The Eternal Sunshine Of Obama's Spotless Mind

The ever so well-connected David Brooks mixes kind words and condemnation of Obama's budget, which he describes as "laughably inadequate compared with the fiscal problems before us".  He opens rather rudely:

Jonathan Alter wrote a book about Barack Obama’s first year in office called “The Promise.” That’s a great title because it works on so many levels. For example, over the past four years, Obama’s career has been marked by a constant promise: He has continually said he is on the verge of doing something serious abut the national debt.

Mr. Brooks then takes us back to 2006 and "The Audacity of Hope" and tracks Obama's enduring refrain over the next five years- the budget axe will come out tomorrow:

He started making the promise back when he was in the Senate. In “The Audacity of Hope,” published in 2006, he expressed alarm at the “mountain of debt” caused by $300 billion annual budget deficits. (They’re now $1.6 trillion.) During the presidential campaign, he pledged to put away childish things and tackle the tough budget issues.

During the transition, he said the time to act on the debt is now. “What we have done is kicked the can down the road,” he told The Washington Post. “We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further.” He said he would start a budget initiative in February 2009.

After the stimulus package passed, he and his aides said it would soon be time to turn to deficit issues. The same promise was made after health care reform. He made the pledge yet again at a press conference this week. Right now is not the time, the president always says, but tomorrow we will get serious.

But tomorrow never comes.

Yeah, yeah - Obama has gulled a lot of folks with his "thoughtful and concerned" shtick.  Now, on to the kind words (which should at least assure Mr. Brooks' continued access to the West Wing):

Two explanations are commonly offered to explain why the White House decided to kick the can down the road. Some analysts say the Democrats are trying for a repeat of 1995: Do nothing on the deficit; goad the Republicans into announcing entitlement cutbacks and then savage them on the campaign trail for cutting off granny.

I don’t believe this is in the president’s head. It would be morally reprehensible to bankrupt the nation for the sake of a campaign theme. Obama is not that sort of person.

Hmm, one might imagine it would be morally reprehensible to assure people falsely that if they like their health insurance, they can keep it under ObamaCare.  But let's play along and imagine that Mr. Brooks is a shrewd tactician trying to cajole the President rather than excoriate him:

The other explanation is that Obama is following the model of the 1983 Social Security deal. Be patient, the president argued at his press conference this week. If I lead from the front my proposal will get stymied in the partisan circus. Better to lead from the back and have negotiations in private with Republican leaders. Then when the time is ripe, we’ll cut a deal outside the glare of the scream machine.

The president and his aides may really believe in this strategy, but it is wrong. This is not like fixing Social Security in the early 1980s. The current debt problem is of an entirely different scale. It requires a rewrite of the social contract, a new way to think about how the government pays for social insurance.

The president has enormous faith in getting smart people around the table and initiating technocratic reform. But you can’t renegotiate the social contract in private. You have to have public buy-in. You have to spend years out in public educating voters about the size of the problem and what will be required. You have to show voters what a solution looks like.

Well, yes - this topic is big enough that Presidential leadership is required.  But who expects it?  After announcing a broad vision Obama flipped the keys to Nancy and Harry on his two signature issues of his Presidency, the stimulus bill and health care reform. 

As to the notion that re-writing the social contract requires public buy-in - uhh, first it requires Presidential buy-in.  Is there any evidence that Obama has left the 80's and his Euro-fascination behind?

 

Comments

[P]

As to Wisconsin:

The teachers at my kids school have spent the entire year teaching my kids it is bad to lie, you must live up to your commitments and they should not bully others.

Then my son watched the teachers in Wisconsin, lie repeatedly about why they weren't coming to work, didn't fullfil their commitments to do their jobs, and spent days bullying others to get their way.

Thanks for the do as I say, not as I do policy.

[Captain Hate]

I don’t believe this is in the president’s head. It would be morally reprehensible to bankrupt the nation for the sake of a campaign theme. Obama is not that sort of person.

Brooks has gotten the Indonesian Imbecile wrong every time he graces us with his opinion. Why should this be any different.

