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It’s About the Legacy, Not the House
April 16, 2013 | 43 comments
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Understanding the Left’s Demands on What Others Own
March 13, 2013 | 205 comments
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Football, Fairness, and Hayek
February 1, 2013 | 18 comments
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An Elite That Still Reject Him
December 24, 2012 | 76 comments
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Why Rice?
December 11, 2012 | 31 comments
The Obama Watch
It Takes a Government
Some political gaffes have a life of 24 hours. Others last a lifetime.
Obama’s “you didn’t build that” continues to resonate — far more than a political gaffe. There is a reason: the implications are far bigger than his attempt to discredit the successful. He didn’t simply go from “it takes a village” to “it takes a government.” His statement challenges the fundamental relationship between America and its government.
In his recent Roanoke, VA, remarks, Obama attempted to unmake the ideal of the self-made man: “…[L]ook, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own…. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” He overshot. In an effort to exalt the government, he not only denigrated the individual, he inverted America’s historical view of their relationship.
Many liberals may think this, but few — even in their most unguarded moments — would dare say it publicly. Over our nation’s two-plus centuries, we have so exalted the independent pioneer spirit that it is virtually synonymous with being an American. We as a people are imbued with that sense, even if some do not share in the sentiment.
Savvy politicians of all stripes know this, and at the very least pay lipservice to it. Still, Obama said it.
The logic of Obama’s words is as refutable as his public utterance is inexplicable. If the government’s spending was the catalyst for innovation, then why are we not all Steve Jobs? Why did so many of America’s greatest inventors appear prior to America’s biggest government?
Logically if, as Obama says, we all share in a boost from the government, then that boost really cannot be the determinative element in the innovation equation — precisely because we all share in it. Instead, it is a constant on both sides of the equation — success and failure alike. The catalyst therefore must lie elsewhere.
Why is it so difficult for liberals to accept that it must lie in the truly and obviously unique element in the innovation equation: The individual?
The answer is: Because liberals embrace a state-centered approach. The independent individual in general, and the successful individual in particular, are challenges to liberals’ state-centered, we-know-best mentality. If the individual can succeed on his own, this diminishes his need for the state. And without a dependence on the state, the individual has little need for the liberals who espouse it. It was no accident that they embraced “it takes a village” to raise a child years ago, and it is no accident that they want to reduce the individual element when it comes to accomplishment now.
Nobel economist Friedrich Hayek said: “It is one of the great tragedies of our time that the masses have come to believe that that they have reached their high standard of material welfare as a result of having pulled down the wealthy, and to fear that the preservation or emergence of such a class would deprive them of something they would otherwise get and which they regard as their due.”
A tragedy, yes; an accident, no. The liberal chooses the state over the individual. Liberals may generally not make that choice as explicitly as Obama’s words imply, but when state and individual conflict, the former wins.
The implications of Obama’s assertion, like the choice itself, are enormous. By denying the individual’s ownership of the accomplishment, it is easy to deny the individual’s ownership of accomplishment’s rewards. If the government is truly responsible, then isn’t it entitled?
Following the liberal line of thought, the answer must be “yes.” This then is far more than misspeaking, it is mis-thinking. Placing government and individual on an equal basis, is to undermine our founders’ intention for our government and overturn the conception we as a nation have had for it ever since.
Early in his Roanoke remarks, Obama uttered some additional unintentionally candid insights: “In some ways, the stakes are even bigger now than they were in 2008, because what’s at stake is not just two people or two political parties. What’s at stake is a decision between two fundamentally different views about where we take this country right now.”
Obama is right. It is a choice between the state and the individual. A choice between where we believe our best hope for progress lies. And a choice about where our values lie.
It is a fundamental choice and one our nation has faced since its beginning. When America’s founders drafted our Constitution, their decision was to ensure maximum freedom for the individual by placing strict limits on the government. In contrast, today’s liberals seeking to enhance freedom for government action must place limits on the individual. As Obama himself pointed out: “And the choice is up to you.”
