Greatest Hits: Obama Watch
because somebody needs to
Numbers don't lie. Obama's lengthy State of the Union speech was the 'usual blame Bush, blame Republicans, more taxes, more teachers, more worthless jobs programs' claptrap. Training more glass cutters for Solyndra, perhaps.
Mitch Daniels delivered the Republican response. He called Obama's Keystone decision "a pro-poverty policy." "As Republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life's ladder. We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves."
"It's not fair and it's not true for the President to attack Republicans in Congress as obstacles on these questions. They and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements and encourage new job creation, only to be shot down nearly time and again by the President and his Democrat Senate allies."
In 2012, "Republicans will speak for those who believe in the dignity and capacity of the individual citizen; who believe that government is meant to serve the people rather than supervise them; who trust Americans enough to tell them the plain truth about the fix we are in, and to lay before them a specific, credible program of change big enough to meet the emergency we are facing."
You cannot build an economy on government handouts. The economy will win the presidency for Republicans in 2012. Republicans should talk about nothing else.
Bill Clinton was right: "It's the economy, stupid.". (posted 1/25/12, permalink)
Green Power! "When Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley's City Hall in the early 1990s, she was "distressed" by how a small group of "white Irish Catholic" families ... "locked up" power in Illinois," according to a new book.
She's probably mad because - on St. Patrick's Day - they dye the Chicago River green. But I would point out that - on overcast days - it looks black.
How come the mainstream press never points out the racism implied in Michelle Obama's comments? Imagine how they'd react if a white first lady had described an American city as having too many Black Muslims in power. (posted 1/11/12, permalink)
But Isn't Self-Reliance Is What Made America Great? At a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser last week, President Barack Hussein Obama warned his recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America.
"The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don't work even harder than we did in 2008, then we're going to have a government that tells the American people, 'you are on your own,'" Obama told a group of 200 donors.
"If you can't afford college, you're on your own. ... That's not the America I believe in."
Excuse me, but my wife worked her way through college, God bless her. My parents paid for my tuition but I worked to get the money for books, commuting expenses, meals and incidentals.
Whatever happened to students working to pay their college tuition? If day school is too costly, there's always night school. Neither my wife and I, nor our children, had student loans, either. My kids worked every summer while in college. They also had their own small manufacturing business.
I consider student loans abhorrent - a last resort kind of thing. Besides, college isn't what it used to be. In the early 1960s, college students spent 40 hours per week on academic work; now they spend only 27 hours per week. In 1961, 67% of students said they studied more than 20 hours per week; now only one in five study that much. As Mister Rogers might have asked, "Can you say 'party school'?"
Today's college costs are outrageous. Especially so, considering the lousy quality of education one receives. And the increasing cost spiral is unsustainable. Student debt just surpassed the country's credit-card debt for the first time. It is projected to top $1 trillion this year.
There was a time when being American meant charting your own destiny. Self-reliance has produced some great Americans. That's the America I believe in.
It's time for Obama to go and be replaced by a real American as president. (posted 11/8/11, permalink)
Do-Nothing Barry: Speaker of the House John Boehner recently said, "I've had my share of disappointments this year, but I gotta tell you what, there is nothing that has disappointed me more over the last eight weeks than to watch the President of the United States basically give up on the economy, and give up on the American people, decide he's going to quit governing, and spend his entire next 14 months campaigning."
Most everyone agrees that Jimmah Carter was an awful president who did a lot of damage to the country and the economy. Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter in January 1981 and, by the end of 1982, things were definitely on the upswing.
If you assume that George W. Bush was an awful president - as Barack Obama and his buddies would have you believe, why hasn't Barry O. turned this economy around by now? Especially since his party also controlled both houses of Congress during the first two years of his presidency - a substantial advantage which Reagan didn't have.
The answer: The Obama Administration is a clueless bunch of political hacks who don't understand how the economy - and the country - works. Anything beyond Community Organizing is above their pay grades.
As for his predecessor - whose eight-year term was far from perfect, the fact is that, when George W. Bush left office, the U.S. had a AAA credit rating and an unemployment rate of 5.7%. And a lot less debt. When the Dems took over Congress in January 2007, the deficit was $161 billion. It had been on a downward trajectory from $413 billion in 2004.
Three years later, the Pelosi-Reid Congress had added $1.2 trillion to the deficit.
It should also be noted that Barack's Congressional buddy Barney Frank (Dem. - Massachusetts and House Financial Services Committee chairman, whose decisions and policies greatly contributed to the financial meltdown of 2008) recently opined that the cause of this nation's credit downgrade is the American military and its operations. Another example of cluelessness.
John Boehner pointed out that the President had presided over "the largest spending binge in American history. Here's what we got for that spending binge: a massive health care bill that most Americans never asked for. A 'stimulus' bill that was more effective in producing material for late-night comedians than it was in producing jobs. And a national debt that has gotten so out of hand it has sparked a crisis without precedent in my lifetime or yours."
In 2012, we need to elect someone who knows what the hell he's/she's doing. (posted 10/31/11, permalink)
 The Long And Whining Road: As if this country isn't overspent and broke enough, Obama bought himself a $1.1 million Canadian-made armored bus for what Mitt Romney tagged as the 'Magical Misery Bus Tour'. So much for cutting expenses.
It's only a three-day tour, so that works out to $366,666 per day for the motorcoach. Man, and I thought I was getting ripped off when Hertz quoted $200 bucks a day for a full-size Taurus recently.
It is a huge bus. More room for Obama to throw people under it, I suppose. The giant jitney is painted evil Darth Vader black. Is their some reason it couldn't have been finished in a more patriotic red, white and blue? Isn't this still America? Or are we living inside the Death Star now?
The Secret Service has been stonewalling all questions about the massive vehicle. They won't even say if it's a plug-in hybrid. Or what its energy footprint score is.
On the tour, Barry O. alighted from his ginormous armored polished-anthracite behemoth to scold that ''you can't just make money on SUVs and trucks" as he tried to reshape the auto industry and social engineer the rest of us into driving fuel-efficient balsa wood micro-golf carts powered by unicorn flatulence mixed with corn ethanol.
He also called for tax hikes in a whiny voice. So what else is new?
In an even greater demonstration of clueless desperation, the Obama administration now considers food stamps as a type of 'stimulus program'.
