Going for Broke

Is it time to act (peacefully) yet? For some that's a moot question, having already participated in tea parties, etc. but for those who haven't the time might be shorter than you think. Obama is pushing hard for passage of his new 2010 budget and the Congress--without feedback from the populace--might just slip it on through. Largely unread.

Political Yen/Yang has a piece today about the leanings our of current prez, dating back to the campaign. While these leanings are clearly visible to any conservative they're unhinged rantings to many on left. Those same liberals just months ago considered Bush a kind of secular anti-Christ due to his core conservative beliefs, which to many of them meant no abortion, no gay marriage, and perpetual war.

So.. they did what they felt necessary to stop him by using fear and disinformation and ridiculous strawmen and some of the same slogans now appearing on the right, such as "take our country back". In retrospect their whining about Bush trashing the Constitution is looking more quaint by the day but will the right head down the same road?

To some degree that's Sunsett's point:

Shifting too far to either extreme cannot sustain a nation. It cannot keep the body of that nation, stable, healthy, and growing strong.

In other words, some amount of gridlock is good. Had we had a balanced government attacking this financial "rough patch" it's likely the medicine wouldn't have been worse than the disease. One-sided governments tend to be too ideological and end up forcing distasteful things on vast numbers of people, who tend to not react pleasantly, leading to destabilization.

Case in point, the AIG protesters threatening people's homes. Or perhaps Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express, who has threatened to pull his order for Boeing 777 freighters if the government goes through with legislation that would remove Fed Ex workers out from under the Railway Labor Act and put them under the Teamsters, which would give UPS a competitive advantage. In a brazen act of disloyalty, US Rep Steve Cohen switched sides to back Fed Ex and all the property taxes they represent. But going through with the threat means bad things (and hard feelings) for Seattle residents.

But back to the budget. When Bush introduced his first long term budget in early 2001 he was operating off a surplus and figured the trillion-plus surpluses would continue until about now. That rosy forecast gave him an opening for tax cuts and prescription drug benefits without having anyone claim he was breaking the piggybank to do it. He didn't figure on 9/11 or Katrina. We see how that worked out.

Obama is doing the same thing except he's starting from deep in the red, figuring everything will only get better over time without factoring in the unforeseen. This is akin to a fool carrying massive credit card debt buying a yacht and saying he'll cut his credit card debt in the next few years only to have the stove, refridge, TV and heater conk out shortly thereafter. He's stuck with bankruptcy but America, and her future generations, don't have that option.

Think about it. Any man who would stand in front of millions and calmly announce that doubling the deficit is the only way to cut it in half in four years is either lying through his teeth, a moron, or has only one shot left to enact the 'change' he campaigned on--changing America to a more socialist state. That he's willing to take the colossal risk of racking up trillions of debt when one massive domestic terrorist attack could leave us in tatters means only one thing--this is his last shot. He knows 2010 is coming and with it perhaps a different kind of 'change'. So perhaps now is the time to take on Obama's Civilian Pledge Army and voice your displeasure. Who knows, maybe a few Republicans will stand up with you. Or even a few moderate Dems.

Presser for One

The idea of a primetime news conference isn't bad, what with angry mobs on intimidation bus tours of AIG employees' homes while tea parties get ignored by mainstream media folks all over the country. Obama is the optimist-in-chief, it's time to speak!

CNN has leaked part of his speech, which will mainly be a lobbying effort for his new 2010 trillionaire budget proposal. It includes the following:

"We will recover from this recession," the president will say, according to excerpts of his opening remarks.

"But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together; when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other -- that's when we succeed."

Well now, a conspiracy minded person could certainly find common ground with that kind of stuff and this kind of stuff:

Marx intended the initial part of his slogan, "from each according to his ability" to suggest not merely that each person should work as hard as they can, but that each person should best develop their particular talents.

Claiming themselves to be at a lower stage of communism ("socialism") in line with Marx's arguments, the Soviet Union adapted the formula as: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work (labour investment)".

Especially when considering the new bill just slipped through Congress yesterday (today's volunteer is tomorrow's indentured servant). But that's just a bunch of Beck-inspired neocon fantasia, right?

