Nov 20 2008
The Pet Rock Presidency?
What kind of President will Obama be? We only have vague and conflicting impressions because his statements to date appear to be incoherent (at best) on a range of subjects. For example, he wants to eradicate al-Qaeda but run from Iraq. If we left Iraq and focused on the tribal regions of Pakistan, where does Obama think al-Qaeda might go for sanctuary? We really can’t afford to be playing whack-a-mole with terrorists.
The other incoherent thing he has been babbling on about is Global Warming, making apocalyptic claims that defy all reality:
The ‘science is beyond dispute, and the facts are clear’. Yes the science is clear. We are in a serious global cooling phase which even scientist associated with the alarmist UN’s IPCC predict will last a decade or more. Yes, the data over the last decade have proven ALL of the IPCC climate models and predictions wrong. Science demands accuracy in its theories. When they are wrong there is no salvaging them or twisting them, they get thrown out. Science is showing there is no CO2 based, man-made CO2 and that is hard data.
But the sea levels are rising (on TV, not in the real world) storms are getting stronger (but they aren’t since the last two hurricane seasons are at a decades low intensity) and there is increased famine.
Well …. science shows that warmer global temperatures reduce famine as more crops can be grown for longer periods over greater ranges of latitude. In fact, models show global warming should reverse the worst area of famine on the globe, south of the Sahara Desert in Africa:
Global warming could significantly increase rainfall in Saharan Africa within a few decades, potentially ending the severe droughts that have devastated the region, a new study suggests.
The discovery was made by climate experts at the Royal Meteorological Institute in De Bilt, the Netherlands, who used a computer model to predict changes in the Sahel region – a wide belt stretching from the Atlantic to the horn of Africa that includes Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.
Global warming will heat the land more than the sea, leading to changes in air pressure and weather. When the Netherlands team simulated this effect and combined it with warming caused by the expected rises in greenhouse gas emissions between 1980 and 2080, they found Sahel rainfall in the July to September period jumped 1-2mm a day.
Some scientists suspected that global warming might increase rainfall in the region, causing the so-called greening of the Sahara, but these are the biggest predicted increases so far.
So what is the pattern we are starting to see here for President-elect Obama? Well, it seems to mirror the Clinton model. The man who promised change is filling his cabinet with liberal democrat retreads. He is a Kool-Aid swilling liberal who wants to push the country left. Â He is not being bold, he is seeing what can be poll tested successfully. He is the man of fad. Whatever is popular he is for, whatever is not he claims no position.
With the country still a post 9-11 country when it comes to al-Qaeda it is no surprise Obama claims he will eradicate al-Qaeda, especially in the face of threats by its number 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri:
A statement purporting to be from the second-in-command of Islamic militant network al-Qaeda has called on Muslims to harm “criminal” America.
In the message, Ayman al-Zawahiri is heard accusing President-elect Barack Obama of betraying his Muslim roots.
He also likens him to a “house slave” – who had chosen to align himself with the “enemies” of Islam.
Mr Obama has said stamping out al-Qaeda “once and for all” will be a top priority during his administration.
On Sunday, he said capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden was “critical” to US security.
Obama talks big, but his endless efforts to surrender Iraq to al-Qaeda showed he was not really serious about destroying al-Qaeda. A few years back he tested the political winds and saw Iraq was unpopular so he went incoherent on national security in order to maximize his personal adoration. He cried for the end of a hopeless war. Then things turned around and now the nation sees Iraq as a victory. What will Obama do? Will he break the hearts of his liberal base and go against public opinion?
Obama doesn’t see the trap he is setting up for himself because he is sure he is doing all this brilliantly and no one can trip him up. He has very little room for error as the economy continues to tank. Way too many of his voters bought into the fad idea that Obama was going to bring on Nirvana, that he was the Chosen One.
Clinton was egotistical and naive too when he started his first term. When he went into office he was going to show off that dazzling intellect everyone was drooling about (this year it is tingly legs). After the disaster in Somalia, his political near-death experience of the WTC I bombing (hiding the fact this was an act of war on American under the mirage of a criminal investigation and trial) and Hillary’s Health Care blunder Clinton finally learned the limits of Presidential power and why you need a cadre of leaders around you who know the hidden land mines of each area of government.
