Posted on 02/17/2009 5:37:11 PM PST by jazusamo
The big story last week was the incredible Congressional rush to pass a bill that was more than a thousand pages long in just two days-- after which it sat on the President's desk for three days while the Obamas were away on a holiday.
There is the same complete inconsistency in the bill itself. Despite the urgency in President Obama's rhetoric, as well as in Congress' haste in passing a bill which few-- if any-- members had time to read, much less consider, most of the actual spending will take place next year, at the earliest.
Not even the most Alice-in-Wonderland actions will arouse the suspicions of those who have what William James once called "the will to believe."
Nowhere was that will to believe greater than in the election of Barack Obama to be President of the United States, not on the basis of any actual accomplishment, but as the repository of hopes and symbolism. His supporters among the voters and in the media are not going to stop believing now.
It will take a lot more than blatant inconsistency for the faithful to lose faith. It may take catastrophe-- and there may well be catastrophe.
For some, even catastrophe under Obama can be blamed on George Bush. After all, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term in 1940, after two terms in which the unemployment rate never fell below 10 percent and was above 20 percent for 21 consecutive months.
FDR also inspired the will to believe-- and he also had Herbert Hoover on whom to blame all the country's troubles.
It may seem strange, to those who never lived through those times, that someone could be President of the United States for eight straight years and nevertheless escape responsibility for mass unemployment by blaming his long-departed predecessor. But we may yet see a re-run of that scenario in our own time.
Nothing in the amateurish way the current administration has begun suggests that they have mastered even the mechanics of governing, much less the complexities of the huge national problems looming ahead, at home and abroad.
The multiple Cabinet nominees withdrawing before their nomination can come to a vote in the Senate are just one example of this amateurism.
Another example was the Secretary of the Treasury holding a much heralded unveiling of his recovery plan, only to publicly embarrass himself and the administration when his speech made painfully clear that there is no plan, but only pious hopes. The plunge in the stock market after his speech suggests how much confidence he inspired.
There is far more to fear from this administration than its amateurism in governing. The urgency with which it has rushed through a monumental spending bill, whose actual spending will not be completed even after 2010, ought to set off alarm bells among those who are not in thrall to the euphoria of Obama's presidency.
The urgency was real, even if the reason given was phony. President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, let slip a valuable clue when he said that a crisis should not go to waste, that a crisis is an opportunity to do things that you could not do otherwise.
Think about the utter cynicism of that. During a crisis, a panicked public will let you get away with things you couldn't get away with otherwise.
A corollary of that is that you had better act quickly while the crisis is at hand, without Congressional hearings or public debates about what you are doing. Above all, you must act before the economy begins to recover on its own.
The party line is that the market has failed so disastrously that only the government can save us. It is proclaimed in Washington and echoed in the media.
“This isn’t over by a long shot. IMO, the Obamanites will turn a deaf ear when the Dems blame everything on the ‘Pubbies because they’ll look at the makeup of the Congress and the WH and see them filled with Democrats. The Obamoron over-promised and will under-deliver. The idiot class that believes that Obama will pay their mortgage, buy their gas and give them a government issued credit card worth $3,000 or $6,000 expect him to deliver and, when he doesn’t, it won’t be pretty.”
Au contraire. See my comment about big cities.
Man, I wish he had run for President a few years ago when he was younger. The man is a genius.
Outrageous, despicable, incompetent action by the senate and congress to push this horrendous spending bill w/o even reading it and rushing it through so hastily. If this isn’t a pitchfork moment against the vermin in DC then what is?
I also believe him to be a genius and an honest man. Perhaps being honest is why he didn’t want to enter into politics as well as not wanting to deal with politicians.
I have to agree with all your points.
bump for later - night all
Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
We remember FDR and know more about his failed policies today than economists, pols, and the people knew in the 1930s. We will NOT allow B.O. to repeat them (ditto for the lessons of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and every other marxist/socialist).
