The text-message, no-yesterday President
Barack Obama is the New Age President. In the New Age, majorities of Americans live on text-messages, are turned off by politics and are oblivious to the workings of government. The result is that this President can say anything, confident that he’ll not get trapped in the facts contained in the fine print or elsewhere.
An example is his assertion Tuesday that Congress should “pay” for new spending with new taxes or program cuts rather than by cranking up the printing presses to add more debt. Under the new, improved “pay-as-you-go” proposal, a failure to tax or cut for new spending would prompt automatic cuts in entitlements, excluding Social Security.
As the Associated Press pointed out, you can’t listen to this President without fine-print or historical context. Writes the AP: “Not noted by the president: Tuesday’s plan is a watered-down version of the so-called ‘PAYGO’ rules proposed just last month in his own budget plan.”
Last month’s version would have provided that new spending is to be “paid for” in the first year; this one allows it to be financed over a decade. About 40 percent of spending is exempted from PAYGO.
This is relevant since Democrats are proposing a national health care entitlement that will add a trillion dollars to new spending. ”We are going to be deficit-neutral, even, over five or 10 years,” said White House budget director Peter Orszag. Obama said he’ll identify $300 billion in savings from Medicare and Medicaid that can be used to finance the new entitlement. As is to be expected with Obama, a tax on employer-provided medical benefits is also an option, though during the campaign he said otherwise.
That’s part of the phoniness of this President and this Administration. The basic assumption is that Americans don’t remember yesterday or don’t plug in past the rhetoric. Today’s text message from the President presumes that nobody was paying attention yesterday or has time to read beyond the sound-bites.
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106 comments Add your comment
Churchills MOM is Ignorant
June 10th, 2009
8:15 am
Hey Chickie, before you begin your b1tchfest, just know that this link works EVERYDAY. You just need to figure out how to use it! Mouse-over and left click. Now you try it.
Copyleft
June 10th, 2009
8:16 am
Rejected title: “Darn this Newfangled Interweb Stuff–and GET OFF MY LAWN!”
Actually, the great ADVANTAGE of the modern information age is that “what really happened yesterday” is readily available at all times, making it harder to pretend the past never happened.
For example, when the right-wing distortion machine announces, “Obama said the U.S. is not only a Muslim country, but the largest one in the world!”, Internet users can pull up what he ACTUALLY said and coolly shoot down their insane rantings.
That’s a good thing, Mr. Barr. More people having access to more information helps keep the lies in check… and that’s never good news for conservatives, who have to rely on lies and ignorance to promote their agenda.
Skip
June 10th, 2009
8:16 am
Americans do remember yesterday, that’s what got him elected.
williebkind
June 10th, 2009
8:31 am
Well, unemployment is up to 9.2%. It does seem what KOTUS says really matters. A few more social programs should take us to the great depression levels of jobless citizens. But hey! Obama is such a likable person regardless of the lies about the stimulus money creating jobs. Did Obama lie? I report you decide…lol
William Casey
June 10th, 2009
8:31 am
All the Republicans have to offer are the re-tread ideas of a failed past. No thanks!
williebkind
June 10th, 2009
8:37 am
WILLIAM CASEY: What failed past? What re-tread ideas? Are you practicing “drive by media” propaganda? Name one socialist economy that was successful for the people.
The Anti-Wooten
June 10th, 2009
8:44 am
WillHeBeADummy,
The use of Drive By Media demonstrates your Lush FlimFlamJob dumbohead status and sends your credibility into Redneck Converts outhouse.
Lynne
June 10th, 2009
8:46 am
williebkind, when you’re driving on a public street, across a public bridge, by a public library today, ask yourself that question again.
deegee
June 10th, 2009
8:51 am
What makes people like JW so desperate is news of the Lebanese elections on Sunday.
An American-backed coalition won the parliamentary elections. For the first time in a long time, being aligned with the United States did not lead to defeat in the Middle East. And since Lebanon has always been a critical testing ground, that could mark a possibly significant shift in regional dynamics with another major election, in Iran, on Friday.
Angela
June 10th, 2009
8:51 am
Unfortunately, some newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. Fortunately, we do have the Internet where we may research anything, including past events and past newspaper articles, and decide for ourselves what is really going on. I don’t think the American people are slack enough to just believe in sound bites.
