Monday, March 09, 2009

Instead of a laser beam of focus, a kaleidoscope of spending

Here's Jennifer Rubin with "Then how are we to recover?" (HT: RCP)

It is curious indeed to have a single crisis this enormous, one which was in large part responsible for the candidate's victory, and have such a lackadaisical attitude toward solving it. You would think every policy move, every "summit," and the budget itself - which is a blueprint for the administration’s agenda - would focus on that singular mission: economic recovery. The fact that the administration is running off in a dozen different directions suggests they have either not the inclination or the know-how to address the most critical issue of our time.

No wonder the markets are in a funk.
Last week it was snubbing the Brits. Today it was cloning. Wednesday is time for Happy Hour at the White House. Meanwhile, some are taking notice that the Obama administration seems to have no clue how to address the banking crisis:



The markets hate uncertainty and lately it's all the White House delivers.

But, hey, let's talk about Rush Limbaugh now!

Extra – Here's Robert Samuelson: "Confidence (too little) and uncertainty (too much) define this crisis. Obama's double talk reduces the first and raises the second. He says he's focused on reviving the economy, but he's also using the crisis to advance an ambitious long-term agenda."

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this a parody? The previous administration offered nothing BUT certainty. The fundamentals are strong, the fundamentals are strong; it's not a recession, it's not a recession; consecutive months of job growth, consecutive months of job growth. That line of B.S. helped get us where we are, and now it's what we need to get out of it?

But the poor widdle market hates uncertainty (as defined by the market to suit the market)? Wouldn't it be awful if the market reacted poorly, like, all of a sudden, out of the blue? Because the market acted completely professionally when it was happy and deregulated and overvalued and oh so confident.

And the whining continues: Rush Limbaugh is your problem, not Obama's. Get your own leash. When Obama had a guy who said "God damn America," he made a show of cutting him loose. When your guy says "God damn America," Republican Congressmen and the RNC Chairman take turns making public apologies for offending him.

Didn't notice the right whimpering about a President using a crisis to advance an ambitious long-term agenda in 2001... but heck, those were only our soldiers and our rights and the separation of powers. THIS is about my 401(k)!

Eric said...

No, it's not a parody! Tim Geithner actually outlined a bank reform plan so vague that economists laughed at him. Hillary actually showed how little she prepared for restoring relationships with the Russians that she failed to properly translate a single word. The golden-tongued Obama had to call back the NY Times to assure them he wasn't a socialist. Then he urged Americans to buy stock, sending the Dow into another spiral.

Maybe it's not a parody. Maybe it's an homage to Jimmy Carter.

Anonymous said...

No! No! My precious echo-chamber!
Rush Limbaugh! Rush Limbaugh!

Ann Coulter's a bitch and Steele is an oreo-munching uncle Tom!

Anonymous said...

This is just dippy. You criticize Geither for offering the same empty rah-rah bullshit that you simultaneously say will combat the meltdown, and meanwhile Hillary's to blame for not being a Soviet linguist and propmaker, and then you've got Obama blowing off a gimmick question before reconsidering, plus a given day's stock market dip is solid cause-and-effect evidence of Obama's economic ineptitude, and Jimmy Carter still smells. (P.S. Upsettingly, "the administration is running off in a dozen different directions.")

Whoops, the Dow just shot up today. By the airtight "Obama did it" logic, the President's policy went from worthless to wonderful in just 12 hours! Hooray! Socialism works (this week)!

Anonymous said...

Whoops, the Dow just shot up today.

Sure, I'll give Obama credit for that. Even heroin addicts in withdrawl feel great when you give them a little smack.

Anonymous said...

Hard drugs also make Anonymous's shouts funny. "Oreo-munching Uncle Tom" + speedball = comedy gold!

But I think a person would O.D. before laughing at his tour de force "plantation dialect" Obama post from last week.

Anonymous said...

Hey, the Dow's up 2 points!

Yea Obama!

Anonymous said...

Well, he's 2 louder, isn't he?

I think that the problem may be that we have a national party that is in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. How much more black could the GOP's future be? And the answer is none. None more black.

It's such a fine line between stupid and conservative.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, it's all over for conservatives, isn't it? The Democrats finally win an election, and it's the the end of everyone else.

Forget the last ten years of democrat/Howard Dean/John Kerry fecklessness (Jesus Christ, talk about lost in the sauce). Who was it again leading the Democrats through the wilderness back then? Markos Moulitos? Al Sharpton?

You now have enough rope to hang yourselves 50 times over, and you're off to a grand start!

Tickets now on sale: Puppet show & the Democtatic party in 2010!

Anonymous said...

