While Our President Slept

The contrast is dramatic. Donald Trump's ability to multitask effectively is quite impressive. His focus and energy are daunting. In comparison, our current much-younger president is lackadaisical by his nature and ideological by his actions ... but I suspect history will judge him even more harshly because of this Trump juxtaposition. Most of the kinetics in the Obummer administration came not from our Teleprompter-in-chief (apparently, his primary function) but instead from his bloated go-get-em staff. He can often sound and look sincere when reading his staff's well-crafted rhetoric. But his indifference to the full spectrum of his presidential duties is often obvious by his body language or lack of action ... and is brought even more into focus by comparison to our new president elect.

Obummer was too often an inattentive president. There is little argument that he would mainly focus on five things: getting back at those whom he saw as oppressors of blacks, open borders, global warming, setting Muslims a place at the table ... and his golf game. Everything else; the economy, entitlement reform, the loss of our middle class, rebuilding our infrastructure, defeating terrorism, strengthening our national defense, reducing government waste, tax reform, regulation reform, etc. seemed to be distractions to him. I don't think he even gave a hoot about health-care reform or free trade These were treated merely as check boxes for his expected legacy. I think if you were to ask him to explain the ups and downs of Obamacare or TPP in detail without his Teleprompter, he would stutter and flounder.

zzzzzzz!

Frustration

I understand Brent Bozell's frustration at Donald Trump's being the presumptive nominee of the Republican party ... see: his Open Letter to Conservatives. But desperate times require desperate measures and it appears that most of blue-collar America doesn't agree with Bozell's assessment of the situation. Yes, Trump is too often wrong on style but right on substance and this has turned many voters off (like my wife). Even I have spent a considerable amount of this blog space criticizing Trump's vulgarities. But now, resolving myself to his eventual nomination, I am forced to concentrate on his approach to the real issues of our time.

If Trump were to be elected ...  which I now consider highly likely ... how would he govern? I believe that he would go a long way toward solving our economic malaise through tax and regulation reform. (He is even against the carried interest tax loophole enjoyed by the hedge-fund nabobs,) I also believe he would find ways to fix our immigration and international trade problems ... in a tough but rational way. And I expect that our fiscal debt goblin would be put back in the closet through spending cuts and economic growth. Yet he would still rebuild our defense capabilities and put apprehension back in the minds of many the bad actors in the world.

But how would Trump handle the social issues that conservatives, like Bozell, are so focused on? Here I am not so sanguine. I expect that he will disappoint many righties in how he reforms Obamacare and Common Core ... and his Supreme Court picks may not be the best. (Wouldn't it be great if he used Ted Cruz as an adviser in this process?) And his approach to solving entitlement  reform could well be too tempered by the brickbats being tossed at him by the liberal media.

And the Trump administration probably will have its share of faux and real scandals ... just because his management style has often allowed the fringes of society to have a chair at the table. And he will come out of the White House a lot wealthier than he was when he went in.

Will Trump be another Ronald Reagan? No, but he may be a modern-day Andrew Jackson, also a rough and tumble politician ... and put Old Hickory's picture back on the double sawbuck in the process. And the best part? Lena Dunham, Rosie O'Donnell, Michael Moore, and lots of other goofy glitterati will soon be living north of the 49th parallel.

Recap

Every so often, to keep my head from exploding, I like to recount the damage that Obummer has done to America ... to remember his numerous failures both accidental and intentional. But this time the Diplomad has somewhat done this job for me and I am grateful ... see: Diplomad Blog. In this argument against the closing of Gitmo, the Diplomad has ticked off these many other disasters of the Obummer administration ... as quoted below:

His past achievements include, of course, unprecedented debt and unemployment; disastrous Obamacare; relentless promotion of gay marriage; "ending" wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; "democratization" of Libya; recognition of the vile and putrid Castro dictatorship; surrender to Iran's ayatollahs; gutting our military; destruction of what remained of our immigration system and laws; exacerbating racial tensions to a level not seen in decades--and, of course, winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Those, of course, are just some of the more successful ones. He also sought to bring down the second amendment through his murderous "Fast and Furious" operation; install the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; and sell-out Israel. 

To these I would add his many crony-capital give-aways particularly in the green industry, his numerous serious scandals throughout his cabinet -- the IRS, the EPA, the Veterans Administration, etc., his acceding to Russian and Chinese expansionism, his feeble response to the ISIS threat, his "surge" in Afghanistan which accomplished nothing except more American deaths, his inability to significantly improve America's infrastructure despite huge spending outlays, his alienation of numerous American allies in the Mid East, Europe and the Far East, I'm out of breath ...

But then listed above are just Obummer's sins of commission. Neglected there are his many sins of omission ... such as:

- his failure to revamp our tax system to encourage faster economic growth

- his failure to simplify and reduce the many burdensome regulations that are stifling American industry ... particularly small companies

- his failure even to prosecute, let alone convict, any financial industry executives for the criminal speculation that caused our 2008 economic collapsed

- his failure to reform our entitlement systems which is rapidly spelling the doom for our country

- etc., etc.

