It began two days ago with a five page article by Scott Wilson in the Washington Post:”Obama, the loner president.” The article depicted the president as coldly intellectual, uninterested in the everyday lives of human beings except on an abstract plane. Wilson wrote,
[T]his president endures with little joy the small talk and back-slapping of retail politics, rarely spends more than a few minutes on a rope line, refuses to coddle even his biggest donors. His relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill is frosty, to be generous. Personal lobbying on behalf of legislation? He prefers to leave that to Vice President Biden, an old-school political charmer.
The only friends he had were an “inner circle” about which there is more later.
Ted Mann at the Atlantic Wire added to the drumbeat. He argued that Obama did not even seem to be a “black president,” he was a cipher even to Maxine Waters. Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post suggested that Obama wasn’t even a Democratic Party man, saying even members of his own party have never felt so unwelcome at the White House:
And, this morning the New York Times’ John Harwood wrote that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) views White House chief of staff Bill Daley as “ham handed” and that leading Democrats believe that “Team Obama’s zeal for secrets creates more problems than it solves.” Message. Sent.
One veteran Democratic campaign operative put it more bluntly when asked to assess Obama’s approach: “He just hates politics and politicians.”
At the heart of that ill will is a belief that Obama has been a fair-weather friend to congressional Democrats (and most of the party’s elected officials), using them when necessary (like now) and ignoring them the rest of the time.
Secrecy. Isolation. Distance.
If politics is a rogue’s game, success in it also requires a rogue’s charm, which principally consists of the usual low-life glad-handing but most of all a sure touch in the division of the spoils. A gang chieftain must always remember that he lives by the gang.
But as Michael Goodwin in the New York Post writes, it looks like the president “walks alone.” The “gang” is out there to be summoned and used, then dismissed. He inhabits an inner circle consisting of Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod; the wrong inner circle perhaps, since members of his inner cabinet — including the secretaries of state and the treasury — complain of exclusion.
The gist is this: President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government. He talks mostly, and sometimes only, to friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett and to David Axelrod, his political strategist.
Everybody else, including members of his Cabinet, have little face time with him except for brief meetings that serve as photo ops. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner both have complained, according to people who have talked to them, that they are shut out of important decisions.
The president’s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren’t sure what he does.
Jonah Goldberg says some who’ve looked up at the lighted window in the high tower believe that it must be that the great wizard is thinking. He is studying the stars to divine a profound wisdom; he is polishing his “policy skills,” a talent suggested by Wilson in his original piece. “In the first two years, the phrase I heard often in the White House was ‘Good policy makes for good politics.’” But Goldberg asks: if Obama is a policy wizard then where is the wizardy?
Heck, if he’s spent so much time focusing on getting the policies right, why are things so bad? Why are they so much worse than he predicted? Why did it take him so long figuring out reality was sharply veering from his assumptions?
Here’s a thought: Maybe Obama is just a big fan of public policy the way I’m a big fan of movies? I can talk about movies all day long. I can discuss camera work, acting, story, directing etc. with some fluency. I can even talk about how movies are financed and the role of foreign markets. But you know what? I don’t have a frickn’ clue how to make a Hollywood movie (and I’ve actually made some documentaries).
Maybe he’s not a public policy Scorsese. Maybe he’s, at best, the Roger Ebert of policymaking – or more likely, just a policy buff.
“Jonah Goldberg says some who’ve looked up at the lighted window in the high tower believe that it must be that the great wizard is thinking.”
Isn’t this an eerie, very specific reprise of Jimmy Carter’s single term?
I seem to remember Carter also left the Oval Office lights on during the excruciating Iranian Hostage Crisis, in an apparent attempt to look like he was “doing something”.
As Glen Reynolds says frequently, Carter is looking like a best-case scenario.
“The hope he can edge over the finish line in 2012.”
And what would this bring him. Moreover, what would this bring the American people. (Two rhetorical questions).
One can only hope for gridlock until we see the light at the end of the tunnel.
He is the dictator in the bunker living in a fantasy world. Just like Hitler, Eric Honecker, Gorbachev and Saddam, Obama has become politically delusional. A wise politician would have changed course a long time ago. A chastened politician would call it day for the good of his party. This is where ideologues end up when things go south. The occupy whatever movement is his call to the “Obamajugend” to fight the advancing Red Army to the bitter end.
“And that probably the Jobs program won’t work.”
What has to be scary is that Dirty Harry is scrambling furiously, bending the rules, etc, to avoid the ‘Jobs Plan’ from coming to a vote. He knows the Democrats will kill it.
Then what does the White House do?
I think he’s upstairs playing GTA for hours.
What could go wrong? A question appropriate for January of 2009.
The new black is “What could go right?”
We are a year away from the next Presidential election. It’s conventional wisdom that economic policy changes have a lead time of many months. From the 1960s to the 1980s the government (and the Federal Reserve) were consistently chastised for acting too late.
We are also told by the political smart guys that the condition of the nation come August/September is the impression the voters take into the voting booth. Good news that comes in October is just too late to “trickle down” to the public.
I don’t think there are any actions the government (and the Fed) could take between now and then that will change things significantly.
There is one caveat, things could be getting better right now. I don’t claim to be as smart as the guys at ECRI, but we could very well be at a bottom for employment and final sales. Forget the stock market it’s traditionally a leading indicator but it’s become so warped that I don’t put much “stock” in it’s prescience anymore. If the bottom of economic performance is in we could start to see indicators perk up a bit. I’m not predicting Reagan era like performance, but we could see unemployment trending down to 8.5% by next summer. Whether people would give the President an attaboy for that is another question.
The situation in the Bunker can only get worse.
On the far western front, the administration troops have literally reached the point of selling their weapons to drug lords. CBS News can no longer ignore the debacle. Perhaps someone from the L.A. Times will leak the Rashid Khalidi tape, demoralizing what is left of the moderate (for California) liberal units. On the eastern front, Holder might resign, leaving the vast Legal Army of the Potomac without its leader. On the southern front, the race-bait ammunition is running out, putting the troops in an untenable situation. In the north, Wisconsin has fallen, after a long siege.
The mobile units? The the EPA SS SolarGreens have lost the battle of the Solyndra, collapsing without a fight. The Occupy Wall St. forces remain in the field, despite having only drums and bullhorns in reserve.
In the D.C. bunker, one strong figure endures . . . and she is, once again, not feeling very proud of her country.
Whatever they have on Obama (unflattering documents?), he seems fully compliant and on-board with “the plan”, whatever it is.
Has there been a real president since JFK? They’re puppets.
For a determinist like myself, such a descent into isolation by Obama is what I expected. My boss for 14 years was a malignant narcissist, and withdrawal was his response to major setbacks. Another deterministic possibility is that Obama has a genetic propensity that caused him to be too optimistic for too long (http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/227951/20111010/research-optimism-risk-management.htm) and that led to disasters that he now, as a narcissist, cannot face.
Obama could have been the greatest President since Ronald Reagan. All he needed to do was act prudently and rationally. If he had simply done ‘ok’ and done a moderate job of keeping a lid on debt, reducing regulation, allowing energy development and being strategically savvy we could now be in a situation where the basic strengths of the US would be reasserting themselves.
The rest of the world — the Middle East, Japan, Europe and even China — have made horrible mistakes. It was only necessary for Obama not to out-blunder them. But he didn’t. Even so, there is still a chance that things may take a turn for the better. The main argument against that optimism is the Euro, which may be reaching the crisis point. That explosion will create collateral damage. Squandering the last reserves on the “Jobs Program” is like throwing your last reserves into a losing battle. But reinforcing failure has been the President’s hallmark.
The problem with President Obama isn’t tactical. His strategy is fundamentally wrong. Like a lot of people on the left, he had all the answers. The people on the left have all the answers. The only problem is that they are almost without exception the wrong answers.
And they are the last to know. The biggest difficulty is that their intellectual confidence becomes a liability because they are loathe to learn from their failure. They keep doubling down. The President would have been far better off if he had been less “educated”. Then he would have drawn the common-sense conclusions from his experience and changed tack long ago.
He still wants to climb to the peak along a sheer route with an overhang at the end when there is a gravel road winding to the top right next to him that he refuses to take. The President has blinded himself in his tower. A tower can be a trap and not a whispering post to the stars.
Why is it not possible that the writers for the TPOTUS are achieving their goals? Is it that such goals are too horrible to contemplate? Are not the teleological-lacking occupiers consistent with such goals?
In 2012 we will elect a Wizard to lead us; perhaps the same Wizard we have now, perhaps a different Wizard, but a Wizard we will elect, in the belief that the Wizard will cure all ills and solve all besetments. The Wizard will gaze wistfully at the stars, and wonder why they do not speak to him.
Against the dark forbidding sky
Competing with the distant stars
The flick’ring yellow tower light
Aligns with red ascendant Mars
The Wizard, lonely and unseen
Is hard at work, his spells uncast
While in the tower minions toil
To craft new versions of the past
The Wizard takes no company
His life is hard, his pleasures few
He sits alone in tower high
Entranced by his own brilliant view
Unseen by those inside the walls
Unfelt the tremors grow apace
Until the tower stone by stone
Disintegrates, and in its place
Another tower climbs the sky
Another treads the cold stone stair
To gaze at stars beyond his grasp
And never know they do not care
The problem, the real problem, for us is that the narcissist/sociopath does not go quietly away. Ever. Their faults are out faults. The blame is all ours. There is no other answer. As Hitler concluded – the [German] people failed and therefore deserved what was to befall them. Surrender was never going to be an option.
Chuck
Here’s a clue:
““He said ‘this never happens,’” says Hamilton, who also has a personal photo with Obama on his BlackBerry. “This never happens that a President sits down for a documentary that isn’t, like, 60 Minutes.”
Obama is one of a slew of big names who lined up to tell the Vancouver-based filmmakers why they admire the Canadian basketball phenomenon for “Nash – The Documentary”, having its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival on Tuesday.
“He does his job,” Obama says in the film. “He doesn’t do it with a lot of fanfare. You get a sense that he’s probably the same kid that he was when he was growing up in Canada.””
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/doc-focuses-on-steve-nash-a-refreshing-subject/article2196058/
Obama has issued his partisans Red Shirts. Some are now waking up to the fact that they are “Star Treck” Red Shirts.
Somewhat Off topic: One thing that I’ve noticed about the OWS crowd is that they don’t “filter” like the Tea Party did. The Tea Party was on the alert from the start for infiltrators, false flags, and ax grinders trying for hijacks. The OWS crowds are tolerating scum that are providing video opportunities that give them really bad “optics.” Alinsky methods apparently don’t scale up all that well.
the question that i have is –
why does he even want to be pResident if it’s not fun anymore?
Makes Obama sound like Nixon without the patriotism or brains. A loner who does not enjoy the contact of retail politics and whose own party finds him distant. At least Nixon, despite his insecurities, tried to surround himself with a few competent people; Obama just surrounds himself with yes-men who have the same opinions and attitudes as himself.
We are soooo screwed.
Wretchard,
“It was only necessary for Obama not to out-blunder them. But he didn’t.”
This is why many of us think his blunders have been intentional. I, for one, believe that his policies are supposed to make our labor, industrial and stock markets unattractive to foreign investment on purpose.
Which confirms that Obama is a capitalist. That is, he understands capital the way a chemist understands mercury. He’d rather not expose himself to it, but he sure hopes to hold, study and control its flows in his experiments.
