by Bill O'Connell on December 18, 2010
On the December 17, 2010 edition of the O’Reilly Factor, Bill had a debate with two ladies of the liberal persuasion. One of them was Dr. Caroline Heldman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Occidental College. Asked what the government owes its citizens, Dr. Heldman responded, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Let me stop there before continuing the quote. Those are our founding ideals as stated in the Declaration of Independence. It followed from the Founders’ belief that “all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
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by Bill O'Connell on December 15, 2009
Yesterday in an interview with Oprah Winfrey for her Christmas special, President Obama magnanimously gave himself a grade of a “solid B+” on his first eleven months in office. Now that’s grading on a curve! I once had a very good professor who opened the first class with his philosophy of grading. He said:
“I don’t believe in grading on a curve. I don’t subscribe to the theory that if everyone learns nothing, you all get A’s”
Amen, brother. Now if you revisit President Obama’s statement, he must have really, really done badly, because grading his class of one student, he couldn’t even pull that “A”. Let’s look at his achievements:
- A stimulus plan promised to hold the unemployment rate to 8%, and if not passed the unemployment rate would rise to 9%. His team must have really screwed up that project because it caused the unemployment rate to rise 1.2% above the “do nothing” scenario, and we are $787 billion poorer to boot.
- Cap and Trade — the Climategate scandal gives credence to the hypothesis that pro cap and trade scientists were cooking the books to manufacture conclusions that supported their political agenda. Rather than backing away from it as it if were a skunk at a garden party. President Obama is embracing it and pushing forward.
- Health Care — President Obama is trying to have the federal government take over 1/6 of the U.S. economy, because in doing so they will lower costs and make sure everyone is covered. Sensible market based ideas such as: tort reform, patient control over how patients money is spent, insurance available across state lines, etc., need not apply. How likely is this to work? (see bullet #1 above). Because this hasn’t passed yet was one of the only reasons Obama didn’t give himself an “A”.
- Continuing to blame President Bush for his shortcomings sounds a lot like “my dog ate my homework,”
- Agreeing to try the 9/11 suspects in civilian court rather than in a military tribunal. Although President Obama says they are guilty and will be executed (can you say mistrial?) how many of us are looking forward to a replay of the O.J. Simpson trial with the acquittal included?
- Meanwhile, Black Panther’s who stood outside a Philadelphia polling place brandishing clubs have their case dropped by the Obama administration, even though there was a default judgment against the men for not showing up in court to face the charges. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!
- Yes, they’re Fat Cats but their MY Fat Cats: After blasting bankers for being Fat Cats, why does Obama have so many Goldman Sachs alumni in his administration? Mark Patterson, former Goldman lobbyist, Treasury Secretary Geithner’s chief of staff; Reuben Jeffrey III, undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs; Neel Kaskari, assistant secretary of the treasury for financial stability, administering the TARP funds; Dianna Farrell, deputy director of National Economic Council.
- In the midst of all this mayhem, he finds time to go pitch Chicago for the 2016 Olympics.
- He is piling so much debt upon our children and grandchildren that they will probably have to work 3/4 of the year, just to pay their taxes.
How Bad is Bad?
What kind of calamity would we have to be in for Obama to give himself a “C” let alone an “F”? So we know where Obama’s ego is, and it is doing well, thank you very much. But the American people have their own report card and it shows that support for Obama has been on a downward straight line since his inauguration with his approval rating now in the mid to upper 40s, the lowest level in history for a president at the same point in his tenure.
Such a disconnect between Obama’s opinion of himself and the American people’s opinion is a serious problem. It drives him to continue to pursue policies that Americans adamantly oppose (e.g., 61% oppose the Senate health care bill). Most reasonable people would take such feedback and reassess their actions. But if an employee is blind to his shortcomings, the only thing to do is show them the door. The sooner, the better, folks because it’s not going to get any better.
