President Borg Dismisses "Shellacking" As Irrelevant

Happily, DrewM live-blogged this exercise in defiant obstinancy, so let me list each question, predict what I would expect Red Barry's answer to be (nutshelled, of course), and then how close to the pin I come.

1) Are you going to admit that it was not just the economy but your agenda that led to defeat.

Wow, can't believe his press acolytes had the audacity to wave that red towel in the face of the Brahma bull.  Anyway, short answer: Hell, no.  Why would he dump all the dumbass excuses he pretested during the campaign home stretch - which boiled down to "We did everything right, we just didn't speeeeeeaaaaak slllllooooowwwwwllly enough for the knuckle-draggers to understand my cosmic brilliance."

Score: Close.  Blamed it on economy, which it's now harder for him to blame on the same Republicans who just kicked his ass, so now I guess it'll still be the GOP's fault but he'll stop saying it for a while.  I'd give it 'till the State of the Union show, after which the "relitigation of the past" two years will resume with a vengeance as he plays bitter, clinging defense.

He's "looking forward to hearing Republicans" adopt his ideas.  Gibbers about saving our kids from a sea of debt, which is kind of like the shark from Jaws suing Chief Brody for animal cruelty.

2) Hey, you're really not taking any responsibility here. Should voters think you "don't get it"?

Hey, who let these Tea Party journos in there?  Two in a row; it's a wonder he didn't call for security right then and there.

I'd guess a long rambling non-answer while, internally, he tries to wrestle his alligator-like, ego-fueled temper into submission.  Then maybe another "bipartisanship" bromide that boils down to, "they have to give up their extremist ideas and agree with me."

Score: Bullseye.  Pull quote: "He just sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown."

3) How will you deal with Republican attempts to repeal "health care reform"?

What he was thinking: "With nuclear weapons".  What he probably said: A lapse into the same ObamaCare boilerplate sales pitch that he already admitted struck out two questions back.

Score: Hmmm; goes to the "let's not relitigate the past" line again.  Translation: It's there, and you ain't getting rid of it EVER, so there's nothing to talk about.  Eh, has the virtue of cutting the crap and cutting to the chase.  Unless he really thinks he can force Boehner and McConnell into becoming his rubber stamps for cap & tax, card check, a VAT, Obamnesty, etc.  Hell, he probably does.

4) You know that more big spending for jobs is history, right? So what are you going to do?

Prediction: His "green jobs" propaganda.  If we just kill the REAL energy industry and replace it with a gigantic government-throttled non-functional boondoggle that'll have Americans living in caves by the end of his second term, we'll have more jobs than we know what to do with.

Score: Didn't get that specific, just went down the hard left laundry list again.  I'm noticing a pattern here.

5) You said elections have consequences when you won. Now that you've lost, what are you going to compromise on?

Prediction: Regurgitation of same cynical "bipartisanship"/"They have to agree with me" bromide.

Score: Yep.

6) Where will you compromise on tax cuts?

Prediction: Will keep the lower-bracket Bush tax rates, class warfare rhetoric against the "wealthy".

Score: Drew didn't even bother, so I'm guessing my guess was correct.  Either that or The One ducked the question. 

7) What's it feel like to get you ass kicked?

Prediction: Will talk up retaining the Senate, revisit blaming the economy like he had nothing to do with it, and hit the Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads again.

Score: "It feels bad....because good Democrats lost" after he doused them in transformational gasoline and lit them into human torches with a political flamethrower.  Seriously, that was it?  The greatest rhetorician of our age manages "It feels bad"?  Heartburn feels bad.  Itchy, watery eyes feel bad.  What happened Tuesday was like getting his nuts slammed seventy times in a drawer after they were crushed in a vise.  Was TOTUS here for this debacle?  And does anybody buy that he gives a frog's fat leg about all those "good Democrats"?  They were to him like redshirts were to Captain (not Senator) Kirk - messily expendable.

8) Since Cap and Trade is dead, what about EPA regulations. Do you feel bad about cutting backroom deals to pass ObamaCare?

Prediction: "We did what was right for the American people, not for ourselves.  And I am going to continue that fight over the next six years until we finish the job on which we've made such a good start."

Score: Pretended to give a little - said he "regretted the process," which means those damned Blue Dogs should have gotten with the program from day one instead of making O-Care a ten-month Bataan Death March.  Doesn't regret the policy.  On C&T, boils down to "We will do what we have to do," no matter what you Teabagger bastards think, say, or do.

9) Slurpeee! Car in the ditch! You kind of got rejected on that, what's your thought?

Prediction: Hard to say; the "our messaging could have been better" line doesn't really fit here, because it comes too close to admitting how dopey HIS bumper stickerisms really were.  I'd guess another rambling non-responsive filibusterette.

Score: No comment from Drew, so I'm counting it as another bullseye.

10) DADT repeal...kind of dead, right?

Prediction: "Right thing to do," "Let's work together in bipartisan fashion," "Pentagon just working out the details but is fine with it," polls showing majority public support.

Score: Basically on target.  Suggests it as possibility for Lame Duck Ambush (unspoken suffix: "While we still can").  Seems like weak broth for a last extremist rampage.  A head fake before one last ram-fest?

11) Slurpie summit gets laugh. Will Obama offer 'reset' button to business community?

Prediction: Sure....as long as they start following my orders and create the jobs I want them to create regardless of how high I jack taxes and smother them with regulatory nightmares.  In so many words.

Score: Basically, "Bushitler made me do it".  I guess relitigating the eight years prior to the last two years is just fine.  Except it doesn't work anymore.

12) Do voters think you are out of touch and will you change your style?

Prediction: Some combination of blanket denial and Agent Smith's line in Matrix Revolutions: "I"m not so bad....once ya get to know me."

Score: WHINY denial.  Instead of putting himself over, he chastises us for forgetting what a super-fantastic fellow he really is. I.e. WE'RE the ones who're "out of touch".

He's not going to enjoy the next two years, but his re-election - an already accomplished fact in his mind - and the vindication he sees it representing will sustain him.  It's pretty much the same dynamic as why Nancy Pelosi will stick around as House Minority Leader - they see this election as a fluke and assume that they'll get it all back and then some when Cap'n Awesome tops the ticket again.  It'll take Wave II to finally pound a stake through the "progressive" heart.

Which is why 2010 was always merely "Phase One," just as 2006 was for the Dems.  2012 is the true endgame.

And Team Messiah is already off to a bad start.