Tying Things Together
AllahPundit’s post on HotAir is scary reading. Here’s what makes it scary:
At a forum with reporters on Thursday, the head of the department that has traditionally taken the lead on global oil-market policy, was asked what message the Obama administration had for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at its meeting next month.
“I’m not the administration,” the Cabinet secretary replied. “I will be speaking and learning more about this in order to figure out what the U.S. position should be and what the president’s position is.” The day before, reporters asked him about OPEC output levels after a speech to a group of utility regulators. He responded that the issue was “not in my domain.”
It sounds like Obama’s cabinet requirements are that cabinet officers either have to be corrupt or clueless. This guy sounds like he fits into the clueless category.
I know I’ve harped on this these awhile but it still fits. The Obama administration is still not earning America’s trust. They were ‘hired’ to fix the banking system. The rollout of that plan has incited fear amongst Wall Street experts. Obama was hired to clean up the banks’ toxic assets. That’s been a failure thus far. They were hired to fix the economy. People have reached the conclusion that the stimulus bill, which Nancy Pelosi wrote and that President Obama signed with just 3 Republican votes, wastes alot of money.
The Obama administration’s scattergun approach with the stimulus bill isn’t inspiring confidence with Main Street or Wall Street. People are wondering when we’ll stop sliding.
Add onto that the fact that the Energy Secretary is insisting that he isn’t “the administration” and it’s reaching laughingstock status. That’s before people read Jennifer Rubin’s article:
The president then has a two-fold problem. First, the economy is worsening. By seizing the tiller with a series of rescue plans (crafted and approved almost exclusively by Democrats) and promising he will “save” millions of jobs (the precise figure keeps shifting) he and his Democratic allies in Congress now “own” the economy and will be held responsible for the progress of the recovery. Second, the very policies which they intend to implement are proving to be unpopular both on Wall Street and on Main Street.
You can see the panic beginning to rise in his media fan club. Paul Krugman eyes the latest Fed report predicting high unemployment through 2011 and whines, “Who’ll stop the pain?” Michael Kinsley is fretting that we are in for a bout of inflation.
The way that the stimulus bill passed was President Obama’s worst nightmare. Getting three liberal Republicans to vote for the bill won’t provide any cover for his administration or to Congressional Democrats. This isn’t how you build longlasting majorities. It’s how you lose them.
I’ve repeatedly said that Republicans should let Democrats own the stimulus bill. That’s precisely what they did. Now the White House is attacking a credible, boisterous opponent. While it’s probably politically necessary at this point, it isn’t helping their reputation.
The question that will soon be asked is whether, and when, Democrats will start fending for themselves rather than trusting the Obama administration. I’m betting that a bunch of Blue Dogs are quickly reaching that point already.
That’s the surest sign that an administration is flailing.
Technorati Tags: Cabinet, Energy Secretary, President Obama, Energy Policy, Bailouts, Stock Market, Stimulus, Incompetence, Nancy Pelosi, Economy, Democrats
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
February 21st, 2009 at 6:52 am
The utter failure and total incompetence of this administration comes as no surprise to those who researched the background of BOH during the campaign.
During the next 3 months, things are going to get dramatically worse. They will try to ram through an unaffordable Health Care reform, Freedom of Choice Act (Free Abortion on Demand), Employee Free Choice Act (say good bye to your favorite retailer), revolk the Bush Tax cuts to pay for it (your net pay will become very gross), sign on to the Kyoto Protocal (say good bye to any jobs), etc. They will grant home rule to DC (but don’t let a little thing like the fact that it is unconstitutional get in the way of this one), and citizenship to all illegal aliens and open the boarders to help secure their majority vote into the future.
America, you wanted change…guess what…you got it. Unless we stand up now we will be so screwed.
February 21st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
It not that we dont trust him, we dont.
He doesnt have any trust in us.
February 21st, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Ok, if you don’t like the change, you should urge your state representatives to not accept the federal aid money and send it all back, like Bobby Jindal is doing. Make a bold statement that says you’re not a socialist and put your money where your mouth is.
And if you can’t do that, then refuse to accept a job created by the stimulus if you’re in need of employment. If you’re already working, tell your unemployed neighbor to not take that socialist job. That would really show the Democrats who’re in charge.
And then do absolutely nothing and wait for this economic downturn to go away. You know, except cry like babies because Obama is in office.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:32 pm
After 8 years of incessant wailing and gnashing of teeth the libs are experts at it. At least we’ve got history on our side (no vibrant, maybe even truly viable socialism in history) to whine about, more than the half-truths and outright lies “your” side used all those years.
And as far as our elected representatives go, some states (like the entire left coast) don’t have representatives who are (on the whole) aware enough of economic theory to reject the power grab by the feds (and specifically the coalition of Obama/Pelosi/Reid). Easy for you to say and, yes, there are some pretend republican guvs and reps who are more than willing to justify taking the money (everyone else is, I need to, too, before it’s all gone), but they’re just binding their states into a tighter straightjacket the bonds of which will be harder to break.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:12 am
Do we have to bail out everything that fails Liem? Must we reward incompetence and bad business decisions, political corruption, ineptitude and laxity?
Ever occur to you or any of the political geeks you run with to find a balance between trying to fix and run everything and letting market forces sort out the ones that should fail and the ones that are doing right by their clientel?
You seem to think governemnt has all the answers. It doesnt. Never has. Never will. Neither does letting the econmy run amuck on its own. But thowing 3 trillion dollars worth of hay at a horse that doesnt feel hungry right now will not feed it. Give it some rein, let it work a little first, and you may not need all that hay.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:58 am
Speaking of failure, that reminds me of Iraq. This war Republicans wanted so badly will cost us $3 trillion and resulted in 4247 American deaths. And there are still many Republicans who want us to stay for the sake of ‘victory’. So please, tell me how we can invade a country while we can’t create jobs back home.
$3 trillion spent in rebuilding a country that, you know, isn’t America and you don’t even blink. But when Obama wants to spend money on rebuilding the actual country you live in and to prop up this country from further hardship during this economic crisis, Republicans are suddenly experts on fiscal policy.
So failure? I’m sure you know all about it.