We're Not #1 in Economic Freedom
The Heritage Foundation notes that in 2009, the United States has slipped from #3 to #6 along an index of 10 economic freedoms; we now trail Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. The index, under Obama and the Congressional Democrats' "leadership", shows 5 downticks and just 1 uptick (low inflation)--with BELOW-AVERAGE scores in fiscal freedom (uncompetitive high individual and business tax bracket rates and a 28.2% tax burden relative to GDP) and government size (government spending at 36.7% of GDP). The one uptick, based largely on inflation under control, I attribute mostly to slumping global demand (and global demand for the dollar in periods of uncertainty) versus the Federal Reserve pursuing a sound monetary policy. Increasing gold prices and reluctance of foreign investors and governments (especially China) to finance chronic Democratic-controlled government overspending will inevitably ignite job-killing inflation. The conservative prescription? Put the government on a rigorous fiscal diet, eliminating government pork, lowering uncompetitive business taxes and obtrusive regulations, and exercising fiscal restraint and budgetary discipline.
Dems Playing the Race Card
The Democrats are currently walking a very thin line. Equating any and all criticisms of Obama (who, incidentally, is mixed-race, having a white mother and been raised in his teens by his white grandparents) as racist-motivated is not only inexcusably provocative but is intellectually lazy; as usual, progressives, lacking a substantive basis for arguing their and Obama's positions and agenda, feel compelled to resort to desperate ad hominem arguments and smears of their conservative opponents. The fact that a pedestrian comedienne and actress like Janeane Garofolo refers to independent conservatives as "teabagging rednecks" is not that surprising, given her unimaginative Hollywood groupthink liberal views; the fact that that the most mediocre one-term President of the past half-century, namely Jimmy Carter, would attempt to smear a Congressman from a neighboring Southern state, given the sensitivity of such reckless allegations in the region, with such an inflammatory accusation, is inexcusable and unworthy of a former President. I personally believe that the fact that white progressives resort to such desperate tactics reflects an ultimate lack of confidence in Obama's capacity to meet the challenge of his conservative critics.
Obama DoubleSpeak
Did anyone really understand what exactly Obama's health care reform plan consists of, i.e., his line-in-the-sand details or how it's going to be paid for? It is true that he signaled a degree of openness about certain Republican ideas, e.g., medical malpractice tort reform, dealing with catastrophic expenses, state/region risk pools, etc. But we've seen this before with Obama: been there, done that. Remember what happened when, with oil over $140/barrel, Obama showed signs of flexibility on revitalizing oil and gas exploration? And then, just as soon as the global economic crisis caused a substantial correction in oil prices, Obama backed away. Or when Obama vowed, at a Presidential debate, not to sign to sign another Congressional earmark--but then signed an omnibus spending bill containing hundreds of them?
The proof is in the pudding. How many of these concepts are in any current piece of legislation in the House or Senate? When Speaker Pelosi or other House Democratic leaders vow that either there is a "public option" or there's no reform bill at all, how does that reflect Obama's purported flexibility in saying he's more concerned with increasing competition than the nature of the competition? (I didn't exactly hear Obama talk about deregulation of the health care insurance market or allowing small businesses to band together and self-insure like big businesses can...) Obama can TALK all he wants about spending all his political capital on the line to pass "health care reform": talk is cheap. Instead of giving yet another speech or campaign rally, when is he going to actually get into a room with key Congressional Democrats and Republicans and try to hammer out a compromise? Instead, you still hear the Senate Democrats hinting that they might use the "nuclear option", budget reconciliation procedures as an unconventional tactic to force through a major policy initiative and essentially do away with the power of the filibuster to force political compromise.
I think in reality what Obama is really doing is little more than a political game of good cop/bad cop. By avoiding specificity, he avoids taking a political hit for unpopular positions, letting Congressional Democratic leaders from safe seats take the heat. His positional ambiguity allows him to declare a political victory, no matter the final provisions in the bill. Self-serving political gamesmanship is NOT leadership.
