A Delicate Balance Needed For Next Four Years

Although most of the country has not figured it out (or is not paying attention), investors and business owners and managers and some in the press have quickly caught on to Obama’s ineptness as President. Even former, moderate supporters like David Brooks, David Gergen, Stuart Taylor, Chris Buckley and Jim Cramer have jumped ship already, (as well as [gasp] Maureen Dowd); and the ultra-liberal Associated Press just published a surprising report (excerpted below) criticizing Obama. Their criticisms are not so much aimed at his incompetence, but rather at his movement to the far left as soon as he took office. Plenty of disapproval is also coming from conservatives, who not only criticize his socialist programs, but also his competence. The problem is, we need a president who is a centrist and is competent – especially in this time of crisis, and Obama is the only president we’ve got. Obama must be stopped in his attempts to socialize America, but not destroyed.

Democrat Senators like Bayh of Indiana and (very surprisingly) Feingold of Wisconsin have already criticized Obama’s spending plans, and the 47 blue-dog Democrats in the House are very unhappy. With 256 Democrats in the House and only 178 Republicans, we would need to switch 40 blue-dogs to vote with Republicans to stop Obama there and move him to the center. That’s not very likely to happen. The focus needs to be on the Senate, where 60 votes are needed for cloture; and more precisely, the focus needs to be on the three Republican Senators who voted to pass the so-called stimulus bill, Specter, Snowe and Collins. Every Republican who cares should write, e-mail and call their offices with a protest over that vote and against any vote in the future that supports huge deficits and tax increases.

As to Obama’s ineptness, as highlighted by the unbelievable number of cabinet nominees who have had to withdraw and the mess he has already made in upsetting key allies, the incompetence must surely extend to his Chief of Staff, and he (Rahm Emanuel) must be replaced immediately by someone who knows what he is doing. It will be hard to swallow, but Obama needs a Donald Rumsfeld, a Dick Cheney or a James Baker type - someone with the competence and experience to pull out of this mess and pull Obama to the center.

Obama is our President for at least four years, and behind him is the complete fool, Joe Biden and the vicious partisan, Nancy Pelosi. We need Obama to survive and succeed as a moderate. We are in a crisis, and we need an effective and responsible president.

Analysis: Obama recovery plans sowing some unease

By TOM RAUM March 7, 2009 AP (Excerpt)

WASHINGTON (AP) — “President Barack Obama offered his domestic-policy proposals as a "break from a troubled past." But the economic outlook now is more troubled than it was even in January, despite Obama's bold rhetoric and commitment of more trillions of dollars.

And while his personal popularity remains high, some economists and lawmakers are beginning to question whether Obama's agenda of increased government activism is helping, or hurting, by sowing uncertainty among businesses, investors and consumers that could prolong the recession.

Although the administration likes to say it "inherited" the recession and trillion-dollar deficits, the economic wreckage has worsened on Obama's still-young watch.
Every day, the economy is becoming more and more an Obama economy.

More than 4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007 — roughly half in the past three months.

Stocks have tumbled to levels not seen since 1997. They are down more than 50 percent from their 2007 highs and 20 percent since Obama's inauguration.

The president's suggestion that it was a good time for investors with "a long-term perspective" to buy stocks may have been intended to help lift battered markets. But a big sell-off followed.” AP