Posted under Conservatism & Economics & Obama & Politics
I managed to watch the glorified pep rally last night that was President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress. Like virtually all of the speeches he’s given as president thus far, it had the typical characteristics of a campaign stump rather than a serious leader presiding over a crisis. He was the man of the hour once again, with Pelosi and other fellow Democrats playing the role of cheerleaders. It would be comical if it weren’t so sad and pathetic.
And what was the gist of Obama’s speech? What does our President have planned to save us all from the evils of market-capitalism? In his typical condescending, paternalistic tone, he gave us his strategy: higher taxes, more regulations, socialized medicine, further centralization of education, nationalizing the auto industry, central planning on energy policy, and consolidating the major banks under Federal protection–all of this with massive spending, of course. Hugo Chavez would be proud.
To be sure, President Obama did say a few things with which I can agree. He talked about bringing the troops home from Iraq and getting rid of tax cuts for corporations that export jobs overseas. Two worthy goals indeed. However, I don’t expect him or his Democratic colleagues to do anything serious regarding either since they are practically owned by the same special interests as the Republicans. And given the globalist and interventionist bents of the Democratic Party, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Gov. Bobby Jindal gave an unimpressive response from the Republican side. Strategist and commentator Ed Rollins thought it was so bad that he declared the response made Sarah Palin look good for 2012. Ouch.
Regardless of the Jindal’s delivery, the Republicans have no credibility whatsoever to critique the “stimulus package.” Any complaints about this massive spending package ring hollow from the party which, over the last eight years, gave us domestic spending levels not seen since LBJ. It’s easy to see why the American people don’t take the Republicans seriously as their opposition of late is entirely partisan, not based on any kind of principle.
Like the 500-pound man who needs more help than a diet soda, the Republicans insist that merely trimming the pork from the “stimulus” would make it an acceptable piece of legislation. A truly conservative position would be rejecting the entire “stimulus” outright because it’s unconstitutional and detrimental to the economy, any pork included notwithstanding. This is one of the major reasons why the Republicans lost in 2008 and will continue to lose. Their credibility was lost long before this economic crisis broke out.
Weaver on 25 Feb 2009 at 11:15 pm #
Obama is a clueless cheerleader as was Bush. (It’s pretty funny that Bush was an actual cheerleader in high school).
Obama has no idea what he’s doing up there. It’s just as you say: a pep rally.
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“I place economy among the first and important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our choice between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Weaver on 25 Feb 2009 at 11:39 pm #
I wonder if Jindal is looking at the presidency in 2012…
roho on 26 Feb 2009 at 1:31 am #
I no longer look for the GOP to be the “COUNTER” to anything? Here in Alabama, some idiot in the GOP signed off on a $6,000,000 Solar Power Generating Plant in Anniston Alabama?
It’s business as usual, fighting over the pork!
And the justification is claiming that they “Created X amount of jobs for some dumb project.”
The “Magic Hindu” is not the answer to countering the “Magic Negro.”……….And the GOP is the wrong vehicle.
Chuck Baldwin and Ron Paul are “Last Men Standing” and we have got to get our eyes off of the GOP and move on!
But, sometime between now and the next election, we need a BILLIONARE PALEO to purchase a news organization!