Meanwhile, Evergreen Solar Inc. - described by Matt Drudge as "Obama's Green Pet", has gone bankrupt. The Massachusetts clean-energy company that received millions in subsidies from the Democrat Patrick administration listed $485.6 million in unpaid debts.
In Seattle, the White House-applauded 'green jobs' weatherization program is a bust. It was supposed to create 2,000 jobs. So far - despite a $20 million federal grant - only 14 positions have been created. That's almost $1.5 million spent for each job created. And I thought the bus was expensive.
Shifting back in scolding mode - a tactic he may have learned from watching old 1979 videos of his fellow Nobel Prize winner Jimmy Carter, Obama said one of the "urgent questions facing the country is whether politicians can break out of a pattern of putting the country's need ahead of their own."
As Jammie-Wearing Fool noted, "This from the biggest narcissist to ever walk the earth." (posted 8/17/11, permalink)
Critical Cousin: Dr. Milton R. Wolf, a cousin of Barack Obama ... but certainly no fan, has written about the results of the Obama presidency so far. Here is a selection of bullet points:
 • Two million-private sector jobs have been lost.
• Unemployment jumped from 7.8 to 9.2% with a simply terrible 2011 first-quarter economic growth rate of just 0.4%.
• A record 1 in 7 Americans is on food stamps.
• Gasoline prices more than doubled, from $1.83 to $3.74 per gallon.
• National debt increased 35%, to $14.5 trillion, or $137,000 for each taxpayer.
• National unfunded liabilities increased 47%, to $114.9 trillion, or a cool $1 million for each taxpayer (and this does not yet include Obamacare).
• America is on the verge of losing its AAA credit rating. (Ooops. It's already happened.)
Meanwhile, in July, the Obama Administration added in $9.5 billion in new regulatory costs by proposing 229 new rules and finalizing 379 rules, including more EPA regs, healthcare reform and financial regulatory reform rules. That oughta keep businesses from expanding.
On the evening of the stock market meltdown, Obama attended two off-camera DNC fundraisers in Washington, D.C. Obama spoke at a private residence first, before heading to an event at the St. Regis hotel. Which shows ya where his priorities are.
Scott Grannis has cited as a reason for Monday's stock market panic "the perception that the White House is clueless. Obama's speech earlier today was abysmal. Once again he blamed Republicans and the rich for refusing to cooperate. Once again he insisted that the way to fix things is to extend unemployment benefits, extend the payroll tax cut and build more infrastructure. These things have been tried and they have failed miserably."
After yesterday's market meltdown, does anyone really think that Obama can get reelected? I mean, just look at the above stats, especially the increase in the national debt.
Rush Limbaugh said, "What we have witnessed since Friday is Obamageddon, Barackalypse Now; and the only silver lining out there is that as far as 2012 goes, Obama's now Debt Man Walking."
I'm sure that Barry O. will blame Bush. It's what he always does. But, the fact is that, when George W. left office, the U.S. had a AAA credit rating and an unemployment rate of 5.7%. And a lot less debt. (Barack's Congressional buddy Barney Frank (Dem. - Massachusetts) has already opined that the cause of this nation's credit downgrade is the American military and its operations.)
In 2012, not only will Obama lose but I think a lot of old-school progressives in Congress will be gone as well. People are fed up with government - the intrusion, the waste, the outta-control spending and the bullshit. (posted 8/9/11, permalink)
 Time For A Change: As I listened to John Boehner's rebuttal to the President's 'debt crisis' speech Monday night (7/25/11), I realized that he sounded more presidential than Obama did.
Boehner made a logical case for his viewpoint and proposal. The Speaker of the House said, "Before I served in Congress, I ran a small business in Ohio. I was amazed at how different Washington DC operated than every business in America. Where most American business make the hard choices to pay their bills and live within their means, in Washington more spending and more debt is business as usual."
Boehner pointed out that the President had presided over "the largest spending binge in American history. Here's what we got for that spending binge: a massive health care bill that most Americans never asked for. A 'stimulus' bill that was more effective in producing material for late-night comedians than it was in producing jobs. And a national debt that has gotten so out of hand it has sparked a crisis without precedent in my lifetime or yours."
Obama spent much of his television time being a petty obstructionist and demonizing his stock list of boogiemen: Republicans, the wealthy, owners of successful businesses and, as usual, "corporate jet owners." Oh, yeah ... and it's all Bush's fault.
When I heard the President say, "What makes today's stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling - a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before", my first thought was, "Thank you for being so condescending, you ignorant slut."
John Hinderaker wrote that Barry O's presentation was, "hyper-partisan and divisive, to a degree I have never seen in any other chief executive. And I go back to Eisenhower. His talk was full of transparent lies. And Obama is an economic illiterate, which has resulted in most Americans writing him off as a failure. ... Obama's performance was, in my view, awful. Why? Because, as the president has revealed himself to be inept on one issue after another, the lingering question has always been: is he, nevertheless, some sort of political genius? After all, his one undoubted talent is fundraising; he is the greatest money-machine in the history of American politics."
Hinderaker also opined that, in Monday's address, "Obama dispelled any idea that lurking behind his incompetence on matters of policy and administration is a gleam of political shrewdness."
I can't wait for January 2013 when we get a new president. I mean, could anyone else be worse? (posted 7/27/11, permalink)
Makes Nixon Seem Normal By Comparison: President Shortpants threw a hissy fit Wednesday (7/13/11), abruptly walking out of the White House debt talks after warning House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, "Don't call my bluff."
 Over at Ace, Monty has written, "It chafes His Majesty when the plebs speak out of turn, and it is simply an act of lèse majesté when mere Congressmen presume to question the motives and actions of the Royal Person.
I must say that I don't find President Obama's legendary peevishness and thin-skinnedness to be imperial so much as pedagogic - he's got the manners, attitudes, and air of a hack college professor who is being forced to teach a class full of (to him) stupid undergrads. He hates the work, finds it unworthy of his intelligence, and it really irks him to be questioned or interrupted by his students while he's lecturing them. He takes every disagreement as a personal insult; indeed, considers criticism from his perceived underlings as presumption."
Recently revealed e-mails show that the White House thinks Bret Baier is "a lunatic." Bret Baier? A calm, thoughtful, professional journalist who had the audacity to ask Obama less-than-softball questions. As in March 2010, when Baier interviewed President Obama about health care. His polite but persistent questions made Obama whiny, petulant and un-Presidential.