About the Author
J.T. Young served in the Department of Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004 and as a Congressional staff member from 1987 to 2000.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (64) | Leave a comment
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RJ| 8.7.12 @ 6:30AM
Obama's lack of understanding of the American experience is also reflecting in some of his other well known statements:
“They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion” - April 2008
“I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” October 2008
“the private sector is doing fine. Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government” - June 2012
It is simply amazing that Americans elected a man President who: 1) was the class pothead in high school; 2) had no record of accomplishment (nor executive experience) in government; and 3) lived his life surrounded by radicals. Even Congressional Democrats complain that he rarely interacts with them and is disengaged from legislation. What a joke.
His activities largely consist of 1) lecturing the American public; 2) attending fund-raisers; 3) golfing & 4) vacations.
aware| 8.7.12 @ 6:40AM
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. "
H L Mencken
spike59| 8.7.12 @ 3:15PM
and here we are...
benny havens| 8.7.12 @ 7:22AM
"In some ways, the stakes are even bigger now than they were in 2008, because what's at stake is not just two people or two political parties. What's at stake is a decision between two fundamentally different views about where we take this country right now."
My suggestion is that the Republicans need to spice up their convention. Maybe they should have a speaking slot for “Joe the Plumber”. Obama’s remarks to Joe in the 08 campaign made a lot of headlines.
I would like to see Joe walk out on the stage and ask, “Well America, how is wealth distribution working for ya”?
It would not only remind the voters of Obama’s promises of Hope but it may show the alignment of the working man with the wealthy man.
benny havens| 8.7.12 @ 7:26AM
Obama’s empty promises.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 8:15AM
He understands the "American Experience". He just doesn't like it. And, these are not Gaffes. far from it. This is "ALL IN" from "The One They've Been Waiting For".
He has his own Internal Polling. In fact, he's spent MILLIONS on Polling, alone. And like that scene from the Movie: Patton - He can read a Map!
2010 was a harbinger. Scott Walker's Routing of Obama's Legions was a harbinger.
Every important Election since 2008 has been a harbinger.
All those EMPTY SEATS are like Patton's historical reference to the Germans using Carts.
His rallies at High Schools, remind me of Hitler, just before the Bunker, and the pictures of him Reviewing the Troops, which by then, consisted of Old Men, and their Grandchildren.
Every animal has that Instinct, built in to his DNA.
They know when it's over.
They know when there's Nothing Left To Lose.
They will back away until they are backed in to a Corner, with nowhere to go, and then they make one last Act of Defiance.
If he's going down?
He's going down WHO HE IS.
SIEG HEIL!
TW in SC| 8.7.12 @ 11:25AM
As a fan of the original Star Trek series, I am reminded of Dr Roger Corby who had discovered an alien android-making complex and...in his own desire to be everlasting, made himself into one.
Obama has done a similar thing by making himself a dyed-in-the-wool marxist who cannot see things any other way. His own narrow-mindedness and refusal to see things as they really are have made him an android that can only calculate how to stick it to conservatives.
His one-string banjo going "plink-plink" has worn thin on pretty much everyone, even the ones who won't admit it publicly because they, too, realize that their lives are not better and that their savior and messiah can't possibly do all the miracles they expected of him. Hope is truly an empty promise to oneself when it's not grounded with the possibility of complete failure and a back-up plan.
"Nice rocket ya got there. Whatcha gonna do when it goes kablooie?"
So here we are....the part in Star Trek when Corby is found out as an android and tries to convince everyone he's every bit as human as he always was...only to prove he isn't and everyone in the room loses their faith in him and decides, instead to destroy him.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 5:06PM
The only thing I can find wrong with your argument, is that Obama has not made himself into a Dyed in the Wool Marxist.
His Mother was an Atheist Communist. His Father was a Muslim Marxist.
His Maternal Grandparents were Communists.
His 1st Mentor was a Communist.
His 2nd Mentor was a Marxist.
He began his Political Career, in the living room of two Marxist Unrepentent Terrorists, who Killed Police Officers, Blew Up Recruiting Stations, and Bombed the Pentagon.