It has always been America’s strength, this affinity for capital fleeing uncertain foreign conditions. Today, like never before, capital is yearning for a sanctuary from government seizure. In Germany, Italy, Denmark, England, South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda, citizens with wealth are looking for the place to grow it where their own stupified governments cannot plunder it. America, before Obama, used to be that place.
But, sideline Chryslers’ investors, make air-travel to and from America costly thru carbon-taxes, “up” Brazil’s energy independence, render American businesses inefficient by curtailing their access to energy supplies, corrupt the country’s government with crony-capitalism, and you can force that money to stay in venues that it would otherwise flee, like those controlled by the dying European banks.
This was Obama’s task: to scare capital away from American shores in the event of the entirely predictable Euro-implosion. And these “blunders” are the Democratics’ policy plan for America in the new century.
Like the chemist who handles mercury well knows, you need to be expert when meddling with it. I doubt the anti-capitalist capitalists in Obama’s administration have any idea just what they’re playing with.
Repeal Obamacare, freeze all new regulatory changes, and lift the exploration/drilling bans…if Dear Leader did that, the economy would gain a pure injection of hiring and expansion and growth.
But Dear Leader is not only incapable of doing it, he and Jarrett and Axelrod are incapable of thinking about those things as options.
We heard that Nixon was the Imperial President, aloof and untouchable, but Obama makes him look like a Harry Truman or Jerry Ford.
We heard that Reagan liked to knock off work early and chat about his movie experiences (which sounds to me like actually a good way to handle the issue of the Fed Govt doing less, not more). And we heard how G.W. Bush took afternoon naps and was in bed by 2200 if at all possible, but compared to Obama they look like obscessed workaholics.
We heard that G.H.W Bush was disconnected from the real world as was evidenced by his astonishment at a supermarket scanner (and actually he was at a factory that made the scanners, seeing not how it went “bloop” at the checkout but how the articulation worked). But it seems likely that Obama could not find a supermarket if he had to, and he certainly would not understand why such a place would force people to pay for their purchases or at least with anything other than food stamps.
So now all the Left’s dreams have come true. They at last have a President that truly embodies all of their decades of lies. Problem is, they have also embodied Pogo’s famous observation:
“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
#1 Cellec looks at Obama and sees Carter. I look at him and see Wilson. Not every problem today can be laid at the feet of Obama; the roots of the problems go back a century to Wilson. So, it is not only ironic, it is fitting and just that an aloof academician is once again trying to make an untenable philosophy work. But this time we have 100 years of history to inform us that the Progressive agenda is fatally flawed.
Metaphorically, Obama reminds me of Moses. He led his people from Egypt into the wilderness, but could not get them to the promised land. He had neither the experience to be president and nor the ability to surround himself with those who could make up for his deficiencies. Leaders in the past have known as the “Terrible”, the “Lion”, the “Hammer”, Obama will be known as the “Incompent”.
I don’t understand why Obama wants to be re-elected. By any rational reckoning, he should be saying “I have had enough, I don’t need this” and then skedaddling, like Johnson. He could make a fortune on the lecture circuit and with corporate directorships. He is not stupid, and can’t possibly think he will have some sudden clue about what to do to fix things if only he is reelected. He has tried everything he thought should work and, in a reverse Midas touch situation, everything has instead turned to crud. The only thing that makes any sense to me is his ego — he can’t abide the thought of possibly being viewed as a failure because he was never a failure before and always was everyone’s golden boy. Now that he has proven the Peter Principle true he can’t abide the thought. Otherwise, why subject himself to this?
>>>>Leaders in the past have known as the “Terrible”, the “Lion”, the “Hammer”, Obama will be known as the “Incompent”.
Actually, Obama is Ethelred — the “Unready.”
What’s the end game for Obama if the economy slips back into recession? He’s at 38% approval now. What will he be if unemployment is back over 10% next year?
If the economy gets any worse, Obama faces the incentive structure of a “rogue trader”.
If the rogue trader has already lost billions and is about to be found out, they have an incentive to make more low probability – high payoff bets to try to gain back their losses.
For politicians facing certain defeat…
If Jarrett and Axelrod are typical of the membership of the inner sanctum, then it is quite berefect of policy analysis expertise. You wonder whether either of these advisers knows much about military strategy, central banking, monetary policy, energy economics or foreign affairs.
It would seem their chief knowledge area is politics and spin. That in turn provides an indicator of what the wizard in the tower is really pre-occupied with: politics and spin. If those are his signal filters then clearly the messages entering the sanctum are sifted for that kind of content.
That means the objective function of the firm isn’t the increasing the value of the company but the personal prestige of the CEO. If each problem is approached from the standpoint of ‘what is good for the President?’ rather than ‘what is good for America’ then the strategic goals are polluted thereby. The really interesting thing is that this approach does not seem to be improving the stated objective function. In other words, Jarrett and Axelrod are not improving their client’s political standing despite being focused on it.
This may be puzzling them. They have not yet completely grasped the fact that the President’s political fate is closely correlated with the country’s general welfare. They are still laboring under the (Chicago assumption) that the two variables are decoupled. But they were only decoupled in Chicago because the Windy City could draw energy from the larger system. When the larger system comes under the control of the Machine, then the effects of the Machine’s mistakes are fully captured and fed back. There is no external system big enough to bail them out or soften their now gigantic errors.
The chief argument against a existence of a deep plot is the mediocrity of the President’s inner circle. Is this it? Are these the guys who are going to outsmart everyone? Take over the world? Axelrod and Jarrett?
Hmm. Moreover, truly dangerous demagogues are competent in their own way. And there is no evidence of competence in the administration except the conjecture that such complete incompetence can only be explained by as kind of trick. But maybe it’s not trick. Successful schemers give off a high energy reading simply because the demagoguery business needs a lot of juice. There isn’t enough juice or bandwidth with old Joe Biden and Carney, assisted by Axelrod and Jarrett to light up a table lamp.
What is really holding up Obama is the fact that much of the establishment has not yet openly turned against him. The press and the ‘intellectual elite’ are carrying him along. If they wanted him down, the knockout could have come long ago. Instead they are giving him softballs, pulling their punches, giving him every break possible. And still he’s not getting anything done.
You can read the Wilson piece as coded speech. What it may really be saying is that the President has thrown in the towel and he’s not taking any calls any more. Not from his agent, nor his backers, nor even from his fan club. Perhaps the real question it is setting up is: should they now think of mounting a primary challenge? For the agenda goes on, even if the current implement is a broken reed.
Wretcherd, All any politician in a Democracy needs to know is how to get elected. If the voters elect a bum, it’s because they wanted a bum. 2 years ago, going into any shopping mall parking lot exposed one to a sea of Obama/Biden bumper stickers. Nowadays you might see 3 or 4 in a mostly empty parking lot.
A LOT of buyers remorse out there. Everytime I hear someone complaining that the media tricked them, I point out that the Media can only fool those that are willing to be fooled. None of the talk back Parrots in the previous post HAD to respond, They could just keep their mouth shut. They responded because they wanted to.
4. stoicheion Dirty Harry is scrambling furiously, bending the rules, etc, to avoid the ‘Jobs Plan’ from coming to a vote. He knows the Democrats will kill it.
That works for me. A bill that never comes to a vote it’s exactly equivalent to a bill that is dead.
Obama advisor Patrick Gaspard is trolling Craigslist to hire Occupy Wall Street protesters. Obama has now increased debt more than all Presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined. George Lopez says Cain is ‘Darker than Obama, but whiter on the inside’ (this is a foretaste of how ugly the 2012 campaign will be).
Meanwhile there’s a shovel-ready job waiting for Barack Obama in NYC today. Occupy Wall Street protesters are crapping in the streets.
Obama could have been the greatest President since Ronald Reagan.
I have this much sympathy for Obambus: I think anybody who stepped up to the plate in Jan 2009 was going to have a very, very tough time of it.
OTOH you could hardly do worse that to add to it with Obamacare, and to team with two of the historic morons in American history, Pelosi and Reid.
If Jarrett and Axelrod are typical of the membership of the inner sanctum, then it is quite berefect of policy analysis expertise.
What I have seen of Axelrod makes me evaluate him as a first class doofus. I know Jarrett only by reputation, most of which is empty of content.
But if there is no wizardry, what’s he doing then?
Same as he’s always done, nuthin.
And it’s always worked for him, so far.
From his point of view, change is contra-indicated.
Speaking of Obama in the bunker, here’s a video imagining: http://www.bulletpeople.com/?p=1434
”… what succeeds wild optimism is simply forlorn hope.”
I love it! What it conjured up in me instantly was the British Army under Wellington and “The Forlorn Hope”.
When they besieged a fortress they’d pick the best spot and hit it over and over with cannonballs until a segment would collapse; if necessary, they’d then hit the sides of that until there was a nice V-shaped breach in the walls.
But then they had to storm the place, rush through this breach and overwhelm the defenders. Problem: inside the breach and facing it was another wall with defenders (now knowing they’re fighting for their lives) aiming at the very spot where the attackers have to come through.
And: defenders on either side of the breach, up on the remaining walls, could shoot straight down into the it, hurl grenades, whatever they could to make the attackers pay.
So who would want to rush into something like that? The Forlorn Hope, a group of volunteers who would step up to do just that. I forget the incentive (damn!) but it was something huge, enough so that even the odds of dying in the breach, bodies stacking up on the rubble, still made it worth the risk.
So . . . who hurls himself/herself into the breach for The One? I say nobody; they’ll all be rushing for cover, hauling *** to a safe place where they can clean off their skirts and say, “I tried, boy I really did but they just wouldn’t listen”.
It still shocks me…how in the tank the media is for The One. Anybody else see Rahm on MEET THE PRESS yesterday. Gregory asked NOT ONE question about Solyndra or Fast and Furious. Not a single one. They talked about the Chicago Marathon though.
The MSM will never recover from this administration. Suckers are completely in the tank.
When Michelle realizes that the all expense vacations on the private plane and body guards to carry the shopping bags age gone she may go too. Mr. Obama is starting to make Carter look normal.
In a strange bit of synchronicity today, neoneocon also gives us a take on the Obama as a loner storey… she ends by embedding his new theme song, Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams:
http://neoneocon.com/2011/10/10/obama-the-loner-part-ii/
Two minds with but a single blot.
Metaphorically, Obama reminds me of Moses. He led his people from Egypt into the wilderness, but could not get them to the promised land.
I wasn’t thinking of the comparison of Moses & the Hebrews. I was thinking more like the Donner Party. (oh please, oh please, oh please)
I want to repost a piece of a post I made on this very blog just over 2 years ago, on October 6, 2009:
…. “now, for the very first time in his life, he has to face the reality that there is no easy way out. He has literally never been truly responsible for *anything* in his life up to this point – Heck of a time to think about growing up!!! I suspect he’s going to do the same thing as he did at the Harvard law Review – now that something is being required of him, I think he’s going to put his feet up on the desk and just pretend that everything is going to work out. And when it doesn’t he’ll search for someone to blame rather than fixing anything, which is always the other easy way out. And when that doesn’t work, he’ll find a way to quit, if not literally, then at least in real terms. Just as he did at Harvard.
