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Stimulus based on shovel-ready what?

Rob's House

By Rob's House
in Politics, Polls, and Pundits

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IDBillzFan Hall of Famer

IDBillzFan

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I suppose a cynic like myself can chalk this up to naiveté on Obama's part when it comes to fiscal governance.

While I love to bust Obama's chops about this comment, I believe what you say is closer to the truth. Maybe next time he'll think first, then commit. I doubt it...but maybe.

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Magox Hall of Famer

Magox

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While I love to bust Obama's chops about this comment, I believe what you say is closer to the truth. Maybe next time he'll think first, then commit. I doubt it...but maybe.

I believe it's quite clear that he will push forward with his legislative agenda after the Nov elections. Although, much of the legwork has already been "accomplished", with health insurance reform, stimulus bill, wallstreet etc. he doesn't seem to believe that the substance of his policies are to blame, but rather the lack of a coordinated message. In other words, "America, you guys just don't appreciate what I have done for you". They have been constantly communicating and trying to sell his "accomplishments" and everything they have promised, in regards to it's outcomes have ALL fallen short, and that is a fact, and when I say that is a fact, I don't mean that in a figurative sense.

 

If the GOP takes over the house, he has two options, either to try to work with the GOP (which will be almost impossible to do, considering that the new crop of politicians have pretty much indicated that there is no room for compromise), or he can paint the new crop along with Boehner as the new Bogeymen which will fire up his base going into the 2012 elections, and that is a strategy that he may follow, specially considering that the independents have all but abandoned him.

 

I don't believe triangulation is a likely outcome, first I don't believe it is in Obama's DNA to make a right turn, he is an idealogue and he is beholden to those who got him here, and the way the left crowes in their view his meager progressive super lite "corporatist" "accomplishments" I don't see him appeasing to the right knowing that this will dispirit his base going into the 2012 elections.

 

I expect Gridlock.

 

The guy is not a leader, he is a legislator a salesman if you will, someone who has the ability to inspire a certain sector of the population. But he definitely isn't an authentic leader.

Edited by Magox
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IDBillzFan Hall of Famer

IDBillzFan

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The guy is not a leader, he is a legislator a salesman if you will, someone who has the ability to inspire a certain sector of the population. But he definitely isn't an authentic leader.

This is really it. I actually find myself genuinely believing that Obama honestly, truly believes this is all just one big communication problem. His policies are actually quite good, and you'll come to see this if he can just explain them to us one more time.

 

I'm reminded of a scene at the end of "An American President," where Michael Douglas walks in on a press briefing and gives this big end-of-movie speech, and he has a line in that that honestly seems appropriate today when he suggests that he was wrong about his GOP counterpart (the Richard Dreyfuss character); "I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it."

 

Obama. In a nutshell. He can't sell it. Cuz no one's buying.

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Chef Jim Hall of Famer

Chef Jim

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While I love to bust Obama's chops about this comment, I believe what you say is closer to the truth. Maybe next time he'll think first, then commit. I doubt it...but maybe.

 

bull ****. If there were an off the cuff remark but it wasn't. It was part of the whole pushing of the stimulus package. It was repeated over and over again. An above board person when presented with this shovel ready catch phrase would have asked: "ok what are these shovel ready jobs and how ready are they? See, I just want to know in case anyone asks."

 

And here's the rub. No one in the media called him out on it. I did from day one.

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IDBillzFan Hall of Famer

IDBillzFan

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bull ****. If there were an off the cuff remark but it wasn't. It was part of the whole pushing of the stimulus package. It was repeated over and over again. An above board person when presented with this shovel ready catch phrase would have asked: "ok what are these shovel ready jobs and how ready are they? See, I just want to know in case anyone asks."

 

And here's the rub. No one in the media called him out on it. I did from day one.

I understand what you're saying, and agree in part. He actually DID fly around to "shovel ready jobs" promoting the stimulus. Remember him standing at Caterpillar? All those jobs they were going to add because of the stimulus? You know...the jobs that ultimately happened after another round of layoffs at Caterpillar?

 

The reality is he simply was not smart enough to realize that the stuff he was saying was garbage. He showed up, got sworn in, Pelosi and Reid handed a bill full of thank you notes, and he signed the notes believing what they said because, again, he's simply not smart enough to know better.

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OCinBuffalo All Pro

OCinBuffalo

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I understand what you're saying, and agree in part. He actually DID fly around to "shovel ready jobs" promoting the stimulus. Remember him standing at Caterpillar? All those jobs they were going to add because of the stimulus? You know...the jobs that ultimately happened after another round of layoffs at Caterpillar?

 

The reality is he simply was not smart enough to realize that the stuff he was saying was garbage. He showed up, got sworn in, Pelosi and Reid handed a bill full of thank you notes, and he signed the notes believing what they said because, again, he's simply not smart enough to know better.

I don't agree on the "smart enough" thing.

 

Instead, I am beginning to form a different position. This is still tentative. Premises:

1. Reagan said "Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so."

2. Political correctness, and fear of reprisal, has killed off challenging debate at universities.

3. People are fond of talking about kids that are "products of the system"

 

I am starting to think that Obama is also a "product of the system", but in a positive? way. Well, certainly in a different way. This is not about affirmative action, although that may have some bearing, it's not part of my thinking.

 

Obama is a product of Democrat machine politics. Believe me, having participated in them, it's a lot more about the man than about the policies. The average machine Democrat respects the amount and use of power, a lot more than they respect understanding of policy. In fact, policy is often times handed down from God knows where, but then immediately adhered to as holy scripture, without any real understanding of what it means. These concepts are delivered as commands, rather than convincing arguments.

 

So, is it any wonder that Obama, the machine Democrat, responded as he did to the commands of Pelosi/Reid, and the far-left? It's not that he's an idiot. He's simply a product of that system.

 

Obama is a product of the far-left intellectual hegemony in the Ivy League. I have worked with Ivy League people extensively. One of the things that used to shock me was how susceptible they are to getting blown up in a political discussion. Now I know why: the entire time they are in Ivy lala land, nobody is challenging their thinking. Most come out believing that every other smart person agrees with the far-left crap, and they have no reply at all for "No, Abraham Lincoln would not be a Democrat today, goofball, he created corporate America! And, no, the Civil War was not primarily fought over slavery."

 

So, is it any wonder that Obama, the Ivy League intellectual, who has been literally been trained to:

believe shovel ready jobs are real

say "infrastructure" 1000 times a month

believe that income redistribution is not only fair, but will lead to greater economic prosperity for all

believe that government spending to create demand is the only way to save a struggling economy

not question any of the above, or any other ridiculous far-left claim

responded as he did to Reid/Pelosi/Krugman and the rest of the Keynesian college professors he surrounded himself with? It's not that he's an idiot. He's simply a product of that system.

 

He got smoked by Paul Ryan at the Health Care "summit" meeting, because he's no different than the Ivy League people I have crushed in the past. They're not stupid, they just don't have any practice. They have assumed that "what they know is so", and can't respond when you prove that "what they know isn't so". :lol:

 

See where I am going with this?

Edited by OCinBuffalo
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