When Your Spin Fails

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been focused on government spending lately and it seems as though President Obama also felt the need to look at government spending as well. USNews.com reports that Obama plans to make several changes and cuts to executive spending that will create a savings of $100 million. The problem? Everyone saw through the spin.

In truth the cuts, although welcome by me and every other tax payer, were really a PR stunt to diminish the continuing criticism from Tea Parties and others on government spending. The idea is to create and increase the total number of media stories depicting Obama’s administration as being fiscally responsible to offset the total number of media stories about the administration’s spending.

This strategy was done once already. Immediately following the signing of Obama’s stimulus plan into law, Obama sought to offset all the spending press coverage with fiscal responsibility coverage by holding a Fiscal Responsibility Summit. The media took the bait and began reporting how Obama was going to bring back Clinton’s “spend as you go” fiscal policy.

The summit was obviously a ploy evidenced by the administration’s lack of adherence to the policy in the passage of the Omnibus Bill and Obama’s proposed budget. Today, Obama was looking to offset the continuing focus on the Tea Parties with a half-hearted attempt at fiscal responsibility.

No one’s buying Obama’s spin on this one and the result was Robert Gibbs wiggling from the media sharks in the water. You can see Robert Gibbs Squirm in the accompanying video as he tries to explain why $100 million in cuts is a huge amount, but $8 billion in spending is not.

Lefties Missed the Point of Tea Parties

While the progressives and the media would rather distract and silence the message of the Tea Parties, the truth of their message is still evident. The left can’t understand the protests. In their minds, Obama’s going to lower taxes and Obama’s going to remake the country better. In their minds, they are off the hook. Well you’d need to have your head in the sand to believe that reckless government spending is going to bring all this about.

March 20th seems like ages ago, but let’s turn back the time and highlight some of the key quotes of the AP article “Obama budget could bring $9.3 trillion in deficits.” Keep in mind that this budget does not include the stimulus, the omnibus, TARP and proposed TARP2 bill.

“In his White House run, Obama assailed the economic policies of his predecessor, but the eye-popping deficit numbers threaten to swamp his ambitious agenda of overhauling health care, exploring new energy sources and enacting scores of domestic programs.”

I made the mistake once of saying, “Obama is doing what he said he would do.” I quickly amended that statement. Obama promised us fiscal responsibility. He promised to go line by line and remove wasteful spending. He said he would not sign legislation with earmarks. He blasted Bush’s spending only to more than triple down on that spending. Spending which all Americans (right and left) agree were irresponsible.

“The dismal deficit figures, if they prove to be accurate, inevitably raise the prospect that Obama and his Democratic allies controlling Congress would have to consider raising taxes after the recession ends or else pare back his agenda.”

What? Did Susan Roesgen not hear any of this at CNN before her meltdown in front of yesterday’s Chicago Tea Party? This was reported nearly a month ago. AP points out the biggest reason why the coveted Obama Tax cut (thanks for the $13 a week, Obama) is going to end in 2 years. Interesting how $13 bucks matters to Obama now, but it didn’t over the summer when gas tax relief was proposed.

"Deficits in the, let's say, 5 percent of GDP range would lead to rising debt-to-GDP ratios that would ultimately not be sustainable," Orszag told reporters.

Deficits so big put upward pressure on interest rates as the government offers more attractive interest rates to attract borrowers.”

What do I have to say? Obama’s own budget chief said it all, the numbers aren’t sustainable. I love the investment in the future argument, but how are we to get there if spending is not sustainable?

“Obama's $3.6 trillion budget for the 2010 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 contains ambitious programs to overhaul the U.S. health care system and initiate new "cap-and-trade" rules to combat global warming.

Both initiatives involve raising federal revenues sharply higher, but those dollars wouldn't be used to defray the burgeoning deficit and would instead help pay for Obama's health plan and implement Obama's $400 tax credit for most workers and $800 for couples.”

So the tax on the 5% has nothing to do with paying off Obama’s deficits? So who’s going to pay for it all? I know it’s hard to believe, but you cannot confiscate $9.3 trillion dollars from the rich, they don’t have it. Perhaps, trillion sounds like too small of a word, so here is what $9.3 trillion looks like, $9,300,000,000,000. Yes, I am getting $400 a year from Obama and in return he is giving me a bill for $67,971 (that’s $9.3 trillion divided by 138 million tax payers) and the progressives can’t understand why people are protesting. Who’s going to pay the bill? We all are and that means you too. Progressives! It will either be in the form of higher taxes or in the form of an economic calamity.

I’ve only covered Obama so far! I didn’t even get into Bush. I’ll leave the progressives to level the spending charges there. Even before Obama the US had the 2nd highest corporate tax rates, which are not too expensive to cut as some would say. Obama has proposed the 2nd highest capital gains taxes. The government has squandered our social security funds. I live in NY, which means I pay the highest state income taxes, the highest state sales taxes, the highest gas taxes, Patterson’s proposed the highest state energy taxes, and I live in an area that has the highest property tax rate in the country (mostly thanks to unfunded state and government programs).

