Category Archives: Political Commentary

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Is Obama Too Smart For His Own Good?

5 Comments

Yeah, I laughed pretty hard, too, when I read Dana Milbank’s nutty theory (unless it was really intended to be a joke). Jen Rubin isn’t impressed by it, either:

I hate to be prosaic about this, but what is the evidence that Obama is a complex guy? ( None of the three gurus have met or actually diagnosed him, of course, and I’d bet, just a wild guess here, that they are liberal Democrats who just think he is swell.)

After all, Obama has not blazed new political or policy trails as Bill Clinton did. He’s written no scholarly books (sorry, memoirs don’t count). His understanding of the Middle East has been so slight and his strategy so misguided that there are no Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and we have been spectacularly unsuccessful in stopping the hegemonic aspirations of Iran. I mean, isn’t it just as likely that Obama’s a garden-variety liberal with poor decision-making skills?

Much more likely, actually. I’d go with Occam’s Razor here. And as she notes, they said the same thing about Jimmy Carter.

[Update mid morning]

Jonah Goldberg doesn’t think much of Milbank’s thesis, either.

Political Commentary, Space

Space Political Action Alert

Henry Vanderbilt, over at the Space Access Society, wants you to call your Congressperson:

– Call your Representative via the House Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. (If you don’t already know their name, grab an old bill and look them up by your 9-digit zipcode at http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html.)

– Tell whoever answers the phone that you’d like to speak to the person who handles NASA issues for the Congressman/woman. (Ask for their voicemail if they’re not available.)

– Politely ask that staffer to: Ask your Representative to tell Chairman Wolf that he/she opposes earmarking billions to sole-source the NASA “Space Launch System”. Tell the staffer that you want to see a real competition to determine what heavy-lift booster NASA actually needs and who can build it most affordably. (If he wants to talk more about this, do your best to answer his questions.) Thank him for his time, and ring off.

For the background, follow the link.

Education, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

In Which I Scoop Donald Trump

63 Comments

I’ve had a document for a while now that I have neither disclosed, or provided to Wikileaks. But now that the Donald seems on the verge of spilling the beans, I’ve decided it’s time to go public, so I can scoop, or “Trump” him (ha ha…). I can’t know for sure whether this is genuine, but in light of the rest of the history that is slowly being revealed, (e.g., by Stanley Kurtz), these Columbia transcripts that the president has refused to release look quite plausible. Continue reading In Which I Scoop Donald Trump →

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

Obama’s Plan To Reduce The Deficit

66 Comments

He doesn’t have one:

The president keeps promoting an “adult conversation” about the budget, but that can’t happen if the First Adult doesn’t play his part. Obama is eager to be all things to all people. He’s against the debt and its adverse consequences, but he’s for preserving Social Security and Medicare without major changes. He’s for “tough cuts,” but he’s against saying what they are and defending them. He pronounces ambitious goals without saying how they’d be reached. Mainly, he’s for scoring political points against Republicans.

And doesn’t really want one.

That’s been obvious for a long time. Reducing the deficit will require cutting non-defense spending and entitlements, and Democrats can’t bring themselves to do it. People forget, but Bill Clinton never had a plan to balance the budget, either. He was forced to do it by a Republican congress.

[Mid-morning update]

He may not have a plan to eliminate the deficit, but he sure had one to jack up gas prices, and it’s working pretty damned well.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Jim Manzi has some thoughts on demand elasticity of fuel, and why forcing the prices higher is not a good way to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

[Another update a couple minutes more later]

Why have taxes at all? Why even have a debt limit? Keynesianism has failed, and the “liberals” remain economically incoherent.

[Update a while later]

Because most Americans aren’t as stupid as the Democrats want us to be, they think that the problem is too much spending, not taxes too low.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

OK, Does Trump Have The Goods?

21 Comments

…or is he just continuing to bluff out a poker hand?

In an interview with the Associated Press, Trump alleged that Mr. Obama had been “a terrible student,” and wondered how he could have been accepted to prestigious schools like Columbia and Harvard Universities.

“I heard he was a terrible student, terrible,” Trump told the AP. “How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I’m thinking about it, I’m certainly looking into it. Let him show his records.”

I would be very depressed about a choice between Obama and Trump, about as much as I was with the choice last time (partly depending on running mate — Palin was the only saving grace of the ticket), but I am popping lots of corn right now. Notwithstanding my current restrictions for salt and carbs…

If what I suspect is the truth eventually comes out, it will be a horrific indictment of affirmative action, which in this case may have resulted in the Peter Principle being accelerated to the nth power, having been instituted by the entire electorate. On the other hand, it may have inoculated the nation from making such a mistake again for decades. On the gripping hand, it will be bad news for good black candidates for decades, as I warned Obama supporters at the time.

[Update Monday evening[

But don’t say he’s not a conservative! Trump gave fifty grand to Rahm Emmanuel’s mayoral campaign. He must think that Republicans are stupid. Sadly, there’s a lot of evidence to support his belief.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Space, Technology and Society

Just A Right-Wing Fantasy

5 Comments

No, of course Atlas Shrugged has nothing to do with life in modern America:

Ah, that must be the Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Law, or one of the Fairness Laws, or something, right? The WSJ isn’t sure what law the NLRB is talking about, either. Not only do businesses routinely relocate to find the most advantageous environment possible, states and cities compete for that business by calculating their business climate. If this has escaped the notice of the NLRB, perhaps they should get out more.

This will be an important court case, assuming it’s fought. Then again, it’s hard to feel too bad for Boeing — as Mickey says, live by crony capitalism, die by crony capitalism. Sadly, we’ve also seen this sort of corporatism/fascism wasting our space dollars as well, in addition to inhibiting innovation.