If the president is going to try to manipulate a crisis, at least get the manipulation right: we should fast-track nuclear power to produce clean electricity to fuel a new generation of hybrid engines and electric motors; and we also should fast-track natural gas distribution to capitalize on new natural gas finds to power trucks, tractors, and large engines not suitable for hybridization with present technology; and we should exploit oil as a transition fuel wherever it can be more safely recovered (e.g., ANWR) without going 5,000 feet to get it.
But in general, an oil spill is a bad occasion for windmill wonkery. (Obama if filling in here: Al Gore’s domestic problems and his move to Oprah country have combined to silence him for a bit during the disaster.)
E) Straw men. Even the “some say” and “others say” got in there. Who says what and why? And the vague stuff about “we don’t know how precisely to get there” is like Patton telling the Third Army that they will reach Berlin some day but have no idea where the Rhine is or how precisely they will get across. In an odd, unhappy way, the president physically seemed to shrink behind the Oval Office desk. It almost looked as if a teenager were in the presidential seat trying to peep above the rim of the desk. Another cardigan sweater Carter moment.
The Political Mess
The BP spill is a nightmare for Obama for a variety of reasons. Let us count them, without delighting in his dilemma, given that we all are in a bad fix, since the spill is ruining an entire regional economy and the wild reaction to it threatens 20% of our oil supply.
Obama campaigned on competence and cool. But his technocrats, whether Van Jones, Dr. Chu, Larry Summers, or Eric Holder, are at best academic misfits and at worse simply unfit for executive responsibilities. Harvard Law Review may be of value for suing BP later and demonizing it in the press, and community organizing may be valuable in shaking down BP to clean up, but had only the president run an ACE Hardware store, or at least worked the night shift at Starbucks, he could have had some experience in delegating authority and demanding results from employees, while keeping in mind the bigger picture of economic survival. Right now we are being governed by a GS something, who has no idea where money comes from, but lots of ideas how to blow it. This crisis brings that out.
The left is restless. The shelf life of forbearance is ending. Obama so far has benefited from the liberal desire for power that has trumped even its own green advocacy. (Bush would have been cannibalized for this on second one). But at some point, the pictures from the gulf of dying birds, of oily beaches, of sticky fish will sink polls and so get even to the Malibu crowd. And after they scream at Bush, BP, Palin, hoi polloi for driving Yukons (instead of Lexus and Volvo SUVs), they are only left with Obama to blame.
The spill is a foreign relations metaphor and a dangerous one at that. Right now, Hamas, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, the Taliban, Turkey, Venezuela, and a host of others are testing us, three-quarters of them convinced (after 18 months of good evidence) that Obama either will not or cannot or knows not how to deter them all from making regional “adjustments.” When they see his polls fall during the Gulf crisis, and his tepid reaction to it, they by extension ponder whether another Gaza flotilla, another sinking South Korean ship, another Taliban offensive, another Syrian-Hezbollah missile sale, another slap at Eastern Europe, or another border incursion into Colombia might win the same sort of speech that we saw last night.
Add in the domestic turmoil over the bloody health care debate, the annual two-trillion-dollar deficits, the cap-and-trade and amnesty fights to come, and our enemies see opportunity as never before. (Note how Hezbollah prompted a July 2006 war with Israel, sensing a weakened George Bush — when his polls hit rock bottom, a midterm corrective election was coming up, and debate over the surge was tearing apart the country.)
Who is advising Obama? Are they afraid to tell the boss that hopey/changey is now stale and past expiration date — or do they sense that if they withdraw it from the shelf there is nothing to restock it with? Surely, there must be some sort of panic going on that they have an empty Armani suit?
A Final Media Note
Much has been made that the MSNBC and left-wing punditry crowd are turning on Obama, especially after last night’s non-speech. Sorry, I don’t quite believe they adjudicate Obama on competency, since the spill speech was no worse than the pathetic “I could no more disown Rev. Wright” riff of yesteryear, one that gave them a collective tingle.
Instead, Obama is now 42% to 48% in most polls, not soaring to 65% or demolishing Hillary. In other words, if right now Obama were still beloved, his former hagiographers would find a way to turn his Gulf performance into another ‘”I wasn’t there all that much at Trinity” excuse. But Obama, whom they all so invested in, is the most polarizing figure since Nixon, and has the unique ability to destroy liberalism for a generation: lose the House and maybe even the Senate; turn the public off on government, divide the country over health care, cap-and-trade, race, and amnesty; and completely discredit a shamelessly partisan media.
No, the sudden damning of Obama’s leadership is a symptom that Obama is turning radioactive, and not even Chris Matthews wants to be the last zealot in Washington crafting yet another narrative of how brilliant and tingly a soon-to-be 30% president “really” is.
In a weird way, the green issue is a gift from the gods for the liberal media: it allows them “on principle” (cf. Maureen Dowd) to distance themselves from Obama (as in “we don’t compromise with the environment” when, in fact, they compromise on everything from Predator assassinations, windmills off Martha’s Vineyard, solar panels in tortoise country, Guantanamo, etc. as long as there is power to be had or amplified).
But again, oil in the Gulf, like blood in the water, suddenly makes it “principled” for an opportunistic shark to take a bite out of a bleeding and floundering Obamafish.
Perhaps Obama will, like Odysseus, change his name legally to Nobody. When Odysseus was asked by Polyphemus what his name was, Odysseus said my name is Nobody. Later, after Odysseus and his men had gouged out the one eye of Polyphemus, Polyphemus roared out in pain so loud that his neighbors came over and asked Polyphemus who hurt him. Polyphemus replied that Nobody attacked him and Nobody was trying to kill him. In that case, they reasoned, it must be a curse from the gods, so they went about their business.
So if we irate citizens ask who is ruining the economy? Who is planning to destroy our free press? Who is experimenting with socialist schemes that have been shown to be failures? A certain Gibbs can truthfully, for a change, say Nobody.
But Odysseus was smart and Obama is not. Obama is Narcissus and can never bring himself to change his name to Nobody. Like a real tragic hero his character is deeply flawed. Too bad he is running the most powerful country in the world otherwise we could have fully appreciate the unfolding drama.
Soon ‘Billary’ will start making her move, piling up support among the base, perhaps resigning, but surely running in 2012. The Democratic party will see her as the only viable option against any upcoming answer from the GOP.
I’ve been predicting that very thing for awhile now. Just wait until BHO’s percentage hits 39% and doesn’t come back up again, probably just after the midterm election. That’s when Hillary will make her move. Soros, who has had her in reserve should Obama tank, will withdraw his support from him and put his resources behind Hillary. She’ll fight hard to win in 2012, but unless the Republicans offer another loser a la McCain as their candidate, Hillary will lose. She’s carrying too much baggage from both Bill’s and Obama’s administrations for her to win.
My 2 cents.
I think Hillary really screwed up in leaving the Senate to be Obama’s SoS — she’s now further damaged goods too, because Obama effectively neutered her there, and where she actually has been allowed to do anything, she’s been a joke. Her alleged competence didn’t survive th elight of day either — only his implosion makes her srewups overlooked.
What a tragic development to the history of the United States of America. After only 235 years, it is virtually impossible to elect/have a reasonably principled person,(with the exceptions in the 20th century, of 1968 – 74 AND 1980-1988) to the Presidency. THE symbol of the promise to the common man: freedom from obeisance to monarchs, “aristocrats” and arbitrary power. We are witnessing the demise of her promise to the world. Fulfilled in so many ways over the last centuries by the common man under the guiding hands of uncommon men.Her children in the late 20th century, however, become wastrels and squander their inheritance. It should be a wake-up call to “common” people who have not fallen for the charms of the egomaniacs, the flim-flam men/women, the scoundrels and the criminals with their goal of POWER and self- aggrandisement.
Obama is wounded and cornered, and therefore VERY dangerous. He must be carefully watched, with his pack the entire “Democratic Party hierarchy, and their cubs the RINOS, that they do not completely dismember their prey, the USA, past the point of no return. His reaction to the BP accident is example of his methods: unpresidential temper tantrum / spoiled four year old
Of course the Republicrats will run another Bozo like McCain — perhaps the membership committee chairman at their Potomac country club.
