A Hollywood Republican

This blog is for an open discussion on politics. My views will be to the right as will be most of the posters. But, we are willing to post alternative viewpoints as lons as they are well thought out. I started this in response to the Obama election and will continue it as long as it feeds a need.

Nov 2, 2009

Nothing to Write Home About by Ira Schwartz


So the first year of Barack Obama’s shepherding of the White House is quickly drawing to a close. As the Presidents public and TV appearances grow fewer the grey hairs on his head and the bags under his eyes grow more numerous. That usually happens to a President during his first year in the big chair. Along with the realization that most of the promises made during the campaign and the inaugural speech will be much tougher to keep than originally thought. So how is President Obama doing? That all depends on who you ask.

If you ask Speaker Pelosi or House Majority Leader Harry Reed he’s doing just fine thank you. But their assessment of the situation is tainted by a condition called “Party Macular Degeneration”…they see only what the party tells them to see. Good for Party rallies and ranting to the Democratic controlled congress but not much good for anything else.

If you ask ex-governor Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney they will tell you President Obama is loved as much as John Adams and is as competent as Jimmy Carter. But they too suffer from a debilitating disease called “Post Traumatic “I can’t believe we lost the whole election” Amnesia”. They have forgotten everything that happened before Barack Obama won the presidency. So let’s see if we can figure this out for ourselves.

First he promised to close down Guantanamo Bay Prison by year’s end. The year isn’t quite over yet but it doesn’t appear he will be accomplishing this one. The funds needed to close the prison were denied the Obama Administration by the Senate last May. In an interview with “All Things Considered” Attorney General Eric Holder said that closing the prison by the January 22nd deadline will be “difficult to meet”. After all it takes time to find just the right locations of the “prisons to be named later”. Anyone have any complaints with the Arctic? Let’s put this one in the “wait and see” category.

Next we have the economy. Come on out there…let’s see a show of hands. Does anyone really believe the “recession” is over? The National jobless rate in October was 9.7%. That’s a tenth of a percent lower than September but 1.7% HIGHER than the government predicted it would top out at.

Michael Williams, CEO of Fannie Mae reports that foreclosures will still climb this year, “The patient is out of intensive care, but still has a very long road ahead to a clean bill of health.” According to “The Business Insider” Septembers new housing starts missed expectations, rising 0.5% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of just 590,000 vs. an expected 610,000. Building permits fell 1.2% also.

“Cash for Clunkers”. You knew I’d get around to this one didn’t you. According to “The Wall Street Journal” U.S. automakers reported new car sales for September, the first month since the program expired, sank 25% from a year earlier. Sales at GM (Government Motors) and Chrysler fell by 45% and 42% respectively. Ford was down 5%. 700,000 new cars were purchased under the program, cars that probably would have been purchased anyway. So all the program seems to have done is steal those sales from the future. Exactly as critics predicted. The “Journal” goes on to say, Burton Abrams and George Parsons of the University of Delaware added up the total benefits from reduced gas consumption, environmental improvements and the benefit to car buyers and companies, minus the overall cost of cash for clunkers, and found a net cost of roughly $2,000 per vehicle. Rather than stimulating the economy, the program made the nation as a whole $1.4 billion poorer.

We need to give the President the benefit of the doubt on this one. No one really expected the economy to turn around so quickly. Let’s see what happens by the end of next year.

Healthcare Reform, Health Insurance Reform whatever the flavor of the week is, is still up for grabs. There is a good possibility some form of a Bill will be passed within the next 3 months what it will look like is anyone’s guess. Chances are it will be tied up in the courts for years only to be repealed by the next GOP president.

Afghanistan…First we were winning so we pulled troops from there to fight the evil doers in Iraq. Now we’re not winning so we are “Thinking” about sending more troops back in. Meanwhile US soldiers die every day while the administration sits on the fence whining “What should I do? What should I do?” Look for General McChrystal to either resign or be replaced if the administration decides more “Boots” on the ground is not the right course of action. Also the corrupt US backed Karzai government looks as if it has dodged yet another bullet after Abdullah Abdullah decided to drop out of the runoff election scheduled for this week. Karzai wins by default. It appears anyone with a semblance of intelligence in Afghanistan wants nothing to do with a US backed government.

The Middle East…different administration…same crap. Nothing new here. The Palestinians won’t come back to the peace talks until the Israeli’s stop building settlements. The Israeli’s said how about we build a few more and see what happens. The only movement of any kind in the area is Hillary Clinton moving closer to the portable defibrillator.

Iran and North Korea….both seem to think they’re untouchable. Iran continues to make a fool out of the administration by promising to schedule talks regarding their nuclear program then constantly changing the schedule. As we wait they continue to produce fissionable material at a rate that, according to the CIA, will give them enough material to make two bombs by February. The UN has asked the Ahmadinejad government to “Respond to the accusations, pretty please.” They are still waiting for the answer.

North Korea keeps calling everyone’s bluff by defying the UN ban on missile launches by firing seven missiles out over the ocean towards Japan on July 4th. Then on Monday October 26th the North Koreans issued a demand to the United States to begin bi-lateral talks with them or else. The US has yet to respond but maybe a couple of dozen cruise missiles will light North Korea’s mood.

So in summing it up:

Gitmo will still be there but its occupancy rate will be somewhat smaller and more manageable.

The economy is getting better but it will take a lot longer than the administration thought. Go figure.

Healthcare Reform is still being shaped by the Democrats into something a little more palatable so when they ram it down our throats we won’t choke too badly.

No one is talking in the Middle East or at least saying anything worth listening to.

Afghanistan is still up in the air.

Iran is still a threat as is North Korea.

So when all is said and done it looks, to me anyway, that after 9 months in office Barack Obama doesn’t really have very much to write home about. Of course there’s always the Nobel Prize.

© 2009 by Ira Schwartz. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Puppet2220 said...

Denmark or Prozac. (grin) Good post.

November 2, 2009 at 7:28 PM  
Anonymous KK said...

A good partial summary but you forgot the never ending bailouts of banks,auto makers and God knows what else before he is kicked to the curb. Then there are the Maoist/Marxists loving Czars? I think Barack Obama has long ago lost the right to the benefit of the doubt.The real transparacy of his reign is who he really is. If only the blinders could be pulled from the libs eyes a little faster.

November 2, 2009 at 11:32 PM  
Anonymous Ira said...

True I did leave out the bail out info but I only had sooo much room and there was sooo much to write about. Guess I should have made thisone a two parter....er mabe three. Thanks for the comment

November 3, 2009 at 9:16 AM  
Anonymous Billy Dean said...

Everything you say is true and a good summery. But the really discouraging part of the whole thing is the growth of government. Deficits 4 times that of Bush. 30% increase in the federal budget. Things that can't seemingly be undone by anyone. Nothing to write home about, but if we were to write home it would be all bad news.

November 6, 2009 at 6:58 AM  

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