Rabbit Ears Revisited
Bensblurb # 553 June 13, 2010
Rabbit ears revisited
Remember my earlier “rabbit ears” characterization of the president? Well, now here’s Maureen Dowd in NYT: “The former constitutional lawyer now in the White House understands that the press has a role in the democracy. But he is an elitist, too, as well as thin-skinned and controlling. .”
Depthier criticism follows:
Mark Steyn: “Many Americans are beginning to pick up the strange vibe that for Barack Obama, governing America is "an interesting sociological experiment", too. He would doubtless agree that the United States is "the place on Earth that, if I needed one, I would call home." But he doesn't, not really...He's the first president to give off the pronounced whiff that he's condescending to the job - that it's really too small for him, and he's just killing time until something more commensurate with his stature comes along.”
And Dorothy Rabinowitz in WSJ: “A great part of America now understands that this president’s sense of identification lies elsewhere, and is in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in the White House, a matter having nothing to do with delusions about his birthplace cherished by the demented fringe.”
Here’s more: According to Daniel Halper in the Weekly Standard: “...at an exclusive fundraiser in San Francisco for Senator Barbara Boxer, Obama [said]: ‘Let's face it, this has been the toughest year and a half since any year and a half since the 1930s.’
This most revealing comment ... shows his self-absorption and utter lack of a sense of history. Sure, FDR had a tough ‘30s with the economy [and then Pearl Harbor]...And President Harry Truman really had an easy time ending World War II, and having to nuke the Japanese. President Dwight Eisenhower only had the Korean War to worry about – and who remembers that, anyway? JFK and LBJ had Vietnam.
Remember the good old days? There‘s a relevant think piece by John Chettle in The American Interest, which I discovered in Border bookstore while waiting for my shopping-addicted wife to finish her routine rounds:
“It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know he is not a great man. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one that can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions”--Calvin Coolidge...And, how Reagan viewed his own leadership: “...I have never thought of myself as a great man, just a man committed to great ideas. I’ve always believed that individuals should take priority over the state...” from conversation w/Peggy Noonan, his speechwriter.
Again, Coolidge: “It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion.”...”They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant.”
I’ll say
FOREBODING:
A close friend has confided to me that this year is the first time he’s become afraid of our own government. I fear my sentiments are similar.
Minor bellwethers I‘ve collected:
---The [new] EPA rule requires that any renovation of any building built before 1978 affecting six or more square feet of paint must be overseen by a government-certified renovator and conducted by a government-certified renovation firm. Certification requires completion of an EPA-approved training course and payment of a fee to the agency. The rule applies to anybody -- including painters, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, plus general contractors and property owners -- who "disturbs painting" in covered structures... --Washington Examiner
---Now there’s the work-slowdown rule on the oil-spill cleanup. OSHA is limiting cleanup workers in the hot and humid Gulf to laboring 20 minutes on the hour.Their hourly pay, however, presumably won't be affected. Geez.
---Politico, again: When the IRS made about $40 billion in tax credits available for small businesses in accordance with the health care overhaul, it sent out 4 million postcards informing likely participants about the credit. Now, Republicans are asking why a similar campaign isn’t in the works to inform tanning salons and customers that they’re about to get hit with a 10 percent tax on their services.
Now a long hot summer looms. Geez
--Ben Blankenship
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Rabbit ears revisited
Remember my earlier “rabbit ears” characterization of the president? Well, now here’s Maureen Dowd in NYT: “The former constitutional lawyer now in the White House understands that the press has a role in the democracy. But he is an elitist, too, as well as thin-skinned and controlling. .”
Depthier criticism follows:
Mark Steyn: “Many Americans are beginning to pick up the strange vibe that for Barack Obama, governing America is "an interesting sociological experiment", too. He would doubtless agree that the United States is "the place on Earth that, if I needed one, I would call home." But he doesn't, not really...He's the first president to give off the pronounced whiff that he's condescending to the job - that it's really too small for him, and he's just killing time until something more commensurate with his stature comes along.”
And Dorothy Rabinowitz in WSJ: “A great part of America now understands that this president’s sense of identification lies elsewhere, and is in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in the White House, a matter having nothing to do with delusions about his birthplace cherished by the demented fringe.”
Here’s more: According to Daniel Halper in the Weekly Standard: “...at an exclusive fundraiser in San Francisco for Senator Barbara Boxer, Obama [said]: ‘Let's face it, this has been the toughest year and a half since any year and a half since the 1930s.’
This most revealing comment ... shows his self-absorption and utter lack of a sense of history. Sure, FDR had a tough ‘30s with the economy [and then Pearl Harbor]...And President Harry Truman really had an easy time ending World War II, and having to nuke the Japanese. President Dwight Eisenhower only had the Korean War to worry about – and who remembers that, anyway? JFK and LBJ had Vietnam.
Remember the good old days? There‘s a relevant think piece by John Chettle in The American Interest, which I discovered in Border bookstore while waiting for my shopping-addicted wife to finish her routine rounds:
“It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know he is not a great man. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one that can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions”--Calvin Coolidge...And, how Reagan viewed his own leadership: “...I have never thought of myself as a great man, just a man committed to great ideas. I’ve always believed that individuals should take priority over the state...” from conversation w/Peggy Noonan, his speechwriter.
Again, Coolidge: “It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion.”...”They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant.”
I’ll say
FOREBODING:
A close friend has confided to me that this year is the first time he’s become afraid of our own government. I fear my sentiments are similar.
Minor bellwethers I‘ve collected:
---The [new] EPA rule requires that any renovation of any building built before 1978 affecting six or more square feet of paint must be overseen by a government-certified renovator and conducted by a government-certified renovation firm. Certification requires completion of an EPA-approved training course and payment of a fee to the agency. The rule applies to anybody -- including painters, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, plus general contractors and property owners -- who "disturbs painting" in covered structures... --Washington Examiner
---Now there’s the work-slowdown rule on the oil-spill cleanup. OSHA is limiting cleanup workers in the hot and humid Gulf to laboring 20 minutes on the hour.Their hourly pay, however, presumably won't be affected. Geez.
---Politico, again: When the IRS made about $40 billion in tax credits available for small businesses in accordance with the health care overhaul, it sent out 4 million postcards informing likely participants about the credit. Now, Republicans are asking why a similar campaign isn’t in the works to inform tanning salons and customers that they’re about to get hit with a 10 percent tax on their services.
Now a long hot summer looms. Geez
--Ben Blankenship
###########