This is what passes for Presidential sanity these days. As one of novelist Nelson DeMille's characters once said, "The problem with paranoia is it's so time-consuming." (posted 7/15/11, permalink)
Results Count: Quite a few conservative writers, opinion makers and bloggers have been Monday-morning quarterbacking the Abbottabad attack which killed Osama bin Laden. They have whined that President Obama took 16 hours to make up his mind before giving the go ahead: "Not exactly the gutsy, snap decision it was made out to be. Military left hanging while he 'slept on it'."
So what? This attack was years in the making. After Obama carefully made his decision, the mission went ahead and was successful, thank God. (If it had failed, you can it would have been hung around Barack's neck like the proverbial albatross.)
When Iran released the 66 U.S. hostages within minutes of Ronald Reagan's inauguration - probably as a final insult to Jimmy Carter - the Reagan Administration got the praise.
Bin Laden was blown away on Obama's watch and he rightfully gets the credit. That's the way the world works. Even if some (including me, perhaps) suspect that he was just there at the right time - a presidential Forrest Gump, so to speak.
In life, business, war and pretty-much everything else, results count. "'E' for effort" is the refuge of losers, second-raters, incompetent educators and clueless pontificators. Give the man his due and, if you're not a Barry O. fan, move on to other issues. (posted 5/4/11, permalink)
Troubled Birth: In 1974, I applied for my first passport. I needed my birth certificate. My mom said that she had it and gave it to me. I took it to the passport office and was told that this official-looking document was a mere "souvenir" from the hospital. I had to contact the state to get an "official" copy. Only then could I get my passport.
I used that same official copy when I applied for Social Security. My SS card, which I had kept tucked safely away all these years, wasn't good enough. So, I - like others - have been puzzled by the President's continued intransigence over the release of his birth certificate, an obviously important document.
William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection had written, "The conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump is doing damage to Republicans by raising the birth certificate issue. I think it's way too early to tell, but it is just as likely that Trump is doing major damage to Obama."
He added that "polling indicates that increasing percentages of Americans - including substantial percentages of independents - do not believe Obama was born in the U.S. or are unsure.
Worse than that, the release or not of the original birth certificate now has become a test of wills The dispute has morphed from "where was he born" to "why doesn't he just release the damn thing, we have to do it."
It has become a metaphor for the overall image of Obama as viewing himself as above the rest of us, as reflected in his now-famous line about people in small towns clinging to their guns and religion."
On Wednesday morning, the White House finally released an image of the putative birth certificate. Obama remarked sullenly, "We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do." Then, after unsuccessfully looking for his five-iron for an upcoming golf game, he flew off to Chicago with wife Michelle to do an Oprah interview. Afterwards, he jetted off to New York City for still another campaign fundraiser. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
A post by Open Blogger at Ace says this whole birth record kerfuffle helps the Republicans, for the following reasons:
1) It deflates (and may even kill off) the Trump candidacy. I see this as a great help to the GOP; your mileage may vary.
2) It provides every other GOP presidential candidate coverage on the birth issue ("Hey, he released his birth certificate. That's good enough for me."). For that matter, it should help relegate birthers to a much smaller corner of the GOP big tent.
3) It shows the internal stress that Obama and his camp are feeling. (posted 4/28/11, permalink)
Budget Bozo: Barack Obama's speech on the budget yesterday proved conclusively that the man is a liar and a fraud.
And boring. His remarks even put Joe Biden to sleep.
Mark Steyn wrote, "There's something sad about a man so carelessly revealing himself as entirely inadequate to the moment. Government spending is an existential threat to the United States. Whether or not anyone at the White House knows this, the viziers decided to shove the sultan out on stage with a pitifully unserious speech retreating to all his lamest tropes – the usual whiny, petty and unpresidential partisan snippiness, and the ponderous demolition of straw men even he barely bothered to pretend he believed in."
Obama spent much of the time trying to tear apart Paul Ryan's well thought-out budget proposal. (When he wasn't blaming George Bush, that is.) Ryan reacted thusly to Obama's vicious and dishonest remarks, "What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our commander-in-chief. What we heard today was a political broadside from our campaigner-in-chief." Indeed.
Charles Krauthammer said the speech was "a disgrace," noting that he had "rarely heard" a speech by a president that was "so shallow, hyper-partisan and so intellectually dishonest." John Hinderaker of Powerline wrote that the president's speech was a "sorry, cowardly performance."
The Wall Street Journal's John Fund said that Barry's proposal was wishy-washy and unrealistic - "built on air and cotton candy."
"To govern is to choose," John F. Kennedy said. Barack Obama has failed to make the tough choices, seemingly content with kicking the can down the road and attacking those who propose reasonable solutions to the budget problem. I remember Jack Kennedy. Barack Obama, you're no Jack Kennedy.
B.O. has got to go. This country needs leadership - not bread and circuses. The 2012 election can't come soon enough. (posted 4/14/11, permalink)
Who Knew? A couple of years ago, people told me that, if I voted for John McCain, we'd soon be bombing Libya, running covert ops in the Middle East and experiencing even more military casualties in that quagmire known as Afghanistan.
It turned out that they were right. I voted for him and everything they predicted has now come true. (posted 4/4/11, permalink)
Obamacare Summarized: Dennis Gartman, stock market commentator and proprietor of the Gartman Letter, has offered a few words on Obamacare:
"Let's get this straight. We're going to be 'gifted' with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we'll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke!"
"What could possibly go wrong?" (posted 3/2/11, permalink)
Liar, Liar: Remember this? "I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." That was Candidate Obama in September 2008.
Now there's this: "Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income, including the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income."
Res ipsa loquitur. (posted 2/1/11, permalink)
If It Walks Like A Duck And Quacks ... Barack Obama, in an interview with Barbara Walters, has blamed cyberspace for why people think he's a Muslim. (I'm surprised he didn't blame George Bush - he seems to blame him for everything else.)
 "The internet has a powerful effect these ways," he said. "So the way rumors can take up a life of their own ends up being very powerful."
I don't think it's the internet, Barry. Here's some reasons for ya:
• Records which could lay rest to rumors are sealed.
