Thanks (for nothing) Obama!

I just read an interesting article from the web site infowars.com: Barack Obama conclusively outed as CIA creation.  I am not a ‘birther’, but as a person with a free mind I have questions that seem pretty natural– such as ‘why does obama refuse to release the documents typically accumulated by any US citizen’ and ‘why is it so difficult to produce a birth certificate?’   I also find it bizarre for a country to elect someone President while knowing nothing about where he comes from– and THEN start asking the important questions, after the election. 

But I don’t need any of this CIA stuff, or even the birth/citizenship stuff , to conclude that obama should never have been elected.  I mean REALLY– just take a look around!    For the libs who say he ‘inherited the economy’, I don’t know why more people don’t simply point out that Bush 2 also ‘inherited’ a recession.  I’ve come across people who don’t even know that fact;  I’ve been told by libs that ‘everything was great for the Clinton years and then Bush came and destroyed the economy.’  They even will claim that stating otherwise is ‘revisionist history.’  I don’t get them;  is it that they are too young to remember?  Does their ideology destroy their memory?  For those who don’t remember, Clinton’s first two years consisted of the usual Dem spending spree, which ushered in the ‘Contract with America’, Newt Gingrich, and attempts to limit spending.  Clinton adapted– one of his greatest skills was to adapt to Republican ideas and then claim to have invented them– and proclaimed ‘the era of big government is over.’  Remember?  That was the start of some good years… until the Republicans in Congress became addicted to the spending that ousted the dems.  The difference, of course, is that Republicans’ spending addiction consists of a joint per day, where the democrats’ spending addiction is like the scene from Scarface where the mobster buries his face into a pile of cocaine! 

The dot-com bubble, though, bailed out the economy;  as spending went up, tax collections went up even more as stocks skyrocketed.  Eventually the bubble burst, as they all do.  All of the ‘surplus’ attributed to Clinton was based on the dotcom tax receipts;  when the bubble burst, the surplus went away.  The nasdaq lost over 80% of its value, and the other indexes fell over 50%– a loss of value that typically destroys economies.  This is when Bush 2 took office.  The economy was in a recession by the time he entered office.  Later in the year the 9/11 attacks came.  Economists from both parties said that the attacks in NYC at the heart of the financial sector of our economy, on top of the recession, would cripple growth and throw the US into a depression.

This was Bush 2′s ‘inheritance,’ for those who like to speak of inheritances.  Of course, the Presidency is not ‘inherited;’ the country is designed, with staggered elections, so that those elected to major offices can come and go without great disruption of the country’s business.  Every President ‘inherits’ problems.  Obama’s ‘inheritance’ is no worse than any other President.  What IS unique about obama is his tendency to whine about every problem he comes across… and then commit a series of gaffes and mistakes that make the problem much worse.  The current economic situation is a classic example.  How did Bush avoid a deeper recession, despite the 911 attacks and the recession when he entered office?  He boldly cut taxes, following the mold of Reagan– and of JFK.  The response was 7 years of broad economic growth– despite two wars.  In fact, while critics whined about the deficit under Bush, even with the wars in two countries his largest annual deficit never exceeded half a trillion dollars.  Obama’s current deficit is three times that level– and will likely be higher going forward.

Obama likes to whine about his ‘inheritance.’  What he SHOULD be considering is what is replacement will inherit from HIM.  After all, 2012 is coming– not quite fast enough, but it is coming.

A couple years ago we knew nothing about obama, and unfortunately our newsmedia abdicated their traditional role of shining a light on stinky politicians– allowing perhaps one of histories ‘stinkiest’ to get elected.  Liberals will view my ‘stinky’ comments as racist of course, and that’s fine– I can’t change their world-view, and don’t really want to.  In fact, I think it best if we let their ‘world views’ shine forth for all to see;  let them take responsibility for the mess that they have created.  If you go back in this blog about 14 months or so, you will see that I have been consistent;  my fear then was that obama would be allowed to pass his ridiculous ‘stimulus plan’, which any non-partisan, educated reader knew was more anti-stimulus than pro-stimulus.  Why?  because businesses want to see an environment that allows growth, before they will commit to hiring. Wouldn’t you?  And businesses saw a trillion dollars of spending, the vast majority on social welfare programs that extended decades into the future, guaranteeing the eventuality of higher taxes.  None of this is rocket science– would YOU risk everything that you owned, to take a shot a growing a business that allowed you to take home a third of what you earned?

