Obama Thinking Out Loud

Bottom line: We’re flat broke. We don’t have the money. We’d like to carry on as before. We’d all like to stop at Starbucks for our morning coffee, but our wallet is empty. We’ve turned off the cell phone, because creditors are calling us every hour. They’re worried they won’t ever get paid back.

We’ve been broke for a long time. If I remember correctly, it started with Bush. The point is, it didn’t just happen overnight. For a while, friends would still spot us a couple of bucks for that cup of brew. If nobody happened to be around, the girl at the counter would let us have one simply for a promise and a smile.

Gotta cut back, but we also gotta keep up appearances. We’re the recognized leader of the Free World, after all. It simply won’t do to suddenly show up dressed in sack cloth.

Everybody agrees the economy is heading south. In fact, it’s so far down already, there’s really no longer any fix - nothing the public would go for anyway.

When things get this bad, the trick is not to give in to it. You do it with smoke and mirrors (Did I say ‘smoke‘? God, how I hate being married!); you try to give the impression that everything is still on the up and up. Sometimes, you’ve got to tell lies - like the one about ‘jobs saved’ (boy, was that one was a doozy!) The folks bought it all the same, at least I think they did - and now I’ll tell them we reduced the budget by a trillion while only increasing it seven times as much. (Damn! I’ve run out of space.) It’s technically true; we could have increased it by eight.

Checked in with ‘The Man’ this morning. He said, “Just keep going. You’re doing fine. Tell them about high-speed trains. They’ll like that.” Actually, I’m beginning to wonder just exactly what he’s up to.

Anyway, I still got the press drones out there, endlessly repeating that bit about ‘green’ jobs and how the economy is turning around; and how everything will work out as soon as Bush’s tax cuts expire - say what?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Humble Pie

This was the week of my personal comeuppance. I had predicted that the Bush tax cuts (sic) would not be extended. I was happily wrong. My reasoning, I thought, was solid: Democrats still held a majority and they would never capitulate to yet another signature issue from the hated Bush administration. There was a lot of grousing, to be sure. But, in the end, it marked a defeat for the Left that I had not foreseen. Also, I had consistently written that the Left actually wants the economy to fail. This may still be true, but I now concede that Obama may not be playing on that particular team.

It may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory. If the economy does not improve - and, God knows, we’ve saddled the poor thing with so many sinkers - the Left will blame these tax cuts (sic) once again. The template of blame is already pretty much set in stone: if a policy doesn’t work, it’s never wrong; there just wasn’t enough of it. In this way, no side is ever wrong. Whereas it was clear sailing for Republicans for the first two years of Obama’s term (because they had effectively been shut out), now they will have a stake in what happens. They share accountibility no matter what.

I still say that it appears that Democrats have the political side of it much more in hand than Republicans do. Republicans always seem to be in the position of fighting back. Rightly or wrongly, they have been feminized by the media and portrayed as weak, irrational and whining.

Still, Republican wins last week point to the fact that even in countries where women appear most oppressed, it is said it is they who essentially for run the house.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

I'll Eat My Hat

There are people all over the country who now claim that Mr. Obama is now finally positioned on the right side of things due to his stance on the Bush tax cut (sic). However reluctantly, Obama appears to have bitten the bullet and done what’s right. Let’s say the Bush tax cuts (sic) are extended for a year or two. For ordinary families it would simply mean that the status quo has been maintained. Hurray!

Keep in mind, we will have done nothing to reverse our downward slide. In fact, we have made our situation worse by accelerating our descent into debt via the pork that has now become attached to this bill. We have set ourselves up to fight this fight again the next time it comes around - hence, there continues to be uncertainty. Not even the president is fully on board which he made perfectly clear at his (not Bill Clinton’s) presidential press conference. So, if it fails to ‘stimulate’, which it will, for there is nothing to suggest that (contrary to the opinions of Pelosi and Reed) paltry unemployment checks magically turn anybody into big a spender.

We have become so desperate as to grasp at mere straws just to prove that our bold new experiment with socialism works, that we are now quite willing to overlook the big picture. Hitler was the impetus behind the concept of the Volkswagen. It was a huge success and has survived to this day, yet we are not prepared to proclaim the Hitler years a triumph based on this alone. What’s scary is that Obama himself could dive into the frigid Potomac and save a drowning child just before the 2012 elections and we would potentially reward him with an additional term in office, overlooking the fact that every one of his major policy initiative is geared to diminish our nation in some significant way.

I hold to my prediction re the fate of the Bush tax cuts. If it turns out that I am wrong, I will admit it. If anyone should demand that I eat my hat, I will gladly do so. It should be a relatively easy feat as I don’t wear hats in any case.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Chavez U.