Gordon
June 10th, 2009
8:56 am
Copyleft,
You didn’t address any of the actual points Jim made. For example, was he correct when he said Tuesday’s plan was a watered-down version of something already in the budget? Is it true that 40% of spending is exempt, which might lead one to believe it sounds good but won’t be effective? Are those “lies and ignorance”, or are you doing exactly what Jim suggests: hoping no one gets beyond flurry of adjectives in your rant. You would be a lot more convincing if you shot down Jim’s points with facts rather than shooting down Jim and others you have political differences with.
Churchill's mom
June 10th, 2009
9:04 am
Jim, Why are men afraid of a real woman like our next President?
Sarah Palin called David Letterman “pathetic” Tuesday after the CBS “Late Show” host said the Alaska Republican governor sports a “slutty flight attendant look.”
“What a commentary there,” Palin said of the comment during an interview on conservative host John Ziegler’s Los Angeles-based radio show. “That’s pretty pathetic, good ole David Letterman.”
In a follow up to Palin’s weekend trip to New York, Letterman’s “Top Ten” list on Monday featured “highlights of Sarah Palin’s trip to New York.” Number two on the list was “bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her ‘slutty flight attendant’ look.”
“It’s very sad to not recognize what this trip was all about,” Palin said, pointing to the autism event she participated in during a stop in Westchester, New York.
Palin grouped Letterman in with media outlets “where everything is commentary and facts don’t matter anymore.”
Asked about the allegations that she plagiarized former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a speech last week in Alaska, Palin said “that latest incident is absolute nonsense.”
Gingrich’s camp told POLITICO Monday that the plagiarism charges were “silly,” pointing out that Palin had cited the former speaker in her remarks.
Palin referred to the reporters and bloggers who accused her of plagiarism as “buffoons.”
“If they are not held accountable, these reporters who repeat lies and repeat distortions all in the name of hard news, then our nation is headed to a very scary place,” she said.
Palin was the first guest on Ziegler’s radio show, which aired for the first time Monday. Ziegler previously interviewed Palin soon after the presidential campaign for his film “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted.”
The Alaska governor admitted to Ziegler that there have been times when she questioned if her career in politics is worth the accompanying criticism.
“To be brutally honest, yeah, there are some days where I have to ask myself if some of this is worth it,” she said, before adding that she “will not sit down and shut up.”
“I will continue to do that and they can continue taking shots,” Palin said.
Asked later if she would have picked Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, Palin said “I don’t know.”
“I think gender, race, should not be any kind of test you have to pass,” she said. “I’m sure that there are many, many qualified candidates that should have been considered.”
************Handel 2010**************Palin Mccain 2012************
Churchill's mom
June 10th, 2009
9:09 am
Churchills MOM is Ignorant 8:15 am
Silly little know nothing boy
Che was a homicidal maniac
June 10th, 2009
9:13 am
Copyleft is a high school drop out.
Ga Values
June 10th, 2009
9:18 am
Where are our CONSERVATIVE Republicans when we need them? Our 2 Socialist senators want to spend/waste more money on programs for their special interest patrons. We need a 2 party system not one of “Spend or Spend More”. Johnny the Socialist said we need to give every American stock in GM, a real CONSERVATIVE would not have voted for TARP like Saxby and Johnny did. It sure looks like we have no hope.
Tricky D
June 10th, 2009
9:20 am
Where old man Wooten is wrong is that more Americans ARE tuned into what is going on with the inner workings of their government. Look at the ratings for Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. Were there more or less people watching these channels a year or two ago? Internet sites such as Politico, Drudge, HuffPo, et al. have taken a lion’s share of readership from the papers as well. So Wooten’s claim is debunked by mere facts. As are many of his diatribes. Does he have a valid point about the President’s pay as you go plan, yes. But judging from the last two Presidents, they must know something that we don’t. I know Wooten remembers Dick Cheney’s statement “deficits don’t matter.” But the problem is he never pointed out the problem with the spending of a ‘phony’ republican administration, which makes him appear like yelling the sky is falling after it fell. The NY Times has a great article today that places blame with BOTH parties regarding deficit spending. And we know which party has spent the most, don’t we Wooten!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html?_r=1&hp
Peadawg
June 10th, 2009
9:22 am
Here’s a though…STOP SPENDING MORE AND MORE! How about we cut spending, hhhmmmmm?? Or is that a new concept to democrats?
