The Credibility Gap (Saracuda SKEWERS the Narcissist's lecture!)

While I don’t wish to speak too harshly about President Obama’s state of the union address, we live in challenging times that call for candor. I call them as I see them, and I hope my frank assessment will be taken as an honest effort to move this conversation forward.

Last night, the president spoke of the “credibility gap” between the public’s expectations of their leaders and what those leaders actually deliver. “Credibility gap” is a good way to describe the chasm between rhetoric and reality in the president’s address. The contradictions seemed endless.

He called for Democrats and Republicans to “work through our differences,” but last year he dismissed any notion of bipartisanship when he smugly told Republicans, “I won.”

He talked like a Washington “outsider,” but he runs Washington! He’s had everything any president could ask for – an overwhelming majority in Congress and a fawning press corps that feels tingles every time he speaks. There was nothing preventing him from pursuing “common sense” solutions all along. He didn’t pursue them because they weren’t his priorities, and he spent his speech blaming Republicans for the problems caused by his own policies.

He dared us to “let him know” if we have a better health care plan, but he refused to allow Republicans in on the negotiations or consider any ideas for real free market and patient-centered reforms. We’ve been “letting him know” our ideas for months from the town halls to the tea parties, but he isn’t interested in listening. Instead he keeps making the nonsensical claim that his massive trillion-dollar health care bill won’t increase the deficit.

Americans are suffering from job losses and lower wages, yet the president practically demanded applause when he mentioned tax cuts, as if allowing people to keep more of their own hard-earned money is an act of noblesse oblige. He claims that he cut taxes, but I must have missed that. I see his policies as paving the way for massive tax increases and inflation, which is the “hidden tax” that most hurts the poor and the elderly living on fixed incomes.

He condemned lobbyists, but his White House is filled with former lobbyists, and this has been a banner year for K Street with his stimulus bill, aka the Lobbyist’s Full Employment Act. He talked about a “deficit of trust” and the need to “do our work in the open,” but he chased away the C-SPAN cameras and cut deals with insurance industry lobbyists behind closed doors.

He spoke of doing what’s best for the next generation and not leaving our children with a “mountain of debt,” but under his watch this year, government spending is up by 22%, and his budget will triple our national debt.

He spoke of a spending freeze, but doesn’t he realize that each new program he’s proposing comes with a new price tag? A spending freeze is a nice idea, but it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem. We need a comprehensive examination of the role of government spending. The president’s deficit commission is little more than a bipartisan tax hike committee, lending political cover to raise taxes without seriously addressing the problem of spending.

He condemned bailouts, but he voted for them and then expanded and extended them. He praised the House’s financial reform bill, but where was Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in that bill? He still hasn’t told us when we’ll be getting out of the auto and the mortgage industries. He praised small businesses, but he’s spent the past year as a friend to big corporations and their lobbyists, who always find a way to make government regulations work in their favor at the expense of their mom & pop competitors.

He praised the effectiveness of his stimulus bill, but then he called for another one – this time cleverly renamed a “jobs bill.” The first stimulus was sold to us as a jobs bill that would keep unemployment under 8%. We now have double digit unemployment with no end in sight. Why should we trust this new “jobs bill”?

He talked about “making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development,” but apparently it’s still too tough for his Interior Secretary to move ahead with Virginia’s offshore oil and gas leases. If they’re dragging their feet on leases, how long will it take them to build “safe, clean nuclear power plants”? Meanwhile, he continued to emphasize “green jobs,” which require massive government subsidies for inefficient technologies that can’t survive on their own in the real world of the free market.

He spoke of supporting young girls in Afghanistan who want to go to school and young women in Iran who courageously protest in the streets, but where were his words of encouragement to the young girls of Afghanistan in his West Point speech? And where was his support for the young women of Iran when they were being gunned down in the streets of Tehran?

Despite speaking for an hour, the president only spent 10% of his speech on foreign policy, and he left us with many unanswered questions. Does he still think trying the 9/11 terrorists in New York is a good idea? Does he still think closing Gitmo is a good idea? Does he still believe in Mirandizing terrorists after the Christmas bomber fiasco? Does he believe we’re in a war against terrorists, or does he think this is just a global crime spree? Does he understand that the first priority of our government is to keep our country safe?

In his address last night, the president once again revealed that there’s a fundamental disconnect between what the American people expect from their government, and what he wants to deliver. He’s still proposing failed top-down big government solutions to our problems. Instead of smaller, smarter government, he’s taken a government that was already too big and supersized it.

Real private sector jobs are created when taxes are low, investment is high, and people are free to go about their business without the heavy hand of government. The president thinks innovation comes from government subsidies. Common sense conservatives know innovation comes from unleashing the creative energy of American entrepreneurs.

