Struggling Economy Means Obama's Plan Has Worked

The Foundation

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." --Thomas Jefferson

Government

"Stocks loved [Friday's] jobs report, rising well over 200 points.... But there are a lot of negatives in this report. For one, the small-business household survey dropped 195,000. That's what drove the unemployment rate up to 8.3 percent. These two factors virtually cancel out the better-than-expected rise in nonfarm payrolls. By the way, the labor force shrunk by 150,000. The participation rate slipped to 63.7 percent. And the overall U-6 discouraged-workers unemployment rate increased to 15 percent. Average hourly earnings registered a slight 0.1 percent increase. But that only adds up to a 1.7 percent increase year-on-year, which is below the rising consumer price index. ... [B]usiness investment is still weak. So are real consumer incomes. And the unemployment rate continues to edge higher. All this springs from an economy growing no more than 1.5 to 2 percent. Tax and regulatory threats are everywhere. From Obamacare and the EPA and the NLRB on the regulatory side, to the failure to extend all the Bush tax cuts, it's a wonder businesses are investing and hiring at all -- especially small businesses, which may have stopped dead in recent months. My modest proposal for the worst economic recovery in modern times is threefold: Extend all the Bush tax cuts, slash the corporate tax rate, and approve and begin building the Keystone Pipeline. This is a supply-side proposal." --economist Larry Kudlow

Political Futures

"This is shaping up to be the second election in a row that's about someone who isn't on the ballot: George W. Bush. ... If Bush-bashing was really hurting Obama's numbers, he'd stop doing it. ... Romney needs to explain to voters why he's not Bush 2.0. ... Obama did inherit a deficit when he came into office. Why this fact justifies racking up vastly more debt and bigger deficits is a logical mystery. ... In short, Romney needs to say that when it comes to spending and the growth of government, it's Obama who's closer to 'Bush on steroids.' To do so, Romney must challenge Obama's theories of both the past and the future. The notion that Bush was a government-shrinking market fanatic is bizarre. Under Bush, the federal government spent more than 3 percent of GDP on anti-poverty programs for the first time. Education spending rose 58 percent faster than inflation. Bush gave us Medicare Part D, the biggest expansion in entitlements since the Great Society -- until Obamacare. He signed Sarbanes-Oxley, created a whole new Cabinet agency (the Department of Homeland Security), and was the originator of the bailouts, TARP and the first stimulus program. Obama took many of these policies and approaches and expanded them." --columnist Jonah Goldberg

Opinion in Brief

"Obama's usual campaign method ... has been to pry into the private records of his opponents. ... One month before the 2004 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, Obama was down in the polls, about to lose to Blair Hull, a multimillionaire securities trader. But then the Chicago Tribune leaked the claim that Hull's second ex-wife, Brenda Sexton, had sought an order of protection against him during their 1998 divorce proceedings. ... After having held a substantial lead just a month before the primary, Hull's campaign collapsed with the chatter about his divorce. ... As luck would have it, Obama's opponent in the general election had also been divorced! ... [Jack Ryan] ... made hundreds of millions of dollars as a partner at Goldman Sachs, and then, in his early 40s, left investment banking to teach at an inner city school on the South Side of Chicago. Ryan would have walloped Obama in the Senate race. But at the request of -- again -- the Chicago Tribune, California Judge Robert Schnider unsealed the custody papers in Ryan's divorce five years earlier.... [R]yan dropped out of the race for the horror of (allegedly) propositioning his own wife and then taking 'no' for an answer. ... And that's how Obama became a U.S. senator. ... Obama's team delved into Sarah Palin's marriage and spread rumors of John McCain's alleged affair in 2008 and they smeared Herman Cain in 2011 with hazy sexual harassment allegations all emanating from David Axelrod's pals in Chicago. It's almost like a serial killer's signature. So you can see what a pickle the Obama campaign is in having to run against a Dudley Do-Right, non-drinking, non-smoking, God-fearing, happily married Mormon. They've got to get their hands on thousands of pages of Romney's tax filings so that the media can -- as Romney says -- lie about them." --columnist Ann Coulter

Insight

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." --Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)

Essential Liberty

"A recent Pew Research Center study, The American-Western European Values Gap, shows that the U.S. is unique in its percentages of: People who believe that 'freedom to pursue life's goals without state interference' is more important than 'state guarantees [that] nobody is in need,' [and] [p]eople who disagree that 'success in life is determined by forces outside our control.' The percentage of people who think it is more important that the 'state guarantees nobody is in need' aligns roughly with the percentage who believe that 'success in life is determined by forces outside their control.' This is no coincidence. In his classic book The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek makes a distinction between two types of economic freedom: 'The economic freedom which is the prerequisite of any other freedom cannot be the freedom from economic care which the socialists promise us and which can be obtained only by relieving the individual at the same time of the necessity and of the power of choice: it must be the freedom of economic activity which, with the right of choice, inevitably also carries the risk and the responsibility of that right.' The two 'freedoms' cannot exist alongside one another. Freedom of economic activity is indeed the freedom to choose." --Heritage Foundation's Charlotte Espinoza