That’s my prediction. What is Obama going to do when things get really bad? He’s going to make Herbert Hoover look like an activist, that’s what he’s going to do. Because he doesn’t have it in him to do anything else, and he never did. Oh, he’ll have plenty of underlings that will try stuff – Emmanual and Pelosi and Reid, oh my. But they’ll all be at cross purposes and all be at each others throats while Obama is smiling and waving and pretending that Prosperity is Just Around the Corner. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if, by 2011, he doesn’t start finding ways to spend most of his time outside of the country.
Now how we deals with his own supporters once this administration collapses into incoherent incompetence is going to be the most interesting game to watch. They’re already starting to figure out that things aren’t going well – when they finally realize they’ve been snookered by a false messiah things could get very ugly indeed.”
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/10/06/the-track-of-the-storm/
23 Boldface: “The only thing that makes any sense to me is his ego “.
Bingo.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution and AP have both picked up on Wilson’s “Obama as loner” meme. If you’ve lost WaPo, the Atlantic, the AJC and the AP, all you have left is the NYTimes. What’s that worth?
If I were a conspiracy theorist I’d say that the Clintons or Soros put the word out to head for the lifeboats. I think it’s more a case that Wilson finally noticed that the Emperor has no clothes, and now everyone realizes it’s safe to state the obvious.
CodePink is back. They are part of OccupyDC and October2011; the latter group’s main cause is the 11th year of the Afghan war. How long can you protest against White House corruption, drone atacks and the two ongoing wars without mentioning the current President? The DNC will sure look funny if OWS uses DNC money to call out Obama.
Kucinich- Paul 2012!
“like a boxer who realizes that all of his moves are revealed by comparison to be clumsy and ineffective against an opponent who is hitting him at will”
Nice image, W — but not really appropriate to Obumble. No-one is hitting him — not the hard men of the Lame Stream Media, not his fellow politicians (D or R), no-one (who matters).
A better image might be the helmsman on the deck of an old sailing ship heading into the storm, with waves battering him and threatening to founder the vessel. Obama is losing the fight with reality, not with a human opponent.
That may be part of the reason no Democrat has stepped forward to challenge Obambi in the Primaries. Obama is doing a woeful job of piloting the ship, but what Democrat would want to be lashed to the wheel in his place?
There is only one way out: roll back excessive counter-productive regulation; fire bureaucrats by the tens of thousands; declare war on the real enemy of the people, the lawyers; bring industry (& jobs & tax-revenue) back to the US. But that is a course the Great Helmsman will never set.
From what I’v'e been reading lately the paybacks for the Red Guards and cultural revolution were nasty and lingering. The paybacks were bad enough that they’ve left a residue of fear in the upper party ranks. The current acts of corruption have led to a heavy increase in demonstrations and acts of defiance, and it is specualted that provoking foreigners and pounding the war drum is in part to get the publics mind off the economic and corruption problems. The government is in the process of backing up banks with bad loans right now.
So the Obamanistas and the MSM are ignorant of what happened with the Red Guards and think it is a good idea to do something similar in the US. A really bad idea in the face of an oncoming depression.
Those silly twits showing up for OWS think wearing hoods and handkerchiefs over their faces are going to protect their identities. Dream on kiddies there are tools and methods that defeat them. In the future when you apply for a job because the protest money is gone, you’ll find out.
Occupy Wall Street is the French Revolution meets Sesame Street after a hostile takeover by Fritz the Cat.
If they demonstrate outside the White House for more benefits Michelle will joke, “Let them eat Big Bird Shit,” to titters all around. Historians will explain this is a reference to The Fed’s Quantitative Easing Number Thirty-Eight, which will come in the form of three trillion food stamps.
Burt will be arrested by Ernie, who now runs The Committee of Public Safety. He will go to the Guillotine while Miss Piggy knits.
Kermit will exchange e-mails with Edmund Burke. Kermit’s been told the revolution will usher in the Reign of Frogs. Burke advises Kermit to hop and change countries while he still can, pointing to the many recipes for Frogs Legs posted online. But Kermit realizes he really does love the Pig and won’t leave.
Here is another way to look at it: The Administration and Wall Street are Friends with Benefits — only its the rest of US that get screwed. The Occupiers want them to use condoms.
I agree with steveaz @18. His agenda was to “fundamentally transform America.” He is well on his way. What he didn’t expect was that there would be side-effects that may doom his reelection. He wanted to make America less exceptional, less a world leader, less the preeminent military force in the world. He has succeeded in weakening our economy. He has succeeded in weakening our prestige and influence in the world. He has succeeded in alienating us from our allies while at the same time failing to gain traction with our enemies.
Did he do all this on purpose? Or was it incompetence? Or plain bad luck? I think he signaled us during the campaign that this was on purpose.
And now he has to face the consequences (as we all unfortunately do) that he has succeeded faster than he thought and that the effects of weakening America in all those dimensions is now too obvious. Of course, he is trying to point hither and yon to others as the cause. And the MSM has been helping him, though a tiny bit less so lately. Perhaps if his people continue to yell at reporters he will finally alienate the press.
Who knows what awaits between now and January 20, 2012?
W @ 10:
“Then he would have drawn the common-sense conclusions from his experience and changed tack long ago.”
I’d agree with this, Wretchard, if O had any experience. Alas, he does not. Well, he did not — now he does. All this doubling down he is doing, like the gambler pushing his last chips into a pot he hopes to win with a weak pair, is just the result of believing his own hype. There’s nothing there but hope. Chauncey Gardner has run out of aphorisms.
Through the 20th Century, American cities have spread outward, covering jillions of acres of what used to be productive smallholdings, farms, and agricultural fields good for grazing critters.
In my cups, I’ve sometimes offered the cynical joke that all the concrete and asphalt we’ve layered over excellent farmland at LEAST had the benefit of preserving the soil they capped. That soil will still be there for later generations, just scrape away the hard stuff, and you futurekinder will be able to grow nutritious and tasty veggies.
What O’bumble the magnificent has demonstrated is that this works with his poop, too.
#41 hdgreene
Kermit’s been told the revolution will usher in the Reign of Frogs.
Give Kermit credit at least for the Solyndra theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51BQfPeSK8k
Given that he’s down to Jarrett and Axelrod—and the others probably don’t mind at all—who’s going to be the first to break ranks and start writing, “The Obama I Knew At Columbia”, ”Barack’s Cheating At Harvard”, and ”Pot And Coke: Wild Times At Occidental”.
Then someone from Chicago will start to tell . . .
Ethelred the Unready.
Let’s go back that far.
Someone somewhere recently made this comment about Obama – “The clothes have no Emperor.”
There is no Obama except for a repeatedly painted over, repeatedly newly clothed far left construct. A Potemkin person. The eternal outsider, morosely gazing through lighted windows that display warm, desirable cameos in which he will never have a real part. Include in that thought, the White House windows. I don’t believe that Obama knows who he is and I think that who he wants to be changes with each news cycle. In spite of the emptiness Obama knows he is someone wonderful, a great – fill in the blank depending on the day of the week – or something. Pitiful, empty and in love with himself he may be, but he can still cause big trouble.
Hollywood is where such pitiful empty narcissistic chameleons go, to find false friends and false praise. Send Obama a map and travel directions. Please.
Sure, O is incompetent and so incompetent he doesn’t even know he’s incompetent.
The puzzle is how somebody like him–zero accomplishments outside of a purported good education–got so far so quickly and so smoothly. You can’t get elected without being nominated, so somebody nominated him instead of a dozen other prospects at the lower levels.
As somebody said, this guy doesn’t know how to open doors because every one he’s encountered opens–or is opened–for him.
Why? Who? What will the unseen–if they exist–do in the face of failure as president and failure of re-election?
If there is no unseen who, how in hell did this happen? Yeah, fifty-two percent of the voters are morons, but how did he get up the stairs to nomination for POTUS?
At this point I’m thinking that there are a couple of “ball” carriers agonizing over what plausable “excuses” could be manufactured to explain misplacing the codes.
Obama is a bitter clinger to his wishful progressive ideologies that looked to skim the top off of the once vibrant US economy. Even when things went into the tank he was unable to adapt his rigid political model to the changing circumstances.
He is in the Fuhrer Bunker playing Grant Theft Auto (nice allusion).
RA @ 49: Affirmative Action. And a press of dupes.
Through the 20th Century, American cities have spread outward, covering jillions of acres of what used to be productive smallholdings, farms, and agricultural fields good for grazing critters.
And in the same span, the Americans who have migrated to those sophisticated megalopolises have left more and more homesteads, villages and small towns abandoned, and enormous acreages with shrinking population density. There’s more wooded land than there was 100 years ago. Planners with their trite ‘urban sprawl’ slogan are blind to this reverse-side trend.
#48 westerncanadian
Hollywood is where such pitiful empty narcissistic chameleons go, to find false friends and false praise. Send Obama a map and travel directions.
Well, unfortunately for Canada, it looks like President Prozac is going to be in a Vancouver-made documentary about a basketball star, if the Globe and Mail is correct:
“Obama is one of a slew of big names who lined up to tell the Vancouver-based filmmakers why they admire the Canadian basketball phenomenon for Nash – The Documentary, having its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival on Tuesday.
‘He does his job,’ Obama says in the film. ‘He doesn’t do it with a lot of fanfare. You get a sense that he’s probably the same kid that he was when he was growing up in Canada.’”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/doc-focuses-on-steve-nash-a-refreshing-subject/article2196058/
“He does his job. He doesn’t do it with a lot of fanfare.” Straight from the horse’s mouth (or perhaps the animal’s other end).
Obama’s failing too rapidly. I don’t want the POTUS, even Obama, to go Capt Queeg on an international stage.
If the Dems run someone else (and what else could they be wishing for?) they stand a better chance to win. We should all want Barry to run (Barry run).
So I say lets take it easy on Barry for a while; lets send him letters of support asking him to please run, for the little guy. If he doesn’t stand for his trial, I mean election I will be disappointed.
I’m not sure if voting against him (again) is going to be as satisfying as I imagine it will be, but I am looking forward to the opportunity of finding out.
So give Barry some love and keep him in the game.
here is my paranoia – what plans are ‘they’ making to declare a-state-of-emergency to avoid/void 2012 elections ?
f47 asks:
why does he even want to be pResident if it’s not fun anymore?
Hell, Obama escaped to Camp David after his first week in office, January 2009.
With articles like the ones come to light recently about Obama loosing touch, I think about 25th Amendment Section 4, it might get messy but it would avoid all the birther nonsense with Quo Warranto. The Dem’s have got to be getting nervous, Another year of Obama? I see something happening soon
54. PA Cat
Yes, 14. truepeers referenced the same link. I don’t know what to say about Obama actually being in the movie. Nash lifted his game to the professional level by sheer hard work and I think he is a giver, not a taker. My kids went to high school with Nash and they both had respect for him then and still do.
If the economy magically improves in the next 6 months then Obama will be reelected
–but the Dems will still lose the Senate.
The CIA and the US Military are completely opposed to attacking Iran–so Obama cannot use that as a distraction.
Because Iran is no existential threat to the US and our current policy is driving Iran into China’s sphere of influence.
We are better off selling the planned $60 billion in advanced defense products to KSA- which will create a lot of US jobs and wealth.
US policy will be isolationist–apart from China–for the next 20 years at least.
That is — on balance–a very good thing for the USA.
Off Shore Balancing will be our foreign policy for the next generation.
