Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Translating Newsweek: Why the Left Fears Bachmann
Newsweek ran a cover story this week intended to be a brutal hit piece on Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who has emerged as a top candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Translated into plain English, however, Newsweek's piece was actually a valuable seminar in why the elitist left fears successful female conservative politicians and why it perceives Bachmann to be a particularly formidable threat to its own ambitions to direct the future of our country. Early in the article, Newsweek's Lois Romano writes: "But in Iowa, Bachmann's simple, black-and-white distillations of complex problems are cheered as refreshing and tough."
Tea Party Blame and Fairy Tales
Just like the last Republican takeover of the House in 1995, it was easy to predict the media elite were going to dig deep into the mud and throw every smear they had at the new conservative powers in town. Congress finally passed, and the president signed, a deeply deficient kick-the-can compromise into law in order to raise the debt ceiling. Tea Party conservatives correctly denounced the deal as woefully inadequate.
A Government That Kills
President Obama has declared that auto companies' fleets must average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, almost double the current 27.5. Standing at his side when he made the announcement were executives from the Big Three automakers. The New York Times reported: "It is an extraordinary shift in the relationship between the companies and Washington. But a lot has happened in the last four years, notably the $80 billion federal bailout of General Motors, Chrysler and scores of their suppliers, which removed any itch for a politically charged battle from the carmakers."
Bernanke to the Rescue
Damn the torpedoes! Up periscope! Full speed ahead! Ben Bernanke and the Fed to the rescue! In a startling move Tuesday, the FOMC announced that its zero-interest-rate target would be extended for two more years through the middle of 2013, marking the first time the target rate has ever been pegged to a date certain.
Amending the 10th Amendment
Evidently Rick Perry is a Christian. But does he have to make such a big deal out of it? "As a nation," the governor of my state declared when he announced the prayer rally that attracted more than 30,000 people to Houston's Reliant Stadium on Saturday, "we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy." My response to The Response: No, thanks. My people have managed without Jesus for thousands of years. Why start now?
'Energy Independence' Is a Pipe Dream
Late last month, President Obama announced new automobile fuel-efficiency standards that will require cars to achieve an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Vehicle fleets currently average 27 miles per gallon, so the new target would boost fuel efficiency by an unprecedented 100 percent within 14 years. But barring an engineering miracle, that's probably pie in the sky. After all, from 1975, when the first federal mileage rules for new cars were enacted, it took more than 30 years to improve automobile efficiency by just 60 percent. And the easy gains were achieved early on; since 1980, fuel economy has climbed by only about 1 percent a year. In truth, there is less to the new standards (known as CAFE, for corporate average fuel economy) than meets the eye.
Ignorance, Stupidity or Connivance?
President Barack Obama has called for a luxury tax on corporate jets as a means to generate revenue to fight federal deficits. The president's economic advisers ought to be fired for not telling him that doing so is unwise and counterproductive. They might have already told him so, only to have the president say, "Look, I know you're right, but I'm exploiting the public's envy of the rich!" Let's look at what happened when Obama's predecessor George H.W. Bush signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 and broke his "read my lips" vow not to agree to new taxes.
Anyone Want to Buy My Stocks?
For years, the President of the United States has told us that his single economic achievement has been the recovery of the stock market. In his state of the union address this year, President Obama told us, "Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. The economy is growing again." So...there's that.
The End of the World Is Not Nigh
Except according to the Lord's plans -- which are not known to man -- the "end of the world" is not nigh, although to listen to politicians and pundits, we should be packed and ready to go by next Thursday. Recently, the headlines have read like Woody Allen's 1979 "My Speech to the Graduates": "More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. I speak, by the way, not with any sense of futility, but with a panicky conviction."
Broken System or Broken Policies?
Much of the interpretation of the Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt focused on the "dysfunction" of the U.S. political process. And certainly the S and P (which, let's not forget, contributed to the 2008 financial crisis by failing to downgrade bad mortgage debt) invited such analysis by citing "the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate . . ." Yes, the confrontation over raising the debt ceiling was ugly, but not nearly as ugly as the underlying policies that are carrying us to the brink of insolvency. This focus on the contentiousness of the debate, rather than on debt, is dangerous and obtuse. It's reminiscent of those liberals during the Cold War who were more upset about someone being called a communist than about someone actually being a communist.
