Obama is a Bad President: An Answer to Jonathan Alter

Townhall.com ^ | August 27, 2011 | John Ransom

[Kaslin]

Progressive Jonathan Alter is outraged that everyone is ready to “fire” Obama.

“I want to know,” wrote a snippy Alter on Bloomberg.com, “on a substantive basis, why you think he deserves to be in a dead heat with Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and only a few points ahead of Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann in a new Gallup Poll. Is it just that any president -- regardless of circumstances and party -- who presides over 9 percent unemployment deserves to lose?”

I was tempted to treat Alter with the “What? You got to be kidding,” routine. Any Republican should be way ahead of the president. But Alter seems to be one of the few still genuinely shocked that Obama has lost support from all segments of the American public who consider hugging the president to be inappropriate.   

So, since Alter asked sincerely, I will answer with five reasons based on substance, although I could probably come up with twenty reasons easily.

But for now, five will do.  

Each reason will come in two parts. The first part will be substantive arguments as to why Obama is a bad president because of a failed or flawed policy. The second part will put that argument into context with a campaign promise.

Reason Number One: Obamacare

Part One:

Obamcare legislation is flawed. Badly flawed. It doesn’t address the real need to bring down costs in the healthcare.

There were two reasons to reform healthcare in this country. The first purpose was to bring down runaway costs; the second was to expand coverage. At this point, it’s fair to say that even if fully implemented, no one knows what the exact outcome of Obamacare will be as to costs, although it’s safe to say coverage will expand.

Then-House Speaker Pelosi was right when she said that no one would really know what was in Obamacare until it was enacted. If that’s not an indictment of the legislation crafted by the president, I don’t know what is. I think at a minimum legislation ought to have known outcome, especially something as ambitious as Obamacare.

Instead of the “less than trillion dollars” figure that was trumpeted when Obamacare finally passed, the CBO says that the figure for the first ten years will come in north of $2 trillion. The increase will have to come from tax increases and benefit cuts.  

This isn’t a “narrative” or message problem. This is continued unease by the American public that was relatively happy with their healthcare choices and costs. And they were forced to take a replacement that isn’t going to work.         

And more and more evidence is cropping up that suggests that Americans’ fears that they would not be able to keep their current insurance under Obamcare was a legitimate concern. Because of the mandate provision, businesses are starting to make the simple decision to get rid of coverage, which is what critics said would happen.  

Poll after poll shows that 70 percent or more of Americans were already happy with their health coverage. And candidate Obama promised to make sure that Americans could keep their insurance if they were happy with it.

It was a key difference between the candidates Obama and Clinton during the primary.

“But the big difference is mandates,” wrote Paul Krugman in the NYTimes in February 2008, “the Clinton plan requires that everyone have insurance; the Obama plan doesn’t.”

“If Mr. Obama gets to the White House,” continued Krugman, “and tries to achieve universal coverage, he’ll find that it can’t be done without mandates — but if he tries to institute mandates, the enemies of reform will use his own words against him.”     

Because of the mandates that candidate Obama said he didn’t favor- and that is the key provision of Obamacare- the legislation is the largest expansion of federal government power since the Great Society, maybe ever. It imposes draconian measures on people who refuse to buy something from the federal government.

This is something that candidate Obama said he wouldn’t do.  

Bad president, bad, bad president.

Part Two:

“Under my plan to reform healthcare,” says candidate Obama under this hypothetical, “we’ll imprison anyone who doesn’t buy health insurance. And to enforce the requirement we will put 16,500 more IRS agents on the street.”

Reason Number Two: Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq

Part One:

Say what you like about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Bush did secure Congressional approval for the military actions there. Obama didn’t even bother to consult Congress before fighting a de facto war in Libya.

You can try sophistry to argue why Obama took the measures he did, but it’s only that, sophistry. Any other president would come under the same scrutiny, especially when they argued previously that to fight a war without Congressional approval would be unconstitutional.