Obama cannot afford to lose his messianic image. The wrath of the naive voter who doesn’t get what was promised is swift and brutal – just look at Bush and the far right when they did not get all of what they wanted. Â Obama has to face land mines overseas in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere (see here for a good overview of the real al-Qaeda and Islamo Fascist threat). The threat of terrorism is real and they are gunning for the new President.
I think the best indication of how dumb Obama could be is how he is blissfully unaware of what will happen if he imposes liberal policies on top of an ailing economy. He is a Kool-Aid guzzling liberal. His sheltered life and lack of real world experience has not given him the experience to understand the real world, he sees things through a lens not unlike the mentality seen on network TV shows.
For example, our economy is in shambles and the Messiah wants to make the mythical rising waters recede and cool an already cooling planet:
“At its core, it’s very simple – we need a price on carbon,” said David Crane, chief executive officer of NRG Energy, another Climate Action Partnership member. “We own coal-fired power plants. That’s what we do for a living. We’ve been developing low- or no-carbon technologies as we look to the future. … But again, we need a price on carbon, because it’s not cheap.”
Obama’s four-minute, videotaped speech largely repeated elements of his energy plan from the campaign trail, saying the nation must cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050.
It is almost laughable. CO2 levels have been on the rise for 10 years, and the planet has been cooling over that same decade. The last time we had a record warm year was 1998 – when Bill Clinton was in office fighting impeachment! The current year is more reminiscent of 1995, right before the Clinton-Dole election year and when the GOP took over Congress.
Look, the only bright light in our economy is energy. Consumer prices fell in October (one month) by an amount not seen in 60 years:
The Consumer Price Index plunged 1.0 percent in October, its biggest drop since the Labor Department began monthly records in 1947. Core prices, excluding food and energy items, fell 0.1 percent — the first fall in more than a quarter of a century as prices for gasoline and all energy-related products fell.
It was all due to the lowered cost of energy. But Obama plans to go ahead and start taxing energy so that we will price ourselves out of certain energy solutions, which just happen to be incredibly popular at the moment. What is middle class American supposed to do with their oil heating system – convert it to nuclear power?Â
Even if things went well on the economy it would be well into next year before we cleared the trouble. But things are not going well, and more and more people are going to get financially squeezed or ruined without any price increases on energy. Obama correctly sees “Green” as the next big media driven fad. But fads are just that, fads. As we see our tax dollars going to lousy businesses, executive and union jobs which pay too much in salary and benefits, to financial institutions that got rich off bad loans, people are going to start to get angrier and angrier.
And just wait until they see more taxes on energy, no drop in CO2 (because our portion of the global CO2 pool is miniscule) and global cooling continuing despite the CO2 levels not shrinking. And when crops cannot be grown at today’s levels due to the cooling there will be real outrage at the cost of food, food shortages and famine. Â Obama (and too many other conservatives and moderates) have bought into the global warming myths (even 10 years after it stopped warming). Their pride and ego will not let them admit they were wrong, so we all get to pay for their crazy ideas on the latest fad and bring more pain to the average American and the poorest among us.
Obama’s pattern is becoming clear: he looks for popular positions and tries to push liberal policies through these fads. Some fads allow him to be openly liberal (Climate Change) and others he has to hide his liberal views under a smoke screen (Iraq victory). But Obama is Clinton 2.0. And that is going to really damage the democrats, because fool me once shame on you, fool me twice – shame on me. Fads are no way to govern.Â
I love the “Pet ‘Rock” analogy. You can take it to visit the Queen, throw a big party for it, and make it to be anything you want it to be. But……nobody knows what is inside or what it might do next. But what ever it is it will make a big splash!
Aj… you are sounding like the Obama version of Bush Derangement Syndrome… Give our next President a chance before you tear him down, please.
.
btw, I think we could agree on this… Anything bad happening in the Obama administration … they will [attempt to] blame on President Bush…
AJ,
I know you are struggling to find topics to write about, but don’t you think this is a tad premature and redundant? You already predicted that Obama will be a disaster the week after he was elected. There is no need to keep repeating that prediction over and over before he actually takes office and actually starts implementing his policies simply because you don’t have anything else to write about. We get it – you don’t trust Obama, you never did and you think he will flop – no need to keep repeating yourself. Obama’s speech about global warming simply reiterated the same position he took on this issue in the campaign (and yet he still somehow managed to win the election mind you!). How does that alone give you new insight that Obama will be Clinton 2.0?
