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The Obama Watch
Reagan's Crocodile Eats a Riverboat
A business fights to live as Obama plagiarizes FDR for a Ted Stevens presidency.
"The nation asks for action, and action now."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural address, March 4, 1933
"We need action -- and action now."
-- Barack Obama,
YouTube address, December 6, 2008
THE GOOD SHIP The Pride of the Susquehanna is perilously close to sinking in a wave of federal regulation.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the Biden influence on the Obama presidency surfaces as the president-elect cribs an FDR line for his YouTube speech and his first serious policy pronouncement from FDR as channeled by disgraced Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens.
The symmetry of these events tells at once why the Republican Party so richly deserved its recent defeat. More troubling, it sends a clear signal that originality and daring are qualities already lacking in both speech and substance from the incoming president and his team.
First, the painfully familiar tale of the federal government and a business.
The Pride of the Susquehanna has been sailing the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania waterfront -- the Susquehanna River -- since 1988. A stern driven paddlewheeler, the riverboat was the inspiration of one Michael Trephan, a local businessman. In a recent front-page story in the Harrisburg Patriot-News by reporter Jerry L. Gleason, we are told the Pride has spent the last twenty years engaging in a blatant act of capitalism. Paddling along for two decades the boat has spent its time hosting, for a fee, "dinner cruises, charter trips, weddings, scenic cruises" and the like. In other words, this private venture, unsupported by taxdollars. has spent private capital to create jobs. First by conceiving the idea on paper, then building the dream into physical reality, then staffing it with a crew and a captain who have paddlewheeled up and down the state capital's riverfront. Catering in style to Pennsylvanians and Pennsylvania tourists, many of whom so love the boat they have voluntarily donated their own dollars to help keep it ship shape.
Now.
Enter the federal government. Remember that old Reagan joke about the most deadly words in the English language? "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." The federal government, still, it should be noted, run by the Bush administration, has shown up to help.
Specifically, government -- appearing this time in the guise of the Coast Guard -- is forcing the owners of the Pride to cough up $20,000 in renovations by 2009 -- now only weeks away. Or…hasta la vista to the private venture that is The Pride of the Susquehanna.
The government, you see, has set its bureaucrats to work and decided that the Coast Guard's "stability standards" must be revised from the current 140 pounds per passenger to the new 185 pounds per passenger. Why? Not withstanding that Americans are constantly being told our health care isn't even up to par with that of the Canadians and the Brits, a U.S. government spokeswoman (and I'm not making this up) says the reason for coming down on the Pride is that "we're all eating better, we have better health care and people are generally larger than they were 20 years ago."
So. What does this mean for the folks who own and run the Pride? Unless they can quickly convince Congress -- Congress!! -- to grant them an exception from this new regulation, they are mandated "to take 9,000 pounds off the weight of the boat just to be able to carry 95 passengers next season." This reduces the number of passengers from 144 per trip to 95. And of course, the amount of money that can be earned. To accomplish this, according to reporter Gleason, the owners have "to meet the weight requirements (which) include replacing steel rails with aluminum ones, reducing the size of fresh-water and fuel tanks, removing a brass steam whistle and its compressor, switching to lighter operating cables and replacing wooden tables, benches and chairs with lighter furnishings."
To date, the Pride has safely carried more than half-a-million passengers over twenty years. And if by chance the boat were to sink under the weight of all those fat Americans with excellent health care on board? The passengers could walk to shore -- because the Pride operates in just three to four feet of water. The Susquehanna River at this point is notoriously shallow.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (16) | Leave a comment
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saleboter| 12.9.08 @ 8:40AM
All of the economy sucess will soon be dependent on your political leanings. Support the right people and you will win, support the wrong people and you will lose.
Taniwha| 12.9.08 @ 8:54AM
Saleboter:
Interesting point. All BHO then needs do is require some signifying mark to indicate those leanings, and we have identified the mark of the beast, haven't we?
"None shall buy or sell but that he have the mark."
Gazinya| 12.9.08 @ 4:18PM
And with The Obama lowering the sea level even that four foot depth of water will seem like the 'good ol days'.
