Incompetence is hard to ignore

But where was I….  oh yes, Krugman…  he wrote a piece about our idiot leader’s failure to help on the job front.  I have always had my own theory about why an occasional politician will perform so horribly; you would think that the forces of self-protection would prevent a person from being in a position to fail so visibly as obama has over the past year.  I think that the reason is a combination of hubris and hatred.  The hubris is easy to see in obama.  The hatred, though, allowed obama to assume that the job of President must be easy, if Bush can handle it.  Obama bought into the lies by the press, that Bush was ‘dumb’, that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, etc.  In reality Bush graduated from the best business school– arguably in the world– and he also ran a few companies in his life.  Obama on the other hand ran a storefront.  Filed a few motions for ACORN that were probably actually filed by interns. And collected lots of applause.  Devoid of substance.   And it shows.

Look around at what is going on–  the oil is pumping into the Gulf with minimal response from the Feds.  We finally got a big skimmer down there thanks to Taiwan;  should we be grateful that obama made it happen… after over two months?  Of course he turned away similar help from a number of other countries.  Thanks obama!

We have the war in Afghanistan, where the commanding General was fired after talking to a reporter about what a jerk the president is.  It should be news that a respected General has no respect for his Commander in Chief… but you won’t read THAT anywhere.  The media tried to find something to make the General appear nuts, but in the end all we had was a brave man who had the nerve to call it as it was– and get fired.  But instead of being cowed by the humiliation, the MSM fell over themselves clamoring about the ‘brilliance’ of obama, for deciding to fire the guy.  Yet– THAT sure was a tough call!

Look at the Mexican border–  we have the US suing one of our own states, while our president cozies up to the President of Mexico.  Yesterday bullets from Mexico hit the El Paso city hall.  The day before, 21 people were killed in a shootout in Mexico just over the border from Arizona.  Unregistered illegal immigrants, many smuggling drugs or gang members, flood into our country every night.  But they will vote for a Democrat some day, so obama has nothing to say.  The American people are bitterly divided.  Thanks obama.

Obama just failed to win any converts to his failed economic policies at the G-20 Summit in Toronto.  He got some applause from Chavez.  Way to go, obama!

We learned that obama lied about what scientists had said about a six-month moratorium on off-shore drilling.  The end justifies the means, eh?  Is that it?  When obama lies again in the near future (and of course he will), and he NYT doesn’t report it, did it still happen?

The economy needs help.  Obama wasted a trillion dollars on non-stimulus, so that now when we NEED the money, it is not available.  I’m no rocket scientist, but this is exactly what I said would happen.  Look back at my earlier posts!  Yes, even a blind pig…    but for those who don’t understand, I’ll explain gain.  Obama spent a trillion dollars in his massive ‘stimulus program’ a year ago.  He insisted that it was necessary– that it was ‘targeted’ to make sure that unemployment didn’t rise about 6%.  He told us that his stimulus would rapidly turn things around.  But instead we have only biden the clown, jumping up and down and telling us the sky is not falling.  Thanks biden.  and thanks– for nothing– obama.

I also have to take a moment to point out the hilarity of General McChristal being called to task by obama for comments in Rolling Stone Magazine.  I can imagine the discussion…

What are flies attracted to? Seems to be spewing from the mighty one...

Obama:  General, what is the reason for your negative comments about the Commander in Chief?

General:  Um… because with your policies on detainment… um….

Obama: What?  I can’t hear you!

General:  Because… um… this is a bit embarrassing but…

Obama: Go on!

General:  Um…. because YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE, SIR.  The men consider you to be a fool, sir.  And a coward.  Both.  And it’s even worse than that.  They just hate everything about you–  you see, they are told to be honest, and you’re a… you know… a LIAR….  so there’s that.  But you also tend to pass the buck and blame everyone else, and these are responsible men, sir.  So you can’t really blame them for considering you to be a fool.  And then I’m told to do this interview…  so what was I SUPPOSED to say?

Obama:  (this is where more and more Americans dream that he will do the decent thing, and say) You’re absolutely right.  Dismissed.

By PAUL H. RUBIN

In many respects, the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Katrina are mirror images of each other. The harm from Katrina was on state land—mainly Louisiana, but also Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. As a result, President George W. Bush and the federal government were limited in what they could do. For example, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wanted to take command of disaster relief on the day before landfall, but Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco refused. Federal response was hindered because the law gave first authority to state and local authorities.

State and local efforts—particularly in New Orleans, and Louisiana more broadly—interfered with what actions the federal government could actually take. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was late in ordering an evacuation and did not allow the use of school buses for evacuation, which could have saved hundreds of lives. President Bush had no power to change that decision.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is on federal offshore territory. The federal government has primary responsibility for handling the situation, while state and local governments remain limited in what they can do. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly changed its mind regarding the chemical dispersants that Louisiana is allowed to use. In the Florida Panhandle, Okaloosa County officials voted to disregard any restrictions from higher branches of government and allow its own emergency management team to do what it views as best, such as creating an underwater “air curtain” of bubbles to push oil to the surface, and using barges to block the oil once it rises. They believe that the federal government is undermining their efforts.

As opposed to Katrina, state and local attempts to address the oil spill have been hindered by an ineffectual and chaotic federal response.

