Opponents mine Obama visit: Time for the Democrats to get smart

President Barack Obama has gone several days without knocking Las Vegas, and that’s a good thing as he mixes and mingles with local Democratic Party contributors and prepares for Friday’s town hall meeting at Green Valley High.

(Just as an aside, when he ran for President I listened to him speak at Cashman Field. Now he is headlining at Green Valley High. I’m from Vegas. The size of the showroom matters.

What next, a table for two at Starbucks with our closest friends?)

Anyway, the visit is being slammed as the “Socialist Summit” in some Republican circles associated with the opponents of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- In Trouble.) Conservative blogs are quick to vilify Reid and extol the virtues of Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden and just about anyone who isn’t named Harry Reid. It’s another straw meant to break the camel’s back, but there’s something to be learned from the experience.

To wit:

Obama’s Friday speech on jobs and the economy should be interesting, but I am guessing that if the economy and job market don’t start improving this is the last we’ll see him in person. I have been interviewing working class Democrats who voted for him, wore the T-shirt, etc., and they are looking for a little more FDR and L.B.J. and a little less I.O.U. and C.B.F. (Corporate Bankers First.)

Obama’s enemies keep calling him Jimmy Carter II, but that’s not right. Carter wasn’t held up as a ground-breaking agent of change. He was just more moral than Nixon and faster on his feet than Ford. That Carter comparison is Limbaugh laughing gas and little more. Rush is a recovering addict, so you have to cut him some slack and try to be compassionate.

What Obama is in danger of being is the upside down FDR. Bailing out the banks and major corporate titans before you acknowledge the need to create the make-work programs for blue-collar America in a glorified depression was a very troubling sign. Obama runs the risk of looking like a lackey for the kind of people who wouldn’t have dreamed of voting for him. And if that sounds like I’m trying to get under the President’s skin, then you’re paying attention.

This is where the President’s friend from Searchlight should come in handy. This is where both parties should drop their switchblades and actually do the people’s work for a change. Short of that, Reid should step up and focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. His job depends on it.

Speaking only as a Nevadan, it’s time for the President to drop the Siegfried and Roy “Agent of Change” routine and make a few reasoned changes in health care. For months I’ve been calling it the “half a loaf” approach. Some liberal friends abhor the reference, but let’s get real. Health care nearly crippled the Clinton Administration through no fault of the first lady. It’s doing in Reid, the Democrats' power in the Senate, and Obama’s presidency.

If I were your baseball coach, I’d tell you the time to swing for the fences is over. Take a ringing double, a solid single, or a bunt, but get out of the batter’s box and move on.

Where the Democrats can shine – if they can stop sniveling and making excuses for their touchy-feely approach – is as the can-do party of optimism. To start with, try focusing on the broader definition of infrastructure. It’s something all Americans believe needs to be improved, something both parties’ loyalists are willing to pay for within reason.

Start there and fast track the green energy infrastructure (especially in Nevada) and the President might save his most reliable hit man, the little guy from Searchlight. Not to mention his presidency.