Obama in Louisiana: Rescuing Himself

Chris Cilizza wrote a piece for The Washington Post’s “The Fix” that the reason President Obama didn’t want to go to Louisiana was because “the sole reason to go to Louisiana is for the theatrical piece of politics, a piece he not only rejects, but detests.”

Yeah. President Obama rejects political theater like the president of the Whitesnake fan club rejects long ’80s hair-dos and headbands.

Obama “rejects” and “detests” when nobody wants tickets to his show because a brand new show of Hamiltonian proportions just opened across the street.

Be serious, Chris. We’re talking about the guy who accepted his 2008 nomination in front of giant Greek columns. The Daily Mail called the ostentatious set “a temple,” The Washington Post called it “Obama’s Big Fat Greek Setting,” and John McCormack dubbed it “Barackopolis.” We’re talking about the guy who told Charlie Rose that the biggest mistake of his first term was not being a good enough storyteller. Obama is always under pressure to be a good storyteller because otherwise the truth may get noticed.

And we’ve seen Obama’s stories. Stories like “al-Qaida’s on the run” when an al-Qaida affiliate has just attacked Benghazi. Stories like, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” Stories like the 2012 Barack Obama/ Chris Christie bromance which led to the hug heard ’round the world.

President Obama is the Andrew Lloyd Weber of American political theater — his work isn’t subtle, and it’s way more popular than it deserves to be.

[lz_ndn video=31290164]

Let’s face it, Obama invented the modern American political theater. With the mainstream media as his playwright, the bureaucracy as his stage hands, and the American people as his props (usually lined up behind him), he’s the most proficient president ever when it comes to political theater. Based on his actual job performance, pollsters should have to dig new subbasements just to measure Obama’s approval rating. Instead, it’s over 50 percent.

Unfortunately, political theater seems to be President Obama’s only true talent.

[lz_jwplayer video= “HJLYrQQo” ads=”true”]

Remember how it used to be before he turned lame-duck? Obama would give a speech trying to sell some awful policy to the American people and behind him onstage would be a dozen or so prop-people who allegedly benefited from whatever the president was selling that day — the idea being that if you opposed his idea, then you hated all those people.

Most recently, he used Air Force One as the world’s most expensive prop to help Hillary Clinton arrive in style, looking almost presidential, to a campaign event on the same day Comey delivered the infamous non-indictment indictment.

Obama neither “rejects” nor “detests” political theater. Obama “rejects” and “detests” when nobody wants tickets to his show because a brand new show of Hamiltonian proportions just opened across the street.

[lz_graphiq id=5Iz9obsslAp]

And that’s exactly what happened.

It’s been so long since anyone outperformed Obama in the political theater, but Donald Trump did it when he stepped up in the president’s place and visited Louisiana. He didn’t hold any rallies or make a giant media-attracting spectacle of himself. He simply delivered a truckful of supplies, donated money, and raised a lot of awareness about the situation.

In fact, it appears he even raised Obama’s awareness. Because last week, Jeh Johnson said the president wasn’t coming because he “can’t be everywhere” and “has a very busy schedule.”

[lz_related_box id=”192168″]

Trump’s trip was such a huge success that even the Democrat governor, John Bel Edwards — who warned Trump that he better not make the trip just for a photo-op — had to admit that his visit was “helpful.” Specifically, he said “it helped to shine a spotlight on Louisiana and on the dire situation that we have here.”

The success of Trump’s visit and the positive effect it had on the affected area caused President Obama to take a mulligan on his decision to avoid the water hazard in Louisiana. He teed off his visit with a televised speech that he seemed eager to get through quickly when he stepped up to the podium and said, “Let’s get this done.”

There was a speech and there was lot of media, but the president was only there because Trump, the citizens of Louisiana, and some of the media shamed him into going. Trump went to help people, and in the end, he won the optics and told the best “story.”