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The Off-Year Elections and the Politics of the Obvious
· Thursday, November 5, 2009
WASHINGTON -- What strikes me about politics over the past couple of years is how obvious it all has been. In 2008, as the junior senator from Illinois campaigned across the country, demonstrating his gifts as a motivational speaker and community organizer, all one had to do was review his recent life to know that he was about to bring down on the country -- ever so incompetently -- the most left-wing government in American history. And so he has -- with the utmost incompetence. Think of the paucity of swine flu vaccine, in large part the consequence of his government's meddling with production.
As I say, it was all so obvious. No president in modern times has come to power with less political experience or less managerial experience. On the other hand, no president has come to power with a clearer record of political extremism. As senator, Barack Obama had the most left-wing voting record in the Senate, brief as his record was. Back in Illinois, he had a record of associations with extremists that would have sunk any other presidential candidate. Think of his friendship with Bill Ayers -- a co-founder of the Weather Underground, which actually bombed public buildings in the 1960s. Think of Obama's attendance, week after week, at religious services during which the Rev. Jeremiah Wright thundered forth with diatribes lilting with such lines as "God damn America." The radical direction of the Obama presidency was foreordained.
As for this week's electoral setbacks for Obama, they, too, were obviously in the cards. The economy is wobbling out of a recession that it should have been emerging from months ago. Yet how could it, with business utterly bemused by the Democrats' plans for the future? Small businesses, the source of most job expansion, are not hiring, and they are unlikely to when faced with the staggering debt that the Democrats have built up, the entrepreneurs' awareness of the entitlement crisis facing the country, and their apprehensions over how they are going to fund health insurance for their present employees once the Democrats have saddled them with the trillion-dollar health care monstrosity. Right now, the economic future facing the country is stagnation or perhaps 1970s stagflation.
With that in mind, was it not obvious that the Democrats would be routed this election year? The loss of the governorship in Virginia was not supposed to happen, according to liberals a year ago. The Prophet Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, spoke of Virginia as part of a "permanent Democratic majority." In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine -- with his vast fortune and elite Democratic connections and a huge Democratic margin in the voting rolls -- was seen as an easy win. But then the economy did what one would expect a weak economy to do when faced with unprecedented peacetime spending and onerous new taxation. It sputtered. Next came another obvious development: The electorate put the economy at the top of its list of concerns.
Solidly Democratic New Jersey and "purple" Virginia voted for Republicans. In New Jersey, 89 percent of the citizenry was worried primarily about the economy. In Virginia, the figure was 85 percent. Reportedly, the president did not stay up to watch the returns. I can understand why. He has not a clue as to how to solve his underlying economic problems other than resort to motivational speaking and community organizing. That will not get the economy growing again -- and his dark murmurings about Wall Street will only hurt his fundraising. Something like 60 percent of Wall Street's political donations regularly go to the Democrats.
The enormous debt that the Democrats have burdened this economy with will not disappear over the next several years. Of late, it is nice to hear that the president is worried about that debt, but he has not a clue as to how to reduce it. His only answer is to tax the rich. Yet as The Wall Street Journal pointed out this week, "If Congress had confiscated 100 percent of the taxable income of people earning over $500,000 in the boom year of 2006, it would have only raised $1.3 trillion." And in the years that followed, these rich people would claim less income, and the federal debt would resume its growth. The answer to our financial problem is to cut federal spending and to cut federal taxes. That is how we got the economy going in the 1980s, and it grew for a generation. The answer is growth, but when the president hears that word, he thinks of government growth. That, too, is obvious.
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Opinion
- Ken Blackwell: The Left's Establishment of Religion
- Suzanne Fields: Polishing the Palin Mettle
- Jonah Goldberg: Palinophobes Hate First, Ask Questions Later
- Michael Gerson: Obama's Dysfunctional Decision-Making
- Michelle Malkin: When Big Labor Bullies and Volunteers Collide
- Linda Chavez: KSM and O.J.
- L. Brent Bozell: Words for Potent Jerks
- David Limbaugh: Sally Quinn on Sarah Palin -- Versus Reality
- Mona Charen: Holder's True Motive
- Oliver North: Suicide Pact
- Charles Krauthammer: Travesty in New York
- Ann Coulter: At the End of the Day, Diversity has Jumped the Shark, Horrifically
- Cal Thomas: Sarah Palin and the Future of Conservatism
- Victor Davis Hanson: Circling Sharks Smell American Blood
- Matt Towery: 'With Six You Get Eggroll'
Columnists
- Michael Barone
- Austin Bay
- Ken Blackwell
- Tony Blankley
- L. Brent Bozell
- Mona Charen
- Linda Chavez
- Ann Coulter
- Larry Elder
- Edwin J. Feulner
- Suzanne Fields
- Michael Gerson
- Jonah Goldberg
- Paul Greenberg
- Rebecca Hagelin
- Victor Davis Hanson
- Jeff Jacoby
- Terence Jeffrey
- Charles Krauthammer
- Lawrence Kudlow
- David Limbaugh
- Michelle Malkin
- William Murchison
- Peggy Noonan
- Oliver North
- Dennis Prager
- Debra Saunders
- Ben Shapiro
- Thomas Sowell
- John Stossel
- Jacob Sullum
- Cal Thomas
- Matt Towery
- R. Emmett Tyrrell
- George Will
- Walter E. Williams
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Lurch
It still amazes me that people actually voted for Obama with the record he has. The Bible says, "those that have eyes let them see, those that have ears let them hear." I guess you can say that they just didn't hear or see what was obvious to the rest of us......
