John McCain sent George W. Bush a private letter on December 12, 2006, urging the President to increase troop strength in Iraq by 20,000. That letter has just been made public, and it is a remarkable testament to McCain’s courage and foresight: Here’s the Washington Times:
“The question is one of will more than capacity,” wrote the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “If we are not willing to provide the troops necessary for victory, however, victory itself will be impossible.”
Mr. McCain, whose letter is made public here for the first time, added that “surging five additional brigades into Baghdad by March” was the answer.
Mr. Bush, who had resisted Mr. McCain’s call for a troop surge for years, now praises him for persisting in his argument that expanding the war in Iraq was the way to win it.
“John recognized early on that more troops would be needed in order to achieve the security necessary for the Iraqis to make the political progress we’re seeing now,” the president told The Washington Times this week.
“He supported that action even though many said it would hurt his campaign [for president]. He didn’t care about popularity; he cared about success for our troops and our country. And now that the surge has worked, it proves that John’s judgment was correct.”
McCain’s first recognition of the need for more troops goes all the way back to the summer of 2003.
Mr. McCain’s opinion changed on that first trip [to Iraq.] The campaign to oust Saddam Hussein and neutralize Iraq’s military had been won, but the peace was at risk because of an insurgency that, fueled in part by Iran and Syria, had quickly materialized.
The insurgents were gaining. “I think there’s a danger that unless we do what’s necessary quickly, that we could find ourselves in an extremely – and I emphasize extremely – difficult situation,” he said Aug. 29 in an interview on National Public Radio. “We need more troops.”
Not only was McCain not in lockstep with George W. Bush on Iraq strategy (as the Democrats would have us believe), but it’s very likely that the course of the entire war would have looked drastically different if the McCain plan was heeded early on by the President. We’ll just have to see if Americans can find it in their hearts to overlook his real estate holdings.
Every member of Congress (with the exception of Burris, etc.) also won their election, so the “We Won” argument is about as thin as p.ss on a rock.
Good Lord, this is just terrible to watch unfold. I watched Mr. Obama’s juvenile screed last night and even I was shocked by his tone – unprofessional, indignant, disrespectful, condescending. Wow, just wow.
There is so much danger in his behavior from the very real prospect of destroying the economy to emboldening and encouraging our enemies to attack. Yet the “leadership” that is being displayed looks like a modern day political version of Keystone Cops.
Truly frightening.
Obama should take a minute and think, Holy Molely, this is the crap George W. Bush had to put up with for eight years!
And then he should reflect back at himself and think, maybe part of this is me too.
Of course those in love with Obama continue to follow him unconditionally. Andrew Sullivan being one of many–but in their defenses of Obama they remind me of well…me trying to defend Bush when he was starting to flounder. Eventually you could not do so any more. Bush made some bad blunders. Obama is following suit.
The Emperor Has No Clothes.
Nobody in our Government has the right take on the economy. Obama will fail with his FDR impersonation;the minority will fail with its Hoover impersonation. The Laws of Economics are unfolding with mathematical precision;the Government doesn’t recognize those Laws because it believes it is the source of all power. We’ll see about that,but Universal Laws do trump man made laws 100% of the time. Maybe someday,the Neo-Contentionsistas will actually be concerned about our Economy,but right now,it’s a handy expedient to make Obama look bad,which he does. The Irony is that even if Obama and every Democrat in the land were to disappear tomorrow,the Republicans would inherit the same set of mathematics that is in play,and be equally clueless in derailing the runaway economic freight train.
The Emperor’s Epigoni Have No Clothes.
So did Obama have his Christian Bale moment without the vulgarity? He won’t last 2 years much less 4. This is a shallow, handsome, talented man who has dined out on his good looks and rhetorical elocution for years. He’s charming and when thwarted he turns nasty because you distracted him by walking in front of his sight line.
His staff is worn out, he says, and, the other day, he had to get out of the White House. I think he is truly startled by what horrendously hard, stressful work is involved and is even showing signs that he resents it. You heard it here first: he won’t run for a second term.
Finally, a plea for this site’s loyal opposition: engage with us on this one. At least some of us aren’t blind bashers of BHO. I’m not even a Republican and I am genuinely worried about where the impications of the last two plus weeks are leading us.
But, he reads Niebuhr, he has written a multi-volume autobiography, he was Harvard Law Review for g*d’s sake. His superior fitness for office should be obvious.
Obama gave conservatives the benefit of the doubt. He won’t make that mistake again. He’s learned which Republicans are reasonable and the rest, he’ll simply roll over.
I love the way this administration is shaping up. Awesome.
Why should conservatives be shocked? Weren’t they saying that we elected a president for symbolic reasons who spoke well but had no record of actual achievement? Didn’t they point out that although the media could see that Sarah Palin was light on experience, they never acknowledged that she had considerably more than Obama? Weren’t they pointing out that his past associations suggested that he was a highly partisan leftist?
