It's The Economy, Stupid

The Politico tells us that Obama's next State of the Union will focus on jobs and deficit reduction:

President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.

The president's plan, which the officials said was under discussion before this month’s Democratic election setbacks, represents both a practical and a political calculation by this White House.

Interesting - I don't think we will have a health reform bill by year-end or the end of January, so presumably Obama will need to plump for that as well.  Cap and trade is back on the back-burner, which was always likely given the political calendar.

Joe Weisenthal of The Businiess Insider reveals his dark heart:

Obama To Announce "War On Deficits" At The State Of The Union

...

We wonder if this will be the first SOTU ever that's explicitly being written with a Chinese audience in mind. It certainly is no coincidence, or at least we don't think it is, that this leak came out just as the President embarks on a big bond-selling trip to Asia.

Hopefully our lenders don't examine our track record every other time we announce a "War on..." (drugs, poverty, obesity, etc.), let alone actual, real wars (Iraq, Afghanistan).

Ouch.  Can we add the "War on Fox" to that list?  Not to mention the Gitmo closing.

We can hardly wait for next year - Obama will give a lofty, aspirational speech in January, the Usual Suspects will swoon, everything will be delegated to Pelosi, Reid, and persons unknowns, and next September Dems will be wondering where the jobs (and the polls) are.  My goodness, this is even tougher than getting the asbestos out of Altgeld Gardens.

Comments

[Aubrey]

What's next, the War on Dithering? Coming Soon to a TelePrompter Near You.

[Thomas Collins]

So PrezzO is becoming serious about jobs? That must mean he's going to propose to Congress that the Bush tax cuts become permanent, and announce that ObamaCare will contain no new taxes.

[vinman]

legislative setbacks for Cap & Trade and Health Care Reform will be spun as "wins" in the battle against the deficit!

See? Progress.

[Tollhouse]

What are the limits of American credulity?

[PD]

OT: At the coffee shop this morning, a woman came in wearing a large belt. It was oh so, mmm mmm mmm, flattering -- not.

Guess who I thought of?

[Sue]

Tollhouse,

About 52%.

[PD]

Perhaps the next agenda item will be the President's War on the President Lying to the American People. Why not eliminate entirely the time lag between making a statement at one time and then lying to us about it later?

[Rob Crawford]

So PrezzO is becoming serious about jobs? That must mean he's going to propose to Congress that the Bush tax cuts become permanent, and announce that ObamaCare will contain no new taxes.

Nah. They'll announce a new tax on companies that don't hire.

[Melinda Romanoff]

This is sooo 1934. Raise taxes to really kill everything off. Oh, that's right, if they do it with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Rahm cam blame it all on Bush, again.

Same mistakes all over again.

[PD]

I'm trying to think of an administration where every utterance, from the President on down through all members of his administration, was such a carefully crafted message of deceit. Has there ever been anything comparable?

[Porchlight]

From Rasmussen:

Reports indicate that the president will focus extensively on deficit reduction in the 2010 State of the Union Address. Deficit reduction was one of the priorities outlined by the President in an address to Congress last February. Voters have consistently cited deficit reduction as the most important of the President’s stated priorities. At the same time, voters consider it the least likely to be achieved.

The nerve of this guy.

Approval at -10.

[Melinda Romanoff]

PD-

Yes, Clinton was pretty close.

[BR]

Oh, Aubrey, that was funny!
Dithering Heights.

[anduril]

Bravo to TM for including this part of the quote:

Hopefully our lenders don't examine our track record every other time we announce a "War on..." (drugs, poverty, obesity, etc.), let alone actual, real wars (Iraq, Afghanistan).

"Ouch!" indeed. And we could include the War on a supposedly too low rate of home ownership, while we're at it.

[PaulL]

Ibama didn't even follow through on the puny 100 million dollars that his Cabinet found could be, theoretically of course, cut from assorted programs. 'Nuff said.

