Let us hear no more about President Obama leading from behind.
Since a White House adviser uttered that phrase to the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza in 2011 to describe Obama’s leadership in Libya, “leading from behind” has become a favorite refrain of Republicans trying to portray Obama as weak.
Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) detected “a policy of leading from behind, of indecision” in Syria. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) said Obama’s “strategy of leading from behind meant [Moammar] Gaddafi’s weapons stockpiles went unsecured.” Sen. Dan Coats (Ind.) said Obama’s insistence on higher taxes was more evidence that “the president continues to lead from behind.” Rep. Doc Hastings (Wash.) even said that “the American people have been waiting for the Obama administration to stop leading from behind” — and to hurry up approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
But the last use of the phrase I could find in the congressional record was on Oct. 2, at the start of the shutdown, when. Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) said Obama had been “once again attempting to lead from behind in a crisis.”
They aren’t saying that now.
Obama got out in front of the shutdown and debt-ceiling standoff. He took a firm position — no negotiating — and he made his case to the country vigorously and repeatedly. Republicans miscalculated, assuming Obama would again give in. The result was the sort of decisive victory rarely seen in Washington skirmishes.
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