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Obamacentric News

By Robert Stacy McCain on 5.11.09 @ 7:25AM

If a natural disaster -- a flood, an earthquake, a cyclone -- struck some far-off corner of the globe, the immediate reaction of the elite press would be to ask, "What does this mean for Obama?" Everything that happens in the world is now viewed through the Obama prism. Case in point, a headline in the New York Times:

The Jobless Rate, Slow to Improve, Tests Obama
On the economy, President Obama has a timing problem. Congressional Democrats may have a bigger one.
Nearly four months into his presidency, Mr. Obama has begun to describe a pivot from economic crisis to economic recovery. From stabilized consumer spending to higher construction spending, he said last week, "the gears of our economic engine" are "slowly turning once again."
The problem is that those gears are unlikely to churn out many new jobs anytime soon. . . .

So economic hardship is not of interest in its own right, but only insofar as it affects the political prospects of the Democratic Party. So if you're out of work, the only question the New York Times cares about is, "Cui bono?"

As to the prospects for recovery under current policy, I can only repeat what I've been repeating for months: It Won't Work. But who cares about the 539,000 people who lost their jobs in April? What matters to elite journalists is that Obama's approval rating is at 60% and which celebrities attended the White House Correspondents dinner.

View all comments (4) | Leave a comment

JP| 5.11.09 @ 9:29AM

You won't see anyone worrying until, say Labor Day of next year. If the unemployment rate does improve, there will be parades and ticker tape processions down Wall St.

The hundreds of billions and even trillions borrowed this year and next is merely a down payment on the November 2010 Mid-terms. The hope of course is that so much money printed, borrowed, and spent will cause a reversal of economic fortunes. In this, I must agree with the Obama Team. I would be shocked if unemployment DOES NOT GO DOWN. The big , or shall I say huge risk, is inflation -not to mention another round of speculation (perhaps it will be gold this time around). Team Obama believes if they can engineer it correctly, they will not have to raise interest rates until after the 2010 Mid-terms. That will put the brakes on whatever recovery begins in 2010. However, Geithner can inject another coup de whiskey in 2011 (by means of the bond and credit markets) and Obama will win a second term in 2012.

By that time, our currency will be all but destroyed ($15 trillion of debt tends to do that), and hyper-inflation will take off in 2013. How Team Obama handles that is anyones guess. Just don' buy Treasury Notes or Savings Bonds.

Flim| 5.11.09 @ 11:37AM

Heck, I could create 100% employment tomorrow. Just pass a law!

"We, The Government, have decreed that everyone in America is now employed as bio-converters of oxygen to carbon dioxide in order to nourish trees and other plant life. For this you will be paid the sum of $1 a year." Then allocate, oh, 2 1/2 billion dollars to sending out training materials to every man, woman and child on how to breath on a begonia or mighty oak once a day.

Hey, this job's easy!