Again we are asked to follow the narrative: Obama the shirker, the incompetent. When, in fact, the Clintons are being set up for the fall. Bill stumbles into it. He suddenly finds himself alone in front of the Washington press corps, defending the tax cut (sic) compromise. Obama knows full well it will destroy the Democrat party - what’s left of it. Clinton is invited to the White House. He can’t stay away. Too many painful memories to reawaken and wallow in. It’s his chance to make good (perhaps). Hillary, if she had been around, would have advised against it.

Who is Obama’s primary challenger? The Clintons. Only Obama knows the Bush tax cuts will expire in January. He can claim to have been on either side of the issue. Bill has no clue about all the backroom wheeling and dealing. He goes out there and defends the already failed proposition to the hilt. His words have no effect on the eventual outcome. He’s simply there to absorb some of the heat.

The economy will tank. That is the plan. People will blame Congress. Some will blame Obama. And now, some will also blame the Clintons. Blame all around.

Obama is the only one left with a leg up on this one by virtue of being president. Once the dominoes begin to fall, everyone will be wiped out. Only Obama remains - by virtue of being president. Chavez will run a course on the internet about winning friends and influencing people. He will claim Obama to have been his first successful graduate.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

It Kills Me...

It kills me to see this: By reluctantly accepting the ‘deal’ with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts (sic), Obama positions himself as a moderate, hoping to profit by it in his 2012 reelection drive. Obama is not a moderate! He never was; and he will never be a moderate. He is a revolutionary. His aim, simply put, is to bring down the U.S. economy.

It remains to be seen how many people will be fooled by this ploy. I predict not many. I believe Obama knows the Bush tax cuts (sic) will not be extended, courtesy of his radical leftist friends in Congress. They know it too. It’s likely they worked the strategy out in advance between them. It’s no mystery how the major media will spin it.

The ’biggest tax hike in history’ will take place January 1st. It will hurt the economy. While pleased about it, Obama will appear to have washed his hands of whatever happens.

It reminds me of a few years back when the North Koreans destroyed some of their buildings, claiming to be climbing down from their nuclear ambitions. Almost immediately, the world showered its (evil) dwarf-like leader with high praise and sent gifts. Now look what we have today!

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

(Non) DUALITY

All this political wrangling in Washington can be properly explained by how one is inclined to approach the puzzle of duality. Taxation today is primarily seen as punishment. Democrats do not understand that by punishing one sector, they are in effect punishing all and that the poor will be first and foremost affected. JB is right, for Republicans the extension of the Bush tax cuts as well as their opposition to extending unemployment benefits is a matter of policy (which affects all), while Democrats are playing the political game of division. It is unlikely that the poor would ever see a dime of what could potentially be shoehorned out of the paychecks of the rich.

One phrase that has gained momentum recently, “too big to fail”, is equally absurd. If something is rendered incapable of failing, it is also rendered incapable of succeeding. In fact, the standard by which to judge success or failure is effectively erased. This goes against human nature. We are always watching, evaluating; choosing that which is better. In doing so, we discard that which is not so good. Worse always loses. If there were no better or worse, we could only choose between worse and worse and better and better.

Nobody on this planet lives this way. Yet, Democrats are insisting that we do so. Interestingly, none of those who would make such rules would live by same. They would be sure to make themselves exempt.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

There Will Be Blood

Good news? Hardly. The WSJ this weekend pronounced Obama’s economic policies as ‘repudiated‘. The current bone of contention are the Bush tax cuts. Democrat members of Congress see this as yet another nail in their collective coffins. They are attempting to put as much daylight as possibly between themselves and the administration which seems hell-bent to let them expire.

Overlooked by pundits is the fact that Democrats need do nothing to bring this about. The prospect of steep Democrat election losses in November will not change their minds and make them proactive regarding this issue. Indeed, there is no reason to even attempt a move to appease the public. The electorate is not likely to pardon Democrats on the basis of having second thoughts.

If they happen to share Obama’s Marxist ideology, they might attempt to raise taxes even more during the lame duck session. I’m sure there is already a draft to this effect circulating in some arcane committee - a last hurrah; a final poke in the eye of the electorate; a last opportunity to reward fellow travelers; a last supper of pork. The president, of course, would not hesitate to sign on. Why shouldn’t he? He’s been governing against the interests of the people all along. He’s well used to it by now.

You might wonder why any leader would deliberately make himself so desperately unpopular as this president has done? JB is right. Obama no longer speaks with the conviction he has shown in the past. Yet, there is no sign of him reversing course. Jesus too never faltered in His determination to mount Golgotha. He showed weariness; and, at times, His strength left Him, but He was nevertheless determined to fulfill His destiny.

It could just be that Obama (despite his blinding messiah complex) knows that he’s been found out. The happy-face routine has become old and over. For better or worse, he is the one who has been chosen to deliver America to its final resting place. It could be that there remains a smidgeon of regret in his heart.

What many pundits and analysts still fail to understand is that the passage into communism requires a revolution. Revolutions are often bloody, highly unpleasant affairs. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the American people will ‘not go gentle into that good night‘. There will indeed be blood.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/