• Doesn't publicly celebrate Christmas.
• Educated in a madrassa.
• Raised in Indonesia by a Muslim step-father.
• His middle name, Hussein, glorifies a renowned Muslim martyr, the grandson and heir of the Prophet Mohammed.
• Referred to "...my Muslim faith" in television with George Stephanopoulos.
• Jeremiah Wright's "church" is so unChristian, it scared off Oprah.
• In 'Audacity of Hope', wrote: "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
Speaking of Bush & Obama, here's a memorable quote from Jimmy Fallon: "What is going on these days? George W. Bush writes a 500-page memoir and Obama publishes a kids coloring book." (posted 12/3/10, permalink)
Through A See-Through Clamshell, Darkly: A White House staffer was conspicuously overweight. President Obama, in an incident that (MSNBC analyst Richard) Wolffe believes proves how caring the Mr. Obama is, took it upon himself to present the aide with a salad for lunch, "then listened to him protest that he could take care of his own health. 'I love you, man,' Obama said. 'I want you to look after yourself. Eat the salad.’"
Gerard Van Der Leun has written, "I love you, man. Eat the salad. That is the Obama presidency in a plastic see-through clamshell. (Hold the ranch dressing!) The president loves us. He knows what's best for us. We should bow to his superior wisdom."
Maybe the staffer suffers from a disease which prevents him from eating salads. (Such things are more common than, say, peanut allergies.) Did Obama ask? No. "Do as I say."
One size will fit all - just like Obamacare.
This also proves my long-held thesis that obese people represent the last bastion of prejudice.
The P.C. police won't let you pick on or discriminate against blacks, gays, trannies, hobos or Muslims. But fatties are always fair game. (posted 12/2/10, permalink)
Blame Bush? During a recent press conference, President Obama blamed George W. Bush for the nation's fiscal condition. Said Barry O., "When I walked in, wrapped in a nice bow was a $1.3 trillion deficit sitting right there on my doorstep."
Why do people believe this bozo? It's been almost two years and the deficits are soaring. It is important to note that, in the U.S., Congress controls the purse strings. When the Dems took over Congress in January 2007, the deficit was $161 billion. It had been on a downward trajectory from $413 billion in 2004. Three years later, the Pelosi-Reid Congress had added $1.2 trillion to the deficit.
And the unemployment rate - a good measure of the nation's health - has been feverishly high during the Democrat's Reign of Terror.
I Own The World has noted that the deficits have been "on a sharp rise since, oh, January 2007 or thereabouts. If a problem starts three quarters of the way through George Bush's presidency and continues onward through today when he's been out of office for nearly two years, do we really have cause to call it a Bush problem?" (posted 10/4/10, permalink)
Whiner-In-Chief: Barack Hussein Obama told Rolling Stone magazine - described by Greg Gutfeld as "that thinning pamphlet for our country's dwindling supply of pony-tailed pensioners" - that Fox News has a point of view that is "ultimately destructive" for America.
Polls have long indicated that Fox News is the most watched and most trusted source in America.
On the other hand, Obama is the most thin-skinned, lying, anti-prosperity, whiny, anti-American President in my memory - Jimmy Carter is a distant second - and now Barry O. is lecturing people about what is destructive to America.
Drew M. at Ace has asked some rhetorical and not-so-rhetorical questions:
• Has Fox News has put this country on a path to fiscal ruin?
• Has Fox News endangered the health care of nearly every American?
• Has Fox News has sold out freedom-loving allies to authoritarian thugs?
I would add:
• Has Fox News caved to Muslims while subverting traditional Christian values?
• Has Fox News bowed down before every tyrant in the world?
Until Fox News commits such reprehensible acts, Mr. President, bite me. (posted 10/1/10, permalink)
The Truth About Czars: Former Obama administration car czar Steven Rattner is coming out with a new book that shows Obama as "out to get" the car companies and the administration "making political decisions about how to deal with bankrupt automakers GM and Chrysler."
When Obama was told of the plan to pay GM CEO Rick Wagoner a $7.1 million severance package after Obama ordered that he be sacked, Rattner writes, "Suddenly I felt that I was indeed in the presence of a community organizer."
He describes presidential political adviser David Axelrod coming to car meetings armed with poll data to support the takeover and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel identify Congressmen in whose districts large Chrysler facilities were located.
Rattner said Obama was frustrated with the auto companies from the start: Obama asked, "Why can't they make a Corolla?" A question which once again demonstrated the business ignorance of Obama and his minions.
Of course, the answer is that GM once did make rebadged Toyota vehicles - from 1984 to 2009. Debuting in 1989, the Geo Prizm was a Corolla with a new name, made alongside the little Toyota in GM's old Fremont plant - the NUMMI joint GM/Toyota venture in California. But GM's bad reputation unfairly tainted the Geo. The marketing campaign for the brand was - at best - haphazard and sales were never as good as the Corolla.
Clueless GM made things even worse when they dropped the Geo name in 1998, designating the car as the Chevy Prizm - further confusing prospective buyers. Prizms were good cars; my son bought one new in 1993. He still has it; the little blue sedan has over 200,000 miles on the original engine.
Why doesn't today's GM offer a Corolla of its own design and manufacture? One with Corolla-level quality, reliability, fuel economy and pricing? Because they couldn't do so competitively. Barry O's union buddies, their gold-plated UAW contracts and health care costs (present and legacy) would render a well-made Corolla-clone too expensive.
FYI: The current-model Toyota Corolla is priced $800-$2,000 less than the new, similarly-sized Chevrolet Cruze. The reliability of the Corolla is documented with decades of Consumer Reports better-than-average ratings. The Cruze's predecessors, Cobalt and Cavalier, have spotty and oft-dismal CR reliability rankings. Edmunds.com reviewed the 2011 Cruze and cited "chintzy interior pieces" as one of its negatives. (posted 10/3/10, permalink)
Fiscal Moron Seeks Finance Guru: Everybody knows that community organizers are generally ignorant about money matters. Expecting our current president to be different is foolhardy. In 2008, the voting public felt that Obama would compensate by surrounding himself with economic experts. Instead, he picked a bunch of tax cheats. (Forty-one Obama White House aides owe the IRS $831,000 in back taxes.)
