Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Shooting Star
Townhall.com ^ | August 20, 2009 | Cal Thomas

Posted on 08/20/2009 5:02:12 AM PDT by Kaslin

Seven months after taking office amidst a religious-like faith that he was the one (or even The One) we had been waiting for, President Barack Obama is beginning to resemble a shooting star.

A new USA Today-Gallup Poll finds that 57 percent of adults believe the president's $787 billion economic stimulus package is having "no impact on the economy or making it worse." The poll asked six questions and the answers reveal that Obama's short-term fixes are producing long-term anxiety. Fifty-four percent told pollsters they think the economy will still be in a recession one year from now. Forty-six percent are "very worried" that stimulus money has been wasted. Significantly, a combined 70 percent say the spending will either have no effect on their personal financial situation (36 percent) or that it will make it worse (34 percent).

Yes, two years into Ronald Reagan's first term economic forecasts also were bleak, but Reagan's faith was in tax cuts and allowing the American people to re-start the nation's economic engine. Obama's faith is in higher taxes, more spending and government to not only start the engine, but also build the engine.

An indication of how quickly Obama's shooting star may be burning out is the failure of a White House appeal to the president's massive email list to get fired up about health-care reform. Obama's people thought the youthful enthusiasm of the presidential campaign could be transformed into an army that would roll over opposition to its policy initiatives. So far, that army has been AWOL, apparently preferring to live real lives rather than be caught up in the phony posturing and preening of Washington politicians and bureaucrats.

"What exactly is our problem with government spending?" asks American Enterprise Institute President Arthur C. Brooks in a recent Wall Street Journal column. "It is not just that we think it is wasteful and ineffective (although most recognize this to be true). Americans actually think the government makes it harder for people to get ahead in life."

Brooks is right. Most Americans see government as a last resort, not a first resource. They want it to protect us from foreign dictators and domestic charlatans who would injure or destroy our liberties. The preservation of liberty allows individual citizens the opportunity to advance toward the highest levels of achievement consistent with their skills and persistence. The growing opposition to President Obama comes from people who see his administration as making it more difficult to receive the "blessings of liberty," as our Constitution's Preamble so elegantly put it. It also said "we the people," not "you the government."

The Founders wanted government to be small, responsive to the people and attentive to their hunger for liberty. They did not conceive the unresponsive monstrosity we now have (the reason for so much anger at many town hall meetings), that is unproductive (waste, fraud and abuse) and unattractive (politicians who are careerists rather than true servants of the people). It is a bipartisan affliction as we saw when Republicans controlled all three branches of government and too many appeared out for themselves rather than the public interest.

Another Gallup Poll has found that self-identified conservatives now outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states (with self-described moderates acting as swing voters). More Americans now say they are conservative than have made the claim in any of the last four years. If conservatives and Republicans (not always the same) are to take advantage of Obama's declining approval numbers, they must fashion a message that begins not in Washington, but in the heart of every individual.

I have a suggestion. Unlike Obama's "Yes We Can" slogan of the last campaign, how about "Yes YOU Can"? The rebuilding of the country can begin when more of "we the people" realize that real power lies within each of us and not in Washington. Where are the political leaders to deliver this message? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bho44; calthomas; obama; shootingstar

1 posted on 08/20/2009 5:02:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Hopefully, like most “shooting stars”, Obama will “burn up” before he can do any more damage to the nation.


2 posted on 08/20/2009 5:08:41 AM PDT by scooter2 (IMPEACH OBAMA NOW !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

When you elect an arrogant marxist with absolutely no qualifications, and when pressed, only experience was “community organizer” to the highest office in the land, you have to expect failure. The inmates have taken over the asylum.


3 posted on 08/20/2009 5:10:47 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (FUBO - No socialist Bureaucrat on a Death Panel is going to decide whether I live or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

well...we do have 110,000 new federal employees on our payrolls.


4 posted on 08/20/2009 5:33:01 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin; All
Shooting star?

More like this...

economy,politics,satire,obama

5 posted on 08/20/2009 5:35:53 AM PDT by backhoe (All across America, the Lights are going out...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Yep, and I’m feeling like Tunguska in 1908.


6 posted on 08/20/2009 5:37:07 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tijeras_Slim
<MSM mode>

You vile RACIST homophobic sexist capitalist running-dog incestuous Palin-loving Nazi! How DARE you advocate giving syphilis to innocent people of color and not treating them?!!!

...what's that you say? It was 'Tuskegee' not Tunguska?

*crickets*

</MSM mode>

7 posted on 08/20/2009 5:42:28 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: grey_whiskers

What’s that you say? < /dining room table>


8 posted on 08/20/2009 5:44:24 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

More like a falling star....


9 posted on 08/20/2009 5:51:09 AM PDT by sevinufnine (Sevin - "If we do not fight when we know we can win, we'll have to fight when we know we will lose")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
If that stimulus had been spent on getting to the moon and establishing a manufacturing based lunar colony by July 20, 2019 the following could have been achieved.

1. Create high paying jobs.

2. Excite Students to study Math and Science!

3. Produce electricity from the Helium 3 fueled fusion reactors and beam it to Earth.

Geeks Unite!

10 posted on 08/20/2009 6:10:39 AM PDT by Young Werther (Julius Caesar (Quae Cum Ita Sunt. Since these things are so.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Eric in the Ozarks
well...we do have 110,000 new federal employees on our payrolls.

Hey, there you go! 110,000 new jobs!!

(Filled by approximately 5,000 ACORN members?)

11 posted on 08/20/2009 7:49:43 AM PDT by thulldud (It HAS happened here!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: thulldud

110 thousand new government bow wows.


12 posted on 08/20/2009 8:04:01 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson