Obama’s problem that won’t go away

As Congress slowly crawls back to work this week, with members dreading
every day they have to spend in the “swamp” versus back home
campaigning for their lives, the White House is renewing its assault on
Republican obstinacy. More specifically, the administration has set its
sights on a lone troublemaker — House Minority Leader John Boehner
(R-Ohio).

Never mind that even Ohioans in neighboring cities struggle to pick
Boehner out of a congressional lineup. White House press secretary
Robert Gibbs and his minions are taking to the airwaves to lift up
Boehner then publicly vilify every public policy stance he takes.

The strategy is simple — show the American people what their next Speaker of the House could bring to them in the form of “backwards-looking economic policies” of the Bush era, “support for big businesses,” yadda yadda yadda.

We’ve seen this storyline before. Heck, the Republicans rolled it out in 1996 just before the House shifted to Democratic control, scaring voters into what a Nancy Pelosi-led regime would look like. “Do you really want Charlie Rangel as the next chairman of the Ways and Means Committee?” the ads asked. Like anyone outside of Rangel’s Harlem district had a clue he was even on the committee, let alone his tax-hiking record.

The point here is President Obama and his economic team have so much more important things to worry about, starting with the economy. Pitting a little-known bogeyman against the leader of the free world is not exactly a profile in courage for Obama. Sending out his henchmen to do the dirty work is even more classless.

Obama should heed one thing Boehner said a few weeks ago — he needs to fire his economic team and start over. As politically charged as that move sounds, it’s the right one, on both style and substance.

Think about it, what a great opportunity for a Rose Garden ceremony where, in true JFK fashion, Obama can say he’s willing to admit it when he makes mistakes. His stimulus plan wasn’t producing the results they had hoped for, and it is now time for a course correction. Geithner, Volcker and the rest have served their usefulness for this first term. Quick, can anyone even name the secretary of Commerce, let alone recall a time when they actually saw that individual (Gary Locke) on TV pushing economic policy? These folks are already thinking about their cushy private-sector jobs anyway. So Obama should cut his losses, start over and use the exodus to hit the Reset button.

Aside from the fresh air it could bring to the administration, it would send a clear message to Americans that their president is willing to do anything to help his fellow man.

And as if that weren’t reason enough, nothing else is working. Obama has nothing to lose here. Except maybe admitting John Boehner was right after all …

Williams can be heard nightly on Sirius/XM Power 169 from 7 to 8 p.m. and 4 to 5 a.m.