High Ground Underground

Rush to Judgment We learned this week about some of Rahm Emanuel’s (aka, “Prince of Darkness”) behind-the-scenes workings as Chief of Staff. Apparently the economy, war on terror & staffing aren’t big enough problems for the man. Now he & the Obama administration are hard at work perfecting the art of the dodge. They chose to deflect attention from the vote of no confidence by the stock market (the worst month since 1933) and public opinion, by vilifying Rush Limbaugh’s comments at CPAC Feb. 28. Specifically, that he wished Obama to fail. In context, it was a bit more nuanced – that he wants him to fail in implementing his socialistic measures that will hurt this country. Of course there was no shortage of voices on the left calling for, and gleefully, prematurely declaring, Bush’s failure in Iraq, etc., and worse. But there was no outcry from the left about the inappropriateness of that. The media seems complicit in trying to negate the sentiments voiced by Rush (and h...

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...