They even fought tooth and nail against Reagen until 1984. You can’t underestimate their stupidity.
Reply to pelaut, who says that the Republicrats will run another Bozo like McCain — and that one cannot (must not!?) underestimate their stupidity.
Too true. But this year we are (finally) at war (think: Second American War of Independence) against all of those who would destroy our beloved fraternal republic, including especially all career politicians and will take no crap from whiny RINOs — and no prisoners.
Between the 0bamunist regime and the Vichy Republicans that we can’t seem to stop electing, there will be no remedy for the dissolution of the US outside of military intervention.
Fully agree. If things are so bad for Obama that Hillary can challenge him for the Democrat party’s Presidential nomination, no Democrat can win. There’s ample precedent, H.Humphrey after LBJ and Ford after Nixon.
No, barring a collapse of the economy and Obama declaring martial law, he’s toast in 2012.
Obama’s speech presaged the future; the Democrat’s have just lost the 2012 Presidential election.
It should be Hillbill vs Palin in 2012. Fan freaking tastic if it was. Air all the issues, entrench the extreme positions let war commence in the middle.
Vandenberg,
I believe your pronouncement on Billiary is correct.
But my gut feeling, however, is that a large enough percentage of those who voted for Obama will never support her, reducing her chances of winning the 2012 election.
Of course this is predicated on the republicans nominating a candidate who can present conservative ideas in a manner people can understand.
I don’t think the problem with the conservative movement is that people “can’t understand it.”
Agree with you, Vandy. That’s why the “anointed one” is putting out feelers that Biden won’t be on his 2012 ticket and maybe he’ll use Hillary.
Have you seen Hillary lately? She’s got big bags under eyes and looks tired all the time. It is as if she is aging like a dog, one year equals seven. Even Bill says she’s too old to run again.
As much as I dislike Mr. Obama, it’s going to be difficult to watch Nemesis devour him, piece by piece, the victim still alive, thrashing about in agony until mercifully for all of us he finally expires.
Difficult to watch? I would desire a quick conclusion, but only to spare the nation~~certainly not to spare him. If we have learned anything from this mess, we should certainly have learned to embrace the concept of…..No more false guilt. Let’s have some justice and, when and if it comes, embrace it. If he crashes and burns in a publicly humiliating way, don’t expect me to be standing there feeling bad. May he implode. The sooner the better, for the sake of our once-mighty nation.
I fear our nation is in for a trauma that will resemble the last months of the Nixon administration. There is no telling how erratic Obama might get as he begins to lose power. I predicted some months back that his administration would end either in a constitutional crisis or in resignation for “health reasons.” I stand by my prediction.
You are going to wish for Nixon before this guy’s done.
I am thinking more like the Lincoln administration.
Reply to ~Paules: Me too. More than a year ago, I both predicted his ‘resignation’ by September of 2011 and bet on it. It’s still New York City to a single brick that he’ll be gone. A lay down misère.
Excellent article – dead on, as usual. I was getting groceries over the weekend and the bagger was an elderly gent; we got to talking over some minor gov’t irritation, which turned to overall view of gov’t. I live in CO and the blue-state surrender has seemingly taken over, so I am accustomed to the usual menu of ad hominem a-la-carte when I (so boorishly, I know) give vent to my own opinions not in line w/ the lib orthodoxy. I was surprised then, after this kind gent. finished explaining what a “clueless boob” obama is, when he admitted he was a lifelong registered democrat, a WWII vet (shot 3 times), and had voted for him which he deeply regretted. He said this with a tear in his eye, a sad and apologetic look on his face, and an outstretched hand looking maybe for a forgiving/commiserating shake. It is a daily shock/puzzle to me that so many people – good people, for the most part – have so easily been duped primarily b/c they are good, trusting people and cannot imagine the depth of the lies, obfuscation, and manipulation that their fellow ‘citizens’ (used loosely for the charlatans in on the scam – see msm) will resort to for power and gain. *sigh*
Americans, basking in the culture that is America, complaining about their jobs, their employers, their pay, taxes, neighbors, families, friends, the lousy shows currently in the nightly TV lineup, their weight, looks, diet, drinking habits, the old clunkers in the driveway, erectile dysfunction, etc. while their lives go on essentially without incident and pretty much on remote control. Plenty of food in their bellies, the cupboard full, the house dry, warm in winter and cool in summer, the big screen TV, the laptops, desktops, Blackberries, etc. The prevailing attitude is, politics is politics, I neither need or want to worry about it, the system will take care of itself and when election time rolls around my vote won’t make a difference so why bother or, since they all lie anyway, I can get up to speed reading a few editorials and watching the nightly news the week before Tuesday. So here comes the first Black candidate, tall, handsome, Harvard grad, mesmerizing oratorical skills, a guy that sends a tingle up the leg of Chris Matthews a guy promising hope and change, and we really need that after 8 years of that hateful meatball, George Bush. Obama’s got my vote and hey, who’s Oprah’s celebrity guest today and who’s playing against the Steelers on Sunday? And man, I really need to go on a diet and stop maxing out that damn credit card.
On some level this probably fits your “elderly gent.” I say welcome to reality but he should be ashamed for not making more of an effort to ferret out who this impostor is before exercising one of his more precious rights as an American citizen, the right to vote. It was all there, right in front of anyone paying attention. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that there was nothing there; the guy is an empty suit, as becomes more obvious every day by excruciating day and his adoring supporters in the media, those political geniuses in the entertainment industry and the press did their absolute best to ignore many of the questions surrounding Obama’s roots; and still do. And, dare it be said, he is Black; the affirmative action President. For all who voted for him on that basis, shame on you. For all who voted for him without taking the trouble to investigate his past, shame on you. For all who voted for him and still have him on a pedestal you have my sympathy and my anger for what he is doing to my beloved country. After you get through verbally ripping me a new one you can redeem yourselves in November. I won’t be holding my breath.
The old man is an old-school Kennedy democrat. There’s a lot of them out there and they’re social liberals, fiscal conservatives who haven’t a clue that their party has been taken over by the radical left and that the MSM is the propaganda organ for the left, an American Pravda.
You are not alone in that experience. My parents are of the WWII generation and have exactly that reaction.
In the past, when I’ve tried to explain the real, modern world to them, they simply can’t accept it. It’s like I’m telling them that they don’t live in America any more.
They can’t emotionally accept that most of the MSM and the leadership of the democrat party and many liberal democrats are fundamentally opposed to the America they cherish.
VDH
The Blame & Bromides crowd got what it always gets. And the “reaction” from the pom-pom pundits is understandable (in a “they eat their young” sort of way), because if they “need” to get left, lefter, leftist on any issue, they do so rather Pavlovian and drooling…to prove the ownership of “furthest” left bona fides.
The legacy cheerleaders used to think that the “Carter act” was slick. Cozy fire, comfy sweater, empty platitudes and vacuous homilies. A little fiddle music while Rome burned.
The oil spill is a problem. The global economy is a crisis. And our Mideast Policy is a potential Armageddon.
I am frankly relieved that we have now gotten to the stage where we have become deer in the headlights. I have been waiting for the day when we adopted this frozen state of “Don’t just do something, sit there!”.
It does less damage in the long run…and in the short run…we can always have another fireside chat.
The typesetters have the headline in place, ready to print at any time: “We are all racists now.”
Meanwhile, out on the fairway, our historic first Islamic apostate president forces himself to contemplate a decision—a difficult and unfamiliar effort for him—viz.:
“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them.”
And become a martyr of his cause.
It is said that predators are at their most dangerous when cornered, their stealth, no longer a restraint on their rapacious delirium.
It will be, however, our good fortune, that his epitaph state simply “lazy” rather than “crazy” as his bluster to fundamentally transform America disappears in full sight into a hole 50 miles off our coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Hanson,
If the well besmirches several states of shoreline and huge ocean fisheries, how big is the well?
If the estimate of 60,000 barrels per day is accurate, if this well were made to behave, it and 184 others would eliminate all imported oil in the US. That’s 11 million barrels imported per day.
