Not A Mystery
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Reading this Slate article about trying to get inside Obama’s noggin’, I marvel at how so many seem to get the President wrong even when “getting” him is pretty easy. Folks on both sides of the aisle seem to err this way. For liberals, Obama is too moderate or centrist. For conservatives, they are are convinced that within his heart beats that of a far-left liberal radical.
Except Barack Obama is what he has always presented himself as. A moderate, coming down on the left side of the issues. Unlike Bush, who sold himself as a religious version of his father’s Yankee Republicanism only to be revealed as a war-obsessed neocon thanks to (in their eyes) the fortuitousness of the 9/11 attacks, Obama has governed as he campaigned.
It’s very strange for me to see this reaction in the pundit class to this of someone who has been as he said he would be. Its as if there’s a built in cynicism that expects people to not act in the manner they said they would.
Now, are there issues I wish the President would move to his left flank on? Sure. While gay marriage can be mostly avoided federally as the nation moves state by state to the logical conclusion, there is also no reason for the president to not repeal don’t ask don’t tell. There’s almost no political price for him to pay, and even if that’s the case he’s got the capital to do so. Upside: A more competent armed service without the need to snoop in the bedrooms of our fighting men and women.
Also on the bank bailout it remains to be seen if the more industry-friendly middle road is working. The depth of the crisis would seem to have required a stricter government role in the operations. But maybe this hybrid model will turn out to have worked, with strident critics on both sides turning out to be wrong (as often happens).
President Barack Obama has the chance to become one of history’s great, transformational leaders. My guess is that if he does so it will be in large part due to him leading as he said he would.
23 Responses to “Not A Mystery”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Gail Collins of the NY Times had him pegged right, early on, when she said of Obama “He makes moderation exciting.”
I know I’ve quoted this before but I love it.
Maybe good things will come of his absolutely melting down the right wingnuts into a puddle of goo.
Good discussion, Oliver. Agreed, agreed, and agreed.
…the man that bankrupted it?
Seriously, Obama has been, is and will continue to be a blast of long overdue fresh air. The Republicans destroyed the jobs, reputation and financial system in a horrific Bush Fire. BUT – can America afford the cure? Obama is gambling that a near national insolvent situation is superior to the alternative – a totally collapsed economy. We all wish him luck.
On July 28th 2008 – before the Economic End Days – Bloomberg predicted a US deficit of 490 billion for 2009. Now Yahoo Finance is predicting a deficit of 1.9 trillion for 2009. With an above 1 trillion deficit for years going forward. The total combined US deficit is 11.3 trillion which represents 12.3% of the US GDP.
We are in uncharted territory – even deeper in dept that we were after and during WW 2. NOW HOWEVER – we no longer are a world leading manufacturing country – the Republicns have seen to our industry being shipped overseas.
I TRUST Obama – I don’t trust that America has enough industry left – or industry that can be created – to support an economy that can service this amazing dept. Obama is the only game in town – in my opinion – he is doing the ONLY thing that MIGHT get America back – I’m afraid however that there was no way we get out of this mess. IF Obama succeeds it will be a testament to him – AND – to America who will have pulled victory out of the ass of defeat.
Worse case senario is we get rid of 9 of our 11 Nuclear Aircraft Carrie Battlegroups and build a few hospitals. Good luck Barack – Good luck America – we’re both going to need it!
I think there is an endgame here, and that is to force some inflation. Inflation will cause much economic displacement but will both a. devalue the national debt and b. devalue the debt from our beleaguered citizens. Inflation will ease our debt pressures and make it easier for Americans to handle their finances, provided real wages keep pace.
I believe EL is right on the money. The traditional way a government ducks out of covering checks it wrote but can’t cash is through inflation. Usually a tactic of banana republics and the third world it seldom leads to economic strength. It cheats the holders of debt, in the end cheaters seldom prosper.
Yes, exactly. And we can always work on those other battles in T2.
My President can bang the three.
Fuck and Yes.
President Barack Obama has the chance to become one of history’s great, transformational leaders. My guess is that if he does so it will be in large part due to him leading as he said he would.
Lots of opportunity. I’ll believe it when I see some monsters getting the full force of the Rule of Law (i.e., Torquemada Cheney), repealing DADT, a non-watered down single payer health care (or some improvement), a non-watered down cap and trade situation and attendant environmental help, sticking it to Big Banking (too late, I guess), and a raft of other shit. We shall see. So far, a shitload better than the Cheney Administration, but anything’s better than a shit taco.
My President can bang the three.
Not that that’s what he’s doing in that photo.
The traditional way a government ducks out of covering checks it wrote but can’t cash is through inflation.
That applies not merely to the government but to all borrowers, public and private. Inflation is the only thing you can do to effectively lower interest rates once interest rates have gone to zero. Americans took on debt they couldn’t afford because they wanted things that are expensive. With some moderate inflation, they get both– they deflate the value of their debt while inflating (in the case of real estate, merely stabilizing) the nominal value of their assets.