Peadawg
June 10th, 2009
9:25 am
here’s a thought***
long morning already
Copyleft
June 10th, 2009
9:27 am
Peadawg: As foreign an idea as it is to Republicans, as we’ve seen over the past eight years.
Gordon: Yes, but I’m being lazy today. Wooten’s tantrums usually aren’t worth the effort to refute point-by-point, especially when conservatives are impervious to logic anyway.
Ga Values
June 10th, 2009
9:33 am
The article recommended by Tricky D is worth a read. Here is a cut and paste from it about the “spend more” wing of the Republican party.
“But Congressional Republicans aren’t, either. Judd Gregg recently held up a chart on the Senate floor showing that Mr. Obama would increase the deficit — but failed to mention that much of the increase stemmed from extending Bush policies. In fact, unlike Mr. Obama, Republicans favor extending all the Bush tax cuts, which will send the deficit higher.
Republican leaders in the House, meanwhile, announced a plan last week to cut spending by $75 billion a year. But they made specific suggestions adding up to meager $5 billion. The remaining $70 billion was left vague. “The G.O.P. is not serious about cutting down spending,” the conservative Cato Institute concluded.”
Munch
June 10th, 2009
9:34 am
Also Sprach Wooten….
“…this President can say anything, confident that he’ll not get trapped in the facts contained in the fine print or elsewhere.”
Project much, Wootie?
“The basic assumption is that Americans don’t remember yesterday or don’t plug in past the rhetoric.”
This has been the curse of American polity for years. Odd that Wootie would worry about it at this late date.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Jim.
sd
June 10th, 2009
9:36 am
So when Obama says “that Congress should “pay” for new spending with new taxes or program cuts rather than by cranking up the printing presses to add more debt. “, that somehow upsets Conservatives????
I don’t understand you guys.
I honestly believe that if a Democrat championed every conservative ideal, that Republicans would still hate him.
This isn’t sports.
ObamaMama
June 10th, 2009
9:38 am
We are only at the six month marker and right-wingers are already trying to pick who will lead their party in 2012? LOL You all can’t even support your party leader – the token – I say get your sh** together and then come back to the table. You lost get over it, the rest of the world is happy with the VOTERS decision on Obama.
Peadawg
June 10th, 2009
9:40 am
“Peadawg: As foreign an idea as it is to Republicans, as we’ve seen over the past eight years.”
Copyleft, I like how you don’t refute my claim. I know you’ve been keeping up w/ the news. The spend, spend, spend hasn’t gotten any better under Obama. I thought he was going to stop wasteful spending? Just another slimy politician I guess.
Sam
June 10th, 2009
9:47 am
Copyleft is all hat and no cattle
sd
June 10th, 2009
9:51 am
“The spend, spend, spend hasn’t gotten any better under Obama.”
You give Obama too much credit. It was John Keynes who came up with the ideas we are using now to try to stave off depression. You can either be Keynsian or you can believe something else. There are certainly great minds on both sides of the argument.
However, Keynes himself would not have argued that Government spending would this quickly have turned us to full employment.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 10th, 2009
9:52 am
The New York Times Company has hired Goldman Sachs to manage the
possible sale of The Boston Globe, The Globe reported, citing people
who said they may make offers for the business.
Boots
June 10th, 2009
9:56 am
Because “she (Sara Palin) will not sit down and shut up” the American people will soon be fed up of her shrill, whiney, and misinformed/ill-informed/uninformed responses to simple questions.
She’s an empty $2500 suit.
The Republican Party will spit her out like a sunflower seed. They’re still scratching their head over why John McCain selected her in the first place.
SCY
June 10th, 2009
9:57 am
Problem is you have two groups of people Liberal Democrats, who rehash the same failed ideas whenever they get into power and Conservative Republicans who do the same thing. The problem is especially acute when one side gains complete control as the Republicans had for the previous 6 years and as the Democrats do now. The power goes straight to their head and they misinterpret the outcome of these elections as a mandate for their unceasing passion to control as much as possible through governance.
