Guest Column

Recently Larry Summers, the President’s top economic advi­sor, appeared on Sunday morning TV and declared, “Everybody agrees that the recession is over.” On that same Sunday morning Christina Romer, the head of the White House Council of Econom­ic Advisors, was asked about the recession being over and replied, “Of course not … the people on Main Street … are still suffering. The unemployment rate is still 10 percent.” My friends, this tale illustrates the problems that are endemic within this administration. The left hand and the right hand are operating in separate arenas. The President has put together a cab­inet and a group of high-level appointees who consist of warmed-over retreads from the Clinton Administration and refugees from Academia. It’s an odd mix and does not seem to be serving him well. Consider for a moment these four names: Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle, Nancy Killefer, and Ron Kirk. All are Presidential appoin­tees and all have tax problems. Daschle and Killefer’s problems were so severe they withdrew their names from consideration. Throw former governors Janet Napolitano and Kathleen Sebelius into the mix also, as they have both proven to be in well over their heads, and you have quite a witch’s brew of advisers for the Presi­dent. The President, after rounding up this awesome crew, then set about crafting policy. First up was the stimulus package, an ur­gent

priority, which would serve to contain the unemployment rate below 8%. The unemployment rate hit 10.2% in November and is currently stuck at 9.7%, as the stimulus package does not appear any too stimulating. In fact, the President is pushing for a second package, but he’s referring to it as a package of “targeted ideas.” Interestingly enough, the swell ideas are undefinedat this point. Gee, you would have thought that the first stimulus at $862 billion would have been enough, but I guess it wasn’t targeted well enough to do the job.

The Valley of Broken Promises makes for interesting con­templation. President Barack Obama said no more earmarks ever again! “We must end the old way of doing business,” he said. The truth: the President signed a $410 billion spending package that contained 9,000 earmarks. The explanation: “I am signing an im­perfect omnibus bill because it’s necessary for the ongoing func­tions of government, but I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change.” Wow!

Candidate Obama decried the use of signing statements by President George W. Bush, and stated emphatically “I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We are not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end run around the Congress.” The truth: President Obama has used signing statements six times already in his young presidency. The rationalization: “Sign­ing statements serve a legitimate function in our system, at least when based on well-founded constitutional objections.” Our Presi­dent brings new meaning to the word obfuscate, wouldn’t you say? Three more examples of the President’s duplicity and we’ll move along to other points. He had campaign ads talking about the clean burning of coal and the need to refine the technology. The truth: this was a tactic to try to win some votes. The clean coal deal was pure fiction, and was quickly forgotten. Another dandy was when he got Colin Powell’s endorsement and said (and I’m para­phrasing) I will consult with General Powell constantly on military matters and matters of national defense. The truth: I doubt that he and General Powell have spoken since the ad was run. Finally, President Obama declared an end to enhanced interrogation, on the second or third day of his presidency. The truth: In Pakistan, Taliban and Al-Qaeda members are being captured and interrogat­ed, but guess who is doing the questioning? Why, the Pakistani’s are, and guess what sort of methods they are using? President Obama reminds me of a cardboard cutout — there’s nothing behind him, no depth. He had to condemn all the actions of the prior administration but look at him now. He’s also chang­ing his tune on military tribunals. President Obama’s biggest mistake has been the year spent on Obamacare. This has been at the expense of working on jobs and repairing the economy. In a recent Pew Poll on people’s priorities, 83% put the economy at the top of their list, 81% said jobs, ter­rorism is next at 80%, Social Security 66%, education 65%, Medi­care 63%, deficit reduction 60%, and then comes health care at 57%. Health insurance reform registered 49% and climate change checked in at 28%. Whoever is reading the tea leaves at the White House did a lousy job and has hurt this country greatly.

But you know, we can sum up President Obama’s performance by one set of actions. They tell the whole story, and that’s when he went on the road recently seeking input from Main Street USA on job creation. On the first stop on his “listening tour” he said, “we need to grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can.” The President also stated the situation is still dire and in need of urgent attention. And then uttered these two brilliant quotes: “I still consider one job lost one job too many” and “Good trends don’t pay the rent.” When it comes to turning a phrase Winston Churchill can rest in peace. Our President is no threat to supplant him as the great communicator. In fact, in all truthfulness, he’s lost without his TelePrompter. In fact, I think I’ll just button this article up with the following observation. How sad is it when President Obama drops in on a 6th grade class to deliver some “off the cuff” remarks and then reads the “off the cuff” remarks off a TelePrompter? That’s right, boys and girls. They had to bring one into the classroom or our President would not have been able to speak. What an embar­rassment.