Views on the News
July
17, 2010
Views
on the News*
Barack Obama
has successfully exploded onto the political scene and burned himself out in
the course of only 18 months in office. Many Americans are mesmerized
by the television façade of a good-looking, relaxed, well-spoken person.
The propagation of leftism in America means that Obama is never shown in
unattractive poses or losing his temper at underlings. He answers few questions, and when he deigns
to talk to his subjects, it is always through a safe, politically correct
organization. Nearly all polls show a
steady erosion of personal support for Obama, artificially obstructed by the
leftist establishment. Obama has become
unlikable as people tire of fluff news stories or smiling photos of Barack and
Michelle on the cover of Vogue. Much
worse for Obama than becoming unlikeable is becoming boring, because Marxists
like Obama have nothing new to say. It
is hard to overestimate just how dull, dumb, and monotonous radical socialism
is to people who are forced to listen to it all the time. The Marxist-Leninist paradise of Soviet Russia
died of poverty, of party privilege, of suppression of nationalities, of many
things, but perhaps the most underrated cause of its implosion was sheer,
mind-numbing boredom. This evil, stupid
doctrine seems to be the sole catechism of Obama. Already we see signs of this slow political
death. He multiplies mistake upon
mistake for the simple reason that he just can’t help himself. He is plainly
unqualified for office, has a “Chicago
way” shrewdness and ruthlessness about him but is neither very intelligent nor particularly knowledgeable, is prone to an
unsavory and conspicuous degree of self-adulation, leans toward feckless and
inappropriate remarks and is given to expressing petulance when he is crossed. People are simply not watching his television
addresses as much these days. Americans
are not so much angry at Obama as indifferent to him. Most Presidents have had a grand objective to
their administration. Obama seeks
nothing more ordinary than an acceleration of Fabian Socialism long after most
socialists had given up on their hoary doctrine. He has all the originality of a Young
Communist reciting a lecture on the brilliance of Lenin to his fellow
communists. He has all the glamour of
Brezhnev reading the next Five-Year Plan to the Central Committee of the
Communist Party. He has all the stirring
insight of aging leftists in Hollywood pontificating about the evil of the land
they choose to live and to prosper in. Every major issue he has addressed
has demonstrably worsened, every touted success has
been a fiasco. When no one wants to
watch you, when no one really listens to you, and when most people do not even
bother to dislike you anymore, then you (and your party) face a case of slow,
terminal consumption. Obama is a fast-fading comet, and his party may face with him
extinction, because Barry and his failed philosophies have become boring
anachronisms no longer worthy of notice.
(“Boring Barry” by Bruce
walker dated July 9, 2010 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/boring_barry.html
“Obama’s Media Stall Out” by
David Solway dated July 14, 2010 published by Front
Page Magazine at http://frontpagemag.com/2010/07/14/obamas-media-stall-out/
)
President Barack Obama has unveiled a new 2010 campaign slogan:
“Yes, we did,” but only if he can define the terms of discussion and
conveniently ignore the actual consequences.
The Obama administration is trying to
define the discussion around what the government has done, without accepting
the economic and policy results that American reject. It’s the sheer magnitude of the Obama agenda
that constitutes its radicalism, not its direction. Considering the
overwhelming Democrat majorities enjoyed in both houses of Congress, this
administration has actually accomplished very little other than spending
excesses. Democrats will have a hard
time countering what they did vs. the actual results:
·
Over $800 billion in stimulus spending that hasn’t restarted the
economy.
·
Almost three million jobs lost after promising to add four million
by the end of 2010.
·
9.7% unemployment when Obama promised it wouldn’t go above 8%.
·
Democrat tax increases slated for 2011 that will further harm
taxpayers, the economy and job growth.
·
Used TARP funds to cherry-pick which banks to nationalize.
·
Bypassed federal bankruptcy laws and regulations to nationalize GM
and Chrysler.
·
A “pay czar” decided how
much corporate executives can earn.
·
A national debt increase of almost $3 trillion since Obama took
office.
·
A federal debt that will represent 62% of the nation’s economy by
2011, with estimates of 100% in ten to fifteen years.
·
Failure to even submit an annual budget resolution since the
Congressional Budget Act was adopted in 1974.
·
Passage of a health care bill against the majority will of the
American people.
·
A slow, incompetent response to the Gulf oil spill, still leaking
thousands of gallons a day.
·
Obama’s oil drilling ban that will cost thousands of American
jobs.
·
Failure to secure our Southern borders while suing Arizona for
trying to protect its citizens.
·
Pending cap and trade legislation laced with energy cost and job
loss issues.
·
Pending financial regulation reform bill that protects financial
firms and hurts consumers.
·
A weak and dangerous foreign and domestic terrorism policy.
