NP: Foo Fighters, There Is Nothing Left To Lose

Keeping up with the NYT op-ed theme for today, Bob Herbert asks “Where has this guy been for the past year and a half?” in reference to President Obama's fired-up Labor Day speech. There's been a lot of this sort of thing lately, and Andrew Sullivan returns from vacation and recognizes the M.O.:

Yesterday's speech by the president, if you missed it, was a barn-stormer. Yes, it's the same old, same old pattern: he allows the opposition not just to vent and criticize (as they should) but to control the discourse for months, to drown out every other sound, to vent and crow and vilify and intimidate the cable news weenies into quivering puppies in need of crate-training. And then he comes back with a speech like that one.

What I find interesting is that Sullivan sort of nails it in what appears to be the original title for his post, "The Fourth Quarter." Lots of Democrats have been calling for Obama to get more involved in the midterm elections for a while now, but lest we forget, this guy isn't dumb. With the recovery not quite living up to expectations, expending whatever energy and momentum he could give to the election too early would certainly give political talk shows something to talk about during more news cycles -- which would make them all happy, to be sure -- but might not be the most efficient use of resources for the actual election.

I, for one, like the notion that the President isn't constantly in campaign mode on behalf of his party. He's got other things to do that take precedence, and some of those things could conceivably help Democrats at a more fundamental level than, say, fundraising -- assuming there's a more fundamental level to elections than fundraising, that is. But the point is that I think he's largely stayed out of the fray until now by design, not out of the sort of aloofness some try to ascribe to him. There could be a touch of arrogance, though, as this interpretation relies on the belief that he can lead a come-from-behind rally.

Anyway, we've seen the basketball metaphor before, but you've got to keep the game close before you can turn up the pressure and start raining down three-pointers. The big questions are (a) if the game is still in reach going into the fourth, and (b) if Obama can hit the shots. Both are valid questions. The answer to both might very well be "no."

The metaphor only goes so far, though, before we have to pick between Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi for the roles of Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.