Wag the dog Mr. President
Written by Michael Vass
I have no problem stating that I believe President Obama is an intelligent and accomplished man. In terms of his politics, that is another matter. But I believe that credit must be given to the President for what he has done this summer.
The summer of 2010 was set up to be a shining example of what a Democrat-led Congress coupled with a Democrat President could do. The American Recovery Act (Obama Stimulus) was planned to have had it’s penultimate effect during this time. Promises of jobs were made with this summer being the payoff for the patience of the public. As the months after passage ticked away the message was that the end was in sight and assurance of the near-guaranteed change was at hand.
But things did not get better.
At every step the Obama Administration promoted the Obama Stimulus. They touted websites and figures of jobs saved ranging from the hundreds of thousands to the millions (depending on which official you asked, sometimes differing even on the same day - though completely refuted by news organizations that bothered to check the numbers). They noted that there was still billions more in spending to come. They repeated the mantra that given just a bit more time, the recovery would be apparent to everyone.
19 months after the swearing in of President Obama, 17 months after passage of the Obama Stimulus and the economy is worse than where it started. That’s not rhetoric or partisan. That’s fact with enough data to prove it that it could choke a horse.
Unemployment has risen to levels that exceeded the worst case scenario of doing absolutely nothing, laid out by the President and all his advisors. As of this time in the promise, unemployment is supposed to be under 7.5%. Currently it is in excess of 9.3%. Unemployment checks have been extended to 99 weeks, with debate raging on extensions even further out. Over 40% of those receiving unemployment benefits have done so for more than a year.
Worse yet, mortgage foreclosure rates have risen steadily, now at all-time highs. And projections are that over 1 million foreclosures will happen by the end of the year. These foreclosures are no longer confined just to sub-prime markets, this now includes middle class Americans that previously maintained excellent credit.
Jobs creation is unseen. With the exception of temporary Government jobs (ie Census), the private sector has limped along barely creating 20,000 new jobs in any given month - though unemployment claims have maintained over 400,000 almost non-stop. Projections again are for more of the same or worse as the year progresses.
Taxes are soaring on both the Federal and State levels. The end of the Bush Tax Cuts are expected to increase taxes to the average American some 3%. That’s not including the Health Care Reform - initially promised not to be a tax increase but currently being called a tax in courtrooms as Americans at the State level look to repeal the law. All the while healthcare insurance rates are skyrocketing 20% or more, in direct opposition to the promise of lower health insurance rates. And the best outlook on this front is that there is still 3 more years before the Health Care Reform takes effect.
This says nothing of the proposal to “necessarily skyrocket” (as then-Senator Obama promised in a television interview) energy prices with Cap & Trade. Nor does this touch upon the gargantuan [never get to use that word much] increase in deficit spending, hastening the unsustainable level of national debt to a propbable collapse that would make the combination of Greece and Spain look like a pittence.
Therefore under even the most generous and partisan view, the Obama Administration and the Democrat-led Congress, have failed in the most attrocious manner at every economic indicator. Such failures would define any other President as a disappointment, and turn his remaining time in office into an extended lame-duck session.
But instead President Obama has the tail wagging the dog. With the help of the major media, news of the economy escapes the daily news reports. In 2007 and 2008 there was barely a day where the mortgage or finacial crisis was not a headline. In 2010 the media is hard pressed to notice that unemployment levels are increasing, the latest at 500,000 without work for the week. And the last time anyone mentioned the foreclosure rate in the nation was before the Health Care Reform was passed.
In fact the news tomorrow will not be about the economy. It will not be about the insanity of statements like “this is the summer of recovery” or “unemployment checks are a stimulus” (the last said by Speaker Nancy Pelosi - a statement that begs the question of what her math grades were in school). The news will be about the proposed mosque next to the remains of the Twin Towers in New York City.
Given that this is an issue. A moral impasse that is being kept alive with one-sided arguements on the Freedom of Religion (an issue that many liberals have fought against for decades) that no one disputes, and near complete silence to serious questions of where the source of funding is coming from. Is there a right to build the mosque? Of course, and everyone agrees with that. Should it be done? Will it improve relations with Muslims in this nation? No and no.
But I have to admire the brilliance of President Obama. With 2 almost diametrically opposed statements he has elevated the arguement to a national discourse, distracted everyone from the elephant in the room that is the economy, given incumbent Democrats a desperate chance to try to get re-elected by distancing themselves from the President, and hung a racist label on anyone that opposes his views.
That’s the kind of strategy only a lawyer would consider. A deflection from the obvious so simple that if it were transposed to our fight against Al Quaeda, Osama Bin Laden would walk out of a cave in Afghanistan (or Pakistan) right up to a camera and troops to argue the pros of the mosque. It’s a confusion so taunt on the heartstrings of millions that many won’t even notice the fact they are being thrown out of their homes as they argue.
Is President Obama a great President? Does he deserve the A he gave himself back in January?
Yes; great if you mean a great failure, a complete loss, an utter incompetence at every level of economic planning. Yes, he deserves an A grade; if the grading is based on distraction, obfuscation, and deception (which if he were a car salesman it would be called fraud).
Yes Mr. President you have the nation wagging by it’s tail. But, at some point, the wagging will stop. At some point, the nation will pay attention to the details because President Bush walked out of the White House 19 months ago and counting. At some point, everyone will recall that regardless of color or political party the buck stops at the door of the White House and whomever holds the Office.
Will that day be before or after the mid-term elections? There is no doubt that the White House and many Democrats up for re-election hope so. But only time will tell.
