
 |
|
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 24, 2009
/ 28 Adar 5769
It's Obama's crisis now
By
Byron York
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
You might have missed it, but a key moment in Barack Obama's young presidency occurred March 18 as he began his trip to California to promote his $3.6 trillion budget proposal. Heading for his helicopter, Obama made a statement about the AIG bonuses, and he didn't use the word "inherited." As in "we inherited this crisis."
"Ultimately, I'm responsible, I'm the president of the United States," Obama told reporters. "The buck stops with me." That makes it official: Barack Obama didn't start the financial crisis, but he owns it now.
Before anyone gives the president an award for political courage, remember that provisions regarding the bonuses and who knows what else were buried deep inside the $787 billion economic stimulus bill that Obama and his fellow Democrats rushed through Congress. Every single Republican in the House voted against it, and all but three GOP senators did the same. There's no way Obama can blame the stimulus, and its contents, on anyone other than himself.
"What's beginning to happen is his actions are starting to have consequences," a Republican pollster told me. "And this is one of those. He hurried everybody through that process, and it's now his actions that are causing things that people are unhappy about."
Think back to the day when House Minority Leader John Boehner held up a copy of the stimulus bill it must have been six inches thick and said, "Eleven hundred pages that not one member of this body has read. Not one." Urging lawmakers to vote no, Boehner continued: "What happened to the promise that we're going to let the American people see what's in this bill for 48 hours? But no" at that point, Boehner dropped the massive bill to the floor with a thud "we don't have time to do that."
So the bill was hurried through, and Obama signed it in a flash. And now we're finding out that there were, in fact, problems that should have been the subject of public debate just like Boehner said. Once-confident Democrats are worried, and Republicans have a serious I-told-you-so opportunity.
As they argued, Obama hit the road to California to sell something the budget plan that he and his fellow Democrats should be able to pass nearly entirely on their own. Most of the spending measures, apart from the president's health-care reform proposal (which we know virtually nothing about) and his energy cap-and-trade plan (which Republicans now call "cap-and-tax") could be passed by a simple majority, with Democratic votes alone. And yet Obama, worried about opposition from moderate Democrats, let alone Republicans, is having to stump for his plan. And he has recruited one of his top political operatives, David Plouffe, to create an unprecedented grassroots-and-netroots campaign for it, as well.
The sales job is likely to get harder in the days ahead. Obama took a major hit on Friday when the Congressional Budget Office said his budget plans have underestimated deficits in coming years by $2.3 trillion. How much more will a worried public accept? "Bailout fatigue is palpable," a top GOP Hill aide told me.
But Obama, by all reports, plans to push forward with his plans to overhaul health care, energy, and education no matter what the cost. "We have to ... start establishing a foundation for long-term economic growth," he said on the way to California. "That involves making investments on health care and energy and education." Does it really? The budget debate will answer that question.
Recently, Republicans have been heartened by some astonishing public opinion numbers. Pollster Scott Rasmussen found that more people, by a margin of 41 percent to 39 percent, would support a Republican than a Democrat in the next congressional race. A poll taken for National Public Radio showed similar results. Given that Democrats have trounced Republicans on that question for a long time, the new results are raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill.
So while the numbers shift beneath him, Obama hits the campaign trail. But sooner or later, he'll need to come back to his problems, because it's his crisis now.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on Byron York's column by clicking here.
Previously:
03/17/09 : Geithner-Obama economics: A joke that's not funny
© 2009, NEA
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|