In summary, Obummer's seven years have not produced many hits to offset these numerous misses. I believe he will be listed in history books as one of our five worst presidents.

Out of Africa

One might call it "fiddling while Rome is burning" … or an early case of “senioritis” … or, to use the silly White House term, “leading from behind” … but clearly President Obama is detaching himself from governing (if he ever was attached.)   His extravagant trip (family vacation?) to Africa (see: Breitbart Story) seems to this commentator to be a series of vacuous photo ops and frivolous distractions from important national and world issues.  The many domestic scandals and problems plaguing his administration desperately need his attention … as do the volatile events in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, the European Union, Russia, world-wide central banking systems, etc.  Yet he seems distracted and somehow disinterested … e.g., “I’m not going to scramble jets to capture Snowden.”

Yes Obama is suave … someone who can read a teleprompter as though he knows what it all means.  But he is also the President of the most powerful country in the world (at least in title if not in form) and there are a large number of things that need his attention and leadership: domestic job growth, tax reform, entitlement reform, management of our transition to Obamacare, reduction of our crushing deficits, foreign-policy fibrillation, the threat of growing Islamic extremism, the dramatic increase in student-loan interest rates, our decaying national infrastructure, the scandals plaguing many in his Cabinet, and maybe even immigration reform.  Yet he has really acted on none of these issues.  Yes, he has talked about most of them and made rhetorical promises, but there is a chasm between his talk and his actions.

I am not a historian, but I have a suspicion that Obama is in real danger of becoming the Calvin Coolidge of our time … only as opposed to being labeled Silent Cal (detached and no action), he might be better tagged Blathering Barry (all talk and no action).

Six Old Men on Entitlement Reform

Not the Real Signers

This blog entry is an user-submission by a reader (Brad Stroup).  I must relay the fact that Brad is generally of the liberal persuasion … as are most of his friends.  But this areopagitica is very conservative in its tone and purpose.  I will not divulge the other five signers of this pledge other than to indicate that their first priority is their country.  Here is their argument for entitlement reform: 

We six old men [all from Tucson, Arizona)] oppose the “me first” culture of the elderly who demand no reforms in entitlement especially in “retirement” states like Arizona.  Most of us over 65 have been guaranteed subsidies in the form of Social Security and Medicare for the rest of our lives that far exceed our contributions.   If we include the “baby-boomers” retiring in the next few years, we elderlies have more annual income than people our age have ever had, and yet we expect the rest of you to take care of us in our leisure years.  Thanks to the profligate generosity of our nation over the past 50 years, we have created an approaching train wreck no one wants to face.  

The AARP’s lobbying efforts to protect old people at everyone else’s expense make no moral or economic sense.  The nation simply cannot afford Medicare and Social Security without some cost reductions.  Medicare co-pays to patients should be increased; Social Security retirement ages should be increased to 67 or 70.  Both entitlements should be means-tested so that those who have more do not take from those whose needs are great.  If we don’t reform these programs now, they won’t be there when younger people go to the window for benefits.

To my amazement, most of the return-e-mail dissenters to this pledge were usually liberals … often radical (and semi-famous) liberals … offering lots of AARP-inspired me-first excuses ranging from “I paid for this benefit and don’t you dare touch it” to “when defense spending is brought under control, then our entitlements will be affordable” (thinking defense spending represents “over 55% of Federal spending" – a liberal chimera.)  For the real facts, see: Heritage Foundation Analysis).  And, if you want to see how an uber-liberal mind works, please see the link I received back as justification for this original outrageous statement: War Resisters League Rationales.  I guess [too] many Americans believe Obama when he said [to Boehner], “[government] spending is not a problem.”

I have volunteered to Brad to be added to the “List of Six.”

2016

The Presidential election is over and Barack Obama has won.  So, what does this mean for the United States over the next four years?  Let me offer a few of my own personal prognostications:

- Iran will have 20+ nuclear weapons. The Unites States (with Israel’s reluctant agreement) will institute a policy of “containment” relative to this threat … much like we did with the USSR during the cold war. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt will either have nukes or be well on their way toward same.

- Joe Biden will take a shot at getting the Democrat nomination for President. This nation’s main-stream media will kill his chances by implying that he is non compos mentis. The Democrat nod will go either to Rahm Emanuel, Chris Christie, or Bill Clinton.

- Two new Supreme Court justices will be confirmed (replacing two other liberal justices), namely Hillary Clinton (with a new hairdo) and Eric Holder.

- The Republicans will nominate an Hispanic for President … and a woman (other than Sarah Palin) for Vice President.

- The U.S. national debt will have topped $20 trillion despite numerous income tax rate increases and all the new taxes imposed under Obamacare.

- The rate of government spending increases will continue apace ... contrary to the early 2013 agreement fashioned under the fiscal-cliff threat.

