With less than three weeks until the 2010 mid-term elections, it seems that Barack Obama and the Democrats are throwing whatever then can think of against the wall to see if it sticks.  The latest is that the big, bad, U.S. Chamber of Commerce is channeling foreign money into Republican campaigns.  Yes, our freedom (an odd term to be used by statists) is being sold to foreign governments.  If you don’t believe me, watch the clip.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuHvQe9gtw&hd=1

What do you think?

For nearly eight years we heard the left scream, “Bush Lied!” over the decision to invade Iraq.  One decision and the same refrain repeated over and over again.  Where is the scrutiny of the truth police where President Obama is concerned?

In his State of the Union address he took the unprecedented step of calling out the Supreme Court and encouraging his minions to give that rebuke a standing ovation.  Shameful.  This is not to say that Obama cannot criticize other branches of government, but there is a time and a place.  When Joe Wilson called out “LIAR!” during a previous speech by President Obama he was roundly criticized and rightly so.  Not for the criticism, but for the time and the place.  Joe Wilson called the president to apologize.  Did Obama do the same?

The timing of the act was bad enough, but the accusation he made was not true, as Samuel Alito could be seen saying, if you can read lips.  In the midst of his constitutional duty to report to Congress on the State of the Union, he uses a blatant lie to attack his guests. But that wasn’t all.  His speech was sprinkled throughout with falsehoods, not least of which was his statement on jobs.

Counting the Uncountable

To try to put a positive spin on his porkulus bill, he had to make up a statistic that no reputable economist can endorse, “jobs saved”.  In his State of the Union speech and on the Sunday morning talk show circuit, Obama and his team talked about 2 million jobs created or saved. But they weren’t all on the same page, some said 1.8 million, but regardless it is blatant dishonesty.

Jobs created is a real statistic.  As a small business owner I can tell you that when you hire someone there are a number of government agencies that you have to report it to and you have a deadline in which to do so.  There is also some paperwork involved when you eliminate a job.  But I have never, never had to report to any agency when I thought about eliminating a job and then changed my mind.  After all wouldn’t that be the definition of a job saved?

If I never thought about eliminating the position, then the job is not “saved” it just continues to exist.  If I thought about eliminating the position and did so, it would not be a job “saved” it would be a job eliminated, no?  So it is this two step process of thinking about the action and then not following through that could reasonably be thought of as a “job saved”.  How do you measure that thought process?  Hiring someone is an observable action.  Eliminating a job is an observable action.  Saving a job are two related thought processes not externally observable, they can only be “reported” by the decision maker and it cannot be independently verified.  Is that the kind of statistic upon which you want your government to base billions of dollars in spending decision?   The only added feature of Obamanomics is that some money changes hands.  Money that comes from you, dear taxpayer, and goes to the businessman.  Can you see why such a statistic is ridiculous?

Which One Is It Mr. President?  Mr. Biden? Anyone?

Let’s pretend for a moment that “jobs saved” is a real statistic.  If the president has a figure in his head of 2 million jobs created or saved, and for the aforementioned reasons the number of jobs created is a hard number reported to some agency, then the number of jobs saved should be a matter of simple math.  2 million minus the number of jobs actually created equals the number of jobs saved.  So why not report it as such?  100,000 jobs created and 1.9 million jobs saved, for example.  Why lump them together?  Because when you lump them together its harder to tell how big of a lie the president is telling.

Stimulus recipients previously reported that they had directly “created or saved” 640,329 jobs by Sept. 30, but their filings were criticized after it emerged that some people had reported saving jobs when they had actually spent the money on pay raises or paying employees who were not in danger of being laid off.