It will be interesting to see how the press and the left deal with the cognitive dissonance that his performance must be causing. (Unfortunately, we seem doomed to live in interesting times.)
Obama reminds me of Dr. Nick on The Simpsons.
RCAR
“Neo-Contentionsistas” indeed.
And they have no concern about the Economy, unlike you. C’mon.
You’re right about the Dems & Repubs, but you have an overvalued idea of yourself as the sole defender of Right Economic Thinking here.
And I, for one, have no desire to see the Economy tank just so that I can say “told ya so, Obamacons”.
#7,”He won’t last 2 years”
Meaning????
nohype
Aren’t you hyping, or hyperventilating here?
I hate to be the one to break the news to you but not all Conservatives & certainly not all the Commentary folk were mesmerized by The One.
#13,”And they have no concern about the Economy”
They’re concerned,but they don’t know what’s making it go bad so that can’t come up with a rational plan. By the way,it doesn’t take a lot of smarts to know what went wrong,but it does require some historical perspective. Our Governmentistas are too embroiled in whose mythology is “right” to make some time to step back and think creatively. Currency mismanagement is a big part of the problem,and what is anyone’s suggestion to correct that mismanagement? Just one example,please.
I still can’t believe this guy taught at what was supposedly the most rigorous law school in the country.
Then again, the same university invented a job for his wife.
My wife (a Lefty) said to me recently why I have not commented about the new President. Maybe now I will. Unlike our friends on the Left, I always wish our country well. I take no pleasure from what has been happening. Still, you don’t beat something with nothing. Let our side start playing its legitimate role as Loyal Opposition. Where are our programs?
Charles, I love how the administration is shaping up too: as a one-termer.
RCAR
Now it’s “Governmentistas”.
We agree that the Republicans are not coming up with a plan. I agree with NeoCon # 20.
But what’s your “plan”, other than adding Commentary to your list of losers?
#20
Who says a “program” is what’s required? Why is it assumed that some kind of government intervention is required to rectify the situation. Maybe we need fewer programs and less government spending. If the population doesn’t want to buy cars or houses or hula hoops or whatever, why should the government be making an effort to encourage them to do so? And by the way, if car sales and real estate sales are in the tank, perhaps better sales people are required. Sales are easy when everyone has money and financing is easy, it’s time for the country’s sale force to step up to the plate and move that product!
The Ten Stages of Obimination (We are current through stage 5)
1. We will change the world–scratch that, the universe.
2. Hey, we only have one president at a time.
3. OK, I admit it–I screwed up. Now tell me that doesn’t make me the greatest blanking president you’ve ever seen.
4. Did I see “hope instead of fear” in my inaugural? I meant it the other way around.
5. Why the hell won’t you LISTEN to me??? Whatsa matter, you deaf or something?
6. My fellow Americans, I come to ask you–nay, beseech you–to entrust me with another trillion dollars. The future of our nation depends on it.
7. F**k poll numbers. They mean nothing. I’m still “The One.”
8. Crap, I’m depressed.
9. Why didn’t somebody tell me this was a hard job.
10. I quit. You can have your stinking country back.
#22,”But what’s your “plan”
It’s going to be painful,but our Government is going to have to go through a process that is similiar to the Bankruptcy process that any Bankrupt entity has to go through. This may involve a huge amount of unpleasantness similiar to what the British Commonwealth suffered through in order to downsize. Without fundamental restructuring,we are only treating symptoms,not the disease itself. The disease is the amount of our currency and other obligations like derivatives,(including contingent obligations) that is in the “World” system,that we have to make good on. Soon or later,with mathematical certainty, the volume of our money supply will functionally bankrupt us. Everyone in our government is trying to postpone the bankruptcy process for political reasons,but economics will trump politics.
#11 Says:
Why should conservatives be shocked? Weren’t they saying that we elected a president for symbolic reasons who spoke well but had no record of actual achievement?
That is a good point. This Presidency was sold and celebrated as symbolism. The symbol having been obtained, that is going to have to be enough for the next 4 years. Enjoy your Change!
Wow, you people are really foolish enough to call the game this early? I knew you were a silly lot, but this is way beyond my expectations.
So have fun deluding yourselves for the next four (eight) years guys, and I promise to enjoy listening to your nonsense.
Cheers!
Another President stuck in adolescence, big time. At least Bill Clinton had some basic understanding of some policy issues. Republicans need to put good ideas forward in public, if only to convince intelligent Americans and foreigners that our nation is not yet 100% clueless and unhinged.
If this was an old-fashioned monarchy, the wise old hands in the imperial city would sign up a statesman (or stateswoman…but not Hillary!) to be regent until the ruler grows up.