He's friends with Louis Farrakhan, and former PLO Terrorist Recruiter - Khalid Rashidi.
He didn't make himself in to a Marxist.
It's in his DNA.
RJ| 8.7.12 @ 4:59PM
You are right. I should have said Obama doesn't appreciate the American Experience.
I don't know if Obama can read a map not to his liking. Obama has the ego of a dictator. It was George Patton, not the dictator in Berlin who saw the carts as a sign of Germany's defeat. Nonetheless, all the signs, except easily manipulated polls indicate Obama is "the One" who will lose. He could easily take several Democratic Senators down with him.
Mike G| 8.7.12 @ 10:15AM
"It is simply amazing that Americans elected a man President who: 1) was the class pothead in high school; 2) had no record of accomplishment (nor executive experience) in government; and 3) lived his life surrounded by radicals. Even Congressional Democrats complain that he rarely interacts with them and is disengaged from legislation. "
He was elected because he ran a successful campaign. (Oops, I'm sorry--he didn't do that, somebody else did that.) So maybe that's where he got the idea that somebody else built your business.
irish19| 8.7.12 @ 12:37PM
Actually, somebody else did. David Axelrod.
RJ| 8.7.12 @ 4:42PM
If any of us were elected President with Obama's qualifications and record and then won a Nobel Prize a few weeks later, having done nothing to earn it, perhaps we would share his belief that most accomplishment is phony. So why did he keep on insisting that HE killed Osama? I keep wondering who is pulling the strings on the man who found himself in the Oval Office.
Occam's Tool| 8.7.12 @ 5:30PM
Who says his Pot use is in the past?
BD57| 8.7.12 @ 6:45PM
"Golf" is getting a raw deal in all of this.
I'd just as soon Obama spend all his time on the golf course - he'd do less harm.
Appleby| 8.7.12 @ 7:02AM
That is exactly why our Founding Fathers did not give us a democracy (which is 9 wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch) but a Republic -- IF WE COULD KEEP IT. Just like everything we neglect, our Republic is dying as everybody waits for somebody else to "do something".
It's a real shame that the Republicans did not find it in their hearts to nominate someone who represents the Founding Principles. I have yet to hear a word from Romney as to what he actually believes about anything.
Stephanie| 8.7.12 @ 7:27AM
A real shame indeed Appleby.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 7:51AM
More Bullsh*t from the Great White North.
Nobody Ran.
There was no Paul Ryan.
There was no Jim DeMint.
No Crispy Cream Christy.
No Rising Stars.
No Magnificent Republican Governors.
Like in Poker, you gotta play with the Cards you're Dealt.
To continuously Piss and Moan about something that isn't gonna change, is comparable to Shittin your pants, and just sitting their, wishing you hadn't, instead of gettin up, and Cleaning off.
Something I'm sure you're familiar with as you begin to feel it all slip away, upstairs, in your Stupid Head.
QUIT BITCHING, already.
You're not helping anybody.
It is, what it is.
Boar Hunter| 8.7.12 @ 11:13AM
The weak willed, spineless Romney could not even muster the courage to comment on events surrounding Chick-Fil-A.
spike59| 8.7.12 @ 3:34PM
it's bad enough that the Left wants Romney to ignore the economy and ObaMao's record of failure in favor of playing 'social issue' games; now, you want him to play along, too????????
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 5:14PM
You keep hammering this guy.
What's YOUR PLAN, tough guy?
He's the Nominee.
You can Vote for him, or you can Shit your Pants, and SIT THERE, wishing you hadn't.
STFU, unless you have a better idea.
You're starting to sound like that Old Bag, up in Canada, who thinks she's an American.
Boar Hunter| 8.7.12 @ 6:53PM
So let me get this straight, you are aparantly going to vote for him (IE: Shit your pants) and then sit in it and wish you had not?
I prefer to not vote for the useless coward and keep my pants unsoiled.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 8:56PM
I am going to PROUDLY Vote for him.
It'll be YOU, who shits his pants, and just sits there, because you voted for Bugs Bunny, and The Muslim got Re-elected.
Dumbass.