[Cecil Turner]

I don’t believe this is in the president’s head. It would be morally reprehensible to bankrupt the nation for the sake of a campaign theme. Obama is not that sort of person.

Bwaa haa haa. That's a good one! What? He's serious?!?

[Rob Crawford]

Brooks should just come out of the closet and admit his man-crush for Obama. No one will think any less of him. For one thing, it's just not possible.

[Janet]

I don’t believe this is in the president’s head.

But it is in the heads of the radicals that are directing him. I'm not sure there is much of anything in HIS head.
He's a believer & spokesperson for this leftist crap, but he's not the director...he's the actor.

[Extraneus]

Obama is not that sort of person.

Yeah, yeah. Aside from Brooks, a few remaining starstruck college students and the old hippies holding peace signs at the entrance to the mall, is there anyone out there who actually believes that Obama has the best interests of the country at heart? If so, could they please cite some evidence?

[Captain Hate]

So any hard hitting journalists like Brooks interested in how much BOzo shook Silicon Valley down for last night?

[fdcol63]

Obama promised to "fundamentally transform" America.

He's making good on THAT one.

Perhaps voters should have questioned the need for such a radical and "fundamental" transformation. This implied that America was so bad that minor tweaking to improve her wasn't adequate.

[Chubby]

((I don’t believe this is in the president’s head.))

No, it's in the smirk on his face whenever he proposes something he knows full well is outrageous.

[Jack is Back!]

Everyone see the Niall Ferguson smack down of BHO, his State department and every other political appointee in his administration that is even remotely connected to foreign policy? It is the most serious derision of The Won and his incompentency I have ever seen especially it coming from a columnist for Newsweek and a Harvard professor at that.

[clarice]

Fool me once , shame on you. Fool me twice , shame on me. Fool me to eternity, my name must be David Brooks.

[jimmyk]

the Niall Ferguson smack down of BHO

Yes, it even had me squirming a bit. No more faculty cocktail party invitations for Niall!

O/T, but the latest attack on Sarah is the claim that she attacked FLOTUS for advocating breastfeeding. Lawrence O'Donnell seemed to think he'd scored a great coup by finding a 2007 resolution by Sarah asserting the great benefits of breastfeeding. The only problem is, all Sarah did was allude to MO's campaign to make a joke about the high price of milk. She did not in the least criticize the message itself.

[centralcal]

Yeah, JiB, the Niall Ferguson clips are a beauty to behold - especially the looks of dismay and panic on the faces of Capehart, Geist and Halperin. You can see their glazed eyes as their brains try to engage and come up with some sort of "spin." They know his words are TRUE and ACCURATE and they've got nothing to counter with.

David Brooks. Not. worth. the. time.

[Extraneus]

Has anyone seen a clear summary of the WI Governor's powers regarding the situation?

Can he decertify the union? Fire the teachers for being AWOL?

[NK]

Who's David Brooks?

Anyways it's al quite simple: 1. Obamaniac is a hardcore Alinsky Leftist-- he believes it all; 2, Barry is also a dimwitted petulant muppet who can't organize a one man parade. Those two facts lead to the mass cnfusion that is the "Obama Administration". I've seen better organized riots.

[fdcol63]

Unions, especially public sector unions, are a menace.

If they continue to stage these large protests, there need to be large-scale counter protests held by people like Tea Partiers and others to demand that state legislatures do what they can to fix their state budgets, including actions that conflict with the selfish interests of the unions.

[Extraneus]

According to this website, which cites a Washington Examiner piece, Mitch Daniels de-certified Indiana public-sector unions on his first day in office.

On his first day Daniels reversed an executive order signed by a Democratic predecessor granting collective bargaining rights to state employees. Union membership plummeted overnight. “I think they were happy to have the extra thousand dollars that would have gone to dues,” Kitchell said. Decertifying the public-employees’ union has spared Indiana pressures that have crippled other state governments. Unhindered by union demands, the governor instituted a “pay for performance” scheme, rewarding state employees who met explicit goals with raises ranging from 4 percent to 10 percent. The salaries of underperforming employees stayed flat. No one was fired, but every time a job went vacant a supervisor had to justify hiring a replacement. The number of state employees has fallen from 35,000 to under 30,000, back where it was in 1982.

