After the publishing of the press release recounting the announcement of an economic team and corresponding speech by President-elect Obama on Monday November 24, 2008, a follow-up post is required. As with any speech from a radical new leader the injection of a little fear is a good way to get people’s attention.
‘if we do not act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year.’
After a relatively vague fear tactic short on reasons why a severe job loss may happen beyond the understanding that the economy is declining comes the equally vague list of solutions to the vague fear tactic predicting impending doom.
‘move forward in a new direction to create new jobs, reform our financial system’
Even John McCain began using the liberal phrase from the 2006 midterms, ‘new direction’, and it made no more sense when he did it. Hope, change, new direction, they’re all rather useless beyond speech fodder for the feeble-minded.
‘We know this won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight’
The little quote above is another speech requirement to give advance notice of a solutions failure. That is so it can be brought up later when the providers of the solution that didn’t work regroup to try again.
Below is the first really scary part of the speech. It is a description of the members of the economic team in Obama’s words. The key is the ‘bold new ideas.’ Yes, the word will be used now. Socialism is a bold new idea in a democratic republic. That is because it does not belong. Taking one step further in the quote below one could interpret, as it may be intended, that if main street or the ordinary citizens, workers, working class or proletariat suffer, the aristocrats or wealthy class or upper class featured here as ‘wall street’ cannot thrive. Sure, you could assume he means wall street should not succeed at the expense of main street. But that is not what he said. And one can just as easily understand his words to mean his earlier talking points where the redistribution of wealth is a good thing.
‘a depth of experience and a wealth of bold new ideas — and most of all, who share my fundamental belief that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers’
Whether Mr Geithner knows it or not he may be getting setup to take the heat. Later in the speech Obama indicates the team will present recommendations on ‘the plan’ to those in Washington, etc. That may indicate the economic plan is already assembled and the ‘team’ is merely who will get the credit for it if it fails and a pat on the back from the President-elect if it succeeds as they just helped him implement ‘his’ plan. Why do you suppose he says they share his vision or their ideas compliment his ‘core’ values or visa versa?
On Geithner….
‘He will start his first day on the job with a unique insight into the failures of today’s markets — and a clear vision of the steps we must take to revive them.’
Below is a little reminder of the sitting down with no preconditions with any leader of any country and caving or appeasing to push the Obama agenda. It is no different than listening to the United Nations press statements and we know how their agendas work out.
‘we will need to reach out to countries around the world to craft a global response’
on Larry Summers…..
‘He also championed a range of measures — from tax credits to enhanced lending programs to consumer financial protections — that greatly benefited middle income families.’
Larry Summers has actually received compliment from others in the public sphere on both sides of partisan politics. But the troubling mention of tax credits and ‘enhanced lending programs’ smells like promoting social policy that got us in the subprime mess in the first place. You know, the Community Reinvestment Act in the Carter years, followed by Fannie and Freddie and Franklin Raines, Chris Dodd, Rahm Emanuel, Barney Frank, community organizing, Valerie Jarrett and a host of other accomplices including Tony Rezko that are featured in the Obama rise to power.
But the primary indicator of Obama’s agenda was glimpsed by the following excerpt from this speech.
‘As a thought leader, Larry has urged us to confront the problems of income inequality and the middle class squeeze, consistently arguing that the key to a strong economy is a strong and growing middle class. This idea is the core of my own economic philosophy and will be the foundation for all of my economic policies.’
Did Larry really urge the President-elect to tinker with the social experiment of income inequality or class struggle or other socialist or Marxist doctrine? This is where Barack Obama can be blunt since he already won the election and may believe one term as a socialist President is adequate to shape this country into his own little kingdom. If he has enough accomplices he may just pull it off. That is what should worry you.
The New Deal is alive and well in the Obama Administration. What twists will be added along those lines based on his statements about Christina Romer?
‘perhaps best known for her work on America’s recovery from the Great Depression and the robust economic expansion that followed.’
