After reading a print-out of Claudia Rosett’s recent Forbes essay, “The Bear Scare,” I scribbled a note in the margin:
Sense of Obama’s reading of history as excluding American accomplishments . . . whole notion of reset button based on simplistic assumption that Bush’s entire policy was bad, [so he seeks] to define himself not so much as advancing American interests but [instead] as opposing his predecessor’s policies.
He has adopted that same rationale, at least rhetorically, on the economy as well, even though his domestic policy amounts to little more than an expansion of Bush’s, increased government spending.
And yet, even as Obama’s economic policy resembles that of his predecessor (albeit on steroids), he and his party’s minions are painting a picture of the “past eight years” (their favorite mantra) as a dark age akin to the Great Depression. Note how Democratic spokespeople, in asking us to be patient about a recovery (which given the president’s promises in pushing the “stimulus” should already be underway) are telling us it took “eight years to get into this mess.”
It seems they’re banking on our short memories and the biased media coverage of the economy during the Bush years before the downturn. That downturn only began in December 2007, nearly a full year after a Democratic Congress (which increased federal spending at a faster clip than did the prior spendthrift Republican Congress) came to power.
In short, given that the President and his team are better on offense than they are on defense, they seem intent on running against the “last eight years” just as Democrats spent nearly two generations running against Herbert Hoover. Problem is that Hoover’s downturn began only a few months after he took office and while he served with a Republican Congress and that he responded with policies similar to those Obama (and the Democrats) are proposing today. Those interventionist policies only prolonged the downturn.
The MSM, even biased against Bush, may let the Democrats get away with it, but if a poll which oversamples Democrats shows the President’ts numbers tumbling, it’s a sign Americans are judging the Administraiton by its record not the alleged excesses of the “last eight years.”
“… I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.”
When is the newly promoted replacement TOTUS gonna give Obama the Malaise Speech to read to a breathless MSM?
And Maybe it is a Chicago thing. . . Jake Blues was a Second City boy as well.
So all those mortgages obtained on homes with skyrocketed values weren’t bought until Dec of 2007? Or bad debt wasn’t chopped up, packaged as securities and sold until 2007? Perhaps I’m wrong here I guess. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but to say it took less than a year for this quagmire to build is just bunk; it grew over several years.
I personally don’t believe in blame the last 8 years as a way to move forward and I don’t believe that’s happening now. I do think it’s pretty funny though that this rhetoric is coming from you all when this site has made several mentions about how all the ills bestowed upon Bush were Clinton’s doing.
I will say one thing though: you’re always off the mark when you claim President Obama is apologizing for America. He’s not…..he’s apologizing for the arrogance the world had to put up with from our last of leaders.
I was horrified when Obamas teleprompter hit the floor and broke into a hundred pieces. I thought , Oh my God, what will become of us now.
Interesting that with Democrats working so hard to keep Republican’s performance at the top of people’s minds that the people increasingly prefer… Republicans to what the Democrats offer. Obama, Pelosi and the other Democrooks cant stop talking about the last eight years, and the majority of Americans trust Republicans more on 8 out of the 10 most important issues, including the economy, governmental ethics, taxation, National Security, and even Social Security. I fully expect healthcare to make it on that list soon.
The truth is, no matter how bad Democrats claim Bush and the Republicans were, the American people still prefer and trust Republicans more than they do Democrats.
Where is Buckeyenutlicker? Its going to be a short, SHORT two years for him.
*yawn* sources blaming CLinton, Kevin.
No, they were being encouraged by the Democrat cronies running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. People like Obama advisors Jim Johnston, Frank Raines, and author of the “wall” that prevented our intelligence services from stopping 9/11, Jamie Gorelick, who awarded themselves tens of millions in bonuses the more home loans and mortgages they could get banks to give — particularly to un-creditworthy applicants like house-flippers. They did so by falsely intimating US government guarantees on all those loans and it was REPUBLICANS who tried over 25 times to stop this and other dangerous practices perpetrated by the corrupt Democrat operatives at Fannie and Freddie, predicting exactly the crisis that resulted if congress failed to act, but it was DEMOCRATS who filibustered such regulation of their corrupt cash-cow and pet social projects EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Banks are not in the business to make bad loans. it was DEMOCRATS and ONLY Democrats who forced them to against their will.
#2: “you’re always off the mark when you claim President Obama is apologizing for America. He’s not…..he’s apologizing for the arrogance the world had to put up with from our last of leaders.”
Did everyone get that? OBAMA is apologizing for someone else’s arrogance. And who better than Obama to apologize on Bush’s behalf? He is, after all, a blazing inferno of crackling, positively ELECTRIC humility.
Kevin, I’m curious. Of all the nations Obama has spent the first six months of his Presidency apologizing to, please name one that has ACCEPTED the apology. Just one.
You Go American Elephant!!! Just some cursory searching on the Internet and the information supporting your assertions can be found. Ron Paul presented an objection to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stupidity in 2003. Barney Frank and friends (Democrats) on the Democratically controlled Committee shined it on. Then we hear them crying about regulation!!! They didnt want it back then and now blame it all on Bush.
Um, Kevin, where did I say Obama was apologizing for America? Not that he hasn’t been, but you’re accusing me here. Here, I’ve merely noted that he’s ignoring our accomplishments, particularly those made in the last four years.
And the arrogance for which he’s apologizing is pretty much non-existent, pretty much an invention of Democrats and Bush-critics.
So, please reply to my posts not things other conservatives have said.
I’m not sure Democrats CAN do anything without that whole “the previous administration was so bad America now SUCKS, but we are here to save you” thing. I remember an awful lot of, “The past twelve years,” during Clinton’s presidency.
I just came back from a party where my neighbor asked how I was doing and if I was surviving these post-Bush years! Hasn’t Bush been out of office for 6 months now?! It’s comical how often liberals still invoke his name & blame him in normal conversation! It wouldn’t have occurred to me to bring up Blowjob-Billie’s escapades once he left office, let alone for 6 months after the fact! If they believe in Obama so fervently, why can’t they move on?!
Annie (I’ve a cat named Annie):
The Post Bush Years (all six months of them), have been just dandy. The company can’t give us raises, we’re not sure our chemicals will remain affordable, or as many come from oil, legal, as we are already dealing with an EPA mandate about CFC’s that have done nothing about the “hole” in the ozone over Antarctica, but will make putting fires out much harder, and is directly responsible for the Shuttle breaking up over Texas.
Almost all this crap is from LIFERs in the Gov’t (read Dems) that sadly too many Republicans signed on to. Add to this the Fool in Chief running the economy into the ground, and it is just peachy. You do tell them that, right?
Tell them you long for the days of Bush’s horrid 5% unemployment, and disgusting GDP growth. It is certainly better than our Hopeful 9%+ unemployment, and our Change to GDP shrinkage.
If you were a leftist, liberal or Democrat what would you do after these first 6 months? You know they all expected results immediately. They expected other nations to line up and say “whew now that Obama is in charge we are sending thousands of troops to Iraq and Afganistan to help out the righteous President!” Liberal Democrats expected Club Gitmo to be closed in february with the inmates released and the “terrorists” to really be arab intellectuals who would go on all the MSBNC shows and rip Bush and America. Democrats expected Obama to save every GM and Chrysler job. They expected him to lower unemployment from 6% down to 0%. They expected Obama to tax all the rich’s money, all of it and then give it all away to the poorest amongst us.
After 6 months, liberal Democrats are wondering what’s happened. And who is responsible for holding back the accomplishments of Obama. But if your new young fresh administration hadn’t accomplished anything, you’d look around and blame Bush for as long as you have to.