1. White House: Obama too overwhelmed to do his job.

Yeah, *that* should be good for another 200 points on the Dow.

2. Obama clueless on economic development

Touts government instead

3. Obama Betrayed by His Own Words on Market Collapse

In January He Knew What Needed to Be Done; He Just Chose Not to Do It

4. Obama’s British ‘Gift Gaffe’ Not Reported By U.S. Media

The Obamas, Barack and Michelle both, pretty much diplomatically botched the recent visit of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife. Oddly enough, the U.S. Old Media seems uninterested in the story that is a hot topic in England, a story that’s left many Brits a bit miffed.

5. Rush and Hannity listeners most informed about US politics

people who get their news from Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the most informed about US poltics. (at least if you accept the Pew poll’s metric).

6. Democrats nearly double Limbaugh’s audience

The Democrats’ conspiracy to demonize Rush Limbaugh, directed from the Obama White House, has the talk radio icon laughing all the way to the bank.

7. Republicans Don’t Need to Expand the Tent… They Need to Stop Moving It Long Enough for People to Come In

Is anyone else getting sick of the constant talk about the size of the Republican tent? Who gives a darn about the size of the tent if you have no idea where the tent is or what it looks like?

1. White House: Obama too overwhelmed to do his job.

Yeah, *that* should be good for another 200 points on the Dow.

Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.

But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama’s inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama’s inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to “even fake an interest in foreign policy”.

SOURCE

2. Obama clueless on economic development

Touts government instead

The President’s remarks point to his fundamental worldview. In talking about the stimulus he touts government action but fails to explain how this will actually grow the economy and provide jobs in the future. Instead, it is about how one time funds will keep some workers in their current job providing mostly government services or how infrastructure projects will magically grow the economy.

It is worth noting that Obama consistently distorts the situation by asserting, or strongly implying, that his opponents got us in this mess. Bush is to blame is perhaps the central motif of the Obama administration so far. And this is just hooey. The Democratic Congressional majority played a role in where we are today; to say nothing of liberal housing policy, Fannie and Freddie Mac; etc. (not to mention monetary policy which is often left out of the discussion by politicians).

The idea that the only choices were continue along the same path, do nothing, or support Obama is typical rhetoric from this president. He is always the wise and benevolent one rising above partisanship and petty politics while his opponents squabble and dig their heels in to the detriment of America. This while he, and his co-partisans Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, steamroll leftist policies through in the name of averting a crisis. The point of all this is to paint Obama as the brave man of action and his opponents as timid hacks when in many cases the opposite is true.

But notice that when Obama gets to the substance of what his brave action has resulted in it focuses on a temporary continuation of government - or heavily subsidized - services. does Obama talk about how the stimulus is going to jump start the economy by incentivizing business creation and innovation? No. He talks about how the stimulus allowed the police recruits he is speaking to and nurses, teachers, and firefighters to keep their jobs.

SOURCE

3. Obama Betrayed by His Own Words on Market Collapse

In January He Knew What Needed to Be Done; He Just Chose Not to Do It

Given the complete collapse in the Stock Market - and Wall Street’s obvious vote of ‘no confidence’ in the new administration, it’s funny to read the plan that Barack Obama laid out for himself just two months ago:

“…but the markets are obviously a slightly different situation. Right now, given the sensitivities of the market, I’ve got to pay some attention to market psychology because part of what we have right now is such a loss of trust in both the marketplace and in government that restoring that confidence, restoring that trust is going to be very important. I’m not going to part of watching the crawl at the bottom of an interview. What I will be doing is making sure that I’m communicating with key market participants on a regular basis, again, to explain to them what exactly our plans are and to solicit from them good ideas.”

So Obama recognized that the success of his agenda rested to a significant degree on his ability to convince Wall Street that he understood the market, and had a plan they saw as workable. It’s hard to believe that was just 8 weeks ago.

This is an embarrassment. Obama swore up and down that his top priority was getting the economy back on track, but he blew his Treasury pick, and hasn’t even gotten him a single deputy to help bear the load. His plan is seen as worse than useless by the markets. Given all that, it’s no surprise that there’s a nascent move to fire Geithner. (And you better watch out Tim; there’s always more room under the Obama bus.)

