Obama's Press Conference: Caricaturing His Opponents

At his recent press conference, President Barack Obama made a few caricatures of his opponents.

First, he said this regarding the idea that some government regulations may be stifling job growth:

"Keep in mind that the business community is always complaining about regulations. When unemployment is at 3 percent and they're making record profits, they're going to still complain about regulations because, frankly, they want to be able to do whatever they think is going to maximize their profits. I've got an obligation to make sure that we're upholding smart regulations that protect our air and protect our water and protect our food. If you're flying on a plane, you want to make sure that there are some regulations in place to assure safety in air travel, right? So there are some core regulations that we've got to maintain."

This is a caricature. Is anyone calling for all regulations to be eliminated? No, people are arguing about which regulations do more harm than good. For Obama to characterize the criticism as an effort to get rid of regulations that keep our water, food, and planes safe is a derisive distortion.

More, the business community isn't simply out to maximize profits. Many people in business don't just want to be rich, they want to be rich as a result of providing others with valuable goods and services. They get frustrated with excessive regulations not just because it hurts their profits, but also because it makes it harder to serve people in the way that they're trying to serve them. To describe business owners as being purely profit-driven is demonizing them just as much as it's demonizing Obama to say that he and Democrats are power-hungry. Business owners don't simply want wealth, they want to earn their wealth by putting out a good product.

Second, Obama said this on the importance of raising the debt ceiling before August 2nd and his two daughters:

"This is a matter of Congress going ahead and biting the bullet and making some tough decisions. Because we know what the decisions are. ... We've identified what the options are. And the question now is are we going to step up and get this done. And, you know, Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. Malia is 13, Sasha is 10. ... They don't wait until the night before. They're not pulling all-nighters. ... Congress can do the same thing. If you know you've got to do something, just do it."

This is name-calling. Obama is saying that the failure of Congress to raise the debt ceiling is a result of childishness. (It's common in politics to demonize your opponents by saying they aren't behaving like adults.) There's lots of legitimate differences of opinion about what should be done in order to raise the debt ceiling. Obama could speed up the process by capitulating to all Republican demands, but he won't because he has priorities that won't allow that. But so do lots of other people in this debate, which is why the process is so protracted.

Plus, Obama could have addressed the deficit prior to 2011 when his party was in control of both the House and the Senate, but he didn't. Was that due to childish procrastination? Or was it because, even with his own party in power, addressing these issues is like herding cats?

And Obama's analogy is highly questionable: homework is typically a solitary effort not involving negotiations in a bicameral legislature with 535 members (not to mention an executive with veto power). Obama routinely talks about how "tough decisions" need to be made about taxes and entitlements, but here he presents the situation as being no different from doing your homework early.

Finally, Obama said this about the deficit reduction negotiations:

"These are solvable problems, but it does require us just getting out of the short-term and, frankly, selfish approach that sometimes politics breeds. We've got to think a bit long term."

This is more demonizing and name-calling. Obama is portraying the budget and deficit debate as a disagreement between altruistic, long-term thinkers on one side (i.e., Obama and Democrats) and selfish, short-term thinkers on the other (i.e., Republicans). It's not. There's the usual legitimate disputes about economics and moral priorities. Obama is resorting to the two basic caricatures: suggesting that his opponents are evil ("selfish") and stupid ("short-term" thinkers).