Posted on 01/19/2019 7:38:19 AM PST by EdnaMode
Half or a quarter of the way through this interesting experiment with an incessantly splenetic presidency, much of the nation has become accustomed to daily mortifications. Or has lost its capacity for embarrassment, which is even worse.
If the countrys condition is calibrated simply by economic data if, that is, the United States is nothing but an economy then the state of the union is good. Except that after two years of unified government under the party that formerly claimed to care about fiscal facts and rectitude, the nation faces a $1 trillion deficit during brisk growth and full employment. Unless the president has forever banished business cycles if he has, his modesty would not have prevented him from mentioning it the next recession will begin with gargantuan deficits, which will be instructive.
The president has kept his promise not to address the unsustainable trajectory of the entitlement state (about the coming unpleasant reckoning, he said: Yeah, but I wont be here), and his partys congressional caucuses have elevated subservience to him into a political philosophy. The Republican-controlled Senate the worlds most overrated deliberative body will not deliberate about, much less pass, legislation the president does not favor. The evident theory is that it would be lèse-majesté for the Senate to express independent judgments.
And that senatorial dignity is too brittle to survive the disapproval of a president not famous for familiarity with actual policies. Congressional Republicans have their ears to the ground never mind Winston Churchills observation that it is difficult to look up to anyone in that position.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
And now we are concerned about entitlements? One thing at a time. The President can’t fix everything that obama did in 8 years in just 2. George badly wants Trump to grab the third rail all by himself.
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