Poor Barack Obama. With his approval ratings in the tank and dropping, the last thing The One needs is for his hometown newspaper to desert him.
But that is exactly what happened as reported, in part, at the reference:
On Sunday Steve Chapman wrote in the Chicago Tribune that “Obama might do his party a big favor big favor” by not seeking reelection.
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’s not as though there is much enticement to stick around. Presidents who win re-election have generally found, wrote John Fortier and Norman Ornstein in their 2007 book, “Second-Term Blues,” that “their second terms did not measure up to their first.”
Get that Mr. President? You are not required to run for reelection?
Why not pull a “Lyndon Johnson,” Mr. President, and announce that you will not seek reelection?
Then watch your approval ratings soar!