Everything seems to be “unexpected” to this administration: unexpected job losses; unexpected housing numbers; unexpected political losses in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New Jersey. True leaders lead best when confronted with the unexpected. But instead of leading us, the president lectured us. He lectured Wall Street; he lectured Main Street; he lectured Congress; he even lectured our Supreme Court Justices.

He criticized politicians who “wage a perpetual campaign,” but he gave a campaign speech instead of a state of the union address. The campaign is over, and President Obama now has something that candidate Obama never had: an actual track record in office. We now can see the failed policies behind the flowery words. If Americans feel as cynical as the president suggests, perhaps it’s because the audacity of his recycled rhetoric no longer inspires hope.

Real leadership requires results. Real hope lies in the ingenuity, generosity, and boundless courage of the American people whose voices are still not being heard in Washington.

“He talked like a Washington “outsider,” but he runs Washington! He’s had everything any president could ask for – an overwhelming majority in Congress and a fawning press corps that feels tingles every time he speaks.”
Right on, Sarah!

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Related Headline:

Justice Alito’s ‘You lie’ moment?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2439001/posts

Impy brought up Kelo regarding this. That got me ‘stinking’ about BO: what did he ever say about Kelo? Many of us had asked this numerous times. I tried this google:

Kelo “New London” 2005 “eminent domain” critical “Obama said” -2010
— 107 hits in google. Best I could tell, the result was zip.

Even if Zero muttered anything about Kelo, he clearly failed to put a pittance of energy into an UNDISPUTABLE miscarraige of justice, while his controversial attacks on free speech are fire and brimstone.

Also, Obama refers to us as “bitter clingers” because we cling to guns and religion. That is contempt for our constitutional rights — freedom of religion and the right to bear arms. Such a tyrannical mind should only be respected in REVERSE. If he criticizes the court, then they must have done something right.

Vague Memory Alert — When Obama was asked who his least favorite justices were, if I remember correctly, the only justices he disliked were the ones who opposed Kelo. I believe the same would be true regarding gun rights.

So what is Zero’s new and improved judicial choice?

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2009-08-06/html/CREC-2009-08-06-pt1-PgS8896-2.htm

SONIA SOTOMAYOR

[[Page S8898]]

She embraced the idea that the law is indefinite, impermanent, and
experimental. She rejected what she called ``the public myth that law
can be certain and stable.’’ She said that judges may, in their
decisions, develop novel approaches and legal frameworks that push the
law in new directions.
Judge Sotomayor’s speeches and articles, then, present something of a
perfect judicial storm in which her views of judging meet her views of
the law. Combine partiality and subjectivity in judging with
uncertainty and instability in the law, and the result is an activist
judicial philosophy that I cannot support and that the American people
reject. ...

In Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court held that general
economic development can constitute the public use that the fifth
amendment says justifies the taking of private property.
We hear a lot these days that judges should appreciate how their
decisions should affect people. When the Court in Kelo greatly expanded
the government’s power to take private property, the San Francisco
Chronicle no less said that the decision might turn the American dream
of home ownership on its head. And one Washington Post headline after
the decision read: ``Court Ruling Leaves Poor at Greatest Risk.’’ This
decision was devastating not only for the right to private property in
general but for individual homeowners in particular.
The decision in Kelo was issued after the briefing and argument in
Didden but before Judge Sotomayor had issued her decision. Even though
Kelo was a hallmark—or should I say landmark—decision that
dramatically changed the law of takings, she did not ask for a
rebriefing or a reargument. Instead, it took her more than a year to
issue a cursory, four-paragraph opinion that not only made it easier
for the government to take property but also severely limited the
ability of property owners to challenge the taking of their property in
court.
Other Senators and I have already discussed Judge Sotomayor’s
troubling decisions regarding the second amendment right to keep and
bear arms. She has applied the wrong legal standard to conclude that
the second amendment does not keep State and local government from
restricting the right to bear arms, and she has gratuitously held that
the right to bear arms is so insignificant that virtually any reason is
sufficient to justify a weapons restriction. No Federal judge in
America has expressed a more narrow, cramped, and limited view of the
right to bear arms.

Other News:

AZ-Sen. 2010: J.D. Hayworth begins campaign against Sen. McCain
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439627/posts
[Go, Hayworth!]

Good news for a change
German homeschoolers granted US political asylum
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2438159/posts

Note: the census workforce will artificially tweak employment numbers.

Lots of wild news in response to this post. Some tidbits: Rat Birthers? Illinois: “Who’s running?”
Andy Stern — anti healthcare senators are ‘terrorists’. Great Depression Bank Runs due to OVER-Regulation [in response to response]. UK driver fined for blowing nose. Undie-Bomber had accomplice? Eugenics freak in S. Carolina. ACLU slams Senators [for legislation to fix undie-bomber legal mess]. The Hague wants to arrest Bush team? [Pravda alert] Hillary’s Discontent.

