Quote of the Day
One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.
Dennis Peer
Obama Still Doesn't Get It: San Francisco Moment Redux
The President made the following remarks yesterday at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts:
In all, we passed 25 different tax cuts last year. And one thing we haven't done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year -- another promise that we kept. So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you.Poor Obama, clinging to his sound bites and the rules of Saul Alinsky. Let's put this in terms he'll probably never understand, namely the truth: We don't like condescending, patronizing leaders whom think we are gullible and easily manipulated by glossy, empty rhetoric. We don't like pandering and gimmicky policies; we don't like politicians as usual paying for their reckless promises on the backs of future generations. We don't like self-serving government empire-building, pretentiously justified as for the "common good", which constitutes an unchecked Big Government bubble, risking the economic future of this country. We don't like hypocrites whom talk bipartisanship but fully exploit large partisan majorities in the legislature to pass a massive new entitlement with corrupt bargains and misleading budgets, when we already have over $40T in unfunded entitlements (social security and Medicare). We don't like a President whom got elected with centrist rhetoric but has been pursuing a leftist Trojan horse agenda, promising over 40% of workers, whom pay no income taxes, even more goods and services, without a vested interest in efficient government; what about moral hazard? What happens to personal initiative and responsibility when the federal government fosters a crippling dependence on government largess? What about the hubris of progressive government to tax, spend, and regulate even more of the private sector, in the aftermath of failing to regulate risk within its existing mandate and regulatory structures and policies enabling a speculative real estate market? What about a progressive Congress which, instead of broad-based business tax cuts and more globally competitive rates, pushes stimulus money on reluctant consumers and cherry-picks its way funding partisan spending priorities (especially health care, education, and the environment)? [I'm sure the fact that the government already pays more than 46% in the health care sector and the lion's share of education expenses had nothing to do with it.]
It's not surprising that Obama can't relate to folks whom don't believe in the federal government expanding beyond its limited distinctive core competencies and whom believe in setting aside rainy day funds, paying their bills on time, saving for a down payment on their first house, and buying things only when they have the money to pay for them--and expect the same from their government.
Bill Clinton Joins in Tea Party Bashing
Let's see: if Bill Clinton, the Punxsutawney Phil of the Democratic Party, crawls out of his hole the day after Tax Day to speak in an election year and sees the fearsome shadow of the upcoming election, will he crawl back into his hole and shut up?
First of all, I have to respond to Bill Clinton's polemical statement, saying that the original Boston Tea Party was over taxation without representation, and the current Tea Party objects to taxation by elected officials. Not quite. You do have over 40% of American people whom have representation without taxation or accountability to future generations which have to pay their debts. Moreover, you have a partisan legislature which, despite repeated polls showing that the American people opposed the defective Senate health care reform bill, and specifically after a Republican senator Scott Brown, the first Massachusetts U.S. Republican senator in over 30 years, ran on a platform of being a 41st senator against the Senate bill and to force the Democrats into negotiating in good faith, deliberately passed the same corrupt bill into law, using a budget reconciliation procedure not subject to cloture to "fix" a corrupt partisan bargain.
The Democrats respond by pointing out American opinion had initially opposed the Iraq surge at the beginning of 2007, implying that wreaking havoc over a transformation of 17% of the American economy is comparable. This is disingenuous; first, the liberation of Iraq had the support of the American people, and to many of us, a cut-and-run in Iraq was likely to ignite a regional sectarian war which would have a devastating effect on the global economy. Moreover, the rebuilding of Iraq only tangentially affected Americans; the health care bill affects every American directly, including additions to the federal debt, taxes and penalties to employers and individuals, new federal regulations, and/or Medicare/Medicaid enrollments or cuts.
Second, Bill Clinton's argument that the tragedy of the Oklahoma City bomber is comparable with what is going on with the Tea Party is a deliberate smear. There are a number of polls which point out broad, not fringe support of the Tea Party, especially with concern over a structural federal deficit risking the economic future of this country and government going beyond its core competencies and traditional mandate. What happened in Oklahoma City did not have to deal with rhetoric but was done specifically on the second anniversary of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco burning down. The recent New York Times poll shows that participants tend to be relatively better-educated and wealthier, supportive of many government programs (e.g., social security and Medicare), send their kids to public schools, and regard their current tax burden as fair. The anger does not stem from an anti-government ideology (like McVeigh and others) but the nature and extent of a progressive agenda rammed down the throats of a mainstream center-right nation. Obama, who has seen his approval ratings plummet below 50%, enjoys high ratings by fellow Democrats; he has galvanized Republican opposition, and he is losing moderates and independents by double-digits.
You would have thought, after the 1994 election, when Clinton explicitly acknowledged that the era of Big Government was over, he would be cautioning his party against progressive agenda overreach, arguing for a more centrist, fiscally responsible agenda. He knew what happened after pushing a tax hike through budget reconciliation and his own failed attempt at health care reform. Instead, he's pushing the same type of innuendoes as last year's DHS warning of possible domestic terrorists among military veterans and pro-life activists. For shame, Mr. President!
Political Cartoon
Lisa Benson exposes the ingratitude of foreign leaders whom owe their very status to American sacrifices, lives and treasure.
Musical Interlude: "Yesterday" Songs
Bay City Rollers, "Yesterday's Hero"
Carpenters, "Yesterday Once More"
Neil Diamond, "Yesterday's Songs"
Roy Clark, "Yesterday When I Was Young"