In December, the White House Office of Management and Budget changed its guidance, telling recipients they should start counting every worker whose salary was funded with stimulus money, rather than guessing whether the jobs would have existed in the absence of the federal plan. Opponents of the program accused the administration of “moving the goal posts” to make the plan appear more successful. — Wall Street Journal, Latest Stimulus Report Fuels Jobs Pressure, Feb. 1 2010

So companies using stimulus money to give people raises was counted as jobs saved!  We have 10%-17% of our workforce idled and taxpayers are being fleeced to give people raises and this administration is calling that successful policy.  When do we start firing people in this administration?  How about Janet Napolitano?  How about Eric Holder?  or are we saving their jobs too so that the numbers look good?  The other reports are just as galling: $1000 purchase of a lawn mower is credited with saving jobs;  using stimulus money to purchase boots with each boot (left and right) being counted as a job saved because someone had to make the boots; stimulus money going to create jobs in Congressional districts that do not exist.  Does anyone have any confidence that this administration has a clue about how to run a government?  This is beyond embarrassing.

The Next Stimulus

But fear not, since the first stimulus was so successful, President Obama is teeing up the next one, but don’t worry this one is only $100 billion.  Doesn’t that just make you feel warm all over?

Let’s say you were having a problem with your knee.  So you go to the doctor and tell him your problem. The doctor examines you and says he has to act quickly.  He says you need an operation and if you have it, you will experience some mild pain for a brief time, but if you don’t  the pain will get worse.  How bad you ask?  On the pain scale, designed by Andrea Mankoski, you are currently at a 6, described as, “Can’t be ignored for any length of time, but you can still go to work and participate in social activities.”  He says without the operation you will probably reach a 9, “Unable to speak.  Crying out or moaning uncontrollably — near delirium.”  With the operation you will probably peak at 8, “Physical activity severely limited; you can read and converse with effort; nausea and dizziness set in as factors of pain,” but then things will progressively improve.  The pressure he is putting on you to decide is intense, so you give him the go ahead.

The good doctor performs the operation and as he predicted the pain does get worse, but it doesn’t stop.  You are beyond delirium, you are reaching level 10, “Unconscious.  Pain makes you pass out.”  Your medical proxy, demands the doctor tell her what went wrong.  The doctor shrugs and says it was worse than anybody thought, but then says the surgery is working better than expected. ”What the hell did you do in that surgery, you screw-up?” your proxy demands.   The doctor, just smiles, and turns on his heel ands walks away, leaving your proxy standing there sputtering, desperately trying to find the words to express her disbelief and outrage.  When she finally regains her composure, standing there all alone, she reaches for her cell phone to call a malpractice attorney.

Economic Stimulus Surgery

Dr. Obama told us, upon taking office, that we desperately needed a stimulus package or the unemployment rate would continue to rise.  He said without a stimulus package, the unemployment rate would rise to 9%, if we did NOTHING!  His able assistants, Harry “the Healer” Reid, and “Nurse” Nancy Pelosi, slammed through the $787 billion package.  We were saved!  Unemployment would not rise above 8% before starting to fall.  But there isn’t a happy ending to this fairy tale.  The unemployment rate rose past 8%; it rose past 9%; it rose past 10%.  So when Dr. Biden steps to the microphone and says the stimulus is working better than expected, why isn’t someone putting a straight-jacket on him and carting him off?  Why isn’t someone pointing out that the stimulus may have actually made the problem worse?  Team Obama said themselves that it would have been better to do nothing. The unemployment rate would have peaked at 9%.  Why are they getting  pass?

Non-stimulating Stimulus

Look more closely at the stimulus, which we now have had time to do.  Extending unemployment benefits does not create jobs.  Giving teachers a raise, does not create jobs.  Spending 80% of the stimulus funds so far in the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education doesn’t speak to job creation.  It speaks to a sop to their union backers and the creation of their impossible to measure metric “jobs saved.”  Only $4 billion so far has gone to the Department of Transportation and their “shovel ready” projects.  Even these, while a help to construction workers, doesn’t do a thing for laid off bank tellers, software engineers, or FedEx employees.

