After reading George Wills recent column, entitled, "Liberals' Wisconsin Waterloo," it appears that Barack Obama's effort to insulate unions and their bosses from his edict of "shared sacrifice" has failed. Shared sacrifice didn't apply to unions during the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies. He made sure that the UAW was given preference over the preferred creditors. The stimulus was an obvious payback to unions, especially public employees, as much of it was directed to states to avoid layoffs due to ballooning deficits. Andy Stern, head of SEIU was Obama's most frequent White House guest during his first year in office. Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO was seen admitting that he visits the White House two or three times a week and has conversations with someone there every day.
Obama's political arm, "Organizing for America," was front and center during the Wisconsin demonstrations against Scott Walker and the newly elected republican legislature this last spring. The administrations National Labor Relations Board's...NLRB's attempt to sue and stop Boeing from relocating a production plant to South Carolina, a right to work state, for their new 787 jetliner, is yet another attempt to insulate unions from "shared sacrifice." The public has caught on, and they realize that Obama doesn't mean what he says. He has over reached in his attempt to empower unions and the push back has been immediate and severe.
Millions of dollars poured into Wisconsin to recall enough republicans to block Walkers agenda. Union bosses looked at the expenditure as the cost of doing business. They knew if the legislation was sustained they would lose millions in automatic union dues taken from members paychecks. They lost and lost big, and the voters of that state are watching their deficits shrink and business boom. Now that the stimulus has run out of funds, we see public employees being laid off in droves in state and local governments all around the country. Now, even though democrats lead republicans in fund raising for 2012 much of the union influence and cash is being muffled. They will still spend, and spend every dime they can to elect democrats, but their power has been shrinking. If Wisconsin was the liberals Waterloo, as Will says, 2012 may be the Unions swan song.
The midterms of 2010 will be remembered as not just a smack down of progressive theory, but the beginning of the end of union influence over our political system. Obama's intent to reward his friends and punish his enemies has ultimately backfired, much like his economic policies. I wonder if he's learned the lesson that when you over reach you will get a stinging slap to the back of your hand.. After reading the comments associated with the George Will column, I found that many of those union members have nothing left but invective and name calling. If I were them, I'd change my attitude because the American voter is in no mood to further pay for their so called entitlements. We know he never meant it, but they should embrace their saviors edict of "shared sacrifice," because if they continue to reach into the cookie jar, they may just lose more fingers.
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It's tough being cool and aloof when the world is falling around you. The Midwestern bus tour isn't going well. The proletariat is coming dressed as Tea Party members questioning my civility. I wish I hadn't made that speech in Tucson. Who was it again that suggested I choose Biden? Ah, just a few more days and I can fly away to Martha's Vineyard once again. I hope the people don't notice that Blue Heron farm is near the town of Chilmark, which the Vineyard Gazzette said was the most expensive small town in all of America. Oh well, if they do, they must understand that I am the president of the United states. After all, I and I alone stopped this country from going into a great depression, and the problems we're having now are due to circumstances beyond my control. Japanese tsunamis, and the Arab spring to name a few. I hope they don't blame the tsunami on me. After all I did say I would cause the oceans to recede.
Where is Biden when I need him? If I could sneak out with him without Michelle knowing, we could go score another cheeseburger. Everyone would think we're regular folks. Maybe I won't ask for Dijon mustard on my burger this time. Maybe while I'm at the Vineyard, I'll fly in that pizza chef again for an impromptu pizza party. All America loves pizza, and no one will notice the taxpayer cost. You know what, for a 1.1 million dollar bus this thing has terrible air conditioning. You know that Rick Perry is becoming a thorn in my side. But, when he accused Bernanke of treason he opened the door for me to scold him on civility. Thank God for that Tucson speech.
Maybe it's time I began formulating this new program for job growth. I promised I'd reveal it after Labor Day. Damn, Gallop has my approval at 39% again. Right after the senate convenes hearings on S&P, maybe we should investigate Gallop. I wish my bus was more colorful like Sarah Palin's, but no way will I have We The People painted on the side. I hope no one notices that over 50 servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan already this month. If they do, they may blame my hasty pull out of troops beginning last month. I do sincerely regret the death of many Seal Team 6 members in that chopper attack. After all, they did get my poll numbers up after the Bin Laden raid. It's tough being commander in chief. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. How did W. prosecute the Iraq war without being political? It has to be that he wasn't up for reelection when he implemented the surge and whipped their butts.
The Vineyard can come none to soon. I'll play some hoops and hit the links. I think I'm going to play my far left slice from now on. It would be foolish to change now. When I get back from the Vineyard, I'm going to have another Wednesday night White House party. The Chef will serve up $100 a pound imported Japanese steak for appetizers and vodka martinis again. We'll have Stevie Wonder and Sir Paul McCartney entertain us while we contemplate how we can tax the rich and blame them for the huge deficits we're running. Thank God for Warren Buffet. We'll retool our attack and demonize the Tea party as obstructionists, who hinder our economic plan for job creation. Damn, I wish I hadn't made that Tucson speech.