@23. Boldface
a) Campaigning is what he knows
b) When (not if) he loses he will become a martyr for progressive causes and will then cash in
Victor – “We are better off selling the planned $60 billion in advanced defense products to KSA- which will create a lot of US jobs and wealth.”
What BS. The administration just spent 700 billion on jobs and “wealth”. How much of that money do you get? You apparently can’t comment here without trotting out this fact or so called fact. Who are the benefactors that you are repeating this pap over and over for? Who is your paymaster?
I refer to him now as “The Isn’t”; after the next election I’ll be relieved to call him “The Wasn’t”.
Barack Obama is an old-fashioned hardline marxist-leninist. His goal is to fundamentally transform America into a centrally planned economy. He always knew that would be disruptive. His wife infamously announced as much (‘Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual’) and it is no coincidence that most of ObamaCare will take effect after 2013.
Obama’s first term was about increasing government’s share of the economy, establish the primacy of politics over economy and putting the new bureaucracies and regulatory frameworks in place. By now Obama has achieved all he could within the system, so his focus has shifted from politics back to activism.
The next phase of Obama’s revolution will have to come from “the streets”. He has to whip up class war and make the election more about emotion than facts to win his second term. It just might work if the GOP is dumb enough to nominate a Wall Street technocrat and/or run on “Conservatism”, which has 40 percent support.
Obama no longer has much use for the Democratic Party. After 4 pm he is probably engaging directly with people like Van Jones and all the usual marxist activist networks. We are starting to see the first results of their efforts.
Obama has always been a loner. Why don’t his classmates remember him? He didn’t hang out with them. Remember the story someone told about him as editor of the Harvard law review: he was always “very busy” and would rush away after meetings. He had few friends, but did spend time with “mentors” such as that Communist chap in Hawaii. He can be personable and polite, but aside from playing a bit of basketball or golf with others, doesn’t really enjoy a lot of company. Sitting in Rev. Wright’s church 52 times a year for 20 years seems like a stretch. If he was there, maybe he was tuned out and really didn’t hear anything the Rev. said.
Reminds me of Nowhere Man.
Back in the Stone Age I had a Commanding Officer who was a real jerk. He was ignorant bigoted lazy and a lousy ship driver. Once I had to knock on his Cabin door (the CO gets a Cabin and officers get Staterooms about 8X10′ for two) to get his signature on a message and when I opened the door he was hurriedly turning off the TV from which I had heard the voices of Tom and Jerry. After that he became even nastier.
It impresses me that in America we have not had a slew of Secret Service agents writing books about life with Michelle or Hillary or Rosalyn. People who come from countries like Rumania recognize the egotistical fantasy world and venality of people like Obama. I think that even among his desired peer group of wannabe Maximum Leaders he is unusually incompetent and unproductive. Stalin really did stay up at night reviewing documents and hatching plots. He was not afraid of hard work. Honecker really was a tough old proletarian who had spent a couple of years as an apprentice Roofer.
Obama is a total nullity who shows no record of ever having completed an honest days work. Obama started out a young man in a hurry and ends up an old man in a hurry that hasn’t done anything useful. His ideas translate into letting the Stooges drill holes in the bottom of the boat.
My hope is that the Republican pledges to claw back every dollar that has gone to Obama and his friends from the public treasury. That means every nickel sent to Solyndra’s “investors” like the California Democratic Party, every dime that went to to David Axelrod or Rahm Emanuel or people connected to them, and every quarter expended on or by a “Czar.” If we are lucky then the illegal aliens will leave, reason to play hardball with Perry and Romney on that issue, and then with the legal noise and cover gone the domestic agents of foreign (mostly Chinese and Arab) money will be exposed. If several thousand slackers, fellow travelers, and co-conspirators flee the country all the better. They may find it hard to find places willing to pay for their limited skill set.
How many times will we hear about the same $60 billion dollars the Saudis are waving on the end of a string? Maybe we can offered $60 billion and a roast beef sandwich for our heritage?
#58 25th Amendment Section 4 is a stretch. Have to somehow certify that the President is incapable of discarding his duties. Now Obama pulling a Section 3 is a possiblity. Claim he is suffering from manaic depression, unable to focus on his duties and walk away. Doubt though Michelle would let the gravy train end. So poor little ‘ol Barry is stuck with the job.
As to him getting primaried, well, the window for that rapidly closing. Because of the “We want to go first” mentality of several of the states the primary calendar has been moved up nearly a month and the filling deadlines are rapidly approaching. A serious primary challenge to the President requires a serious candidate with serious backing. And she appears to be not interested. Just like the other she on the Republican side of the ledger. Maybe both them see the gathering storm clouds on the horizon and have no desire to be the one holding the wheel of the Ship of State when the typoon hits. So apart from the obvious, who exactly is going to challenge the President on the Democratic side? I think no one. No one of consquence, that is. So by default Obama goes into the general. Against who? Romney seems the safe bet, but Cain is the one rising. Cain vs Obama. Get out the popcorn. That would be an interesting contest to say the least.
Perhaps the saddest thing to come out of all this is that Obama will indeed diminish the office of the President. Such ridiculous high hopes were placed on him by the Leftist Intelligentsia, that their only recourse is to harshly demean the next President to make him as equally ineffectual.
This was the strategy of the Left against George W. Bush, and it was fairly effective, especially after the 2006 midterm elections. But it will take on a more cynical and decadent urgency when Obama is defeated in 2012. It will not be so much Obama summoning the gotterdamerung on America (ala Hitler in da bunkah), but the angry Leftist idealists that were betrayed because America was not good enough for Obama, their promised leader.
Rather than painful or revealing “tell alls” after the Obama Regime packs it in after the 2012 election, will be poignant stories of how his idealism was failed by the crassness and vulgarity of party politics in Washington. Fingers will be pointed! You failed Obama! It will be ugly soul searching made public, with much self -criticism within the Democrat Party, and “getting right” with Obama, our first African- American President. There will be a purge of those not right with Obama, as the Party marches toward a glorious future. And nowhere will objective reality be allowed to enter.
Because it really couldn’t have been his fault, could it?
Top 10 reasons why Obama’s failure is a shock to the system.
10. We’ve been raising kids for a generation now not to judge, but “failure” sure sounds like a judgement.
9. Liberals don’t believe themselves capable of failure (and will try to blame it on malign right-wing forces).
8. Here we took a leap and elected a black president and it’s just inconceivable that this will not work out for any reason.
7. He was clean and articulate, how bad could it be?
6. What could possibly go wrong with a president with a middle name Hussein?
5. But the MSM has been like totally in the bag for him, how could that possibly be a mistake?
4. But the banks, and the millionaires and billionaires, and the racist evil tea party – they win?
3. But Europe promised!
2. We don’t care to admit to mistakes even when we make them.
1. You mean Bush was better? Really?
I do not think Obama is a failure. Not in his own mind at least. I think he accomplished exactly what he set out to accomplish. He bankrupted the coal industry, shut down domestic oil production, essentially nationalized the automotive, banking and health care systems, imposed a huge costly and invasive department of homeland security on the country, essentially abolished our immigration laws, isolated Israel, weakened American foreign policy, divided people politically, and enjoyed every perk and prerogative the commander in chief is granted to its fullest extent in the process while making real money for the first time in his life. Where is the failure in that?
I also think the class warfare shtick will be very effective as the economy continues to worsen. It is pretty hard to defend at an emotional level the top 1% of the population when there is a lot of real pain out there. Intellectually it is easy to defend but emotionally no. A guy like Romney if he winds up the nominee will be eviscerated. And if you think Obama has retreated to his tower to brood or to poor over policy briefing books you are wrong. More likely he has retired to his man cave to watch ESPN, play video games, and practice his putting.
Obama has no more doubts about his policies or why he is pursuing them than a suicide bomber has doubts about heaven or his 72 virgins. He is a hardcore, hard left socialist and always has been. He believes in redistribution of the wealth, government ownership or effective control of large businesses, that the USA is an evil and destructive force in the world, that our justice system is skewed against the poor and persons of color, and that the green environmental movement can be used to fix some of those things. Soon we will get to find out if he is capable of ruthlessness or just wants to play class war. He and that coteries of amateur revolutionaries in the SEIU and Acorn are about put a match to a short fuse and I believe they are totally unprepared for what is going to follow as is that feckless nitwit Harry Reid and the pathetically demented Nancy Pelosi.
Obama could get a sharp rally on the Dow and down-tick in unemployment merely by firing Axelrod and Jarret. But his bigger problem is that he cannot dump Michelle, and that exposes the real issue.
Michelle and Barry represent the apex of “diversity”, they have finally made the country “diversity aware” (which may be the only campaign promise he fulfills, just not at all in the manner he expected).
Along with Kweku Adoboli at UBS the Obamas (and Jarret) illustrate how expensive ignoring the law of unintended consequences can be. Diversity awareness has amplified the Peter Principle and the result is gays, lesbians, blacks and feminists promoted to positions far above anything previously possible in any truly merit based organization.
Our Republic will be better off when the role of the President is weakened. I’ve been reading Liberal Fascism, and it’s an interesting look at how Pres. Wilson and his fellow Progressives consciously set out to destroy the Constitution and to promote an America that was ruled by the so-called Elite (them).
Obama has destroyed this fascist legacy, and the tea partiers will make sure, after intensive effort, that the Constitution is restored and the federal government loses its key to the money box.
Now that I see the Occupy Wall Streeters in action, I know that it is time for the Grown-Ups to return to power. I have hope and optimism that a big change is coming. I speak as a Chicagoan who no longer sees any Obama signs. Everyone knows that our mayor is a crook. There is definitely a change in the air.
HIlter at least had the decency to kill himself.
This reminds me of Iowahawk’s brilliant Beltway Adventure satire. I’m sure most people here have already read it, but I’ll post the link for those who haven’t.
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2010/10/beltway-adventure.html
The end is chilling.
“The president’s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren’t sure what he does.”
I’m guessing he’s catching up on things he didn’t learn in college or law school. Directly or indirectly.
Reynolds had it right.
Credentialled, not educated. Like most affirmative action hires, like most of the OWS types, like a lot of the “public policy” industry, etc.
72. Promethea:
“Pres. Wilson and his fellow Progressives consciously set out to destroy the Constitution and to promote an America that was ruled by the so-called Elite (them).”
…-
Has O’s Van Jones plagiarised Dostoevsky’s *Demons?
…-
“Shigalov’s entire plan is as follows:
He offers as a final solution the division of mankind into two uneven
categories. One-tenth will be granted individual freedom and
full rights over the remaining nine-tenths, who will lose their individuality
and become something like a herd of cattle.
Gradually,
through unlimited obedience and a series of mutations, they
will attain a state of primeval innocence, something akin to the
original paradise on earth, although, of course, they’ll have to work.”
“*A Voegelinian Reading of Dostoevsky’s Possessed”
http://www.nhinet.org/avramenko17-1&2.pdf
#76 maz2
What you describe as far as an elite ruling others has been seen so many times in literature and such over the last 100 or so years.
Morlocks vs Eloi. Livers vs Sleepless in the works of Nancy Kress. Sauron’s henchmen and the Nazgul vs man in Tolkien. Etc.
The difference is that these writers saw it as a bug, whereas the descendant philosophies of the French Revolution see it as a feature.