Yes, let’s see if we can destroy all the mechanisms in place to restore strength to the economy and return to soup kitchens and the government running everything. Then as they don’t tell you in the speech we can enter another wartime economy like WWII and by much pain and suffering embark on a post war economic boom which by the way featured the baby boom who is now retiring and you know the rest of the story.
‘Finally, we know that rebuilding our economy will require action on a wide array of policy matters — from education and health care to energy and Social Security. Without sound policies in these areas, we can neither enjoy sustained economic growth nor realize our full potential as a people.’
In the quote above, more spending targets are featured along with the rhetorical reference to his socialist agenda and reaching THAT full potential.
‘So I am pleased that Melody Barnes, one of the most respected policy experts in America, will be serving as Director of my Domestic Policy Council’…..
Together with health care lobbyist consultant Tom Daschle, Barnes will tweak the Obama health care issue for all of us. Barack Obama is connecting it with the agenda on economics. And her other social programs will be born from the following description of her work.
‘As Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, Melody directed a network of policy experts dedicated to finding solutions for struggling middle class families. She also served as Chief Counsel to the great Senator Ted Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, working on issues ranging from crime to immigration to bankruptcy, and fighting tirelessly to protect civil rights, women’s rights and religious freedom. ‘
It may sound good to some but one must translate the rhetoric in terms of how it will be used later. When complaints roll in that the Obama agenda does not reflect campaign pledges besides the tired old excuse that things have changed (part of the change mantra) the Obama Administration will remind us all that this was laid out when the economic team was announced and we weren’t paying attention.
Here’s another scary insight from Barack Obama on Melody Barnes and his domestic (socialist) policy.
‘ Melody’s brilliant legal mind — and her long experience working to secure the liberties on which this nation was founded and secure opportunity for those left behind — make her a perfect fit for DPC Director.’
The quote below is a reminder that socialism is not all upside for those in the worker class supporting such notions. The belt tightening for families and businesses will result from the government interfering in just about everything.
‘the turmoil on Wall Street means a new round of belt-tightening for families and businesses on Main Street’
The quote below is another out for Obama so he can continue on certain items and if they fail use the same argument from the campaign that all the bad was caused by President Bush. If anyone in Congress from the GOP opposes him they will receive blame for failures too. But there is nothing new in that.
‘And my Administration will honor the public commitments made by the current Administration to address this crisis.’
An entire paragraph is cited to indicate what is in store for this country when the ‘new direction’ Obama agenda really gets moving
‘Further, beyond any immediate actions we may take, we need a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street — a plan that stabilizes our financial system and gets credit flowing again, while at the same time addressing our growing foreclosure crisis, helping our struggling auto industry, and creating and saving 2.5 million jobs — jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing our schools, and creating the clean energy infrastructure of the twenty-first century. Because at this moment, we must both restore confidence in our markets — and restore the confidence of middle-class families, who find themselves working harder, earning less, and falling further and further behind.’
Not in sequential order but the first reaction points to the overuse of the terms middle-class and families ‘finding themselves’….’falling further and further behind’. During the Clinton Administration, Mr Clinton had stated that incomes were decreasing in value for average Americans for a long time. The Obama characterization suggests this is something new as if to blame it on President Bush. While it still remains does not mean it started recently.
It is too lengthy a task for one post to detail all the spending, policy and legislative plans indicated by the Obama speech paragraph quoted above. It should be sufficient to say each issue included in that paragraph represents a combination of proposals or initiatives that based on other parts of the speech need no development but are already available to be viewed as new ideas from the most recent hires to the Obama team. This has been the announcement of socialism to come and the smoke screen to allow the uninformed to sign on to the audacity of hope and mantra of change with yes we can as the collective acceptance witnessed in the election of this mystery man as the next American President.
In the remaining parts of the speech Mr Obama again forgets his expression that we have one president at a time by having this team ‘consult’ with everyone in Washington and saying he will be briefed daily and tell us all what is being done in the next few weeks and months on his agenda before inauguration. Maybe a little premature for his role as President. Adding that Americans cannot wait and hope for solutions contradicts that liberal mainstay slogan of hope and change.