The trillion dollars offered nothing for businesses;  it may be a good thing to give money to teachers and unions (if you are a teacher, anyway)– but the money goes to buy them better pensions– not toward creating a job for anyone!  I have always suspected that Dems hated Bush so much that they actually believed the garbage they spewed, about him being ‘stupid.’  Never mind that he graduated from the best business school in the world (and do you REALLY think that being the son of the head of the CIA, a Republican appointee, won classroom favors for W at Harvard?!  If anything he probably had to work twice as hard).  Sure, he couldn’t give speeches as polished as the annointed one– but we all can see just how far THAT talent can carry a country!  The Dems figured that being president must be easy… and figured that the economy would just fix itself.  Don’t waste a crisis– use it to pass an agenda of wasteful social programs…. and the economy will be fine.  Heck, the recession that W inherited got better, right?!

Of course we know the truth;  Bush inherited the 2000-2001 recession, then the 9/11 attacks–  all in the shadow of Clinton’s stock market bubble and burst.  But Bush averted a deeper recession by doing what Reagan did– cutting taxes across the board, for everyone.  In return we had 8 years of economic prosperity, until the housing bubble (pushed in part by Dems who believe that everyone needs a home,  job or not) brought the good times to an end.

Obama did not reduce taxes like Bush did– he instead guaranteed they will rise.  That shuts off any interest in business investment.  But even worse, obama threw away a TRILLION DOLLARS– and added layers of government to the auto industry, the banks, and now healthcare.  So now we are too broke to actually HAVE a stimulus.  Yes, ‘shovel ready projects’ would be nice– if only obama had added them to the trillion dollar scheme that he pushed through in a few days, early last year.  Now we really need that money– today jobless claims rose ‘unexpectedly’ again– but it is too late.  Obama wasted that money, so we have no powder left in our kegs.

Thanks (for nothing) obama!

Thanks to our friends across the pond in GB– our own media have become lapdogs for our idiot President, but the UK Telegraph has the ‘cojones’ to speak the truth:

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown

The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House. While the anti-establishment Tea Party movement has gained significant ground and is now a rising and powerful political force to be reckoned with, many of the president’s own supporters as well as independents are rapidly losing faith in Barack Obama, with open warfare breaking out between the White House and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. While conservatism in America grows stronger by the day, the forces of liberalism are growing increasingly weaker and divided.

Against this backdrop, the president’s approval ratings have been sliding dramatically all summer, with the latest Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll of US voters dropping to minus 22 points, the lowest point so far for Barack Obama since taking office. While just 24 per cent of American voters strongly approve of the president’s job performance, almost twice that number, 46 per cent, strongly disapprove. According to Rasmussen, 65 per cent of voters believe the United States is going down the wrong track, including 70 per cent of independents.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls now has President Obama at over 50 per cent disapproval, a remarkably high figure for a president just 18 months into his first term. Strikingly, the latest USA Today/Gallup survey has the President on just 41 per cent approval, with 53 per cent disapproving.

 There are an array of reasons behind the stunning decline and political fall of President Obama, chief among them fears over the current state of the US economy, with widespread concern over high levels of unemployment, the unstable housing market, and above all the towering budget deficit. Americans are increasingly rejecting President Obama’s big government solutions to America’s economic woes, which many fear will lead to the United States sharing the same fate as Greece.

Growing disillusionment with the Obama administration’s handling of the economy as well as health care and immigration has gone hand in hand with mounting unhappiness with the President’s aloof and imperial style of leadership, and a growing perception that he is out of touch with ordinary Americans, especially at a time of significant economic pain. Barack Obama’s striking absence of natural leadership ability (and blatant lack of experience) has played a big part in undermining his credibility with the US public, with his lacklustre handling of the Gulf oil spill coming under particularly intense fire.

On the national security and foreign policy front, President Obama has not fared any better. His leadership on the war in Afghanistan has been confused and at times lacking in conviction, and seemingly dictated by domestic political priorities rather than military and strategic goals. His overall foreign policy has been an appalling mess, with his flawed strategy of engagement of hostile regimes spectacularly backfiring. And as for the War on Terror, his administration has not even acknowledged it is fighting one.

Can it get any worse for President Obama? Undoubtedly yes. Here are 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in serious trouble, and why its prospects are unlikely to improve between now and the November mid-terms.

1. The Obama presidency is out of touch with the American people
In a previous post I noted how the Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime, extravagant, decaying and out of touch with ordinary Americans. The First Lady’s ill-conceived trip to Spain at a time of widespread economic hardship was symbolic of a White House that barely gives a second thought to public opinion on many issues, and frequently projects a distinctly elitist image. The “let them eat cake” approach didn’t play well over two centuries ago, and it won’t succeed today.

2. Most Americans don’t have confidence in the president’s leadership
This deficit of trust in Obama’s leadership is central to his decline. According to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, “nearly six in ten voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country”, and two thirds “say they are disillusioned with or angry about the way the federal government is working.” The poll showed that a staggering 58 per cent of Americans say they do not have confidence in the president’s decision-making, with just 42 per cent saying they do.