While it is still too early to know for sure how Obama will govern and deal with these land mines when he takes office, I think there are some signs that he will be different than Clinton and govern more from the middle. Obama was key in making sure Lieberman kept his HSC Chairmanship – look at the liberal blogs and you will see that they are steaming mad over this issue. There is rumor Obama has asked Gates to stay on as Sec Defense, which I think would be a great move. Even the rumor about Hillary as Secretary of State, which I’m still not sure how I feel about it, shows that he is different that Bill Clinton – Bill’s ego is way to big to bring a key rival into the cabinet. Obama is also coordinating much more with Congress over the Health Care issue, something that Clinton did not do and paid a big price for.
You will have plenty of opportunities to attack Obama and his policies once he gets in office and actually starts implementing them. Until then, give it a rest.
Yeah AJ—show the same level of class that the democrats did in their traitorous treatment of the current POTUS. Their actions aided and abetted an enemy that led directly to the deaths of our fellow Americans. So now that they have promised chocolate cake for breakfast everything is gonna be OK and we can just forgive and forget. As far as I am concerned they lost their seat at the table and the privilege of being listened to. There will be plenty of time to unwind any damage they do once our fellow citizens fully recover from their recent bout of BDS.
“While it is still too early to know for sure how Obama will govern and deal with these land mines when he takes office”, I think this statement is true. I find it absolutely grotesque that the American people have no idea what the governing concepts are of this newly elected President. Why would anybody elect a President without a platform? Any old “pet rock will do” as long as it’s hope and change. Well we got change for sure, the guy is black. What more do we know, nothing, that’s why MSM makes a living speculating. Obama may keep Usma off his game for a while, but the stock market doesn’t like the uncertainty much.
“Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
How Obama Got Elected
Toes,
“I think we could agree on this… Anything bad happening in the Obama administration … they will [attempt to] blame on President Bush…”
I think you are right, but the real irony is that they learned that trick from Bush himself – 9/11 is Clinton’s fault, the economic crises is Carter and Clinton’s fault, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and don’t forget the good ole’ blame it on the media trick, Obama can learn a lot from Bush on that one!
Conman, Bush never blamed anything on anyone. He always took the high road, while he was being pummeled from all sides. Maybe others played the blame game, but it never came from Bush. Nice try!
My theory for today’s Dow selloff is that it is directly correlated to the bi-partisan Senate Auto loan program to be administered by the Commerce Department, which earlier today would be led by PENNY PRITZKER as of Jan. 20. Isn’t THAT appointment a confidence-deflator?
Pet rock theories notwithstanding, investors are voting no-confidence in Congress. Investors cannot stand uncertainty.
I am not sure investors can stand Dodd and Franks keeping their chairmanships AND PENNY PRITZKER handing out money to GM.
Obama’s campaign was NEVER about the economy, which is why he adopted Clinton team after June 3. Robert Rubin has been guru-in-residence at Citigroup since 2001. Another great confidence-buster.
Kathie,
“I find it absolutely grotesque that the American people have no idea what the governing concepts are of this newly elected President. Why would anybody elect a President without a platform?”
What are you talking about? If Obama had absolutely no platform or concept as to how he would govern, why were Republicans calling him a socialist, appeaser, etc.? Are you saying that Republicans made all that stuff up? Obama did have a platform and explained his policy positions during the campaign – repeal Bush tax cuts, middle class tax cuts, health care reform, more emphasis on alternative fuels, withdraw our troops from Iraq, more diplomacy, etc. Obama also campaigned about how he would govern, emphasizing a more centrist and bipartisan approach. Now, you may disagree with his position on these issues and/or may question his ability to actually implement these policies, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t campaign on a platform or explain how he intends to govern.