I’m surprised the left’s surprised that this right wing crazy is upset. When Obama said he was going to bring back “spend as you go” and cut wasteful spending, he didn’t count on people holding him to it. I see he was right about the left giving him a pass, but there were some paying attention and those some got together in huge masses yesterday to remind him of his promises.

Obama Facing a Mounting Rebellion That His Presidency May Never Recover

I, like others in this country, had high hopes for Obama. I didn’t vote for him and there was much I agreed with in his policies, but at least there was hope that he would get it right in the end. After all, he recognized a lot of the country’s main problems like energy independence, health care reform, and the economy. I simply did not agree with his solutions to these problems. Obama proclaimed himself to be bipartisan and open to differing and creative ways to deal with these problems. However, and I need to amend some statements I’ve made regarding Obama being a consistent politician, Obama has not followed through in regards to how he intended to achieve his goals. Although the far left has enjoyed watching Obama’s dismissing and patronizing attitude in dealing with this country’s institutions (one’s they’ve hated for decades), they have sacrificed their plans for a few months of feeling vindicated. Even now they are in denial that there is a massive revolt reaching critical mass and Obama is standing in its wake. This post would take far too long to detail and connect all the dots, so instead I’m going to cover the biggest movements.

The TARP Rebellion – I know the minute I write this first point I’m going to get responses about AIG and how every bank is cheating and stealing from the people and how Obama needs to shake these guys up and keep them in their place. Though this may certainly be true of some financial institutions, it is a very broad brush. Instead of speaking out for the majority of banks that really were and are doing the right thing during the AIG fiasco (which was bad, but severely blown out of proportion), Obama passed the buck off on many of the innocent as well. Today there are a growing number of banks starting to speak out against TARP and some of the executive abuses associated with the program.

“When we took the money, it was because only the good banks were going to get the money, the strong banks,” Korstange told CNSNews.com. “We believe that we are and we know that we are a strong bank and that’s why they came to us and asked that we take it (TARP money).

“Then public perception, quite frankly, led by some of the politicians, changed--it became bailout money and it completely changed the perception of what (the TARP program) is.”

“Once that happened, the politicians decided they could run the banks (and) that they could tell us all the things we can and cannot do,” Korstange said. “So we just said, ‘Hey, we don’t need this, we didn’t need it at the beginning, and we’ll give it back to you.’"

Sbj.net reported this in regards to Richard Davis, CEO US Bankcorp:

Last month, Davis publicly called TARP "lousy" and "just trouble" during a speech to the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Business Leaders Forum, according to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. After introducing the program as a way for banks to sustain lending and acquire troubled institutions, the rules have changed, Davis told the group.

"Now they're punishing you for having the capital," Davis reportedly said, adding that he wouldn't let U.S. Bancorp become "collateral damage in an attempt to nationalize the banks."

Today Reuters pointed to the growing voices in the banking industry:

Banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp have signaled their eagerness to pay back the money as soon as possible.

Reuters went on to describe that the Treasury is reluctant to allow these funds to be returned. Wasn’t Obama supposed to be reaching out to everyone and heal divisions? Where does Obama fit in? He wants TARP 2 if you can remember, but I’m starting to doubt whether it will come to fruition as banks are turning TARP 1 into a battlefield.

State Sovereignty – Remember how Obama was going to put strings on States receiving TARP money? The media has been ignoring the growing number of states passing resolutions affirming their state sovereignty. Media coverage is so small that I cannot say for certainty how many states have passed resolutions (there were 4 that had passed and more than 30 states with proposals on 3/27).

Ford Capitalizing on the Obama Motor Take Over – Borrowers worried about government take over have settled Ford Bond debts for 38 cents on the dollar. Theglobeandmail.com had this to say:

And Ford, unlike its Detroit rivals, has an army of senior executives, designers, engineers and marketers here, all available to talk the Ford line. Ford is trying desperately to shape its message and that message boils down to this: “I'm not with stupid.”

Obama’s power grab has investors, suppliers and even buyers nervous over continuing their stakeholder status with GM and Chrysler. If Ford capitalizes, this could mean disaster for the companies that Obama is going to infuse with tax payer dollars and will need to show a turn around lest he lose political capital on his failed power grab.

Tea Parties – Another big development is the tea party movement. There are protests occurring in over 1,800 cities planned for 4/15. What’s most important about this movement is that those joining these movements are not people who have been political activists in the past. The PEW poll showing Obama the most polarizing President in the modern age seems to be ringing true.

These are just a few of the many growing developments. I’ve left out Obama’s waning support for his budget and an increasingly aggressive foreign policy landscape, even as he looks to “heal” America’s world image. The truth is I believe much of this could have been avoided had he proven himself the negotiator and centrist he tried to portray himself, but you don’t stiffen your neck in an aggressive posture unless your willing for a fight. There truly is something to working across the isle. It’s what the people voted for, but what we got was someone focused solely on his own progressive agenda, no matter what the political cost.