October 4, 2011 4:00 A.M.
The election of Barack Obama brought all sorts of contradictions. A man with about the least prior executive experience in presidential history was suddenly acclaimed a "god" and the smartest man ever to assume the office.
Most important, a number of critical changes were heralded that would help address the supposed disasters of the Bush administration: a new "reset" foreign policy, a Keynesian economic miracle, a commitment to "millions of green jobs," and a promise to end politics as usual, specifically the hardball divisive rancor of the past. Obamism, in short, was not a mere change in administrations,
In less than three years, however, the Obama administration has established a far different legacy from the one it promised, and the lessons of 20092011 will be with us for a long time:
1. The type and nature of a presidential candidate's prior experience will be examined as never before. Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate are now universally seen as insufficient preparation. The result will be more emphasis on executive experience and far longer tenure. Fairly or not, the Obama legacy hangs over the possible presidential aspirations of everyone from a Chris Christie or Marco Rubio to a Sarah Palin or Herman Cain.
2. For the time being, the media have lost any credibility as nonpartisan and disinterested investigators of presidential candidates. That many journalists now admit they were "saps" or accept that Obama was unqualified only confirms prior culpability. After 2008, can anyone possibly take the media seriously if they complain that a candidate will not release his undergraduate transcripts, or that he once bragged that he attended every service ("each week") of a racist pastor, or that he once liked "blow"? After Obama, an entire array of old gotchas are off the table.
3. Ivy League certification and prestigious awards will mean far less. The architects of the massive but ineffective borrowing -- Geithner, Goolsbee, Orszag, Romer, Summers -- were either esteemed academics or high-ranking bureaucrats. We are no longer impressed that Barack Obama and Eric Holder have Ivy League law degrees, or that President Obama and Steven Chu hold Nobel Prizes -- not after Solyndra, Fast and Furious, and the present stagnation. Americans assume that Herman Cain learned far more of value turning around Godfather's Pizza than Barack Obama learned as editor of Harvard Law Review. Texas A&M is about as relevant to Rick Perry's creating millions of jobs as Harvard is to Barack Obama's destroying millions.
4. Again, fairly or not, "green" no longer denotes a noble effort to conserve resources and achieve energy independence. A Van Jones, a Solyndra, yet another promise to emulate Spain's windmills and solar plants, one more call to borrow hundreds of billions for high-speed rail, and more Al Gore profit-driven escapades and fiery outbursts finally add up. Note that the president simply cannot any longer repeat the mantra, "Millions of new green jobs." You see, there are too many video clips of such boasts associated with failed ventures. The age of Obama has turned "green" into a refuge for scoundrels. The next era will be marked by unprecedented national wealth from vast new gas and oil exploration, not from thousands of acres of subsidized solar panels and windmills. How ironic that Barack Obama will eventually do more for the gas and oil industry than any other president in recent memory.
5. We are reminded that populism and the high life don't mix. Barack Obama's efforts to play Huey Long were sidetracked by First Family detours to Martha's Vineyard, Costa del Sol, and Vail. One cannot both beg from and demonize Wall Street, and still play community organizer. Obama cemented the notion that liberal Democrats are the party of really big money and of very little money -- and of few in between. The next populist will have to cut back on golf, stay at Camp David, and avoid the playgrounds of the rich and famous.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
ABC and NBC Champion Left-Wing Anti-Capitalist Protests, Fueled by Cookies from a ‘Grandmother in Idaho’ | NewsBusters.org
ABC and NBC Champion Left-Wing Anti-Capitalist Protests, Fueled by Cookies from a ‘Grandmother in Idaho’ | NewsBusters.org
Very much unlike how they greeted the Tea Party protests in early 2009, the networks are embracing the new left-wing/anti-capitalist protests, even failing to condemn their unruly behavior which resulted in 700 arrests in New York City over the weekend, conduct for which they would have condemned Tea Party activists.
“Is there about to be a nationwide movement building right now to point a finger at Wall Street on greed?” ABC’s Diane Sawyer hopefully cheered Monday night, touting how “protests are spreading across the country.” NBC anchor Brian Williams trumpeted how “the movement that started here in New York about a month ago...now has thousands of people joining in and it's spreading across the country.”
Reporter Michelle Franzen asserted the protesters are “united by what they see as corporate greed and social injustice playing out around the country. They are demanding change but by design they have no set plan or end goal in mind. But that hasn't stopped this movement from gaining strength in numbers.” She celebrated how the “melting pot of gripes has turned into a nationwide movement.”
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2011/10/04/abc-and-nbc-champion-left-wing-anti-capitalist-protests-fueled-cookies-#ixzz1Zq9OelLr
Today's Quote
"In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from
one party of the citizens to give to the other."
Voltaire (1764)
one party of the citizens to give to the other."
Voltaire (1764)
Monday, October 3, 2011
House Majority Leader Cantor:Obama's Jobs Package is Dead | CNSnews.com
House Majority Leader Cantor: Obama’s Jobs Package is Dead | CNSnews.com
The Obama jobs act has been introduced in both the House and Senate, but has found no co-sponsors in either chamber and so far has gone nowhere, even in the Senate, where the bill was introduced by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
The Obama jobs act has been introduced in both the House and Senate, but has found no co-sponsors in either chamber and so far has gone nowhere, even in the Senate, where the bill was introduced by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
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