The Obama administration is spending us into oblivion,  while pouring gasoline on to the unemployment fire with their ill conceived and basically botched stimulus plans.  What is needed are tax cuts that will allow the market to direct the resources where they will do the most good and get the economy moving again.  Instead Obama is taxing and spending our way to economic disaster. What we need is a sharp curtailment in government spending and to shrink the size of the federal beast. Is there a good economic malpractice trial lawyer out there?

In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, entitled, “What You Might Not Know About the Recovery,” that might more appropriately be entitled, “What I Don’t Know About the Recovery,” Joe Biden educates us on the stimulus.  It’s typical after the fact political obfuscation to try to convince people that they are not really seeing what they see with their own two eyes.

He begins in typical fashion going back to when he and Barack Obama took office, but avoids mentioning President Bush by name:

We still have a long way to go, but clearly we are closer to recovery today than we were in January.

This is a true statement, but I would argue that this is in spite of the $787 billion of our money squandered on the stimulus plan, while Mr. Biden says it is because of it.  It is instructive to see how someone begins their defense of an issue and Mr. Biden begins by saying that not all of our $787 billion is being spent on pork barrel projects.

Notwithstanding this progress, the nature of the Recovery Act remains misunderstood by many, and misconstrued by others: critics have suggested that the entire $787 billion is being spent on pet programs. As the person leading the administration’s efforts to put the Recovery Act into effect, I want to set the record straight.

He takes up the position that the statists typically do, that we are too stupid to understand.  This is complex stuff, America, way over your head.  You need us in the political class to take care of this for you.  Notice he didn’t say there was no pork barrel spending.  He says that not the entire $787 billion is being spent on pet projects. (Don’t forget the $30 million for Nancy Pelosi’s salt marsh harvest mouse).  Feel better?

Tax Cuts?

He says the single largest part of the recovery act is tax cuts, more than one third.  Huh?  Does he mean the $8 per week in lower payroll taxes?  That’s going to stimulate the economy?  At the same time they are finding trillions, TRILLIONS, in new taxes and spending through Cap and Trade, Heath Care reform, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, that will dwarf the paltry $8 per week that people are probably saving, rather than spending, if they even notice it at all.

Transfer Payments

The second largest chunk, Mr. Biden tells us, is for transfer payments.  In other words, money from the federal government given to state and local governments. Where do all governments get their money from?  Us.  So taking our money in federal taxes and giving it to state and local governments helps us exactly how?  Don’t forget the portion of each dollar that gets lost along the way as each bureaucracy handles it.

What are these transfer payments going to be used for?  Uncle Joe tells us:

The money is allowing state governments to avoid laying off teachers (14,000 in New York City alone), firefighters and police officers and preventing states’ budget gaps from growing wider.

The dictionary defines recovery as returning to health, consciousness, etc.  This part of the stimulus does nothing to stimulate the economy.  It’s another one of the Obama administration’s wonderful fictions about saving jobs.  As the economy continues to shed jobs even above the level that the Obama administration told us it would go without the stimulus Biden boasts that they saved the jobs of government workers; union workers; Democratic voters.  Also it helps bloated state governments that have mismanaged their finances from having to make fiscally responsible decisions but keeping them fat, dumb, and happy.  By the way, which states seems to be in the most financial trouble?  California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan?  Aren’t those all “blue” states?  So is the Obama adminisitration helping America or helping themselves?

On Track?

Mr. Biden says that we are on track and that 25% of the funds have been committed.  What exactly does that mean, committed?  If you go to Recovery.gov, you will see that as of this week, only 8.5% of the money has actually been spent.  Give Mr. Biden a calculator, please.  With the three chunks that the Vice President says comprise the stimulus: tax cuts, transfer payments, and infrastructure projects, and that signs of recovery are due to the stimulus, how can the stimulus have that kind of affect when only 8.5% of the money has been spent?