[Porchlight]

Last night DoT was looking for polling on WI - I've still not seen anything official, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online poll (which has been moved off the front page) is now running 60-40 in support of Walker's bill.

I didn't check it last night, but all day yesterday it was hovering around 53-55% support.

Here's the link:

http://www.jsonline.com/polls/116392154.html

[gk1]

I think obama's crew has got it in their heads they don't have any cards to play and can only hope the other side screws up. That's why they punted and expected the press to cover for him (like always)But lets face it, Obama doesn't have much going for him at this point he is a hostage to events since he is incapable of leading.

[Rocco]

I don’t believe this is in the president’s head. It would wouldn't be morally reprehensible to bankrupt the nation for the sake of a campaign theme a new world order.

This morning on FOX, Napolitano said the teachers are using the students as human shields. Great analogy!

[Captain Hate]

Lawrence O'Donnell seemed to think he'd scored a great coup by finding a 2007 resolution by Sarah asserting the great benefits of breastfeeding. The only problem is, all Sarah did was allude to MO's campaign to make a joke about the high price of milk. She did not in the least criticize the message itself.

Didn't crazy Larry get the memo that February was an "Ignore Sarah Palin" month? He must be off his meds again or got them confused with Sgt. Ed Schultz's pills.

[Jim Ryan]

TM, your indentation is wrong. You have put some of Brooks's words into your mouth.

I think the two explanations are either 1. Obama is a Cloward-Piven-style Marxist or 2. Obama is an ignoramus who thinks, without giving it much thought, that the rich can cover the bills for goal he admires, which is a socialist country in which the state is 70% of the economy.

No one has a clue which is true. I guess Stanley Kurtz thinks he's proven that #1 is true of Obama. I tend to think Obama left Marxism behind long ago and has been all about Obama for the last ten years or so. The narcissism was so powerful that it even vanquished the Marxist inside him. I tend to side with #2. But no one knows.

The Dems on Capitol Hill, and their voters, probably mostly fall under #2. Some fall under #1. The ignorant and the wicked.

[Porchlight]

at this point he is a hostage to events since he is incapable of leading.

Great way of putting it.

"Events, my dear boy, events."

[Jim Ryan]

NK and I converge on the truth independently.

[Rob Crawford]

I tend to think Obama left Marxism behind long ago and has been all about Obama for the last ten years or so.

I think you're partly correct and partly wrong. Obama has always been entirely about himself, and is a Cloward-Piven Marxist. What better way to aggrandize himself than to become a totalitarian dictator?

[Jim Ryan]

The lefties are saying that the teachers would gladly accept the cuts in bennies but only reject the loss of bargaining rights. I suppose the bargaining rights are precisely an indirect threat to the budget, to that the argument is baloney. But I'm not knowledgeable enough about these matters to know. Can anyone explain for me?

[Ranger]

What better way to aggrandize himself than to become a totalitarian dictator?

I don't think he wants that. It would be too much work. He wants to go down in history as the man who "transformed" the United States into a social democracy.

[Janet]

An article at Am. Thinker about the rent a mob in Wisconsin.

[narciso]

Judge Feldman, (you sure there's no relation)
slaps the administration down, in the LUN

[Ranger]

Actually, the bill doesn't do away with all collective barganing, it restricts it to just collective barganing over pay. That would leave the local districts free to cut any benifits they needed to ballance their budgets. Oh, and it is only a temporary measure. It sunsets in 2013, once the state budget is ballanced.

[Jack is Back!]

Jim Ryan,

I have, over the course of 3 years now, come to the conclusion that Obama is not smart enough to be any of the things we all accuse him of, only smart enough to know that mindless speeches with empty platitudes, promises and threats make his milk of hope and change taste better.

I believe Professor Ferguson had a liberal's epiphany and has suddenly realized that we elected a first class dolt. It won't be long for the others to do the same (at least the ones with more right brain cells than left side ones). Another illustration of inane stupidity is his getting involved in the Wisconsin public employees issue. This guy has no clue when to STFU because he thinks he has the media in his side and they will give him a pass for any idiocy he enacts both in words and actions.