He’s up there in his Ivory Tower either watching ESPN, pouring over articles about himself, or shooting wadded papers into an empty waste basket. This is our President of the United States.
Come November of 2012 Marines will be pulling Obama out of his spider hole
With hindsight, it may turn out that the catastrophic bus tour was the binary moment when the switch flipped. Transparently phoney, clunky, inappropriate and dishonest — you can easily extend that list — the Big Black Bus From Mordor revealed a man without either a clue or a prayer.
Most of the MSM covered for him at the time, but less so thereafter.
Obama never even considered for a moment that his massive growth in the size and cost of government, and extreme left wing agenda were the problem, not the solution. He never considered for even a second that you don’t fix a debt crisis with trillion more in debt. He never considered for a moment that having decided on fixing a debt crisis with massive amounts of debt it would be imperative that every penny of the new debt accomplish important tasks and not be wasted. Obama’s extreme left wing solutions and spending were never going to work, but he killed any chance it might have had by pouring the money into the pockets of the corrupt special interests and Solyndra. Obama has inflicted more damage than any President in over 100 years, and we are clearly headed into another recession directly because of his policies. Obama knows “Son of Stimulous” wouldn’t work if it were passed. He knows his own democrats won’t pass it. All he wants is a talking point for the election. The guy who promised us better, has turned into the worst we’ve ever seen!
jl @ 74: yikers, that’s a year old already?!?!?
Maybe just busy thinking of more modest wounds to the economy he can make under they guise of caring. Lighter nicks, since the big slashes probably will rouse defensive moves.
10% unemployment by May
“… “He just hates politics and politicians.”” Actually the problem is more that Sputnik Obama hates everybody.
s @ 84: 10% unemployment by May
The whole idea of “unemployment” is a historical leftover. What do you call it when you have PhD scientists working as greeters at Walmart, because their jobs have been given to H-1Bs imported to the US to do formerly middle-class jobs cheap? What do you call it when construction tradesmen make 1/2 the wages they made twenty years ago, because of the flood of illegal aliens? They are “employed”, but still in real trouble.
Yes it’s worse if you have NO job and can’t eat and may take up arms against the government immediately (or at least live at home after college and drive your parents nuts, and also strain their income), but if there’s 10% with no jobs and on the dole, but another 20% have seen their incomes cut by 50% or more, which is really the bigger problem?
In ancient Rome, returning conquerors would ride triumphantly through the streets in a chariot, while being hailed as a “near god” by the adoring crowds. However, there were two persons in the chariot, the “near god” and a slave, the slave’s purpose to whisper in the hero’s ear the warning that this fame and adulation are fleeting and unreal. Obama would be well served to have someone in his “chariot”, speaking truth in his ear. That said, Obama does not strike me as one who would accept anything that countered his delusional estimation of his abilities, since he is the one we were waiting for! This entire presidency is playing out like a Greek tragedy.
where is that stupid edit widget?
extending remarks on unemployment:
http://tickerforum.org/akcs-www?post=195596
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000049996
Orszag and Greenspan talking about (hypothetically) burning houses to stabilize the market, and (actually) about importing more H-1B workers to *buy* houses.
With “experts” like these, can we blame Obambus for his ignorance?
–
c @ 87: so is it Greek or Roman?
I think it’s more Marxist, like the end of Horsefeathers.
Herman Cain is getting interesting! He did well in the last debate and is polling well, refer to:
http://americanresearchgroup.com/
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html
Cain is the perfect antidote for the black socialist that we are currently plagued with as President. The Won and his MSM enablers can scream “racism” until they turn blue but it only makes them look silly. Cain also makes it possible for America’s black people to embrace conservative politics. Most of America’s blacks have not yet figured out that their worst enemies are the socialists and the moonbats. The socialists keep America’s poor in the ghetto through dependency upon government largess. It’s a nasty symbiotic relationship, i.e. I give you a dole check to keep you poor, while you remain poor to continue justification for my political narrative.
It’s amazing watching Perry implode. This actually represents a flaw in the system. Perry as Texas’s governor demonstrated that he had excellent executive capability. Unfortunately he’s unskilled at debating and that’s a lethal flaw if he’s going to take down a slippery demagogue like Obama.
Romney is boring and probably a RINO. It’s not enough to simply beat Obama. The next President needs to wipe the slate clean from all the damage that Obama caused and then begin the long struggle of tearing down the socialist infrastructure. The socialists, moonbats and MSM will fight for every inch and play every dirty trick in the book to preserve what’s left of their precious socialist wreckage. The only effective tactic will be to spin off the socialist programs from the federal level to the state level. It’s not enough to simply kill a socialist program. They’ll have to drive a stake through it’s heart by amendment to the US Constitution. This will be a long and difficult process. It will be enabled after the clear failure of socialism and Keynesian economics during the continuing depression. Dealing with the depression will make it difficult for Herman Cain to remain in office should he succeed in being elected.
Also, if you have any doubt that the economy is hosed, check out the following:
http://www.businesscycle.com/
These guys are almost never wrong. The Fed can manipulate the markets until the cows come home but the economy will remain depressed until the bad debt is cleared.
The Devil’s greatest trick was to convince people that he didn’t exist. Obama’s was to convince Conservatives that he has failed and is just willing to leave quietly and bored.
2012 is going to be a barn burner. I hope most of us survive it.
Waaay off topic, but found this in the Huffington Post, of all places:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/beyond-the-battlefield-medics_n_1000330.html?page=2
If any one of us was in Obama’s position I think we would have a little more mercy on ourselves than we tend to give to Obama. I do not want him to leave office in shame …
I didn’t vote for him; I don’t like what he’s done but I’m thankful that he did it. Why??? Because it has awakened an entire country to the fact that we let things ride for way too long. It has been a difficult and costly lesson and one I hope like hell we’ve learned well. Never again!!!!!
How else would we have arrived at a point where the entire nation is now speaking openly about returning to its first principles; respect for the rule of law and smaller government???
Tell me how!! How else in three short years (long years for many) we are now poised for a changing of the guard?? … What a glorious change it’s gonna be!!
Thanks be to God.
the last decade of observing folks around the world has led me to conclude there is a feature in there somewhere. But it’s not the elite ruling the proles, I think it’s more like offering two tracks for people, who get to choose which one they want to be on. One track offers risk and reward – the self-starter entrepreneur track. The other offers security but not wealth.
I’m convinced that a non-negligible percentage of people are just not psychologically cut out for self-reliance. It’s too stressful for them and they lead miserable lives. It’s humane to offer them some role in society where they can do meaningful work and live a modest lifestyle – so long as it’s their choice to stay there or to try for something more. The more ambitious can strike out looking for ways to innovate and excell, earning bigger rewards but accepting the burdens of self-leadership.
I think we had that not too long ago in this country. What ruined it were the bastard Leftists who’s idea of entrepreneurship and innovation was to mine the masses for political power. Instead of trying to earn bigger rewards by expanding the pie, they just wanted control over the pie slicer. If it wasn’t for them, we really could have a paradise.
Unfortunately, their ilk will always be with us.
Let’s just stop all this speculative chatter and go to work defeating this communist. That is our only hope for change.
PA Cat @ 54:
I guess opposites attract; Obama has not done his job, but with much fanfare.
“Obama could have been the greatest President since Ronald Reagan. All he needed to do was act prudently and rationally.”
That’s like saying I could have been the greatest basketball player of all time, I just needed to be three feet taller and a much better player.
PA Cat @ 54:
I guess opposites attract. He doesn’t do his job, with much fanfare.
The One is truly a mystery. He had his Simpson-Bowles committee report he could have leaned on to demonstrate a serious effort to address the systemic underlying fiscal issues the nation faces, but he just tossed it aside. He could have presented a budget that showed his seriousness; instead he offered a Democrat Party wish list with spending and record fiscal deficits for years on end. He could have cut a “grand bargain” with House Speaker Boehner but he played politics and bowed to his base while accusing Republicans of doing what he actually did. From the onset of his term he could have made a concerted, serious effort to address the sub-prime mortgage crisis that started the whole mess and that lingers still to choke the economy. Rather than do that he accepted piecemeal plans to help keep people in homes they can’t afford while doing nothing to attack the problem in a large way. On and on and on, this president has squandered opportunities or just failed to recognize them as such. He seems lost, confused and without a compass to right the state of the state. Lack of experience is certainly part of problem, but his underlying personality, personified by such things as voting present in the Illinois legislature so often and wavering on important decisions like when to increase troop levels in Afghanistan and by how much, is likely the more important issue. It shows a lack of underlying confidence, a fear of failure, indecisiveness and an inability to prioritize. With someone such as this in charge the only way to bring about real change is to replace him, as more and more people realize is essential in order to put our economy back on track.
“But if there is no wizardry, what’s he doing then?”
He’s evaluating why the Cheerios he planted have not produced Doughnut trees in abundance.
And in those private moments of contemplation he’s determined that what was missing the last time around was the proper amount of fertilizer.
So Obama will be spreading much fertilizer (Bovine Fecal Matter) far and wide while carping that Republicans won’t let him plant MORE Cheerios so we can all harvest the abundance of Doughnuts we all deserve. (Except the Rich, of course.)
jd
Eggplant – “Cain is the perfect antidote” This is precisely the word that came to mind to me. I snicker thinking that the Dem’s will be racists in opposing Cain’s political ambitions. The fact is no white man or woman could apply the correct medicine to our broken nation as long as it is being ruled by hard bigotry of the Left. Calling the average American a ‘racist’ is essentially saying that they are genetically inferior human beings. It is not ‘reverse’ racism, it is the old fashioned kind meant to keep down a demographic based on skin color, religious creed, and sexual orientation. Obama is the dote and Cain is the antidote.
Perry kind of lost it with me. It is not that he can’t debate, it is his coziness of border relations that blinds him to the Lefts intention of eliminating the white race in America. If you are for open borders then you are an enemy of mine plain and simple and I realize that Perry has done nothing more than to promote special status for Mexicans but it is enough for me. It equates over time to genocide as far as I am concerned. The state cannot take the side of foreigners without destroy the lives of the native born inhabitants. Yes I am a narrow minded hayseed but I will not have American leaders take the side against Americans anymore, period. Eventually they won’t have to kill us off because they are openly breeding us out of existence. Here in California governor moonbeam just signed legislation that benefits illegal aliens over taxpaying Americans. It is an illegal war against Americans. I have had it with it and will not tolerate sanguine nods to a class of insurgents and another spit in the eye from a politician. F- ‘em.
“US policy will be isolationist–apart from China–for the next 20 years at least.”
That’s a highly dubious position to take. We may avoid getting into any NEW conflicts, but it’s unlikely we’ll totally withdraw from either Iraq or Afghanistan in the near future (regardless of the popularity or lack thereof of those campaigns). Moreover, we’ve been actively prodding Pakistan of late, and have been setting up drone bases in Africa (presumably to hunt Al Qaeda/terror groups on that continent). While this doesn’t indicate that we’ll be engaging in any additional large-scale military actions in the near future, it’s also not indicative of a nation planning to stage a substantial withdrawal from the world stage either.
64. Peter Verkooijen : “Barack Obama is an old-fashioned hardline marxist-leninist. His goal is to fundamentally transform America into a centrally planned economy. He always knew that would be disruptive. His wife infamously announced as much (‘Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual’) and it is no coincidence that most of ObamaCare will take effect after 2013.”
