Obama is a disappointment. But you know that. The speeches no longer inspire, because in every instance he seems to seek the middle ground in the extreme policies that he inherited from Bush, rather than undoing them.
The Sarah Palin circus reminds me that McCain would have been much worse as President, and whenever I hear Dick Cheney mouthing off, I mutter “Shut the f–k up, Dick,” but Obama isn’t wowing anybody, is he?
There was a time when throwing everything we had at Afghanistan would have worked, even after the mistake of going into Iraq, but now it’s too late. Did you see the faces of those West Point cadets tonight? Nobody in that room, even Obama, seemed convinced that sending more troops to Afghanistan will work.
But it’s the economy where Obama has really failed to impress. Reagan, with the advice of Fed chief Paul Volker, had 10.5% unemployment one year into his first term, in 1982, but that was necessary to break the back of inflation. After that, Reagan spent his way back to prosperity, including a massive defense buildup, and with Gorbachev in power in the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall came down. As a direct result of that event, George Bush Sr. opened up the Internet to commercial development, and Bill Clinton exploited that effectively to turn Reagan’s deficits into a healthy surplus. A surplus that was squandered by George Bush Jr. on tax cuts for the rich, and in Iraq.
Now unemployment is 10.2%, and obviously it’s going to blow past 10.5%. How about 12%? Sure. Interest rates are ridiculously low, and vast amounts of borrowed money have been handed over to Wall Street and banks, and yet credit remains tight. But that’s good, because consumers need to pay down their debt anyway.
What bugs me about the way the tax money has been dished out is that it’s another form of trickle-down — give money to the rich and they’ll create jobs. Well, it’s not working. We owe the Chinese vast amounts of money, and I think borrowing more isn’t the way to go. We’re going to have to accept entrenched, chronic unemployment of ten percent for some years to come, and a lot of people need to seriously lower their expectations. But what these people shouldn’t be expected to accept are huge bonuses for Goldman Sachs executives. Wall Street must also seriously lower its expectations.
I was extremely impressed and heartened by that article, Doug. One thing you can say about Obama is that he sticks to his story, and he is unflappable. He is calm and has an agenda. The mere fact that he no longer blacks out media coverage of the dead coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan is immense. He personally signs a condolence letter to each family. I’m still not entirely happy about how the financial bailout was handled, and about having to send in more troops, but in this case, it is a necessary evil. He still has a plan to get them back out again.
And Lia, I had no idea things were that bad in Spain! As a typical American, I assume the Europeans are always doing better than the Americans, which is wrong, because they are part of the “Westernized” world. Oh, our sister Liz used Spanish tile in her house, too lol. Say, do they still make “Corinthian leather?” 😉
Kidding! Here’s the truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnZdMeEfG1Y
From: “CNN Breaking News”
— Unemployment rate falls to 10%. Employers cut 11,000 jobs in November, smallest decline since recession began.
I didn’t expect this, because every year it seems that right before the holidays is when the job cuts are worst. Hope this holds up when the figures are revised, and I also hope it’s the start of a trend back away from double-digit unemployment.
San Francisco writer Mark Morford often pushes the wrong buttons for me, but an article by him in defense of Obama’s first year in office was pointed out by a co-worker, and it’s worth reading, although I don’t think it negates anything I said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/02/notes120209.DTL&feed=rss.mmorford
Oh ! my province is the first in the tile factory : Castellón.
That’s scary! All of the tile in my house is from Spain, and so are the manufactured stone countertops in the kitchen. With the recession here in America, demand for products used in home construction and remodeling must be down.
Yes Doug, 3’868.946 unemployed people in Spain…
Lia — Unemployment in Spain is 25%?? That is what the news here says.
I have heard it this morning on radio…aarrggg I don’t like Obama to get his nobel prize of peace dirt with this decition about increase war! :(. Is this the only way to finish the Afganistan war? I still have hope with Obama, but I don’t think war is best the solution to fisnish war quickly.
Did you see some of the cadets actually nodding off in the audience? Molly critiqued the entire performance doing her dead-on Sarah Palin voice. Thirty thousand more troops? Wuh? Of course, he says, “I know there are some of you who feel we should pull out now,” or words to that affect.” Yeah, I’m one of them.