I don’t know how old Kevin is, but my lifetime stretches back to Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech of 1979. The Washington Post‘s David Nakamura remembers it, too:Posted on 09/02/2011 11:30:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
Will President Obama’s Thursday address be the worst speech ever? Kevin Hassett almost thinks so:
It might be that this jobs report stimulates the Obama team to drop all the Keynesian nonsense, but I doubt it. Frankly, I expect Obama’s jobs speech to be the worst presidential speech in my lifetime.
I don’t know how old Kevin is, but my lifetime stretches back to Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech of 1979. The Washington Post‘s David Nakamura remembers it, too:
Obama is not Carter. But when asked if there were historical parallels between the high stakes Obama is facing in his big jobs speech to Congress at 7 p.m. next Thursday, some presidential historians made the connection to Carter’s moment three decades ago.
“It was a make-or-break speech,” said John Kenneth White, a political science professor at Catholic University. Carter had “gone to Camp David to assess what had gone wrong in the energy crisis, but also what had gone wrong with his presidency, to hit the restart button.”
Obama is scheduled to go to Camp David on Friday for two days, the same day that the newest job report shows unemployment holding at 9.1. percent.
Presidential historians said Obama has raised the stakes by scheduling such a highly anticipated address before a joint session of Congress. An address in the Oval Office could last less than 15 minutes, they said, but gathering both chambers of Congress means the president will have to present something substantial.
Substantial? Perhaps. But will Obama’s proposals be substantially different from his policies of the last two-plus years?
On the negative, you have the appointment of Alan Krueger as the President’s top economic advisor. As we’ve discussed before, here and on PJTV, Krueger is Austan Goolsbee is Cristina Romer. I have a better track record on Obamanomics than any of these Ivy-pruned jokers. (Also see here and here.) And it’s not like the President has announced a Cabinet shakeup or fired any of his army of czars.
It’s not looking too good so far.
On the plus side, Drudge is right to call it “PANIC” when he links to this bit of good news:
President Barack Obama on Friday sacked a controversial proposed regulation tightening health-based standards for smog, bowing to the demands of congressional Republicans and some business leaders.
Obama overruled the Environmental Protection Agency and directed administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the proposal, in part because of the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and uncertainty for businesses at a time of rampant uncertainty about an unsteady economy.
You think if the economy had added 200,000 jobs in August, there’s any small chance Obama would have put the kibosh on anything out of his hyperactive EPA? It’s panic-time, all right. But the EPA is only a part of the Administration’s job-killing equation. You see, there was a time in this dismal recovery when we were gaining 200,000 or more jobs a month. Ah, for the heady days in the first quarter of 2010:
The low point of the recession came in January 2009, when US employers shed 841,000 jobs in just that one month. But the economy slowly started to recover over the next 15 months; private employers began hiring workers at an average rate of 67,600 per month (net of layoffs). The economy’s high point came with the April 2010 report, when 229,000 jobs were added.
But ObamaCare was signed into law in late March, and the hiring freeze began. In the following months, the economy added an average of just 6,500 jobs per month (net of layoffs) — less than a tenth the pre-ObamaCare average.
The EPA and NLRB already have businesses spooked — simply reining them in won’t undo the damage already done. Obama needs to think about repealing the mess of rules, regulations and restrictions these two rogue agencies have promulgated the last two years. And EPA chief Lisa Jackson should be sacked and the NLRB dissolved. If Obama took those three actions, the effect on economic growth would be immediate and positive.
But business still can’t hire new workers unless they know what new workers will cost them — and that’s where ObamaCare comes in. We’re already a year-and-a-half into this labyrinthine mess, and still ObamaCare has yet to do anything but enforce the Law of Unintended Consequences. So if the President is serious about jobs, he needs to call on Congress to follow the Tea Party promise to “repeal and replace” his very own landmark legislation.
Now. What do you think are the odds of Obama doing that? I think you’ll find the answer somewhere between my two good friends, Slim and None.
The very best we can expect is a few more actions like today’s EPA slapdown. We might even hope that Obama might call for delaying the implementation of certain provisions of ObamaCare. That would help some — but that piper still must someday be paid.
If the President wants to take bold actions to get Americans working again, he knows what to do — what I’ve outlined here isn’t very imaginative and it certainly isn’t new. Next Thursday, the President has a choice — he can tack to Carter ’79 or Reagan ’81. Or he can try an split the difference and talk Reagan’s game while playing Carter’s.
Which way do you expect him to go?
UPDATE: It could be worse. The President could be reading Bill Saporito.
“... the President has a choice — he can tack to Carter ’79 or Reagan ’81. Or he can try an split the difference and talk Reagan’s game while playing Carter’s.”
That would sort of be like trying to sit down between two stools and missing both... falling on the floor.
I never watch the ‘President’ speak but this time it may be fun.
Obama isn’t just a statist; he is a communist. Smaller, less intrusive government will not be offered in the speech.
This will be very negative for the Evil Won.
I will never listen to this criminal marxist speak again. He always lies. It is up to the other elected officials to contain him and get rid of him early if possible. Otherwise he will get the boot by a landslide in 14 months. He is an utter disaster and has ruined America. Now it is just a question of how much more damage can he do before he gets the heave. Then we have to rebuild and restore the republic, which will be a huge job.
The fork is in Obama’s a$$ - he’s done.
We must remember that at least Carter attended a school which had standards...but Carter successfully managed to elude them.
By the time Obama got to “higher” education, standards had evaporated, and Obama is QED proof.
Yo Comrade Chairman Dr Mr Obama Amin Dada,
If you’ve called a joint session of Congress, and you’ve just come off of 600whatever days of vacation prep time all tanned and rested, and you’ve announced that you’ve got something so-super-juicy-I-can’t-tell-you-because-it’s-a-surprise, you’d better have something really helpful and good, because you’re down to your last 5 cents of political capital.
Obama has gone beyond Carter’s incompetence. He is now in Coleman Young territory.
The fork is in Obama’s a$$ - he’s done.
The MSM won’t be able to cover his azz much longer. They’ll try but it will fizzle....until the campaign and then they’ll concentrate their attacks on the Republican candidate(s).
I predict 0bama will bow out like LBJ.
The Republican president will be stuck with a terrific mess.
What is good for business when times are bad is good for business when times are good.
Less regulation in good times is just as important as it is in bad times.
No matter what the mode growth, lean times or cut backs keeping a tight reign on non-productive expenses, being frugal with expansion, buying value, keeping a lid on manpower numbers... these are all good things to do all the time.
Loosening the reigns just a little when times are good can relieve some stress but you have to get the team back under control lest it run away in the euphoria of being let out on the road with an open check book.
Same things go for regulations and process or procedures. Too many people make the organization bloated and people start looking for things to do. Often what they find is stuff that doesn’t improve value or profit an instead adds to bureaucracy.
You have to keep the organization working on things that add value and you have to keep it small enough so that adding value is all you have time for.
Of course we know that this government is bloated and out of control.
This next speech could well be catastrophic.
You’re right. This speech will expose the evil bastard and his Hope and Change for what it is.
Fork you, Sheik Obama.
My guts tell me that the Wookie is so pissed off at him she can’t see straight. Because he’s screwin’ the pooch, bigtime, and she’s afraid it’s gonna affect their post-POTUS status/earning capability. Hence her separate travel arrangements lately.
Obama’s gonna tube this speech, just like he did on his inauguration. Wait til the sonuvabitch sees his polls afterwards. Man, it’s gonna be fun to see his scar-laden skull get even grayer!
forked tongue
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