He does however, seek advice from Warren Buffet - the Oracle of Omaha - on occasion. In July, the White House released a photograph of President Obama meeting in the Oval Office with Mr. Buffet. Unfortunately, Obama is so clueless he doesn't seem to understand what the billionaire investor has been telling him.
Claude Sandroff of American Thinker has written, "Warren Buffet provides economic advice to his goofy novice, and then has to watch our over-rated chief executive herald that a non-existent metric - the profit-to-earnings ratio - had reached levels that cried out to all those sitting on the sidelines to jump back into the stock market."
'Profits-to-earnings ratio' is the equivalent to using the 'ass-to-heinie ratio' in describing Kim Kardashian's famous posterior. Makes no sense. Neither Economics ... nor Assonomics.
While I'm doing analogies, it is tempting to compare Ms. K's 2010 oversized, out-of-all-proportion, overexposed rear end to the current U.S. national debt. Imagine how better-balanced and appropriately-sized the 1986 debt level was by comparison.
Much like Linda Kozlowski's shapely buttocks, which we all enjoyed while watching 'Crocodile Dundee' that same year.
 Returning to the main subject of economic advisors, Warren Buffet is certainly renowned but, if you want the best results, you want only the most successful advisor.
That would be Scrooge McDuck.
Scrooge often goes swimming in his money bin, said to contain three cubic acres of money. Have you ever even seen Buffet in a bathing suit?
During a bad investing spell, Mr. McDuck was losing one million dollars each minute, and commented that he will go bankrupt within 600 years.
Warren B. wouldn't last a month.
Scrooge's five-story central office building in Duckburg is reportedly the world's largest repository of gold coins. Scrooge is said "to be worth one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents."
Buffet's worth is estimated at a mere $40 billion.
If Obama wants to fix our economic woes, it's time to call in a real expert - a rich duck. (posted 9/9/10, permalink)
Work Request: A Government Accountability Office report released last week shows that the Department of Energy has spent more than $1.9 billion in stimulus funds to create 10,018 jobs through May, an average of $194,213 spent per full-time job created.
Based on a typical 2,000 hours per year per employee, that translates to over $97 per hour. Even a village idiot would realize that this is absurdly wasteful.
Those U.S. jobs which have gone to Asia and East Asia have done so because of cheap labor - $2 per hour versus $15/hour for light assembly work at a small to mid-size firm. So, with a $13 per hour government subsidy, I could "buy back" many of these jobs and bring them home to the good, ol' USA.
I believe I can create 10,018 jobs for $26,000 each ... or a total $260,468,000. Even if I need an extra 25% to administer the program, I'll still save taxpayers over $1.57 billion dollars.
Dear President Obama,
Please hire me to run the Department of Energy. And please fire Steven Chu, the present Secretary of Energy and head of DOE. Yes, I know that he's a fellow Nobel Prize winner and I'm not. (Although I have sometimes told people that I won one for plastic fabrication back in 1983. Still, that's far less resume padding than has been done by some of your closest advisors.)
I've heard that this Chu fellow is very good at cooling and trapping atoms with laser light, which sounds very cool. But he obviously doesn't have good street smarts when it comes to money utilization.
I have never knowingly trapped atoms with lasers but successfully ran several small business enterprises and know how to create jobs efficiently. I would like a government job because you're making my Medicare Advantage go away soon and I need some of that excellent health insurance that top government officials get.
In the spirit of Hope 'n' Change, I plan to make great Changes at DOE and Hope to hear from you soon.
Yours truly,
Joseph M. Sherlock
PS: Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner has noted that "Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War - more than $100 billion (15%) more." (posted 8/24/10, permalink)
Michelle Antoinette: Michelle Obama (aka Lady O), has been described by NY Post writer Andrea Tantaros as 'a modern-day Marie Antoinette', "the French queen who spent extravagantly on clothes and jewels without a thought for her subjects' plight."
While much of the country is pinching pennies, scaling back or eliminating vacations and/or trying to find/keep a job, the Obamas are acting like 1960s jet setters, taking an extravagant trip to Spain, followed by an August getaway to Martha's Vineyard.
Last week, Lady O ordered a custom-made designer coat from London. Are there no fashion designers is the USA who could are worthy of Michelle's trade? America needs the business. And those tourism dollars would have been better spent in the U.S. than in Spain ... and, before that, and Paris.
Here's hoping that Barry XVI's and Michelle Antoinette's 'Reign of Terror' is soon over. (posted 8/9/10, permalink)
The Scam Called Obamacare: "Internal White House documents reveal that 51% of employers may have to relinquish their current health care coverage by 2013 due to Obamacare. That number soars to 66% for small-business employers."
During the health care debate, Liar-in-Chief Barack Obama repeatedly said people who like their current coverage would be able to keep it. But an early draft of an administration regulation estimated that "many employers will be forced to make changes to their health plans under the new law."
The Congressional Budget Office projects that one of every three participants in the highly popular Medicare Advantage program will be dropped. Others, including Medicare's own actuaries, expect as many as half of all Medicare Advantage participants to lose the benefit. (posted 6/16/10, permalink)
Blood Money: President Barack Obama has announced that the U.S. would send $400 million of aid to the Palestinian territories following 10 days of international focus on Gaza. The announcement came as Obama met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Washington to discuss the progress of proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as "the dire situation in Gaza."
Once again, Barry O. stabs Israel in the back and wastes more taxpayer money on top of the $800 million we just sent to Gaza as "aid."
How about giving money to out-of-work Americans? Or making the Social Security Trust Fund solvent again? Or providing a powered wheelchair to every child in the U.S who suffers from spina bifida?
These are far better alternatives than funding terrorists. (posted 6/14/10, permalink)
Socialist Soliloquy: A couple of days ago, Barack Obama said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money." This utterance is from a man who never held a 'real' job, lives rent-free in public housing and made $5.5 million last year, mostly from books he "authored."
Why exclude children in private and parochial schools, asked the taxpaying father of a parochial school student at Tuesday's press conference where U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty announced the ticket giveaway. No explanation was forthcoming except that it was a White House decision.
Just wait until the next election. We shall overcome! (posted 3/25/10, permalink)
Quote Of The Day is from Tom McMahon on the deplorable thing known as Obamacare: "In retrospect, it may not have been a wise move to elect the quasi-alcoholic illegitimate Indonesian grandson of an African witch doctor as President of the USA."