Posted November 5, 2009 at 9:47:15 AM
OregonBuzz
Well, here comes the cynic.
I don't believe BO was placed (yes, placed) in the White House to 'govern', wisely or otherwise.
I believe he was put there to do precisely what he is doing.
He is being directed to destroy our capitalist economic system, weaken all facets of America's influence in the world, weaken our military and our defenses in general, destroy the dollar and prevent us from being the last bastion of freedom and liberty in the world.
In these endeavors he, his hand picked Politburo, and the power crazed Congress must be given high marks. To quote Joe Biden; "It's working beyond our wildest dreams."
His "health care" initiative is aimed solely at taking control of the citizens, and "cap and trade" is aimed at controlling the means of production. Add those two together and see what you come up with.
BO is not a President he is a puppet, and even though he may be intellectually challenged when he finds himself beyond the bounds of his teleprompter, he takes orders well.
George Soros must be ecstatic.
Posted November 5, 2009 at 9:56:48 AM
mike b
Mr. Tyrrell: Thank you for your article. I agree that Mr. Obamas' destructive agenda was self evident months before he was elected, and I know a lot of people clearly saw this trainwreck coming. Given his anti-American views, his clueless fumbling may be a blessing. Sort of. I have a couple of questions. How is it possible that so many people in this country are still willing to buy into this charade, and what will it take to wake them up? And, can the damage this administration is doing to the country be rectified, and what is it going to take?
Posted November 5, 2009 at 10:41:23 AM
CountryPlank
Spot on, OregonBuzz. Just because you (and I) are Consiracy Theorists doesn't mean BHO is not the front man for those seeking to bring the USA to it's knees. Being President of the US is only a stepping stone to President of the One World Government his backers envision. I'd chuckle at the Clinton's "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" if I weren't weeping for our great Country.
Posted November 5, 2009 at 10:42:58 AM
OnceaCommie
Almost makes one yearn for the days of Boy Clinton, this enfant terrible Obama....
Posted November 6, 2009 at 9:02:06 AM
Joe Oliva
As bad as Obama is, we would be foolish not to recognize that the two corrupt major parties have been leading us down this road to a New World Order/One World Government Socialist Utopia for nearly 100 years.
The 17th Amendment that allowed for the direct election of US Senators transferred power away from the states and to the two political parties at the federal level. Every Senator is now beholden to the party, not his state.
Once that model solidified, it became a continual battle for power. The do nothing, let's get re-elected, power hungry partisans took over as the parties fought for control of the money.
mikeb, the real answer to restoring Constitutional self government and reclaiming our stolen inheritance is to run for office ourselves. We can no longer trust the elites to act for the good of the nation.
The future we are passing on to our kids is going to be a disaster unless we act and stop worrying about which party to support. If the 'Time For Choosing" ever existed, it exists now. If anyone actually cares to run, it would be wise to start now. There is a website, GOOOH.com, (Get Out Of Our House) that will help you do it, and it can be done.
More of the same old, expecting a different result, is insane of course. So then, how can we once again vote the lesser of two evils, which is exactly what the DEM/GOP/MSM propaganda machines are set up to make us do?
Thanks, Joe
Posted November 6, 2009 at 12:04:09 PM
Helen Grummmel
What a sad stte of affairs! We not longer have the check and balance system our forefathers created. Instead we have a Congress that pays no attention to ther constituents, only to their President; and we have a Judicial system appointed by that same President. What's to check and balance? In addition the wonderful Constitution which we have been so careful not to violate, is being violated evey time the Liberals pass a bill. I thought Democracy was a government of, by, and for the people. We have tried to sell it to almost every country in the world. What must they think now? Let's stop catering to the minority and stop being the silent majority.
Posted November 7, 2009 at 2:49:50 AM
MichaelSSEC
Mr. Tyrrell is correct, the Liberals do not understand what an economy is, nor do they understand how money works. They appear to believe that an economy is the means by which rich people give money to the government, who in turn give it to the poor. Liberals actually view themselves rather self-aggrandizingly as Robin Hoods.
Americans name the economy as their Number One Concern, so naturally the Liberals make Obamacare their top legislative priority. Americans name terrorism as their next highest concern, so of course Liberals put Global Warming as their secondary Legislative priority. There's medication for that kind of insanity, if we could only get these Liberals to take it.
Posted November 7, 2009 at 4:38:59 PM