Alan Brooks| 12.9.08 @ 4:23PM
we don't have to worry about Obama socializing America-- Bush is already doing so. by Jan. 20th it wont matter.
John Schneider| 12.9.08 @ 6:46PM
Ignorance of reality plagues Conservatives as much as wishing something fantastic were true dogs liberals.
The Bush Administration has Nothing... zero... zip... nadda... to do with this decision. This is a consequence of the silent and unmanageable fourth branch of government, the Permanent Bureaucracy.
The executive has no control over such things. No one can be fired, except political appointees, and they are routinely ignored.
This is like blaming the bus driver for the engine stinking... The Coast Guard is doing its job, as odious and stupid as it is... Some GS 11 or equivalent military rank, is doing what the regulations say to do. The facts are irrelevant. They always are.
The "Blame Bush" crowd seems to be a bipartisan affair made up of people who operate in other universes.
The boat was top heavy. The regulations changed. Operators' licenses are regulatory issues. It's the cost of doing business.
"...We need a bigger boat!"
Tootles
Osamas Pajamas| 12.9.08 @ 9:41PM
Does this paddlewheeler have some cannons that can be fired at Coast Guard raiders who try to shut them down? Guess why the b*stards are alway forcing laws and regs on us. It's because we obey them. Stop obeying these thugs, millions of us refusing to obey, and then see what happens. How many of us can they kill before they are overrun and destroyed? Observe how the Rumanian dictator and his wife met their fate a couple of decades ago....
Alan Brooks| 12.9.08 @ 10:27PM
after what happened with Clinton, I dont trust the opposition (cons and libertarians). I was assured by Clintons enemies in '95 that Clinton would not be re-elected, but of course he was.
And now i hear Obama will never succeed in his tasks and never be reelected.
sorry, wolf has been cried too long.
Alan Brooks| 12.9.08 @ 11:33PM
Schneider,
So Bush had nothing to do with the 4th branch of govt? not even his prescription drug program creating a bigger 4th branch? plus the rest of it?
John Schneider| 12.10.08 @ 6:55AM
From the edge of the breaded Beltway...
No. Once laws are enacted, and signed. The President has very little control over regulations that are written and enforced by the Civil Service.
They are bound to honor the law.
The office of the President and his various appointees exist for limited periods of time. The bureaucracy exists forever. It is virtually impossible to fire a Federal worker, and the agencies of the "fourth branch" are self-generating rice bowls over which the Chief Executive and any cabinet officials that he appoints have precious little power.
Even if a President did, there are so many agencies and employees, and so few of the President that the micro management task would shut the office down in a few days.
Time for Conservatives to get smart about how government works. We can't beat it if we don't understand how it operates. Most Conservatives are so disenchanted with government that they never even come close to a clue.
Regards...
Chef David| 12.10.08 @ 7:23AM
J. Schneider's comments are rational, calm and accurate down to the last letter. The original letter and followup comments when shone on the identical state, county, and local conditions lead me to believe that the rot cannot rooted out by votes, discussion and prayer alone. The options seem to be two fold - allow the repulsive disgusting beast (government) to rot and explode and fall over on its own; check supply lines, keep the powder dry and get ready to lock and load. The choices are limited and government will only become more vile.
We need a Revolution| 12.10.08 @ 8:34AM
Women are the problem.
Working women in particular.
They never should have been "given" the right to vote. It's been all downhill every since.
Affirmative Action sealed the deal.
Old Soldier| 12.10.08 @ 9:23AM
Don't hold the CG blameless here. Like every other gov. agency, they don't have the manpower or funding to enforce all the vast volumes of regulations, so they pick and choose which to enforce. More likely than not, somebody in the the PA area CG command structure chose to go after this boat. Whatever the reason, now they can't turn away and pretend it didn't happen. So why doesn't thier Gov. intervene and make it go away.
alice| 12.19.08 @ 11:25AM
I got a grant from the federal government for $12,000 in financial aid, see how you can get one also at
http://couponredeemer.com/federalgrants/
rather ripped| 3.7.09 @ 4:12AM
If Reagen were here he would have no clue what we were talkin about becuase he lost it about halfway through his first term in office. But its really cute how you all worship him, I guess he's all you have in the way of heros.
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