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The Osama Fallout, by Robert Borosage
Source Dave Anderson
Date 11/05/03/18:14

www.huffingtonpost.com
Robert L. Borosage
President, Institute for America's Future
The Osama Fallout: Be Careful What You Wish For

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS RECEIVING the well-deserved gratitude of the nation
for success in taking out Osama bin Laden. The nation applauds, with
less exaltation than exhaling, as if we were holding our breath for
the last decade without knowing it.

The president's judgment and steeliness earn praise across the
country. Independent pollster Andrew Kohut says he may reap a long
term dividend for being a strong leader. Democratic pollster Peter
Hart believes the president captured a larger sense, to a "country
that has been down... that there is a way of coming back."

Republicans who have been scorning the president as weak and
ineffectual in foreign policy had little choice but to applaud. Hell
even Dick Cheney and Donald Trump offered congratulations.

Not surprisingly, many pundits suggested the triumph boosted and
perhaps cemented the president's reelection next year. The Borowitz
Report caught the spirit, with the headline" 2012 Election Canceled;
President buoyed by 100% approval rating."

The Washington Post's veteran reporter Dan Balz offered words of
caution. George Bush the First was at 90% in the polls in 1991 after
the stunning rout of Saddam Hussein's forces in the first Iraq war,
yet lost re-election in 1992, garnering only 37% of the vote. George
the Second saw his popularity soar after September 11, with the
successful invasion of Iraq and the capture of Saddam Hussein himself
in December 2003, but barely eked out re-election in 2004.

After taking a much merited victory lap, the president should take a
hard look at this history, for it likely foretells what he faces over
the next months.

First, the dispatch of Osama bin Laden will harden popular opposition
to the war in Afghanistan. As much as anything, hunting Osama served
as a cover for an unpopular effort to build a nation in Afghanistan.
After stocking his administration with a new generation of
counter-insurgency mavens, the president allowed himself to double
down on the effort to defeat the Taliban, and to try to transform a
corrupt and incompetent regime in Afghanistan into something capable
of ruling an ungovernable country.

Public patience with this mission was declining while Osama was still
alive, and for good reason. But now that he is dead, the cover is
blown. Few Americans will think it makes sense to squander lives and
resources in the effort to prop up the corrupted regime of Hamid
Karzai, who regularly threatens to join the enemy.

Anti-war activists largely gave Obama a pass on Afghanistan, when he
coupled the "surge" with a promise to begin withdrawing this July.
With bin Laden dead and another hard summer of fighting in
Afghanistan, that pass is not likely to be extended as America's
longest war heads into its second decade.

Second, the death of Osama bin Laden will free Americans to focus even
more completely on the troubles we have at home. When George the First
went from 90% popularity in 1991 to ignominious defeat in 1992, the
reason, made famous by the sign James Carville had hung in the Clinton
war room, was "the economy, stupid." Only the 1992 economy was much
better than the current one -- enjoying faster growth and lower
unemployment after a far shallower recession.

Here for the president, reality is sobering. In his State of the Union
address, Obama declared we were "poised for progress," noting that the
stock market had come roaring back, corporate profits were up and jobs
were being created.

But in the first quarter of this year, growth plummeted to only 1.8%
on an annualized basis. Some dismissed this as an aberration, blaming
it on the weather. But it is more likely to be an augury of what is to
come. Over 20 million people are still in need of full-time work.
Wages aren't keeping up. Home values are falling, with over 11 million
homes with mortgages under water. Gas prices are rising. Not
surprisingly, consumer confidence has tanked. The Federal Reserve is
about to end its "qualitative easing" which pumped money into the
markets. Lay-offs, furloughs and cutbacks are rising as federal, state
and local governments cut spending. The trade deficit is getting
worse, costing jobs.

And Obama is now trapped in an endless alley fight with congressional
Republicans over less -- about how much to cut and what to cut. The
Republican position -- cut Medicare and Medicaid to pay for tax breaks
for the wealthy -- is so preposterous that Democrats will win that
debate. But Republican candidates for the president aren't mired in
it. Around March, as Republicans finally begin sorting out the adults
from the clowns in their presidential field, the serious candidates
will start asking "Where are the jobs?" They'll indict Obama for
failing to produce, speaking to voters who -- with Osama bin Laden
buried at sea -- will be entirely focused on and sensibly unhappy
about "the economy, stupid."