Bad president, bad, bad president.

Part Two:

“As president of the United States,” says candidate Obama in the hypothetical, “I will deploy our forces in and around Libya. I will authorize the use of force in Libya for a period not less than six months without first- or ever- securing the approval of Congress because you can’t make me.”

Reason Number Three: If You Can’t Budget You Can’t Govern

Part One:  

Despite having big majorities for the first two years of his presidency, Obama has failed to get any budget passed. Ever. His last budget didn’t even get one vote in the Senate. Not one.

Obama’s Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt said in 2006 “If you can’t budget, you can’t govern.”

That might be the reason why we have historic budget deficits without much to show for it. The reason why the public got so involved in the debt ceiling debate is directly tied to the indiscipline shown by the White House when it comes to budgets. 

There is give and take in any budget process that’s key to building support in any organization. Too often it’s Obama’s way or the highway. And the country ends up drifting.    

John Spratt was defeated for reelection in 2010 after first being elected to Congress in 1983. That was Obama’s bad.

Bad president, bad, bad president.

Part Two:

“Under my plan for economic growth and recovery,” says our hypothetical candidate Obama, “we won’t even pass budgets. We’ll run up historic deficits and raise the debt ceiling, something that I condemned my opponents for. But we’ll do it without any systematic support or budget process.”

Reason Number Four: Regulatory Overhang

Part One:

We’ll leave aside the great uncertainty that Obamacare is creating amongst businesses and concentrate on two other industries that are vital to economic recovery: Banks and Energy.

Like it or not, banks and energy are vital parts of the economy. If you want to understand why the economy is struggling to create jobs, you only have to look at what’s happening in those sectors to get why Obama’s policies have failed.

Banking: The president has used the full faith and credit of the United States to essentially guarantee the banking industry and below that real estate, which is the cornerstone of banking. Despite the guarantee and despite huge amounts of cash, banks aren’t loaning money. Part of that is demand driven, but part of it is the uncertainty surrounding Dodd-Frank banking reform.

It was clear from the mortgage crisis that banking needs better regulation. But it was also clear that part of the problem in banking was that the federal government became a partner in crime, so to speak, along with taxpayers and home buyers. Everyone was happy that the price of homes and real estate was going up. And the government created the framework for that to happen by originating about half the mortgages in the country.

The sub prime mortgage market that was created was inconceivable without the government providing the inflationary oomph that only government liquidity can really stoke.

Dodd-Frank was supposed to fix that. But it hasn’t tried to address the systemic problems of too-big-to-fail in any real way.  In fact, the administration has pandered to public outrage by demonizing bankers while keeping the banking system intact, warts and all.

We now have fewer banks in fact with larger pools of concentrated assets.

What could Obama do differently? He could break up the banks. He could bring back Glass-Steagall. Glass-Steagall was specifically designed to prevent the too-big-to-fail scenario by allowing banks to operate only in contiguous states and by forcing them out of the investment business. And it worked, until European mega-banks, not encumbered by Glass-Steagall, forced US banks to lobby for repeal saying this time things were different.

The way to address too-big-to-fail is not through Dodd-Frank, which doesn’t really touch the subject, but to make sure any one bank isn’t so big to force the rest of the system to fail. Dodd-Frank regulates every part of the banking business except for the part that keeps it from failing.  

Included in that reform should be the break up and private sale of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The government should be out of the mortgage business entirely with the exception of VA loans.

You can only get rid of too-big-to-fail by addressing the too-big part first.

Bad president, bad, bad president.

Energy: The president- and the left- has a huge ideological blind-spot when it comes to energy. The result of his policies in energy have been to make energy more expensive, to kill jobs in the US in energy and subsidiary industries at a time the country can’t afford it.

But really, there is no time the country can afford the rainbows and unicorns plan the left is following. Despite decades of research and promise, the magic bullet of renewable, plentiful, without-cost energy isn’t attainable. Ever.