[megapotamus]

The War on Fox is over. It was not "won" but ended... by the complete capitulation of Team Barry! I can't believe you don't check Drudge but you might have missed that the TOTUS himself has booked an interview with no less a propagandist than Major Garrett; I mean, this guys first name is a military rank! How much more tea-baggy can one get? Well, it is interesting how this went down since, as far as I can tell, the war was unilateral; only the Obies were pulling their triggers but the guns proved to be loaded with blanks. The Ship of Fox stayed on its same old same old. The only effect seems to be that Fox made better steam, having accrued a 10% or so ratings bump leaving O-allies like MSNBC, Dowd, CNN and the other multitudinous Lefties dragooned into the Media Summit like the South Vietnamese were dropped by Nixon. Anita Dunn has decamped for parts unknown. Perhaps, like Goebbels, she sought a separate peace. In any event, Obama sued to be allowed unconditional surrender but Murdoch held out for some conditions. There is no emoticon for what I am feeling but this comes close {:-0)HA)!!!!

[megapotamus]

The moral is, read the link first. But then I wouldn't have a hook for that Goebbels thing. Tragedy averted through ignorance. Progress.

[anduril]

via Powerline:

"A plurality of likely voters, 45 percent, now consider President Obama's handling of the economy to be "poor," Scott Rasmussen finds. That includes 52 percent of men; most notably, independents (so far, at least) are breaking decisively against the President's economic policies."

and via Clusterstock:

"Calculated Risk points to a couple of stories suggesting that new ideas are being cooked up right now, which will be more explicity identifiable as further stimulants.

"First, Harry Reid is introducing a new Jobs Bill according to The Hill. What the heck will it do? No idea, but it sounds good, and it will involve money. And, Obama will have business leaders over to The White House for a "brainstorming session" on jobs creation, which, frankly, is really silly and childlike sounding.

"The session will probably involve folks like Larry Ellison and Jeff Immelt "brainstorming" all kinds of wonderful new tax credits to spur hiring, R&D, and anything else for which the government might pick up the tab."

Me again: IOW, more money thrown at big business by big government. Paid for by the taxpayer putting the taxpayer on the hook for more debt.

[PD]

And, Obama will have business leaders over to The White House for a "brainstorming session" on jobs creation, which, frankly, is really silly and childlike sounding.

Schoolmarm-in-Chief Obama convenes *yet another* small group.

[anduril]

Here is a defense of sorts of bureaucracies in general and of the Army in particular re Fort Hood from the Counterterrorism Blog: Bureaucracy, Culture & Ft. Hood Attacks. My question is, Granted that it's difficult to fire a major, what was being done before he became a major--which was only earlier this year, I believe? Surely a guy as deviant as this came to people's attention for sub par performance long ago? Was there a premium on retaining people like him that discouraged earlier, hard-eyed, realistic appraisals?

[megapotamus]

A small group around a BIG table. See, this is the missing element. Ross Perot must be spinning in someone's grave!

[sbw]

On CSPAN yesterday I clicked by SEIU's Andrew Stern sweatily pontificating with full charts and graphs about the relative disparity of income between the richest rich and the poorest poor comparing the 1930s to the recent past.

The man has his charts and graphs, and charts and graphs don't lie. (Heh!) His charts may be "true" but they are not useful, misrepresenting the context of the information. He doesn't chart increasing quality of life at all. We have to get people to laugh at his pseudo-science.

We need to compose our own charts and graphs to counter his. Amongst those I would propose would the the "Power Index" which represents how much worse all Americans are when the power elite usurps your liberty.

It would chart, for instance, that 1st century Romans worked 2 days each year for the government. Now citizens work well into May and getting worse.

Another chart would rate control: Control would increase whenever government took something from you, controlled giving it to you, or regulated what you could do in your own business or home. Imaging that hockey stick graph during Democratic administrations.

[clarice]

There is no limit on nicely packaged deceit..It's why Mr PUK and I made out so well over the past few years . Even now operating in a far away unnamed island, the checks keep rolling in.

[anduril]

sbw, like many, i enjoy viewing the beautiful homes of the wealthy, and laughing at those that exhibit bad taste, but i experience no envy--i have nothing to complain about in the quality of my life. apparently, however, stern is able to appeal to the crasser emotions (class envy) of a certain portion of the population that, unfortunately, sometimes makes a difference in elections.