Frankly the last two presidents (Obama and Bush) have been great disappointments. It took me a few years to become completely disgusted with Bush, but Obama surpassed that record, accomplishing the same in only 6 months. I find it amazing how uninformed the average citizen seems to be. Anyone who thinks either of these parties has an answer for anything is blind or perhaps a fool…what a fool believes.
Both sides seek to concentrate as much power in Washington as is humanly possible, not for anyone’s benefit but that of the politician. Both sides have come to view themselves as mythic almost God like figures…our presidents live in mansions with thousands of servants and special anthems and formal titles. Our congressmen and women are in accessible and view themselves as above the law. Do we have a monarchy and nobility or is this a republic?
You people defending Obama and the Democrats or the Republicans are sad, when everything they have done, everything they have touched for decades has been a colossal failure. It is only because of the ingenuity of everyday Americans working hard to support their families, starting small business and so forth that this country hasn’t already collapsed
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 10th, 2009
9:57 am
As the newspaper industry and its classified advertising business
wither, one company appears to be doing extraordinarily well:
Craigslist.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 10th, 2009
10:01 am
The administration is expected to introduce executive pay rules for
firms receiving U.S. aid by the end of the week and name a pay czar
with the power to reject certain compensation plans.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 10th, 2009
10:02 am
Federal authorities on Tuesday indicted the former chief executive of
the accounting firm BDO Seidman on multiple charges of conspiracy and
fraud over his work with questionable tax shelters.
Techno Woman
June 10th, 2009
10:02 am
Darn these young whipper snappers with their technical innovations! How we all miss the long winded, pontifical old farts of yester Year!
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 10th, 2009
10:03 am
Bank of America disclosed Tuesday that it was paying the legal fees of
Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial,
who has been accused of securities fraud and insider trading.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
June 10th, 2009
10:03 am
Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the casino-resort developer, said it had filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to get about $800
million in expected construction funding.
Copyleft
June 10th, 2009
10:05 am
Peadawg, your error is in assuming that “cutting government spending” should be our #1 priority. That priority only exists for far-right economic conservatives.
Cutting spending in the middle of a recession where the interest rates have already bottomed out would be disastrously stupid… almost as stupid as tax cuts during a war.
Copyleft
June 10th, 2009
10:07 am
SCY: Really? EVERYTHING government has EVER done has been “a colossal failure”?
Wow. That’s some wacky extremism right there, folks.
NoBama
June 10th, 2009
10:11 am
Obama sucks
Peadawg
June 10th, 2009
10:12 am
So, cutting wasteful government spending when we’re already in a HUGE deficit is stupid? Wasn’t Obama going to try and cut the deficit…not add to it?!?!?!?
SCY
June 10th, 2009
10:18 am
Not what I said Copyleft, but perhaps your bias prevents an objective critique, I said everything these politicians have touched for decades…and since you are such a fan of these political hacks perhaps you can given me some examples of success brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Washington politician?
Medicare…Bankrupt
Social Security…Bankrupt
Medicaid…Bankrupt
National Standards for Schools…US Ranks last
Prescription Drugs…Costs Skyrocketing
War on Drugs…Failed
Health Care Costs…spiraling
National Debt…nearing the point of being unserviceable (perhaps you don’t mind hyper inflation)
I could go on…but I think we get the message. Sure those Washington politicians have done a few things right…they raise their salary every year 9in conflict with the 27 amendment) they give themselves an excellent retirement and health care plan and they avoid addressing real problems like insolvency
If not loving the status quo is extremism then I say make the most of it
Hell is Other People
June 10th, 2009
10:24 am
Some days it is hard not to root for the pandemic.
Boots
June 10th, 2009
10:48 am
I read with amusement the remarks of the conservatives and notice a vacuum of silence regarding what they would do — other than reduce taxes and wait to be “tinkled” on.
So what would you do in the face of a financial melt-down and probable world-wide depression?
An exploding unemployment number?
The failure of our domestic car ie. manufacturing base? How about the need for manufacturing for national defense — to manufacture planes, tanks, trucks, jeeps in an emergency.
It is encumbent on the one criticizing to come up with a more workable plan — and that has not been forthcoming from the opposition. Only pety whining and negativism and childish insults! That won’t feed the dog.
ATLborn
June 10th, 2009
10:50 am
It’s hilarious to me how Bush was given not one, but two terms to prove he was an utter and complete failure yet Obama is being panned for his actions as Prez only 6 months in to the job. He’s actually following a lot of Roosevelt’s policies that got us out of the Great Depression.
