Obama’s Toxic Press Conference (Part Two)
The second reporter called on by President Obama in his 3/24 press conference was entirely lame and appears to be a White House ploy to waste time rehashing the Obama claim that their plan for bailouts will impose sanctions on recipients and transparency and accountability no one has seen with the first half of TARP. The reporter asked if anyone would be asked to sacrifice and mentioned that those acting irresponsibly were ‘cushioned’ from the consequences of their actions by the bailout programs.
Several actions have been the focus of many reports discussing irresponsible acitivity by those looking for bailouts. Wall Street packaged bad subprime loans as worthy investments. Some borrowers speculated on the bubble or lied on their loan docs or accepted a loan for more house than they could afford. Countries all around the world, hence the term global crisis, were as greedy as the rest for buying up CDO’s and other instruments as fast as they could. There is plenty of blame to go around on who acted improperly.
President Obama used this second question from reporter number two as an aid to once again push his argument that has failed more than once already. Blame the prvious administration. Remind whoever will listen that the problem started before he got here. Long term economic growth is his message for deficits that will go out for years and his interest in expanding government including meddling in health care, energy and education more than it already does. The only jobs that may be created are temporary make-work jobs funded by taxpayer dollars.
The only difference in his argument this time is avoiding the punchdrunk laughter suggested in the 60 Minutes fiasco which Mr Chuckles could not hold back when discussing effects of the economic crisis. And we did not have to shake our heads due to another joke in poor taste like the one on Leno’s program. Nothing has changed. Hope and change have been turning to ‘ backlash.’ In past rebuttals to his budget ideas Mr Obama stated that those criticizing his plan had not produced their own. That is not true. The GOP produced a plan more heavily layered with tax cuts and provisions to create more jobs than Mr Obama’s. Yet they were closed out of discussions on the matter by the party in the majority.
Much of what Mr Obama has promised is nowhere to be found. People trying to make contact with his ‘open government’ have been ignored or contacted with irrelevant form letters. Lobbyists are still in the White House and elsewhere in the administration. Earmarks and pork barrel spending still rule the day. Changes to the government have tightened information not loosened it. Disclosure, transparency and oversight are not improved and could be argued to be worse than before. To keep pounding the same message after you have been rebuked numerous times says nothing for one’s leadership skills. All the talk of vetting and having discussions seemed to miss the mark on unveiling an agenda that could have been well received. Not unlike so many failed nominations the President’s agenda appears DOA.
A related item that seems worthy of repeating comes from the 60 Minutes interview when Steve Kroft asked the President if there is a limit to what we can spend? The President replied that we can spend as long as we can borrow the money. The fact that this question and answer were not major headlines throughtout this country rather than the punchdrunk laughter story or the bad joke on Leno is as troubling as Obama’s answer.
If you think we’re in trouble now. Wait until this country’s fine leadership spends us to the point where the governement can no longer borrow money. That will make burying future generations in debt look like a great idea. Trouble is by then it will be a moot point. Think about it.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
March 27th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
how can u stomach these my friend..ugh!!!
March 27th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
One must channel that discomfort into action. First order of business is know thy opponent. Use what they give you to defeat them.