More libs making s--t up

Yesterday I came across another pair of liberal posts on Facebook that bear no relationship to reality.

Photo source: Facebook/Democracy for America

The first, from Howard Dean’s PAC Democracy for America, cites an unspecified 2009 Congressional Budget Office report to make the extraordinary claim that tax rates have been lower under Obama than they were under Reagan. The smug conclusion: “Maybe the GOP should check their ‘facts,’”

I did check the facts, which are available from the Tax Policy Center. The top marginal federal income tax rate when Reagan left office was 28%, down from an astounding 70% when he was elected. The top rate today is 35%, unchanged since Obama took office. Perhaps Democracy for America had some other tax rate in mind.

The second post was a Daily Kos article from back in January which claimed “the extraordinary abuse of the filibuster by the Republicans during the first 2 years of President Obama's administration is one of the major reasons, if not THE reason for his progressive legislation either being stymied or greatly watered down.”

If only this were true. So-called progressive legislation should be stymied. Unfortunately it wasn't: President Obama got every major initiative he wanted from Congress during his first two years. In 2009, he had a filibuster-proof Senate that passed several stimulus bills, along with Obamacare. The latter did have to be "watered down", but not because of anything the Republicans did. Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, wouldn't support a bill with a public option. At the beginning of the second year, Scott Brown was elected, giving the GOP the 41st vote needed to mount a filibuster. It scarcely slowed the Dems down. They reconciled the Senate version of Obamacare with the House version using a parliamentary maneuver. Then they passed Dodd-Frank, with Scott Brown's support. Is all of this down the memory hole?

Incidentally, the gist of the Daily Kos article is the need to change the Senate rules to make a filibuster more difficult. I’m sure the Dems will change their tune after they lose the Senate in November. Then the Daily Kos will tell us – quite rightly – of the important historical role that the filibuster plays in maintaining checks and balances within our government.

Michael Isenberg is the author of Full Asylum, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out at www.FullAsylum.com.

Obama gets a lesson in economics

FDR to Barack Obama: What a falling-off was there

Can't claim originality on this one. Jon Golnik, who's running for Congress in the 3rd Massachusetts District (includes Concord, Marlborough, and Fitchburg), tweeted last week that, "Higher deficits, debt and unemployment is '21st Century Raw Deal' not New Deal." I just thought it would make a good cartoon.

Photo source: Wikipedia

Sleight of Hand

For the record, I applaud Obama's support for same sex marriage. But let's not get distracted.

With Obama You Get More—Regulations

Barack Obama has added more pages of regulations to the Federal Register per year than any president in history. Could this have something to do with the painfully slow pace of the economic recovery?

Obama Tackles Immigration

Obama: The Unemployment President

Barack Obama: The Incompetence Factor

Has anyone else noticed the recent spate of news stories whose common theme is administrative incompetence by the Obama administration?

GSA administrator Martha Johnson and several other officials resigned after news broke of a lavish, $823,000 conference at the M Resort in Las Vegas (1) – which included clowns, psychics and an award for a video of a GSA employee joking about living luxuriously at the expense of the taxpayers (2).

Eleven Secret Service agents were placed on leave after a preliminary investigation found they brought prostitutes back to their rooms at the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia (3). Apparently the story broke when one of the agents refused to pay for services rendered.

Twenty-three people – four of them members of the US Military – were killed in rioting in the wake of the discovery that US Military personnel burned 48 copies of the Quran at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan (4).

In each of these cases, the government was unable to control the people working for it. Some of these stories have humorous aspects, especially the one about the Secret Service. But there is nothing funny about the tragic deaths in Afghanistan, especially since they could have been avoided by better management of the materials taken from the prisoner’s library at Bagram.

As with any large organization, when things go wrong, the person at the top needs to be accountable. I do not for one minute believe that President Obama intended for any of these things to happen. He seems to be a more a less decent guy and I’m sure he is just as appalled as the rest of us at these incidents. But to paraphrase Hanlon’s Razor, never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. Therein lies the problem: The President is in over his head. He doesn’t have the administrative skills necessary to run the Executive branch. This shouldn't surprise anyone. At the time he threw his hat into the 2008 Presidential contest, he had never run anything bigger than a Senate office. It is unfortunate that the vacuum at the top is tainting the many professional and hard working members of the US Military and the civil service.