I am now awaiting a new round of doubt and suspicion as to his political acumen when it comes to countering the mood of the Badger State.

[Henry]

The threat of bargaining rights for work rules & benefits is to local govt & school districts where the union brings in high powered negotiators to hammer the local yokels. If you can find Gov Walkers TV appearance from last night, he explains it pretty well.

[Captain Hate]

JiB, I don't think any of the JOMers bought into the pre-election MFM garbage about BOzo's vaunted intelligence. In fact I think most of us were hoping he wasn't quite as much of a dumbass as we strongly suspected for the good of the nation; and were disappointed in that as well.

[Ranger]

Speaking of Kurtz

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/260065/whos-polarizing-america-stanley-kurtz>Who’s Polarizing America?

A taste:

We are destined for still more polarization. Neither side can pull back, because the financial crunch is going to have to be resolved one way or another. We either scale back government and the power of public employee unions, or we move toward a structurally higher tax burden and a permanently enlarged welfare state. The very nature of the American system is now at stake. The emerging populist movements on both the right and left recognize this, and so cannot turn back from further confrontation.

Conservatives may win this battle, but they need to understand that the possibility of failure is real. As I’ve argued, Obama’s long-term strategy of class-based polarization and realignment can succeed. That is why he’s been willing to take tremendous short-term political risks. From Obama’s point of view, Wisconsin means that the risks have been worth it. With an activated movement of the left now ready to oppose the Tea Party, the permanent transformation of the country Obama has been after from the start is in prospect.

I personally think he is over reading this. I don't see the emergence of a left wing version of the Tea Party yet in all of this. To me this is a simple return to left wing union thuggery. The difference is that now, the vast majority of Amercians reject it. Even private sector union members are starting to reject it, and that is an important step forward.

[Jim Ryan]

JiB, I think Obama's statement that his budget balances inflows and outflows by the middle of the decade is evidence that you are right. The statement wasn't a lie because it was too easily disproved. It was sincere and ignorant.

Thanks, Henry, I'll look for that. Anyone have a link to Gov Walker's last-night remarks? In any event, are the lefties correct in separating the bargaining over work rules and benefits from state budget concerns?

[OldTimer]

Governor Walker is growing more steeled in his stance, thanks to the adorable antics of the DNC and Obama's union thugs...LUN

[NK]

JiB, Jim Ryan, me et al-- there seems to be a confluence of JOM opinion. Obamniac is a committed lefty, but to he's too self-absorbed and too stupid to understand the real world enough to actually implement his ideas. For Barry-- life is one long doper bull session in the student lounge. The republic will be lucky to survive the next 22 months.

[Ranger]

OT, but if this is true, then it is a very interesting development in Iran:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8331625/Irans-Revolutionary-Guard-pledges-to-hold-fire.html>Senior officers in Iran's Revolutionary Guards have written a letter to their commanding officer demanding assurances that they will not be required to open fire on anti-government demonstrators.

But in the letter, which is signed by senior officers commanding Guards units in Tehran, Qom, Isfahan and Tabriz, they urge Major Gen Jafari to "use your authority over the Basij to order them to leave their truncheons at home next time."

[fdcol63]

Ranger, I think you're right.

What we're seeing is a majority of Americans rejecting what Obama and the Left is trying to do.

But as this happens, the decreasing Left - including the unions - become more extreme in their ideology, and more vocal and violent in their protests.

It's not really more "polarization", but more extreme reaction by those that remain in the Left's camp.

[NK]

Ranger-- thanks for that OT link. IF TRUE-- that is a fascinating development. If the Rev Guards defend the people against the Basij.... the Mullahs will have to vacate the premises or they'll wind up like Mussolini.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 14 at Raz today.

Last night I saw Rove (I know, I know) saying there are 7.1 million unionized workers in the private sector and 7.6 million in the public sector.

There are over 100 million taxpayers--i.e. People who noy only file but who actually pay. The taxpayers at this point aren't nearly as focused or intense as the public employee unions, but the basics of the inherent conflict are gradually being brought to their attetion.