For the Record

"The argument that global warming is causing more extreme weather is problematic because it presumes the globe is warming. In fact, the global temperature trend line has been stable for more than a dozen years, while carbon dioxide has increased 7%. If CO₂ was the driver, then why have global temperatures stopped increasing? Keep in mind that CO₂ represents 0.0395% of the Earth's atmosphere. Arguing that CO₂ is driving the small temperature variations in our climate as opposed to the oceans, which cover 70% of the planet and have 1,000 times the heat capacity of air, or the output of our sun, is scientifically disturbing. ... The latest claims resulting from this series of hot and dry summers ignores the fact that more state heat records were set in the 1930s than all other decades of the last century combined. Anyone remember the Dust Bowl? ... The IPCC incorrectly predicted Arctic sea ice would disappear by now. After Katrina in 2005, more and stronger hurricanes were forecast to be the future. The Accumulated Cyclone Energy Index for the globe has instead declined to the lowest level in 30 years. ... Perhaps when the Atlantic flips cold, we will be hearing Ice Age scares again as we did in the 1970s." --meteorologist Joe Bastardi

Re: The Left

"Chick-fil-A President and COO Dan Cathy faces a consumer protest for expressing his opposition to same-sex marriage. Fair enough. ... The First Amendment is about preventing government from infringing on political speech. ... As recently as 90 days ago, Cathy and President Barack Obama shared the same view. During the 2008 presidential debate hosted by Pastor Rick Warren, Obama explained: 'I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian ... it is also a sacred union. God's in the mix. ... I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage.' But today, Obama's three-months-ago position makes one a homophobe. ... Anti-Semitic Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan recently offered to help police high-crime areas of Chicago in the wake of an uptick in murders. Mayor Emanuel accepted Farrakhan's assistance. Has the mayor heard Farrakhan's views on gay marriage? ... So, zero tolerance for a white critic of gay marriage, but not for a black critic? One is almost tempted to accuse Mayor Emanuel of ... racism! ... Microsoft and Apple, to name a couple, donate to pro-gay-marriage groups. Should opponents of gay marriage find the companies' stance on marriage so offensive that they, too, launch consumer boycotts? Liberals sure expect tolerance from others, don't they?" --columnist Larry Elder

Faith and Family

"The Cathy family has been a model of corporate responsibility, helping tackle social problems and strengthen civil society. For years, they've taken concrete steps to strengthen families through the programs of its WinShape Foundation. Founded in 1984 by S. Truett Cathy, WinShape supports college scholarships, foster care and international ministries. It works hard to strengthen marriage, offering counseling and help for couples in crisis, saving marriages that had been on the brink of divorce. WinShape also works with other like-minded groups that seek to strengthen marriage in America. 'It's the kind of work that will take decades -- even generations,' writes Jennifer Marshall, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. 'And it's not the stuff of headlines, which is why many Americans probably have no idea this critical effort is under way.' What does make the headlines? False and outrageous charges of discrimination from opportunistic politicians with little respect for free-speech rights." --Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner

It's Not Just About Chick-fil-A

Join us in supporting the executives, franchise owners and more than 61,000 employees of Chick-fil-A for their Christian business practices, as well as their stated support for traditional American family values. Sign the letter of support today!

The Gipper

"Now, no one is suggesting that others should be forced into any religious activity, but to prevent those who believe in God from expressing their faith is an outrage. And the relentless drive to eliminate God from our schools can and should be stopped." --Ronald Reagan

Reader Comments

"Regarding Mark Alexander's column on Chick-fil-A, liberals are all about free speech until you disagree with them on any issue, and then you're a racist, bigot, filled with hate. Chick-fil-A did more to stimulate the economy in one day than Barack Obama has done in his whole term!" --PepperdotNet in Alabama

"Thank you Mr. Cathy and Chick-fil-A for standing strong on your beliefs and principles and for practicing it in your business. I support you and stand with you. I was in a long car line at Chick-fil-A last Wednesday in support of your business and the FREEDOM to practice your beliefs. But also to enjoy a delicious chicken sandwich. Even in the heat and the long lines your employees were smiling and cheerful and helpful in every way. Thanks again." --Caroline in Columbus, Georgia

"In response to Friday's Digest and the Left's continued attempts to outlaw civilian ownership of firearms in the United States, they will never quit. Whether it's a case of not knowing or not caring that such bans do NOT work, their vision of the United States does not include firearms. As the old saying goes, banning firearms prevents crime like banning forks prevents obesity." --Scott in California

"I always watch the gun-grabbing tactics with curiosity. I'm not sure what part of 'shall not be infringed' is so hard to understand, but regardless of what they attempt to do in court or in the UN, my Second Amendment rights are established by a higher power and I will never give up my right to self protection. To anyone." --Kelli in Idaho

"Isn't it odd that Democrats want picture ID before the purchase of ammunition takes place but are against voters having to show ID?" --Frederick in Warrenton, Virginia

"Regarding Harry Reid's unsubstantiated accusation against Mitt Romney, I heard that Reid doesn't know that a U.S. citizen is innocent until proven guilty, and that the burden of proof is on the accuser." --Brian in Pueblo, Colorado

The Last Word

Editor's Note: The following is satire.

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said [last week] that [an] 'extremely credible source' has revealed to him that Mitt Romney has a pet elephant. 'I cannot disclose the source, but he -- or she -- is extremely credible,' Reid said. The elephant, according to Reid, was shipped in to Boston from the planet Neptune last March and his been living with Romney at an undisclosed location ever since. Reid, who [also last] week charged that a separate 'extremely credible source' had alleged Romney didn't pay taxes for ten years, said the tax and the elephant allegations were completely separate matters. ... 'This is another example of Romney's elitist mentality,' said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. 'He thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Well, President Obama wants to cut taxes for the middle class to ensure that everyone can import an elephant from Neptune if they so choose.' Reid says he himself was on Neptune as recently as May and noticed an elephant was missing from the planet. 'I'm not saying Romney took the elephant,' Reid said. 'It could have been the Venusians. But like I said, I have an extremely credible source.'" --columnist Keith Koffler

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team