It would only take 83 days for a well of this size to overflow the largest ultra tanker, which max’s out at 5 million barrels. Visualize that! See the biggest tanker in the world topped out in less than 83 days!
In America of yesterday, the majority of minds thinking about this well would consider its production value to be a profoundly good thing, once we had dominion over its errant ways.
Robert wrote:
In America of yesterday, the majority of minds thinking about this well would consider its production value to be a profoundly good thing, once we had dominion over its errant ways.
That is true. In the America of yesterday, there was a widespread understanding that our lives depend on production.
However, over the years the left has so succeeded in demonizing production — and damning as evil the very entities that make production possible: namely businesses and corporations — that few people today are willing to defend the value of production and the value of corporations.
It is production — carried out by the businesses that make up the global economy — that feeds, clothes and houses 6+ billion human beings every day. Yet the left sneers, smears and spits at business every time it gets a chance.
Leave it to the left to be filled with seething hatred for the very thing on which their lives depend.
Micheal: Atlas will soon shrug and the spineless left will find they have not the backbone nor the means to support the great weight once born by the productive, they will be crushed. In the meantime they seek to kick out the very supports that have kept them alive all the while. Nemesis indeed, the One and only Father of us all, the One in Heaven will see His almighty Word fulfilled and the wicked destroy themselves by their own hand. This corruption cannot end any other way. The left will be seen for what they are and we will wonder why we ever listened to them in the first place to our shame. Have a nice day!
The part that you guys seem to be missing that when this precious oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico or Chernobyl is contaminating all around it for many miles, these precious sources of energy have become poisons that are killing us and our land and oceans.
Yes, if we could put all that oil in twenty supertankers and burn it it would be a wonderful thing, but when it is doing what it is doing, it is killing all in its plume AND breeding new environmentalists. Ah pity those poor fools who are concerned about losing the gulf and its way of life. All that sludge, slime, smell, and hell is a small price to pay for heating and transporting the rest of us.
Right now, you guys sound crazier than the greens.
uhhhh, I think that’s 60,000 gallons/day,,, not barrels. One barrel equals 42 gallons, so that’s roughly 1,430 bbls/day,,, still a heck of a lot of oil. Properly boomed and captured in a containment area of 20 square miles, this oil could have been skimmed up, loaded onto tankers, and later refined. Basic Oil Business 101. The problem is; why didn’t the booms get deployed right away?
Let’s face facts, Obama hasn’t a clue. This is a crisis gone to waste.
It’s been reported by various BP insiders that a conservative estimate for the Gulf gusher is now about 95,000 barrels. The other major consideration in this is that oil is now flowing from fractures up to 20 miles away from the wellhead. This has been confirmed by the U.S. research vessel Thomas Jefferson. The situation is far, far more dire than the mainstream media has been letting on …. and the truth cannot be covered up for many weeks longer.
Dear Petestan, I read this the other day and am looking for input. Is this conspiracy or does it hold some truth
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967
If so It scares the hell out of me
I have always believed in the reality of Nemesis and the perils of hubris. The ancients realized that without the brake of humility the public man becomes a danger both to himself and to the state. (My limited reading in the classics makes me think of Alcibaides in particular.) Shakespeare touches on this in Act I of “Richard II” when Queen Margaret comments,
“They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,
And when they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.”
Professor Hanson captures the heart of Mr. Obama’s dilemma concerning the oil spill. There is nobody to BLAME. Up to this point he has exercised leadership by blaming others for his problems (“the mess I inherited”) or creating staw-men that could be easily demolished with the assistance of a compliant media. The oil spill is so public, so singular and so potentially devastating that it demands real action, a showing of strength and, most important, a display of confidence. I am reminded of Lincoln’s decision to reinstate George B. McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac following the federal disaster at Second Bull Run. Lincoln fully backed McClellan as the only one capable of getting the army reorganized and in pursuit of Lee. He was an imperfect instrument but Lincoln used him. The administration should realize that the oil industry’s expertise in general and BP’s expertise in particular is their best bet in this crisis. They should be backed to the hilt and vilified later. Instead Mr. Obama seems “like a duck hit on the head” (another Lincoln metaphor) and the awful comparisons with Jimmy Carter draw closer and closer.
Incidentally – One mistake. The other speaker sharing the platform with Lincoln at Gettysburg (and delivering a set-piece two-hour oration) was Edward Everett and not his nephew, Edward Everett Hale. Everett may have been windy in the 19th century oratorical style but he was a very distinguished man as (among other things) a former U.S. Representative, Governor of Massachusetts, Secretary of State and (gulp!) president of Harvard. He warmly and sincerely praised Lincoln’s speech and recognized its eloquence and insight. His nephew was later a prominent clergyman and author.
Interesting observation. It might be useful to recall that the Gettysburg Address was widely disparaged at the time. As time has passed, we have recognized it as the epitome of meaningful rhetoric, brief, to the point, and very much appropriate to the occasion. I suspect that Mr. Obama’s speeches, so widely praised by a drooling, pubescent press, will suffer the opposite verdict of history, for unlike those of Abraham Lincoln, they consist primarily of rhetoric for the sake of rhetoric.
Indeed, it’s difficult not to succumb to a tad of Schadenfreude, since Bush was the one tarred and feathered for Katrina – without anything even approaching “Probable Cause”. And I don’t recall Bush ever mentioning, in the midst of that disaster, the “Mess” that he “Inherited” from FEMA, Ray Nagle, local governments, etc.
So I’m just going to sit back and watch as the media constructs its greatest narrative yet, this time explaining how even though Obama demonized Bush for Katrina, and proclaimed himself “Responsible” for this oil spill, he is exempt from blame and criticism because…well, it will be intersting to see how they fill in the blanks!
It’s not that complicated; they simply will not refer to the oil slick they poured over Bush, Post-Katrina, at all.
“…at least get the manipulation right:…”
There you go again professor. You keep on giving Obama sage advice and it’s like he doesn’t even know you exist. Our loss.
To my knowledge, Bill Clinton wore Armani. I believe Obama wears Hart Schaffner & Marx (one of his better decisions).
“…a bleeding, and floundering Obamafish.”
It’s getting to be undeniable and I was beginning to think the day would never come. Having said that, I hope for a resilience in America that comes from the people…hopefully through congressional representatives. About 5 months to go. So near yet so far.
We really made a terrible mistake when we selected Obama over Hillary and again when we selected him over McCain. Obama is clearly in over his head. I have to laugh at the British…polls showed them so enamored of Obama. I hope they like the Israel treatment because Obama clearly isn’t enamored of them. All we can do now is try and restore balance to our Government in Nov 2010, and then wait for 2012. Elections have consequences, the last one really bad ones!!!
No one here cared one way or the other about Obama, most British people pay as much attention to US politics as you do to ours. Answering positively, whilst out shopping, to someone with a clipboard asking an inane question about a US election you know nothing about about someone you may vaguely have once heard of on the news one evening does not mean anyone in Britain was enamoured by Obama except the Guardian-reading, BBC-viewing lefties.
Just because he has big ears we should not assume he’s Dumbo the Elephant. This man is a Genius. The question was “Will Obama use his Genius for Good or Evil?” Now we know the answer.
He has had 2 years of unparalleled success. He has:
1. Partially destroyed our economy
2. Partially destroyed our health care system
3. Set up Death Panels to thin out the Social Security recipients
4. Forced Catholics to pay for other people’s abortions
5. Taken control of the auto industry
6. Vastly centralized his power over our jobs by expanding the power of labor unions.
Today BP rewarded him by giving him a $20 billion slush fund which he will use to punish his enemies and reward his friends. In addition he still has $300 billion in unspent TARP funds that he can use “when the moment is right”.
He has stopped construction of new coal, gas, or nuclear power plants. He has stopped drilling for oil anywhere in the US. He has turned a minor oil spill into an uncontrollable catastrophe which he is using to pass Legislation that will take our automobiles away and force us to walk or use public transport. We will be forced to leave the suburbs and live in the big city.
When he appears in public they play “Hail to the Chief”. The should play “The Darth Vader March”.