The governor does not have the power to arrest these guys in Illinois. Beyond that, I haven't seen a clear listing of what he can do.

[OldTimer]

For those inclined to send a note of encouragement to Wisconsin's stalwart Senators standing in the gap for us:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[Rob Crawford]

I don't think he wants that. It would be too much work.

I didn't say he wants to do the work. I think he wants the power.

[Henry]

The lefties are off base as usual. Something like 60% of the WI budget is employee costs. The next biggest piece is shared revenue sent to local govt and school districts. Without any leverage over benefits and work rules, the local govts have no ability to address their own budget shortfalls, which will be made worse because the state doesn't have the money to keep shared revenue at the current level. Walker's union provisions set the table for budget control at all levels.

[PD]

The teachers at my kids school have spent the entire year teaching my kids it is bad to lie, you must live up to your commitments and they should not bully others.

Then my son watched the teachers in Wisconsin, lie repeatedly about why they weren't coming to work, didn't fullfil their commitments to do their jobs, and spent days bullying others to get their way.

The perfect observation to counter any "it's for the children" crap.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

The lefties are saying that the teachers would gladly accept the cuts in bennies but only reject the loss of bargaining rights.

I say "tough shit". No compromise. I still think SkyWalker should fire the entire lot of them.

[OldTimer]

Be still my heart, from the WSJ:

"..Washington and Lincoln—those birthday boys—ought to be smiling.

The 112th House of Representatives spent the week debating how to fund the rest of fiscal 2011. In sharp contrast to his recent predecessors, Speaker John Boehner is sticking to his vow to make the chamber more open and accountable. His committee chairmen having presented a base spending bill, Mr. Boehner threw open the floor for full discussion. Some 600 amendments came pouring in." LUN

[Threadkiller]

100 million taxpayers, of which, 14.7 are union members. So much for the power of the people and the exercising of their right to vote. These are the same people that you think will save us from having a fraud for a President? I wish we had a better set of rules.

[Danube of Thought]

Powerline has a list of sites for following the Wisconsin stuff.

[Tollhouse]

Brooks approaches a conspiracy theory with the talk about secret plans and hidden machinations.

"You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan"

[Janet]

Maybe the Dems will spend all their money on these coordinated rent-a-mob shows....won't have as much for 2012?

[Ranger]

The thing about the Republican Guard letter is interesting because back in 2009, there were similar letter being sent by the officers in a lot of the regular army units that were declaring they would defend the protestors if the Republican Guard was deployed against them. That would have caused a civil war if it had happened. I'm not sure that the Republican Gaurd would win, and even if they did, it would cost them dearly to retake the major cities from the army and the population. If this letter is true, then it sounds like the senior commanders of the RG have decided they would rather take their chances with regime change, than have to fight the army to maintain control.

[Henry]

Danube -- second hand, but a colleague heard Walker on the radio this morning say that he and house leaders would spend today finding out what power they actually have. Until they publish a list, I don't think anybody knows what the gov can really do. The people I know with better insight / understanding of WI govt are not available this morning so I can't add anything concrete.

[Ranger]

Well, according to the WaPo, Obama is "all in" in Wisconsin:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021705494.html>Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill

Since Obama has decided to get personally involved in this, maybe he could tell the Dem state senators to show up for the vote.

[Jack is Back!]

Uh, oh. Getting desperate, are we? The last resort of libs is the invocation of Hitler. Sign at the Wisconsin rally:

[bgates]

I believe Professor Ferguson had a liberal's epiphany

Here's an excerpt of a speech Ferguson gave at the Hoover Institution in the summer of 2008:
Why America Needs McCain.

[fdcol63]

I always chuckle whenever I see liberal hippies driving Hitler's favorite car - the VW.

[bgates]

Brooks approaches a conspiracy theory with the talk about secret plans and hidden machinations.

Actual headline on Slate:
Assume a Budget Summit
Obama's spending plan is so timid, he must be working on a smarter plan we don't know about.

I don't see how he could have the time; he's still working on the smarter secret plan to restore the economy, the secret smart plan reform health care, and one must suppose they're fine-tuning John Kerry's plan to entice more allies into Iraq (remember that one?)