SOURCE

4. Obama’s British ‘Gift Gaffe’ Not Reported By U.S. Media

The Obamas, Barack and Michelle both, pretty much diplomatically botched the recent visit of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife. Oddly enough, the U.S. Old Media seems uninterested in the story that is a hot topic in England, a story that’s left many Brits a bit miffed.

As the visit of the national leader of our closest ally began, the President informed the Brits that he wouldn’t be attending the joint press conference that was planned to be held once PM Brown’s plane touched down. This threw the visiting delegation into a tizzy leaving them scrambling to explain the sudden change in plans to the folks back home. Still, meetings were had and things smoothed out. Eventually the visit seemed to right itself… then came the Obama’s gift gaffes.

It is well understood that visiting diplomatic delegations come bearing gifts and gift giving is returned in like fashion by the host country. It is an ages old human practice in diplomacy after all. Usually the gifts are valuable, representative of the products of the nations involved, or at least symbolic of the history of those nations.

For his part, PM Brown gave two symbolic gifts and one that expressed national pride. Brown came bearing a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of that which gave the wood to create the famous “Resolute Desk,” the desk that has been in America’s charge since 1880. He also gave Obama the framed commission for that famous ship, the HMS Resolute. His third gift was a seven-volume biography of one of England’s greatest leaders, Winston Churchill.

So, what did President Obama give the British PM? 25 movies on DVD. Yeah, that’s it. Brown gives a symbolic gift like the pen holder fashioned from a famous British warship and Obama responds by sending a staffer to WalMart to pick up a few quick movies.

SOURCE

5. Rush and Hannity listeners most informed about US politics

people who get their news from Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the most informed about US poltics. (at least if you accept the Pew poll’s metric).

On the question of naming the House majority party, 84% of Hannity viewers get it right. 83% of Limbaugh viewers get it right. Hardball (MSNBC) is next at 76%. I can’t tell if that difference is statistically significant.

On the question of naming teh Secretary of State, Hannity’s viewers are again the highest at 73%, while NPR’s are next, and Limbaugh readers tie with readers of the New Yorker and the Atlantic. (presumably combined because the samples are so small) Here, Hardball viewers are down at 66%.

Now, to get an over-all number that doesn’t place Hannity and Rush at the top, there is a question about UK Prime Minister. And, admittedly, they perform worse. However, somewhat ironically, more Hannity viewers can identify the UK Prime Minister than BBC viewers. And Rush listeners are only 3% less.

Now what to make of all this? Rush and Hannity get bragging rights of a sort.

SOURCE

6. Democrats nearly double Limbaugh’s audience

The Democrats’ conspiracy to demonize Rush Limbaugh, directed from the Obama White House, has the talk radio icon laughing all the way to the bank.

Friday’s U.S. News Political Bulletin reports Rush Limbaugh is a clear winner this week:

“His ratings have nearly doubled since his feud with the White House burst into the media limelight.”

Byron York asked Rush about the effect the Democrats’ plot has had on Rush’s business:

“The latest numbers I have are for January, well before this kerfuffle began, and they are through the roof — six shares in NY, for example. There are daily ratings taken now in about the top 15 markets but I have not seen them yet. All I can tell you is that as of January, we booked 80 percent of all our 2008 revenue and we’ll be over 2008 by the end of this month.”

According to Talkers Magazine, since the Democrats’ conspiracy was put in motion, Rush’s audience has grown from 14 million to 25 million.

SOURCE

7. Republicans Don’t Need to Expand the Tent… They Need to Stop Moving It Long Enough for People to Come In

Is anyone else getting sick of the constant talk about the size of the Republican tent? Who gives a darn about the size of the tent if you have no idea where the tent is or what it looks like?

The Republican problem is not that the so-called tent is not big enough… no, it’s that the tent keeps moving around under the non-leadership of a bunch of Republicans more interested in “figuring out what the American people want to hear” than in defining a vision for America based upon principle – conservative, or otherwise.

In short, no one knows what Republicans believe or why.

I defy anyone out there to clearly (and I mean CLEARLY) define what Republicans believe and why. I assure you that it is close to impossible if you are honest – and don’t project what YOU think they SHOULD believe and why they should believe it. Then, the most you can do is throw out a few random halfway-consistent positions based on a hodge-podge of political and ideological views.

SOURCE