BD57| 8.7.12 @ 6:48PM
So you're voting for Obama? Or someone other than Romney? Or not voting at all?
We can't elect someone who didn't run.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 8:58PM
Exactly.
He's a Fckng Nobody, with Shit for Brains, and a Keyboard.
And, he knows it!
C'mon Man!| 8.7.12 @ 11:36AM
Tim, simply amazing, you've got me laughing so hard here...
I'm showing the "poop" analogy to my boys, teach them young that whining doesn't help.
Occam's Tool| 8.7.12 @ 5:31PM
Some of us in The Great White North are voting straight Republican, TLP. All hope is not yet lost, my friend.
Appleby, by standing on the sideline, dear lady, you do no one good.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 6:48PM
Exactly.
TLP| 8.7.12 @ 8:59PM
She's another Shit for Brains.
Von Mises Jr| 8.7.12 @ 7:23AM
Von Mises explains in "Omnipotent Government" that classical liberalism did not survive long after the demise of serfdom. In feudal times, the Prince or the Noble’s domain was the collective association. But with the Industrial Revolution about 1750, the individual and his family became the central unit.
The Enlightenment Philosophers during the "Age of Reason" touted conflicting ideas of capitalism and classical liberal thought versus those intellectuals that advocated various brands of socialism.
But each time socialist experiments were attempted; they spun out of control and were dashed on the rocks.
Enter TR, Woodrow Wilson, Croly, Tugwell and Lippmann ("War Collectivism" - Rothbard 2012) whom devised the "Third Way." It used to be called fascism, but today we generally speak of the same as "Crony Capitalism." What these politicians and intellectuals effectively did was to form monopolistic cartels with the Robber Barons. Rockefeller, the du Pont family and others in the major industries collaborated with the government elite to stifle competition and recreate a caste society.
A century later, the Rockefellers and du Pont regimes have been replaced by GS, GE, BOA, Citi, AIG and the like. So the history tells us clearly that it is the so-called "Progressives" that jump in bed with Wall Street. Somebody should tell OWS.
Stephanie| 8.7.12 @ 7:30AM
Thanks for the history lesson VM.
R Martin| 8.7.12 @ 9:00AM
While his stuff is generally spot-on, VM Jr.'s history lesson today reflects some gross inaccuracies. May I respectfully suggest you both read Burton W. Folsom, Jr.'s "The Myth of the Robber Barons". Professor Folsom (Hillsdale) describes in detail how much of American big business--railroads, steamships, oil, steel, et.al.--started and succeeded in spite of, not because of, what VMJ calls crony capitalism. In fact, government collusion was the practice of the failed competitors of Vanderbilt, Rockerfeller, Hill, Scranton and others. As to the duPonts, they started their empire by making a better product, gunpowder, than anyone else. Although they sold that product to the government, all the capital they employed in the business was private.
Von Mises Jr| 8.7.12 @ 10:11AM
Thank you for the fine tuning, RM.
Rothbard specifically cites Rockefeller and du Pont. Carnegie is not referenced, but many of the lesser steel companies are cited.
I believe Professor Folsom may have been one of the Hillsdale hosts in the Constitution series. I did scan some speeches of the early Progressives in R. J. Pestritto's "American Progressivism" but I am not strong in history as comparable to economics. So I will hopefully find time to read your recommendation.
My problem is I buy more new books than I can read. But this ties in well with the period I am focusing. Your input is appreciated.
R Martin| 8.7.12 @ 10:40AM
Apart from the chapter notes the folsom book is only 134 pages. A very worthwhile read.
Von Mises Jr| 8.7.12 @ 1:24PM
Thanks friend. I will write it down and order it next go around.
R Martin| 8.7.12 @ 4:42PM
You're welcome. Not to belabor the point, but here is another really, really good book on your subject, Economics: "Econoclasts" by Brian Domitrovic. A hugely useful resource tool and the definitive book on supply side economics.
Indy| 8.7.12 @ 7:20PM
Glad I'm not the only one, my reading list is long, books are stacked up and I keep ordering. I cannot recall the last time I read a book for fun, everything I read now is to learn more about history and econ.