Time for a Red Tape Rescue
"The economy isn't growing as fast as it needs to." That's Commerce Secretary Gary Locke addressing the latest report on the country’s economic output. His comment is a model of understatement: gross domestic product grew less than 1 percent in the first half of this year. As Reuters news agency put it, the U.S. economy came "perilously close to flat-lining in the first quarter." Coming on the heels of the last monthly job figures, though, this isn’t surprising. Unemployment is at 9.2 percent.
Wake Up and Smell the Tea
"Is this a wakeup call to Washington?" NBC's David Gregory asked Sen. John Kerry on "Meet the Press," referring to the S&P downgrade. "Well, it's a partial wakeup call. I believe this is, without question, the tea party downgrade." Shortly after pointing fingers and assigning blame, Kerry went on to lament how Republicans insist on pointing fingers and assigning blame in this national crisis.
America's Strategic Leadership Deficit
America's military services devote much time and thought to developing strategic leaders. Producing a leader capable of commanding a combat theater like CENTCOM remains a long and involved process, where experience and maturation progressively hone cognitive, interpersonal and managerial skills. Yet there are no guarantees that the four-star assuming theater command will succeed at the task of leading such a complex organization during peacetime, much less under the relentless pressure of war.
Lion in a Cage: Hosni Mubarak on Exhibit
No, it's not Louis XVI being trundled off to his execution to the jeers of the mob, soon enough to be followed by Marie Antoinette. No, even those mob scenes would have been too dignified for the Middle East, where every indignity must be observed in full inefficiency and disorder. Think of the trial-and-execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Or was it the execution-and-trial? It scarcely matters which comes first in these time-honored affairs in the Middle East, cradle of what we call civilization.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
A Pyrrhic 'Victory'
In Don Marquis' classic satirical book, "Archy and Mehitabel," Mehitabel the alley cat asks plaintively, "What have I done to deserve all these kittens?" That seems to be the pained reaction of the Obama administration to the financial woes that led to the downgrading of America's credit rating, for the first time in history. There are people who see no connection between what they have done and the consequences that follow. But Barack Obama is not likely to be one of them. He is a savvy politician who will undoubtedly be satisfied if enough voters fail to see a connection between what he has done and the consequences that followed.
Ed Lee Still Will Be Ed Lee -- but Which Ed Lee?
Beware any candidate who tells you he is not a politician -- after he refers to himself in the third person. That would be San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who on occasion now refers to himself as "Ed Lee." In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's John Coté on Sunday, Ed Lee asserted, "I am not a politician." Ed Lee also told Coté: "Ed Lee is not changing. I've changed my mind, but I'm still the Ed Lee that (people) know."
Spending Is Just Our Second-Biggest Problem
Being a disciple of Saul Alinsky might not be so easy as it would appear. President Obama and his minions obviously can't decide whom to scapegoat for the nation's credit downgrade and our financial crisis. One thing is for sure: It's not in Barack Obama to accept personal responsibility for the consequences of his actions and policies. He still won't own this economy and the exploding spending spiral, reminding us at every turn that our problems are a result of what he "inherited" from President Bush.
Election's Coming (Fortunately)
Evidently, as my sainted mother used to observe, it's just one "D" thing after another. A handy letter, D, standing for debt along with other insalubrious things. Our economic traumas begin with debt (and don't we know it?) What we don't know, is what comes next. Let me make a slight suggestion here: The 2012 election comes next. Before it, nothing definitive is likely to happen; after it, the ship could start to slowly come around. I don't like to engage in naked politics (preferring as I do the chastely clothed kind). Though, at this point, there's nothing for it.
HHS Contraception Mandate Tramples Conscience
"Contraceptives for free? Sounds like a good idea, I think," Kelly, a married mother of three, mused aloud. The vast majority of American women use contraceptives during their reproductive years. So what's wrong with the new HHS regulations that require insurers to cover the costs of contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, sterilizations, and contraceptive counseling as "preventive care," with no out-of-pocket cost to women?
No Time to Panic -- This Economy Can Hold Up
During a period like this, with stocks plunging almost on a daily basis, it's clear that fear and shock are ruling the roost. But fear can be overdone. As someone who has been around awhile and has seen many sell-offs, let me offer some advice: Do not panic. Market corrections come and go. They are not the end of the world. Most times, they are actually healthy. The S&P downgrade is a fiscal warning, not an economic event. And the growing fear of U.S. recession may not pan out. There are still plusses out there, believe it or not.