On Politics, We Can Always See the Whites of Their Eyes.
Obama in Williamsburg: Frustration and Desperation
by: Bill Dupray posted: 2009-02-06 17:04:00
Viewed 574 times. 9 Comments.
He was preaching to the choir last night at the Democrat Congressional retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. His frustration level with any dissent over this massive pork bill is evident. He says he welcomes debate and then demands that it gets passed without quibbling and partisanship. He says that all economists from both sides of the aisle think a catastrophe will befall us if it is not passed, but that nobody should listen to the debate "chatter" on the cable news channels.
Several observers note that Obama has lost the message war and, though the Democrats may get their way, it will be a pyrrhic, partisan victory.
Rich Lowry notes that Obama has resorted to a base, "I won" argument as a reason to give him everything he wants.
That Obama is reduced to this crude appeal is a symptom of the intellectual collapse of the case for his stimulus bill, a congressional spendfest untethered from its stated goal of providing a rapid “jolt” to the economy.
The stimulus bill has failed. Barack Obama has failed. The Trojan Horse of Hope and Change crashed into the guardrail of reality, revealing an army of ideologues and activists inside.Now, before I continue, let me say that Barack Obama will still be popular, he will still get things done, and he will declare victory after signing a stimulus bill.
But Obama’s moment is gone, and politics is about nothing if not moments. . . .
Obama and his party were undone by their hubris. There was just too much muchness in the bill. The once impressive support from conservative economists evaporated. Right-wing radio has been having one long tailgate party celebrating Obama’s overreach. According to the polls, voters are souring on the whole thing. Republicans finally discovered testicular fortitude—and they seem to like it.
Charles Krauthammer agrees that Obama has blown it.
And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.
It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. . . .
The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. . . .
After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.
I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.
That Obama knows he is winning ugly was plainly apparent in Williamsburg last night. This breathtaking overreach will not be shared by the Republicans, and Obama's job from here forward will be more difficult, not less.
Tags: Pork,
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Comments 9
I too am enjoying this and I am not ashamed. It confirms what I suspected all along, Obama and his ilk are nothing but empty suits. I thought dissent was patriotic or did I misread the bumper stickers?
The question is "if" the republicans remain steadfast in their opposition. Murkowski is weak. Very weak. If she caves I'll make it my personal mission to see her defeated in 2010.
And if the economy happens to improve between now and 2010 - where will that leave the party that voted against it to a man?
Historically, it will improve. On average, every recession since 1902 has lasted 13 months; 14 1/2 if you include the 43 month long great depression, 19 months longer than the next longest recession of 24 months in 1910-1912.
So the question becomes, will this congress prolong it like FDR's plans did in the 20's and 30's? If they leave things alone, it will recover on it's own this year.
Yatalli is correct, the massive overspending will become the defining campaign issue for 2010 and 2012.
Alex, history teaches that your hypothetical will not come to pass. So if it does not improve, what then? These aren't just two different but equal ways of playing the same game. Socialism is an economy killer. Capitalism grows it. This is Socialism on a grand scale. It cannot mathematically succeed.
How interesting - two very different reactions from Robert and Bill!
I think the outcome Robert projects will be more likely. Whether caused by stimulus spending or not, I think we'll see a better economy in two years' time than we have now. Robert's response gives me some idea of what Republican arguments might be under those circumstances - that the economy would have recovered faster without the stimulus. I think, though, that that will be a hard case to make to the voters. Voters will tend to assume that post hoc is propter hoc and will reward Democrats for any recovery.
However, if Bill is right - and I hope he isn't for all our sakes because we all need jobs - then the Republicans will now be well placed to argue that the Democratic solution didn't work and that something else has to be tried.
I too feel that the dems will take credit for what they did not fix. It is the nature of government as a whole. everybody blames the president for what they didn't do. Everyone credit the president for they didn't do, blah blah blah.
It will be the same here. If the republicans has better PR, they could show the truth, but I doubt that will come to pass.
The point isn't just the economy. Even if the economy turns there is a much bigger issue here for conservatives, namely the unbridled growth of government. It should be THE KEY issue for Conservatives.
So who paid for this "retreat"?
Oh wait, I did.
And the executives whose pay has been limited to $500k, because they spent too much "frivolous" money.
BS.
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I cannot even begin to tell you how much I am enjoying this. It may be wrong and all that, but I am not sorry. I really am enjoying this. I knew that eventually this man's hubris would be his downfall.....I just did not think it would happen this soon.
Now if the Republicans remain strong in their opposition to pork/earmarks/garbage bills, they have the potential of setting themselves up for a major coup in 2010. But we do need a person to be a spokesman/woman to bring this message to the American people and hammer it home.