Von Mises Jr| 8.7.12 @ 8:06PM
Hi Indy, I hope you are doing well.
I was quite busy for a couple weeks and then on vacation a couple more. Perhaps you were posting during my sabbatical, but when I checked TAS I did not see your posts. Great to hear from you again.
Indy| 8.7.12 @ 8:17PM
Yes sir, I am well, I have not been posting, doing more reading than commenting.To me some of the bantering back and forth is not very productive so I have been working on specific projects. Been busy at work, deep in the trenches in in the evenings and on weekends doing my small part to take on the Left and weak Rs and dealing with some unexpected things on the homefront, I would welcome a vacation but nothing in the near future for me. Hopefully, you enjoyed your time off.
RJ| 8.7.12 @ 10:35PM
Me too, Indy. I started reading about the American Revolution about 12 years ago and expanded from there. Of the books you have read, what do you recommend the most? As for me, the three most influential books I have read are 1) Hayek's Road to Serfdom; 2) de Tocqueville's Democracy in America; and 3) Milton and Rose Friedman's Free to Choose. There a lots of good ones out there and I am looking for more.
Von Mises Jr| 8.8.12 @ 6:15AM
Indy,
I have spent more time reading as well. When I do comment on TAS, I do not respond to trolls. I will discuss their ignorance and corruption with others, but not to engage in their wasting our time and corrupting our conversation.
RJ,
You picked three awesome books. More of Hayek is always a great choice. "Constitution of Liberty" and "The Fatal Conceit" are both seminal. I love to read Tocqueville. His book "On Democracy, Revolution, and Society" is great and his "Ancien Regime and the French Revolution" is not only terrific, but reading about the intellectuals and change from serfdom to capitalism is enlightening.
I would also suggest signing up for emails from www.mises.org. Murray Rothbard wrote a 4 book set "Conceived in Liberty" that takes an economic journey from 1500 Europe through the end of the American Revolution. You will also find lots of great books at this site on economics such as Mises "Theory and History" that explains the early socialist thought, or lack thereof.
RJ| 8.8.12 @ 9:50AM
Thanks for the recommendations, Von Mises Jr. I will look into them. Von Mises is one of my favorite authors (Liberalism, Socialism & Bureaucracy). Best wishes.
ReaganConservative| 8.7.12 @ 8:05AM
This is Obama's mentality and governing / campaigning policy and ideological philosophy-
Obama resolves that the anti-American anti-Capitalist liberal progressive socialist-marxists that have come to power and authority by whatever means necessary- propaganda, lies, coercion, years of radical leftist political indoctrination, ballot box fraud and corruption, etc, will stay in power and authority so that this nation under Obama shall be fundamentally transformed from a US Constitutional Republic to an authoritarian marxist government regime will have the freedom to do what it wants, when it wants, to whom it wants, as it wants, with absolute impunity. This is what Obama means when he talks about Freedom.. Freedom of the govt, not of the people.
The Patriotic American Reagan Tea Party Conservative people and movement says in the words of John Paul Jones- We have not yet begun to fight !! The 2011 Mid-terms were just a sample of what will happen to you and all of your crony henchmen and women.
6 Nov. cannot come soon enough !!
ReaganConservative| 8.7.12 @ 8:07AM
sorry, correction- 2010 mid-term..
Peppermint Tea | 8.7.12 @ 9:11AM
Face it: Obama didn't give that speech!
The words, grammar, and syntax were all created by others who had come before. Barry didn't invent any new words. He didn't invent any new thoughts. Others built those fantastical constructs (Marx).
Sure he stood up and spoke the words, but lots of people stand up and speak. They get up early and do it every day.
Barry owes his ideas to others (F.M. DAVIS), his vocal chords to others (hippies in love), and his bravado to others (ALINSKI, SATAN). He owes this speech to others--HE DIDN'T DO THAT. So don't blame him.
