It’s time ro Break It Down!
(Note: This is a reprised, amended, and expanded presentation of my original blog post)
HAPPY 18th ANNIVERSARY “BREAK IT DOWN!” Today, in acknowledgement of another anniversary of this publication, as I have often done in the past, I am revisiting my inaugural post.
Before launching into the post, it’s certainly appropriate to contextualize my original blog. To do that, I note that post was about a young lion, Barack Obama, coming into what would, for all practica purposes, become his era.
Tempus fugit (Time Flies)! Today marks a significant milestone in the life and development of “Break It Down!” I initiated this blog on August 20, 2007, on a lark…almost a dare. That was exactly eighteen years (and 938 editions) ago today. Having related the story several times over past years, I will not repeat the complete details today.
I will note, however, that on that summer’s eve, I contemplated and discussed, in five paragraphs, the experience, or in reality the lack thereof, of then Senator Barack Obama, as he navigated the early stages of his historic Presidential Campaign.
So, in a nutshell, the message in Post #1 was five brisk paragraphs and a sign-off:
In an apparent calculated act of derring-do, Obama declares the virtue of inexperience. Gotta love it!
Personal footnote of recollection: I recall Jimmy Carter running the classic “anti-Washington” (i.e., lack of Capitol Hill experience) campaign in ’75-76. You know what, it worked.
The problem was, once JC sent all the reigning bureaucrats & policy wonks home, he was left with an assembly of newbies who didn’t understand how to get things done in DC. The result was that a very smart guy, genuine humanitarian, and erstwhile successful leader presided over what was widely perceived at the time, as a disastrous presidency. President Carter’s solitary term was fraught with numerous challenges (see the Shah of Iran, double-digit inflation, runaway gas prices, & the outrageous Interest/Mortgage rate morass) and public relations gaffes (remember the killer rabbit, and the failed helicopter gambit).
Fortunately for former President Carter, he was able to live long enough and subsequently do enough good deeds to distance himself from most of an unremarkable tenure as a one-term president, followed by a resounding defeat by that cowboy actor, Teflon guy.
Of course, none of that has anything to do with Obama…except in the unlikely event he prevails. If he does, let’s hope he doesn’t take that inexperience thing too far. As W constantly reminds us, getting to the White House is one thing (after all, he’s done it twice), providing prudent and effective leadership once there is quite another. (Of course, in hindsight, we know President Obama not only prevailed, but went on to win re-election, and serve a second term).
As we endeavor to navigate a sometimes tortuous, always unpredictable first year of 45/47’s second term, separated from his first term by Joe Biden’s solo run, we are buffeted by the collective exigencies of the TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) Tariff policy, the Day 1 Promise Series, the Mass Immigration morass, the continuous battle with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the broadside attack on the Smithsonian Museums, especially of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and last but not least, the constant efforts to deflect attention from the infamous so-called Epstein Files. It’s enough to make one say, “Where is Obama when you need him?” I kid, I kid.
Barack Obama, who many Democrats, and even some Republicans consider a sterling orator, won wide acclaim over two decades ago in 2004, when he addressed the Convention in Boston, an aspiring Senatorial candidate at the time. Fresh off an unexpected landslide victory in the March 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic Primary, he was catapulted into rising star status within Democratic Party circles, and he went on to leverage his newfound celebrity into a speaking role at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which he crushed. He would go on to successfully vie for and win in his race to become a U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, where he served four years, before his successful 2008 Presidential run.
Just for context, here’s a story carried by national news outlets about the Presidential campaign on August 20, 2007.
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS DEBATE IN IOWA
Obama posits virtue of inexperience
What rivals criticize as naiveté, he presents as break from status quo
MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa –Democrat Barack Obama on Sunday tried to parlay his relative lack of national experience into a positive attribute, chiding his rivals for adhering to “conventional thinking” that led the country to war and has divided the country.
In their latest debate, the candidates also said they favored more federal action to address economic woes that have resulted from a housing slump and tighter credit. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called the current financial crisis “the Katrina of the mortgage-lending industry.”
Prodded by moderator George Stephanopoulos at the outset of the debate, Obama’s rivals critiqued his recent comments on Pakistan and whether he would meet with foreign leaders — including North Korea’s head of state — without conditions.
“To prepare for this debate I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair,” the first-term senator from Illinois said to laughter and applause from the audience at Drake University.
The debate capped an intense week of politicking in Iowa, an early voting state in the process of picking a nominee. The Iowa State Fair is a magnet for White House hopefuls each presidential election.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., directly addressing a question about Obama’s relative inexperience, said: “You’re not going to have time in January of ’09 to get ready for this job.” Dodd has served in Congress for more than 30 years.
Former Sen. John Edwards said Obama’s opinions “add something to this debate.” But Edwards said politicians who aspire to be president should not talk about hypothetical solutions to serious problems.
“It effectively limits your options,” Edwards said.
Obama said he could handle the rigors of international diplomacy and noted that many in the race, including Dodd, Edwards and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Biden, voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2002.
“Nobody had more experience than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and many of the people on this stage that authorized this war,” Obama said. “And it indicates how we get into trouble when we engage in the sort of conventional thinking that has become the habit in Washington.”
The debate, hosted and broadcast nationally by ABC, took place less than five months before Iowa caucus-goers begin the process of selecting the parties’ presidential nominees.
As we reflect upon the Campaign of 2008 it really does harken the recognition of how swiftly time and events pass. Indeed, I am reminded, especially, of how a supremely confident Senator from Illinois approached his moment. I shall always recall that it propelled me to write the words, “Obama Plays the Inexperience Card (Edition IX)!” He has gained an enormous amount of experience in the intervening years. I’m done; holla back!
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BREAK IT DOWN! 