On Hardball Tuesday, Chris Matthews urged Barack Obama to be bold in his policy choices. When a Republican strategist disagreed, the host told him he spoke with a "forked tongue." Raw Story reports:
"It seems to me that he's got one chance to get everything done," Matthews stated passionately on Hardball. "Ronald Reagan taught everybody that. Get it done the first year or don't talk about it. ... He's got to do it. He can't say, 'I'll put it off till after the year after next.' ... Do you think this guy can survive as president if all he does is do a little tax cuts and push SCHIP?"
Matthews put the question of boldness to two political strategists, Democrat Steve McMahon and Republican Todd Harris, but neither one seemed to respond to Matthews' implication that Obama needs to do something visionary to fulfill his promises.
"Doing something dramatic and bold on the economy I think is something they're very interested in doing," McMahon began. But he also insisted that "the middle decided this election and the middle of the country -- the swing voters -- are waiting for him to address their economic concerns."
"Big doesn't need to be conflated with liberal," Harris commented. "I think it's important that people not lose sight over what this election was and what it wasn't. What it was was a historic victory for Barack Obama. What it was not was a wholesale realignment of American politics to the left."
"You guys are so -- you speak with a forked tongue, Todd!" exploded Matthews.
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