It’s hard to see in the signature line, but there is a special thanks to commenter mrkwong for the initial idea on this cartoon (here - comment #62).
News Flash: Obama Sucks At His Job
Via Drudge, the Telegraph is reporting that Obama’s Poll numbers have dropped farther and faster than any President on record over the last 50 years. Apparently, people think he’s doing a lousy job.
The failed and failing Presidency of Barack Obama appears to know no bounds when it comes to showing a lack of leadership, a fundamental inability to understand the plight of the people it routinely insists it speaks for, and the problems it naively believes it has the skills, knowledge, and expertise to solve:
Jeffrey Jones of Gallup explained: “The dominant political focus for Obama in the third quarter was the push for health care reform, including his nationally televised address to Congress in early September.
“Obama hoped that Congress would vote on health care legislation before its August recess, but that goal was missed, and some members of Congress faced angry constituents at town hall meetings to discuss health care reform. Meanwhile, unemployment continued to climb near 10 per cent.”
Despite the Telegraph’s poor usage of ’spellcheck’, a passage in this piece is instructive (emphasis mine):
Campaigning for Mr Corzine in Hackensack on Wednesday night, Mr Obama delivered a plea that almost seemed as much for himself as the local candidate: “I’m here today to urge you to cast aside the cynics and the sceptics, and prove to all Americans that leaders who do what’s right and who do what’s hard will be rewarded and not rejected.”
Mr Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs executive and multi-millionaire, is currently running even in New Jersey, which is normally comfortably Democratic, while Mr Deeds is trailing badly in Virginia, a swing state that was key to Mr Obama’s 2008 victory.
Of course we’re skeptical. Corzine, a multi-millionaire (which most of us are NOT) who comes from the evil empire of Wall Street (which we are all supposed to hate), is in trouble and Obama appears willing to waste what little political capital he has left trying to save a man who represents all that he (Obama) has been telling us for two years is at the base of all that troubles America: greed and a shameless lust for power. Why shouldn’t we be skeptical of a mouthpiece hell bent on propping up the very same person we’re being told is at the root of all our collective evil?
To watch this President fail, one big event after another-from losing the Olympics, to dithering on war, to fighting for pitifully poor legislation, to pimping for Politicians only concerned with their poll numbers and getting re-elected at any cost, is to watch a desperate man who finds himself in over his head - at the expense of 300 plus million Americans.
Of COURSE his poll numbers are falling…he sucks at this game, and people are finally coming to terms with it - even his little stick buddies on the left.
AP Headline: ‘Higher jobless rates could be the new normal’
The sound you hear is that of expectations being ratcheted downward.
To a capitalist, the words “It’s different this time” are a notorious red flag.
They’re usually uttered in the midst of a speculative boom, to explain why this boom is different from the last one that went disastrously bust.
In a market driven by capitalist rules (supply & demand, creative destruction), they’re nearly always wrong.
But in a centrally-planned system, where the government picks winners and losers, where dinosaur businesses are too big to fail, where investment in capital-wasting non-economic ventures (read: “green jobs”) is actually encouraged, where labor unions are exalted and private property trod upon, where the government is expected to be the engine that drives job growth, and where John Maynard Keynes has been restored from the economic dustbin of history to be beatified, economic stagnation and high unemployment are to be expected.
Just ask any fiscal conservative.
“Reform” Means You Pay More for Health Care
From the diaries by Erick.
My full article is here at The Heritage Foundation’s blog.
A major new report confirms the worst fears of many: Health care reform will raise the costs for most Americans—by about 18% on average. That is on top of existing and expected inflation of health coverage.
This exposes President Obama’s fictitious claim that people will save money under his proposal. Only those who receive new government subsidies and benefits will “save.” The rest of us will pay–big-time.
Once the plan is fully phased-in (by 2019), a typical family of four would pay an extra $4,000 each year.
When combined with inflation, costs would rise from today’s $12,300 annual average to $25,900. Of that 111% increase, $9,600 is due to existing factors uncorrected by the legislation, and $4,000 due to additional costs created by the legislation.
For single persons, the differential is projected at $1,500 a year. Premiums would rise from today’s $4,600 a year to $9,600 overall.
