High Ground Underground

Beginnings are important – they set the tone and pattern for what follows. Of course it is possible to make course corrections, but that requires an understanding of errors. This is an attempt to help with that, assisted by some who are more expert. Let’s examine President Obama’s first month in office, on both domestic and foreign fronts. And then his style. Domestic Economic Policy In his first press conference, Obama deflected accusations of earmarks in the stimulus bill by saying that previous administration policies doubled our national debt, and their methods (e.g., excessive spending, tax cuts) were shown to fail. Even if one accepts his premise, how does that justify further excessive spending, as if two wrongs make a right? Nor can the current “crisis” be attributed narrowly to the factors he mentions – he clearly lacks understanding of controlled experiments. Who was in charge of the legislative branch for the past 2 years, and precipitated the sub-prime loan crisis (w...

I forgot to give a letter grade to Obama’s first week in office, with those horrible executive orders -- D-minus. That’s giving him some benefit for his idea of a honeymoon – schmoozing some Republicans over Super Bowl, etc. But the honeymoon’s over. The Republicans were not consulted in the working mtgs. developing the stimulus package, although a good part of the blame there lies with Pelosi & Reid (Obama could have excercised more leadership). You know it’s not a bipartisan bill when even McCain says it was nowhere near being bipartisan. 3 Republicans went along with it. At least apparently some pork was cut out of it, but still loud complaints (including general opinion polls) over the total price, and ineffective “stimuli.” Obama seemed much more concerned about getting it fast than getting it right, portraying the situation as worse than anything since the Great Depression – which it objectively is not. But a great excuse for a liberal shopping binge that we’ll be paying off ...