Americans now believe that
government and politicians are bigger problems for the country than illegal
immigration, health care, disaster response or even the federal debt. Remember Obama campaigned on the themes “Hope” and
“Change”
but now these slogans are revealed as really (political) “Hype” and (welfare) “Chains.” Obama is so tone deaf he doesn’t realize that
his “forward vs. backwards” theme will be used
against him when the choice is between “the
policies that led us into this mess” are found to be his own and the
“policies that are leading us out of the mess” are found to be repealing the
destructive laws passed by his administration.
When you look objectively at the Obama record
you see many crises exaggerated as causes for action, but the political “solutions” passed are only making the
situations worse.
(“’Silver Platter’ Campaign Gifts”
by Neil Braithwaite dated July 5, 2010 published by The Land of the Free at http://www.thelandofthefree.net/conservativeopinion/2010/07/05/silver-platter-campaign-gifts/
“Obama’s new slogan: ‘Yes we did’”
by Carol E. Lee dated July 8, 2010 published by Politico at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39510.html
“Time for Something Completely
Different” by Rich Lowry dated July 13, 2010 published by National Review
Online at http://article.nationalreview.com/437989/time-for-something-completely-different/rich-lowry
)
President
Barack Obama has long boasted about the transformative change he’s bringing to
the country, but by the time those reforms finally arrive, he could be long
gone from the White House. It is amazing how many time
that Congress was asked to pass legislation without sufficient time to
understand or even read the contents, supposedly because the need was so great
that immediate action was required. However
some of Obama’s biggest promises won’t go into effect until long after his
first term - and in some cases, well past a second. In fact, buried deep within some of the
Democrats’ most significant reform bills are dozens of policy time bombs set to
blow at more politically convenient times. Health care reform cracks down on insurers
right away but won’t force people to buy insurance until 2014. A new consumer financial protection agency
kicks in almost immediately under the Wall Street reform bill, but banks won’t
feel its full force for more than 10 years. And even Democrats’ nascent immigration
reforms include at least an eight-year wait before illegal immigrants can apply
for permanent residency, after Obama leaves office. The delicate balance aims to gradually get a
skittish public accustomed to the enormous changes, while insulating lawmakers
from potential backlash. Lawmakers and
the White House justifiably, and almost reflexively, argue that it’s logical to
phase in the sweeping changes over time. Forcing massive industries like Wall Street
and health care to make drastic changes overnight would be virtually impossible
and incredibly destabilizing. The silver lining in this delayed implementation scheme is
that repealing these laws will be easier when some of the biggest changes have
not yet been implemented.
(“Obama’s policy time bombs”
by Chris Frates and Ben White dated July 11, 2010
published by Politico at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39585.html
)
As a President,
it's one thing to know you have a big fiscal problem, but it's quite another
when a panel you appointed tells you the financial policies you have in mind
will only make matters worse. That's what happened when leaders
of Obama's deficit commission offered up the darkest of outlooks for our
financial future - calling current trends in U.S. budgets a "cancer" that will "destroy
the country from within" unless halted soon. "We
can't tax our way out," admitted Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of
Obama's deficit commission and formerly President Clinton's chief of staff, “We've got to cut spending or increase
revenues or do some combination of that." Americans won't be fleeced for more taxes
while government continues to run $1-trillion-plus deficits into the future. Today's total federal debt of just over $13
trillion will hit $20 trillion by 2020. Beyond
that, the coming retirement tidal wave of 65 million baby boomers will push
Social Security and Medicare spending to stratospheric levels. America's debts will become crippling and raising
taxes will do little other than ruin the economy. Studies over the years have shown that the
optimal size of federal government spending to the economy is well below about
20% of gross domestic product. Anything
above that kills off economic activity and today, the federal government alone
is spending around 25% of GDP, compared with its long-term average of 18%. If expected massive deficits are closed with
taxes rather than spending cuts, it will require a 25%-plus increase in the
real size of government. Absent serious
spending cuts, spending will rise to 32% of GDP by 2030, Congressional Budget
Office data show, and at current levels, taxes on Americans would have to rise
78% to pay for all that spending. By the
way, when state and local spending are added in, government in a few short
years will take up more than half of all United States GDP. In short, the U.S. is
essentially on the road to becoming just another stagnant, state-run welfare
economy; and the only real answer: Shrink government to expand the private
sector; and anything else, such as massive tax hikes, is doomed to failure.