It is certainly looking like the views of the Russian’s & the Mullah’s could prove quite adept; Obama’s fool-hardy economics could devastate the economy while his post-bipartisan politics divide the people and Nation.
We’re barely over the threshold of two weeks and look at us. There is absolutely no reason that this bill must be passed now and every reason for the bill to be carefully examined – which, of course, is the very reason for the haste.
Conservatives today have discovered with glee that they can feel sanctimonious about water waste…
…from the firehose that we need to put out the four-alarm blaze that is our economic future.
Seriously, I thought childishness and stupidity had limits, but the Republicans are expanding the categories daily. There’s this 1 to 2 trillion dollar gap in the real economy that needs to be filled over the next year. With interest rates near 0 the fed can’t juice the economy any more. We need the spender of last resort, yes, the government, to fill the gap.
But conservative morons are calling everything from unemployment benefits to infrastructure renewal “pork.” The only solutions proposed… cutting the payroll tax? the capital gains tax? That’s supposed to stop the bleeding of 500,000 jobs a month?
It’s sheer grandstanding at a time of crisis. Can’t say I’m surprised by the intellectual caliber. If McCain was president he would be pushing for a huge stimulus too. I wonder about the self destructive impulses of the wounded conservative animal.
The stimulus package will define Obama’s presidency, or at least its first term, for better or for ill, just as Clinton’s failed health care plan defined his. The new president reached the fork in the road, and took the one that leads to lefty, Pelosi-style interest group Democratic politics. We’ll see if this works out. I think he should’ve chosen bipartisan triangulation. If the package succeeds, it will redeem the Democratic left. If it fails, Obama will have done the seemingly insuperable: revived the Republican Party.
Obama has done more to revitalize the GOP in two weeks than the Republican leadership has been able to do in the last two years.
As is being pointed out today, the bill before Congress has two sections. One is stimulus like unemployment benefits and a few (very few) tax cuts and short term spending that may help to keep liquidity going. The majority, however, is made up of old left wing ideas that have been in limbo for the past 25 years because Clinton was too smart (and had a Republican Congress most of the time) to pay any attention to them. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that divided government is better for our interests than one party rule. Republicans became giddy with success in the 90s and went off the track. The Democrats seem determined to repeat 1994. Obama now has to see where his best interests lie. I don’t know if he is wise enough to cut himself lose for the losers in Congress. So far, it doesn’t look like it.
As is being pointed out today, the bill before Congress has two sections. One is stimulus like unemployment benefits and a few (very few) tax cuts and short term spending that may help to keep liquidity going. The majority, however, is made up of old left wing ideas that have been in limbo for the past 25 years because Clinton was too smart (and had a Republican Congress most of the time) to pay any attention to them. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that divided government is better for our interests than one party rule. Republicans became giddy with success in the 90s and went off the track. The Democrats seem determined to repeat 1994. Obama now has to see where his best interests lie. I don’t know if he is wise enough to cut himself lose for the losers in Congress. So far, it doesn’t look like it.
Franglo, as you would know if you actually bothered to look at, say, McCain’s counter-proposal, it includes substantial infrastructure spending. Or, say, if you looked at what Mitt Romney suggested, you would see that he suggests a substantial amount of government spending as well–but he suggests they should be projects that have merit on themselves, projects we would have chosen sooner or later in any case, but now we should move them forward.
Very few are suggesting that we actually do nothing. And very few are suggesting, say Obama falsely suggests, that we only use tax cuts (not that this is as bad an idea as he suggests). Most that I’ve seen are suggesting some combination of tax cuts (or rather, tax rate cuts for Republicans, redistributive tax rebates for Democrats) and spending. The debate has more to do with the Republicans’ insistence that the spending be targeted toward stimulating the economy. Not all spending is stimulative, especially when it has to be counter-balanced against the increase it places on our debt, and the pressure it adds toward inflation.
We now have Sponge Bob and Partick running the government.
It’s not the substance of the answers that makes gibbs look bad but his attitude.
No, he can’t say for sure that Obama would want to release the disclouse forms (a problem here is siomply that Gibbs is not up to speed on everything) but he needn’t imply any disregard for Tapper for asking that question.
And as for the second question, if he feels they have lost control of the process now that the stimulus bill is being amended – Gibbs could simply say No.
Or
“The President is still happy with the bill”
Or
“The president is negotiating but he doesn’t consider that a problem”
Or “The main point is to get $800 billion into the bill”
Or “The President never expected that the bill would be all written by the adminsitration”
or something.
Gibbs just simply doesn’t consider himself empowered to speak for the President. Maybe that is better. He won’t say anything he has to take back or that the resident would not want him to say. But he doesn’t have to carry this off with an attitude like he has some contempt for the reporters or that the reporters are acting out of turn. And of course questions should be anticipated. That’s what they all do.
