Why, It's Almost as if the Last Two Years were Smoke and/or Mirrors

President Obama in October, as reported by CBS News: “With unemployment hovering near 10 percent nearly two years after President Obama signed his economic stimulus package, Mr. Obama is acknowledging that, despite his campaign promises, ‘there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.'”

Actual New York Times headline, today: “Why Green Energy Can’t Power a Job Engine.”

Dick Cheney, quoted yesterday by The Hill: “I think [Obama’s] learned that what we did was far more appropriate than he ever gave us credit for while he was a candidate. So I think he’s learned from experience. And part of that experience was the Democrats having a terrible showing last election.”

What happens next?

Headline on Yahoo’s Tech Ticker today, “Barack Obama’s Latest Mission: Get Rid of Regulations That Are ‘Just Plain Dumb.'”

So he’ll be championing the repeal of ObamaCare, calling for a ban on the upcoming ban on incandescent bulbs and allowing additional coal plants and domestic oil production to reduce energy prices for consumers any day now, right?

And at Ricochet, Rob Long spots a change in the zeitgeist, if you’ll permit me to take back a word that’s been badly tarnished over the past week:

I connect the dots this way:  the culture is turning away from soft.  It’s turning away from sociology degrees, feel-good parenting, sagging schools, and political daydreaming.  It’s turning back to toughness.

If I were running for president, I’d make note of that.

Rob links to a video that’s an “artifact from the 2008 campaign — barely three years old — and it somehow seems hilariously dated, like leisure suits and hippie chicks who say ‘groovy.'”

How is that hopey-changey stuff working out for you these days?