You have it exactly right. VDH is a nice old man, and he certainly writes a good essay, but his one elemental problem is that he critiques the opposition from his own standpoint of well-reasoned logic. This inevitably leads him to the unstated conclusion that they are not the enemy of everything he believes in.
Make no mistake… progressives are the enemy, and war on all fronts must be declared, strategy created, and tactics carried out. It is painful to think that it has come to this, but decades of misperception and attempts to “go along get along” have brought our country to an existential crisis. Those of you here you complacently believe that voting in November will be enough, are sadly mistaken.
What do you suggest?
“Those of you here you complacently believe that voting in November will be enough, are sadly mistaken.”
If the mid-terms elect a bunch of RINo’s and there’s an economic collapse in 2011 allowing Obama to declare martial law and he then gets Congress to grant him ‘emergency powers’…he then shuts down the Internet, suspends habeas corpus, starts up political concentration camps and cancels the 2012 elections…then it will be time to start preparing for civil war.
Of course, the US military is not going to condone Obama overthrowing the Constitution and declaring himself Caesar.
Barring that, talk of “war on all fronts must be declared, strategy created, and tactics carried out” is, at best premature, at worst, irresponsible.
Chill, dude.
“When you’re one step ahead of the crowd, you’re a genius.
When you’re two steps ahead, you’re a crackpot.” — Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
“This inevitably leads him to the unstated conclusion that they are not the enemy of everything he believes in. ”
Charles Stevens,
I wonder if Perhaps your thinking from your standpoint has lead you to an unstated conclusion that directs you to try to explain Hanson’s behavior as one that is too much influenced and restrained by a peculiar kind of Stockholm syndrome effect– or something of that sort.
Gilbert Garza
You are so right.
He is enjoying unparalleled success at taking the country down.
Why assume he is incompetent, misguided, not up to the challenge?
Hussein the deceiver is getting results and working hard.
Think “20th hijacker” and suddenly everything clicks into focus.
Just so.
A boy scout could have organized a mitigation strategy to minimize the impact of the spill.
It’s not that he couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to do it. The reason it was below the radar was so long is that they were evaluating it’s potential as another major crisis. Now he has what he wanted.
He doesn’t have to worry about an election for another 2 years. Clearly, he couldn’t care less about 2010. The whole Democratic party is expendable to him. He would rather have Crap and Tax than another 2 years of a compliant congress. He has more than enough now tools now to complete the destruction of the country, even if another law is never passed. And he knows that the American people, conditioned by 230 years of orderly governmental progression will not rise up against him.
He has plenty of time. Things are going great if you are in his shoes. The oil crisis great news.
The BP Deal
Obama should be given credit for working this out with BP. It is a comfort to know that legitimate claims will be paid.
I was very impressed with BP’s Chairman. I thought he was sincere and contrite and very reassuring concerning BP’s commitment to stand behind the liabilities in the Gulf.
It is hard to know if the assurances would have been delivered just the same if Obama’s rhetoric had been more measured. But it is good to get them.
Obama may get a bump in the polls. But he has a long term management and political problem.
Interestingly by turning the claims processing part of this over to the government lackey, BP gets off the hook and can now hang any continuing misery around the neck of the government. Around Obama’s neck.
BP has turned over $20 Billion in some form or another. They have paid their penance.
Obama has promised to stem the flow and now pay the claims within weeks and days.
What a fine necklace has been placed around his throat!
“By our necklaces we will be known!”
The irony is too sharp for words.
petekent01 (on twitter)
I do not think they have turned the money over….we have ‘assurances” that they will honor this decision..yep..if they don’t go bankrupt first, or dissolve or…
It’s rhetoric for Obama to act like “i’m the savior”
Actually who I would like to speak with is the person that okayed the DH to keep on drilling when he was told the BOP was breaking up.. Who made this decision? Why/
Also, the well missed several inspections..why? who okayed this?
The BP Atlantis is going the same route in the Gulf, 16 missed so far..Why? It has no shut down procedures, no contingency plans..why?
we DO NOT need “more” regulations..
HOWEVER!!!, we need to have the regulations already in place faithfully enforced!!
There needs to be a chain of command ending with someone that hates BP having to look it all over and be sure corners are not cut and inspections are met!!!
Obama can blame Bush all he wants to, we know Obama is the pantywaist in this deal.
Absolutely correct VDH. This is the president we have and he is in charge. And “yesterday” was the time for him to take charge. If he does what is right and fixes this thing…short term and for the long term, then its his to claim. But time is most rapidly running out. No more fingerpointing, blaming Bush or settling “claims money” Mr. President, the game is on and your the batter……wake up and “batter up” …or go home..!!!
It is incredible that the academics who supported Obama could have stated that he was an intelligent and articulate man who was head and shoulders above the average politican. Now we see that he is neither intelligent nor articulate but a complete incomeptent. He also cannot disguise his Chicago thug political background no matter what he does. The guise of the all knowing college professor is now removed to show what is under the guise of all these so liberal college professors; that is nothing of substance. These Academics of whom Obama is the epitome are incapable of changing a flat tire on their volvos but go about telling everyone how wonderful they are and how they have all the answers. Not only is Obama showing himself to be the emperor with no clothers but also showing that his class, namely arrogant academics and others in the the Ivy League are really men of straw.
1. Spot on, VDH! (Catch that British lingo?)
2. Laura Ingrahm pointed out that Michelle a/k/a Jackie O. was at the Lakers game last night.
The Obama presidency is all about the Obamas 24/7.
3. We pray – every day – that something worse doesn’t happen. Barack and his crowd are clueless.
Dr. Hanson,
Nemesis, as you’ve been predicting, has entered the scene.
“We can all question that unfair premise, and did so in 2005, but critics like Obama himself made the federal response to Katrina a campaign issue. And so here we are with him hoisted with his own petard.”
Serves him right.
The “more government is the answer to all problems” clowns are looking like witless fools, thanks to their utter failure to do anything constructive about this little oil leak. More importantly, the gigantic regulatory state they created couldn’t prevent it from happening in the first place.
They’ve spent God knows how much money hamstringing oil companies, and eleven guys are STILL dead and there’s STILL a big mess off the Louisiana coast.
Hopefully, it will bite the Dim-ocrats on the butt this November.
How is it that no author, blog, newspaper, magazine, pundit, or any media outlet has focused on the sheer legality of this man-made disaster. The law states that any oil drilling or spill more than 3 miles from our shores is the full and unequivocal responsibility of the Federal Govt, i.e. MMS, EPA, DEP, OBAMA, et al!
There is no grey area here…that’s why omnipresent Obama consistently blames BP and establishes $20B funds to be administered by Ken Feinberg (this guy’s a boob). He is diverting the attention he deserves in the most obvious manner. It took Obama 45 days to respond; this is an egregious dereliction of duty and extreme neglect. Impeachment is the lesser of 2 evils. Obama and his administration should be terminated for cause.
I love Mr. Hanson, but start covering the obvious in simple terms.
“It took Obama 45 days to respond; this is an egregious dereliction of duty and extreme neglect. Impeachment is the lesser of 2 evils. Obama and his administration should be terminated for cause.”
Yes, he should be but impeachment is premature because the public sentiment and votes are not yet there. Wait for Obama’s approval ratings to drop into the 20′s, then it will be time to look for the opportunity, which he will provide. In the meantime, stop Cap & Trade!
That’s critical because Obama’s only hope of continuance in office is an economic collapse in 2011, which would allow him to declare martial law and the assumption of ‘emergency powers’. Cap & Trade ensures that collapse.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; we must take it when it serves, or lose our way.”
“When you’re one step ahead of the crowd, you’re a genius.
When you’re two steps ahead, you’re a crackpot.” — Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
There were many questions America wanted answered in last night’s address – but in yet another display of Administrative obscurity, the President invokes the vacuous platitudes of a Political narrative. This Administration is fast approaching the divide that marks the realms of believability and incompetence having already left the boundaries of “transformational and transparency” far behind.
First thing I wanted answered was – Why have we denied the ships and equipment offered by Britain, Holland and Norway to help in the clean-up. There has to be larger reasons than just placating the unions by NOT issuing a waiver of the Jones Act.