Obamacare Is Dead and Here’s Why [JustPiper adds a major expose link blast.]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2437390/posts

Internet filter ‘poses threat to freedom’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2437420/posts

Rape victim receives 101 lashes for becoming pregnant ...(A 16-year-old girl)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2437496/posts

“Woods argued that Hayworth, who has used his KFYI drive-time program to blast away at McCain as a soft-on-immigration moderate, was essentially getting free airtime to wage a campaign as a de facto candidate.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2437561/posts?page=4
FEDERALIST TYRANT — MCCAIN.

Drudge Headlines [with some FR links added.]
BIN LADEN’S ‘GLOBAL WARMING’ RANT [FR link]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439926/posts
GDP SOARS? DEVELOPING....
Russia unveils top secret new fighter... [FR link]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439954/posts
[Obama brings peace and goodwill throughout the world.]
Haiti Aid Goes Awry...
[So much better than Katrina.]
PAPER: OBAMA ORDERS JUSTICE TO MOVE TERROR TRIAL OUT OF NYC...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439705/posts
First lady leads charge against obesity...
Cops: Women falsely accused man of rape; ‘they didn’t enjoy sex’...
Pentagon to detail new ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ steps...
Obama to Seek $54 Billion for Nuclear Plants...
[While a wide open border makes such a move foolish.]
Senate permits gov’t to borrow an additional $1.9 Trillion!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439946/posts
Dems hope they won’t have to vote again...
Pelosi suggests spending freeze apply to defense...
CBS Considers Gay Dating Site Ad During Super Bowl...
[What about the chose-life ad?]
Argentine president: Eat pork, spice your sex life...
SHOCK: 6 Sorority Girls arrested for vicious ‘hazing’...

- - -

Infowars [tweaked] Headlines
http://www.infowars.com

Pravda | International arrest warrants have been requested for George W. Bush, Richard (Dick) Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales at the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands.

ACLU slams Senators [for legislation to fix undie-bomber legal mess]

Andy Stern has called two Senators “terrorists” for not going along with the plan to socialize the nation’s medical system.

South Carolina Lt. Governor Makes Disgusting Eugenics Comments

EPA Suppresses Internal Global Warming Study

WHO Scientist: Swine Flu Pandemic Was “Completely Exaggerated”
[and yet ... the Black Lung]
The mutated version of the H1N1 Swine Flu is truly wrecking havoc throughout Eastern Europe

Authorities Quietly Reverse Underwear Bomber Official Story
Eyewitness Kurt Haskell’s description of accomplice vindicated after weeks of denial.

80 illegal immigrants with failing kidneys were running up about $2 million a month in bills for dialysis and other medical treatment in Nevada.

Motorist fined for blowing nose

ABC News | Admission contained in article warning about female suicide bombers from Yemen.

Top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee publicly reprimanded Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today for failing to show up at a hearing on the attempted Christmas Day suicide bombing.

- - -

Headlines featured in FR:

Illinois Doesn’t Know Who’s Running
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439902/posts

Windows 7 sends Microsoft to record revenue
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439930/posts

Soft on Terror (Krauthammer)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439952/posts

FNC’s Baier Reveals Hillary’s Behind-the-Scenes ‘Discontent’ as Secretary of State!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2439943/posts

Democrats suddenly interested in Obama birth certificate
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439769/posts
[Rat Birthers?]

Analysis: Lebanon: Conflict widens to Syria
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439882/posts
[Obama brings more peace.]

Portland police officer accidentally sprayed burning man with pepper spray (Fur protester)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2439915/posts

Undertaker opens coffin, finds pulse
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2439942/posts
[Kerry?]

[Response to this post, Over-regulation led to Great Depression Bank Runs]

Canadian Banks vs. US Banks

Mark Stein recently said that Canadian banks are doing much better than US banks because they aren’t being regulated as heavily [and not coerced into risky loans]. Google research revealed something almost as intersting:

Related ...
Great Depression:Not A Single Canadian Bank Failed
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/09/great-depression-not-single-canadian.html
“The McFadden Act of 1927 specifically prohibited interstate branch banking in the U.S. ... The strict regulatory framework of the McFadden Act created a delicate and fragile banking system ... 9,000 banks failed ... In Canada, where not a single bank failed, branching was the rule; in fact, Canada had only ten large banks during the 1930s ...

Also ...
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=1D7B4346531D5F93CA43915FE08A3FAD.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=1704928
“American system collapsed; and there have been no major bank failures in Canada ..... such as diversifying portfolios and demanding collateral for risky loans, ... But the relative freedom of Canadian banks, compared with the United ..... compare in intensity with the more serious crises in the United States. ...”

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