It's called a SPINE.
And it is not a skunk, it is pointing out reality.
Spending money we didn't have got us into this, how exactly is doing that even more going to get us out of it?
Madness.
The writing is literally on the wall!
Posted on 01/21/2009 11:03:05 AM PST by Lucky9teen
WASHINGTON -- He called them "gathering clouds and raging storms," "icy currents" in a "winter of hardship." But as Barack Obama spoke to the country for the first time as president, the world beyond Washington was filling in details of the hardships that he alluded to in his inaugural address.
Even as he finished the oath of office, the crisis in the financial services industry sent banking stocks plummeting, and the Dow Jones industrial average turned in its worst Inauguration Day performance in its century-plus history, losing 4 percent of its value.
For a nation weary of war and wracked by economic anxiety, it was a signal that Obama's problems could be even worse than expected.
The new president offered few details of the path to prosperity beyond calling for shared sacrifice and cautioning that finding a fix will not be easy. Rather, he spent a surprising amount of time drawing connections between today's problems and failed political leaders who he said had become consumed with "protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions."
It was a rebuke of the highly partisan wars of recent decades that handicapped Washington, and it was delivered even as his predecessors, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, joined him atop the platform on the Capitol steps.
"In the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things," Obama said, seeming to belittle what had come before him as frivolous. He called for a "new era of responsibility," implying irresponsibility on the part of current political leaders.
"We come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics," he said, a passage that seemed to summon the impeachment of Clinton, the disputed 2000 election and the sharp-elbowed electioneering of Karl Rove, all of which helped leave Washington in gridlock for more than a decade.
In promising such a clean and dramatic break from the past, Obama elevated his own role in guiding the nation from its problems, rather than diminishing expectations for his administration.
Obama drew directly from a prior president who remained popular while navigating a severe economic crisis—and even made some mistakes in his first term.
Just as Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to buck up Americans in his 1933 inaugural address by assuring them that, "plenty is at our doorstep," Obama on Tuesday said American workers are "no less productive than when this crisis began" and that "our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed."
Roosevelt retained public confidence as he tried, and at first failed, to restart the economy. Obama too is asking Americans to grant him time and room for experimentation.
"People are willing to exercise some patience here as long as they see him taking steps to address the problem," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the House leadership.
But, Van Hollen, acknowledged: "How long that can go on before people are overtaken with frustration—the jury is still out on that."
Obama had hoped he could focus his early efforts at an economic recovery on winning congressional approval for an $825 billion economic stimulus plan that is widely seen as aimed at helping ordinary Americans.
But the eruption of new financial troubles Tuesday likely will force him to take steps to save the banking sector, a problem that federal officials hoped had been resolved. Indeed, the departing Bush administration's $700 billion bailout program for the financial services industry proved so unpopular that Obama and his top aides had to lobby lawmakers personally even before they took office to ensure that Congress did not block use of the program's remaining $350 billion.
Now Obama may need to take more drastic action, possibly seizing troubled big banks, which could avoid drawing on more taxpayer money but risk spooking investors.
A less-extreme option that the new administration is thought to be considering would create a government-financed "bad bank," similar to the savings-and-loan era Resolution Trust Corp. It would take over the mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets of banks, an effort to shore up their finances and rekindle the kind of lending that is needed to revive the economy.
The sell off in banking stocks Tuesday was also an eerie reminder of the banking crisis that greeted Roosevelt's 1933 arrival in office.
Obama had no sooner reminded a throng of more than 1 million well-wishers that "without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control" than shares of many of the nation's big banks threatened to do just that, amid investor fears that the institutions could be in even worse shape than previously thought. Bank of America nearly lost 30 percent of its value despite receiving $45 billion in federal bailout funds.
"In Roosevelt's era, it was a run on bank deposits. Today, it's a run on bank stocks. But one way or the other, it's a run," said Robert Litan, a former adviser to the Treasury Department.
"People are realizing, `Oh my God, we're not done with this problem yet.' "
In his inaugural address, Obama employed almost biblical language in calling on Americans to pull together and sacrifice in order to right the nation's economy.
"Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end," the new president told the crowd, "that we did not turn back nor did we falter...we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."
It is improbable that bailing out banks and propping up a deeply damaged financial system are either what Obama intended in sounding such a sweeping call, or what most Americans are prepared to endure in order to help the country. In his address, Obama blamed the nation's economic problems on the "greed and irresponsibility on the part of some", language that seemed to encompass banks, home mortgage brokers and Wall Street financiers.