Al Adab| 8.7.12 @ 9:40AM
For government to pre-select what opinions and what actions by individuals (inside the law of course) may be allowed within the public square and then to use its monopoly on force (including public coercion) to quiet opposing views is the definition of tyranny. That is the road to Caesar and Bonaparte.
Bill8472| 8.7.12 @ 10:16AM
One of the interesting things about progressivism, or idealism, or whatever it's been called over the millenia since Aristotle and Plato first enunciated the distinction between the two world views, is that progressivism says the individual is elastic and can undergo transformation into whatever character one's particular vision of human society requires, while at the same time exalting collectivism, the amalgamating of people (not as individuals but as cogs in a great social machine) into one thing so as to achieve utopia.
Doesn't that seem a touch schizophrenic?
Kwan| 8.7.12 @ 10:23AM
No doubt historians will come to the conclusion that "Obamaism" like all the other leftist "isms" (Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Pol Potism) was a major failure that attempted to plunge the United States into the Dark Ages. Obama and his leftist co-conspirators failed to take into account Lincoln's famous quote: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
DRA2012| 8.7.12 @ 4:40PM
Regretfully, Kwan, he only has to fool about 51% of the voters for one day in November.
TSD| 8.7.12 @ 10:53AM
After all these years of building this country on the ideas and hard work of individuals, the sacrifice of many brave souls to defend our way of life, this group of statist/social engineers have decided to change our country and destroy a proven society that has provided hope and a way to improve the lives of all on the planet. If we do not stop them now we will burn up all our equity and move the planet into the next dark ages... how long do you think it will take as we accelerate in the darkness? If the first 4 years of this guy and his useful idiots are any indication, NOT VERY LONG!
David| 8.7.12 @ 11:18AM
All true. And all too sad that just this morning Rasmussen (who I trust more than any other pollster) has the race dead even.
It is a disgrace that 50% of Americans believe the shit they do - even after the Boy and his admin have done almost every single thing the wrong. He and his admin eminate evil - pure simple evil.
We can thank our public schools for 3 generations of people who believe in government as their mommies and daddies. Conservatives will always have a battle from this day forward.
If Bam Bam can run neck and neck with Romney after all the damage he has done, the country's only hope is God Almighty. If He had been our first hope all along, the public have been able to inflict the damage they have.
May God Bless America.
BD57| 8.7.12 @ 6:57PM
Understand that half the people pay no income taxes. The only skin they have in the game - if that - are social security & medicare taxes (a) neither of which are sufficient to cover the benefits they allegedly provide; and (b) both of which will allegedly provide them direct benefits in the years to come.
People who pay income taxes do so to fund the general business of government - there is no specific, identifiable, personal benefits (MY social security, MY medicare, etc.) coming back to them. Benefit not being so visible, they quite naturally would like to see fewer of their dollars taken and those which are taken spent more wisely.
Those who don't pay income taxes, on the other hand, don't have reason to care about them - if they're getting benefits (and, let's face it, a disproportionate number of people who pay no income taxes do have benefits coming back), then all they care about is keeping the money comin'!!!!
IMO, Republicans made a mistake via tax reduction which resulted in fewer & fewer people having income tax liability. It may have sounded good, but it's created a class of people whose self interest lies in demanding more & more benefits. When the number of recipients exceeds the number of taxpayers, we wind up with majorities willing to vote themselves a raise ... from your wallet.
David| 8.7.12 @ 11:21AM
Peppermint Tea, EXCELLENT!!!
Mimi | 8.7.12 @ 11:33AM
For many of us, the lights went on before the 2008 election...we knew Obama and what he stood for. Many became aware in the early days of 2009 when the edicts first appeared....the bulk of the population are now aware because of their loss of wealth and the condition of a recession turned into a depression like slow-down....whereby trillions are on hold waiting the fool in the Whitehouse to VACATE so they can once again invest in America. A BIG BOOM is on the horizon in America that will spread the economic increase across the world.
