Posted on 01/21/2013 9:08:29 AM PST by NCjim
The ennui that hangs over the second inauguration of President Obama like a thick blanket of fog is not simply a function of Republican weariness and wariness after four years of fights with the president. Democrats too are less than thrilled on this august occasion.
As my colleague Dana Milbank put it, Obama’s agenda looks “little.” The certitude that he will accomplish significant things is nowhere to be found. Those who made the case for his reelection seem almost wistful. The Post editorial board writes, “We hope, given the opportunity, he will rededicate himself to being a president who is bigger than party and above partisan squabbling.” But we’ve seen too much of the president and watched him in operation long enough to sense that isn’t going to happen.
It turns out it is harder than one suspects to pivot away from an empty campaign entirely devoted to character assassination of the opposition. Once lost, it becomes difficult to regain the high ground and concoct a mandate for much of anything. (Obama sure didn’t run on gun bans.) He didn’t bother in his reelection campaign to lay out any sort of growth agenda to ignite the still lethargic economy nor on any specific entitlement reform approach. His solution to almost any issue is to spend more money and tax someone else. He ran on nastiness and demonization; for once he is governing just as he campaigned.
The president since his reelection has been joyless and irritable, taking pleasure only in taunting his political opponents. His first question on any issue seems to be: What will make the Republicans look bad? It is such a partisan, senseless exercise ( So what if they look bad? What about the country?).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Obama will not get a honeymoon - while we can’t turn the country around we can make sure his second term is filled with frustration and angst.
It couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.
I am surprised this was in WaPo. They are one of zero’s leading cheerleaders.
Did they pull back the curtin and see the $oro$ behind it!???
The fact is that is zero’s lips are moving, he’s lying. That’s all anyone needs to know about him.
I know I never listen to him. I turn the channel whenever he comes on.
Between MLK day and Obama’ s inauguration, makes me want to move to Russia.
The repeal of obamacare needs to remain on the Republican’s agenda In four years more people will hate it....maybe in 2 years enough headaches will be obvious
“The comments there are dripping with hate.”
The libs who comment at the WaPo are truly a disturbing group. Not only are they hate filled, they are imbeciles. And think, they are most likely residents of the DC metro area, possibly many of them are members of our governing class. Compared to them the people who comment at the NY Times are paragons of reason and forbearance.
It’s quite a spectacle, really. No wonder this country is going down the tubes, it’s not the 3rd worlders, it’s the 1st world, 1st class morons running it and the schmucks who keep re-electing them.
A better editorial would have noted concisely that nothing 0bama says matters because what he does is constantly differently from what he says.
0bama *says* that he will close Gitmo on his “first day in Office” and then he keeps it open (even extends its mandate through 2015 with scheduled trials).
0bama *says* that raising the deficit limit is an admission of failure, and then he demands that Congress raise the debt limit.
...and on and on. He won’t raise taxes on the middle class, then payroll taxes pop back up 2%.
Seriously, nothing 0bama says matters. His words mean nothing to him.
Read this today. Worth considering.
...Both Obama and Rubio swear up and down that their "path to citizenship," as they call it, is not amnesty because those here illegally today would have to jump through a series of hoops before they obtained legal status. Both Obama and Rubio would require illegal immigrants to: prove they were in the United States for a lengthy period of time, undergo a background check, pay a fine, pay back taxes and prove they have learned English.But even these minimal requirements would obviously never be enforced. Just imagine if a grandmother came forward, passed a background check, paid her taxes and fines but failed her English test. Would Rubio deport her? Of course not. As Rubio admitted above, no one is going to vote for you if you threaten to deport their grandmother.
So how can a conservative both be true to his or her principles and avoid alienating those millions of voters who don't want to see their loved ones deported?
Boston College political science professor Peter Skerry has outlined such a proposal in the most recent National Affairs. Skerry advises conservatives to offer those who illegally enter the country a choice: either return home and apply for citizenship like everyone else, or stay and become permanent noncitizen residents. Those with serious criminal records would, of course, not be eligible. Aside from that minimal requirement, no one else would face deportation. No English tests or other phony past records would be necessary.
Conservatives will never win sizeable portions of the Asian or Latino votes if they are constantly the bad guys of immigration enforcement policy. The Obama-Rubio plan forever keeps Republicans in that role. Permanent noncitizen resident status is one proposal conservatives should consider to get around that problem.
I been saying that for years. It allows Republicans to say they are for something (balanced) for PR purposes without the suicidal letting illegals vote.
Dems are on to this now, all their talking points use the term “Path to citizenship”
What they should do is to offer to pass Os Dreamer EO into law. Dreamers have to renew every few years, and they can repeat that it's O policy.
Living here in the Beltway, I am sure they are governing class people, working for the Justice Dept, NIH, or some other government department.
Living here in the Beltway, I am sure they are governing class people, working for the Justice Dept, NIH, or some other government department.
Living here in the Beltway, I am sure they are governing class people, working for the Justice Dept, NIH, or some other government department.
Living here in the Beltway, I am sure they are governing class people, working for the Justice Dept, NIH, or some other government department.
Living here in the Beltway, I am sure they are governing class people, working for the Justice Dept, NIH, or some other government department.
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