Obama: The Cliffs Notes

The Wall Street Journal ^ | February 27, 2009 | Kimberly Strassel

[St. Louis Conservative]

Thirty-nine days, one press conference, one congressional address, and one budget into this presidency, Barack Obama is finding his groove. Out of the early chaos has emerged an administration with a set of talking points. The president is now honing these explanations of what went wrong, and how he will make it right.

Yet, as with any complex character, what Mr. Obama says isn't always what he means. (Even Melville would've found Washington a bit deep.) So here's a handy guide to the larger meaning beneath Mr. Obama's more frequent lines. Hang it on the fridge for easy reference.

- "We are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin." Translation: Blame Republicans, and tax cuts.

Mr. Obama inherited a deficit, though it wasn't caused by letting Americans keep more of their paychecks. It was caused by a need to rebuild the military to fight two wars (at least one of which he supported), and by that worn-out old idea known as spending, which lost the GOP its majority, and which Mr. Obama is now touting as economic elixir.

He also inherited a recession, though no economist with an IQ above 60 would suggest tax cuts caused the housing bubble. That came courtesy of easy money and loose lending standards, the latter of which Congress encouraged. Presumably, if tax cuts were responsible for the deficit and the recession, Mr. Obama wouldn't be constantly boasting that he wants tax cuts for 95% of Americans.

The wider goal is to vaguely link everything conservative with everything gone wrong, the better to present liberal ideas as a cure.

[Texas Eagle]

Ah. A new language for us to learn: Obonics.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Obama’s grand plan is to spend and tax, and then tax and spend. How original.

[ExGeeEye]

that worn-out old idea known as spending, which lost the GOP its majority, and which Mr. Obama is now touting as economic elixir.

May it do for Hussein what it did for the erstwhile Republican Majority.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

And a new word: Obafusctruction

[Semperfiwife]

Whatever happened to the fear struck in the hearts of people when they heard “tax and spend liberal”? I have yet to hear Obama described this way. They speak of his policies, his urgency to get things done. But is it still the old worn out tried and failed policy of tax and spend.
It we the producers quit producing (and I am really considering that) Where is he going to get all that money for all these programs and the interest on the debt he is single handedly running up???

[Round 9]

When does it end? Is there a website where someone keeps track of all of his spending along with new taxes or whatever euphemism he chooses for taxes?