(“Our Fiscal Cancer” dated
July 12, 2010 published by Investor’s Business Daily at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/540122/201007122007/Our-Fiscal-Cancer.aspx
)
A lot of
progress has been made by blacks in America, but the White House and the
judicial branch of government could set back the clock for reasons that are
mostly political, but that have a disquieting racial element. While
President Obama has touted himself as a post-racial president, he has built a
record demonstrating precisely the opposite. Perhaps it is Obama's bitterness, or the
incessant playing of the race card by him and many of his supporters merely
calculated political exploitation. Americans
got an initial glimpse of this judicial double standard when Obama deemed the
arrest of a black Harvard professor "stupid"
in the wake of his resistance when police arrived to investigate what could
have been a break-in. The pot really
began to boil with the appointment of Eric Holder as the Attorney General. The latest incident, largely ignored by the Mainstream
Media, is the treatment accorded the New Black Panther Party, two members of
which were caught on video clearly trying to intimidate voters in Philadelphia.
Despite receiving a default judgment
after the defendants in the case ignored the charges, the Obama Justice
Department dropped the case in May 2009.
Eric Holder's Department of Justice ignored prosecution at the federal
level and a staff member resigned in protest over the "corrupt nature of
the dismissal" of the New Black Panther case. At the hearing in the Commission's
Washington, D.C. headquarters, J. Christian Adams accused the DOJ of racial
bias for dropping charges against the New Black Panther Party, testifying that
within the DOJ's Civil Rights Division there is a pervasive and open hostility
towards equal enforcement of the law. Notably,
he stated that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes
told him personally that the division is "in the business of traditional civil rights work,” in other words,
it will only pursue cases with minority victims. In a racial double standard, the Obama
Administration instructs government attorneys in the Justice Department's civil
rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white
victims. Unfortunately, except for the
Fox News Channel the nation's newsrooms are ignoring the story. A Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that
only 40% believe Obama's Presidency has advanced racial relations. Barack Obama, who
campaigned as a post-racial President, has done more to drive a wedge between
races in this country that will take generations to mend!
(“Obama Plays the Race Card”
by Alan Caruba dated July 12, 2010 published by
Intellectual Conservative at http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2010/07/12/obama-plays-the-race-card/
“New Media Ignores Justice
Department Whistleblower” by Jim Kouri dated July
12, 2010 published by Intellectual Conservative at http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2010/07/12/news-media-ignores-justice-department-whistleblower/
“Obama, Not the ‘Post-‘ but the ‘Most’ Racial President” by David Limbaugh
dated July 16, 2010 published by Town Hall at http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidLimbaugh/2010/07/16/obama,_not_the_post-_but_the_most_racial_president
)
We may finally
be nearing a plug for the oil spill in the Gulf, but the oil cleanup will last
a lot longer and the damage to the area will last for years, and Obama will
never recover from his lackadaisical and inept response to this ecological
disaster. Engineers are installing a new containment cap
which is expected be a big improvement over the current cap. That first device, lowered into place on June
3, has managed to capture only about one-third of the estimated 60,000-80,000
barrels of crude gushing from the bottom of the Gulf each day. The other two-thirds of that oil continued to
pollute the shrimp and oyster beds, kill wildlife, wash into marshes, and
spread onto white sand beaches. It will
be about a week before installation is complete and crews can determine if the
new cap works. Ideally, it will capture
all or most of the oil. For Obama, the
best news is the fact that if the new cap is successful, the leak will
essentially be stopped before the invisible July 28 "deadline,"
which would mark Day 100. The liberal mainastream
media has given Obama a pass on his incompetent response to this disaster: He's
not saying anything about the spill, and the press isn't asking. Looking ahead to the end of July, space for
stories about out-of-work fishermen, lax government oversight, environmental
catastrophe, and questionable Washington ethics will be especially limited. Remember all the Hurricane Katrina coverage -
the weeks and months of follow-up stories, the stream of celebrity charity
concerts, the coffee table commemorative books, the documentaries? Remember how the incompetence of state and
local elected officials and the massive crime wave that followed the flooding
were carefully Photoshopped out of the story and
George Bush was Photoshopped in? We know what it looks like when the official
eyes and ears of the media are hot on a story. We know how they sound when they want heads to
roll, but right now, the media is just going through the motions because they
are uncomfortable with this story and ready to move on. The second biggest
loser is the liberal mainstream media whose double standard is very obvious for
all to see, and confirmation that bias and partisan coverage is so one-sided
that trust of the mainstream media for news is seriously misplaced.
(“Suppressing the political Impact
of the Gulf Oil Crisis” by Jed Skillman dated July 14, 2010 published by American
Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/suppressing_the_political_impa.html
)
If Republicans adopt “A Road Map for America’s Future” as
their basic ideological blueprint, it offers them the prospect of a landslide
in the midterm election this year, followed by victory in the presidential
election in 2012. For
Republicans, the Road Map authored by Congressman Paul Ryan is the most
important proposal in domestic policy since Ronald Reagan embraced supply side
economics in the 1980 presidential campaign. It’s not only the freshest, boldest, and most
comprehensive Republican thinking, it’s also the most relevant. Yet Republican leaders are wary of endorsing
it, and for understandable reasons. The Road Map is sweeping and politically
risky. It would overhaul popular programs like Medicare, relying on individuals
to make decisions now made by government.