I agree; It will not be enough to defeat Obama, we need to dismantle all socialist inroads he pushed under the tent. How many changes were made after the Great Depression that still exist today and was that the goal overall? This was (still is) my most fervent hope for the Tea Party movement. Republicans have done a very poor job historically of pushing back and so we have lost ground inches at a time. Time for a scorched earth policy. The question is, who has the stones to do it? IMO, it is Herman Cain. He has fixed troubled companies before, he does not care as much for titles as he does results, and he would be a better role model for blacks showing hard work and competency is more important than Affirmative Action.
To HUSKY:
It is probably best to withhold your thanks until sometime in 2013. We actually have to survive the next 14+ months as a functional nation. When you have mobs in the cities who are supported by the government things can get VERY bad very quickly.
JMH – “I’m convinced that a non-negligible percentage of people are just not psychologically cut out for self-reliance.”
Yeah, they are called women and the state has deemed them victims of your manhood, therefore, the state has become their husbands-in-proxy. Women are the most concerned about security and growing the nanny-state. Of course not all women but the state will take their side anyhow. We can only hope that there are enough female capitalists out there who think they will do better under a wealth creating system than under a wealth destroying system. If that damn unemployed ex-husband that they left would just keep up with his child support payments then it would all turn out. What about debtors prisons? Would we have to jail congress?
@SpeakEasy (“The question is, who has the stones to do it? IMO, it is Herman Cain.”)
Herman Cain was an enthusiastic TARP supporter. His 9-9-9 plan introduces a national sales in addition (!) to personal and corporate income taxes.
Rick Perry is the only one in the field who talks about making the federal government as inconsequential as possible, returning power to the states, local communities and the people, seriously reforming the entitlement programs, etc. Bachmann, Romney and the other opportunistic panderers demolished him over it.
It is depressing that “the Conservative Base” disqualify Perry for an immigration policy that had overwhelming bipartisan support in Texas, as if Romney or Cain would be any more solidly “conservative” on that point.
I was rooting for Mitch Daniels originally, but the Conservative Base will make sure we get a candidate who is a social conservative first and as usual they will forgive him for being a statist or a technocrat.
B.O. has already elevated Carter to “second worse president ever” and he still has 13 more months to further demonstrate his unique vision and leadership abilities.
98. peter (“The One is truly a mystery …”)
Why do people keep saying that? There is absolutely no mystery. Obama is an old-fashioned marxist-leninist. His goal is to move America to a centrally planned economy, so all his policies have focused on 1) expanding government’s share of the economy, 2) undermining profit motive where possible, 3) nationalizing companies where possible, 4) taking control of “investment decisions” where possible, 5) creating “public-private partnerships” where possible, 6) creating new bureaucracies stacked with his people who will write the rules for entire industries for years to come, 7) rewarding allies and punishing enemies so people/companies get the message and fall in line, 8.] ratchet up class warfare where possible, picking targets and using the same mantras over and over, etc. He just keeps pushing all this to breaking point and skillfully puts the blame for the fallout on others.
The way we get Occupy Wall Street marchers over to the White House lawn–where they belong–is to keep asking them the following: 1. “Where did the TARP and QE money go?…look up the audit of stimulus monies!” 2. “What were Fannie and Freddy doing all these years and who was supporting them?” 3. “Who was regulating S&P, Fitch and Moody?” 4. “What is the relationship between AIG, CDSs, US embarrassment, and our taxpayers?”
“Jonah Goldberg says some who’ve looked up at the lighted window in the high tower believe that it must be that the great wizard is thinking.”
He’s watching sports on TV. According to the Washington Insider guy, he does that a lot.
92. HUSKY : Sorry, I disagree, vehemently. You can learn by observing good examples as well as bad examples. Leaving in shame would be a better and longer lasting lesson.
I am truly astonished.
We are in the attack phase of a revolution against the Constitution, against Freedom, against capitalism…and our pundits indulge in musings about the state of the nerves of the Commie in Chief.
The “mistakes” of Obama all result in a terrible weakening of America: military, financial, and economical weakening.
Do you all seriously think that a man devoted to a racist “church” and with friends who are marxist terrorists “gets it wrong” when he is implementing destructive policies ?
He did what he wanted to do.
In the marxists’ analysis, America is the only shield able to stop a world revolution.
They need to destroy America’s might.
Don’t worry and don’t put the Commie in Chief on a suicide watch, worry about the Republic that we have to reconquer in 2012.
They will do anything to stay in power. That’s what should worry us.
And “anything” must be read in the light of operations like Fast and Furious…it means ANYTHING.
I was doing some banking today and my banker had to get off the phone with their counterpart in Albuquerque had rioters charging into the bank. Bet that got interesting. Fortunately I live in a small town and don’t have to deal with the display.
Obama is wrong on everything. From judging Bush’s Iraq surge to the effect of the trillion dollar stimulus. Even the health care bill will prove to be a disaster. And some people still thinks he’s a genius ? Unbelievable. His records are worse than mine. At least I don’t need a teleprompter.
I disagree that Obama could have been ‘the greatest president since Reagan’. What evidence was there for such a conclusion?
Obama, as has been pointed out, is a pathological narcissist, a severe psychological state that he probably moved into as a young boy. It’s not simple egoism, it’s a psychological state where the individual cannot interact directly as an equal with other people or with the real world. Basically, Obama cannot deal with reality; his psychological need is to control the external world and to control all people with whom he is in contact.
To achieve this goal, Obama perfected his ‘interactional strategies’ of misinformation, emotional manipulation and withdrawal. Briefly, Obama lives in a fictional or virtual world of his own authorship; he controls what goes on in there, the issues, events and people. Anything or anyone whom he can’t control – Obama will ignore.
To achieve this control, he’s a pathological liar. Obama’s words are not meant to reflect reality but to manipulate you to be in his control. So, he’ll tell you that the stimulus worked, the jobs are there, the ..whatever..and will ignore the hard data of the real world that contradicts his words.
He’s also emotionally manipulative, using hope, adulation..and fear mongering, to achieve his agenda of controlling others.
If you reject him and his will, he’ll then accuse you of ignorance, stupidity, bias, bigotry, and racism…oh, and now, ‘Being Soft’.
Obama is not an intellectual. He has no interest in ideology, in policies or programs. He leaves all of that to others. He is constitutionally incapable of dealing with any analysis or examination of policies and programs. He IS, however, a psychological socialist. He’s been embedded in anti-capitalism, anti-Americanism, anti-wealth from all the dominant women in his life, his mother, grandmother and wife – and Valerie Jarrett. It would never occur to him to examine this socialist perspective, and, since he is so psychologically in need on controlling others, then socialism fits that need with its focus on elite control of big government.
All that Obama can do is campaign, bound up on stage, grin and wave and mouth empty platitudes and campaign slogans. [hmm, we haven't heard that Winning the Future recently, have we?] He can’t govern, he can’t make analytic decisions.
Something else. When a person with this psychological aberration meets with problems that are not amenable to rhetoric and waves, they’ll retreat and withdraw. They’ll start to hate, and I mean hate, those people who are insisting or asking for reaction. We can see this already in Obama.
Apart from blaming anyone and everything for the problems (Bush, the Tea Party, the GOP, Congress, the Japanese earthquake, Europe, the weather, the floods, the soft American people…) he’s becoming malicious. Both the withdrawal and the malice will increase.
A nation that promotes special rights for an invading foreign insurgency is necessarily at war against its own citizens and they have to have a lot of emotional reasoning as to why they are willing to do that and ruin the future of the native born and their children. Your neighbor may have helped you defeat Santa Anna but my neighbor IS Santa Anna. He has flooded our schools, hospitals, and labor sites and is supported by innumerable advocates in and out of government including La Raza, Mecha, et al. Who is an advocate for displaced American workers? Nobody! Not even our president. Perry would suppose to shame me? Well shame on him.
If you defend America from its enemies, foreign and domestic then: “I don’t think you have a heart.” Rick Perry
ETAB – “What evidence was there for such a conclusion?”
I believe Wretchard’s premise, and I happen to agree, is that, aside from his many personality faults, Obama just needed to not screw everything up and he would have been accorded hero status for all time. He could have pulled a Clinton and edged just a little to the center and made some modest feints towards his ideal policies and he would have been awarded the ribbon of the world’s savior. My goodness, the man was given the Nobel Peace Prize just for showing up. What ensued unfortunately is that Obama was his own number one fan and he and his accolades believed they could transform America irretrievably over night to his socialist paradise. Hubris to the extreme.
What’s truly ironic is that in 2009, even *left-wing* economists not associated with the Obama administration also predicted that Obama’s policies would fail to reduce unemployment. These included Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and Joseph Stiglitz. And while we conservatives disagree with these liberals on a lot of things, on that point we agreed.
Obama and his advisers were so full of themselves that they didn’t bother to seek outside counsel. I wouldn’t expect Obama to take direction from conservative economists. But the fact that Obama didn’t even listen to Krugman, Reich or Stiglitz–despite the fact that these names are famous on the left–tells you how insular Obama had become.
And they continued to warn Obama he was making a mistake. Just like we conservatives warned Obama. But instead, Obama stuck to his guns and gave us nothing but happy talk and rosy predictions. Remember “Recovery Summer”? That was over a year ago.
I think there’s a basic competency and supervision issue as well. The current “American Jobs Act” blog is more riddled with errors and formatting problems than numerous foreign websites I’ve worked on pre-editing.
http://www.asterling.com/2011/10/american-jobs-act-blog-bush-league.html
What is truly frightening is that Barack Obama still believes that he is absolutely the most effective President ever elected and the greatest human being ever born.
Maybe what drove the gun running program was a supply of crack cocaine delivered to The White House?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/12/politics/uwire/main3823725.shtml
n @ 108: 1. Where did the TARP and QE money go
Well, the TARP money was never more than half actually spent, and that half has nearly all returned already including interest, and apparently is likely to show a small profit.
Regarding the QE money, it is barely possible that as a short-term measure it was justified, certainly every economist left of center thinks so, and even Bernanke makes noises along those lines. Now, it could probably have been better spent if one was determined to spend it, but that’s a much weaker argument, hard to get people marching for.
The reason to march and occupy are because the banksters have kept the obscene compensation they awarded themselves 2001-2008 even while they were DESTROYING the system. We are forced to accept the consequences of their actions, but they should be held slam-dunk civilly liable for their errors and stripped to their tidy whities, and then subject to criminal prosecution for violating every fiduciary responsibility in the book, as a plea-bargain to felony fraud on a heretofore unheard-of scale.
And another reason to march is that NOTHING HAS CHANGED. As long as AIG exists and CDS is legal,* NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
*Arguably CDC could be done legally, with reserves as in any insurance product, but fairly accounted for it would be unacceptably expensive. All CDC is fraud. The very concept is therefore invalid, and the whole idea of separating risk from principle at the basis of all derivatives is therefore called heavily into question. At the very least a barrier like Glass-Steagal should be restored separating such insanities from the public dollar.
–
http://www.newsmax.com/StreetTalk/household-income-decline-recession/2011/10/10/id/413860
The study conducted by two former Census Bureau officials calculates that from June 2009, when the recession officially ended, through June 2011, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 6.7 percent to $49,909. During the recession — from December 2007 to June 2009 — household income fell 3.2 percent, the New York Times reported.