Of more interest will be observing how Obama handles himself with the presser. Will the questions--and questioners--be scripted? Will they ask real questions? Which new media entity will get the most shots, Huffington Post or Ed Schultz? Will Obama be using the clarification screen to help him sort through answers to tough questions from Tapper or Garrett? And will Miss Helen make weird O'Reilly-like shrieking noises? We await the hilarity.

MORE 3/24/09

Liveblogger. Obama, for the first time, bashed those who would bash capitalists. Bout time. But his speech was less Marxy than CNN led on.

Tapper just tried to pin down the prez on budget showstoppers and got a speech on the budget. I have no idea what his answer was, nor did Tapper.

Reid from CBS just asked about the spiralling debt, using Obama's own words against him (passing on our problems). Obama just blamed Bush. Wait, is he looking down at the screen?

No screen! They just showed the back of the podium and there are only notes. Even Emanuel isn't that bold. But Obama's filibustering again anyway, wandering off into talking point woods with something about his grandiose budget not passing along huge debt to our kids, or something.

Again, as mentioned here earlier, Obama's right about the procurement system is broken and riddled with lobbyists and ex-government officials. But so is the REST of the government procurement system. He seems adamant about fixing only the one, which is coincidently handled by spending less on the military.

"We're doing everything we can to reduce this deficit"... yes, by doubling it. The reporters are trying to attack his projection of cutting the deficit in half by 2012, but not getting anywhere.

The worst economy since the Great Depression has now been improved to a "rough patch". And Obama just patted himself on the back as to his flowering global reputation. Did the reset button actually work?

Night's challenge--cracking the filibuster fog. Ann Compton seems to be the first winner.

With a recent order to send 17,000 troops to Afghanistan there was not one question about the war from the same pack of journalists who hounded the previous occupant about it incessantly.

No surprise there. Obama is now back in the wandering woods on the Israeli-Palestinian question as we sign off.... turning to MSNBC to monitor the sexual reaction--only briefly.

Budget Magic

Obama's appearance on Leno marked the beginning of a national PR sweep in support of his new multi-trillion budget up for a vote in Congress later this year. The full court press will continue daily, including the weekly address. Unlike the Iran video there were no sub-titles, so allow me to offer this translated version:

"We inherited this mess from Bushco, which is hindering us from the change we believe in. But despite being trillions in arrears we are going to double down anyway and go for broke [a new slogan -ed] while our poll numbers are still high or before people realize what's going on. For those paying attention, our amorphous promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of four years--which privately leaves us rolling on the floor in laughter--will sooth any fiscal fears. We hope"

There are a few left in the press willing to push back. During Friday's briefing several reporters grilled Gibbs on the fact the CBO has already said the numbers don't add up, basically torpedo-ing Obama's ambitious 2 trillion in budget savings he's been using to justify the massive spending. When confronted, Gibbs went back to talking points.

White House budgets are pie-in-the-sky based, not reality-based. When Bush submitted his first budget in 2001 he projected we'd be swimming in trillions of surplus bucks about now. After 9/11, Iraq and Katrina the rest is history. And that's the problem with these projections, they don't include realistic contingencies. Stuff happens. We all know this from managing our own household finances.

Obama knows this too, of course. But he also knows he's got one clear shot at nationalized health care, cap and trade, illegal immigration reform and a new confiscatory tax code on the "rich" to transform America into a quasi-Euro socialist state before the 2010 elections come along.

The smoke and mirrors part is to promise he'll reduce the deficit in half by 2012--after the mid-terms--mainly by cutting federal programs that don't work. Rather absurd coming from someone who was supported by all the federal unions. Congress has already informed him to stay out of their earmarks so this deficit reduction ain't gonna be comin' out of the federal bureaucracy.

That leaves a perfect storm for confiscatory tax increases on the "rich" to make up the shortfall or perhaps even a clever way to work with a changed Congress after 2010 should another Newt revolution occur. And apparently it's going to happen, either by hook or by crook.

TIN PIN 3/21/09

Obama told Leno he's been practicing his bowling, reaching 129. Sounds like a lot of hard work based on those campaign gutter balls. But just a few weeks ago his spokesman was telling the press that Obama and staff were too tired to honor British Prime Minister Brown because they were engrossed in the economic bailout.