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PrintAugust 19, 2009
Obama's shallow comprehension of economics major cause for concern
"Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day. For all the president's touted intelligence, his un-teleprompted comments reveal a basic misunderstanding of capitalist principles."
Carol Baum, in an article at Bloomberg.com reveals the growing concern Americans share about Barack Obama's foundering campaign to garner support for Obamacare. Not that most of us would like to see the Democrats succeed in their latest attempt to enact a public option for health care. But even those who oppose the President's policies would like to see at least a modicum of competence from the Politician Formerly Known as The One. Baum continues:
"Everyone makes a mistake or flubs a line when asked questions on the spot, including the president of the United States. We can overlook run-on sentences, subject and verb tense disagreement, even a memory lapse when it comes to facts and figures."The proliferation of Obama's gaffes and non sequiturs on health care has exceeded the allowable limit. He has failed repeatedly to explain how the government will provide more (health care) for less (money). He has failed to explain why increased demand for medical services without a concomitant increase in supply won't lead to rationing by government bureaucrats as opposed to the market. And he has failed to explain why a Medicare-like model is desirable when Medicare itself is going broke."
When questions of Obama's lack of experience were raised during the Presidential campaign, those questions were brushed off as racist. We have been treated to an incessant refrain from the antique media celebrating Barack's sterling intellect. But Barely the President's miscues along the health-care campaign trail have been so glaring that even the Daily Show's Jon Stewart is turning on him:
"Mr. President," the "Daily Show" host said Monday night, "I can't tell if you're a Jedi - 10 steps ahead of everything - or if this whole thing is kickin' your ass. "
And it's not just Jon Stewart. Watch the video at The Politico to see Obama ripped by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann as well. Even the authors of the Washington Post's compliant editorial corps who faithfully supplied the props to support Obama's fantasy Presidential campaign are bailing out. Eugene Robinson asks: "Where's Mr. Transformer?" while Richard Cohen regrets "The klutziness of Obama's effort."
If Axelrod doesn't reconnect Barely to Teleprompter One soon, there will be nothing left but Obie Toasties. The inimitable Gerald Warner at the UK Telegraph sums it up with no pulled punches:
"President Pantywaist has been found out and it will get worse....Politicians returning to Washington after scrubbing off the tar and feathers acquired at town-hall meetings are bringing with them a blast of reality that has been absent from Obama's dreamland regime since his inauguration...There will be many more U-turns as reality overtakes Obama. His economic recovery plan, which cost nearly $1 trillion dollars and masked 9,000 pork barrels, has removed his halo for even quite gullible voters. This will be a one-term presidency."
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target