Which brings up an interesting question. I've never made a secret of my fondness for alcohol, whether Chivas Regal and a good cigar in the 1970s, a post-dinner Di Saronno Amaretto in the '80s, a good Canadian Manhattan or a fine wine. In all my years on earth, I've never had a doctor tell me to "cut back on my drinking." So, just how much does Obama drink to warrant such medical advice? (posted 3/23/10, permalink)
 Nelson Muntz Moment: Over at Ace, Purple Avenger has written, "Just got back from Big Lots while making my weekly Arugula and Wagu Beef run and they had a big stack of handsomely boxed limited run Obama commemorative plates for $2. They used to sell for $20+S&H on TV. Oh how the mighty have fallen."
Haw-Haw. (posted 3/2/10, permalink)
New Slogan: According to reports from the Associated Press and Politico, the White House is already planning for the 2012 election.
Since Hope 'n' Change isn't working anymore, Obama's new catchphrase is rumored to be: 'My First Term Was All Bush's Fault'. (posted 2/26/10, permalink)
Job Creation Obama-Style: Randal O'Toole has written, "Remember all those jobs that high-speed rail was going to create? Turns out, not so much. Wisconsin, for example, had claimed that its share of high-speed rail funds would create 13,000 jobs. In fact, it is only going to be 4,700 - and then only at the peak of construction. So how did 4,700 turn in to 13,000? If you have a job this year, and a job next year, they counted that as two separate jobs. And if you have a job the year after that, that's three jobs." (posted 2/12/10, permalink)
I Am The Walrus; They Are The Corpsemen: Last week, President Barack H. Obama, in remarks about Haiti read from his ever-present TelePrompTer, made three references to a Navy corpsman, pronouncing it "corpse-man." Remember that this man is the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces.
Had this been a George W. Bush (or Sarah Palin ... or Dan Quale) mispronunciation, the mainstream media would have made it a front page story. But not in the Alternate Universe of Obama. "I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob."
It's Over: The much-publicized Obama Store in Washington's Union Station has closed. "This Valentine's Day, visitors to Union Station who had hoped to express their love for a significant other with a $20 pink T-shirt of Barack and Michelle Obama in a heart-shaped picture commemorating the 'Presidential Romance' ... may now be unable to do so."
Maybe the store should have applied for one of those shovel-ready stimulus grants. (posted 2/8/10, permalink)
Why Is The Obama Administration So Cluelessly Anti-Business? This chart explains it all:
Obama In Winter: Victor Davis Hanson has tapped into Our Great National Disappointment.
He begins, "Once upon a time, a fresh new politician, Barack Obama - black, young, eloquent, and hip - soared with rhetoric about hope and change. The people were mesmerized. What a contrast with the tongue-tied outgoing president, George W. Bush, and his unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! ... The people were considering voting for this unknown, fresh, hope-and-change candidate - a decision made easier after the financial meltdown of mid-September 2008. They decided then that they wanted a new-frontier moderate, a JFK for the 21st century, who would put competence and style over ideology - and clean up the financial mess left by Wall Street and the greedy Republicans."
But what they got instead was an outlier masquerading as a mocha JFK. A man who seems to have neither a discernible moral compass, nor solutions to the economic crisis which propelled him into office.
Obama's presidency began ominously. Hanson chronicled its beginning: "Obama went on an apology tour abroad. He inflated the accomplishments of the Islamic world, magnified his own country's sins, and once again blamed Bush for America's global unpopularity." And gave the Queen of England an iPod. It often seemed that Barack Obama blamed Bush for everything Obama perceived as a problem/roadblock in his presidency. He offered finger-pointing rather than workable solutions.
Meanwhile, Obama declared himself Auto Emperor, pushing Chrysler and GM into bizarrely-structured bankruptcies and firing the CEO of General Motors. This set in motion an inevitable chain of events which will result in default on taxpayer loans. The Congressional Oversight Panel has reported that the likelihood of repayment is doubtful. "Treasury put $81 billion into the two firms, and, unless the global car industry takes a miraculous turn for the better and sustains record sales for years, recouping that sum is virtually impossible." That figure doesn't include the various loans to GMAC.
Robert Farago of TTAC has written that "we're looking at an non-recoupable federal "investment" in the failed automakers that totals more than $100 billion." Of course, in ObamaWorld, this was this was never about the future viability of GM or Chrysler. It was about union jobs and UAW pension and retiree medical obligations - i.e. bankrolling/safeguarding The Union Vote. And screw everyone else.
Then there was energy policy. Candidate Obama swore to explore all options - offshore drilling, nuclear, wind, solar - an encompassing political suitcase of clichéd energy 'solutions'. What is now being delivered by President Obama is not what was promised.
Victor D. Hanson has pointed out that, under the Obama Administration's current policies, there "would be no new offshore drilling after all, no promise to use clean coal, and little if anything planned about nuclear power. Instead, Americans got one Van Jones, some sort of environmental "czar", who had a long history of ritually trashing the American economy, American agriculture, and American coal producers - while derogating George W. Bush as a "crack-head" oilman as addicted to petroleum as an addict is to cocaine. (Presumably Mr. Jones does not fly to his many conferences on carbon-spewing jets and is not picked up by gasoline-burning taxis.)" Or limos.
That would be now ex-czar Van Jones, exposed as a radical crackpot, truther loon, Commie sympathizer and racist.
Speaking of race, Hanson wrote, "Candidate Obama also assured skeptical voters that he would show us how to transcend race. He was no Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, who used skin color and white guilt for careerist purposes. The Reverend Wright, "typical white person", Michelle Obama's "downright mean country," and the Pennsylvania "clingers" remark were mere aberrations of the exhausting campaign, hyped by the shameless right wing.
But soon the people got the attorney general of the United States calling them racial cowards and dismissing voter-intimidation suits against club-wielding Black Panthers who had swarmed voting booths."
Then there's the health care mess. "President Obama somehow demanded that a 1,000-page blueprint of a proposed government takeover of the nation's health care be voted on before August recess - as if even one more month of treating patients the way we have for the last 100 years simply would be too much."
Hanson's exceptional essay strikes a nerve; it is an erudite litany of promises broken, hopes unfulfilled and 'change' most people never expected.