Seth Halpern:
While it’s true that Obama taught at the University of Chicago Law School, he was a “lecturer,” and then he became a “senior lecturer” after he became a state senator. This is not the same as being a tenure-track professor, which involves a very different hiring process and far more scrutiny. It’s relatively easy to become a lecturer. If one proposes to teach in a subject the school likes, and if one has some credibility (which Obama had as the first black editor of the HLR), and especially if one will increase the “diversity” of the faculty, then one can generally be hired as a lecturer.
Making him a “senior” lecturer seems to have been their way of acknowledging that he had become a more important person, as a state senator. I remember there was one report (I think in the NYTimes) that claimed that Obama had been offered a tenured position, but those who were professors at the time (and still are now) replied and said that was untrue.
Anyway, I don’t mean to be churlish and poo-poo his accomplishments, and you probably already know this, but a lot of people seem to be under the impression that he was a “law professor,” which is a bit of a simplification of the truth.
RCAR> The Laws of Economics are unfolding with mathematical precision
There is a lot of that there. That doesn’t mean there is no remedy but any solution has to take account of what is almost mathematically inevitable.
Basically more money has got to be created to replace the money and wealth that is being destroyed. the process of dstruction is slow, but a lot of it is built in already. You can’t hope to prevent what is built-in. At least without doing something to counteract it
Charles, what planet are you living on? if you love the way this administration is shaping up, I believe you must really hate America. Tax cheats, liars, problems with campaign fund issues… Dude, if that makes you happy, I am worried about America.
God Save Us.
#38,”Anyway, I don’t mean to be churlish and poo-poo his accomplishments”
ODS
Obama = Carter 2.0
B.Hussein Obama and for that matter the entire kook left place the blame for the economy on free market capatilism.
The fact is it was the government and their idea ( Community Reinvestment Act ) that home ownership was a “right” and under possible criminal and civil penalty, forced banks to give loans to those who could NEVER pay it back. Fannie Mae bought up these loans, derivatives based on these assets were written and eventually the balloon popped.
Now Obama takes a hissy fit that his “stimulus” plan is being exposed as PORK, not “spending/stimulus” but old fashioned PORK.
Yes, we want Obama to fail. His failure is the failure of socialism/neo-marxism.
I think there are a few things which stunned 0bama:
1. The Republicans did not roll over and play dead just because 0bama won.
2. The Democratic Congressional Leaders (Pelosi and Reid) do not consider 0bama the “leader of the Democratic Party” just because he is President.
3. The Press is not treating him with kid gloves anymore, like they did throughout the campaigns (except for Chris Matthews, who must be going through a large wardrobe consider how he messes himself everytime 0bama speaks).
4. Now that he is in the Oval Office, people are actually starting to listen to WHAT he says, rather than HOW he says it. And a lot of them don’t like what they hear.
Sure, there are still a lot of kool-aid drinkers out there, but there are also a lot of people with “buyer’s remorse”. This latest stunt of dropping the charges against the terrorist associated with the U.S.S. Cole bombing will probably hurt him with current supporters, more than it will help him with the wing-nuts on the left side of the aisle.
Which is just fine with me.
#39,”Basically more money has got to be created ‘
Created money is DEBT. Debt is the accelerant that is burning up the wealth. The DEBT has to be accounted for and then written off,that’s the Bankruptcy process. We are not willing to face the music.
RCAR, I like you, because you bring a different perspective, and you don’t seem to respond reflexively in one way or the other. Except when it comes to the gold standard
But how it constitutes Obama Derangement Syndrome to point out that Obama was a lecturer rather than a professor is beyond me. An earlier post had asked how Obama could have taught at one of the great law schools in the country, and I was simply pointing out that the standards for hiring a lecturer are quite different from the standards for hiring tenured or tenure-track professors. As the former editor of the HLR, Obama had enough credibility to be a lecturer. But he didn’t have the credentials to be a professor.
No one doubts that Obama is intelligent and accomplished (though arguably not as intelligent as some of his supporters think, and arguably not as accomplished as he should have been to run for President.) I just wanted to clarify the record. If that qualifies me as deranged, well, okay.
James Murphy Says:
February 6th, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Obama = Carter 2.0
B.Hussein Obama and for that matter the entire kook left place the blame for the economy on free market capatilism.
The fact is it was the government and their idea ( Community Reinvestment Act ) that home ownership was a “right” and under possible criminal and civil penalty, forced banks to give loans to those who could NEVER pay it back.
The government did much worse than that. It borrowed money to finance the Vietnam War and the Great Society. Then in order to deal with the debt.in1971 we rearranged the world financial system so that we could pretend we weren’t bankrupt. Right now, we are running out of options to keep the ILLUSION of our system alive.
