You really have to give the President credit for a move like this. Even with skyrocketing debts, increasingly-nervous foreign investors, a declining approval rating, and a movement firmly set against him and most (if not all) government services, Obama is going to boldly announce another one of his "socialist" programs - this time $6b to provide incentives for improving energy efficiency in their homes.
Obama has been compared to Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and John F. Kennedy at different times, but none of these are very accurate comparisons. F.D.R. couldn't make a jump shot; Lyndon Johnson may have had a crushing handshake, but at least he could decide between a handshake and a bow; and though Chicago is the common denominator between Kennedy and Obama, our current president hasn't fucked Marilyn Monroe...yet.
No, the current level of swagger Obama is exhbiting in the face of such criticism can only be compared to George W. Bush. Despite all the uproar about almost everything Obama has said or done, he has once again donned the presidential blinders. Before the years 2001-2009, those blinders had remained on their hook in the Oval Office since the 1920s, when it was the popular style for everyone in Washington to wear the blinders and completely ignore anything happening anywhere, unless alcohol was involved.
I'm not saying what Obama is doing is a bad thing. It may sound hypocritical to say Bush was an overconfident idiot when he rode roughshod over political sensibility while at the same time saying Obama is doing what is necessary to help the country, but let's look at my three-pronged test for political stubbornness:
Am I using questionable information or lying?
Is the world going to hate us?
Is there a good chance thousands of people could die?
Is the world going to hate us?
Is there a good chance thousands of people could die?
Bush failed all three of those tests. All economic predictors are dubious, so that doesn't apply to a bill like this. I would hope most of the industrialized world would congratulate us for joining them in the modern era, of equal rights and attempts to pay people living wages. Finally, there is very little chance anyone will die as a direct result of enacting Obama's social and economic legislature, except maybe Glenn Beck, but let's be honest: if he cries so much that he dies of dehydration, he brought it upon himself.
This bill is what Obama promised so many hopeful people on the campaign trail. Right now, Obama needs successful legislation. If he has to do it without Republican support, that's too bad for them, because as programs like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid have shown, opponents of positive social programs have landed on the wrong side of history.
Washington may not be able to agree on much, but at least the pet name of the bill ("Cash for Caulkers") is something no one can complain about. I have a feeling that if the bill had been dubbed "Cash for Caulk," no matter what the legislation did, too many people would find that aurally unsavory.
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It seems every attempt the man makes at keeping his campaign promises, he gets more and more flack for his moves. While the economy is not exactly booming ( who am I kidding? It sucks.) we are not in the grave economic turmoil that we were several months ago.
ReplyDeleteThe best part about the "New Deal" programs is that people complain about them and then use them. I can't tell you how many people I heard complain about 'Cash for Clunkers' and then benefit from the program themselves. Believe it or not, they are doing good. It might not be the wisest choice of spending as far as the national debt goes but what helped the housing dilemma? What helped jump-start the auto industry? If you said 'Obama's 'socialist' programs' you would be correct!
So America, lay off. This guy took a job that only some Alaskan hockey mom wanted. Are his programs better than dancing around the issue of the economy? You betcha'!