In a similar vein, the Wall Street Journal has opined: "Mr. Obama is falling in the polls because last year he didn't tell the American people that the "change" they were asked to believe in included trillions of dollars in new spending, deferring to the most liberal Members of Congress, a government takeover of health care and appointees with the views of Van Jones."
Victor Davis Hanson concludes, "Once upon a time the people deluded themselves into thinking a suave extremist was to be their nuts-and-bolts centrist. Now they don't know whether to be mad at him or themselves - or both." (posted 9/10/09, permalink)
Mr. Creosote Is My Role-Model: If Barack Obama and his minions have their way, health care will be turned upside down. Those who don't have insurance will get it - probably for free. Those who already have insurance will be taxed to death. Seniors, the enfeebled and the disabled - who will not meet the new 'cost-effectiveness standard' in the legislation - will be dispatched Eskimo-Style on ice floes after a hearty handshake, a "thanks for your service" and a final tax audit.
The upside of all this is that those unprofitable ethanol plants will be converted to making ice-floes in order to meet demand.
Former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle help craft the draconian health care bill. You may remember that Daschle was Obama's pick to be as the Secretary of Health and Human Services until Daschle withdrew his name amid a growing controversy over his failure to accurately report and pay income taxes - a common problem with Obama's friends.
Daschle has said that "health-care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them." I believe this is the Senatorial method of saying, "Drop dead."
 As for me, I have a plan. Even though I am a Senior, I have begun a rigorous regimen of twelve junk food-laced meals per day. I plan to hit 600 pounds before Obamacare kicks in. By then, I'll be too large to fit on any of the government-spec'd ice floes and, just like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, General Motors, morbidly obese Mississippi welfare recipients and Fannie Mae, I'll be deemed "too big to fail."
If you're still having trouble understanding what Obamacare will be like, I'll give the last word to Megan McArdle of The Atlantic: "Once we've got a comprehensive national health care plan, what are the government's incentives? I think they're bad, for the same reason the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is bad. I'm afraid that instead of Security Theater, we'll get Health Care Theater, where the government goes to elaborate lengths to convince us that we're getting the best possible health care, without actually providing it." (posted 7/31/09, permalink)
Are You Suffering From Obama Exhaustion Yet? William Katz has written about the first six months of Barack Obama: "He delivered an inaugural address, not one word of which has been quoted in the six months since. ... In the half year since inauguration, President Obama has given many, many speeches, all of which, save one, have been forgotten. The one exception is the address he gave in Cairo to his brothers in the Muslim world, remembered only because so many observers pointed out so many factual errors. We have learned much about Obama in these six months, and one thing we've learned is ... that there is about this man, underneath the golden words, a remarkable shallowness. As a nation, we like him, but increasingly do not trust him. ... we are losing confidence in him as a leader."
"On that bleak day in 1986 when Challenger exploded above Cape Canaveral, an ordinary citizen, reflecting on how President Reagan would respond, assured me, "He knows what to do." Few use those words about President Obama After six months, we are unsure that "he knows what to do." ..."
Katz concluded, "As Americans, we want each president to succeed, assuming we can agree with a president's definition of success. Today we are watching a president fail, despite all the cheerleading from a press that has become a public embarrassment."
Then there's the Obama promise of "transparency." Neil Barofsky, special inspector general over the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), has said that the Treasury Department has "repeatedly failed" to adopt his recommendations that would make the program more transparent and accountable to taxpayers. Barofsky said that while the TARP program that Congress passed amounts to $700 billion, the total federal government support since 2007 for the economy and the financial sector could reach a far higher figure of $23.7 trillion. The government has committed significantly more money through a variety of other federal agencies and programs.
"This Administration promised an 'unprecedented level' of accountability and oversight, but as this report reveals, they are falling far short of that promise. In fact, the Treasury Department is actively obstructing transparency," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member on the oversight committee.
$23.7 trillion dollars!?! Karl Denninger has written, "This is blatantly unconstitutional folks. We're talking about nearly double the nation's GDP in debt commitments and more than 33 times the amount authorized by Congress." (posted 7/22/09, permalink)
 Sounds Like A Lucy Ricardo Scheme in an 'I Love Lucy' sitcom episode: Joe Biden told an audience, "We have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt."
At an AARP town hall meeting, Vice President Biden told people that, unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law, the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.
At that point, Barack Obama walked onstage, removed his fedora and said, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do." (posted 7/17/09, permalink)
Say All The Bad Things You Want ... about former President George W. Bush or about presidential-wannabe John McCain. But under a Bush administration or a McCain administration, you never would have seen photos of four former Gitmo detainees splashing around in Bermuda's blue waters.
I'm particularly miffed by this because, when we lived back east, there were always airfare deals from Philly to Bermuda and we often spoke of vacationing there. But it never happened; we were too busy working, raising a family and trying to save for the future. And paying taxes.
Instead, we'd end up driving to the Jersey shore or Pennsylvania Dutch country. Now, terrorist suspects get a free trip to the sub-tropical island, courtesy of our tax money.
I hate to say 'I told ya so' but - on October 29, 2008 - I warned that Obama "is a phony machine politician who would be too easy with my money and not tough enough on terrorists and those nations that support them."
Barack Obama: worse than I ever could have imagined. And, as the man himself said, "You ain't seen nothing yet." (posted 6/17/09, permalink)
Gift Malfunction: During his Middle East trip last week, President Obama presented King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia with a gift from America - a 2009 Chrysler Sebring LX sedan. Obama pointed out that the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine gets remarkable gas mileage "although - with all the oil you've got - that's probably not an important consideration around these parts." The President also informed the King that the pale brown mid-sized car was finished in 'Light Sandstone Metallic Clearcoat', a paint color which he assured Abdullah would be renamed 'Arabian Sunrise' for the 2010 model year.
The presentation ceremony was marred by yet another of the Obama administration's gift gaffes, when it was discovered that there was a small green Enterprise logo sticker still affixed to the Sebring's back bumper.
 The President tried to distract the King, pulling him aside and remarking, "Look, if you don't like this one, I can get you another model. I've got lots and lots to choose from. And, if any of your family or friends are interested, Your Highness, I can arrange to get them a good deal. We're movin' out the '09s, to make room for next year's models. And ... I've got even better smokin' hot deals on our remaining 2008 Sebrings. And, if you'd rather have a Pontiac, talk to me. Now that I'm running the car biz, I'm in touch with some really motivated dealers. We've got some unreal pricing on loaded G5s with factory nav systems - your choice of colors."
