Chicago Tribune Columnist Steve Chapman Says Obama's Reelection Slogan Should Be "Midnight in a Coal Mine"

Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman wrote a scathing article listing the reasons why President Barack Obama should withdraw from the 2012 presidential election. It's bad news because Obama is from Chicago. If your own city isn't behind you, then that doesn't look good one bit. To be fair, Chapman is a Libertarian and his views about Obama will be driven by his political ideology, so his position may be flawed in the eyes of Obama supporters. His column is destructive and divisive, but what else should we expect?Here's an excerpt from the column:

When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, his slogan was "Morning in America." For Barack Obama, it's more like midnight in a coal mine. The sputtering economy is about to stall out, unemployment is high, his jobs program may not pass, foreclosures are rampant and the poor guy can't even sneak a cigarette.

His approval rating is at its lowest level ever. His party just lost two House elections — one in a district it had held for 88 consecutive years. He's staked his future on the jobs bill, which most Americans don't think would work.

The vultures are starting to circle. Former White House spokesman Bill Burton said that unless Obama can rally the Democratic base, which is disillusioned with him, "it's going to be impossible for the president to win." Democratic consultant James Carville had one word of advice for Obama: "Panic."

But there is good news for the president. I checked the Constitution, and he is under no compulsion to run for re-election. He can scrap the campaign, bag the fundraising calls and never watch another Republican debate as long as he's willing to vacate the premises by Jan. 20, 2013.

That might be the sensible thing to do. It's hard for a president to win a second term when unemployment is painfully high. If the economy were in full rebound mode, Obama might win anyway. But it isn't, and it may fall into a second recession — in which case voters will decide his middle name is Hoover, not Hussein. Why not leave of his own volition instead of waiting to get the ax?

[....]

It would also help to be conspicuously associated with prosperity. Given Obama's reputation for being too quick to compromise, a reputation for toughness would be an asset.

As it happens, there is someone at hand who fits this description: Hillary Clinton. Her husband presided over a boom, she's been busy deposing dictators instead of destroying jobs, and she's never been accused of being a pushover.

Not only that, Clinton is a savvy political veteran who already knows how to run for president. Oh, and a new Bloomberg poll finds her to be merely "the most popular national political figure in America today."

It's pretty ironic that many on the left are having buyer's remorse and now want Hillary Clinton instead. But if memory serves me correctly, Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote during the primaries, but the Democratic delegates decided to throw her under a bus in exchange for the first black president. To be fair, President Obama shouldn't be blamed for the mess we are in, but he should be blamed for being largely MIA when it mattered the most. During the presidential campaign he said there would be a lot of changes in Washington D.C. when he was elected, but we haven't had that "change we can believe in" yet and it's painfully obvious to me that Obama doesn't quite know how to play the Washington D.C. game.

 Read the entire article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/ct-oped-0918-chapman-20110918,0,5039308.story