COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Charlie Rose well prepared for Obama interview


A PHOTO HAS BEEN LEAKED OF CHARLIE ROSE PREPARING TO INTERVIEW BARACK OBAMA. A GOOD TOUGH INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER KNOWS HOW TO HAND THE REALLY HARD ISSUES. CHARLIE ROSE  IS A FINE EXAMPLE OF MSM COVERAGE OF OBAMA AND REFLECTS AMERICAN JOURNALISM AT ITS FINEST. 

Obama Descends into Self-Parody

It's time for the president to give his hope-and-change act a rest.

After much soul searching, Barack Obama has figured out where his presidency has gone wrong—and he shared it with CBS's Charlie Rose and viewers across the fruited plain Sunday morning.
"The mistake of my first term—couple of years," the president allowed, "was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right." At times, Obama confessed, he'd forgotten that "the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times." He needed to do "more explaining, but also inspiring."
"Because hope is still there," the first lady added.
There you have it. Contemplating the policy wreckage that surrounds him, the president has concluded that what this country needs is a fresh injection of presidential hope. Like "more cowbell" in the oldSaturday Night Live skit, it's the magic ingredient that makes everything better.
Obama considers himself a sophisticated and nuanced guy, so you wouldn't think his descent into self-parody would be quite so unsubtle.
Anyone else out there for the explanation that a lack of storytelling, explaining, and inspirational speeches was the great sin of the Obama presidency? According to CBS's Mark Knoller, in his first two years in office, the president clocked 902 speeches and statements and gave 265 interviews. Anybody who talks that much runs the risk of saying too much. Case in point, this gem from the president's speech Friday in Roanoke: "If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." Inspiring!
To be fair, Obama didn't invent the juvenile notion of the president as inspirer in chief. But he has served as its reductio ad absurdum, relentlessly stoking irrational public expectations for presidential salvation, raising hopes that no human institution could possibly fulfill.
Some political scientists attribute declining presidential popularity to the "expectations gap"—the vast distance between what the public expects of the president and what he can realistically deliver. No chief executive in modern memory has done more than the Yes We Can president to boost expectations and widen that gap. Obama seems oblivious to the fact that those irrational public expectations are a large part of his political problem.
It's a bigger problem for the rest of us. Our investment of hope in a presidential savior leads us to do less for ourselves. It encourages a dangerous concentration of power in an office primarily designed for faithful execution of laws passed by Congress. Frustrated by his inability to deliver the miracles he's promised, the modern president continually pushes the limits of his authority.
Obama began his unlikely rise to power with an inspiring speech: "Hope—hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!" It's "God's greatest gift to us," then-state Sen. Obama proclaimed in his 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, this "belief in things not seen."
That was always a silly notion, and it seems sillier still in hindsight. Leaving theology out of it, our ability to observe, reason and judge seems a sounder and safer guide to presidential performance.
On the campaign trail last time around, Obama pledged, among other things, to provide "a cure for cancer in our time," to deliver "a complete transformation of the economy," "end the age of oil in our time," and, perhaps most quixotically, to "fundamentally change the way Washington works."
Three and a half years into Obama's tenure, you can see why he'd rather "tell a story to the American people" and hope for "the belief in things not seen."
Gene Healy is a vice president at the Cato Institute, the author of The Cult of the Presidency, and a columnist at the Washington Examiner, where this article originally appeared.



37 comments:

  1. Actually, if you listened to the speech, he said, in essence, that "you didn't create the roads, and other infrastructure that is required for your business to thrive."

    As I've said on this blog, before, a lot of those tea people have businesses that are supported by consumers that are, in turn, supported by the government by way of social security checks, unemployment, disability, food stamps, etc.

    All I would ask of my kool-aid drinking friends it to try and not be completely stupid All the time. To give the hypocrisy a rest at least once in a while.

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    1. .

      A kool-aid drinker asking other kool-aid drinkers to be reasonable. Hmmm.

      "...he said, in essence..."

      In essence?