Prepared by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), the study was requested by AHIP—America’s Health Insurance Plans. It focuses on the leading plan pending in Congress, sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D, MT), which is scheduled for a Senate Finance Committee vote on Tuesday.
The PWC projections track what The Heritage Foundation and many others have said about the legislation: It does not save money. It simply taxes those who have health coverage and uses their money to give care to others.
The White House is said to be furious. After all, President Obama’s claims that he makes care more affordable are exposed as a myth by the new study.
Details and links are here.
The Nobel Committee Comes through again.
It is interesting how, for a cartoonist, some topics generate so much material. But, enough about the current administration, the Nobel Committee has done it again. In 2004, I did a cartoon about who (or what) should have gotten the prize (see first cartoon below).
In 2007 they provided the material for another cartoon. That cartoon was an effort to understand what went on in their minds when selecting a prize winner. It is the second cartoon below.
Their most recent work inspired the third cartoon below. I think I’m starting to figure out what they are looking for in a winning candidate. I would like to thank the committee for providing such fertile ground for comic material
On a side note, I almost titled this diary “The company you keep.” but then I remembered that we are no longer allowed to judge a person by the company they keep (or content of character for that matter) but, hey, it’s something to think about.
2004:
Tying the Health Care Debate to the Virginia Governor’s Race
Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orzag says a health care bill can be completed in six weeks, based upon the Senate finance committee’s model.
Six weeks…that puts the due date right around the time of the election here in Virginia (and New Jersey). Naturally, this has tongues wagging that the success or failure of health care could depend upon the outcome of the gubernatorial contests here and in the Garden State.
The Journal’s Kimberley Strassel believes:
The Virginian’s problem is that [Creigh Deeds is] a little too important to party leaders. The Obama White House isn’t half as worried about what Virginia means for next year’s elections as it is what Virginia means for this year’s health fight. A wipeout in the Old Dominion could send Blue Dogs scampering for cover. If health care isn’t done by Nov. 3, it may not get done. Mr. Obama needs Mr. Deeds to win.
Obama Is Opposed By Racists
If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel then crying racism must be in the other half of the duplex.
Many of us noted back during the ‘08 primaries and general election that the Obama camp would cry racism at the drop of a hat. He performed poorly in Pennsylvania because of racism. He was trounced in WV because of racism. In August 2008, Jacob Weisberg wrote that the only reason McCain could win the election was because of racism. They could never quite fathom that there were lots of reasons to oppose Obama other than race. Being the least qualified presidential contender since Wendell Wilkie and choosing convicted terrorists, terrorist who would have happily murdered Americans were it not for their epic levels of incompetence, and racist hatemongers as BFFs and mentors certainly popped on my radar as reasons why even Hillary Clinton was preferable to Barack Obama.
We predicted that should he win, the climate would only get worse.
Up until this weekend the accusation that only racists opposed Obama had been made sotto voce with the real criticism being directed at cartoonists. Now that criticism is being directed at all of us.
Paglia: Too late for Obama to turn it around?
The last column Camille Paglia did for Salon was highly controversial, but the course of events on health care since her column has her vindicated. Here is the link to this months treat from Salon that is Paglia’s column, and last months column is linked to below:
“What a difference a month makes! When my last controversial column posted on Salon in the second week of August, most Democrats seemed frozen in suspended animation, not daring to criticize the Obama administration’s bungling of healthcare reform lest it give aid and comfort to the GOP. Well, that ice dam sure broke with a roar. Dissident Democrats found their voices, and by late August even the liberal lemmings of the mainstream media, from CBS to CNN, had drastically altered their tone of reportage, from priggish disdain of the town hall insurgency to frank admission of serious problems in the healthcare bills as well as of Obama’s declining national support.”
“But this tonic dose of truth-telling may be too little too late. As an Obama supporter and contributor, I am outraged at the slowness with which the standing army of Democratic consultants and commentators publicly expressed discontent with the administration’s strategic missteps this year. I suspect there had been private grumbling all along, but the media warhorses failed to speak out when they should have — from week one after the inauguration, when Obama went flat as a rug in letting Congress pass that obscenely bloated stimulus package. Had more Democrats protested, the administration would have felt less arrogantly emboldened to jam through a cap-and-trade bill whose costs have made it virtually impossible for an alarmed public to accept the gargantuan expenses of national healthcare reform. (Who is naive enough to believe that Obama’s plan would be deficit-neutral? Or that major cuts could be achieved without drastic rationing?)”