- Fox News (on cable) will have far outpaced any network news program in terms of audience size and ratings.

- The expansion of Obamacare policies and edicts will have forced all health-care insurance companies out of business.

- An illegal-immigrant amnesty program will have been instituted in 2013. Illegal immigration will commensurately expand dramatically.

- Our nation’s entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, etc.) will not have been reformed.

- The real national unemployment rate will remain stubbornly high ... independent of the reporting-process manipulation at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

- Two new industries will have been nationalized by the Obama regime – the Airline industry and the Health-care Insurance industry (see above).

- General Motors will receive another government bailout of $40 billion +. As a result, Ford Motor will be in an untenable competitive position and may be also forced to take a government bailout.


Sooo ... once again, elections do have consequences ... a lesson still unlearned by the naive U.S. electorate.

Wall Street Speaks

Dow Jones Industrial Average YTD

Recently we were told that, if the U.S. debt ceiling was not raised, the stock market would immediately crash by at least 1,000 points.  Now, the debt ceiling has indeed been raised and The Barry has inked the compromise bill ... and what has happened?  The Dow Jones Index has dropped almost 800 points over the last week ... almost 260 points of which happened today ... even after this supposed "catastrophe" has been averted.  Now, Wall Street typifies cynicism and contrary-ism, but why have buyers, in euphoric relief,  not rushed back into the stock market?  May I offer a few possible reasons for this Wall Street swoon:

- Despite the stated objectives of this deal, there is a strong likelihood that this current administration will not live up to the compromise's terms that are contain therein ... just like the Democrats did not live up to the early-on deal that they struck with Ronald Reagan wherein tax rates were cut but somehow the bigger spending cuts never occurred (see Reagan's Deal).

- This compromise did nothing to address the elephant in the room, entitlement reform.

- The debt ceiling, being raised by this deal, results in immediate (profligate) government spending whereas the "equivalent cuts" will take place over ten years.

- This next round of before-Thanksgiving budget cuts dictated by this deal will be designed by a "bipartisan committee."  If we thought that the political theater was farcical for these last sweltering weeks, just wait until this committee starts its deliberations ... quickly followed by dueling press leaks.

- This bill contains no serious path to achieve a balanced-budget amendment to our Constitution.

- This grand compromise enables The Barry to avoid another debt ceiling battle before next year's election.  This likely increases his chances of having another 4 years of waygu beef, White House festivities, and frequent family vacations.

So, those talking heads who had opined about the financial markets positive reaction to this deal (or the negative reaction to the "no-deal" alternative) were dead wrong ... perhaps because the words coming from their heads were stifled by about a yard of their bowels.

Tail Wags the Dog

The "extremists" seemed to have won ... the tail is waging the dog ... at least for the nonce.  The freshman Republicans in the House of Representatives (87 out of 435) ... mostly Tea Party Coalition members have carried the day in the recent dog fight about cutting government spending in exchange for raising our debt ceiling.  This was despite the fact that they represent a small minority in just one half of Congress.  The Senate and the Executive branch are controlled by Democrats.  This is a compelling development.  For once this band of brothers and sisters stuck together and to their guns and insisted on doing what they promised to do when they were elected last November.

And this was also despite the vicious attacks on them from the main-steam media, from many cable-TV talking heads, from almost all Democrat pols, and even from a few RINO Republicans (John McCain called them "hobbits").  To me, how they kept from folding under this onslaught indicates a level of patriotism and statesmanship that is rare in today's political theater.  And, hopefully, this passion will carry over to 2012 when this nation's electorate replicates these voting preferences in the elections for the Senate and the Presidency.  I'm not saying that only Tea Party members should be those elected next year.  What I would prefer is that there be enough moderate Republicans elected that the Tea Party might not over-reach (like the Democrats clearly did in 2009).  However, I do hope that tax reform (that broadens the U.S. tax base), entitlement reform (that insures the future solvency of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security), spending cuts (that better balance the size of the federal government with our economic metrics), and regulation reform (that clears the tracks ahead for U.S. businesses) ... all come out of the fresh-faced government we hopefully elect in 2012.  Do these things well and rigorous U.S. job growth will be resurrected

Yes, this Boehner/Reid bill is not perfect and we have learned that this administration has a way of subverting the intent of the Republican legislators (witness what happened in April of this year when $38 billion in spending cuts in the 2011 budget, in reality, morphed into only $352 million ... see 2011 Budget Bill).  I would have also preferred that this debt-limit bill incorporated movement toward a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  (I am perplexed as to what the Democrat objections to this amendment can be ... perhaps the electorate will ask them this same question a year from this fall?)  Anyhow, it now looks like the Tea Party is on a roll and those who have underrated the power and popularity this grass-roots movement might re-examine their polling results and future campaign strategies.  Just calling them names won't make them go away.

Afterward: Joe Biden just called the Tea Party "terrorists".  Have at 'em Joe!  You make my point.