[Rick Ballard]

"Since Obama has decided to get personally involved in this"

Skinnerian (not Pavlovian) response. It contains all the elements which must lead one to consider Obama to be an end product of the type of indoctrination process which RSE has so ably described. Is he a Marxist? I would say yes but a completely unknowledgeable one. He lacks the intellect to generate more than a "peck the RED button" Skinner response to a particular stimulus. He has no sense of how wrong it is for a President to interject himself into local issues absent a clear violation of the Constitution. He's also too stupid to learn from the reaction to his blunders.

The budget presented by the President provides a clear rationale for the departure of his entire economic team over the past six months. At the moment, only the boot licking sycophant Goolsbe lacks the self respect to leave. Geithner provided all the evidence necessary yesterday that the President's proposed budget is just a political document which fully reflects the fact that the Indecider lacks any ability whatsoever as a leader. I don't see how that will help him politically at all.

[PD]

Lawrence O'Donnell seemed to think

Doubtful.

[Danube of Thought]

My take on Obama's budget--and I only settle on it because I can imagine no other--is that the dim-bulb sycophants around him think this thing has 1995 written all over it, and they think it will play out the same way. I think the climate today is far, far diffent.

[Captain Hate]

He has no sense of how wrong it is for a President to interject himself into local issues absent a clear violation of the Constitution. He's also too stupid to learn from the reaction to his blunders.

I think he's still clueless on how badly he stepped in it with his dumbass response to a non-leading question on Henry Louis Gates. In subsequent responses he seemed baffled that people were reacting as they did to his comments. That was the first event that revealed the depths of his stupidity. Unfortunately it wasn't an isolated event.

[MayBee]

DoT- they must want a government shutdown, no?

One huge point being left out of much of this is the Democrats had every ability to pass this year's budget the way they wanted it MONTHS ago.

[MayBee]

Oh, and a ha ha h aha ha to clarice
and
snap! to PD

[Jack is Back!]

bgates,

Thanks for that. I was thinking since it was the cover of Newsweek that he had to be a lib coming to his senses. I guess even Newsweek can scatter a few crumbs for increased circulation from time to time.

[Sandy Daze]

18 Feb 11
Baghdad

I think the best take I have seen on the budget is an excellent piece from the Chicago Boyz, along with its many updates. Two excerpts:

Obama is not “failing to lead” as some people are claiming. That is all wrong.

All suggestions to that effect are all wrong. Obama knows exactly what he is doing.

Obama is setting up a confrontation and he plans to win.

Obama is betting that he can force the GOP to make their proposed cuts, which he can blame them for, which he can truthfully say he does not support. Then he can attack the Republicans for making the cuts. He will appeal to the people who are suffering from the cuts, and strip away GOP support. They will be angry and mobilized.

Obama then plans to force the GOP into a funding crisis just as Clinton did. Obama plans to destroy the GOP reform wave of 2011 just as Clinton destroyed the GOP reform effort in 1995.

and

Cool: Stanley Kurtz link, mostly agreeing with me. He says my “vision of permanent Republican meltdown is overdrawn.” Maybe so. But I would rather the GOP and the Tea Party overestimate the hazard of the coming confrontation with Obama than not be aware it exists, as seemed to be the case in the initial round of responses to Obama’s budget proposal. Obama’s budget is not a failure of leadership, or a lack of imagination, or something that happened in a fit of absence of mind. It is a deliberate political play, with a goal of creating useful issues for 2012, breaking up and defeating the GOP opposition, reversing 2010, getting reelected, and continuing to expand the power and scope of government. Will it work? I hope not. But if we take it seriously for what it is, the odds of it working are greatly reduced. (I very much want to read Kurtz’s book Radical-in-Chief, but right now the pile of books in front of it is ceiling-high.)

No retreat, no surrender.

The socialists in our midst must be confronted at every step. More thoughts to follow re WI.

Take good care,
Sandy

[Chubby]

(( He has no sense of how wrong it is for a President to interject himself into local issues absent a clear violation of the Constitution. He's also too stupid to learn from the reaction to his blunders.))