Time to Act

With the tea party zealots dominating the Republican Congress, the
policy pie is pretty much baked. No new initiatives for the Congress
are likely to survive the House, unless the president decides to
repeal taxes on millionaires -- and that won't do much for the
economy.

The White House will be tempted to use the Osama moment to claim their
laurels. The president has turned an economy in free fall around, kept
his promise to draw down in Iraq and to refocus on the terrorists who
attacked us on 9-11. He can run on a record of accomplishment and good
judgment.

However tempting, that would be a mistake. The best hope for Obama and
the country is for the president to use this moment when his judgment
and leadership are being praised to focus Americans on the challenges
we face at home. To do so, he'll have to change course dramatically.

In July, he faces his own deadline on beginning the draw-down from
Afghanistan. The military will undoubtedly push to sustain the
mission, arguing that progress is being made, and we shouldn't
squander the momentum that comes with Osama's death.

Instead, the president could use the credibility he has gained in the
dispatch of Osama to accelerate our departure from Afghanistan.
Declare victory and get out. Announce that we will continue to be
vigilant and continue to pursue terrorists across the world, but it is
time for us to focus our resources and attention here at home.

Then lead rather than lag the faltering economy. Use this moment to
show Americans how circumstances have changed. Heavy lifting is still
needed to get the economy moving and to put people back to work. Show
clearly that the president is focused, like a laser, on the struggles
that Americans are facing.

Could Obama use this moment to call an end to the game playing, and
push for a clean vote on lifting the debt ceiling? He could line up
bankers shoulder to shoulder to urge Congress to act now, not dither.
The House is not likely to agree, but at least the president would
make it clear to the country how dangerous and irresponsible this is.
And he's likely to have a better chance to dictate terms of any deal.

Given the faltering recovery, why not call on Congress to enact
programs that will help put people to work? Given the deficit
hysteria, borrowing for jobs programs is a non starter. But the
president would benefit from pushing an agenda on jobs and fighting
for it. Why not tax the corporations sitting on trillions in profits
and use that money to save the jobs of teachers, cops and fire
fighters? Why not call l for a surcharge on millionaires to fund a
green corps, hiring young people to retrofit homes and public
buildings to lower energy use? Or demand action on a plan to require
banks to renegotiate mortgages to avoid foreclosures and save
neighborhoods, or empower bankruptcy courts to do so.

And why wait to roll out an agenda on making it in America once more?

The president could combine his own investment agenda (on education,
innovation and infrastructure) with a push for buy America provisions
on government procurement, and a trade agenda that announces the
commitment of this country for both more trade and balanced trade.
Tell the Chinese that unless we reach agreement on more balanced
trade, we will treat their exports exactly as they treat ours.

None of this is likely to pass unless the economy tanks. But by laying
it out and fighting for it now, the president will demonstrate that he
is focused on the economy, that he has an agenda to get it going, and
that he is being blocked by the Republican zealots who seem bizarrely
intent on returning to the same Bush policies that drove us over the
cliff (the Bush tax cuts, the Bush energy policy, the Bush trade
policy, the Bush regulatory policy).

Needless to say, the president's fund-raisers won't be pleased.
They've set out to raise nearly $1 billion for the re-election
campaign. With Wall Street's hedge fund managers already miffed and
multinationals pushing for a return to traditional trade policy, these
initiatives aren't likely to help fill the coffers.

Armchair advisors are a dime a dozen, and no White House --
particularly this one -- is receptive to critical advice. So it will
take popular pressure -- against the war and for action on the economy
-- to change the balance in Washington. The August recess should be
used by activists to let the Congress hear that voters think they
aren't listening. That might concentrate attention both in the White
House and the Congress about the need to act.

Obama is headed into a campaign where he will be burdened with
responsibility for an economy scarred by high unemployment, stagnant
wages, and slow growth -- at best. Voters will thank the president for
taking out Osama bin Laden, but they will vote for the candidate they
think most likely to fix the economy. So for what it is worth: Take a
bow, Mr. President. Get a well deserved night's sleep. Run a victory
lap. And then act boldly to make yourself that candidate.

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