You really need to get over the election and move on. Its obvious that you think Obama was a bad choice and believe that those Americans that voted for him are stupid or were duped into believing his empty rhetoric. Trust me, I understand your frustration, I felt the same way in 2000 and 2004. Well, we had that debate for the last several months and the majority of Americans decided they don’t agree with you. That’s what happens in a democracy – the majority of the country gets to decide who is the best person for president and the rest have to accept it (except for 2000, when our electoral system gave Bush the victory despite the fact he lost the popular vote, but hey we are really a republic and not a democracy). So now you and the rest of the country are stuck with that choice for the next 4 years.
Now you only have one choice. Do you accept the reality that he is our next President and at least wait to see what he does before you render a final judgment, or do you presume he is bad and hope and pray for his failure? Given how much is at stake in this country right now, with the economic crises, foreign policy challenges, etc., I would hope that you would pick the former. Like it or not, our countries success or failure is largely tied to Obama right now. If Obama fails, our country will be in big trouble. If Obama is successful, then our country will recover. So be careful what you wish for.
Kathie,
Obama himself won’t blame Bush and he also will take the high road. No President publicly blames the prior President for failures, it is a bad PR move and makes it look like the President is shifting the blame and not willing to take responsibility for anything. That would just be plain stupid. Instead, Obama will do it through surrogates and his public relations machine, just like Bush. Go back and trace the moment that Republicans and conservative pundits began talking about Clinton’s responsibility for 9-11. Coincidentially, it was right around the lead up to the 2002 Congressional elections. I’m sure Rove (and Bush) had nothing to do with it!
Ok, Penny Pritzker publicly took herself out of the possibility of Commerce Sec, AFTER the markets closed today. Maybe she will settle for Ambassador to ??? somewhere nice with a Grand Hyatt. Monaco?
Birdalone,
Hey, Penny Pritzker publically announced she is taking herself out of the running for Secretary of Commerce. I guess that means we will see a big rebound tomorrow under your theory? Too funny!
I’m absolutely amazed that literally a day or two after news about rising unemployment numbers, testimony from the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board that conditions are worse than he previously projected and may result in yet another significant cut in interest rates (can interest rates go below zero?), CitiGroup announcing they will be laying off 50,000 people, and specualtion that one or all of the US automakers could go bankrupt, you still have people assuming that the market is really reacting to a rumor of a political appointment that won’t take effect for 2 months. Do you not realize how much credibility you lose when you make statements like that?
Conguy, one thing you sure don’t have to be concerned with is loss of your credibility. You never had any.
The market is showing great confidence in the incoming admin. nothing but straight down since the election.
Reminds me of an old Russian joke:
The outgoing Soviet leader met with the incoming leader and presented him with two envelopes. He said, “open the first envelope after your first crisis and the second one after your second crisis.” After six months, there was a crisis for the new leader, so he opened the first envelope. It said:
BLAME THE PREVIOUS LEADER
So he did and things went along pretty well until a year later there was another crisis, so he opened the second envelope:
GET TWO ENVELOPES…
We have seen and are currently seeing how Obama will govern. Whenever he sees that he may be held accountable for a decision he will avoid tying his name to it; call it, “voting present.”
Obama allowed Congress and McCain to be attached to the $700Billion bailout and is currently doing the same with the proposed bailout of GM and Ford. Being a classic liberal, beholden to the Unions, Obama wants to give them the money, but when it fails to produce results, like Pontius Pilate his hands will seem clean.
The President-elect could boldly advocate for the automakers and his beloved Unions, and if he did, the bailout would be unstoppable. However, he wants to be able to hang this on the outgoing Bush administration. All the while, Obama is conspicuously quiet, and rather than lend his vision and influence to the most pressing issue of the day he escapes to the gym.
And as for not blaming Bush…his whole platform centered around opposing the ambiguous and all-inclusive “failed policies of the last 8 years.”
There is another possible explanation, besides being a liberal weathervane, for Obama’s enthusiasm for severe energy restrictions. He might, like Bill Ayers, simply want to see America taken down several notches. His racist mentor Jeremiah Wright wants it. His Islamofascist mentors Mansour & Khalidi want it.
Similarly for the radical environmentalists, who Obama is fully in bed with. They are just using the global warming scare as a way to attack American capitalism. The people behind this scientific fraud know that it’s a fraud, and have ulterior motives. They see human economic activity is gobbling up the planet and seek any excuse to throw a monkey wrench into America’s gears . The global warming scare never did have anything to do with climate.