I don't think it makes much difference whether he knows what is proper or not because lefties like him are not governed by normal human boundaries. They are mostly juvenile in mentality and revel in rule breaking.

[Anonymous Observer]

Is Mr. Brooks one of those people who does not dare to admit to himself that the first AfAm President may not be a good President?

AfAms and liberals in general need to take a deep breath and get over it. There will be more AfAm Presidents -- this clown is only the first -- all the others can't help but be far better.

[NK]

SandyD-- thanks for the links. That is what Obamaniac is doing -- he only listens to Mooshelle and Jarrett. People like Daley, Geithner Lew and Goolsby are only there to talk to whitey. Why will they fail? same reason they did in 1968, and 1938, this is a center-right country. Yes the welfare machine is bigger than ever, but it has run out of money. Lefties are only successful in this country when they convince Indy voters they are not Lefties-- see Bill Clinton. When Lefties come out and force a publc confrontation, they lose. I pray, that continues, but we have to back up our prayers with vigilance.

[Chubby]

PD you have been on fire lately.

[Rob Crawford]

The last resort of libs is the invocation of Hitler.

I disagree. It is usually their second option, after "racism".

And they're lying about Hitler. As a man of the left, Hitler adored unions. He loved anything that collectivized and regimented society, particularly when it was fraught with violence.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I think Kurtz article is absolutely chilling. This is a battle we must win.

[Jim Ryan]

Barry is our first rabble-rouser president.

[Neo]

Sens. Joe Lieberman, Tom Carper and Susan Collins introduced a cybersecurity reform bill that explicitly prohibits the president from shutting down the Internet. The Cybersecurity Freedom Act of 2011, introduced late Thursday, is nearly identical to the legislation introduced last year by the trio, except for two changes. First, it adds language explicitly stating the president can't shut down the Internet. Second, it includes language permitting the owners of assets deemed critical infrastructure by the federal government — and therefore subject to additional Department of Homeland Security regulations — to appeal that decision in a federal court.

Funny how Egypt proved the "impossible"

[Jack is Back!]

The last resort of libs is the invocation of Hitler.

I disagree. It is usually their second option, after "racism".

Rob,

Must not be many blacks in those teacher unions in Wisconsin since having a white governor would have been perfect to invoke your first choice. I am surprised since it has been my experience that employed AfAm's are over represented in public employment than private employment even in Wisconsin, I'd suspect.

Do you think they missed an opportunity or were they waiting for The Won to step in the s**t first?

[Frau Nasevoll]

I tend to think Obama left Marxism behind long ago and has been all about Obama for the last ten years or so. The narcissism was so powerful that it even vanquished the Marxist inside him.
Jim, I agree that the ideology is merely the means for Obama to strut across the stage in grand style, but that specific means was made for him by his foster father in Hawaii. Louis Eugene Walcott didn't make it as a musician but as leader of the Muslim Nation. Algore was lousy as a politician but reached his pinnacle as the Goracle.

[Frau Nasevoll]

"Hitler abolished unions. Look it up"

Sigh...Howard Zinn's lies live on. My husband reminds me that Onkel Adolf incorporated (forced) the unions into the Partei. Even Wiki can enlighten the dumbest among us:

"The German Labour Front (German: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF) was the National Socialist (Nazi) trade union organisation which replaced the free and diverse Weimar Republic trade unions that Adolf Hitler outlawed on 2 May 1933, after his rise to power.
...
. The organisation, by its own definition, combated capitalism, liberalism, but also revolution against the factory owners and the national socialist state. The DAF however did openly prefer to have large companies nationalised by the German state, instead of privately owned companies.

DAF membership was theoretically voluntary, but any workers in any area of German commerce or industry would have found it hard to get a job without being a member."

[Foo Bar]

Some analysts say the Democrats are trying for a repeat of 1995: Do nothing on the deficit; goad the Republicans into announcing entitlement cutbacks and then savage them on the campaign trail for cutting off granny.

I concede that Obama hasn't done much on the deficit yet, but how could this be referred to as a "repeat of 1995"? Clinton got the 1993 tax hike passed (which zero Republicans voted for). It's ridiculous to imply that the Clinton administration had done nothing on the deficit up until 1995.