Secondly, Where was the foresight and planning that should have prioritized the containment of the millions of gallons of leaked oil before it began to wash up on the beaches and the coastline. I think this is the question that bothers America most, and yet with an opportunity last night to at least address this issue, the President remained silent.
I would also like to know just how many Billion$ are in the supposed lockbox that the Federal Government has taxed the Oil Companies specifically to fund a Oil Spill Clean-Up. Do we indeed have funds available to compliment what BP may contribute, or is this fund similar to the Social Security IOU’s that have now become unfunded liabilities.
The short-sighted implementation of a 6-month moratorium on Deep Sea Drilling proves not only to be a fabricated consensus pushed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and adopted by the President, but it is the equivalent of an Economic boycott imposed on a region that has essentially witnessed the implosion of it’s top two industries – their fisheries and tourism.
I fear that this Administration’s grasp of National priorities is as misguided as was their response to protecting the beaches and the coastline from the oil spill. The consequences of the Democrats Energy and Economic Policies will not only have a macro effect on the United States ability to compete in foreign markets, but the folly of the President’s policy positions will have domestic implications as well.
Mr. President – It is time to put your ideology aside and for you to begin to be the President of all Americans – and not just the select few who see the opportunity to push a Political agenda.
Very well said, Gregson
Infanterie Greift An. Hopefully if you take his name you have read his accounts.
This is brilliantly thought out and written. I believe that there are many Democrats, many of them ideological, who still value competence. Another poster pointed out that, after all, they want to keep power, that power matters more to lefties than to others (true), and so they must not commit hari-kiri on the way to the polls.
Note: All the talk of Obama declaring martial law, opening FEMA camps and the rest is unlikely to materialize. He may well be – is, in my opinion – a stealth Jihadist, but I don’t believe he’s prepared to ‘challenge’ the military and police in such a high stakes game that could end up in his imprisonment, or maybe a one-way ticket to Belarus.
Seems that he has indeed abdicated his responsibility, literally violated the law by failing to address the spill. I also agree that the special fund is probably empty. So be it.
It is hard to believe that the people of the US elected this man, John McCain or no John McCain.
Gregson, can I quote you on this?…very much to the point…watching the House committee preen and pounce right now makes me want to puke. Bring on Salazar et al. before the committee. Asking the CEO to draw conclusions at this point in time is a bit ridiculous. I’m really curious about any plans to extract the blowout preventer for examination. As well as commentary on the attempt to put out the initial fire.
I think we need to cut Barokeydoke some slack here….after all,as a result of nearly half a century of race pimpery,we ought to remember that he is only a poor,helpless,victim class negro who can’t be held responsible for anything that goes wrong…especially since Mistah Charlie owns all the rigs and cleanup equipment
WASHINGTON (AFP) – BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said Wednesday the British energy giant cared about the fate of the “small people” hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, vowing to look after all affected.
-
-
You small people can kiss the big oil giants a$$.
‘We dont want no short people around here.’
everybody sing.
We DO know there was an explosion on the Oil Rig…
IT’s EITHER:
1. AN act of war by North Korea?
2. An accident. If the question is:
How, and was the Rig Inspected and APPROVED by USA regulators.
If it PASSED INSPECTION, were the standards correct (and this accident has never happened before) OR were the INSPECTIONS FAULTY and the BLAME for this accident MUST be shared by the Obama admin…
As for the CLEAN UP…
One can only wonder about the slowness of Obama in repealing the Jones Act? Acting domestically to bring in OTHER OIL COMPANIES SKIMMERS and BOOM makers…
Seems to me there are some mighty odd questions NOT being discussed…
You know, during the campaign, I’d listen to him speak at some rally or another, and there’d always be the newsperson screaming the obligatory “What a gifted orator! What a talented, enigmatic communicator!!!” thing. I’d be sitting there, cold and uneasy, saying to myself, “but..but..he didn’t say anything. Why the hell don’t they realize he isn’t EVER saying anything!!”. Used to drive me MAD.
Really, what the hell did these people who voted for this incompetent expect? How shallow and base is our modern day society that we voted in a guy like this? Elections have consequences, for damn sure.
Great article, Victor. God Help us. Somehow that lightning strike on the BP rig that was siphoning the excess oil hit me as a heavenly reminder to us all that we now have to suffer the fool we elected.
Mr. Hanson,
Bravo! You’ve detailed every single failing of this administration in exacting detail. I applaud your offering.
Well said.
I see this in my place of business. Very senior non technical managers brought in. They have no idea what to do and expect their staff, extended team and other core functions to “somehow” tell how to get from A to Z. And, seem surprised that their programs and projects are failing from a lack of decision and vision. Obama fits this to a tee.
Dr. Hanson:
As I watched as much of the Obama speech as I could bear, I realized, yet again, that there was no there there. Seldom have so many words held so little meaning. And as with Jimmy Carter, I saw, yet again, one of our periodic American experiments aimed at answering the question: Can the democrats be trusted with America? Sadly, the world has changed so drastically since Jimmy Carter (at least in part due to his then-groundbreaking fecklessness) that this serially failed experiment in democrat governance has the very real and present potential to not only plunge the world into economic ruin, but into war. There are consequences when the President of the United States refuses to represent the interests of the United States which are, in a very real sense, the interests of civilization. In this pursuit, progressivism is very much anti-progress.
But let’s compare, for a moment, a few simple viewpoints, those of rational Americans and those of Barack Obama and his advisors (czars, commissions, blue ribbon panels, agencies, etc.).
A damaged oil well is spewing oil into the ocean!
Rational American: Get the people who know how to fix it, give them whatever they need, figure out how to plug it and do it.
Barack Obama: Appoint a czar, a commission, blame George Bush, blame BP, threaten everyone in sight. Remind the public that your Nobel Prize winning Secretary of Energy is in charge and remind them every day or so that he’s a physicist.
RA: What does he know about drilling for oil or fixing spills?
BA: Did I mention that he has a Nobel Prize and that he’s a physicist?
RA: But what does a physicist know about…
BA: Shut up.
Oil is heading for the Gulf Coast!
RA (and Governor Jindahl): Build sand berms, using, you know, sand, to stop it.
BA: Conduct environmental impact studies (on sand?!) and approve only a fraction of the berms. Did I mention that I’ve been in charge since the very instant this started?
RA: But you’re researching the environmental impact of piling sand on sand!
BA: If we can declare carbon dioxide a deadly pollutant, we can declare sand to be a radioactive as plutonium! Maybe I should appoint another commission…
Many nations and private concerns want to help and have the equipment to do it!
RA: Great! Get them here yesterday.
BA: What does the SEIU think about that? Do another photo op and talk about how in control I am. Have another party at the White House and then play golf. Do another photo op and remind them I’m in charge. And that I won’t rest, and to make no mistake, until, well, something or other…Did I mention that I’m in charge?
There will be great financial damages!
RA: OK. Fix the well and we’ll worry about those later.
BA: Send legions of lawyers to sue BP. BP will pay. I’ll kick somebody’s ass!
RA: But shouldn’t you tone down the rhetoric so that you don’t further depress BP’s value and drive them out of business so that there is no money for compensation? And apart from using them to plug the well, how will lawyers help?
BA: Shut up.
The well is still spewing oil into the ocean!
RA: OK. Fix the well and figure out how to clean things up. We’ll deal with the rest later.
BA: Pass massive, unreadable legislation that will drastically increase the cost of energy for every American (sort of spreading the misery around) and will, with health care, surely bankrupt the country.
RA: What…?! Why would you want to…
BA: Shut up; I still have many asses to kick.
I fear that where our President is concerned, Henry Higgins will never say, “By George, I think he’s got it!”
I cannot stomach one minute of that fraudster. He is criminal.
you make good point for what a rational person would do. Sadly many people think that obama is rational.
he is a community organizer for chr!st sake. I wouldn’t let him walk my dog.
Using the lawyers to plug the hole, great line!
LMAO !! Very good.
Dr. Hanson stated. “Right now, Hamas, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, the Taliban, Turkey, Venezuela, and a host of others are testing us, three-quarters of them convinced (after 18 months of good evidence) that Obama either will not or cannot or knows not how to deter them all from making regional “adjustments.”
