Politics & Power Quote by Fred Barnes

Barnes is doing two things at once: puncturing Obama’s argument and auditioning a broader media critique of how modern politics stages “debates” that aren’t really debates. Calling the target a “straw man” isn’t just a logic-policing move; it’s an accusation of theatricality. Obama, in this telling, isn’t refuting a serious opposing philosophy so much as building a flimsy caricature of Republican thought - an imaginary fatalism where the other side shrugs and waits for problems to “take care of themselves” - and then scoring easy points by toppling it.

The quoted Obama line is crafted for maximum moral clarity. “I reject the view…” frames the speaker as active, responsible, adult. It also invites a subtle smear: if I reject complacency, my opponents must be complacent. Barnes’s subtext is that this is politics by insinuation, not engagement. He’s less interested in defending Republicans’ best arguments than in insisting they exist at all.

Context matters: this is the Obama era’s signature rhetorical posture - pragmatism versus “failed ideology,” competence versus negligence - delivered in language built for swing voters and cable-news clips. Barnes, writing from a conservative journalistic lane, is trying to deny Obama the high ground by arguing the terrain is rigged. The sting of “It’s the view of almost no one” aims at legitimacy: if the opponent’s position is fictional, the victory is, too.