The US is drowning in a sea of bad debts, including mortgages worth more than the underlying worth of the house. Possible solutions include cramdowns on a mass scale or encouraging borrowers to simply walk away, dropping all of the homes into foreclosure and forcing the banks to write down the loans. Another possible alternative is inflating the problem away.
This has to be the least reality-based post of the year on this blog. Obama has set a record for broken promises to this point.
Allow me to predict that as the haze wears off, promises continue to be broken, the ‘bills’ stack-up, programs are cut, inflation soars, taxes are raised, and God forbid there is a terrorist ‘problem’ your high-flying president will quickly become Icarus.
And while everyone will be laughing at you, you guys will still be blaming Bush-Cheney.
Shameful that people like joaquin hope for this country to be attacked by terrorists just so the President can be seen as failing.
Hey, EL, a little language lesson:
When someone says “god forbid,” they’re hoping that whatever follows DOES NOT HAPPEN.
You’re welcome.
J.
JT giving a language lesson, rich. I would tell him to go get a brain transplant but it would probably be paid for with my tax dollars so I will refrain.
Enlightened Liberal behaves in typical fashion. Not understanding Joaquins comment, he recharactorizes it as something shameful and when corrected by someone with a much stronger grasp of the written word he lashes out against that person in an insulting manner. It would be nice if twisting the truth was an abberation amongst rabid leftists, but it’s not.
“Allow me to predict that as the haze wears off, promises continue to be broken, the ‘bills’ stack-up, programs are cut, inflation soars, taxes are raised, and God forbid there is a terrorist ‘problem’ your high-flying president will quickly become Icarus.”
Because Sarah Palin would have done a bang-up job of keeping America secure and turning around the Bush Recession.
You betcha.
Sarah Palin has done a much better job running her state than most liberals would give her credit for. Of course Obama doesn’t have her level of experience.
LOL,
If you think a Bush recession is bad wait till the bill for an Obama depression comes due.
But remember, kids, even though AO is LOLing, he doesn’t really want his doomsday scenario to come true.
I’ll take those odds, AO. Funny, so did the majority of the America people back in November.
Have fun continuing to be irrelevant.
My desires have very little to do with it. I’m trying to figure out where to put my modest nest egg where Obama’s inflation won’t seriously erode it’s value.
I realize you guys think we headed down the right track, nationalizing industry, taking over health care, sliding into socialism, hampering our ability to compete globally, and creating high inflation. But I don’t really see any of those things as positive outcomes and can’t understand why you all do.
“I’m trying to figure out where to put my modest nest egg where Obama’s inflation won’t seriously erode it’s value.”
Should have asked yourself that in 2000 when you voted for Chimpy. He literally did more damage to the stock market than Obama ever could.
I’m on record as saying that I don’t know how long the Bush Recession is going to last. But the stimulus bill was a proper response to it, and we might need another one.
But it’s cute how unregulated markets and a Bush/Republican government made things so bad that people would now like to nationalize health-care. Which is to say, without the incompetence and childishness of Republicans in charge of government, a national health-care plan would probably have never have happened in America. But you guys are just so damn bad at everything you do that it’s going to happen now.
From the bottom of my heart AO, thank you for being you.
Jaim.
You’re a child. Seriously how old are you? You make much of your education but you can’t get a job in America.
My modest nest egg has not suffered but prospered since 2000. Your claim that my vote for Bush resulted in his doing more damage to the stock market than Obama ever could is obviously not based on any sort of actual economic understanding.
You haven’t lived through any times of large inflation. Our economy will recover when it reaches equilibrium with the new reality. Property values need to drop down to what thier historic trendlines indicate thier value to be. Consumer consumption must ratchet down to a level that consumers can actually afford to spend and all the industries that have fed for so long on excessive consumer spending will need to diminish production until it comes into line with reality.
At the root of the current economic crisis is the blending of subprime mortgages with prime mortgages. Subprime mortages were championed by specific people for political gain. You might want to educate yourself a little bit about the players and thier roles.
Obama’s stimulus bill which you so whole heartedly approve of will leave the economy saddled with huge inflation causing debts that will make Bush’s spending excesses like like chump change,
Do you honestly believe we will have better or cheaper health care 10 years after it has been Obamafied? Or will we face healthcare rationing which appears to be the near global response to nationalized health care.
Obama is playing political favorites by shredding contract law. Markets crave stablity and secure property rights, the rule of law. We are seeing a politicalization of industry with the government picking winners and losers, a retreat from the rule of law.
But the worst thing to see is cheerleading of deluded llberals in tearing down the roots of prosperity in celebration of a larger welfare state and a diminishment of freedon and liberty.
Its not really impossible.. Obama can definitely become a great leader in his own ways…
“Subprime mortgages were championed by specific people for political gain”
Subprime mortgages were championed by banks that packaged the bad debt as CDO’s and then made billions flipping the risk onto somebody else.
“Do you honestly believe we will have better or cheaper health care 10 years after it has been Obamafied?”
Right now America has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. It really can’t get any worse in terms of dollars spent per person. But I realize you have a hard time with facts.