“By foolishly trying to reduce all objections to healthcare reform to the malevolence of obstructionist Republicans, Democrats have managed to destroy the national coalition that elected Obama and that is unlikely to be repaired. If Obama fails to win reelection, let the blame be first laid at the door of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who at a pivotal point threw gasoline on the flames by comparing angry American citizens to Nazis. It is theoretically possible that Obama could turn the situation around with a strong speech on healthcare to Congress this week, but after a summer of grisly hemorrhaging, too much damage has been done…”
New Republic Editor: Parents “Disloyal” for Not Having Kids Listen to President Obama
Marty Peretz of the New Republic is usually a thoughtful liberal. I enjoy the New Republic. That’s why I was rather stunned by this article.
Some parents don’t like the idea of the President beeming his image into every school in the country on Tuesday. I think a lot of people have gotten carried away with criticizing the president on this, but I’ll admit that I dislike it, too. I dislike it not because the President’s speech is too political, but because it is not political. As I note here, the President really has nothing to say about government policy. Here’s the speech in a nutshell: “Welcome back to school. Stay in school, work hard.”
My kids don’t need to hear that from the President. This is a President who once again shows that he has no idea of the proper role of government. If the President wants to talk about governmental affairs, great. I’d love for him to stop by our school to do so. That would be a great experience for the kids. But I do not want the President trying to raise my children. When people ask, “how can you object to the President urging kids to stay in school,” I ask them what they’d think if I stopped by their house one night, uninvited, to tell their kids how to behave.
But Marty Peretz takes the cake. You know what Peretz thinks? He writes, ”it is almost disloyal to refuse any children the right to hear him. Disloyal and nutty.” Well gee, Martin, thanks for the “almost,” at least on the first try.
Where’s Hillary when you need her?
On “vetting” and the Czars
If you were to search Google News this morning for the word “vetting”, you’d find well over 1500 hits in relation to that word and the Van Jones story. The current meme is that Jones was not sufficiently vetted by the Obama administration - that his shortcomings and controversial positions were not exposed, primarily because he was an appointed “czar” with no Congressional approval or oversight.
Earlier today, Erick asked “Who created this special job for Van Jones and what vetting of any sort did he get?” The implication, of course, is that Jones was not vetted. But is that true?
Over at The Corner at NRO, Andy McCarthy has a different take - one that I believe is quite accurate. McCarthy asserts that Jones was chosen precisely because of his controversial background. He says:
The point, of course, is that Obama vetted Jones just fine. President Obama is not Mr. Magoo — haplessly gravitating to Truther Van and Ayers and Dohrn and Klonsky and Davis and Wright and the Chicago New Party and ACORN, etc. Jones is a kindred spirit. Obama knows exactly who he is. Jones was given a non-confirmation job precisely because that circumvented the vetting process. This isn’t one of those things that just happen. This is Barack “Transparency” Obama gaming the system.
A “kindred spirit”. The two have the same kinds of backgrounds. They were both community organizers of some ilk. It only makes sense that Obama would seek someone with the same background to pursue one of his pet policies - “green jobs.”
Can the Economy be Restored by Destroying Perfectly Good Cars? Obama Thinks So. Cash For Clunkers in Action
Thanks to the glories of YouTube, we can watch as the government mandates the destruction of perfectly good automobiles to “help the economy.” Here is a very nice 1990s Dodge Dakota 4X4 being destroyed. It is a much better vehicle than my pick up truck.
This is a Corvette that looks to be in pretty good condition. Black, pretty sharp car. I’m sure there are a lot of young men crammed into 2001 Nissans who would have liked this car.
In this video, a ‘98 Cadillac DeVille with less than 80,000 miles meets its end. Just 68,000 miles on this Chevy Caprice wagon.
A nice looking 2001 Mazda light truck with 75,000 miles bites the dust here. Here’s a good looking Volvo prematurely destroyed. This SUV would look at home in any tony U.S. suburb.
Really, you ought to look at at least a couple of these videos, and the hundreds more like them on YouTube. Are these “clunkers?” Can it really help the economy to destroy perfectly good assets? Are the people running the government the most economically illiterate bunch since FDR ruled the roost? Or are they dumber?