Aides could be seen in the background, frantically trying to remove the offending sticker with Goo Gone.
Following the meeting, a microphone picked up stray comments by King Abdullah, who described the automotive gift as "uglier than my least-attractive wife - the one with the hairy chin-wart." The King was heard later instructing an aide to "take this rolling metal garbage can, fill it with the bodies of beheaded criminals and bury it in the desert." (posted 6/8/09, permalink)
Mr. Have-It-Both-Ways: During his Notre Dame commencement speech, Barack Obama said that both sides of the abortion issue "must stop demonizing one another" and later added that "no matter how much we want to fudge it ... the fact is that, at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable."
Too bad we don't have time travel. I wonder if the Teleprompter Messiah would be willing to travel back to 1849 and say the same things about slavery, appealing to both sides to "search for common ground?"
Or to 1942 Nazi Germany, advising the Jews that "the views of the two camps (one of them being Auschwitz) are irreconcilable."
You can't have it both ways, Mr. President. Some things are just plain wrong.
In Order To Remind You ... of her name and presence (lest ye forget), Sarah Palin said her Catholic grandfather would be shocked to hear that this prestigious university was honoring a man with such a strong "anti-life" agenda.
"My favorite grandpa, Clem James Sheeran, was Catholic. Irish to the core, his favorite place (other than church) was Notre Dame. I can’t imagine what he would think as the university recognizes someone who contradicts the core values of the Catholic faith by promoting an anti-life agenda. As we learned today, our nation is more pro-life than ever before; it is a very important time to strengthen the message that every baby is created for good purpose and has the potential to make this world a better place." (posted 5/18/09, permalink)
60 Minute Man (with apologies to The Dominoes): Did you ever think that a sitting president would be such an idiot on '60 Minutes'? Whatever bad vibes you've ever gotten from Clinton, either of the Bushes, Reagan, Nixon or even Carter - Barack Obama has topped them all:
Steve Kroft: You're sitting here. And you're ... you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, "I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about ... (Obama laughter) ... money." How do you deal with ... I mean, wh– explain ...
President Obama (smiling): Well ...
Steve Kroft: ... the mood and your laughter.
President Obama: Yeah, I mean, there's got to be ...
Steve Kroft (incredulous): Are you punch drunk?
President Obama: No, no. There's gotta be a little gallows humor to ... (laughing) ... get you through the day. (posted 3/25/09, permalink)
Zip It: Gerard Van Der Leun offers advice to Obama: "Whoa, dude, shut up, already! You've lost that loving feeling. You are bumming us out, harshing our mellow, killing our buzz and, in general, just bringing us down every time you open your mouth.
Here's a hint. Stay in the House. Kick back, take some deep hits on the clue bong, and chill out, dude. You're supposed to be cool, right? Right. So, hey, like be cool okay? ...
Practice doing nothing, zero, zip, niente, nada. For about two weeks. Stay at home and spend some quality time with your family that doesn't involve taking the wife out for dinner at a cost of around $10 million in air and limo charges after we warm up Air Force One and put the country's biggest SUV on the road.
Yup, do nothing except, well, get up in the morning and, like millions of others who still have a job, go to the job. Go to the office. Sit in the big papa bear chair behind the new sign that reads "The Buck Would Stop Here If We Had A Buck!" Close the mouth, open the mind, fo-cus and get some work done."
He continues, asking that Barry O. take a holiday - not a Bank Holiday but, rather, a Blather Holiday: "Enough with the endless billion/trillion bills and the fat fear mongering. Enough with the angry school marm lecturing. Enough with the big daddy warnings of stiffer punishment to come if we don't shape up like right now.
Face it, man, every time you talk about saving and creating jobs thousands of people get ejected out of their jobs with a JATO assist from whatever policy you seem to be whipping out at the moment. Every time you speak of the future it gets grimmer.
Lately it seems that all you have to do is glance away from the teleprompter and hesitate and, boom!, there goes another 100 point drop in the Dow. And then, when you find the next sentence and say it, whap! there's goes another 100 points. I'm not sure if the Dow can sink beneath absolute zero, but I'm not curious to find out. Maybe that sort of "experimentation" seems far out and groovy to you, but I'm not into smoking PCP myself so just put "the idea of the day" down and step away from the policy."
My question is: who's making all these gaffes? Is it Obama, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs or Gibbs' cousin, who has a certain reputation as the master of inappropriate responses?
There is a definite family resemblance between the two men on the right. (posted 2/23/09, permalink)
The Implementator Of The Grand Poobah: Barack Obama has established the first ever 'Office of the President-Elect'. It sounds like a Kingfish title from an old Amos and Andy skit.
In the oft-funny book, 'Class' (subtitled 'A painfully accurate guide through the American status system'), Paul Fussell has a chapter about words as class indicators. He notes that middle class people love "bogus airline words" like 'beverage', 'flotation device', 'motion discomfort' and 'non-dairy creamer'. "Smoking is not permitted while making use of the lavatory facilities" is, he says, the complicated, less-classy way of saying "Don't smoke in the toilet."
The more syllables, the more lame and class-dropping a word or phrase is: prison becomes correctional facility, tip becomes gratuity, rich becomes affluent, end becomes terminate, death becomes fatality, atom bomb becomes nuclear device, etc.
And Transition Team (4 syllables) becomes Office of the President-Elect (9 syllables). (posted 11/10/08, permalink)
Disclaimer
The facts presented in this blog are based on my best guesses and my substantially faulty geezer memory. The opinions expressed herein are strictly those of the author and are protected by the U.S. Constitution. Probably.
Spelling, punctuation and syntax errors are cheerfully repaired when I find them; grudgingly fixed when you do.
If I have slandered any brands of automobiles, either expressly or inadvertently, they're most likely crap cars and deserve it. Automobile manufacturers should be aware that they always have the option of trying to change my mind by providing me with vehicles to test drive.
If I have slandered any people or corporations in this blog, either expressly or inadvertently, they should buy me strong drinks (and an expensive meal) and try to prove to me that they're not the jerks I've portrayed them to be. If you're buying, I'm willing to listen.
Don't be shy - try a bribe. It might help.
|
|