3. Obama fails to inspire
In contrast to the soaring rhetoric of his 2004 Convention speech in Boston which succeeded in impressing millions of television viewers at the time, America is no longer inspired by Barack Obama’s flat, monotonous and often dull presidential speeches and statements delivered via teleprompter. From his extraordinarily uninspiring Afghanistan speech at West Point to his flat State of the Union address, President Obama has failed to touch the heart of America. Even Jimmy Carter was more moving.

4. The United States is drowning in debt
The Congressional Budget Office Long-Term Budget Outlook offers a frightening picture of the scale of America’s national debt. Under its alternative fiscal scenario, the CBO projects that US debt could rise to 87 percent of GDP by 2020, 109 percent by 2025, and 185 percent in 2035. While much of Europe, led by Britain and Germany, are aggressively cutting their deficits, the Obama administration is actively growing America’s debt, and has no plan in place to avert a looming Greek-style financial crisis.

5. Obama’s Big Government message is falling flat
The relentless emphasis on bailouts and stimulus spending has done little to spur economic growth or create jobs, but has greatly advanced the power of the federal government in America. This is not an approach that is proving popular with the American public, and even most European governments have long ditched this tax and spend approach to saving their own economies.

6. Obama’s support for socialised health care is a huge political mistake
In an extraordinary act of political Harakiri, President Obama leant his full support to the hugely controversial, unpopular and divisive health care reform bill, with a monstrous price tag of $940 billion, whose repeal is now supported by 55 per cent of likely US voters. As I wrote at the time of its passing, the legislation is “a great leap forward by the United States towards a European-style vision of universal health care, which will only lead to soaring costs, higher taxes, and a surge in red tape for small businesses. This reckless legislation dramatically expands the power of the state over the lives of individuals, and could not be further from the vision of America’s founding fathers.”

7. Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill has been weak-kneed and indecisive
While much of the spilled oil in the Gulf has now been thankfully cleared up, the political damage for the White House will be long-lasting. Instead of showing real leadership on the matter by acing decisively and drawing upon offers of international support, the Obama administration settled on a more convenient strategy of relentlessly bashing an Anglo-American company while largely sitting on its hands. Significantly, a poll of Louisiana voters gave George W. Bush higher marks for his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with 62 percent disapproving of Obama’s performance on the Gulf oil spill.

8. US foreign policy is an embarrassing mess under the Obama administration
It is hard to think of a single foreign policy success for the Obama administration, but there have been plenty of missteps which have weakened American global power as well as the standing of the United States. The surrender to Moscow on Third Site missile defence, the failure to aggressively stand up to Iran’s nuclear programme, the decision to side with ousted Marxists in Honduras, the slap in the face for Great Britain over the Falklands, have all contributed to the image of a US administration completely out of its depth in international affairs. The Obama administration’s high risk strategy of appeasing America’s enemies while kicking traditional US allies has only succeeded in weakening the United States while strengthening her adversaries.

9. President Obama is muddled and confused on national security
From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the War on Terror, President Obama’s leadership has often been muddled and confused. On Afghanistan he rightly sent tens of thousands of additional troops to the battlefield. At the same time however he bizarrely announced a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces beginning in July 2011, handing the initiative to the Taliban. On Iraq he has announced an end to combat operations and the withdrawal of all but 50,000 troops despite a recent upsurge in terrorist violence and political instability, and without the Iraqi military and police ready to take over. In addition he has ditched the concept of a War on Terror, replacing it with an Overseas Contingency Operation, hardly the right message to send in the midst of a long-war against Al-Qaeda.

10. Obama doesn’t believe in American greatness
Barack Obama has made it clear that he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, and has made apologising for his country into an art form. In a speech to the United Nations last September he stated that “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold.” It is difficult to see how a US president who holds these views and does not even accept America’s greatness in history can actually lead the world’s only superpower with force and conviction.

There is a distinctly Titanic-like feel to the Obama presidency and it’s not hard to see why. The most left-wing president in modern American history has tried to force a highly interventionist, government-driven agenda that runs counter to the principles of free enterprise, individual freedom, and limited government that have made the United States the greatest power in the world, and the freest nation on earth.

This, combined with weak leadership both at home and abroad against the backdrop of tremendous economic uncertainty in an increasingly dangerous world, has contributed to a spectacular political collapse for a president once thought to be invincible. America at its core remains a deeply conservative nation, which cherishes its traditions and founding principles. President Obama is increasingly out of step with the American people, by advancing policies that undermine the United States as a global power, while undercutting America’s deep-seated love for freedom.