Cut the deficit in half….”Restart the engine of our prosperity”… Health care reform… The question on many cable commentators lips immediately following President Obama’s address last night was some variation of: Is The President Biting Off More Than He Can Chew?
Here was CNN’s version of that, from Anderson Cooper, followed by CNN contributor Roland Martin’s retort.
COOPER: Roland, is he promising too much?
MARTIN: Look, what he’s doing, he’s laying down, here are the markers in terms of my presidency.
I guess, if I had to use an example, sort of when like (INAUDIBLE) Kanye West had his new album, and he said, I want to make it as bad as Stevie Wonder’s…He said, if it doesn’t get to that, it’s still a great album.
This is a guy who is saying, a president who’s saying: Look, I want to raise the stakes. And, so, isn’t it amazing that we’re sitting here, saying, wow, an ambitious president?
Well, shouldn’t we have an ambitious president? Shouldn’t we have a president saying, we can do more? He said during the campaign: I can do more things at one time.
And, so, look, if he’s able to achieve even half of what he said, frankly, a lot of folks will be pleased..
COOPER: In your Kanye West analogy, I guess the Republicans, then, are 50 Cent?
MARTIN: Yes, because…
COOPER: Because they lost…
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Because he sold more albums than he did…
Which bodes well, I guess, for RNC Chariman Michael Steele’s goal of giving the Republican Party a “‘hip hop’ makeover.”
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.