We learned too late that administrative skills matters.

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(1) “GSA chief resigns amid reports of excessive spending”, The Washington Post, April 2, 2012
(2) “Joke video from GSA’s Las Vegas bash: ‘I’ll never be under OIG investigation!’”, The Washington Post, April 5, 2012
(3) “Secret Service agents relieved in Colombia amid prostitution allegations”, CNN, April 17, 2012
(4) “2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests”, Wikipedia

Obama's War on Women

I’ve seen a great deal in my Facebook news feed about a Republican “War on Women” that consists of minor GOP politicians sponsoring crackpot legislation with no chance of passing. I thought it was time to call attention to the real War on Women -- the one with actual consequences:

Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Unemployment Situation, January 2009
Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Unemployment Situation, February 2012
Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update
US Treasury, The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It
US Census Bureau, Monthly Population Estimates for the United States: April 1, 2010 to February 1, 2012
US Census Bureau, Monthly Population Estimates for the United States: April 1, 2000 to December 1, 2010
FederalRegister.gov, Pages Published 1936-2011

Obamanomics

Mr. President: are you doing that on purpose, or can't you make up your mind?

For the record, this is what he had to say in 2008 about the similar issue of electric rates:

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

Book Review: What Would Lincoln Say?

“Though I would have preferred to deliver my message in person,” Lincoln said, “my attempts to meet with President Obama have thus far brought me no success. So I am forced to do it here, in this forum.” “Well the floor is all yours, Mr. President,” said Ellen, handing Lincoln the microphone. “Just look into that camera right there and say what you have to say, in 20 seconds or less, since we’re up against a hard break.”

That’s right. Abraham Lincoln on the Ellen Degeneres show.

The premise of Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz’s new novel is that a time-traveling Abe Lincoln materializes on the South Lawn of the White House just in time for the 2012 elections. He has a message for President Obama, hence the title What Would Lincoln Say? Lincoln’s words are only one aspect of the book, however. There is also a great story with plenty of action that keeps the reader engaged. It begins with the ambush of a Secret Service agent in a public housing project and builds to an assassination attempt on President Obama. The cover promises “a ‘Twist’ You’ll Never See Coming!” and the book delivers on that promise.

The characterization is excellent. The authors capture both Lincoln’s intense melancholy and his corny sense of humor (“How many plums can a young boy eat on an empty stomach?…One. After the first, the boy’s stomach is no longer empty!”). We see Barack Obama’s arrogance (he gets upset that Matt Lauer directs a question to Lincoln instead of him during a photo op) and Joe Biden’s combination of political calculation and buffoonery (“I say we blame it on the Tea Party.”). The fictional characters are good as well: the portrayal of a former Secret Service agent who was disabled in the line of duty is particularly touching.

I enjoyed the many humorous images and situations: Lincoln sitting in the psych ward reading The Fountainhead; a thoroughly repulsive liberal businessman of Russian/Hungarian descent who, like his thinly disguised real-life counterpart, is disappointed with Obama; an angry (and in my imagination, large) older woman completely changing her tune when Lincoln turns on the charm.

Sometimes the humor in time travel stories gets irksome. The characters can sound like those annoying historical re-enactors who refuse to break character (“What in tarnation is a digital watch, by gum?”). Mercifully, Fenton and Walsh came up with a device to avoid this – Lincoln has made most of his adjustment before the action starts. The fish-out-of-water jokes are rare, and when they occur, they are actually funny. My favorite is Lincoln eating Fruit Loops (he doesn’t like them).

The writing style is lean; the book is only 128 pages long. I would have enjoyed it more if the writers had fleshed out the scenes a bit. In one place, the paucity of words caused me some confusion. We see a character in Federal custody, handcuffed to a railing. In the next scene, he’s walking around free in Ford’s Theater. I think I know how he escaped, but I’m not sure.

Overall though, What Would Lincoln Say? is an entertaining and fast-moving book with humor, excitement, and a timeless message of individualism and freedom.

The authors invite you to “Join the Conversation” at www.WhatWouldLincolnSay.com.

I welcome your input. Please join me on Facebook to comment.