The Resiliency of the American Economy

The American economy is the envy of the world.  It is resilient beyond description.  It is recovering on its own, despite government interference, and the government meddling that caused this recession.  The American people are no longer being fooled by the smooth talking Barack and Joe Show.  A Rasmussen poll shows that only 25% of the American people believe that the stimulus has helped the economy.  If that’s not bad enough 31% say that the stimulus has actually hurt the economy.  On top of that 45% say the rest of the stimulus should be cancelled.

The Stupid American People

With 92% of the stimulus yet to be spent 9% more Americans say cancel the rest than say to keep going.  So Mr. Biden grabs the op-ed page of the New York Times to, sigh, lecture the American people once again on how they misunderstand, and misconstrue what your benevolent, socialist leaning government is trying to do for you.  How ungrateful can you be?  If you people don’t get it, then the president and vice president will just have to take over the rest of the economy and set you all straight.  They will tell you how much you can earn, what cars to buy, what food to eat, what kind of light bulbs to put in your house, control how much energy you can use in your house through the smart grid, what medical treatment you can have, and when you have to die.

The Sleeping Giant Awakes

The American people have been charmed by Barack Obama as he is a very charming man.  He is an historic president.  But they are starting to notice the tea parties, the abdication of the main stream media to do their job, the warnings about what is happening to their country and they are starting to pay attention.  The more they see and hear the more Obama’s approval ratings drop.  So he pushes harder and faster.  It will be a close race to see if President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid can ram through their agenda and slam the door behind them, or if we can wrestle back control of our liberties and send these people packing.

It’s time to brush off the Constitution, read the 10th amendment, and start stripping the federal government back down to the size the founders envisioned.  That will give more power to the states and the people and make government more accountable.  Face it, when your Congressman represents several hundred thousand constituents and their voice is only one of 435 in the House of Representatives, is it any wonder that the founders gave them only the powers spelled out in the Constitution.  They believed that effective government has to be responsive to the people.  That is impossible in Washington.  It is too big.  It is run by too many unelected career bureaucrats.  It has too much power to tax us, regulate us, spend our tax dollars on things to which we are morally opposed, and interfere with our liberties.

This is a critical time in our history and time to roll back the unrelenting growth of government and shrink it down to size.

$18 Million for This?

$18 million folks, that’s how much the federal government is going to spend to improve the web site that tells us how they are spending the stimulus money. $18 million. They will be spending $9.5 through January, and another $8.5 million through 2014.  I don’t need a calendar nor a calculator to figure out that’s five years from now.  Are they trying to tell us now that this recession is going to last five years?

Stagnant Stimulus

If we remember President Obama and Vice President Biden telling us how urgently we needed the stimulus package and that there was no time to waste to avert a catastrophe.  Right now the unemployment rate with the stimulus is higher than they told us it would be if they did NOTHING.

Less than 10% of the stimulus money has been spent with most of it being transfers to state and local government.  The economy is showing signs of turning around on its own, and I say that because with such a small percentage of the stimulus having been spent it contributed little to the improving conditions.  So naturally, the political class is starting to talk about another stimulus package.  You would almost think that they wanted to drag this out.

Reminiscent of Roosevelt

Through the Great Depression, the steps that Roosevelt took didn’t turn the economy around.  Unemployment remained high until World War II absorbed every able bodied man into the armed forces.  Yet Roosevelt was elected to four terms in office.  Why?  The first three terms were through the Depression.  Although Roosevelt’s policies didn’t work, he knew how to communicate on a personal level.  He held “fireside chats.”  He, through the radio, came into people’s living rooms and soothingly assured them that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.  Trust Roosevelt, he will take care of us, he will see us through.

President Obama’s personal approval ratings continue to fly high, even as the wreckage of almost every campaign promise is strewn around the countryside.  He is certainly likable and his election is historic, but will that be enough to carry him as his inexperience is laid bare at every turn.  But, as the former governor of New York and Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt had executive experience.  Obama brought no executive experience with him.