The choice is clear WHO to elect....A TIME TO CORRECT, the wrong turn in the road. If we pray for ONE thing it is the education of the AMERICAN VOTER. The REPUBLICAN CONVENTION can do that in who they have to teach and SPEAK....The Gop needs to get some Constitutional Conservatives on board....as Mark Levin says on last nights program...WERE NOT GONNA TAKE JUST CRUMBS!......If this election is crucial to our very survival of the American Way....The GOP needs to wise up on just WHO their VOTERS will be to give them a WIN!
Who Knows?| 8.7.12 @ 11:52AM
Is Obama a Christian?
Assume he is.
When he dies and approaches the pearly gates, and faces Saint Peter, or whoever, about whether it’s to be heaven, hell, or purgatory, will Hussein say, about his life, “I didn’t build that”?
That’s THE problem with postmodernists---read Victor Davis Hanson, today, at National Review Online, as he completely exposes Obama.
There is always the actor AND the act. The doer AND the doing. Substance AND attribute.
Obama is worse than the Peter Sellers character in Being There. He takes “being in the Now” to the limit, even dipping into cutting edge physics, by claiming to be able to go back in time and change it---to wit, his rearranged memory “furniture”.
What a 21st century farce!
A fabulist as president. And we thought the Know Nothing party had disappeared!
Everybody is armored. Besides cloth hiding flesh, there are psychic barriers we all create, over time, to protect us from pain---no fear allowed.
Else, how to explain such a nothing as BHO fooling so many people?
sallycranston | 8.7.12 @ 2:55PM
Obummer is clearly a farce but I think you've taken your displeasure a little too far. I think his intentions are good, unfortunately those pesky unintended consequences keep making things worse.
You’re a solid writer and a good candidate to contribute columns at a new website I’m involved with promoting: www.WriterBeat.com
Intelligent Design| 8.7.12 @ 2:00PM
Obama is an ignorant collectivist. He would have been perfectly at home in the former USSR, and he has learned nothing from its collapse. Obama is an impostor who has a deep-seated contempt for our history and American citizens past and present. He despises entrepreneurs, capitalists, and last but not least .... Jews and Israel. When the voters throw him into the garbage truck of history in November, perhaps he will become a professor of American Un-Exceptionalism at some collectivist cesspool such as Columbia. He will likely make big consulting fees by advising the Muslim Brotherhood too.
JCanneli| 8.9.12 @ 11:59AM
That would be "deep seeded" not "deep seated!" You "seed" deeply, you don't "seat" deeply...you're a real scholar, "Intelligent Design." lol
PolishKnight| 8.7.12 @ 2:59PM
Folks, I don't think what Obama did was a mere slip but rather something more significant and profound: He doesn't really understand Marxist theology that well because it's a mere cover. The left has been about cronying and race identity politics for the past 40 years or just bashing and blaming Republicans for everything including bad weather. Ultimately, marxism is the Heaven's Gate of political cults which promises a Swedish paradise on a comet but eventually commits cultural suicide with everything drinking cool aid and wearing cheap sneakers.
Butch| 8.7.12 @ 4:03PM
Mr. Young has offered what is for me a new twist to the conclusions about these remarks. That since we all share in the infrastructure equally, that access must not be "determinative" in affecting outcomes. Thank you, sir! I will steal it and use it with zest.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.7.12 @ 5:52PM
WHAT ABOUT A LAME DUCK PERIOD?
Folks, I am deeply concerned...about events Obama can stir up prior to...and after the election.
Keep oe betsy primed and oiled up.
Indy| 8.7.12 @ 7:23PM
The Lame Duck Session should be of great concern, Lugar and others will do damage, the last Lame Duck after the huge 2010 wins for conservatives tossed us under the bus. I don't trust any of those in GOP leadership. They already have rolled over extending the CR for 6 months. GSA scandals and no change to funding, seriously?
JCanneli| 8.9.12 @ 11:49AM
If I made the following statement, “I miss when I used to work closer to home. I could walk to work. As of 2001 I work in Miami, which stinks...I can't walk anymore.” Would anyone hear that and then tell people that I said “Miami stinks and that I am no longer able to walk?” Though I actually said those words, that would be misleading because it left out the proceeding statement that provided all the context for the comment. This is exactly what American Spectator did with that speech. Shameful.