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Today for the first time in his presidency, Barack Obama's approval rating sunk below 40% in the Gallop daily tracking poll. This constitutes an enormous development with the 2012 election less than 15 months away. Of course Drudge picked up on it, but he seems to be the only one out there pointing it out. Maybe because it's Sunday, and all the buzz is about the Iowa straw poll and Rick Perry getting into the race, they decided to fire at the opposition. Also on Friday the appeals court for the 11th circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled Obama Care's individual mandate was unconstitutional. There was not any discussion of this development on the Sunday shows. It seems the mainstream media is trying to down play both of these developments and run interference for Obama by doing everything they can to de-legitimize the republican field of candidates.
Michele Bachmann once again was taking it on the chin on all the Sunday shows as most of the moderators, especially David Gregory, were trying to characterize her as out of the mainstream and unelectable. Their complete indifference to the American peoples revolt against the messiah and the appeals courts smack down of Obama care weren't even mentioned. Could it be that Obama care and the messiah's policies are out of the mainstream? Of course they are not out of the mainstream for the mainstream, or to borrow a phrase from Sarah Palin, Lame stream media. How can a sitting president who has just fallen below 40% approval be considered re-electable? They are continuing to do everything they can to bail out the sinking ship, while most Americans are considering it sunk. They are doing the messiah's work by ignoring his record, while giving intrusive anal exams to the republican field. This will get nasty and the media has staked their reputation on the outcome.
Thank God the American people have discovered they can get information from alternative sources. The only question that remains, will the mainstream media decide to go down with their sinking ship or will they run like rats from the Titanic. They are spineless and I predict they will eventually run when they realize the messiah is indeed a one term president, and could go down in history as the architect of Americas decline. They'll keep fighting or should I say gouging eyes and pulling hair for him now. Everybody knows it. They are ideologues that have not a fair or journalistic bone in their body. Our hope is that when the messiah eventually succumbs to the will of the American people, the media will reconsider their partisanship. I'm not holding my breath. Maybe they will make themselves so irrelevant it won't even matter.
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In January of 2009 when president Obama was inaugurated, there was a huge gulf already in place between conservative and liberal thought. TARP under Bush was excoriated by conservatives, and free market purists, but many republicans acquiesced. We remember that the stimulus that the democrats pushed was large and top loaded with spending and little real economic stimulus through tax cuts. The republicans wanted a smaller and more tax cut loaded stimulus. Of course the democrats with huge majorities and a new savior elected as president won the debate, which really wasn't a debate at all, and only got three republican votes in the senate by consistent rinos. Then Obama care was pushed and passed with no republican votes and a lot of democrat shenanigans. This was a major transformational piece of legislation without bipartisan agreement. All this led to the eruption of conservative influence and the Tea Party movement, which culminated in a landslide victory for conservative thought in the mid terms.
Fast forward to the recent debt limit increase debate, and we again see a gulf between a democrat tax increase mindset, and republicans saying no new taxes, but still agreeing to smaller cuts then necessary to stop a downgrade of U.S. debt. We were all told the sky would fall on August 2nd if an agreement wasn't forthcoming. and just like TARP, republicans were scared into a corner like frightened mice. The Boehner plan was watered down and gave the messiah 2.4 trillion of additional debt that will Greece the skids downward through the 2012 election cycle. A balanced Budget Amendment was nixed. The stock market didn't go down until after the deal was done. Again just like TARP, republicans and all of Washington were scared because of a possible drop in the market, which accelerated after the bills were signed. The administration promised the deal would not result in a downgrade of U.S debt. Friday S & P downgraded our debt to AA+, and who's to say what will happen when the markets open on Monday. The media is trying to paint the deal as a victory for the Tea Party, perhaps positioning them for blame for the downgrade because they wouldn't agree to the grand bargain that included tax increases.
Now each side is staking out their ideological positions. Liberals are claiming that we're at the cusp of a double dip because Washington isn't spending enough and more stimulus is needed, and of course the rich aren't paying their fair share. They argue the original stimulus was insufficient. The Paul Krugmans of the world rail against deficit reduction and fiscal discipline, while proposing huge stimulus. Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is still the definition of insanity. Obama seems to be doubling down on his failed policies with calls for extending unemployment benefits further and more stimulus. "Congress needs to send me a jobs bill I can sign," he shouts. What is a jobs bill he can sign? A.K.A., more spending, more debt, and more taxes.
