Left Starts to See BO Reality

What Happened to Obama’s Passion? - NYTimes.com

There is a reasonable set of quotes here that indicate that a true whacked out rabid lefty is actually starting to see some of the reality if the BO story:

"This pattern of presenting inconsistent positions with no apparent recognition of their incoherence is another hallmark of this president’s storytelling."

Uh, this is a hallmark of ALL liberal storytelling ... it is known by reality oriented people as "consistency is NOT an issue" ... and like always, the view of the lefty writing the column is rife with such inconsistency. The role of Fannie and Freddie in creating the sub-prime / credit default swap crisis is completely ignored, as is the inconvenient truth that FDR's programs not only didn't end the depression (WWII did), they actually DID turn out to be unaffordable and destructive to the moral fiber of people to delay gratification and save for the future -- it just took longer than expected. Oh, and BTW, the same realities apply in Japan and in Europe and indeed everywhere. There STILL is no free lunch!

THE real conundrum is why the president seems so compelled to take both sides of every issue, encouraging voters to project whatever they want on him, and hoping they won’t realize which hand is holding the rabbit.

and this is new to you? This is PRECISELY how he ran as a candidate and it was pointed out SOLIDLY by many of us who were labeled as "racists", or when they were kind in the name calling just "misinformed". One might say, "welcome to at least a partial whiff of reality".

Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted "present" (instead of "yea" or "nay") 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.

Bewitched? I guess -- all those facts and hundreds more equally and even more disquieting were well known and indeed often written by his own hand in two books. One really doesn't have to have much for common sense to be able to see a bit of a problem with a person that writes not one but two autobiographies prior to reaching the age of 50.

The president is fond of referring to “the arc of history,” paraphrasing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous statement that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

King is very eloquent, but it is even more true that the arc of all history bends toward reality. Eloquence is super, but in changes many aspects of reality not one whit. Sure, "to the moon before the end of this decade" was motivational, but the late 50's and 60's were a different time. "The Great Society" was in it's infancy, and FICA had only been falsely promised a mere 30 years prior. The number of retirees relative to workers was still small, and the pernicious corruption of "may as well spend it today, the government will take care of me when I get older" was just beginning.

The multiple realities of longer lifetimes, a more competitive global business market, technologies that boost inefficiencies and further level the competitive field and the grinding inefficiencies of big government weigh on the US as a millstone around the drowning nations neck.

But, but, I'm ignoring his "facts" like "It does not bend when 400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans.".

Ok, the origin of that "fact" is Michael Moore in Madison this past spring. The top 400 Americans control $1.5T in assets ... the vast majority in stocks of the businesses they control, and at which many Americans work. The total private wealth of the us is around $55T - $1.5T, so "$53T". Surprise, surprise, the bottom 50% of the population controls very little wealth. Why?
30% of them are under the age of 20. To not recognize this is simple incompetence or malfeasance. There are no other alternatives.

"Wealth" is acquired over a lifetime (or if you are a Kennedy or Dayton, inherited). FICA, government assistance, education, etc are NOT counted as "wealth" -- only personal assets that can be sold are. The very programs that the left pushes contribute mightily to wealth inequality. FICA transfers 15% of the earning power of the predominately young workers to the elderly. The group that controls 80%+ of the wealth in the country is the beneficiary of the largest government transfer payments, and it is THE LEFT that created the transfers!!

Downgrade Paternity

“Tea Party Downgrade”? They Can’t Possibly Sell That | Power Line

"Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan". Decent column by PL talking about the Democrats and blame for the downgrade. I'd never underestimate the power of the MSM to re-write history in a form that flatters Democrats though. I wonder if there would have been any question with a Republican President in office as to "where the buck stopped"?

I suppose you can't really be blamed though when you are "leading from behind".

Wishing for Winston

In economic turmoil, U.S. needs a leader like Churchill - CNN.com

Gergen is one of those guys they love to put in the media as a "moderate" -- like NPR and the NYT, he is pretty much floating out there between "the left" and "the far left", or in terms of the MSM, "moderate".

It is laughable to look at someone like that pining away for Winston Churchill ... he may as well pine away for Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan. They aren't coming back either -- nor would he really want them to. The problem is that the left doesn't really want a "leader" nearly so much as they want a Dictator. They want "someone that fixes all the problems" ... so they won't have to. Their idea of "a difficult decision" is just how much of someone else's income and wealth should be confiscated so that their economically disastrous programs can be continued.

