Stop Playing Defense, Obama

How the president can stop the spreading plume of national despair.

By Eliot Spitzer
Posted Monday, June 14, 2010, at 2:54 PM ET

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Much as we might wish to believe we as a nation are masters of our own fate, stuff happens. As Monty Python said so eloquently, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Unexpected events roil societies, but they are also opportunities for great leaders to alter national conversation and, paradoxically, move us forward. When events place you on defense, as they have done to President Obama, the imperative is to change the terms of debate. Reject the existing framework.

In stark contrast to his "Yes, we can" rhetoric, the president now risks letting events render his administration weak and ineffective, bringing back long-repressed memories of the Carter years.