Meanwhile conservatives are shouting, "I told you so." They say the deal will do nothing but accelerate the decline of the U.S. economy and lead us down the path toward Greece. They argue for a new attempt at zero base budgeting. No more automatic increases of up to 8% built into each years spending. Only in Washington is a minuscule decrease in the rate of increase considered a cut. The Mack Penny plan is gaining traction, which would freeze the 2012 budget at 2011 levels and then for eight year after that one penny would be cut from each dollar spent. At that point the budget would be balanced. If the federal government can't reduce spending by 1% for eight years we're all in trouble. Even with the baby boomers retiring at exponential rates, a plan to restructure entitlements is imminently doable, if only politicians had the courage to do it. The stars may be aligning for just that scenario. The squishy middle and rino republicans are being left out of the debate, which is a good thing, because now the 2012 elections will have clear distinctions between the polar opposite ideological positions. The demagogues and fear mongers will be in full force, but maybe the debate has gotten so serious, they will be ignored. We can and must win the argument with rational and articulate debate.
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To borrow a slogan from the Obama election of 2008, the 2010 elections finally gave conservatives "hope that there would be change." But, as we can see, the negotiations over the debt crisis seems to be business as usual. The final scorecard from the 2011 budget war, saw promised cuts of 100 billion turn into deceptive cuts of millions. The new Boehner plan that promises future cuts of one trillion over ten years is simply a reduction of the rate of growth, and will still add trillions to the deficit over that period. Could more have been accomplished? Probably not until the GOP, or some facsimile of the GOP, wins back the White House and senate. The steroid laced demagogues in the democrat party, including the messiah himself, have the ear of the mainstream media. The newly crowned Tea party house members are having those razor sharp crowns flipped and pummeled into their bleeding foreheads not just from the media, but establishment republicans like weaselly John McCain. The courageous Hobbits fight on in the face of insurmountable odds.
It could be they've done all that can be done, "for now." Maybe the narrative that we've moved the discussion to cuts without tax increases will have to suffice, even though those cuts are simply a reduction in the rate of growth, and even though they're promised future cuts from an unnamed panel of twelve legislators yet to be determined. How depressing is that? But, we can take courage in the fact, that no new stimulus will be enacted. Obama Care is under assault from all sides, especially the American people. The push back has ensued, but final victory can only be accomplished in a two cycle electoral victory. Remember it took the dems victories in 2006 and 2008 to lead foot the accelerator to massive government over reach. It will take the Hobbits two cycles to slow and eventually reverse the trend.
Obama, even though the elites say he's winning the politics of all this, is watching his poll numbers plummet. Check the "Real Clear Politics" average. The independents whom he is trying to woo back, have taken a sharp turn away. The Boehner plan also guarantees this will all be brought up once again before the 2012 election. This is all good news even though not great news. The anemic amount of deficit reduction will probably insure the U.S. credit rating will slip for the first time in history. Does the messiah want that distinction on his watch? He'll try to blame republicans and especially the Hobbits, i.e. Tea Party house members. History will only remember that he was president when The U.S. government lost it's triple A rating. His strategy seems to be, if he can cause Boehner to cave, it will further divide the GOP for 2012. It's all about his reelection, and everybody knows that. The Hobbit's, who are now the only principled members in Washington, should nix Obama's strategy and support Boehner. That would insure they can all live to fight another day.
The Hobbits now need time to heal their bleeding heads and increase their numbers substantially in 2012. We all understand they were elected because they weren't political, but only cared about the good of the country. Kudos to them. Even though I hate to say it, it may be time for the Hobbits to hold their cute little innocent and principled noses and support the Boehner plan. Hit the ball back into the dems court. Let's see if they have the cojones to push us to default. We all know the Hobbits have the cojones to do what is right, but we're still unsure if they have the cynicism to do what's political. It's a shame Washington strips the soul of all that land there, but the game must be played until victory is secured. Let's all pray for the souls of Hobbits.
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Even though the Washington and media elites continue to put forth the narrative that Obama is the adult in the room, we saw Friday why increasingly many in America call him "President Cry Baby." His impromptu press conference was like a whiny child running to his mother to tell her, "mean Johnny Boehner just hit me in the arm again." Of course that whiny child only tells mommy about the bruised and sore shoulder, and never what he did to provoke mean Johnny to take a swing in the first place. Could this cry baby attitude be the result of being raised without a father to encourage him to take a swing back instead of immediately running to mommy for comfort? The mother in this case is of course the sympathetic and protective media, who's continued to coddle and protect poor little Barry from those who've attacked him. Just like an overprotective mother, they may be doing little Barry a disservice.