Czars Aplenty

So who is running the government?  Obama had 16-18 Czars, depending on who is counting, who are not vetted by the Senate like Cabinet Secretaries and a host of other appointees are.  So where are the checks and balances?  Even Robert Byrd is concerned that the may be violating the Constitution.  If this weren’t so serious, you would think it was a pilot for a sitcom.  What aspect of this administration is not out of control?  Let’s hope we can all survive long enough to make it back to the voting booth.

As FDR Tinkered with the Economy, the Depression Dragged On for Years

As pointed out in a previous post, the Department of Labor does not and cannot count the number of jobs that have been saved by any action or policy.  But that doesn’t stop the svengali of spin Barack Obama:

“Now I know that there are some who {THERE’S THE STRAWMAN – notation mine}, despite all evidence to the contrary, still don’t believe in the necessity and promise of the recovery act,” Mr. Obama said, “and I would suggest to them that they talk to the companies who, because of this plan, scrapped the idea of laying off employees and in fact decided to hire employees. Tell that to the Americans who receive that unexpected call saying, ‘Come back to work.’ “ — NY Times June 9, 2009

He knows he is spending an enormous amount of money, it is having little effect, and people are beginning to notice.  Only about 10% of the money has been spent, unemployment continues to rise, interest rates are starting to climb due to the massive borrowing by the federal government, so what’s the President to do?  Go back on the campaign trail and once again convince the American people he is someone he is not.  An inexperienced executive, who wants government to tighten its grip on our lives and squeeze out the last drops of our liberty.

“The president’s top aides spent the weekend trying to tamp down expectations that the unemployment rate would turn around anytime soon. One adviser, Austan Goolsbee, told Fox News the nation was in for “a rough patch,” a phrase often invoked by Mr. Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush” — NY Times, June 9, 2009

Tamp down expectations?  Wait a minute.  Wasn’t this the stimulus package that had to be past immediately?  Wasn’t this the plan that no one in Congress had time to read before voting on it?  Wasn’t this the plan that Congress had to sign immediately or catastrophe would result, but President Obama could wait four days to sign so that the photo op could be set up and the teleprompters put in place?  Now his aides are telling us it’s not going to work as they told us?  I’m shocked, shocked!

“The Obama administration is continuing to fabricate job creation numbers related to the stimulus,” Tony Fratto, a deputy press secretary in the Bush administration, said in an e-mail message to reporters. He added, “Their so-called models would not stand the light of day.”

The administration maintains that 150,000 jobs were either created or saved in the first 100 days after Mr. Obama signed the stimulus bill on Feb. 17. The 600,000 figure the president discussed Monday is not new; it was made public by Mr. Biden on May 13. It includes 125,000 part-time summer jobs for teenagers, which the administration counts as 62,500 full-time job equivalents.

Created or Saved?

Well which is it, were jobs created or saved?  Created jobs are counted by the Department of Labor.  As a small business owner, I know the paperwork that has to be prepared when you add a new employee: W-4, W-9, state filings,etc.  However, if I am a business owner and I am thinking about laying people off and I change my mind, where is that reported?  If I want to know that, President Obama tells me to go take a private poll of companies and ask them if they changed their minds. ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FALL FOR THIS?

So while the economy sheds hundreds of thousands of jobs, he tells us don’t worry, his plan is adding 125,000 part time summer jobs for teenagers.  Have you gotten the hope and change you voted for?

It’s three weeks since the election.  Where do things stand now?

