On hope, faith, health care and branding.

Campaigning is not leading.

Obama strikes me as being a bit annoyed with things like press conferences. Bush did too. Bush, however, solved the problem by not having them. A presidential speech from the oval office would help Obama's sale of health care more than a presser. Speeches from the oval office carry more weight and health care is certainly a big enough issue to rate one. Still, Obama's desire to be present on TV all the time has now limited this option. Every time he speaks he lessens his impact.

Powerful Presidents dictate terms behind the scenes and judiciously pressure in public. One can easily imagine LBJ twisting arms in the White House to pass Medicare. Though, Congress wrote the bill there is no doubt that it was LBJ's Great Society being born. Obama has not dictated the terms of this debate. Believe it or not, Pelosi has had more influence on the terms so far.

Obama presents like the nation's life coach, encouraging us - en mass - to make decisions that may cause discomfort but will be "good for us." Like gulping cod liver oil. But he is NOT a man on a mission. FDR's New Deal was a mission. Kennedy willed us into space. LBJ's Great Society was framed as a national cause. There is something pathetic about seeing him bend press questions into cheap talking points for a plan that is still being written.

Can anyone say in one sentence what Obama's health plan is? To insure everyone? No. To cut costs? Maybe, but how? To reign in rapacious insurance companies? Uh...depends on the day and who's talking.

I can explain several pieces of major progressive legislation in one sentence:

Social Security: To ensure that people have a safety net after their working years.

Medicare: To ensure health care for people after their working years.

Headstart: The answer is in the name. To give poorer children a leg up.

Tennessee Valley Authority: Electrify rural Tennessee.


Family Leave: Job security for families in transition or crisis.


All of FDR's alphabet soup programs were targeted and easy to grasp.

In each case conservatives insisted "liberty" was on death door. Nonsense.

What is circa 2009 health care reform about? Considering how well Obama branded himself in 2008 one would think he could sell us on health care reform...or at least brand it.

This fight is far from over. The personal stakes for Obama are extraordinarily high. He may yet win. Still, he's now caught in the same quicksand Mrs. Clinton was in 1993.

August is the cruelest month in American politics. Policies and politicians are destroyed in August. Ask Michael Dukakis. In 1988 he roamed around in his station wagon while Lee Atwater buried his chances of winning with TV ads about furloughed rapists. If health care reform is to be killed yet again it will be murdered in August.

Many months ago I stated that Obama's fault was in inspiring hope but no faith. Hope is a fine campaign tactic but potentially disastrous afterward. Real leaders do not inspire hope. They inspire faith. Americans had faith in FDR. Hope was the result - not the starting point. Hope is about the future and is therefore suited for first term campaigns. Faith is about the present - which is, of course, where we live. Obama does not inspire faith. As the health care debate unfolds this becomes more and more evident.

Guest Post: New Deal v. New Pork - Who's in charge?

By Rentarainbow


Obama is flying around bragging that he has gotten a bill passed that spends more money than President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent in the same amount of time.

Oh goody.

Obama is spending more money.


Yippee.



But what is he BUYING with that money?

Is Obama buying "recovery"?

Is Obama buying jobs?

Or is Obama buying votes for his 2012 re-election?

Just by way of comparison, here's a timeline of FDR's first 100 days as president (in 1933) when the Great Depression had already been raging for a few years; thousands of banks had closed, stocks had lost most of their value, and there was 25% to 30% unemployment, not even counting women who were not considered part of the workforce. Millions were homeless; they had lost their homes and were moving in with relatives and friends. One third of the nation was ill-fed and ill-clothed.

FDR worked aggressively and creatively to stabilize the banks, feed the hungry, provide jobs for the jobless, and protect farmers and homeowners from foreclosure.

(P.S. FDR's recovery initiatives worked. We don't know if Obama's pork-laden "stimulus" bill will create recovery and new jobs, or if it will sink us further into "catastrophe.")

And, by the way, it might be useful to know WHO is overseeing the spending of this close-to-one-trillion dollars in "stimulus" money. Is anyone?

Who?

Tell me who.

Who is in charge of seeing that the $787 billion in this "stimulus" bill and the $78 billion in Obama's mortgage "bailout" are not wasted and/or not going to the very people who drove us into this economic 'quicksand'? (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have "recovered" quickly. Those 2 foxes not only gets to guard the "housing" hen house - they get the deed, the keys, and the run of the place. )

Will these Obama expenditures be "stimulative," or will they be just so much 'quicksand' that swallows more and more of our tax dollars?

Is it 2012 yet?

Narcissism: Check out No Quarter for some seriously creepy stuff on the White House page. The screen grabs SusanUnPC put up must be a joke...or should be a joke...

So far I think B. Hussein gets a C on performance. Not great. Not awful. He's not a trainwreck...yet... but he is underwhelming, to say the least. The self satisfaction is just this side of revolting. We've gone from "I'm the decider" to "I'm the decider. And am I pretty or what?" I would only be moderately shocked if the administration moved to declare BHO's birthday a national holiday.

The stimulus package is a Category 5 pork hurricane. (best mixed metaphor yet!) This does not mean it will not work on some level. It may. Still, thus far it is a meandering catch all bill that has no meaning.

Look at some of the names given to FDR's New Deal programs:
Civilian Conservation Corps
Civil Works Administration
Public Works Administration
Social Security Act

Whether these programs helped or hurt is not my concern here. The New Deal set out to energize and it did. Barry Hussein Obama's not so new deal is a "bailout" - a word that evokes exhaustion. A bailout weighted down with nonsense Money for skate board parks!?! That line item goes to the core of the problem. Bailout the fat cats and keep the plebe kids busy. Perhaps there will also be grants for eating nachos and watching MTV. The House GOP was ruthless and smart to vote no unanimously. A large majority of Senate Republicans will follow with "no". This will be BHO's and the Democrat's economy in short order.

I sense a massive let down is coming for the country as the Obama months unfold. Though he's measured his steps to such a degree that his alleged popularity may linger a while.

When that pesky Hillary would not quit last spring, The Chosen One told his supporters they might feel they we're on the "Bataan Death March". As reality nibbles away at the President Sunshine's narcissism - it is the rest of us that are in for a long, exhausting trudge.

Is it 2012 yet?

Lunch Break - Depression notes, a photo, Silent Night, F.D.R.

No idea about the photo. I googled "Christmas in Boston" and this is first image that came up. I was thinking New England/Cozy/Patriotic Christmas... but whatever... works for me...

Notes from the Depression Front.
Is this good news or a really bad sign?
Is this our future?
New Depression Benefit: Malls are dying.

Quote:

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

Franklin D. Roosevelt


Music
a gorgeous Silent Night