Now that little Barry has cried to mommy one too many times, little Johnny is going to take his ball and not play with Barry any more. Instead he's going over to the other D.C playground and play with Mitchy and Harry, and Barry will be left to look out of his window and watch them play. He'll sob to mommy, i.e. the media, "why won't the other kids play with me any more?" Mommy will just hug her angry son, and tell him, "that's OK, mommy still loves you." The only question left is, when Johnny and the other boys finally find a game they can all agree to play and decide to invite Barry to join in one last time, will petulant little Barry be so angry that he decides to ruin their little game of, "who blinked first," i.e. veto their plan?
Meanwhile, those in real America that must live within their means, watch as the children continue to break each others expensive toys. More are coming to the realization that we elected a man-child as president no matter what his mommy, excuse me, the media says about him. Maturity comes to an individual when they start to take responsibility for their mistakes and stop pointing fingers at others. Little Barry Obama hasn't grown to that point yet. Instead of crying to mommy, the best way to deal with a bully is to hit him back. As the current school yard bully, I think little Barry just got bullied by the most adult in the room, Johnny Boehner. Now little Johnny must go and find some other adults that won't resort to finger pointing and crying to mommy, oops excuse me, the press. Good luck Johnny. I for one, am not optimistic.
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As the discussions, or should I say campaign, transpiring in Washington over raising the debt ceiling reaches fever pitch, Barack Obama seems totally at ease demanding others solve the problem while he continues to point fingers not only at George W. Bush and all republicans, but also his own party. Either he is the most skilled politician, i.e. master of deception, to ever inhabit the oval office, or he actually believes he is the messiah and his words and actions are above reproach. The arrogant narcissism and absolute lack of humility is breathtaking. No wonder the left has transfixed upon him with worshipful adulation. He is the king of spin, the master of misinformation, the great accuser, looking straight into the eyes of the American people denying any culpability for the problem or responsibility to solve it. Great work if you can get it. Anyone for a game of golf.
During his Friday press conference he accused congress of running up the credit card. Well excuse me, but my high school civics teacher made clear that even though spending bills originate in congress they do not become law until signed by the president. His stimulus, even though written by democrats was pushed by him, as well as Obama Care. The stimulus blew up the deficit faster than any spending bill ever, and Obama Care, as implementation continues will have dire effects on the deficit, despite democrats fuzzy math and claims that it is paid for, by new taxes and cuts to medicare. It's notable that democrats passed legislation to cut medicare even though they continue to demagogue the Ryan plan. He also said that, "we cut taxes over the last decade without paying for them. We instituted new programs, like the prescription drug program for seniors without paying for it and fought two wars. We didn't pay for them." Of course we all know that when he said we, he meant George W. Bush.
Let's correct the record. The medicare part D that president Bush signed into law cost 60.8 billion in 2009, which is far less than the 111.2 billion it was projected to cost five years earlier. The program relied heavily on choice and private drug companies competing to bring costs down, which it did. Paul Ryan's medicare makeover proposes the same type of system. Competition always reduces costs. Obama Care closes the doughnut hole and takes away choice from medicare part D which will inevitably bring the cost up. Remember the stimulus was more than 787 billion, and all that money was borrowed. The cost of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars stand at 1.2 trillion right now. That's a lot of money, but that is over a ten year period, and Obama himself is responsible for the last two and a half years of spending, which included a surge in Afghanistan.
How about tax cuts? Let's see what they did to deficits. If you read the ten myths of the Bush tax cuts found at the Heritage Foundation, you'll see that the deficits were created by spending increases for the most part and only a small percentage from the tax cuts. Obama uses the term "tax cuts that were not paid for," but how about spending increases that were not paid for. Spending went up over 20% of GDP in 2006, and is now at 25% of GDP. Heritage says "the tax cuts played a significant role in the economy performing better than expected and recovering much of the lost revenue." Tax cuts always increase economic activity, while government spending sucks money out of the private sector. Which would you prefer.....A growing and vibrant private sector, or an ever increasing federal bureaucracy that smothers innovation and incentive?
Last, but not least Obama says, "80% of the American people support an approach that includes revenues..i.e. taxes, and includes cuts." For the life of me, I can't find that poll. He may be talking about a Gallop poll that asks the question: Congress can reduce the federal deficit by cutting spending, raising taxes, or a combination of the two. How would you prefer to see congress attempt to reduce the federal budget deficit..
Only with spending cuts...........................................20%
Mostly with spending cuts........................................30%
Equally with spending cuts and tax increases..........32%
Mostly with tax increases...........................................7%
Only with tax increases..............................................4%
Only/Mostly with spending cuts.................................50%
Only/Mostly with tax increases..................................11%
How he gets 80% want a balanced approach is beyond me. The question also presents a false narrative, because tax increases will slow economic growth, and a slowing economy always means less revenues. Obama has mastered the art of misinformation, and taken it to a new level, not yet seen in American politics
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