Obama should have stayed with Cramer

I remember a year ago, not long after Obama was sworn in as President, he quickly teamed up with Nancy Pelosi to draft massive new legislation thousands of pages long of economic stimulus, cap and trade, and health care reform. Democrat Jim Cramer, host of MSNBC's Mad Money, went on his show to request that Obama slow down and not try to do everything at once. Cramer wasn't even saying that he disagreed with the policies, but rather that attempting to do the entire agenda in the first year was doing too much too fast and was very risky. In addition to a barrage of smart ass comments by the White House Press Secretary, Cramer was eviscerated from his left flank by Jon Stewart. It marginalized and embarrassed Cramer, who just curled up in the fetal position and shut up.

And so Obama proceeded with the Pelosi agenda despite the warning calls from his own side, and the left wing ate one of their own alive. Meanwhile Cramer is very popular in the northeast, where he helps people play the stock market at home. Obviously what Cramer said about Bear Sterns was an error, but Stewart waited a full year after the Bear Sterns comments to make a joke of it. Jonny did not take aim at Cramer until Jim recommended that Obama not attempt to all his agenda in the first year. This smug, "do what I tell you to do or I will tear you to pieces" tact that the left wing has adopted since winning the White House cannot be playing well with normal people.

In critical by-elections in New Jersey and Massachusetts, the Democrats lost.