All of these Obama sources are driven, each for their own reasons, to want to do harm to America. There is powerful evidence for each of these hostilities in Obama himself. If he sets out on a path that seems calculated to do maximum harm to this country, do not dismiss that his actions are exactly so calculated.
For Obama to dispel the legitimate suspicions about himself, he has to show some regard for America’s interests.
http://errortheory.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-yorker-nails-maximum-likelihood.html
Thanks Errortheory Guy, I’m pretty sure you are right.
And if everybody else hasn’t found the bog called errortheory,
then do use that dreaded google blog search and find it.
I want to comment on what kind of President Obama will be.
In my best opinion, he won’t be any kind of “President”. He simply
never will be President though he may impersonate the job
for a while.
He is pretty obviously not a natural born American and will in due
course be exposed.
But let me cause you to consider the ramifications of getting away with
it “for a while”:
The biggest catastrophe is that if we elect a fake president, then
every single financial transaction that our government makes
will be invalid and illegal. Every government contract, every benefits
check, every tax raised, every bond or gilt sold, every international
treaty ratified, every single effect on every US business, will be
illegal. If Obama took two years to be exposed, two years of
the government’s finances would overnight be null, void, and at
the mercy of lawyers, corporate or not. Imagine trying to repay
two years of the US budget overnight PLUS rectify all damages
inflicted upon us, for example, corporations forced to spend
hundreds of millions on Kyoto treaty compliance. It could not be
done. In a few days the US government would be bankrupt,
all gilts and bonds issued (even legally before Obama) would be
in default, all 401ks would be worthless, and the world stock
markets would be near absolute zero. This would not only
collapse the financial system of the USA, it would collapse the
financial system of the free world. So lots of people, who think
they don’t have much to lose, could actually lose everything
they own. So it matters. Leftys and Indies can argue amongst
themselves, but there will be no stopping litigious America,
owed hundreds of billions of dollars. They haven’t thought this
thing through. There isn’t a way to stop the coming tsunami.
It’s like Cumbre Viejo just let go and fell into the sea, as
the geologists warn. (If you don’t know about that, you might want to look
it up). This will be huge. Even the punk army he wants to build for his
own private use won’t stop it.
I meant to put this on the end of my comment, but took
a while to find it. The results of putting a fake president into
the White House, by Dr. Edwin Viera, Ph.D. J.D.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin84.htm
You must go there and read it, not a game.
And Mr. Rawls, I see I typ’d bog instead of blog in
reference to your excellent site. That really was just a typo,
sorry.
Conman: I could have just as easily correlated the market drop on Thursday with Waxman ousting Dingell, or the public display of non-leadership by Pelosi, Franks, and Reid – with Paulson still speaking elsewhere. The latter press conference and Paulson speech was simultaneous with the afternoon plunge.
My point is that there is NO confidence in anyone right now, and a flight to cash being parked in Treasuries. Lots of technical and recession-forecast driven factors in the sell-offs.
However, when I heard the Bond/Levin bi-partisan proposal for the Big 3 specifically cite that Commerce Secretary would be in charge of funds, it was interesting to watch the Penny Pritzker idea that had emerged (trial balloon) and then be denied, the denial immediately after the markets closed.
Penny Pritzker as SecCommerce would have been the most damaging appointment by far for Obama’s credibility because THAT would have been Chicago politics/cronyism as usual.
Waxman ousting Dingell will be far more damaging to market confidence.
As to my credibility? Has not counted for much, so now I just have fun. I used to forecast the economy for one key US industry, 1994-2001. Widely praised, and always right. Not worth a dime after downsized into disposable America January 5, 2001.
I love telling Obamaniacs that I was downsized three times during the Clinton years, and that ageism, sexism, and reverse racism are endemic in America. But the Obama sites tend to be nasty and scary, so I seek outlets in the rightwing blogosphere.
Just have so much time to kill that I still come here, but not much longer due to the strange emphasis on climate change denial and opposition to stem cell research.
But, AJ is really nice, and the dialog here tends to be very civilized.