–
These studies say the median is down like 7%. But what it really means is that when people are laid off they are forced to take new jobs at 30% less, and this drags down the average.
Augetter,
Obama is an AEthelred, the Unready of our time.
OFF TOPIC
BREAKING ON FOX (no text)
Feds Thwart Iran-Tied Terror Plot against Saudi, Israeli Targets in DC
Ref. #122
Details on Yahoo (copyrighted materials, don’t want to paste here).
A big one.
I meant CDS not CDC … has the edit widget gone on vacation (along with my spell-checker)?
105. Peter Verkooijen: I still say Cain would be the best BUSINESS minded choice. CEOs are not always right but a good CEO knows when to change course, not double-down on failure. And Cain has proven himself to be a good CEO.
With this is mind, Perry doubled-down on the Gardisil issue when he could have easily deflected it.(I posted an example of how to do this before) Same with the immigration issue and not a good sign. That said, I like Perry a good deal but he can’t seem to get his message across during the debates and is hurting as a result. Perry looks like Romney did in the last election and Romney is smoother as a result of his past experience in this arena. If Perry has any chance of winning the nomination, he had better get much better, much faster. Perry NEEDS to be schooled on what is important to the Tea Party crowd and become the leading advocate. I believe he has the same principles but he is not expressing them very effectively. More importantly, he needs to stop playing defense by projecting a good offense.
This off of Drudge;
… Vice President Joe Biden will take a political bullet for his president and step off the 2012 presidential ticket.
- –
Bob Woodward floated the prospect in an October 2010 interview. CNN Host John King suggested that “a lot of people think if the president’s a little weak going into 2012, he’ll have to do a switch there and run with Hillary Clinton as his running mate.”
“It’s on the table,” Woodward replied. “President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the [2008] primaries.” He added that it’s “not out of the question.”
120. Josh: The OWS people are misinformed idiots doing the bidding of the unions on behalf of the Obama administration. If the bankers are doing anything illegal, by all means prosecute and jail them. If they are only working the system to their advantage within the law, you are misdirecting your ire. As they say, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Considering Congress has ALL the authority to make laws and ensure they are enforced, shouldn’t the mobs be parked in their chambers? One could make the argument that Congress has been bought by the bankers but Congress cannot be “bought” without their consent. Misplacing the blame does nothing to solve the problem.
#122 Sherab.
I watched the press conference…Holder and ‘Igor’ didn’t strike me as being confident with their disclosure…the whole thing seemed odd…surreal given the almost imperceptible quiver of Holder’s upper lip. The only one that spoke with confidence was Mueller, but he hardly spoke. The link to the DEA and Mexican drug Cartel seemed even more strange…then the closing question about subpoenas (to Holder) where he answered with more authority (or a chip on his shoulder re: supplying mountains of documents already). Begs the question is this even real or is it memorex? I expect we’ll find out shortly.
Wretchard wrote: “Obama could have been the greatest President since Ronald Reagan. All he needed to do was act prudently and rationally. If he had simply done ‘ok’ and done a moderate job of keeping a lid on debt, reducing regulation, allowing energy development and being strategically savvy we could now be in a situation where the basic strengths of the US would be reasserting themselves.”
All true as far as it goes, but given his political base, ideological background and behind the scenes supporters, those options were never really available to him. They are the low hanging fruit for the next POTUS however and will likely make a huge difference and make the next POTUS look widely successful in comparison.
Apparently Obama is not his own man and is either not willing or capable to act outside the box he was given.
I referred the Justice Dept spokesman as Igor because he had ‘Marty Feldman eyes’ which added to the weirdness of the whole thing…it begs the question, does this really fit Iran’s MO, and what will the administration do with this claim? Any way you look at this ‘Iranian threat’ the implications aren’t good.
Hilary as Veep – HA!!! Obama may be stupid, but even HE’S not stupid enough to put Hillary 1 “accident” away from the office she’s coveted for her entire life!
Slow Joe is the best life insurance policy ever devised.
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams:
Obama and his friends have broken the dreams of most Americans. Can America ever recover from the terrible financial assaults on our country?
The Obama administration is now requiring banks to lower mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged “discrimination.”
The vicious attacks to utterly DESTROY the American economy never stops. Why are Americans so hated?
White House failed and disgraceful policies are DESTROYING our country.
An inferior health care plan that no one wants and CANNOT afford to pay. The threat to jail and/or fine those who don’t purchase the government enforced plan.
Massive spending as if there is no tomorrow. Fighting wars we have no money for. Massive borrowing.
The Massive giving away of Billions of dollars every year to other countries, including the oil-wealthy Middle East, Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Palestinian Authority organization who fill their war chests, build mansions and laugh all the way to the bank with FREE infidel money. Whilst in America, homeless shelters are filled to capacity; tent cities have sprung up all over the U.S. filled with desperate, jobless, homeless, neglected Americans.
Massive debt. The massive printing of paper money out of thin air to DELIBERATELY create out-of-control inflation. There is no question that the total DESTRUCTION of America’s economy is planned. The results will be horrifying. In the once wealthy and great nation of America, millions of Americans will become destitute, hungry and homeless with no money or resources to help them.
A little long, but nice rundown on Who Knew What and When:
Could This Time Have Been Different?
The basic thesis of “This Time Is Different” is that financial crises are not like normal recessions. Typically, a recession results from high interest rates or fluctuations in the business cycle, and it corrects itself relatively quickly: Either the Federal Reserve lowers rates, or consumers get back to spending, or both.
But financial crises tend to include a substantial amount of private debt. When the market turns, this “overhang” of debt acts as a boot on the throat of the recovery. People don’t take advantage of low interest rates to buy a new house because their first order of business is paying down credit cards and keeping up on the mortgage.
Back in late 2008/2009 I recall several BC comments similar to the “this is just a normal recession” thesis. A lot of people were fooled.
The only way out of the current financial crisis is debt forgiveness, Rick Santelli notwithstanding.
[h/t EB]
“Obama may be stupid, but even HE’S not stupid enough to put Hillary 1 “accident” away from the office she’s coveted for her entire life!”
What intrigue it might portend! Obama needs to get reelected. That done somebody needs to have a little accident. Maybe Hillary is sent to inspect rebel camps in Bolivia.
se @ 127: If the bankers are doing anything illegal, by all means prosecute and jail them. If they are only working the system to their advantage within the law, you are misdirecting your ire. As they say, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Considering Congress has ALL the authority to make laws and ensure they are enforced, shouldn’t the mobs be parked in their chambers? One could make the argument that Congress has been bought by the bankers but Congress cannot be “bought” without their consent.
I suggest they have been and remain in MASSIVE and BLATENT violation of numerous civil and criminal laws, and nothing is happening. All branches of government are derilect. I will not even speculate as to why. And the private bar, usually all over the least blip in corporate results – where have THEY vanished to? There should be BILLIONS in contingent legal fees available in the recovery of hundreds of billions in ill-gotten gains, but outside of a few mostly laughable suits against BofA by – by the Fed and Fannie and AIG!?!?!? – I know of no actions at all.
Reason enough for street demonstrations and more – but are these them?
–
oh so now I got the edit widget – did somebody just fix it? I hope so.
I see I’m very late to this thread, and I may be making a redundant comment here:
The fact that people in the legacy media are making these observations about Obama 3 years after the fact says much more about them than Obama. None of what they observe was news to most of us BC’ers and other as far back as early 2008.
Red flag after red flag was thrown up by the Obama camp repeatedly on an almost weekly basis. Resentments and anger at Obama and his camp surfaced repeatedly from anyone from Jesse (“Cut His Nuts Off!”) Jackson to the so-called “PUMAS” of Hillary’s camp who observed and recorded the outrageous way the caucuses were stolen by Obama’s people; and I do mean stolen. The whole Ayers-Dohrn/Wright/Pflegel ball of wax, the Red Diaper Baby upbringing, the call for a “civilian national security” apparatus. On and on and on. It was all there, and all blatantly, nakedly obvious. What we witnessed was the biggest and most damaging case of mass delusion in modern American history. Had many of these people been 17th-century Dutchmen, they would have bought tulip futures.
As for all those people who voted for this calamitous clown: I’m sorry, but you got what you deserved. You should have read some H.L. Mencken first. No, wait, that wouldn’t have worked either. I know people who read Ayn Rand assiduously who voted for Obama. It was hopeless, and yet they voted for Hope.
136. Josh: If the bankers are breaking laws, and Obama’s backers are crusading against said bankers, why is it not splashed all over the headlines of MSM newspapers? Am I to believe the media suddenly no longer the support column for this administration they have been for the past three years?
And the Holder DOJ- so willing to commit crimes themselves running guns into Mexico, blanches at the thought of indicting crooked bankers?
I, not being a lawyer, can’t say you are wrong but it does not pass the common sense test to me. Again, if they are actually breaking the law, they should be prosecuted. I just think the game is skewed so far in their favor they can legally get away with what they are doing. And the politicians are being pulled along in their wake, making a pile of money as well so they are not going to change the laws. The little guy (me) is of no consequence.
You know, as I think about it, I conclude that Hillary represents the Red Chinese faction and Obama represents the other faction. Chinese support of both Bill and Hillary was obvious; as Wretchard said about fundraiser Hu back in the day, “The ghille suits are coming off.”
But who is that other faction? Everybody else in the world who is socialist? Or the Arabs? Or just the “other” old leftists in the US?
“The gist is this: President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government. He talks mostly, and sometimes only, to friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett and to David Axelrod, his political strategist.”
Let me see, I’ve read this about other “leaders”…somewhere, something something…Goebbels, something something…Himmler….something something….Goring. Don’t tell me…it’ll come to me.
Is it terribly wrong to hope he takes the route of Hitler, Antony, Cato, Nero and countless others throughout history? That would be one for the books. Guess the SS is keeping him away from sharp objects and long strings now.
” The article depicted the president as coldly intellectual, uninterested in the everyday lives of human beings except on an abstract plane. ” In other words, he’s a TYPICAL COMMIE BASTARD. Loves the “masses” in the abstract but hates individuals. Which is why the “masses” in America sense he is not one of us, doesn’t want to be a part of us, thinks he’s far and away superior to the rest of us and cannot empathize with what he is putting us through. There’s another word for a communist: PSYCHOPATH/SOCIOPATH. Take you pick. Obama sure as hell fits one of them.
126. Annoy Mouse
I hope so. I figure Sara will be the VP candidate again. She almost pulled it out for McCain. If it wasn’t for the Oct. 06 collapse, the GOP had the inside corner coming into the final stretch with a 4 or 5 point lead, IIRC. Cain/Palin or Perry /Palin is a winning combination. Cain or Perry can re-build the economy while Sara goes after the crooks.
It would be great fun to watch the cow in pants suits vs Sara in a debate. You want your steak fried, boiled or bar-b-qued?
Meanwhile, Obama is looking to answer the eternal question of where do you go once you’ve gone to far?
This from PJ Media – “The Department of Justice has announced the thwarting of a planned assassination of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and of subsequent bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C. The attacks were part of a Iranian Quds Force plot wherein the Iranians intended to obtain the services of a Mexican drug cartel hit team.” [emphasis mine]
Wouldn’t that be grand if the terrorist attack was carried out using guns from Gun Walker? I wonder how long the Justice Department was tracking this situation before they decided to spring the trap. A little early for an October surprise. Usually it is their sworn job to protect Mexican terrorists because their cousins are influential illegal voters.