Obama takes office with big advantages, such as the wide Democratic majority in Congress, the ability to call upon his grass-roots political network and e-mail list of 13 million, and high approval ratings. A new Gallup Poll showed that nearly three-fourths of Americans feel optimistic about his presidency.
His enormous achievement—becoming the country's first black president—adds to a sense that, as Pastor Rick Warren put it in his invocation Tuesday, the Obama administration marks a "hinge point in history."
Even Republicans, who are searching for new leadership and a new identity, will be wary of challenging Obama, at least right away.
"Nobody wants to be painted as the guy that wouldn't give Barack Obama the chance to get his program started," said Dick Armey, a former House Republican leader from Texas who is now a conservative activist. "No one wants to be seen as the skunk at the garden party."
Smoke and mirrors won’t work for him this time, and the same irrational people who voted him in, will quickly turn on him. Even though the tough economy will hurt everyone, there will be some enjoyment gained watching the “chosen one” fall on his face.
Think of putting a teen gamer in an F-16.
That’s Obama as POTUS.
We’re so goin’ down.
The nation is NOT weary of war. The ignorant douche bag sheeple of this country are barely able to keep up with the broadcast schedule of American Idol, much less know that we're at war.
It was a rebuke of the highly partisan wars of recent decades that handicapped Washington
I more or less stopped reading right here. There really should have been a barf alert on this article, IMHO.
Gee, what happened to Hope and Sunshine if we just elect the Dalai Bama?
It's called a SPINE.
And it is not a skunk, it is pointing out reality.
Spending money we didn't have got us into this, how exactly is doing that even more going to get us out of it?
Madness.
The writing is literally on the wall!
Even as he finished the oath of office, the crisis in the financial services industry sent banking stocks plummeting, and the Dow Jones industrial average turned in its worst Inauguration Day performance in its century-plus history, losing 4 percent of its value.
They just can't admit that it was lack of confidence that caused this...just a simple coincidence
the departing Bush administration's $700 billion bailout program...
It needs to be said often and loudly, "Congress is more to blame than the administration for this mess. They are the ones that voted for that pork laden boondoggle." That's not releasing Bush from culpability, just focusing the blame on who it more rightly belongs on.
he spent a surprising amount of time drawing connections between today’s problems and failed political leaders who he said had become consumed with “protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions.”
....do these failed political leaders include 9% Nancy and the rest of the Dem Congress who promised us wonderous things in 2006???
....does protecting narrow interest include the extreme enviromentalists who have blocked every effort by this country to become more energt independent.....???
....putting off unpleasant decisions include GW Bush who at least attempted to reform Social security but was howled at by the MSM and the Democrats????
What evidence do you have of that? Someone, anyone will be scapegoated before the boy messiah is blamed for anything. It would take a nuke strike on New York about 3 years from now before anyone in the opposition even wondered about President Skid Mark. If it happens before 3 years or so it will certainly be considered Bush's fault.
I know that is silly but he just started so I don't go too hard on the public for this. Everyone needs hope and things have been bad the past few years. It is our job to warn the public of the false hope they cling to. Try :
This president reminds me of the story of the Spanish Explorer who was revered as a god by the natives...that is until the day he accidentally cut himself and the natives saw him bleeding. Once they realized he was vulnerable, they all stuck a knife in.
I wonder when and how he nicks himself. I wonder how fast the natives pounce after that.
Lord, why won't this tool just go away?
Is this country now AINO “America In Name Only”?
It will take a couple of years, but bit by bit, support will peel away from Obama. The blind sycophants will never lose faith, but those who voted for Obama out of spite against Bush will peel away.
Problem for Democrats is that they need a crisis to get and keep power. The crisis is the economy and lack of confidence. In order to maintain power, they have to keep talking down the economy, which further erodes confidence and stifles recovery. The longer we’re in this recession, the less and less options for socialism Obama has because money will run out. They can print money, but if they do that people will riot when they have to take a wagon full of cash to the grocery store each trip. If they start talking up the economy (whether or not it’s improving), they lose their crisis and rationale for control.
Obama will end up like Carter, IMO, a one term president. There will be enough buyer’s remorse to turn the tide. And it will be a very long time before another black Democrat is elected to office.
There was a time when I would've argued that the American people would not be stupid enough to let him put the blame elsewhere. Unfortunately, after the last election, I cannot overestimate the stupidity of the American people. I guess all those years of sub-standard schools are catching up with us.
Ohhh, Bubba, you don't know the half of it!
CA....
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