      The kool-aid drinker on the right would merely counter

      "...what he said, was in essence, merely a fraudian slip reflecting his core beliefs..."

      .

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    2. Did you actually Listen To the statement?

      The Context was very clear.

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    3. .

      Yes, I did. At least, the parts leading up to the comment.

      My post stands.

      The GOP is running with the statement. Just as Obama is running with the adds on Bain. It's all politics.

      Only the kool-aid drinkers on both sides can't see that it's all bullshit. I have no problem with you telling me the GOP are dicks, just don't try to sell me on Obama being any better.

      .

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    4. Q, I stood in the rain to vote for Dubya, TWICE. I even voted for McCain (a factoid of which I'm not overly proud,) but, RIGHT NOW, at this moment in time, I think the Dems have the better answers. In fact, I think the Pubs have gone completely, totally around de bend.

      I have a hard time seeing how that makes me a kool-aid drinker.

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    5. .

      In my initial post, I addressed the hypocrisy or delusion or lack of self-awareness of one side in the current political brouhaha calling the other side Kool-Aid drinkers.

      I have no problem with one side of the argument calling the other party dicks. They are. All of them. Both sides.

      I have no problem with someone voting for a particular candidate because they agree with a couple of his positions.

      What I do have a problem with anyone for is not recognizing that 'in toto' these clowns are all the same. They are equivalent. They are dicks.

      Sure Obama got bin Laden. He got us out of Iraq. Good things. However, he has also taken the sins of George Bush in terms of the economy, debt, and the diminution of personal freedoms and expanded upon them exponentially. Just like the GOP, Obama is beholden to his special interests. They just happen to be diffent special interests (in some cases) than those of the GOP. You may like a couple of his policies but in toto the guy is a dick.

      There is a good possibility I will jump any anytime anyone offers up excuses for or anything positive about any of these guys (on either side). There is just too much bad about them offsetting any good they might happen to do.

      .

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    6. As I've said on this blog, before, a lot of those tea people have businesses that are supported by consumers that are, in turn, supported by the government by way of social security checks, unemployment, disability, food stamps, etc.

      But you forgot to add, 'that are in turn supported by the Tea Party people'.

      Delete
  2. And, speaking of "creating jobs:" Could someone please explain to me how buying a company, loading it up with debt, draining all the cash, putting the company in bankruptcy, firing all the workers, and transferring the money into a bank in the Caymans is "Creating Jobs?"

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    1. are you speaking of solyndra?

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  3. "an armed society is a polite society."

    Just before noon, a 37 year old man wearing a hoodie with an Obama likeness on the front entered Carillo's Jewelry Store, hopped over the counter and approached the office in the back of the store. The store owner, his wife, and 4 year old daughter were in the office at the time of the incident. When the armed, crazed, wild eyed suspect appeared in the doorway, the owner grabbed his legally owned handgun and fired at the aggressor. Although medics attempted to revive the punk, his wound proved fatal. The owner said he had seen the punk in his store previously, wearing a hoodie, casing the place. "one less douch bag," he said. (San Francisco Chronicle, Vallejo, CA, 5/4/12)

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    1. I dont trust anyone that bears a likeness to obama, with or without hoodies...

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    2. Geezer with concealed carry opens up, cleans out internet cafe of hoodies -

      http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/17/video-excellent-concealed-carrier-stops-an-armed-robbery/

      That old boy ain't lacking for courage.

      !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. .

    Even an ideologue can provide one side of the truth.

    Gene Healy's article is dead-nutz on.


    "Because hope is still there," the first lady added.

    Lordy, at times, these people make me want to puke.


    .

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  5. The Word "smug" comes to mind. I think they are actually starting to believe their own BS

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  6. In spite of what Rufus and the Dimocrats say, Bernanke gave a pretty sad assessment of things economy wise yesterday.

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  7. I've stated all along that we're in pretty big trouble for several more years (maybe decades) Regardless of who's elected.

    If you people would tune out your favorite dick radio announcer, and corrupt politician for a few minutes, and look at some numbers every now and then, you'd see that we have to start making some really big changes pretty damned mos' skosche.