Republican leaders fear the Road Map might jeopardize, or at least
minimize, what is expected to be a decisive Republican victory in the November
midterm election. There are three
reasons Republicans should ignore their jitters about the Road Map:
1.
The nation’s disenchantment with Obama and Democrats - There’s a residue of bad feelings toward Republicans from the years the
party ruled Congress, spent too much, and produced scandals. Voters are frightened about the future of the
country and are looking for serious solutions and hope the Road Map will enable
Republicans to win more seats than by just zinging Democrats.
2.
Contrast with Washington, Obama, spending, and the deficit - Republican candidates need to put some daylight between themselves and
their Democratic opponents. The Road Map stamps Republican candidates as the
real conservatives, which the voters are looking for in 2010.
3.
The Republican message (or the absence of one) - In
1946 the Republican slogan that worked well was, “Had enough?” The country is
falling apart, we’re going broke, government is on a takeover binge, and the
economy is wobbling. A Road Map for
America’s Future is the message and the solution.
The Road
Map is based on a fundamentally different vision from the government-centered
ideology now prevailing in Washington, and restores an American character rooted in individual initiative,
entrepreneurship, and opportunity. Most importantly the Road Map gives Republicans an agenda if
they gain control of the House or Senate in the midterm election, and a mandate
if they win both.
(“Think Big” by Fred Barnes
dated July 19, 2010 published by The Weekly Standard at http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/think-big
)
The TEA Party
message comes together in the “Contract from America,” the product
of an online vote orchestrated for the Tea Party Patriots. All candidates for political office
are being asked to sign this contract as a litmus test for support. Candidates are asked to sign the Contract from
America and by doing so commit to support each of its agenda items,
work to bring each agenda item to a vote during the first year, and pledge to
advocate on behalf of individual liberty, limited government, and economic
freedom.
·
Individual Liberty
- Our moral,
political, and economic liberties are inherent, not granted by our government.
It is essential to the practice of these liberties that we be free from
restriction over our peaceful political expression and free from excessive
control over our economic choices.
· Limited Government - The
purpose of our government is to exercise only those limited powers that have
been relinquished to it by the people, chief among these being the protection
of our liberties by administering justice and ensuring our safety from threats
arising inside or outside our country’s sovereign borders. When our government
ventures beyond these functions and attempts to increase its power over the
marketplace and the economic decisions of individuals, our liberties are
diminished and the probability of corruption, internal strife, economic depression,
and poverty increases.
· Economic Freedom - The
most powerful, proven instrument of material and social progress is the free
market. The market economy, driven by the accumulated expressions of individual
economic choices, is the only economic system that preserves and enhances
individual liberty. Any other economic system, regardless of its intended
pragmatic benefits, undermines our fundamental rights as free people.
1) Protect the
Constitution - Require each bill to identify
the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do
what the bill does.
2) Reject Cap
& Trade - Stop costly new regulations
that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the
nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global
temperatures.
3) Demand a Balanced
Budget - Begin the Constitutional
amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority
needed for any tax hike.
4) Enact
Fundamental Tax Reform - Adopt a simple and fair
single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it
with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original
Constitution.
5) Restore
Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington - Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages
in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their
Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and
agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities, or ripe
for wholesale reform or elimination due to our efforts to restore limited
government consistent with the US Constitution’s meaning.
6) End Runaway
Government Spending - Impose a statutory cap
limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the
inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.
7) Defund,
Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care - Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health
care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more
affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health
care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries.
8) Pass an
‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy - Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our
dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce
regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and
creating competition and jobs.
9) Stop the
Pork - Place a moratorium on all
earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass
any earmark.
10)
Stop
the Tax Hikes - Permanently repeal all tax
hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently
scheduled to begin in 2011.
What’s so significant to me
about this TEA Party “Contract from
America” is the strong emphasis on constitutional limits and
restraints on legislation, spending, taxing, and government control of the
economy. The TEA
Partiers are demanding consent of the governed and a reaffirmation that the
government works for us, and we don’t work for it.
(“The Contract From America”
dated April 15, 2010 published by Contract From
America at http://www.thecontract.org/the-contract-from-america/
)
*
There is so much published each week that unless you search for it, you will
miss important breaking news. I try to
package the best of this information into my “Views on the News” each Saturday morning. Updates have been made this week to the
following issue sections:
· Changing Language at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/intro/changinglanguage.php
· Politics at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/intro/politics.php
· Budget at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/dp/budget.php
· Economy at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/dp/economy.php
· Education at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/dp/education.php
· Elections at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/dp/elections.php
· Employment at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/dp/employment.php
· Immigration at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/dp/immigration.php
David Coughlin
Hawthorne, NY