In denial

House
Minority Leader — and presumptive Speaker — John Boehner (R-Ohio) is right.
President Obama is still in denial.
 
All Obama has to say is “I get it.” But he hasn’t, and maybe he
can’t. He has said a lot since the Democrats were beaten in the largest
rout since World War II Tuesday night. He has even admitted that the government
became too “intrusive” in people’s lives. He said in an interview
with “60 Minutes” on CBS that he failed to persuade the public
as president the way he succeeded at as a candidate. Obama said leadership
is not just legislation but that “it’s a matter of persuading people.
And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone.
And making an argument that people can understand.” He added that “we
haven’t always been successful at that,” and said he takes personal
responsibility for that failure and would closely examine it going forward.

 
But what Obama hasn’t said is that he understands the massive wins by Republicans
Tuesday — with 650 GOP victories in state legislatures nationwide on top
of winning back the House and winning six seats in the Senate — are a rejection
of his policies. He blames communication and the poor economy for the “frustration”
he says so many Americans are feeling.
 
But the surest way to put the past two years behind him, and to improve
his chances for reelection in 2011, is to concede — tell voters he knows
that they don’t like his agenda. He could do all of this without compromising
his principles, while still defending his healthcare reform law, stimulus
and controversial attempts at energy reform. He could come out and say that
he thought when he was elected in 2008 with 53 percent of the vote that
Americans wanted him to pursue the agenda he campaigned on and that he passed
a stimulus to respond to the economic crisis but that two years later he
has realized that with the economy in the state it is in and our deficits
and debt having risen to unsustainable levels, Americans have changed their
minds.
 
To be reelected two short years from now, Obama faces new challenges brought
on by the GOP landslide, like the flight of rural voters, white voters,
female voters and independents. He also has to wrestle with a new map consisting
of new obstacles redistricting and reapportionment will bring. As I noted
in my
column this week, Obama can’t simply hope the economy recovers or that
the Tea Party hijacks the presidential nominating process, as Team Obama
currently assumes. Comments a “senior White House aide” made in
the Los Angeles Times this week
— “The Republicans right now are a pretty good midterm party, but they
are a disastrous presidential part,” — show just how out of touch the
president and his team are.

To win again, after a GOP realignment, Obama has to win back a strong coalition,
and that will require that he change.

Fellow
Pundits Blogger and friend Lanny Davis was quoted in the same Times article Wednesday saying that Obama
must regain his image as a post-partisan pragmatist and that his recent efforts
to rally the base to the polls for the midterm elections was too divisive. “In
going into such partisan, harsh, class-oriented and divisive rhetoric, he’s given
up the magic of his candidacy,” Davis said. “This is what he has lost.
And I don’t mean diminished; I mean lost. It’s tragic.”

If President Obama remains in denial, more and more Americans will lose even more
faith and trust in his leadership than he even enjoys on this difficult week. He
has a choice to make.

WHAT IS OBAMA’S RESET STRATEGY? Ask A.B. returns Tuesday, Nov. 9. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending
your questions and comments to askab@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com.