Winston was indeed a leader. He led Brittan to win the war, and when he wanted them to pull up their socks and get back to the business of being a world power, they promptly threw him out of office. They also didn't much like what he had to say when other voices like Chamberlin were out there talking of "peace in our time".

Winston once said that the American people would do the right thing once al other options had been exhausted. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that is human nature and true of all of us and thus all democracies. As long as there is someone out there selling the snake oil of "hope and change", or "peace", or "strength through disarmament", or "improving the economy by borrowing", or "leading from behind", or countless other nostrums that may sound good for a season, many will be buying. Maxim's like "work and study hard, be responsible, be a maker not a taker, worry about doing good and you won't have to worry about who to blame ..." and thousands of others don't sound as slick. In fact, they sound "hard" ... the only minor difference is that they actually work, where wishful thinking is just as wishful as it ever was.

It's the principles stupid!! The great leaders are only great leaders because at the time they come along ... or maybe come along again, as in Winston's case, the people are ready to follow the principles they embody. We don't need Winston, we don't need Reagan -- we need to get back to the timeless principles that both of them embodied as leaders.

Bigotry Redefined

Stand up to Herman Cain’s bigotry - The Washington Post

The lefts hatred of any Black that leaves the thought plantation for diversity of thought is boundless. Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, JC Watts, Allen West ... the list goes on. If you are Black and you refuse to follow the Democrat party line, we will take you down.

Is Robinson even serious here? How many lefties are anti-Christian, and is that EVER called "bigotry"? There are many reasons not to support a Cordova Masque and Ground Zero -- Islam has had a very long tradition of installing a "Victory Mosque" and the scenes of their great victories.

Is this one REALLY a Cordoba Mosque? I don't see how any westerner could know. It would be like being certain of the Vatican's intent.

If the religion in question is Christian though, the left's knee jerk is "freedom FROM religion" ... everyone has a right to be free from anything to do with CHRISTIANITY in their book ... but Islam? Apparently Islam is a "protected thing" like abortting babies, spending other folks money, and letting illegals vote.

The Joy Of Fanaticism

The Comforting Life of Ideological Fanatics « Commentary Magazine

Unfortunately, all humans fall into this trap from time to time, but in the face of massive debt, deficits, an economy stuck in neutral, and "The One" now increasingly llooking like "Carter II", the left is nearly humorous in it's indulgence.

What else are they to do?? Their reality has to be really depressing.

The Middle of Nowhere

The Diminished President - NYTimes.com

Well put ... midway between BO and Romney is "The Middle of Nowhere" !!!

To Hell with You People

To Hell with You People - By Jonah Goldberg - The Corner - National Review Online

Jonah seems to have forgotten that Consistency is NOT an Issue!!! for the left. It is the RIGHT that needs to be careful of the use of military metaphor. The left? Well, of course not!!! Their hearts are in the right places!!! Or actually, from their POV, they HAVE hearts!!!

Big ones, that allow them to be generous with other folks money as well as other folks future money!!

End Of the Old Order

RealClearPolitics - The Crisis of the Old Order

The sub-prime bubble and the rise of BO accelerated the trend, but as Samuelson points out, the seeds of the demise were sown because the assumptions of the post WWII order were just wrong:

1) The Welfare State
2) Government controlled economic growth
3) Benefits of International trade

Now all three are in real trouble. Samuelson covers why -- and after his analysis, all but the committed lefty ideologues can see that "Real Change Is Here".

No 2036

Mark Steyn: Obama the man without a plan | austerity, plan, debt - Opinion - The Orange County Register:

Very sobering but very necessary. To even propose something for 2036 is a profound admission that BO has slipped the surly bonds long ago. We may not make 2012. If he is re-elected, nothing that anyone would recognize as America will be around in 2016.

"If that's the best offer, there isn't going to be a 2036, not for America. As the Europeans are beginning to grasp, eventually 'political reality' collides with real reality. The message from a delusional Washington these last weeks is that it won't be a gentle bump."

BO At His Worst

Charles Krauthammer: Obama At His Most Sanctimonious | RealClearPolitics

I suspect he will get worse yet before it is all over, but we have established a new baseline.