Obama: My Work Here Is Done
Let’s review the scorecard. Obama has taken over the Auto Industry…check. Obama has taken over the Energy Industry…check. Obama has taken over the Banking and Finance Industry…check. And, despite our collective wails and gnashing of teeth, Obama has presumably taken over the Healthcare and Health Insurance Industries as well.
Obama has been a busy little bee.
At least he has reassured us now by having deigned himself a full partner with God, and thank goodness for that given his plan to open our borders to immigrants this Fall (like a flood) for all those people around the world hoping to come to America and do the jobs Americans won’t do-terrorists or otherwise.
Obama hasn’t worried himself over what any this will cost all of us, and why should he? His eligibility for office will have run its course by the time the bill(s) will come due-it won’t be HIS problem by then, will it? Besides, 9 trillion dollars is chump change to our great-grandchildren…they can just print more money and all will be right as rain.
Given all the hard work and long nights and fierce negotiations he has suffered to endure these past few months, Obama has reached that pinnacle of leadership few Presidents before him have ever been able to achieve, and now he will go off to reflect on his greatness. Well-deserved retreat, dontcha think? And such a bargain at 35 grand a week, on our dime, so he can ponder his next book of memories and accomplishments.
Perhaps he’ll take a little time out while he’s soaking up the sun and salty air on the Vineyard to put the finishing touches on his plans to get even with all that tried (unsuccessfully) to stand in his way. Maybe he’ll have a little sit-down with Gov. Paterson and suggest he stop dragging his name into Paterson’s troubles. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll even give a shout out to Jon Voight in hopes of reassuring Mr. Voight that he really ISN’T a bully and that the only freedoms he’s interested in taking away from us are the ones we never managed very well on our own to begin with.
Whatever he does with his time and my money, I’m sure he’ll come back renewed and refreshed and ready to get back to work. He’ll be well-rested, confident and collected, and he’ll be in full and complete control of the things that matter to all of us.
That housekeeping staff may have to go down to the local WalMart, though, and pick up a few things. Rumor has it he has a pesky little personal problem.
It’s pretty bad when you have *Air America* calling you a liar, Mr. President
You really have to give the Air America hostess credit for the phrase “charming liar”. This recording is just unbelievable, considering the source.
Don’t be afraid to click on it and listen - this is the sweetest thing you’ll hear all night. It’s amazing that he has come to the point of antagonizing his own party and supporters just as much as he does us.
At this rate, Obama’s approval rating will be in single digits by Christmas. In the words of Brother Crank: “How’s that hopenchange workin’ out for ya?”
Obama Joker artist a Palestinian-American Kuchinich supporter.
Although he likes Republican ideals on domestic issues. Also note: he didn’t add the ’socialism’ bit; that was whoever-it-was that sent the thing viral. Also: dislikes Obama, cool with socialism, and thinks that the original ‘Hope’ artist is two-faced.
Stories like this are why I love this country. We are simply too big and too majestic to be fettered by any requirement of a narrative that makes coherent sense.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Doctors to Throw Pharmaceutical Reps Out of Their Offices
Interesting.
I’m hearing from more and more doctors and from pharmaceutical sales representatives that the sales reps are rapidly becoming persona non grata in the doctors’ offices.
Here’s the thing — PhrMA and the American Medical Association both have thrown doctors under the bus. Doctors are supposed to be represented by the AMA, a majority of doctors oppose Obamacare, but the AMA has decided to support Obamacare.
PhrMA, has gone all in with the White House funding an advertising campaign in favor of Obamacare in exchange for favorable terms.
The doctors are caught in the middle and made a bad guy for the White House. Twice now Barack Obama has attacked doctors publicly while refusing to add tort reform to healthcare reform — a necessity to get costs down in healthcare.
More doctors should begin banning pharmaceutical sales reps from their offices. If PhrMA is going to work against doctors and, inevitably, ruin doctors’ livelihoods, doctors should reciprocate and go after pharmaceutical companies. The easiest way to do that is shut down office visits.
By the way, I don’t know a single drug rep who supports the plan. It sounds like PhrMA is going the route of the AMA — screwing their own to stay in the White House’s good graces.