A friend’s reaction to Helen Thomas’ anti-Israel broadside brings into sharp relief the dangers the Nation faces from the above-mentioned, non-democratic State and non-State actors. I mentioned to my friend (a liberal) that if Helen had said the same during the Bush years, his Administrations response would have been immediate and tough. The Obama people dithered for days; probably some quick poll showing him losing Jewish support, produced the lukewarm rebuke. My friend simply stated, “You are wrong; if Bush were President, Thomas would have never said it.”
My friend’s response goes to the essence of deterrence. Tragically, the Sherriff is gone and the town is wide open.
Sorry to all you folks across the pond. Barry has no intentions of ever leaving office. Every week there is something new he puts fourth that is devastating to the American way of life. And that, that he puts fourth, fortifies his tenure without limits. You would do well to do away with him and his administration “sofort”. Otherwise this could/will be even worse for us in the hopefully never “Eurabia”.
Barack Obama will resign—because the job is too demanding. He never intended to work this hard. Obama was supposed to be able to run the country without working up a sweat. The demands of the presidency overwhelms him.
David. I like your spirit. But he/they will never give up.
The instant 0bama’s utility as a martyr exceeds his value as a Marxist sock puppet, he will be sacrificed. The people – monsters, really – behind him are just that ruthless.
I used to view Washington DC as something reminiscent of a Star Wars bar scene. Since 0bama, it’s starting to look more like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft novel. When the stars are right…
America needs you, Harry Truman. Harry won’t you please come home.
Amen! Even in his present condition he would be far better.
The old buy appropo saying “What goes around comes around” a law of nature that liberals irrationally always want to violate and cry foul when the sword they created impales them.
At this point, and from the beginning, the focus should have been to protect the shores and wildlife. Kind of like prioritize saving people in a burning building over saving the building. Obama is absolutely %1000 to blame for his administration’s and his OWN lack of response to the CLEAN UP, not the actual spill.
I for one could care less about any Nobel scientists or “committees” on the problem. Get some engineers and mechanics and even plumbers down there, for crying out loud! It wasn’t scientist solving Apollo 13′s problems, it was ENGINEERS. That how STUPID Obama is- he doesn’t know the difference.
Soon Herr Doctor, I expect to see much more of you on my television being interviewed and asked to present your thoughts.
That would be a very good thing from my perspective!
The President is incompetent. Nothing else need be said.
YES! There is very much more that needs to be said. Please, say it! You are not alone. There are many more around the globe who are saying it too!
What president would that be?
The U.S. currently does not have a president!!!!
IS HE AS INCOMPETENT AS HE APPEARS? If so, in addition to the question of his provenance, what was in the minds of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that put him forward as their candidate for the Presidency of the USA. It’s no secret that “Democratic” Party has been subversive of the USA. Most recently since the appearance of the “revolutionaries of the 1960s” with the “election” in Chicago. Policies, e.g. sub-prime and laws and judicial judgements that limit Rights protected by the American Constitution. Insinuating into pivotal position in the political,propaganda and educational institutions. So perhaps there is method in his/their incompetence.They are working very fast AND aggressively, to enact their program. While the population obeys the law and discusses HIS(feint?) actions. Behaviours that can be as e.g. 1. a person over his head, 2. subtle development of a dictatorship, gulling the population while his/their program is completed and can be rolled back only with long time and actions many would deem unacceptable.Think Zimbabwe as just one example.
Hard to find fault with this analysis. So where do we go from here? We caught the “hopey/changey” quip, does this mean we should anticipate a hard right turn into the (gulp) arms of Sarah Palin? (gulp).
Anyone seen Jeb Bush lately?
We go from “here” to “no” we do not want a “here” where someone makes our decisions for us!
Friends. Dirt is dirt. Clean it up.
Backlash can be surprising. Sarah Palin is not a bad alternative. She has the most executive experience dealing with oil companies. As I drive home from work I can’t help but notice the seemly endless line of cars moving slowly on the freeway. Gasoline may be with us for a very long time. She’s been there and done that.
No. Not… not… Palin! I mean, she’s just a snowbilly; can’t even read! She’s not qualified!
Palin on the O’Reilly factor analyzing the speech? Failed to give us the sense that fixing the problem is priority #1. But what does she know? Ha! She looks better every day Obama is in office. :D
Bush, the oilman, could have dealt with this. Palin. the Oil and Gas regulator, could have handled this. Hell, Joe the Plumber could have handled this! :D
Marc,
Jeez! I *knew* there was a reason I used to hang around PJM! I missed your razor shard commentary so I came back.
Good remarks.
Former lurker, Voyska PVO. Oh, excuse me, Войска ПВО.
Большое спасибо.
~TWP
Большое спасибо means big thank you. I remember that much from college Russian.
Thank you. High praise.
I stopped posting right after the HealthCare law passed. I figured I’d wait until the election comes, as none of the talk matters, anymore. Election box or ammo box. That is the future.
I only started back after the Village Idiot’s Speech. I tuned out for 2 months. :D
I hate the new format, because I cannot know where the latest comments are. I have to really search. I need a “mark as read” function.
Mr. Hanson knocks another one out of the park. Over the “green monster”!
If you’re really feeling the schadenfreude, don’t forget how we were going to be out of oil long before now. Today it looks like the oil will never stop.
Nuclear power has always been the answer.
Lightwater reactors with the reactor waste
being disposed of in Yucca Mountain type depositories
France relies on this for 80% of its power generation
Hybrid cars running on electricity and heavy vehicles
and power equipment using diesel. End of issue.
No more reliance on foreign countries, no more
connection to Islam. The USA save behinds it oceans
and is missle screens.
Every one of the items above has been blocked by the Far Left. Nuclear Power, Yucca Mountains, Missle Defense,
Cultural integrity.
36: Liquid salt thorium reactors are the answer for many technical reasons.
My only question is – what were people thinking when they elected someone with absolutely no experience – not so much as running a shift at 7-11 – to the highest office in the world? The answer that comes to mind is that they weren’t thinking. And that is even scarier than the present occupant of the White House. He can be gotten rid of – electorally. You can’t get rid of stupid.
Do you all miss me yet???
LOL!Hell yeah!Shouldve ran Dick Cheney for prez 2008.So the message is-if your in the oil business dont mess up or we will force you to fork over your profits to those who havent earned it?Wait a minute something fishy about this policy…..
No George, we wish we would have missed you 2000 primaries.
In defense of Svanberg, he is an English-as-second-language guy, probably was trying for the everyman quality of the well-loved American phrase “the little guy” but did not realize that “the small people” would come off the OPPOSITE of what he intended.
Nobody should be criticizing Svanberg for the pretense of an aristocrat. He really was trying for egalitarian. It did not translate.
I spent several years in Europe and encountered this phenomenon often in the small things. I was stunned the first time a Dutchman, trying to show enthusiastic agreement with what I said, rapidly repeated “yeah yeah yeah yeah” in a way that sounded VERY dismissive and brusque.
The meaning of the expression, culturally, could not be more different. I withheld my natural outrage long enough, thankfully, to figure this out, and after four years I was doing it too. (I had to UNlearn that habit when I got back to Texas :-)
Svanberg quite literally meant, and intended for us to understand, that he was concerned for the little guy. He simply did not have enough exposure to American expressions and culture to know how to say it.
Sorry. No pass from me. Since English is the language of business, and since he is supposed the “front and center BP guy” for addressing the American people, he should make it his business to KNOW the nuances. I don’t excuse barry the thug for talking like a fool in Austria; and there’s no excuse for this guy making such a mistake.
They should already realize that BTT is going to make it as hard for them as possible. They should be smart enough not to make it harder for themselves.
No pass, huh? I’ve been speaking Spanish for close to 30 years and there are still phrases, slang terms and idioms I am not familiar with even though native speakers often think that I am a native speaker too. Not everyone has the opportunity to use a 2nd language in all contexts or fields so certain phrases/words may not have been learned or used enough to readily come to mind.