Wretchard,
Assuming Obama had no emotional/psychological problems (a BIG if!), he still couldn’t have been a successful president. At least not on his own terms.
Before he was President, the medical system was starting to accelerate down the customer led revolution through Medical Savings Accounts. Likewise, vouchers and charter schools were rapidly (some states more than others) replacing traditional government run schooling. Also, the American industrial unions were just about destroyed by the actions of GM, Ford, Chrysler and Boeing. All of these trends would have accelerated even more with the advent of the financial crisis.
If Obama would have just managed things reasonably well, he would have presided over the transition to a new more conservative (culturally and economically) America. I guess that would have been success on one level (popular and re-elected), but it was not acceptable to any sort of leftist – probably not even acceptable to and old-style liberal.
Obama had the choice: go for leftist broke, or accept a conservative world. If he chose the latter, why even bother to get elected except to do the job, which, when it comes down to it, really isn’t that much fun.
Mao’s Little Read Red Book explicated, aka You like my red bloomers?
“Maonomics” as she is writ by “Ms. Napoleoni” (sic).
…-
“China’s success confirms that Marx is not the one whom history has proven wrong,” she says. “The Chinese have managed to create a form of communism … that guarantees more progress than any other [economic system].”
“In her new book (Maonomics: Why Chinese Communists Make Better Capitalists Than We Do), Ms. Napoleoni argues that Marx begot Mao, that Mao begot Deng Xiaoping (who “opened” China). Retrospectively, she says, Marx won, Mao won and Deng won, too. The West lost. The world now awaits the imminent collapse of capitalism and the triumph of communism. What happened? The profit motive, she says, saved communism. Had the Soviet Union embraced profits, Lenin and Stalin could have gone down in history as winners, too.
But there is more to capitalism than profits.”
“China’s ‘success’ as hollow as its ‘democracy’”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/commentary/neil-reynolds/chinas-success-as-hollow-as-its-democracy/article2197497/
“They will do anything to stay in power. That’s what should worry us.
And “anything” must be read in the light of operations like Fast and Furious…it means ANYTHING.”
Zangpo gets it!
I know it’s a bit late to ask, but, What law makes it possible for a President to “take over/nationalize companies?”
Does it have something to do with the amorphous “general welfare?”
137. Don Rodrigo
I know people who read Ayn Rand assiduously who voted for Obama.
Their reading comprehension leaves a lot to be desired. Seriously, WTF?
YBR@134
Thanks, good article. I haven’t read Rogoff, but I have to wonder if financial crises cause longer recessions only because the governments try to prop up the banks.
In the US, the only financial crisis I’m familiar with was the Savings and Loan crisis around 1990. That barely caused a blip in the economy.
The 30s were marked by an extended period of high government spending and we didn’t really recover for years.
This recession was followed by 2 years of extraordinary spending with no recovery in sight.
Maybe the Keynesian spending actually hurts the economy, but is usually too small to prevent a recovery.
And yes, I am trying to blame everything on the government.
Obama is Debt Man Walking. There never really was an Obama. He is a mentally subnormal nobody who comes from a truly deplorable background; the media used him as a blank slate on which to project many short-lived illusions.
Jarrett relentlessly flatters Obama and feeds the narcissism:
“He knows exactly how smart he is…He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.
When Val descends into politics and promotes policy (“We’ve gotta pass this jobs bill!”) it’s somewhere between funny and pathetic.
David Axelrod now orchestrates Obama’s re-election bid from Chicago, having left DC. Axelrod amazes with a constant stream of easy and blatant lies on Obama’s behalf.
Pretty slimy people in what remains of the so called inner circle.
oldsj@150: And yes, I am trying to blame everything on the government.
The S&L bailout was a much smaller percent of GDP than the 2008 credit crisis: the $100 B to $500 B bailout was 1% to 6% of 1989 GDP. In 2008 we had about $800 B under Bush and $800 B under Obama which works out to about 11% of GDP.
The other difference being the absence of regulatory reform, unless one counts Dodd-Frank and the IMF proposals that led to Jamie Dimon’s recent outbursts of “anti-Americanism.”
I am no apologist for government, in general, or the Obama team, specifically, nor do I reduce the events before and after 2008 to evidence of ideological indictment. In point of fact, the left wing called the more accurate economic forecast (just before the debate materialized between ‘normal recession’ vs ‘credit crisis’):
There were certainly economists who argued that the recession was going to be worse than the forecasts. Nobel laureates Krugman and Joe Stiglitz were among the most vocal, but they were by no means alone. In December 2008, Bernstein, who had been named Biden’s chief economist, told the Times, “We’ll be lucky if the unemployment rate is below double digits by the end of next year.”
[...]
In March 2009, Reinhart and Rogoff took to Newsweek to critique the “chirpy forecasts coming from policymakers around the globe.”
And if Orszag isn’t one’s cup of tea, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s campaign financial adviser has this to say:
“The argument that the stimulus had zero impact and we shouldn’t have done it is intellectually dishonest or wrong,” he says. “If you throw a trillion dollars at the economy, it has an impact. I would have preferred to do it differently, but they needed to do something.”
Ezra Klein concludes:
A fairer assessment of the stimulus is that it did much more than its detractors admit, but much less than its advocates promised.
While Rick Santelli obsesses over the potential for “drinking (gasp) in this bar.”
The government did fail. The regulatory infrastructure was crippled into irrelevancy (and high-risk behavior contained by neither judgment nor formal regulatory code) by the business sectors they were tasked to monitor. Was that failure – of the last line of defense – the fault of government or the fault of business?
The people on this board argue it’s a failure of Progressive-inspired government that bullied banks into giving people homes they couldn’t afford. The “bullying” part I would argue (at another time – what are bankers now? little girls with pastel cell phones and daddy on speed dial?) but there is no question in my mind that the failure of the regulatory agencies to exercise due diligence was the critical difference between a ‘normal recession’ and the severe ‘credit crisis’ that we have now, which, as suggested by the Reinhard-Rogoff study is really beyond the reach of government repair, which is also why we are starting to hear noises about ‘debt forgiveness’ – practically speaking, the only way out. Someone get Rick Santelli a hanky for the vapors that are about to consume him.
The credit crisis of 2008 was not an ideological failure so much as it was a mechanical failure of institutional checks and balances. That party was so big that ideology was checked at the door for the singular inducement of participating in the winners-only and winners-all euphoria of a Studio 54 strobe-light bacchanalia, resurrected Wall St. style. It had little to do with the numbingly slow grind of politics and everything to do with the the frenzied speed of BSD’s “Hitting Enter” and waiting for the algorithm to move the markets in their direction. A rainbow spectrum of hubris that far exceeded the old-school patronage of Beltway politics. As I’ve said before, the amateurs were pistol whipped by serious professionals of agnostic ideological persuasion.
What would McCain have done differently?
[The economic advisory team] firmly believed that it was better to do too much than too little. Its credo was well expressed by Romer at that December meeting, when she told the president, “We have to hit this with everything we’ve got.” But in reality, the administration could only hit it with everything it could persuade Congress to give. And that wasn’t enough.
The biggest part of the delusion of a “blank slate candidate, on which [the whore house media] could project it’s fantasies” is that it enabled them to block any evaluation (a proper vetting) of the candidate. And that would have disqualified him from the start.
It looked as though he had no baggage. Now he’s got tons of it. He rode that fabricated void to the top. And that sled he rode in on is filed and lost amongst all the baggage he’s always had, all along.
149. rickl
137. Don Rodrigo
I know people who read Ayn Rand assiduously who voted for Obama.
Their reading comprehension leaves a lot to be desired. Seriously, WTF?
I warned one that she was voting for “Ellsworth Twohey,” a radical professor with undue influence in the New Deal who is the main antagonist in The Fountainhead. My comparison did not register with her at all. I knew then that the new “Tulip Craze” was upon us, and all hope was lost.
HUSKY @ 92 said:
“I do not want [Obama] to leave office in shame … I didn’t vote for him; I don’t like what he’s done but I’m thankful that he did it. Why??? Because it has awakened an entire country to the fact that we let things ride for way too long. … How else would we have arrived at a point where the entire nation is now speaking openly about returning to its first principles; respect for the rule of law and smaller government???”
I don’t like what Obama has done either and did not vote for him. Truth to tell, I’d like Obama to be immediately replaced with a conservative and conservatives immediately take over the Senate (the country is in deep trouble). However that’s not going to happen. We will have to vote Obama and the socialists out of office.
Unfortunately, there’s a fly in the ointment.
Obama is an MSM construct. Well connected socialists controlling the MSM decided that Obama would best represent their political agenda. They exploited their power within the political establishment to get Obama elected. No doubt they are now bitterly disappointed with Obama’s performance and constructing “Plan-B”. I fear that Plan-B either calls for Obama to resign or do an “LBJ” (not seek reelection) and push Hillary forward as the candidate for 2012. With the full backing of the MSM, Hillary could easily beat Romney. I suspect Cain could beat Hillary but I’m not sure. Both Cain and Romney could probably beat Obama assuming the MSM didn’t play an effective dirty trick (they’ll certainly try). Perry is out of the picture.
IMHO, the greatest danger now is that Obama will give up, not allow himself to be humiliated in 2012 and be replaced with a viable socialist candidate with the full backing of the MSM.
Peter V @107, et.al.: Yes, Obama is a Marxist-Leninist. He is not lazy, he is not incompetent. He spends a lot of time away from his day job because the Chairmanship of the Central Committee is a very demanding position.
DAMN! Doesn’t anybody study Lenin anymore? I don’t know if Barry has the balls, but I know exactly how he thinks.
All this stuff he is failing to do, he fails to do because it is not salient to him. The progress or regress of “the economy” does not concern him, what concerns him is discerning the revolutionary moment when the vanguard which he heads can seize power and implement rule by the working class.
It is very interesting that he is done with his day job by 4pm. It is very interesting that he is on his BlackBerry between golf shots. Who does he meet with? Who does he talk to? Who has access via BlackBerry, and what do they talk about?
Maybe he’s an incompetent, lazy boob who’s in it for the perks.
But that’s not the way to bet.
You bet there’s a fly in the ointment, it’s called 0bamadammurung.
With luck, there will be continued increase in BHO’s tendency to point fingers and go on vacation when the going gets tough.
An overly ornate essay for such a pathetic human being.
Many, many wrote of this tepid, shallow individual, years before the Coronation. Who listened? Does anyone hear and recognize these truths?
RE: debt forgiveness & moral hazard
In the ‘distinction without much of a difference’ category, mortgage debt forgiveness is first cousin to the proposed corporate tax holiday designed to repatriate profits back in-country.
RE: character study
I seem to have missed the part where politicians were magically transformed into exemplary human beings and role models for the children. On Any Given Sunday, the Beltway plots (and the Wall St plots) are brewing and Oliver Stone is lurking for development-worthy ideas. Outside of the state of war, most human beings are either banal or pathetic or just average. Greatness demands context. What we have today is theater. A pathetic imitation, choreography having replaced execution.
no one is sure what he does.
my guess is: cocaine.
162. Harvey Lileny;
Definitely not coke. That makes you aggressive.
That large stack of books and papers is used to put his feet up on while watching NBA reruns and his pre-election speeches.
His personality suggests he likes marijuana.