After a much ballyhooed speech on energy policy that was supposed to lay out a new vision for energy in America, the New York Times was forced to issue the following correction:

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 30, 2011

A previous version of this article misstated how many of the president's proposals to reduce the country's reliance on imported oil were new in his speech on Wednesday. None of them were, not one of them.

The president can’t have it both ways.

He can’t claim that his sole focus is on jobs while he’s shuttering the power plants and oil rigs, sources that account for most of the energy we produce while he has no viable alternative of his own. America has the resources to be importing less foreign energy while creating real jobs.  

The president should stop getting in the way of developing those resources.    

Bad president, bad, bad president.

Part Two:  “

We won’t pursue natural gas, oil, coal or any other fossil fuel development under my administration. Instead we’ll focus solely on developing ‘alternative’ energies like solar and wind power by giving select companies loans, grants and cash subsidies. It hasn’t worked before but this time is different. We’ll make the alternative energy business so big that it will be too big to fail.”

Reason Number Five: The Selective Presidency

Obama is president when he wants to be, and AWOL when things are hard.

Here’s an example.

On the debt debate he was unengaged until the last minute. Then he compounded his error by scolding members of Congress like they were lazy- all while he planned vacations.

I don’t begrudge a guy a vacation, but to pretend that when Congress goes into recess they are slacking off is playing politics with it. The president doesn’t come across as the offended innocent then when he packs off to Martha’s Vineyard as the stock market tanks because of dissatisfaction with the cuts in the debt deal.

Where was Obama on the debt deal in February when he was presenting a budget that called for much bigger deficit spending?

Again: Obama wants it both ways. He wants to call for more spending in February, but in July he’s a deficit fighter. Which is it? People expect the president to have some core principles that he sticks to, that they can rely on. If he truly thinks that another $2 trillion in spending can get us out of the hole on unemployment, then he should argue for it.

Part Two:

“If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition.”- actual statement of Obama from an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer on Feb. 1, 2009.

Make a case for it, be presidential.     

Instead, Obama lectures and preens and blames everyone else. It’s S&P’s fault, or Congress’, or George Bush’s, or the rich’s, or it’s the greedy bankers, or oil companies, or insurance companies.

He’s one of the most eloquent presidents that we’ve had during an age when eloquence can reach everywhere. Yet few people now believe anything he says.

What does that say?

Bad, bad president.

[lentulusgracchus]

Thin Q, Thin Q, and as Buddy Hackett said, I'll be here all week! Try the lamb, it's delicious!

[MCF]

“I’m just plain sick of his bullsh*t”.
Then you need to learn to play this:

http://www.halfwaytoconcord.com/play-barack-obama-bullshit-bingo/

You can organize teams to see which ones get to holler Bullsh*t first and get a free round of drinks.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks Kaslin, additional:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2769258/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2769306/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2769500/posts

[BobP]

Communist prick is taking the USA into the toilet and it's by design.

--------------------------

No jobs and plenty of red ink.

This is the Obama blueprint; ruin the economy, and blame the Tea Party and ATM's.

The Architect of Ruin -- Agitation is not leadership!

Americans labor a full 224 days into the year to pay for local, state and federal government spending and regulations.

We have lost 29 days of the calendar year thanks to Obama's overspending and regulatory zeal. Prior to the Obama Administration the Cost Of Government Day had never fallen later than July 21.

And when it comes to a jobs plan, Zer0 will vote present, just as he did in the Illinois legislature 123 times. Lib voters were fooled into believing that experience was not necessary, that Barack Obama was unique and wise. They wanted to believe in what he was selling. They never expected that it was all snake oil.

Countdown until Obama leaves Office: 511 days as of August 27, 2011.

[equaviator]

Cool!

[Brett66]

I don’t know why it didn’t get more play, but that pic with Obama in the situation room looking at a monitor with the SEAL team going in to kill Bin Laden was symbolic of his entire presidency.

