You’ve heard it a lot. Barack Obama describes the economic crisis by accusing Republicans of driving the nation’s economy into the ditch and then sitting back and watching — “sippin’ on a Slurpee” — while Obama and the Democrats did the dirty, exhausting work of pulling the car out of the ditch.
Recently, Obama used the Slurpee line at a rally with the First Lady at Ohio State on the 17th. At a fundraiser for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland the same day. At a rally for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on the 16th. At a rally for Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons on the 15th. At a fundraiser in Miami on the 11th. At a DNC rally in Philadelphia on the 10th. At a fundraiser in Chicago on the 7th. At a rally in Maryland on the same day. And so on. (The president seems to always use the image at big rallies, but not always at the high-dollar intimate fundraisers he also attends.)
Many people began rolling their eyes at, say, the 10th time they heard the Slurpee story. And on Tuesday, a reporter asked White House spokesman Robert Gibbs about it. Why Slurpees? Gibbs didn’t have a lot to say.
“I don’t actually think the president thinks they’re drinking a lot of Slurpees,” Gibbs said. “But I think the president uses it as a metaphor for the role that Republicans have thus far played.” (In a September 21 briefing, Gibbs was asked “What’s the deal between the president and Slurpees?” but did not have an answer.)
So on Wednesday evening the president appeared at a rally for Democrats at the Portland Convention Center in Oregon. And he told the ditch story, but this time without the Slurpees.
Car. Ditch. Republicans. No Slurpees. The White House can be very responsive to even the slightest hint of press disapproval. Many come from the pro-Obama side of things — that means if they are growing tired of something, perhaps everyone else is, too. So perhaps there’s hope that we’ve heard the Slurpee story for the last time. In the next speech, when the car is in the ditch, maybe Republicans will be sipping on a martini.