The Dems didn't finally win an election, they've won two elections. The first of them was unique; 2006 was the first time in American history a party retained every contested Congressional seat; the GOP had zero pick-ups. 2008's election was a proportional trouncing not seen since 1984 (in 1988, the GOP lost Congressional seats). The Democrats also won a series of special elections in between, including in very red districts.

It's not "all over" for conservatives, of course. Only a leftwing version of Karl Rove would gurgle happily about a "permanent Democratic majority." However, it IS going to take the Republicans several cycles just to climb back to where they were. Every metric-- EVERY metric-- is against them right now.

2010 is going to be about more Republican losses, simply due to the Senate cycle, and which seats will be available. The Democrats' vulnerability won't really kick in until 2012 and 2014.

Voter identification has trended hard against the GOP. The Democrats are currently flush with money while the Republicans didn't even have enough in '08 to shore up their own candidates, let alone target toss-up elections.

The Republicans have lost the youth vote, the women's vote, and the Latino vote. They can reverse some of those losses, but only with time. The idea that the right will go 3-for-3 in the next 18 months is foolish.

The public has curdled completely towards the GOP's performance, and has cooled towards the GOP's political philosophy. (Some would say that the GOP cooled towards it first.) It may take a gaudy Democratic collapse to undo that damage. Unfortunately for the right, the situation inherited by Obama is regarded as Republican-stamped wreckage, while even minimal improvement will be credited to the Dems. That's also why the alleged "distraction" of Rush Limbaugh has been so hurtful to the right. You're in a position where your own former obnoxious rhetoric (Dems "rooting against America") is now your primary avenue to success, for now.

Equating Markos Moulitos with Al Sharpton is a blunder of perception. Moulitos runs a advocacy website that generates substantial money and volunteerism for the left. Its efforts are directed almost across the board, not for one particular interest group. Whereas Sharpton's influence hasn't been this low in 20 years. And even at his political height, he was ineffective as a mainstream figure. Merging Kos and Al in your mind as a "type" of leftwing opponent is like drawing a parallel between Lee Atwater and Michelle Malkin.

And while it may make you feel better to yawp about "Howard Dean fecklessness," that same fecklessness transformed the U.S. political map in two years' time, financially and tactically. It has helped to reduce the Republicans to a party with one regional base of support. Your GOP is going to study and imitate that fecklessness, even as you dismiss it.

As for a 2010 comeback? You're going to need a really BIG wishing well. And construction has slowed.

Anonymous said...

More words + spittle = I'M RIGHT, DAMN IT!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wordy, yes. And hard to debunk, too. The "spittle" is in your imagination. Sorry to have treated you like an equal.

How's this? Only true believer idiots think the GOP will stage a massive comeback in 2010. The country has twice let you know what they think about true believer idiots. In the end, the adults won. Seeing you guys choking on your own inadequacies and cannibalizing one another is a hilarious free bonus. You're f**ked.

There. Brain feel better now?

Anonymous said...

Greatest.

Depression.

Ever.

Learn it, live it, love it, bitches! Doesn't matter how badly Bush fucked-up the deficit; this one's all yours, Cindy Loo-Hoo!

It's on!!!

Anonymous said...

And hard to debunk, too.

Ohhh, she said, "hard to debunk".

*God, how I love debunking women.*

Anonymous said...

Classy AND smart.

Coming back an hour later (!) to type the second post, that was a shrewd, self-aware call, too. It added so much.

Remember when it was conservatives trying to make hay with their "your ilk is rooting for America to lose" stuff? Yeah... good times.

A loser can be a loser who absorbs their loss and learns a lesson from it. Or, a loser can stay a loser who stubbornly insists they're actually a winner. As someone from the side that's winning (for now, anyway), I want to sincerely thank you for your choice. With enough guys like you, we should have a nice little run.

Anonymous said...

Lemme see: a winning-winner is losing, because the loser is absorbing the wha?...the whining-loser is winning on the side of the winner who's running the....hmmmm...

I guess it's always 5:00 O'clock somewhere, huh?

Anonymous said...

Peter Piper punched your pathetic pipe dreams in the pants. How many more political poundings will it take to penetrate your palpable pretense, and purge your pride?

I'll guess 2,010.

You have nothing, son.

Anonymous said...

"2,010" Is that Obama's Dow prediction?

"You have nothing, son. Soon, neither will you, sis.

Girls on film...duh-nuh-nuh-NUH-nuh...Girls on film...

Anonymous said...

So cranky. Sounds like somebody needs a time-out.

Oh, wait. America already gave you one. In 2005.

And yet you keep chirping. Has anyone ever explained to you the fundamental requirement required for "gloating"?