[sbw]

As someone noted, fascism used to represent a rightist extreme of the political spectrum but the current administration in its quest for power as metamorphosed into "Compassionate Fascism."

[Porchlight]

sbw,

I have never understood the left's attachment to the income inequality argument. Compared to the poor of 1935, the poor of today are solidly middle class. All boats have been lifted to an extent rarely seen before in history...but still they focus on the gap. It's nonsensical.

[Janet]

Reminds me of a statement in one of Dinesh D'Souza's books....something like...I want to live in a country where the poor people are fat. The speaker was from India and wanted to come to America.

[hit and run]

Clarice:
There is no limit on nicely packaged deceit..It's why Mr PUK and I made out so well over the past few years . Even now operating in a far away unnamed island, the checks keep rolling in.

I got a kick out of this (wish the PUK thread was still open).

Checking sitemeter for my blog, I noticed the visit below.

Location
Continent : Asia
Country : Saudi Arabia
State/Region : Ar Riyad
City : Riyadh
Time of Visit : Nov 13 2009 9:46:05 am
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Visitor's Time Nov 13 2009 6:46:05 pm

That's right. PUK's timeless quotes are helping attract to my blog Saudi Arabian's looking for videos of fat sexy women.

He's just that good.

[sbw]

Porch: It's nonsensical.

Yes. But that does not stop the Andy Sterns from acting like Billy Flynn, dragging that manufactured sob story past the gullible Mary Sunshines of the "Chicago" press.

[Porchlight]

Yes, Janet! That is a great quote. I think it's from What's So Great About America. The only reason I can guess that is because it's the only D'Souza book I've read. ;)

[clarice]

It's super duper grand. Just wish our darling were here to laugh at it with us.

sbw write up those charts and make a video--You could wear my latest creation--a T shirt saying "Aride ye prisoners of Salvation"

[Porchlight]

sbw,

I know. And even sensible people fall for it. I tried to argue with my mom about it once and she said I sounded like Marie Antoinette. I suppose maybe I did, in comparison to her emotional argument that "we need to do something" about the poor people.

Sometimes I think the hand wringers that insist that "we need to do something" are more dangerous to the republic than any other citizens.

[Extraneus]

Jonah Goldberg did a fairly thorough take-down of that "fascism used to represent a rightist extreme of the political spectrum" meme, sbw, and made your same exact point in his book, Liberal Fascism (complete with the smiley face).

Mussolini and Hitler were admirers of socialists and communists, and Hitler's national socialism became Nazism. Fascism is a leftist ideology.

[Rob Crawford]

Compared to the poor of 1935, the poor of today are solidly middle class.

Compared to the insanely wealthy through most of history, the poor of today live in indescribable luxury.

[narciso]

You should find his Reagan bio, it's short but quite good. Stern was SDS no, which goes
to show you, they never go away. Then again once upon so was Larry Kudlow.

[Original MikeS]

Before the latest recession started, the deficit was down to $158 Billion in the year 2007, give or take.

Now that the recession is over, shouldn't the deficit return to that level without Obama doing anything? In fact, since the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire, wouldn't we have a surplus if Obama had done nothing at all?

[sbw]

Porch: "'we need to do something' about the poor people.'"

Try this, Porch:

Mom, I admire that you are so compassionate you would steal from someone else, not to solve problems, but to put the poor out of your sight for a month.

Next month, Mom, with no better job skills, the poor will still be beholden to the power elite who will steal from rich and poor, another month's control.

What can we work together to do differently?

[qrstuv]

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to quadruple the deficit and then declare a goal of reducing the deficit.

How stupid do these guys think we are?

[Porchlight]

That's good, sbw. I'm guessing that her reply might be "a pox on both their houses" or the equivalent. (I have long been convinced that is Dem-speak for "you won the argument but I'm not going to admit it.")

[Original MikeS]

The Dems popularized the concept of asking where the 'projected' surpluses went.

