Burning empathy in effigy

Many top tier Washington journalists behave, to put it crudely, like abused wives. The frequent failure of these women to divorce their bastard husbands – preferably after whacking said spouses upside the head with a frying pan – seems inexplicable. (It isn’t, just infinitely complicated.)

Likewise, the Beltway Boys (and, sigh, they are still mostly male) remain hopelessly married to Obama’s so-called “empathy” problem. The president, they drone in unison, is too cool, too cerebral and much too Spock-like. And worse, he is too effete to alter the perception.

One can image John Harwood, the latest purveyor of this narrative, nodding gravely as “former aides” to Bill Clinton held forth on the issue “over salad and swordfish” at a swank eatery. (And yes, he actually noted the menu selection in his Sunday New York Times piece. What a classy dude, that Harwood. Oh, and do pass the caviar, dah-ling.) But I digress.

This week’s excuse for dragging the burning empathy effigy to the forefront came in the form of one Velma Hart, an articulate Obama supporter who happens to be black. “I’m exhausted – exhausted of defending you, defending your administration,” she said respectfully to the president at a televised CNBC town hall meeting. She wants meaningful change for the middleclass, adding “I’m waiting, sir.”

Indeed. Aren’t we all? But that isn’t where the story ends as the press would have you believe. The next day a very impressive Ms. Hart appeared on Chris Matthews’ Hardball. She repeated her concerns thoughtfully. But as Matthews rushed to end the segment (pushing his own narrative that Obama + White House bubble = tone-deafness), Hart insisted on adding a few more words:

“Well, I want to say for the record, I am a supporter and I believe in the vision and I’m hoping he is going to come through. I have great faith in him and I think he will.”

I have “great faith.” I think he’ll “come through.” Hmm. Funny how this obviously sincere sentiment from Ms. Hart never saw the light of day outside of Hardball, least of all in the Harwood treatise or the Sunday talk shows or the prominent political blogs.

It is also funny how our press studiously ignores the real story simmering just below the surface: the growing infantilism of the American people and their wildly unrealistic expectations of the political class. (Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?) Be it true or not, it is a serious topic worth exploring (as I will in a future post).

The national press, as it is wont to do, is making way too much of the presidential feel-your-pain ethos. Evidently without realizing it, Harwood answers his own thesis about Obama’s inability to connect with the huddled masses -- with an Obama quote.

“When the unemployment rate is so high and people are having a tough time, it doesn’t matter if I was green, it doesn’t matter if I was purple. I think people would still be frustrated.”

In other words, it’s (mostly) the economy, stupid. It is also worth remembering that neither Reagan nor Clinton was particularly popular at this juncture of their presidencies. Indeed, both were perceived as weak by our hallowed Beltway Boys.

Trust me, if the economy turns around by 2012 (and it likely will), the press corps will be tripping over itself to hail Obama as the American Marcus Aurelius and a canon of empathy. You heard it here first.

Here's the Hart Hardball interview:

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