There are two things that should be provided for each expenditure in the miss-named Stimulous Bill:
1. The name or names of the people who inserted the line-item.
2. Their projection as to how much “stimulous” will be provided by this expenditure (i.e., the projected Return on Investment).
A year or so down the road, each expenditure should be evaluated, and compared to the projections. If any expenditure turns out to be a flop, the sponsors of it should then be identified to the public. Stocks and Pillories on Capitol Hill, broadcast on all the nets, should be sufficient punishment.
In other words, hold these people accountable for their actions and their approach to the economy. Let’s see how much pork there would be after doing something like this.
He was brought up by white hippies who taught him no love of his country. He then went to an Ivy League School where they reinforced that hatred of the country. He then went to Chicago where he learned politics the “Capone” way. Why is anyone surprised? Garbage in, Garbage out & class will always tell. W has class. See the difference?
To Ahithophel :
B.Hussein Obama was editor of HLR ? Great, give me a link to one of his articles he wrote.
To RCAR,
” … the path of increased government intervention will lead to “unmitigated disaster,” says Schiff, who gained notoriety in 2007-08 for his prescient calls on the housing bubble and U.S. stocks.
The problem, he says, is the government is trying to perpetuate a “phony economy” based on borrowing and spending. With the U.S. consumer tapped out, the government is “now taking on the mantle” of consumer of last resort, he continues, predicting the bond bubble will soon burst – if it hasn’t already – ultimately leading to a collapse of the dollar and an “inflationary depression worse than anything any of us have ever seen.”
finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/169781/Peter-Schiff-Stimulus-Bill-Will-Lead-to-%22Unmitigated-Disaster%22?tickers=%5Edji,%5Egspc,QQQQ,SPY,DIA,TLT,UDN
45
Ahithophel Says:
February 6th, 2009 at 12:38 PM
RCAR, I like you, because you bring a different perspective, and you don’t seem to respond reflexively in one way or the other. Except when it comes to the gold standard
I am not a GOLD BUG,but I can count. Two years ago the Fed stopped running the M3 report which tracked the growth of our money supply;they had good reason to do that. Anyway,every dollar of FIAT money is an IOU,when you count all the FIAT dollars that exist in the world,it becomes obvious to anybody that not only is this unsustanable in the long run;it’s unsustanable right now. At some point,every system that fails reaches a point of no return Our point was the Bear Stearns BANKRUPTCY. By the time Lehmann failed,we were burned toast. Again,our political system is not designed to deal with these new realities,only our existing MYTHS.
RCAR
Ahithophel = ODS?
C’mon, that doesn’t make you look reasonable.
Again, you’re against the so-called stimulus bill as are most sensible people. So why attack Commentary & its commenters who basically agree with that?
Alas, in the real world or, rather, in the world of realpolitik, we’re gonna get a camel of a non-stimulating stimulus bill & we’re gonna be poorer for it.
Concentrate your ire & your fire on the bad guys.
BTW, since the Emperor has no clothes, he has been forced to turn up the heat in the White House, contrary to the ecologists!
If the media had done their job instead of being a cheerleader for 0bama, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, because he wouldn’t be in office.
“White House press corp”
C O R P S!
How did the meme that we’re loosing 500,000 jobs a month get started? Who parented that howler?
We’d all be jobless in less than five months at that rate! Or does math no longer count any more? (Arguments can certainly be made to that affect – considering the stimulus and all…)
WHat you see and here is the Chicago stlye. Obama has no experience where with a little backdoor payoff Rupublicans do not roll over for statism. He is a man of the far left who cut his teeth where the media has never really quetions the lefts ideas, they just cheerlead here.
A prime example is Blago. The fact that before he became the congressman for the 5th congressional district he rana small sports book. How is it no one in the Chicago media ever reported this. As we all know the National media has done most of the cheerleading during the campaign, our local has always done this fr the dems. So ofcourse he is showing anger, there might actually be people who do not belive in his total gov’t control agenda.
Has anyone ever heard a Mayer Daly when questioned by the press. He is like a little girl screeching. Chicago Dems are never wrong they deserve total power.
#51,”Concentrate your ire & your fire on the bad guys.”
The bad guys are the government,both sides of the aisle. Isn’t that consistent with your belief that Government is the problem,not the solution. The Republicans had a president in place 20 of the last 28 years;and no underlying.systemic economic problems were dealt with. The Dems are also hugely to blame. This is a bi-partisan meltdown. They’re all bad guys when it comes to the economy.
