Barack Obama Votes "Present"

If I'd been running Senator McCain's campaign, this is a topic I would have played up huge. Particularly because I so enjoyed watching one of the Obamessiah's minions justify his compulsion for non-committal - how lovely it would have been to watch that show more often. Further, it would have helped make a very legitimate point, which absolutely was not adequately made (except once, very effectively, by Sarah Palin): this guy is no real leader. Giving him maximum benefit of the doubt, he's got he soul of a radical law professor, not a chief executive.

I know it's a bit late now, but two pieces in last Thursday's WSJ help drive home this point: "What Is Congress Stimulating", by Dan Henninger; and "Democrats Try Trickle Down", by Karl Rove. Mr. Henninger's piece does an excellent job of detailing just how little "stimulus" is actually tucked inside the dark regions of the 700-page "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act". "This bill isn't economic stimulus, it's self-stimulus", quips Mr. Henninger, before reciting the litany of "redecorating" programs the feds are engaging for themselves.

The fact is, this bill is an absolute plundering of working Americans by government for its own sake. It "lays open for public view the world of Washington's pay-for-favors that makes the average Wall Street banker look like Little Bo-Peep." Tom Daschle can't get confirmed as HHS Secretary because of tax issues (I thought all Dems were pure as the wind-driven snow)? What does he care, he just goes back to his lobbying work at a cool $200K - per month.

Come on, folks. You didn't really buy that campaign BS about ethics, reform, and cutting lobbyists out of the Obamessiah administration. I guess a lot of you did. Well, I hope some of you might be getting the idea that there's really not much new under the sun in the political realm, and by the way, maybe you can also see why it's so profitable for Democrats to be the party of government.

Thus, we can only hope that Mr. Henninger is correct when he forecasts that the stimulus "package" "is looking like the luckiest thing to happen in the GOP's political fortunes since Ronald Reagan switched parties." Not that I care what label doing the right thing wears. But anyone who thought that the Dems could be trusted to do the right thing when fully entrusted with a spending bill is a fool, plain and simple. For all the failures of the Bush administration and recent Republican congresses when it comes to spending, the Dems are always going to be worse, and if you doubt me, do some research on how individual Senators and House members vote on appropriations and learn something for once. "Putting budgets of political allies above the budgets of strugling families", as Mr. Rove put it, has been exactly what the Dems of have been doing since roughly November 22, 1963.

Which takes us back to President Hope-a-Dope, and his "post-partisan" "leadership". By farming out the "stimulus" to Congress, he invited the big spenders to roll him, and they did. As Mr. Rove notes, "He refused to get his administration's hands dirty in crafting the legislation by laying out a detailed plan in December", thereby continuing the cowardly game he's played his entire career - speechify to the sheeple, while letting others screw up and sidestepping blame. The biggest economic crisis in a generation, and, as always, Barack Obama votes present.

Those of us old enough to remember 1981 know there's a better way. A courageous, bold, hopeful, and manly way. When Ronald Reagan took office, the economy was much worse than it is now. He did not delegate to Congress the bold action that was required. He campaigned on specific measures to be undertaken, explained what he would do if elected, why the measures were needed, what they were intended to address, and why they would work. In short, he left no room for anyone to doubt what his intentions were, and left himself no wiggle room. Everyone knew what he thought the cause of the "malaise" was, and what he intended to do about it. He practically begged to be held accountable. What a concept.

Once in office, President Reagan did exactly what he said he would do, without sitting on his hands until Congress did the dirty work so he could decide whether and how much he should distance himself from the result. And the results spoke for themselves, brilliantly vindicating his vision and leadership. Simply put, the generation of prosperity we can thank Ronald Reagan for (that has left so many Americans so spoiled that they have never bothered to give a thought to what creates - and destroys - prosperity, and can be persuaded that every hiccup is a crisis) was built upon courageous leadership, not fuzzy-minded hope peddling. I'm afraid we're in trouble for a generation. It didn't have to be this way.