The Coast Guard has played an important role in both disasters. During Katrina, it rescued over 33,000 stranded people and received commendations from the president and Congress. In the current disaster, the Coast Guard has received widespread criticism for forbidding 16 barges from skimming oil because they were not inspected for life preservers. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal tried to get the barges working, but was for a long time unable to convince the Coast Guard to permit them to deploy.

Two days after Katrina’s landfall, Mr. Bush suspended the Jones Act (which restricts the ability of non-American ships to work in U.S. waters) to allow assistance for Katrina victims. During Katrina, over 70 foreign countries pledged emergency assistance. In the current situation, President Barack Obama has not suspended the Jones Act. Many countries such as the Netherlands, which would like to help and have expertise in cleaning oil spills, can offer only limited relief. This is significantly delaying the cleanup.

The Jones Act, which requires American crews, is a favorite of organized labor, a major supporter of Mr. Obama.

Mr. Bush was a Republican, and elected Democrats controlled Louisiana and New Orleans, the main victims of Katrina. Many claimed Mr. Bush neglected New Orleans for this reason. Mr. Obama is a Democrat, and the states affected by Deepwater Horizon—Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida—all have Republican governors. I have not seen anyone, even on the right, claim that the ineffectual response of the Obama administration is due to partisan politics.

The final difference is in the press handling of the two issues.

Mr. Bush responded quickly to Katrina but was handicapped by regulations giving power to the states. Nonetheless, the federal response was well coordinated and helpful overall. But Mr. Bush was rapidly and widely blamed for the result of Katrina and for failures that actually occurred at other levels of government.

Now Mr. Obama has much more power than did Mr. Bush, but the federal response is ineffective and often stands in the way of those in the best position to know what to do. It is only in the last week or two that the mainstream press has voiced any criticism of Mr. Obama.

This is because the media’s default position for Mr. Bush was “Bush is wrong,” and it sought stories aimed at justifying this belief. For Mr. Obama the media’s default is “Obama is right,” and it takes a powerful set of facts to move it away from this assumption. As oil continues to gush from the unplugged well, this set of facts has unfortunately come to the fore.

Mr. Rubin is a professor of economics at Emory University, and held several senior government positions in the 1980s. He has a summer residence on the Florida Panhandle, where he is fearfully awaiting the arrival of the oil.

Today, I’m shaking my head at the lastet silliness out of little-boy-press-secretary gibbs in response to the question whether obama has spoken with the CEO of BP.  The answer:  no.  “why not?” from the incredulous reporter.  And gibbs’ answer:  some senseless mumbling about company governance, and that the Board of a company is the actual decision-making body.  OK… so he talked to the Board, then?

Um….. No.

A President who never ran anything EXCEPT the US

You really could not make this up.  I don’t watch much Fox news– only because I don’t watch much TV at all.  But the bit on Fox I saw this AM asked the question, how many CEO’s has obama spoken with?  The answer was a list of names many pages long.  Apparently the governance of THOSE companies didn’t cause the same problem!

So a couple months into one of the worst ecological disasters of all time, and obama hasn’t even taken the time away from his busy fundraising schedule to place a phone call to the CEO of BP.  No call to coordinate the clean-up efforts.  No call to discuss the reimbursement program for displaced workers.  No call to discuss the 20 attempts to cap the well!  What DOES obama do with his precious time?  He goes on the Today show to talk about ‘kicking someone’s ass.’  Speaking of which–  am I the only person out there to be disgusted by the lack of class of our pitiful president?  We all know he is in way over his head, but isn’t there someone to at least teach him how to ACT presidential?  Thanks– for nothing– obama.

I’m putting a web page together called ‘obama mistakes’.  The gibbs gaffe yesterday certainly qualifies… as does the failed stimulus, the 13 trillion dollar debt, and the creation of the ridiculous health care entitlement– at a time when Canada and Europe are going broke with their own health care programs.   With a small amount of thought I could rattle off a dozen or so examples of idiocy in the past few months– his apology tours, his drilling flip flop, cap and trade, the ‘stupidly’ comment about the Boston PD, his numerous cronies and tsars, his ‘gay military’ policy shift, his handing of GM to the unions that destroyed them in the first place… gee, a good start already.  But I want YOUR ideas as well.  Please send your suggestions for the top obama mistakes to info@obamamistakes.com.  And watch for the web page– be sure to let me know if you want your name listed, or if you want me to link to your web site.

ObamaMistakes.com

One way to quickly demonstrate a liberal’s bias is to say ‘the Republicans are suggesting… (fill in the blank)’ , then let them go off on how mean-spirited the idea is.  Then calmly say, ‘actually the idea came from the majority party.’  After a few minutes of ‘this does not compute’ blinking, they’ll figure it out.  Or maybe not– but it’s fun to watch either way.   Try it with the FCC idea, and watch what happens.

The site I stopped by today had a number of posts about the mean-ness of those bad old Republicans.  Again, I just don’t understand how people can be so… blind?  Yes, Pelosi calls middle-aged ladies ‘thugs’, but that doesn’t make it so!  The Left throws out comparisons to Hitler, and just take a gander at my post from a few days ago about the old protests under Bush… but one bad, even respectful comment about our idiot current president results in accusations of hate crimes!  Besides the accusations of ‘mean spirits’, the Left throws around labels of racism, sexism, ageism, etc any time they don’t get their way.  But when a throng of black, female, old people beat up some white, male, youngsters, there is never anything to see there.

Try the ‘look what the Republicans did’ game on your Liberal acquaintences.  Watch how quick their convictions spin.  Have some fun.