People keep maintaining that extended unemployment benefits are a valid part of a “stimulus” program, probably because they get spent in short order. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against unemployment benefits per se, having collected plenty in my lifetime. However, there’s more to them than meets the eye. First, to a large degree, the amount of benefits available to an individual are what amounts to the minimum wage in a state. No one, literally no one, goes to work while they still have benefits, for less than those benefits. Second, living under the most humane and charitable government ever, in spite of the vicious, mean-spirited Republicans, we must be aware that awarding unemployment benefits isn’t as completely altruistic as it might seem. Financial institutions, mortgage holders, credit card companies are all interested in their debtors being able to make regular payments. A large share of unemployment recipients are seasonally unemployed, they know full well that they will be tapping those benefits in the future and plan accordingly. Those benefits are considered part of their income. Of course, a portion of those benefits are made up of payroll deductions and employer contributions, but that would not be the case with extended benefits.
James Murphy:
From what I understand, Obama wrote nothing while President of the Harvard Law Review, but submitted a brief “case comment” before he became President, on an Illinois court ruling that fetuses do not have the right to sue their mothers. At least, this is what Politico tells us (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12705.html), on the basis of what was told them (after some misdirection) by an Obama campaign official.
And here is a fisking of the Obama campaign’s misdirection, when asked whether Obama had authored anything for the Review: http://beldar.blogs.com/beldarblog/2008/08/obamas-belatedl.html
RCAR, no insult was intended with the gold comment.
Some people worried that Obama was not qualified. It’s self-satisfying to say that people were blinded by flowery rhetoric and worshipful media treatment. However the only reason he is president today is because of the financial meltdown that occurred weeks before the election, so the voters perceived the gut’s limitations. A lot of stars had to align to get him elected. It is way, way too early to call Obama a failure. But how about “The Accidental President”, which may likely amount to the same thing.
Surely we can add a million or two to the stimulus bill to buy the D.C. press corps Depends!
J-Rube – did you happen to see the new Gallup results from this morning. Here, let me show you:
1 – Confidence in Obama Remains High After Cabinet Troubles
President Barack Obama had to face tough questioning from the media this week over his process for choosing his top advisers after Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer withdrew their nominations for failing to pay back taxes. But Americans’ support for Obama is hardly shaken, with fewer than one in five saying they are less confident now in Obama’s ethical standards and his ability to manage the government than they were before he took office. A majority say they are “more confident” in both regards
Nevertheless, at least half of Americans think Obama has made progress so far on his promises to change the way Washington works (50%) and to limit the influence lobbyists have in his administration (53%).
2 – Public Support for Stimulus Package Unchanged at 52%
Fifty-two percent of Americans interviewed Wednesday night are in favor of Congress passing a roughly $800 billion economic stimulus package; 38% are opposed. These figures are nearly identical to those measured in Gallup polling last week, right before passage of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, and are also in line with public support in early January.
Once again, there’s Neo-Con Skum world – where “Liberals may be disappointed…” and then there’s the rest of America…
More of your mindless poll watching. Does the poll indicate how many of these respondents know anything about the internals of this bill?
Liberal: But, but, but, Sarah Palin was a heartbeat away from the presidency!!!!
Conservative: Well, when we told you that Barack Obama had no experience in running anything and never had to make any hard decisions, that that would be a worse scenario than Sarah Palin, who was a successful city councilor, businesswoman, mayor, and is currently a successful governor, being a vice president under a man who has shown competent leadership in the military.
Liberal: But, but, but, we needed the hope and the change!! Change from the failed policies of the evil George Bush!!! I hate Republicans and conservatives!!!
Conservative: Well, now you’ve made your bed and must lie in it. Goodbye and have a good day, fruitcake.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the last republican congress and a weak president, or an overwhelming democrat congress and a clueless president:
Runaway spending will ruin the economy. Until that is under control, we are merely rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
THE HELMSMAN
He’ll steer this ship in any sea
He’ll keep her off the rocks
He’s never helmed a ship like this
But he’s clever like a fox
The ship’s cook is in the galley
Stirring up a witch’s brew
She’ll make the helmsman drink it
And she will drink some too
The Purser guards the strong box
Holding gold in many sacks
He was chosen over others
So dumb they paid their tax
The Bosun had credentials
You could take them to the bank
Then he showed his slippery side
And was forced to walk the plank
The ship’s hold is overflowing
With huge boxes of largesse
For people owed for many things
But the ship’s now in distress
It’s heading toward a deadly reef
The crew has lost all joy
The man they thought was Captain
Is just the cabin boy
PLEASE EMAIL THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK
JB
Warpublican, maybe you should check out the CBS poll, that darling of conservative analysis of American views on current political issues, for how they feel about the stimulus package.
The Clothes Have no Emperor.
Those who voted for him should be thinking about the song Mr. Tambourine Man. That who they voted for.
Government do not create jobs. Those employed by the government do so because wealth is transferred from the private sector to the public sector. The way for individuals to create wealth is to be able to keep more of the money they earn.