When he says ‘to scour our federal budget, line-by-line, and make meaningful cuts and sacrifices as well — something I’ll be discussing further tomorrow’ you can be confident his spending ideas will replace those already on the books. While cutting spending is a good idea, merely replacing one spending item with an equal sized substitute changes nothing in the equation. But it means where Obama wants to spend will replace where others want to spend. That is no guarantee of an improvement contrary to the belief of some. More money remaining with the taxpayer for them to use as they see fit is a better idea.
Could it be that in closing the speech his opinion of setting aside partisan politics and working together and planning to do so as President really means others have to concede and submit to his wishes? If you think this is being unfair and is not giving Barack Obama a chance to be President consider this. The closer the President-elect gets to inauguration the more hints, clues and parts of his agenda are featured in his words. They are becoming less vague and more specific. And with each new item exposed by the one some refer to as the Messiah another tidbit of socialism is supported.
The overuse of middle-class can easily sound like historic speeches and doctrine of others when they used working class, under-class or even proletariat. Wall Street can be replaced with aristocrat or the wealth-class or upper-class. Don’t so easily dismiss the criticism of others raising the issue of class warfare. A plan for both Wall Street and Main Street can as easily mean two plans as one. With the bailouts by taxpayer money of private sector entities directed by the public sector the notion of government run businesses is a socialist idea not far from the actions of this republic’s democratic leaders’ actions.
The jury may still be out but the evidence is piling up suggesting what may be feared in an Obama Administration will come true. If being fair requires ignoring the scrutiny required and expressing disfavor of the plans a newly elected President puts forward then being unfair is the appropriate action to take. It is often said the people get the government they deserve. For those who did not vote for this President-elect is the responsibility to hold him accountable for doing what is right for the nation in order to get a government we deserve. The manner in which this nation has survived as a republic through good and bad must be preserved. If a president intends to do something that would not preserve, protect and defend the Constitution it would be a violation of the oath of office. To radically change this democracy would violate that oath. Especially if that radical change included socialism or Marxism. Not a stretch for the uber liberal in this country.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Molly Hagerty’s claim against Al Gore will not move forward in criminal or civil court. The liberal mythical god, Al Gore, shares a reputation with another liberal deity known as Slick Willie (aka: former President Bill Clinton) for bizarre sexual exploits. The credibility of the pair may be as suspect as that of two other liberal POLS; 20 term Congressional representative Charlie Rangel and California Rep Maxine Waters. That may be why the White House is hoping First Lady Michelle Obama’s curious popularity will help the liberal cause in the midterms.
Based on the report below and Senator Kyl’s record during the shamnesty votes of 2007 little confidence is found in his statements or assessment. For the same reasons Senator DeMint instills more confidence than the former. These are truly defining moments for the GOP and perhaps the DNC as well. By the end of the first 100 days of the Obama Administration, a typical early measure of US Presidents, one party or the other will have the upper hand. The Democratic party majority in Congress and a Democrat in the White House do not make it a foregone conclusion.
The party’s second-ranking Senate member, Jon Kyl of Arizona, told U.S. television Fox News Sunday the legislation needs to be reconstructed. Kyl and other Republicans say the estimated $820-billion bill wastes money on programs that will not stimulate the economy. They are calling for more tax cuts and infrastructure building.
If not from the Clinton clan the choices for vacancies in the coming Obama Administration seem to focus on Illinois or Chicago politics. 
Then there is the real Democratic party situation which is ‘no change’. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is still, well, Nancy Pelosi. Quick to make statements and predictions as in 
A list of winners and losers from this legislation was offered by someone at a casino site and is included below. The problem with the list is the winners and losers are from the gambling industry perspective. I suppose gamblers anonymous could be a winner if you consider an increase in activity for them a win. Maybe this is more of what the Dems proposed last year with their New Direction for America. And let’s not forget about the possibility that the biggest winner with this legislation would be those wishing to launder money, etc. And nothing good can come from that.