All of the people were in the room focused on it and he was there in his golf shirt, pulled right off the golf course to get a photo op. He wasn’t even needed and he wasn’t concerned with any of it.

[Honorary Serb]

Obama is a Bad The Very Worst President!!!!

obamacare brings RATIONING and DICTATORSHIP (Sebelius, Berwick, the "Independent Payment Advisory Committee" death panel) to our health care system and to America, while drastically RAISING costs!!!!

Via the "Arab Spring" and the Libya war, Soros/obama/Hillary/Samantha Power hand over all of North Africa and most of the Levant to the muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, and Iran, thus endangering Israel, Europe, America, and the world.

I can go on and on about the evil of Soros/obama, and all their minions, but y'all get the point!!!!

[faucetman]

He’s one of the most eloquent presidents that we’ve had during an age when eloquence can reach everywhere <<<

“WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM????????.....He's a half decent reader of a teleprompter at best......a bumbling buffoon speaking on his own....I think that statement is one of the best examples of ..If u repeat a lie often enough....Is is because of his race???”

Some things bear repeating. You nailed it!

This guy is a TERRIBLE speaker. TOTUS or not. He has a halting speech pattern that is above annoying. It's as if he is constantly searching for a thought. (maybe he is).

Off prompter, he stutters and stammers and says things that make no sense or are infantile and or childish. His phony accent when he tries to sound hip (as in hip hop, “not cool”). Pretending he is just one of the “folks”.

His intelligence is often touted as well. He's brilliant, they say. What proof do we have of that? He supposedly went to at least 3 colleges, but what were this genius’ grades?

“Barack Obama has not released transcripts for his grades from Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law. He has also not released his SAT and LSAT scores. No explanation has been offered for not releasing them.”

I'll give you two reasons.
1. He never actually went to all three schools
2. His grades and sores SUCK!

He can't show his grades because he is an affirmative action president. He got special treatment because he is Black. “THERE I SAID IT”. Now you can call me a racist.

[Inwoodian]

Gotta love the new sobriquets.

[ETL]

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek"-- BARACK OBAMA
_____________________________________________________

From the website of the Communist Party, USA...
(prior to the election)

"The Communist Party USA views the 2008 elections as a tremendous opportunity to defeat the policies of the right-wing Republicans and to move our country in a new progressive direction.

The record turnout in the Democratic Presidential primary races shows that millions of voters, including millions of new voters, are using this election to bring about real change. We wholeheartedly agree with them."

http://cpusa.org/cpusa-2008-electoral-policy/
_____________________________________________________

After the election....

A Landslide Mandate For Change

A breakthrough election
Congratulations on an extraordinary history making election!

We can think back with pride to decades of hard work toward our strategic goal of a big enough, broad enough and united enough labor and all-people’s movement that could overcome the ultra-right blockage to all progress. That all people’s movement has come to life, it is dynamic and it has the potential to keep growing.

The election of Barack Obama and a strengthened Congress creates new conditions in our country. There is now the possibility to shift gears and move forward. This new day requires us to further develop our tactics in order to continue to deepen and broaden labor and people’s unity.

There are thousands of experiences that we all have had in these momentous days, some large, some small, all of which express the enormity of change in thinking and readiness for involvement that is underway and that steels us for the battles ahead.

The tears of joy we all shared as crowds gathered to watch the election results here and throughout the world dramatize the new moment we are in.

http://cpusa.org/a-landslide-mandate-for-change-report-to-the-national-committee-meeting-11-15-08/
_____________________________________________________

July 1, 2009...

Change is Here, Change is Coming

Sam Webb, National Chair, Communist Party, USA:

Let me begin with a simple observation: If the last 30 years were an era of reaction, then the coming decade could turn into an era of reform, even radical reform. Six months into the Obama presidency, I would say without hesitation that the landscape, atmosphere, conversation, and agenda have strikingly changed compared to the previous eight years.