This is why we need a return to smoke filled rooms. Anyone who desires higher office enough to seek it is unfit to serve.
I ususally agree with Prof. Sowell.
but this pollyannish nonsense has to stop.
He is far to optimistic and we are in a lot more trouble than most can imagine.
That’s a very good point, it has to be better than what’s going on now.
I won't try to describe what a Cargo Cult is, but follow the link for an explanation. What a hoot! Right up until you realize that it is a plausible explanation for the behavior of our government -- and governments the world over.
The Obamoron only won by about 10%. By late summer, more than 10% of those swing voters will begin to recognize how fully the DBM, their naivete and the Obamoron pulled the wool over their eyes.
They will notice that the economy isn't getting better, they still can't get a job, Obama hasn't paid their mortgage or put gas in their car and money is extremely tight. There is a LOT going on right now that exceeds just trhe economy. Look at his corrupt cabinet full of tax cheats, and Clinton retreads. Look at the fact that the moonbat wing expected him to announce the troop withdrawal from Iraq by 12:20 on 1/20/09. These things have not come to pass. In the meantime, his first interview as president was with Al-Arabiya and his first foreign phone call was with the head of Hamas. He has agreed to ship aircraft weapons parts to Syria under the radar and has invited thousands of Palestinians to re-settle in the US at OUR expense. I think we have the makings of a political "perfect storm" in the making, and this is just the stuff we know about. Not to mention, Debbie Stabenow wanting to re-introduce the "Fairness Doctrine" so that her loser liberal husband might actually be able to make some money pushing leftist radio on us (by federal law) AND they want to shut down conservative internet websites like FReepublic. So let's not surrender before the fight has really begun!!
It may seem strange, to those who never lived through those times, that someone could be President of the United States for eight straight years and nevertheless escape responsibility for mass unemployment by blaming his long-departed predecessor. But we may yet see a re-run of that scenario in our own time."
The fact that people today are spoiled and don't have the kind of patience that people had way back then, could, for once, work to our favor, and thus history won't repeat itself in its entirety. THAT is my hope.
LOL, OK, OK. I’m not surrendering, I’m just cynical.
You could be right - the “swing” could move things our way again. However, many of those subjects at best require the Dems to simply “not vote” as opposed to voting for the R. Which may be good enough, but who knows?
My point was I’ve seen so many people stuck in their Dem mode and they don’t care about details; it’s just about “who’s going to give me money for nothing” - Dem. Funny how we hear how “open-minded” Dems are, when in fact they are not the source of 3rd Parties, generally. I myself voted Perot the 1st time, being suspicious of Bush. I’ve voted for some good Dems (very few, but still...). Nope, Dems are lock-step.
I want a T-shirt with Sowell on it - like Obambi’s - that says “Let’s vote for a REAL black man”.
Markets did fail- if you mean that it failed to guarantee that businesses would make a profit regardless of the good or service they offer or the practices that they do.
All valid points although, with Dems, it is often less about getting "money for nothing" (and the chicks for free!), and more about sports. Most Dem voters next squat point zip about politics, all they know is that their team either won and beat the Republicans or they didn't. For them, politics is another Superbowl competition; it isn't about policy or political philosophy. It's about beating Republicans that a teacher in school told them they should hate. The average Dem voter knows so little about politics that when they walk into a voting booth, 95% have no clue what it's about, they just know they are supposed to be against the Republicans because the DBM and some Hollyweird airhead told them they should be against these people.
Which brings us back to my original point. When they see that the Obamoron hasn't solved all the ills in their lives and hasn't given them free rent, free gas, a free iPod and an opportunity to appear on American Idol, they are going to turn on him. It's coming and I think that the timeframe is summer, probably late summer.
three weeks later and more evidence accumulating that he ‘s as incompetent as predicted, no, more so.
And he’ll get worse, by his own admission he’s already tired!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.