The answer to this is in fact the market. Government could reduce taxes on individuals and corperations. Every $1 in reduction equally $3+ in economic activity. This from the economic advisor to former POTUS Clinton.
Why the left will not take this action is because they hate the idea that you, a citizen of this nation, would then have a choice. It is all about socalism and power.
This is all going to end very badly. This is true regardless of what happens next or in the next 4 years.
#64,”Runaway spending will ruin the economy.”
It’s already ruined,LOG,We borrowed to do the spending. It took 40 years of deficits to break our economy;that’s how good it used to be. As for fixing it,Hayek or Von Mises would know how,but no one is going to like what we have to do,which is to totally and accurately disclose all our debts and obligations as a nation,and then act on that reality. It’s way too late for more mythology.
#68,”The answer to this is in fact the market.”
Yes, Long term. But short term, this economy is beyond repair. Which is why we have to take a big hit here. Our current liabilities have to be written off,or Free Market 2 won’t happen. The write down is what our current debate is about,nobody wants to do it,it’s political death. The Dems want to procrastinate the writedown by more borrowing;the Republicans want to deny reality by saying that we can immediately return to a market economy. Neither position is valid. The Rules of Economics and Mathematics will move ahead,on their own,without our governments approval.
“President Obama seems to have an exceedingly low tolerance for criticism and adversity.” Exactly so, Ms. Rubin. Last night he came across as brittle; snide; petulant; and angry. Republicans need to hold the fort right now and not be intimidate. The “Porkulus” package is bad policy, and opposing bad policy is good politics.
“More of your mindless poll watching. Does the poll indicate how many of these respondents know anything about the internals of this bill?”
Right – why work with real metrics when we can just make stuff up. Obama is off to a rocky start – says J-Rube – acocrding to J-Rube – and in J-Rube land – but ask an Average Joe – and he says something completely different. i have an idea – when the polls show Negative for Obama, then we can quote them!
“I still can’t believe this guy taught at what was supposedly the most rigorous law school in the country.”
And you couldn’t believe it when he whipped Hillary – and then you couldn’t believe it when he whupped McCain in the debates – and then crushed him in the election. I’m sure you won’t believe it when he gets his stimulus bill passed – and then you won’t believe it when his poll numbers stay high.
oh, you won’t believe it when he wins relection in 2012…
Rcar
It really depends on what you mean by repair and beyond repair. If you mean repair to where were say 24 or 48 months, then yes in that sense it is beyond repair because it is going to take a long time and a lot of very difficult choices by individuals, corperations and governments to make it back. I doubt if many of those choices will be made. I have more faith in individuals and corperations than I do government. We already are seeing individuals and corperations making the hard choices. Governments are making them too with the exception of many blue states + CA who are waiting on some handout.
All across America families are looking at their balance sheets and making decisions on what ir really important and what is not. I know in my case I am reducing spending even more and saving more because of the hits my retirement account has taken. I see other people deferring purchases such as a new car because it really is not that important compared to other things in their lives.
We can do this but to our government everything is important. What this means is nothing is important and at the end of the day where money is allocated is to some one’s pet rock or interest group. Much of this attitude is reflected in the current spending bill.
But from I assume from your comment is that you have great trust in this adminstration to do the right thing and to make things right. I do not share that. I believe given a choice between this bill and nothing the nation will be better served by nothing.
If polls show accurately that we are still fooled, is that not a major problem in itself?
#75,”But from I assume from your comment is that you have great trust in this adminstration to do the right thing and to make things right.”
!00% wrong, Our government and private sector both have to be purged of those toxic debts that can never be paid,that’s called BANKRUPTCY. Until we write off the bad s–t, The economy is not going to have any traction. It’s full Disclosure Accounting that we need as Step One,and then,our strategy for cleaning up the mess is based on fact and reality,not politics. Neither party has the stomach for this process,it’s the same process that made Enron disappear,but what Enron did is still being done,just not by Enron(Enron is a good micro-metaphor for our economy). Terms like “shadow banking system” must be defined and brought into the light. Our Ponzi scheme Social security program has to be brought into the light. But all this will have to be done the hard way,because our political system cannot handle it. We’re a nation of believers in Fairy Tales;we all have our personal favorites, mine is Pandora’s box;we opened it when we decided that Fiat money would be the backbone of our financial system. 38 years later,we are bankrupt.
“I believe given a choice between this bill and nothing the nation will be better served by nothing.”
Then you’re only paying attention to J-Rube and Rush Limbaugh…
RCAR, I am not sure I agree with the angle you are taking, but in the end, you are pretty on target. The government – and increasingly the little governments (otherwise known as states and some larger cities) – are creating more IOUs than they ever have a chance to repay. The issue on money supply I believe you are fixated on the gold standard which is archaic and doesn’t work – it was arbitrarily created to fix currency in a time of fixed capital – productivity is the key. Although you can still print too damn much of the stuff, and by any standard, we have in the past and are going to continue in a big way in the future.
