus Obama won the Democratic primary and general election on the bipartisan them that there are no blue states or red states, but purple states. Sorry dickhead who thrive on giving Obama a hard time about bipartisan rhetoric, but it’s true.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
[...] and Tradeoffs Matt Yglesias is skeptical of the President’s efforts to court Olympia Snowe’s (R-Maine) vote on the health care [...]
October 27th, 2009 at 4:47 am
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