One thing I'd add, apparently, much like Dayton in MN, being a Democrat "leader" doesn't require you to be able to deliver a SINGLE vote from your own party to support what you bargain for. Dayton got zero Democrat votes in MN, BO got zero votes for his "budget" this spring (97-0 in the Senate), and now one of the reasons for the talks breaking off is that he is unable to promise any Democrat votes to cover a "deal".

Boehner is constantly castigated as "lacking leadership" by the left for failing to deliver up virtually all of the Tea Party votes. Yet BO is not required to deliver a single token Democrat.

Drowning In BO

Reality Time by Andrew Klavan - City Journal

It may, on the one hand, be the tactic of second-rung celebrities desperate for more attention, but it may at the same time represent the dismay of yet another generation of leftists waking from yet another utopian daydream to find themselves in a disaster of their own making.

I remember their weird realization on Jimmy Carter, and their weirder hope that "Senator drown your sorrows"  (Teddy) would come to the rescue. Rescue!?  The cruelty of associating the murderer of Mary Joe Kopechne with "rescue" exceeds only the stupidity of same.

The left currently likes the analogy of "Republicans wanting a government so small you could drown it in a bathtub". Thinking that Teddy -- or BO are your "saviour" must mean you want a government so lost it might call it's own bluff, drive off a bridge, and drown itself. It would be OK if we weren't all along for the ride.

This time, the lefties just seem to be getting angrier and angrier at reality and reality based politics.

90 Years of Misunderstanding

How Even Scholars Misread 90 Years Of Tax-Cut History - Investors.com

Like many by Sowell, EXCELLENT!

The real effect of tax-rate reductions is to make the future prospects of profit look more favorable, leading to more current investments that generate more current economic activity and more jobs.

Every time that I see Sowell's super intelligent writing and proud black face, I think; God is truly good and great! Anyone that denies freedom of thought for all is the worst kind of racist possible.

70% Marginal Tax Rate

Michael Boskin: Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate - WSJ.com

Interesting little column on how tax rates are actually a bit higher than one is led to believe!

MANDATORY READ!: Rights vs Goods

A Fling with the Welfare State | The Weekly Standard:

A bit long, but if you are alive and intend to be for the next few years, THIS is the dragon that must be vanquished!! I think it is seriously and very well put -- good intentions are well, good intentions, right up to the point at which you realize that your good intentions are killing the country.

"Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt linked “freedom from want” to “freedom of speech” and “freedom of worship,” the left has been talking of everything that it thinks would be nice to have in terms of an utter and absolute right: a right to a job and a right to an income, a right to retire in comfort in Florida, a right to the most advanced health care without paying much for it, and a right to have your children taken care of while you work all day at your job. The problem is that these are all goods and services, though of varying importance, and goods and rights are not the same things. People tend to concur upon rights (except for the speech rights of those who oppose them), and they do not depend upon others to supply and pay for their rights. With goods, there is always a political argument: about the value of the good, who is to get it and who is to pay. And all this comes down to the question of “fairness,” about which there is no end of disputation and grief. "

The closer ... because I know some will not read the whole thing, even though you REALLY should!

"It was not wrong to have a fling with the welfare state sixty-five years ago, when it was a noble experiment that had not yet been attempted. It is wrong to ignore the evidence that in some ways it is failing, that the model set up has become unsustainable, and that renovations are needed if its critical functions are to survive. Goods are not rights. Pensions and access to health care remain social goods that a decent society will try to provide to its -people. But goods are not rights, and the old model, which claimed that they are, is broken. We need a new one, which provides sustainable ways to convey social goods to those who most need them. Good intentions are fine, but without means they are useless. They are the things with which the road to Gehenna is paved."

Barack Obluffer

Mark Steyn: No bargaining with Barack Obluffer - Page 2 - Orange County Register:

Worth a read, it would be more funny if our situation wasn't so sorry. "Don't call my bluff" ... sounds like a campaign commercial to me.

"For the Most Gifted Orator in Human History, the president these days speaks largely in clichés, most of which he doesn't seem to be quite on top of. 'Eric, don't call my bluff,' he sternly reprimanded the GOP's Eric Cantor. Usually, if you're bluffing, the trick is not to announce it upfront. But, in fact, in his threat to have Granny eating dog food by Labor Day, Obama was calling his own bluff. The giant bluff against the future that is government spending."