State Budget Battles Herald the Return of the Grown-Ups

Behold the return of the grown-ups.

Neither the first caucus nor first primary has been held. No Republican candidates have yet to declare formally. Who will face off against the union-label community organizer-in-chief? That’s not really important. Because the whole country recognizes that the presidential kick-off is taking place right now in state budget battles across the Midwest.

And Governor Scott Walker has already set the tone. Following in the wake of firm resolve set by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Walker is taking the tough stands long demanded by the people of the states — but conspicuously avoided by the adolescent debt-enabling politicians of both parties. On their heels, and soon to be spotlighted in the public psyche, are Governors Kasich and Daniels, among a swath of others.

During the last presidential election, we saw the most widespread adolescent display in American history. Throngs of wild-eyed fawners and fainters joined hands and chanted, “Yes we can march off this cliff,” as though there were no tomorrow. Formerly presumed intelligent media elites were reduced to a teenage-swoon mentality the minute Barack Obama entered their midst. A man with a postage-stamp sized resume held a majority of modern Americans enthralled with nothing more than teleprompted oratory, giddy-girl-crush syndrome, yellow-brick-road finance wizardry, and Jack-and-the-Beanstalk promises. And the whole Obama bag of fibs and tricks depended on that fantastical pot of gold over the rainbow actually being there.

Has ever such a nation of ninnies held such a public display of foolishness?

On the other hand, there is rarely a situation so dire that it doesn’t possess at least some semblance of a silver lining. For one thing, disastrous errors in presidential elections — thanks to that pesky old document, the U.S. Constitution — only last four years. It is very, very difficult for even the most ill-prepared, anti-American president to destroy the United States in such short order. (Remember Jimmy Carter.)

Secondly, the election of the “lightworker” has helped even the ninnies living for decades under union-held rocks in the rust belt understand our budget realities.

Now that Obama’s Clintonian triangulation has lasted for a nanosecond, the real adolescent Barack has once again emerged in full public view.  Following a back-against-the-wall compromise on tax rates and a somewhat-presidential speech in Tucson, our out-of-control teen in the White House produced another dream-scheme budget and tried to pass it off as “investments” for “winning the future.”

But there’s a limit to how many times the public can be fooled with lying rhetoric. The false heralds of  “stimulus” and “shovel-ready projects” and “jobs saved and created” have already sobered the fawning masses. Where two years ago they lunged towards the cliff, shouting “Yes we can,” they are now standing stalwart with heels firmly dug into the cliff’s edge, shouting “Stop before it’s too late!”

Obama got rid of his Animal-House press secretary and brought in a Carney-man who looks like he just started shaving a month ago. The guy famous for saying “words matter” seems to have never learned that symbols matter even more. And no matter who speaks to the press for Barack Obama, the image of the president playing a whole lot more than working is firmly planted in the national psyche.

Shooting hoops in the backyard. Playing golf at Martha’s Vineyard. Sipping Slurpees in flip-flops. Partying hardy while more and more Americans hit the unemployment lines. Jetting off to a beachside mansion in Hawaii, while telling other Americans to put their “skin in the game” and forego their vacations. Singing “Hey Jude” with an aged reprobate Beatle while troops die in battle at his command. Leading union pep rallies while states face union-forced insolvency. These are the symbols of the Obama presidency.

When candidate Hillary Clinton jabbed that Obama would have to “learn on the job,” she had no idea what an understatement that was. Obama’s real task was to grow up while on the job as president.

Well, the adolescent president of the adolescent fainters and fawners spent nearly his first two years playing pat-a-cake with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and high-fiving it in the Oval Office with Rahm and Axelrod. As they giddily pushed an already ailing economy further and further towards the cliff’s edge, this trio of out-of-control, head-in-the-clouds adolescents mocked and ignored the rising Tea Party. They passed their “big f***ing deal” ObamaCare in adolescent vainglory and awoke the citizenry from their chanting, drugged-up state.

Even now that sober-minded voters have put a set of brakes on Obama’s little socialist dune buggy, our adolescent in chief has quickly abandoned his Clinton mask for the more tantalizing delights of spending other people’s money.

Enter Governor Scott Walker and his fellow adults.

No, 2012 will look nothing like 2008.

At this point, I could not care less which Republican runs against our adolescent president.  As long as that person is a grown-up with a grown-up’s perspective on the presidency and has demonstrable experience to that effect, he or she will get my vote.

So, here’s my help-wanted ad for the next president of the United States of America:

Seeking the Anti-Celebrity. Despite the current president’s self-adulating love of a camera’s glow, this position requires a person willing to forgo talk-show gabfests in favor of long hours, hard work, and tough decision-making. Hollywood-celeb support and vast numbers of Facebook followers and fawning Twitter-tweeters will not serve as any applicant’s substitute for a fact-checked resume. Any applicant who inspires female fainting spells, mindless chanting, or banana-republic iconography will be immediately disqualified.

Executive Budget Experience Is Non-negotiable. The applicant for this position must demonstrate that he has (a) earned his own money, preferably in either his own business or profession, with at least some of his work experience not in the public sector, and (b) balanced his own family budget and not lived above his means on credit cards. The applicant will enhance his chances for hire with government experience at the local and state levels and a demonstrated background producing balanced budgets in an executive position.

Any governor who has successfully brought his state back from the brink of bankruptcy will move immediately to the front of the candidates’ queue.

Knowledge of the Foreign Policy/Money Connection a Definite Plus. A candidate for this position must demonstrate that he/she understands how a nation’s debtor status and trade imbalances weaken national security. A willingness to withhold aid to foreign nations who work against American interests is paramount.

Keen Awareness of the Economic/Energy Nexus a Double-Bonus. A demonstrated willingness to drill here and now will be a definite enhancement to the applicant’s prospects for hire. Americans no longer wish to be held hostage to every burp and belch in the OPEC world. Nor do they want to see their food prices inflate on that ethereal butterfly of ethanol.

And, finally, only genuine grown-ups need apply.