The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 4 of 5)

This is a very important piece, seminal I hope, in the early stages of journalistic coverage of the Obama administration. The dangers of authoritarian control of the economy, as the writer points out, are real dangers that are unfolding right before our eyes -- industry executives rebuked, chastened or fired by the state, while union workers (bulk voters) are stroked and appeased. Unfortunately, the current cadre of TV news-readers, pundits, and print reporters has neither the historical knowledge nor the economic perspective to grasp what is happening or to comment on it intelligently. (All modern "reporting" is essentially commentary.) They are completely lost, adrift in the swirl of public policy "change" and their own thinly concealed reverence for a black president. There is no irreverence out there in the press corps, among which, I suspect, fully 95 percent voted for Obama and are cheerleading for him on their beats.

Very little of this drastic ongoing government intervention has been necessary. It is all public relations to convince the public that the Democrats are doing something about the recession, hence the poll numbers suggesting more people think "the country is moving in the right direction." Additionally, it is part of a strategy by Democrats, many of whom have no discernible convictions about economic freedom in the first place, to replace the American system with a command-and-control regime -- in which they call the shots.

Closely observe the president's consigliere Rahm Emmanuel -- he of the dark, brooding countenance, the history of ferocious partisanship, the multimillion-dollar investment bank windfall, the shadowy Chicago machine connections -- and try to say that he doesn't suggest a character straight out of Ayn Rand (Cuffy Miegs, perhaps) almost to the point of caricature! But of course that scowling face is now on newsstands as one of People magazine's "beautiful people." Perfect.
-- Woodlander

A 5-YEAR PLAN, BECAUSE THOSE WORK SO WELL
Re: Philip Klein's Preparing for Failure:

This piece of legislation is pre-designed to fail by initially being too small (c.f. Krugman) because the funds are to be dispersed over years not days, weeks, or months. The stimulus is actually a fraction of the total cost, so what we have is a Soviet-style five year plan that is underfunded. Five year fully funded Soviet economic plans did not work, so I would expect that partially funded ones will not either. As long as the free market still moves, the biggest compromisers so far are the Democrats and the president.
-- R. Welton
Pinconning, Michigan

ALAN MOORE COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER
Re: Nicole Russell's Hooked on a Feeling:

"The Gift, a Kiss -- a Fable for Our Time"

The Gifted One stood looking down on the adoring crowd, holding a life-like plastic doll and smiling at his teleprompter screens.

Then he spoke, "I hold in my hands a living baby, the bastard child of George Busssshhhhh, which he left on my doorstep for me to cure with My Gift.

"I will now kiss this baby with the Kiss of Hope and Change, and with this kiss create One Hundred Thousand New Jobs and several of the other high-blown things I promised you."

With those words, he punched the doll with crushing force upon the face and said, "My gentle and loving kiss upon that face will cure the ills of the world, I promise you."

And the people began to bring forth their own children, crying, "Please take my child, O Gifted One, and kiss him too."

"No, no, kiss mine!" oft came the reply.

And then, "Kiss not my child -- kiss me."

The Gifted One smiled and clenched his fist for another kiss as the moaning cry undulated across the land --