PrintOctober 12, 2009
Somebody Slap Me
Tell me if I have seen this before: Swine flu, Russian subs off the American coast, indecision toward Afghanistan, hot summers followed by cold winters. And then there is high unemployment and soon-to-be high inflation. Am I imagining things or is this a return to the 1970's?
I remember the ‘70's very well, especially the winter of '78. The heater broke in the middle of the coldest winter on St. Louis record and it was a miserable time. What struck me most was scientists trying to blame the frigid temperatures on global cooling. Make up your minds, will you.
Today, we have a president given to us by the Democratic Party, just like Jimmy Carter in the 1970's. Both followed increasingly unpopular wars, at least to the media. Both seemed to be novices, which the media deemed virtuous. Both have proven woefully inept at handling the demands of the office, but the media conveniently glosses over this fault.
To Jimmy Carter, Americans weren't taxed enough. He did throw a small bone to the American people, that being a $50 tax rebate. BHO, on the other hand, would rather just create money out of thin air. He wants to max out the credit cards through deficit spending, and then apply for more credit cards just to pay the other credit cards. As Arthur Laffer famously said, you can either tax or borrow with the promise never to pay it back. Pick your economic poison.
Overseas, both are disasters in foreign relations. Carter was a disaster dealing with the Soviets and now Obama seems to be following in his footsteps with the Russians. Both give other world leaders cause to doubt we will do what we say. Consider the flip-flop on the anti-missile defense system that was to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic. And now we have hem-hawing on Afghanistan.
One country, though, illuminates the glaring debacle of a foreign policy of both Carter and Obama: Iran. A generation ago, Jimmy Carter marginalized the Shah of Iran and then gave the world the Iranian theocracy, more like Islamic totalitarianism. Today, BHO would rather coddle them and reason with them. To both Obama and Carter, when the Iranian regime calls America the Great Satan, they think it is simply diplomatic hyperbole.
Certainly, they will reason with well-meaning presidents like ourselves.
Popular during the Carter years was a "survivalist" publication called Ruff Times. The end was near to the American way of life, according to Howard Ruff. It was time to head for the hills. The only person who could put a stop to the bumbling incompetency of Jimmy Carter's presidency was Ronald Reagan.
Where Carter failed, Obama is trying to fail even worse. The United States is teetering ever closer to bankruptcy, banks and car companies are subject to de facto nationalization, and soon there will be some sort of nationalization of health care. Howard Ruff is back in vogue these days and deservedly so. The reason: Obama is determined to ruin everything before he can be voted out of office. He promotes change, and the change we are given is a return to the Jimmy Carter years of malaise with no hope until he is voted out.
There are some differences between the ‘70's and today. Teamsters would have "straightened out" a young Barack Obama; now they vote for him. The stigma of drug use is no longer a disqualifier for the highest office of the land. To the media, Bill Clinton -- the one who didn't inhale -- himself is a gateway drug for BHO. And the Republican Party tries to score debate points while watching their country get hijacked.
Somebody slap me because I saw this all once before. Believe me, it doesn't work.