You conservatives hate to admit that Bush’s policies, two costly wars (including one war of choice) pushed us over the edge in to this dire economic situation. Futhtermore, the Reagan’s once heralded policies of the past are now being realized as a large part of the problem with today’s economy as well.
Tricky D
June 10th, 2009
11:00 am
From the NY Times article:
You can think of that roughly $2 trillion swing as coming from four broad categories: the business cycle, President George W. Bush’s policies, policies from the Bush years that are scheduled to expire but that Mr. Obama has chosen to extend, and new policies proposed by Mr. Obama.
The first category — the business cycle — accounts for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing. It’s a reflection of the fact that both the 2001 recession and the current one reduced tax revenue, required more spending on safety-net programs and changed economists’ assumptions about how much in taxes the government would collect in future years.
About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.
Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.
About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.
If the analysis is extended further into the future, well beyond 2012, the Obama agenda accounts for only a slightly higher share of the projected deficits.
How can that be? Some of his proposals, like a plan to put a price on carbon emissions, don’t cost the government any money. Others would be partly offset by proposed tax increases on the affluent and spending cuts. Congressional and White House aides agree that no large new programs, like an expansion of health insurance, are likely to pass unless they are paid for.
Boots
June 10th, 2009
11:13 am
Enter your comments here
Ray Pugh
June 10th, 2009
11:16 am
Wow, NoBama, thank you for penning that insight piece to help illuminate our current predicament. Without the input from luminaries like yourself, how would us common folk ever be able to formulate opinions of our own?
Publicus
June 10th, 2009
11:30 am
Folks, please. Bomb-throwing is SO nineties. Take a breath. And, another. Doesn’t that feel good?
Now, go back to Tricky D’s earlier post and peruse Dave Leonhardt’s article in today’s NYTs. You may be able to attack Dave’s methodology (I’ll admit that I’m not smart enough to do so), but I don’t think that you can attack his main point: BHO’s economic recovery plan may not get us where we need to go, and that spells big trouble for the US of A. (Full Disclosure: I am a liberal, just to the left of George McGovern). Pay very, very close attention to the chart. It clearly shows that “it-ain’t-Obama’s-fault”. But, so what? It’s now HIS problem. If we don’t dig ourselves out of this (some would say Republican-constructed) hole we’re cooked, as are our children, and their children. BHO’s got to get this right, and right now. There may not be a second chance. And I, for one, am too old to begin learning Hindi or Mandarin.
Thoughts?
Jefferson
June 10th, 2009
11:50 am
Sounds like tax increases to pay for spending. The system is not hard to understand. To change the system you have to rally the voters. Is this not what has happened ? Was the perception of the way it was going so bad that the regime changed ? Who caused that ? Can it not happen again ?
There’s plenty not to like but this is the system. The ‘D’ are no different than the “R” neither is in touch and neither can handle prosperity. I doubt anyone here would be any different if they were an elected politician, I bet money changes everyone’s priorities, values and morals. If it don’t you won’t last as a politician. Most of the comments are mostly just pissing contests between “know it alls”.
Che was a homicidal maniac
June 10th, 2009
12:26 pm
Looks like Obama Husseins racist anti-jew pastor is back in the news.
Asked if he had spoken to the President, Wright said: “Them Jews aren’t going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight years when he’s out of office. …
“They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is. … I said from the beginning: He’s a politician; I’m a pastor. He’s got to do what politicians do.”
Wright also said Obama should have sent a U.S. delegation to the World Conference on Racism held recently in Geneva, Switzerland, but that the president did not do so for fear of offending Jews and Israel.
“Ethic cleansing is going on in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing of the Zionist is a sin and a crime against humanity, and they don’t want Barack talking like that because that’s anti-Israel,” Wright said.
How nice!
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_wright_0610jun10,0,7603283.story
AmVet
June 10th, 2009
12:55 pm
“The basic assumption is that Americans don’t remember yesterday or don’t plug in past the rhetoric.”
Well, the faithful Republiconned, who are winning a whopping 6% of the elections in the past few years, sure don’t seem to remember anything at all about the past eight.
Nor the most nonsensical rhetoric in American history.
Keep up the good work at exposing the consequences, Jim.