It seems appropriate to raise the same question now. It doesn't require any high level math to project what the surpluses would have been if we had not become the victims of Obamanomics.

Where has all that money gone? Those missing surpluses have gone into creating a massively larger federal government/ACORN partnership that will ultimately make all our decisions for us.

[Rob Crawford]

How stupid do these guys think we are?

Well, they did get elected. I think they have good reason to think we're immensely stupid.

[Jane]

Received in email"

There will be no Nativity Scene in Washington this year! The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene in the United States Capital this Christmas season. This isn't for any religious reason. They simply have not been able to find Three Wise Men in the Nation's Capitol. A search for a Virgin continues. There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

[glasater]

In the eighties when I was a pretty active young republican a person had to work until and through to mid June to pay the obligation to the government.

[centralcal]

LMAO - Jane!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Lou Dobbs walked away over 4 month stew on "birth dertificate stories". Guess who was defending the inquiries? (LUN, from Drudge, and yes, I know it's the NY Post)

[PaulL]

Ibama promised to go through the budget line by line to cut waste. It's going on a year now. How is that coming along?

[Tom Bowler]

Porchlight,

I have never understood the left's attachment to the income inequality argument. Compared to the poor of 1935, the poor of today are solidly middle class. All boats have been lifted to an extent rarely seen before in history...but still they focus on the gap. It's nonsensical.

What other argument in favor of income redistribution would the left have if they admit that the gap between the rich and poor is meaningless? You wouldn't, by chance, be accusing the left of any sort of honesty, would you?

[MayBee]

Guess who was defending the inquiries?

I don't understand this question in relation to the article you linked.

[glasater]

It appears that Dobbs wanted to go the "opinion route" where inquiries into the birth certificate issue would be aired.

[MayBee]

Dobbs had already aired inquiries into the birth certificate issue.

He made it clear that it was his opinion that US citizens should have a way to verify the citizenship of those running for office. He didn't think it was right that people asking for that verification should be called whackos.
He didn't think Obama was born in another country.

He went through it months ago.

[Porchlight]

You wouldn't, by chance, be accusing the left of any sort of honesty, would you?

Moi? Perish the thought! :)

[glasater]

Fox News has been pretty successful going the opinion route......

I'll take a stab and suggest that Dobbs goes to Bloomberg--down the road. He's got to keep his "thang" going:)

[MayBee]

He might, glasater.

Fox and MSNBC have both gone the opinion route, and I think it is wise of CNN to try to take the middle ground (if there is an audience for it).
I liked Lou mostly because he didn't carry water for a party. He was a party of one.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Maybee-

I got the inference from that article that he couldn't stand being told by the higher ups to "drop it", and it had been eating at the relationship since July. I was admiring journalistic integrity over editorial control. I didn't know about about his stand on the subject due to self-imposed ignorance of CNN broadcasting in general.

So it was new to me in that respect.

[Rick Ballard]

When the President begins lying in the SOTU the 2010 budget will be about 1/3 spent. If the current month's deficit repeats (and it will) then the deficit will be at between $500 and $600 billion before he tells the first lie of the evening. The RNC should consider putting up 'clocks' showing deficits incurred and job losses since the Obama/Pelosi Democrat Job Killers took control of Congress in January '07.

[Neo]

The parallels between this White House's infatuation with deficits mirrors the infatuation of most crack users.
They swear they can stop anytime, and they know it's bad to continue, but they continue just the same.

[Dave Johnson]

Just to be clear, Bush's last budget just ended in October. The huge deficit was from that budget, only 7% was from the stimulus spending that had started by then.

[bad]

Dave, when did Bush sign the budget you are referencing?

[kyle]

So we can have a WAR on deficits, but not a WAR on terror. Maybe some blithering idiot at the WH can coin a new phrase for the deficit thing so it doesn't seem so harsh. Maybe "Domestic Spending Contingency Operation" (or "DSCO" for short.

[BR]

Wow, Melinda, thanks for the Lou Dobbs link. I hadn't watched CNN in the past four years either. A man of integrity at CNN? Insisting that Obama be vetted. Wow. What bad PR positioning for CNN.