I do think that we would have a better chance of coming out of this quicker by just doing next to nothing. Look at UC benefits and really work on the financial system by admitting the junk in the system must be purged and people are going to have to pay for that.
#79, ” I believe you are fixated on the gold standard which is archaic and doesn’t work”
It doesn’t work,I agree,but I have a question for you. If you had a choice,which would you rather receive for payment, A paper dollar, or one that said Silver or Gold certificate on the front? Don’t bother, this is a real “Duh” type of question.
Jackyboy…
Is this an “if the shoe fits” commentary? Very good.
Warpublican must be drinking the Kool-Aid from a fire hose. The public is outraged about this sausage being made right in front of them. It’s supposed to occur out of sight.
Some think Pelosi has made a fool of Obama, but I think she’s just fronting for him…this crap is HIS plan. It didn’t take long for transparency, no lobbists, no tax payers in the cabinet and assorted other miscues to take the bloom off the rose. Now he’s even starting to lose the fawning media. At this rate, it may be a long, long four years.
“Wow, you people are really foolish enough to call the game this early?”
Just because the quarterback has fallen to the astroturf, kicking and screaming that it’s not fair because the other team keeps trying to take the ball, why, that don’t mean nuthin’.
How is fiat money better than gold? Why is the gold standard bad? Since “they” can apparently print too much money or not enough money, are “they” actually required for an economy to function? Money is a commodity like anything else, why does the government have control of it or anything else? Is it “right” or “good” for the government to determine how much gasoline is refined or how many cows are milked or how many pizzas are made?
78 Warpublican
Actually I have not. My position is from my own understanding of how America works and what makes our nation great. It is void of the Kool Aide, which you seem to be sipping.
More than 70% of our GDP is from private sector consumption. If you think government with this spending bill is going to replace that then you must be listening to Mr. Tambourine Man and his merry minors at full volume.
As previously stated individuals and corporations are in the process of repairing their balance sheets. Government at some point is going to have to do the same thing. The way they will do that is to cut spending or raise taxes or both.
You seem to miss the entire point that money for this spending orgy is going to be repaid by the productive labor of our nation. While you might be on the receiving end of a hand out someone is paying for that handout. If it is not going to be you then it is going to your children and grandchildren and their children.
But if I am to understand your comment correctly we must do something even if it produces nothing in the way of fixing the current situation. Doing something harmful is bettet than doing nothing at all.
” … Sarah Palin, who was a successful city councilor, businesswoman, mayor, and is currently a successful governor, being a vice president under a man who has shown competent leadership in the military. …”
My favorite double standard has to do with “the circle of experienced advisors”. If Palin had them coaching her on foreign policy, while being vice-president, it wouldn’t be good enough. To apprehension that Obama won’t be experienced enough to be president NOW: “But he’ll have a trusted group of experienced advisors!”
My worst fear was that Obama would appear just competent and smooth enough to push his far-left programs through, coating them with a sheen of plausibility. They would be just as destructive, but the press and the country would still be mesmerized. This way is better, although what is going to happen if he just can’t function? Does that mean Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel are in effect running the country? But maybe that is happening anyway. At least Pelosi is in an environment where she can be challenged. Unless she becomes president in some chain of events. In any case, whatever happens will be – what was that word again? – transparent.
#85,”More than 70% of our GDP is from private sector consumption.”
And that is absolutely unsustainable. This is supposed to be Capitalism not consumptionism;it’s a completley different ism. The reason the GDP depends so much on personal consumption is the result of the same kind of social engineering that Conservatives despise.
Of course this rate of consumption cannot continue. The consumer has exhausted just about every source of funds that is available to him. Credit has all but dried up except for the most creditworthy individuals and most of those who fall into this small group are not taking on new debt.
Unfortunately the political class in WDC lead by Mr. Tambourine Man still has credit available and it is there intent to use it now, all of it. The only way to change this is to change those in power. That is a lot easier said than done as more and more people look to those who caused this problem to not only solve it but to save them and insure a comfortable life style without individual responsibility.
How long until we see a You Tube remix of Obama’s hissy fits, like Christian Bale’s meltdown? I can’t wait. I hope they show him waving that index finger around and glowering a lot.
Warpublican Review:
“Then you’re only paying attention to J-Rube and Rush Limbaugh.”
Better than paying attention to whoever’s in charge in this Administration. Or in Congress. Oh, I get it; you’re one of the 500,000,000 Americans paying attention to Nancy.
Has anyone read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand lately? I just read it for a second time to see if I really understood what I was reading as it seems to be coming true…