This article is a must read: "Obama's Broken Promises Were Entirely Predictable." For my part I must say he has already exceeded my worst fears. Certainly he has proven that every one of my concerns about him were fully justified. At this rate, he is going to be a one-term president. If he continues to get worse, and the Congress follows him, next year's congressional elections could be extremely interesting. Obama is making Bill Clinton's first few years look positively masterful. If you want to know why the stock market is still in the dumps, this article explains it. And we shouldn't be surprised: "What could anyone have possibly expected from a young, overtly leftist Chicago upstart who had accomplished precisely nothing of significance throughout his short career — and yet still promised the world, and more, to his loyal adherents?"
To add outrage to the story, we now learn that "after pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $878 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway. He's not expected to sign the bill until Tuesday."
By far the largest, most expansive and pork-laden spending bill by any measure in the history of this country, and Congress spent only a few days debating it and not a single member of Congress or the public had the chance to read the bill before it was passed. This is truly outrageous. Let's see some outrage, people!!
How about some outrage toward members of Congress whose sycophantic after the fact mentality coupled with all shareholders of US corporations who voted with their inflated net worth assets? I do not think Obama invented this stimulus plan, nor do I think that anyone in DC including all the analysts, reporters and pundits can state with certainty what the outcome of this huge package will entail. It's like a Hail Mary pass down into the endzone and ten receivers are standing down there, and in four years, we will see if one of them caught the ball.
ReplyDeleteObama sure didn't invent that stimulus bill, he let Pelosi & Co. do it, and they really messed up. But there's no Hail Mary pass because this bill doesn't have an ounce of stimulus in it. What we will have is a whole lot more government bureaucrats on the field.
ReplyDeleteTherapist: this faux stimulus bill -- porkulus -- is the combined wisdom and action of Obama and the Dems in Congress. Yes, most of the bill is Congress's doing, but do you think that the White House was not deeply involved with the strategy, the planning, and most importantly the public lobbying for its passage? They are in this together all the way, and both ends of Pennsylvania Ave now own this monstrosity.
ReplyDeleteIf the economy improves despite this bill, then they will get the credit, however unfair. If things don't improve in obvious ways by the midterm elections next year, Obama and Co will get the blame, and you could (should!) see dramatic losses in Democratic seats.
Still sounds like monday morning quarterbacking to me, I mean, where were all the naysayers while this was being debated; Obama is using his populist pulpit to gain support which drives the conservatives crazy; but where were all the better ideas over the past six months, in hiding? Nothing is destined to work except time, and if we throw ten things at the wall, maybe one will stick, maybe not, but no one has come up with any guarantees. And anyone from the bottom of the heap to the highest office is crazy if they think they know.
ReplyDeleteThere were plenty of people offering suggestions, but Pelosi and Reid were not interested in listening. It's obvious that their only objective to was to advance their own agenda. This is not a stimulus bill, it is a laundry list of all their pet projects.
ReplyDeleteThanks Scott for your impressions here. I guess that 95 percent of the emails coming in to Obama and Congress were asking for action swift and deliberate. All the debate in the world could have produced a more direct hit to jump start the economy, but then the complaint would have been, "It took them too long and they hemmed and hawed". I still think it all boils down to a hail mary and only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteWhen no one seems to know what to do, we should at least entertain the possibility that doing nothing is the right choice. The logic of this stimulus bill was that something must be done, and this is something, so this must be done.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing is pathetic, but let's recall that the TARP and the first ridiculous "stimulus" plan (from early 2008) occurred on President Bush's watch, as did the explosion in entitlement spending and the disappearance of the only balanced budgets that anyone under the age of 40 is likely ever to see. Part of the reason the Democrats get such a long leash on this one is because the other team screwed things up to a fare-thee-well.
Nothing was most likely the best alternative. And Bush and the Republicans did indeed make a mess of things and deserved to lose. Too bad though that the victors were Pelosi, Reid, Frank, and Dodd. They are well on their way to messing things up even worse.
ReplyDeleteNeither party will ever be able to complain about deficits again. Who is going to lead us out of this mess?
I think the collective American People are going to lead us out of this mess, by realizing the business of America is business; coming off the binge of private interest it is no surprise that the next chapter will be public service, perhaps even compassion and understanding. I know....that is a leap of faith, but in the end, the opposite of faith is fear, and that didn't work very well over the past eight years.
ReplyDeleteObama blew it big time in only his first few days in office.
ReplyDeletePelosi and Reid need adult supervision and they arent getting any from team Obama.
He has already broken at least half of the promises he made during the campaign.
I wonder when the drooling, sychophantic, love-struck lap-dog media will start to turn on him and actually start challenging him on his large and growing list of broken promises? I dont think he is equiped to deal with anything other than a complaint and fawning press pool.
Therapist -- are you channeling Rosie O'Donnell? The opposite of faith is fear? Show us how it's fear to rationally respond to national security threats by demonstrating resolve and will. Screw-ups in implementation, yes, but fear? Please.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you're talking about domestic policy, the Bush administration was nothing if not drunk on happy talk, compassionate conservatism nonsense, and an outrageous spending spree that set the state for huge Republican losses in '06 and '08 and the new spending spree that dwarfs all others in history. What fear?