Right Wing Nation

Let’s stand back for a moment and get some perspective. Yes, Obama could do some damage, but not so much as many think, and the best thing is that the more he does, the better it is for us.

Frankly, I feel a bit sorry for him, although his predicament is entirely his own creation.

Let’s start with this rather sticky situation. Obama took far too much money from far too many disparate interest groups. Now, they all think that they own him, and no matter which way he turns, he’s going to honk off a lot of his contributors.

Obama is screwed before his horse gets out of the gate.

There are two possible scenarios: Obama won’t be able to implement much of his platform, or he will. Either way, he’s screwed, although I suspect he won’t. Here’s why.

He dug himself further into a hole when he called for another “economic stimulus” package (and how’d that last trillion dollar package work for ya, bub?) Every dollar he pumps into “saving” Wall Street is a dollar he can’t use to create his entitlement programs. Sure, I understand that you’d rather another trillion not be spent, but if it is to be spent, would you rather it went into Wall Street, or went to turning Americans into lazy welfare bums?

He can raise taxes, of course, but if he does, the tax revenues will go down as they always do, so he’ll just run the deficit up further. That’s always a great recipe for re-election. Even better is that he’ll have to raise taxes on lower and lower incomes. Buyers’ remorse, friends. Buyers’ remorse (and there’s more to say about that later).

There’s that brilliant energy plan. If he passes that, energy prices will skyrocket — and as he said himself, that’s the whole point. So when Americans start getting exorbitant energy bills, well, again, that’s not the best course of action if you want to be re-elected.

The Congress is going to be his biggest road block, because they have a Democrat majority. Obama will have nobody to blame but his own party. The House is going to be a thorn in his side because of the Blue Dog coalition. They’re up every two years for re-election, and if they sign on to a bunch of expensive entitlement programs, FOCA, a resurrected ugly weapons ban, or tax raises, the Blue Dogs are toast in the next election, and they know it. Some will let him twist their arms, but not all. They’ll cooperate with him up to a point, and stop past that.

Welfare healthcare? I doubt it. They’ll probably be able to increase the number of well off middle class households on SCHIP welfare, but that’s about it, once the studies start coming in. Remember, the Clinton healthcare plan was soundly rejected by a Democrat Congress.

Congress is already backtracking. What do you think all this “We have to govern from the center” crap is?

There is no way Obama can fund even a quarter of his programs without creating so much misery he’ll never be re-elected. Liberals don’t think “How are you going to pay for it?” is a valid question, so when they get elected, they encounter reality for the first time — and Obama has never held a real job for longer than a year. Reality is a foreign concept to him. He does have staff and he will have a cabinet, and they will explain to him that he doesn’t have the money. So Obama will backtrack.

When he does, there will be more buyers’ remorse. I predict that by December 2009, Kos will be frothing at the mouth about Obama. Wait and see.

But let’s ignore all that and say that Obama implements, oh, half of his platform. The result would be so damaging to the economy that he’ll make Jimmy Carter look like Ronald Reagan. And all of the voters will reject him at the ballot box in 2012 when they discover that the “change” they voted for is misery. When you’re paying $300 a month for electricity, things like “Our first black President!” don’t carry much weight.

However, I don’t think he’ll be able to do that — not after pouring another trillion dollars into Wall Street and bailing out GM and Ford. What’s he going to do, use Monopoly money?

There is no way Obama can avoid buyers’ remorse. Whichever way he goes, he’s going to honk off voters. If he implements his programs, he honks off voters. If he doesn’t, he honks off voters.

I plan to kick back, make popcorn, and watch the fireworks over the next four years.

Jules has similar thoughts, though with a different focus and a humorous twist. Here’s another take.

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