BTW, more Europeans speak a second language (or more) than Americans do so I think we can cut the guy some slack. No one is perfect.
No pass from you, huh? And your expertise in the area of language is…?
I’ve been speaking spanish for over 30 years in casual situations a well as professional. There are still little nuances and idioms that I am not familiar with or don’t have the opportunity to use often enough that they readily come to mind. What seem to us to be common everyday expressions may not be so common to non-native speakers. It isn’t as easy as you think even when one has years of experience doing it.
Far more Europeans speak a foreign language (or more than one) than Americans do. What gives us the right to be so critical of such a small error in symantics? No one is perfect.
Reminds me of the sign in an Immigrant Restuarant in Britain I heard about: “If you think your waiter is rude, you should see our manager.” I am sure the drafter of the sign did not see the Groucho Marx double entendre lurking in the phaseology.
Maybe Congress should put up a sign: “If you think your congressman is a dope you should see our president.”
Don’t kid yourself.THE English have a long experience and history with double entendres. Why do you think it has been, maybe still is in some quarters, known as “perfide albion”? And the older ones do have a sense of humour in their uses of their language.
“I spent several years in Europe and encountered this phenomenon often in the small things. I was stunned the first time a Dutchman, trying to show enthusiastic agreement with what I said, rapidly repeated “yeah yeah yeah yeah” in a way that sounded VERY dismissive and brusque.” – dave in dallas
I’ve heard people from some other foreign countries do that, too. I think they mean to root you on, or to say the equivalent of “I more than agree,” or “By God, why don’t other people see this!?”
The ten qualities that make President Barack Obama such a great leader in times of crisis.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Hey, I think you forgot something. There’s nothing written next to those numb . . . oh, wait . . . I get it. Geez, you regressives are clever.
Oh, here we go again. Another ‘progressive’ troglodyte crawls out of his hole and deigns to distribute another golden shower of whizdumb on the rest of us poor, ignorant souls.
So, pal – enlighten us. Just what exctly IS it towards which you believe you’re ‘progressing’? Your answer will almost certainly be the occasion of some much-needed hilarity.
You’re being kind of harsh on peeps.
Elegant!!
Anybody have an original thought to offer? No? Figures.
A fitting quote regarding President “O-”
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts.. . for support rather than illumination.” Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
Loved this one -
Me too.
Can’t resist – one more quote fitting for for the great one.
“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright
Please! One More
“He has delusions of adequacy.” – Walter Kerr
“He haas delusions of adequacy.” And a promising past.
As Churchill said of Clement Attlee, “He has much to be modest about.”
He has reached rock bottom and has continued to dig deeper
Of all the great conservative writers, Dr. Hanson is one of those whom I most admire. He has made the explicit case for the essence of what is wrong with Obama’s presidency.
Specifically, Obama is not only incapable of the singular focus to demonstrate the leadership required to put together the resources and teams necessary to address this looming environmental disaster, he is completely paralyzed with respect to the reality of the pending disaster that is our national security.
Barack Obama has always been a creation of extreme liberal strategists and a media eager to assist in projecting power through manufactured reality and overt manipulation to create the image of a man who isn’t. One can only hope that those now faced with the reality of that mirage are wise enough to not be fooled again.
Another fine column by Victor Davis Hanson. But tisk tisk to this historically-minded maestro: The once-famous orator Edward Everett spoke at Gettysburg. Edward Everett Hale, Everett’s nephew, wrote “The Man Without a Country.”
I don’t know what you are all on about. I like President Obama. He makes me feel better about myself and my managerial skills. I oversee the spending of millions of dollars in taxpayer money on various projects and I make mistakes. But when I start feeling badly about my mistakes, I can look to the President and feel better because there is someone with greater incompetence than myself.
The Gettysburg reference is wrong. It was Edward Everett, the great orator, who gave the long address (he was not considered a gasbag in his day). Edward Everett Hale, the author of “The Man Without a Country,” written that same year of 1863, was his nephew (and the grand-nephew of Nathan Hale).
They’re more dangerous wounded. From now until November will be wild, and it will just get wilder after that.
No chance they’ll back off.
Whoever is controlling him isn’t happy.
These are the most dangerous times in the country’s history.
There is nothing that a liberal hates more than LOOKING stupid. Obama is starting to embarrass them, and himself.
They won’t forgive that.
No matter that BP has shown character in NOT shirking their responsibilities to stop the leak, clean the beeches, reimburse lost incomes and pay what is ligitimate claims (a financial nightmare) BHO is stuck with his community organizing mindset of pretense that he will assist the suffering victims; with BP’s money of course. Our POTUS should lead; by cooperating with NOT berating and threatening BP, Obama could form an alliance with everyone attempting to mitigate a horrible oil disaster– Obam is a lawyer though, this guarantees pretense and teleprompters— no way to be OTUS
[...] “Obama’s words” [...] reminding the British that they are getting the Israel treatment). [...]
Unintended, but this is the silver lining of this situation and I hope that the British and the Euros are now awakening to the, alas! obvious reality that the one the foolishly acclaimed in 2008, was and IS, their enemy -
WOW Mr. Hanson…that was the best article I’ve read in a long time. How succinct and to the point. WOW, WOW, WOW.
The cruelest of fates, no doubt, awaits our Narcissist-in-Chief. His executive incompetence will force him to go into political exile dragging his broken teleprompter behind him. He will go from mainstream media affiliate station to affiliate station begging to be allowed on the air, just one more time, desperately seeking a revival of the crowds’ adulation. Maybe if we are lucky, he will be relegated to reading the weekly school lunch menu over the radio at Hope, North Dakota (population 303).
My condolences to the people of Hope, North Dakota.
I wish I could share your vision of a stable future in which The One is reduced to court jester. But this man’s intentions are so dark and his animus for this country is so great, that I cannot see beyond the gathering storm.
This seems like nothing more writing by an American centrist who imagines America is being attacked and has enemies are all around it when the USA is clearly the aggressor nation attacking the world and claiming the world has been plotting against us. Whether paranoid delusional thinking or extreme ignorance is your plea your conduct is still criminally liable.
Basically you are just another war partisan American. I mean really to talk about these ludicrous liberal v. conservative paradigms when the real problem is actually the partisans of the two wings (Democrat and Republican) of the one one War Party.
Your writing is a distraction and war partisan propaganda.
Note the liberal methodology.
Step one) Avoid dealing with anything the author actually wrote, at all costs.
Step two) Introduce wild conspiracy theory
Step three) Insult anyone who doesn’t agree with your wild conspiracy theory
Step four) Introduce a second, even wilder conspiracy in order to make your first wild conspiracy theory look rational in comparison.
Step five) repeat as many times as necessary
Wrong room.
Orlando and Obama … two 0′s. Just saying.
You are, of course, insane. Or completely ignorant of history.
Right. America is the aggressor. We conquer everywhere and just add these countries to our growing Empire. Oh, wait. We gave Iraq back to the Iraqis. And Afghanistan, too. We let them choose, after freeing them from their tyrants.
We don’t intervene someplace, and people wring their hands and criticize our inaction. When we do intervene, we hear, “Who are you to do so?” People think they should be the determiners of how American might should be wielded. Newsflash: It ain’t your tax money being spent! Increase your own military, spend your own money, and show us how it is supposed to be done. Until then, shut up. At least we are DOING something!
But, you would rather we do nothing… until you see the consequences of our inaction… then you’ll blame us for letting it happen!
Now, perhaps, the press, someone, will decide to seriously investigate Oilbama’s background and birth place in order for us to be rid of him. Doing so would save this country some pain… but then in his place what do we have? Remember The Jerk movie. Yes. Joe Biden. God help us.
Dr Hanson, thanks from all of us. There is so much damn info out there that it makes our head spin. So when you can condense and compress it in a form we can email to our friends, you do us a great service.
These are serious times, and are best understood by historians (not the re-writing type).
Additionally, the fact that you write such wonderful analyses brings out the best in the commenters who follow you and so the comments are as illuminating as the article.
All in all a great service to your fellow man.
Thanks,
Gene Man
Won’t be hillary in 2012, unless obama pulls an LBJ and withdraws. Hillary will not want to play the role of Obama’s Ted Kennedy (a la 1980 primaries).