In this legislative session, we can envision winning a Medicare-like public option and then going further in the years ahead.

We can visualize passing tough regulatory reforms on the financial industry, which brought the economy to ruin.

We can imagine the troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan while U.S. representatives participate in a regional process that brings peace and stability to the entire region.

In the current political climate, the expansion of union rights becomes a real possibility.

Much the same can be said about winning a second stimulus bill, and we sure need one, given the still-rising rate, and likely long term persistence, of unemployment.

Isn’t it possible in the Obama era to create millions of green jobs in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy in tandem with an attack on global warming?

Can’t we envision taking new strides in the long journey for racial and gender equality in this new era, marked at its beginning by the election of the first African American to the presidency?

And isn’t the overhaul of the criminal justice and prison system – a system steeped in racism – no longer pie-in-the sky, but something that can be done in the foreseeable future?

All these things are within reach now!

http://cpusa.org/change-is-here-change-is-coming/
_____________________________________________________

"Barack Obama told supporters that
'change has come to America' as he
claimed victory in a historic presidential election."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/election.president/index.html

[ETL]

Obama State of the Union: He got the ball rolling:
http://cpusa.org/obama-state-of-the-union-he-got-the-ball-rolling

[GiovannaNicoletta]

bookmark

[Vinnie]

“WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM????????.....He's a half decent reader of a teleprompter at best......a bumbling buffoon speaking on his own....I think that statement is one of the best examples of ..If u repeat a lie often enough....Is is because of his race???”

Bing--go

[Pearls Before Swine]

The author didn’t get around to including Holder’s politicized Justice Department. No prosecutions of “his people”, Gunrunner, etc. Bad, bad President!

[MinuteGal]

"Jonathan Alter seems to be one of the few still genuinely shocked that Obama has lost support.....

The author above should wipe the stardust from his eyes. Jonathan Alter is hard-core Marxist and is educated enough to know that marxism, communism, socialism and left-wing fascism are ALWAYS doomed to failure and loss of liberty.

So why should Alter be "shocked"?

When true believers in the media commie herd see their Dear Leader failing they react in phony dismay which actually just masks their anger at the stupidity of a populace that doesn't worship at the feet of their false god.

Alter used to be with Newsweak magazine, the dismal Administration propaganda arm. Now he's down to being an obscure plodding blogger for the Bloomberg View, one of nanny-statist Mayor Bloomberg's multiple stabs at building a publication empire like Rupert Murdoch's (Fox).

One half of a leftist media duo, Alter's wife, Emily Lazar, is a producer with the hard-left TV show, the Colbert Report.

Inconsequential jerks like Alter can never come to grips with their idols showing feet of clay...never. So there's nothing "genuine" about his "shock" at Obama's decline....a misapprehension on the part of the author above.

The only thing actually genuine about Alter's emotions is anger at others who don't worship Obama as he does....... plus a clever defensiveness applied to his own folly in believing in the divinity of the Chicago political street pimp in the first place.

Leni

[Hotlanta Mike]

Bob Beckel To Austan Goolsbee: ‘What The Hell Are You Doing Going On Sean Hannity’s Show?’

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bob-beckel-to-austan-goolsbee-what-the-hell-are-you-doing-going-on-sean-hannitys-show/

[mc5cents]

All that's missing is the plague of frogs.

Don't forget the pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, lice, flies and wild animals and the blood and death of the first born. Might as well give him the full Pharaoh treatment! We need a modern day Moses to lead us out of the bondage of Washington DC!

[Taxman]

Great find, great post!

Here is my $.02 worth:

R E S P E C T!

Obongo Bozo has no respect for America, American culture, American traditions or the American people!

He has disrespected everything American since long before he began his run for the Presidency.

He is unfit to be a garbage collector, much less President!

Is it 2012 yet?