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  8. Replies
    1. I wasn't too damned crazy about you misquoting me, either.

      Delete
  9. Show me anyone who starts a business to "create jobs"?

    But I will say this, I will not hire one person who does not make me a profit.

    And watching how America is changing before our eyes? I will create as FEW jobs as possible.

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  10. The 'boomers' have really stuck it to the kids:

    "
    How has this generation been screwed? Let’s count the ways, starting with the economy. No generation has suffered more from the Great Recession than the young. Median net worth of people under 35, according to the U.S. Census, fell 37 percent between 2005 and 2010; those over 65 took only a 13 percent hit.


    The wealth gap today between younger and older Americans now stands as the widest on record. The median net worth of households headed by someone 65 or older is $170,494, 42 percent higher than in 1984, while the median net worth for younger-age households is $3,662, down 68 percent from a quarter century ago, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.


    The older generation, notes Pew, were “the beneficiaries of good timing” in everything from a strong economy to a long rise in housing prices. In contrast, quick prospects for improvement are dismal for the younger generation.


    One key reason: their indebted parents are not leaving their jobs, forcing younger people to put careers on hold. Since 2008 the percentage of the workforce under 25 has dropped 13.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while that of people over 55 has risen by 7.6 percent.


    “Employers are often replacing entry-level positions meant for graduates with people who have more experience because the pool of applicants is so much larger. Basically when unemployment goes up, it disenfranchises the younger generation because they are the least qualified,” observes Kyle Storms, a recent graduate from Chapman University in California.


    Overall the young suffer stubbornly high unemployment rates—and an even higher incidence of underemployment. The unemployment rate for people between 18 and 29 is 12 percent in the U.S., nearly 50 percent above the national average. That’s a far cry from the fearsome 50 percent rate seen in Spain or Greece, or the 35 percent in Italy and 22 percent in France and the U.K., but well above the 8 percent rate in Germany.


    The screwed generation also enters adulthood loaded down by a mountain of boomer- and senior-incurred debt—debt that spirals ever more out of control. The public debt constitutes a toxic legacy handed over to offspring who will have to pay it off in at least three ways: through higher taxes, less infrastructure and social spending, and, fatefully, the prospect of painfully slow growth for the foreseeable future.


    In the United States, the boomers’ bill has risen to about $50,000 a person. In Japan, the red ink for the next generation comes in at more than $95,000 a person. One nasty solution to pay for this growing debt is to tax workers and consumers. Both Germany and Japan, which appears about to double its VAT rate, have been exploring new taxes to pay for the pensions of the boomers.


    The huge public-employee pensions now driving many states and cities—most recently Stockton, Calif.—toward the netherworld of bankruptcy represent an extreme case of intergenerational transfer from young to old. It’s a thoroughly rigged boomer game, providing guaranteed generous benefits to older public workers while handing the financial upper echelon a “Wall Street boondoggle” (to quote analyst Walter Russell Mead).


    ...

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    1. Then there is the debt that the millennials have incurred themselves. The average student, according to Forbes, already carries $12,700 in credit-card and other kinds of debt. Student loans have grown consistently over the last few decades to an average of $27,000 each. Nationwide in the U.S., tuition debt is close to $1 trillion.


      This debt often results from the advice of teachers, largely boomers, that only more education—for which costs have risen at twice the rate of inflation since 2000—could solve the long-term issues of the young. “Our generation decided to go to school and continue into even higher forms of education like master’s and Ph.D. programs, thinking this will give us an edge,” notes Lizzie Guerra, a recent graduate from San Francisco State. “However, we found ourselves incredibly educated but drowning in piles of student loans with a job market that still isn’t hiring.”


      More maddening still, the payback for this expensive education appears to be a chimera. Over 43 percent of recent graduates now working, according to a recent report by the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, are at jobs that don’t require a college education. Some 16 percent of bartenders and almost the same percentage of parking attendants, notes Ohio State economics professor Richard Vedder, earned a bachelor’s degree or higher."