[Jim Ryan]

How did the 1993 tax increase help with the deficit, Foo Bar?

[Ranger]

I seem to remember Clinton yammering about why he had to veto the Republican budget in 1995 "They want me to ballance the budget in 5 years. I can't do it. Maybe in 7 years, but not in 5 years." That was, of course after he had promised to ballance the budget in 5 years during the 1992 election cycle.

[Ignatz]

--Clinton got the 1993 tax hike passed (which zero Republicans voted for). It's ridiculous to imply that the Clinton administration had done nothing on the deficit up until 1995.--

After that tax hike was passed Clinton still projected $1-200 billion deficits "as far as the eye could see" and the growth in government revenue attributable to the 1993 tax hikes was a tiny fraction of that projected by Clinton. The capital gains tax cuts and the dramatic slowdown in government spending after the 1994 elections are what accomplished what Clinton claimed couldn't be done.

[Jim Ryan]

Plus, are you feeling okay, Foo Bar? Although normally nit-picky and inaccurate, your post wasn't as passive-aggressive toward TM as usual.

[daveinboca]

Didn't David Brooks have a "tingles" moment with the crease on Obama's immaculately tailored trousers? What is it with the homoeroticism that girly men like DB & Matthews have with Obama's cafe-au-lait skin & clothing? Sick on the face of it. Brooks is one very strange pendulum of a person.

[Pagar]

Are illegal aliens being rushed out of the country to avoid testimony about the guns used in killing of Border Patrol Agent?

LUN

[daveinboca]

"the Niall Ferguson clips are a beauty to behold - especially the looks of dismay and panic on the faces of Capehart, Geist and Halperin. You can see their glazed eyes as their brains try to engage and come up with some sort of "spin." They know his words are TRUE and ACCURATE and they've got nothing to counter with.

I've read five Ferguson books, including two on international finance and banking, and the glazed looks might be a function of a giant mind confronting pygmies who dwell in the jungle swamps of liberal retardation.

Geist and Halperin are the sort of repartee wizards who do very well with ordinary mortals, but Ferguson is used to squashing these insects under his heels. MessNBC should have an adult during these sessions and Joe Scarface is the closest reasonable facsimile. Guess he couldn't make it that day.

[centralcal]

daveinboca: Oh, no - your guess is wrong. Joe "Scarface" was there, sitting beside Mika. Mika started the questioning and did her best to counter Niall in the beginning. Joe joined her at the very end to agree that things in Egypt went very well.

[jimmyk]

I've read five Ferguson books, including two on international finance and banking, and the glazed looks might be a function of a giant mind confronting pygmies who dwell in the jungle swamps of liberal retardation.

I haven't read as much as that, partly because I thought he was a bit out of his league when talking about economics. But he seems much stronger on foreign relations.

[Foo Bar]

the growth in government revenue attributable to the 1993 tax hikes was a tiny fraction of that projected by Clinton.

Are you interested in supporting this claim with a link?

[Foo Bar]

Another question for you, Ig:

I assume you approve of the "dramatic slowdown in government spending after the 1994 elections" and attribute it mostly to Republican congressional restraint?

[bgates]

I concede that Obama hasn't done much on the deficit yet

Not true! He's tripled it, and from a base that used to be an all-time high.

[Michael]

As far as what is on Obama's mind, I suppose it is that disaster leads to state control and that's fine. Whatever, his retirement plan is OK. Actually this may be a twofer for the republic. We get the AfAm presidency thing out of the way and realize that magic Marxist ponies don't exist.

I don't really criticize the Egypt thing so much other than sending out the Welcome Wagon folks to the Muslim brotherhood. Niall's rhetoric was a hoot though. Obama's policy was 'flip followed by flop' and 'I am not George Bush is not a foreign policy.' Niall was apparently expecting more as a 2009 preinaugural article in the Financial Times indicated.

[BD57]

Brooks' faith in "smart people" is so touching .... as if the people who created this mess weren't considered "smart."

The issue, David, is the MOTIVES of the people in the room, not their intelligence.