1. Appointments – Now it gets interesting.  Some of the less exciting picks, although not without the potential for mischief are Tom Daschle at Health and Human Services, Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, and Bill Richardson at Commerce.  The more interesting choices are:
   • Eric Holder – Attorney General.  It is reported that Barack Obama asked around about possible problems with this nomination and was satisfied that there would be little.  However, since the announcement the concerns are getting aired.  First, there is his participation in the Marc Rich pardon.  Holder claims that he “never devoted a great deal of time to this matter.”  However, an Op-Ed piece in the NY Times by George Lardner, Jr. paints a very different picture.  Mr. Lardner helped cover the story for the Washington Post at the time.  Second, Holder was involved in the Elian Gonzalez case where the child was taken at gunpoint in violation of a court order.  Holder claimed the child wasn’t taken at gunpoint, however there is a Pulitzer Prize Winning photograph showing just that.  That’s two for two on the mendacity score.  Obama might want to re-think this one before it turns toxic.
   • Hillary Clinton – Secretary of State.  This could be another sign of Obama’s political genius that is only matched by Bill Clinton himself.  He brings his arch rival into his administration thus blunting her ability to be a critic.  He broker’s a deal where Bill Clinton has to come clean on all his wheelings and dealings, disclose to Obama’s team all the donors, foreign and domestic, to the Clinton Library, and promise to keep the new administration advised of his comings and goings.  As Lyndon Johnson famously said of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, “I’d rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”  This will also be the acid test of his ongoing political skill.  He will have two tigers by the tail.  If Hillary goes off message, or Bill slips his leash, Obama has to decide what to do.  He could fire Hillary, which might be enough of an embarrassment that the threat of doing so would keep her in line.  On the other hand, he would have to face all of those 18 million Hillary supporters in the Democratic Party, if he didn’t have a very good reason to do so, that they also felt was a very good reason.  Bill is even a tougher call.  The only counterweight there is that if he goes off and does something questionable with a foreign government, it could be a greater embarrassment to the Secretary of State, his wife.  Where’s Joe Biden?  Biden was picked for his foreign policy expertise.  By bringing Hillary on board they can now keep Hiden’ Biden for the next four years.
   • Timothy Geithner – Secretary of the Treasury – this might be one of his better picks.  Upon news of this getting out the market jumped up nearly 500 points. That wasn’t enough to save it from another down week, but maybe it will help find a bottom.
2. Dow Jones Industrial Average – Down 445 points.  The Dow which is considered a leading indicator dropped another 5% this week.  It went below 8000 until the announcement of Geithner as Treasury pick.  So in the three weeks since the election the Dow has dropped almost 1,600 points.
3. School for the Obama Children – The Obama’s have decided where to send their children to school.  Naturally they would choose public school, right?  Since they are always telling us it is bad to have school choice.  It hurts the public school system by taking money away and we need to do more for public schools right?  Wasn’t that the whole reason behind the Department of Education?  Nope.  It will be private school for the Obama children at $28,400 per year.  The Department of Education was created during the Carter Administration.  But Amy Carter, the daughter of President Jimmy Carter, also attended public schools, the first child of a president to do so since Theordore Roosevelt’s son Quentin in 1904.  Parents in the District of Columbia have been begging for school vouchers to be able to send their children to any school public or private, but the Democrats are adamantly opposed them (can you say teacher’s union?).  Apparently, the Democrats believe the public schools are just fine, as long as their children don’t go anywhere near them.

Stay tuned…

It’s now two weeks since election day and we are starting to see how Barack Obama will lead take shape.    Here is what we observed in week 2:

1. Appointments — The balancing act begins.  Running on the premise that he is a unifying force, Obama has a challenge on his hand to carry that through.  Many voters in the middle and on the right who pulled the lever for him, took him at his word on this point.  There have been a number of prognosticators who have made their picks of what Obama’s cabinet should look like.  A name that keeps coming up on many of the lists is that of Robert Gates, the current Secretary of Defense.  He is well respected in the job he is doing, and if Obama keeps him, he will go a long way toward demonstrating his ability to reach across the aisle.  He will also go an equally long way toward angering his supporters on the left, who basically want everyone from the Bush administration behind bars.  So who does he pick for the most prestigious cabinet post, Secretary of State.  Kerry was lobbying for the position, but this past week Hillary Clinton’s name hit the news.  She could well be the ideological counterbalance to Gates, but could start a firestorm among the Hispanic vote who were looking for Bill Richardson to get the nod.  If Obama appoints her he could also have a tiger by the tail, in that they were arch rivals in the primaries and having her in his administration could be problematic if she becomes a loose cannon.  From Hillary’s perspective, does she really want to work for her rival and do his bidding? This will continue to be interesting.
2. Dow Jones Industrial Average — Down 648 points.  The Dow which is considered a leading indicator dropped another 5% this week.  Perhaps it’s time for Obama to try to stop the skid by dropping his talk of tax increases.  If he does, he had better put his hands over his ears, because the squeal from the left will be ear drum shattering.
3. Where’s Joe Biden, the voice of foreign policy experience? – This week Barack Obama had a phone call with the president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski and as a result of that conversation Mr. Kaczynski said that missile defense programthat was agreed to with the Bush administration, would continue.  Obama’s team released a statement saying, not so fast.  First of all, Obama publicly contradicts another head of state and one of our staunchest allies.  Second, coming only days after Russian President Medvedev threatened to install missiles near Poland if the plan went through, it makes Obama look weak.  If they’re still hiden’ Biden, they better get him out of the closet or we won’t have to wait six months for a crisis.
   
4. Remember William Ayers, the guy from the neighborhood?  Now that the election is over, Ayers is out on the circuit promoting a re-release of his book Fugitive Days.  In it he wrote a new afterword which said: “[W]e had served together on the board of a foundation, knew one another as neighbors and family friends, held an initial fund-raiser at my house, where I’d made a small donation to his earliest political campaign.”  Sounds a bit more than just some guy in the neighborhood and makes it an outright lie that his career wasn’t started in Ayers’ living room.  Unless, of course, it was held in the den.

Stay tuned…

One of the first tests of a presidential candidate’s judgement concerns who he or she picks for their running mate.  It’s hard to imagine how this presidential candidate could have possibly made a bigger mistake, and I am not talking about John McCain.

Much has been made about Sarah Palin’s qualifications, with Colin Powell being the latest to weigh in saying, “I don’t believe she’s ready to be President of the United States.”  But what about Joe Biden?  I am guessing that by now the Obama campaign has scheduled Joe Biden’s appearances over the next two weeks in Outer Mongolia.  For the Republicans, he’s the gift that keeps on giving.  His latest prognostication gave us the following:

“Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate. And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

So let me get this straight, if we elect Obama, his Vice President guarantees we will have an international crisis on our hands and it won’t be apparent that they will do the right thing.  Would that be like when Russia invaded Georgia and Barack Obama’s first comment was for both sides to exercise restraint.  When he came to the realization that one country invaded the other, he offered up that the U.N. Security Council should debate this issue and offer a resolution.  When he came to the realization that Russia has a veto over any U.N. Security Council resolution, he then lined up with John McCain’s position, that Russia should get out.

To summarize what Joe Biden said:

• Obama is inexperienced
• Our adversaries will see this inexperience as an opportunity for advantage and will purposely test the United States under a President Obama
• It will be like when John Kennedy was President (where we came the closest in our history to nuclear war)
• Whatever Obama does will probably be wrong
• We need to stand behind Barack Obama until he finally figures it out and gets it right

This is the experienced half of the Obama-Biden ticket, telling us about an impending crisis and we’re supposed to pull the lever for Obama and what? duck for cover?

I don’t want leave you on such a depressing note so let me share some of the lighter Biden gaffes:

• “Stand up, Chuck, let ‘em see ya” to wheelchair bound Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham.
• “Hillary is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America.  Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me”
• “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t talk about the, you know, the princes of greed.  He said, “Look, here’s what happened.”  When the stock market crashed, Herbert Hoover was president, not FDR, and television had not yet been invented.
• “Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S.” Uh, that’s four letters, Joe.

If Barack Obama wins, I can only quote Bette Davis, “Fasten your seatbelts.  It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”