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/15/are-millennials-the-screwed-generation.html

      Delete
    2. and there is even more at the link...

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    3. .

      The huge public-employee pensions now driving many states and cities—most recently Stockton, Calif.—toward the netherworld of bankruptcy represent an extreme case of intergenerational transfer from young to old. It’s a thoroughly rigged boomer game, providing guaranteed generous benefits to older public workers while handing the financial upper echelon a “Wall Street boondoggle” (to quote analyst Walter Russell Mead).


      What nonsense.

      If Walter Russell Mead really believes this then he is not much of an analyst, IMO, since his analysis appears seriously short on any kind of analysis. Merely trying to gin up an intergenerational feud to sell more articles and books? A flim-flam man along the lines of Tom Friedman?

      "It's a thoroughly rigged boomer game" insinuates intent by the boomers when in fact they were caught up in macro events they didn't understand and eventually ended up getting it stuck up their ass like everyone else.

      Trying to blame today's problems on one generation is stupid. The problems have accumulated over decades.

      .

      Delete
  11. The worst thing that we're doing to them is leaving them with an infrastructure/society that depends on the very fossil fuels that we're using the last of.

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  12. .

    Members of Furros Nuevo Leon Warned To Stay Out of Idaho.

    Group recieves 'anonymous' threat from two guys in Idaho named Bob and Dale.

    .

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    1. .

      And Mel wanted to know what happened to DR.


      .

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  13. Here's to you John. Keep your chin up!

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  14. The North's Korean Central News Agency hardly ever signals that big news is coming. But it did December 19, just two hours before announcing the huge news that dictator Kim Jong Il had died.

    ...

    Also, several reports last week showed the country's new leader, Mr. Kim's son Kim Jong Eun, with a female companion who might be his wife attending a concert with rock music and imitation Walt Disney Co. DIS 0.00% characters. Some observers considered those developments to signal a more modern style, and perhaps open mind, by Mr. Kim than his father ever displayed.

    ...

    KCNA also moved on. Ten minutes after issuing the news about Mr. Kim, it returned to one of the staple topics of its daily output with a story bashing South Korea's government.

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  15. And old Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar – he used to worry in his last years that a rebellion in Syria would take the form of the terrible conflict which he followed daily on television: the break-up of "secular" Yugoslavia, whose sectarian divisions were then remarkably similar to Syria's today. And weirdly, although the throat-cutting, the militia massacres of civilians and the slaughter of children parallel the 1990s war in Syria's Algerian ally, the appalling scenes from Syria do now begin to reflect the barbarism of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia.

    What can Bashar do now? Another Syrian friend put an interesting question to me the other day.

    Suppose the Alawite Shia President Bashar decides to flee, he said. "He will be driven to the airport by an Alawite colonel.

    Will the colonel let him go? I doubt it."

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  16. I told German Munoz, a recent high school graduate, about one of the jobs offered, at a soul food restaurant. He went there and was hired to wash dishes for minimum wage.

    ...

    Low-wage first jobs are indispensable for both personal advancement and social progress. Our best hope for prosperity is the free market.

    Government must get out of our way and allow consenting adults to create as many “first” jobs as possible.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Just watched the clip on the post.

    The most productive administration in a long time? Seriously?

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  19. On this day in 1927, Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb collected his 4,000th career hit as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics.

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  20. Frank Nuovo, the former chief designer at Nokia Corp., NOK +2.37% gave presentations more than a decade ago to wireless carriers and investors that divined the future of the mobile Internet.

    ...

    Instead of producing hit devices or software, the binge of spending has left the company with at least two abandoned operating systems and a pile of patents that analysts now say are worth around $6 billion, the bulk of the value of the entire company. Chief Executive Stephen Elop plans to start selling more of that family silver to keep the company going until it can turn around its fortunes.

    ...

    "We may decide there could be elements of it that could be sold off, turned into more immediate cash for us—which is something that is important when you're going through a turnaround," Mr. Elop said.

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  21. Has anybody watched that Archer series on the FX channel? That's some funny shit.

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  22. Reading the BC is like studying an online history course.

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