Hillary is damaged by association, she won’t be seen by the base as electable in November. Obama will probably run in the primaries unopposed.
While the “meany goddess Nemesis” is vexing Obama, another goddess, blind Folly, the baneful one, has been running marathons on the heads of the rest of America.
Look. Obama cares just as much about the small people as BP’s chairman. You all need to understand that simple fact.
I, for one, am delighted to see Obama and Company turning us into a European style socialist state because all people are small people over there. Big people, including Obama and his crew, and BP’s chairman, truly care about the small people and that’s what is important.
I’m confident that the big people will take care of us small people. The bigs will take care of our healthcare, jobs, auto companies, housing, social security, our economy and everything else. True, the smalls have to actually fight our wars but, thank goodness, we’re guided by the bigs.
All I can say is that is was quite small of Professor Hanson to write this editorial and I – and many others – believe that it was big of President Obama to take the time to speak to us small people last night.
The oil spill is no big deal and, if it is, it’s Bush’s fault.
WoW!! Great article, as always, and great comments. I see it took all the way to #53 for a troll to begin the squealing. . . could the minions of the “o” be losing heart? where are the great trolls of the past? maybe hiding in the cellar/closet waiting for their savior to blow away?
All this complaining about His speeches, his experience and his crafty, nuanced disaster handling is nonsense. When He receives His second term – and He will – the language will be perfect and all vestiges of Goldsteinism/Bushism will be erased from Airstrip One.
Save me, Obama. Don’t bother explaining how. Just save me.
You said, “Right now, Hamas, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, the Taliban, Turkey, Venezuela, and a host of others are testing us…” That host of others would include China, Brazil, and Pakistan. My greatest fear, and the worst case scenario, is that after a conference call among themselves, they execute a Time On Target exercise. At 3 AM.
I believe that the 2010 election will be a bloodbath for the Dems.
I think Hopey Changy’s appoval rating will be in the dumps and his legislative program will be dead in the water.
The Clinton (Paneta, Emmanuel, etc.) operatives salted throughout his admin will be working overtime to produce the leaks and other revelations that make him look bad.
This, of course, doesn’t even consider the fact that EVERY time he opens his mouth, he steps on his . . er . . appendage. You will, by then, see LISTS of campaign promises that have been repudiated. Gitmo, torture, rendition, etc.
There will have been NO investigations of Bush admin people. (Note – this last will not upset normal thinking people, but the leftwing nutcases are ALREADY p**** because Chaney and Rumsfeld are not yet in jail. By then, they will be totally incoherent with rage over these and MANY other ‘betrayals’.
More importantly, it will be obvious that the economy is still in the toilet and I suspect that we will have seen a significant increase in terrorist activity.
She will then announce that The Won has been tried and found wanting. That although she was willing to support him and be a loyal soldier (LOL), that it is obvious that he is simply not up to the job.
She will also point out that the Dem party is bigger than any single individual and the future of the country is far too important to be sacrificed on the altar of OBAMA.
She will then accept the call of her party to save her country from the VRWC and their front-men, the Repubs.
PS – You do realize of course, that she STILL has a functional campaign organization in place. It can be activated with a phone call.
DCP
IMHO, IANAL, YMMV, NWEOI
re: # 8s correction of VDH’s reference to Edward Everett: the best comparison to the President would be to Edward Everett Horton, the comic actor and also voice of Fractured Fairy Tales of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons of yesteryear.
Poor Halliburton. Poor BlackWater. Poor BP.
Poor Dick Daley. Poor Barry Dunham. Poor skeeziks.
In 2013, a court of first instance will rule that beating up someone who asks, “Didn’t you vote for Obama in 2008?” is justified, on the grounds that no one can be asked to tolerate such a gross obscenity being applied to them.
You’re just in time, Hutaree needs members.
Thanks, Dr. Hanson for a fine article.
Thank you again VDH. Always an insightful read.
The trolls are strangely quiet….
I’m not proud of this, but I find great pleasure in the image of Nemesis, nose to the ground, snuffling up the scent of pride, arrogance, and indifference….she pauses, looks up smiling, and pursues. Again, I’m a Christian and should find no satisfaction in this– but I undeniably do.
“Now our Oedipus is reduced to raging in his halls against BP, with thousands of hard-working Louisianans and other Gulfers the losers for this divine reminder about the wages of hubris.”
Magnificent. I stand in awe.
re: Halliburton. Appears Halliburton and the other specialty contractors doing the work for BP had given cautionary advice about issues with this well that BP chose to ignore, but it appears that the 40 years of no significant problems even with these occasional shortcuts had desensitized everyone.
See this interesting letter (by a competitor) in WSJ that reads like the after-action reports on Chernobyl human errors/foolishness.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575293270746496824.html
This is a recurrence of human error that seems to happen whenever a (complex) process is being run by those who have no recollection of it ever failing, especially in the lack of competition driving improvement, replacement of old processes. Perrow wrote a book (Normal Accidents) observing the how and the why of this back in the early 80s. Unfortunately Perrow today argues for more regulation and liability rather than competition and its creative destruction making the old new, or putting the old out of business.
It seems that a lack of competition, a lack of incentives for development and production have also increased the likelihood of failure. Consider that BP was capping this well rather than starting production immediately. If a competitor was also producing from the same field BP would have been less like to “bank” the oil for later use which would normally drive prices down and increase demand (and creation of) refinery capacity (to say nothing of not creating an opportunity for the blow-out). Without competition everyone gets comfortable and focuses on maximizing profits using the tools regulation provides for limiting both new entrants and powerful competitors who are playing the same cartel-izing game.
VDH:
Recent events reinforce the hypothesis that certain liberals view morality as a ‘shared’ trait. To them, there are no individual morals, no individual sins. Obama is willing to trash an entire company — in monetary and moral terms — when the gulf tragedy was ’caused’ by relatively few individuals, if it was not an accident. At the same time Obama gives himself a pass for his sins as an individual because he shares the views of the sinless ‘green’ collective, and being part of that group is enough to be moral.
Another specific example of this ‘shared morality’ mentality is Al Gore, who consumes more resources than the average person, but preaches conservation. Gore does not attempt to reconcile the obvious hypocrisy, because his membership in the ‘clearly’ moral group is absolving.
I do not think that Obama takes criticism about his actions in the Gulf literally, or even constructively. He views President Obama and his administration as one and the same, so any criticism of him is ‘really’ criticism of his collectively moral administration. This is too self-serving. When on the defensive, Obama’s instincts are to defend himself and his friends rather than the protect the nation…
After a long and glorious career as the world’s most progressive, well, progressive… Obama goes the way of all flesh and finds himself in the presence of his Creator, who says, “Obama, your performance on Earth was mixed. Some good. Some bad. The biggest problem We in heaven have is just one thing you said about the oil spill. As President you said, “Plug the explicative-deleted hole!” Well, that went around the world and caused a lot of children to start cussing, a thing heaven finds repulsive. But, if you ask for forgiveness, you may enter into heaven, as We are merciful here!”
Obama replies, “Are you finished talking? I’m tired of standing. Get off the damn throne!”
That article is the most magnificently constructed peice I have read. Just magnificent.
“’Never miss a crisis.” Let me get this straight: as oil gushes forth, we are to use this disaster as a teachable moment to go the wind and solar route. OK, but fairly or not, the message to the shrimpers and hotel owners of the Gulf is: “Your misery has some didactic value for the rest of us, since after your Gulf is destroyed, we will shut down your rigs to ensure permanent poverty follows your misery.’”
This is going to be the 3 Mile Island of the oil industry. The United States can be certain of one thing, there will be no more drilling for offshore oil, on-shore oil. No more oil/gas refineries. Should cap and trade pass there will be no more coal industry as well. Basically there will be no more energy plants of any kind what so ever for the next several decades. However, there will be trillions tossed down the toilet for pie in the sky windmills, and solar panels that will gobble up huge sections of valuable land all in order to power one light bulb.
Dr. Hanson, the current outlaw administration is making danged sure that they bankrupt America and impoverish it’s people.