February 10th 2009
No Magic
Y
esterday, as Pres. Obama was jetting off to Elkhart IN to rally the citizens behind Porkasaurus, I said he was “putting his faith in his ability to bedazzle the American people with his powerful persona,” and asked, “Can he pull it off? Can the magical power of his presence convince the American people that Porkasaurus is something it’s not?”
Did Obama make it work? No.
His speechwriters put a bit of sweat into trying to capture the long-gone glory days of early November, with passages like this:
But we also know that our economy will be stronger for generations to come if we commit ourselves to the work that needs to be done today. And being here in Elkhart, I am more confident than ever before that we will get where we need to be.
But even at its high points, there was no “Yes we can!” in either the words or the tone of his delivery; it was a speech of this:
We’re talking about folks who’ve lost their livelihood and don’t know what will take its place. Parents who’ve lost their health care and lie awake nights praying the kids don’t get sick. Families who’ve lost the home that was their corner of the American dream. Young people who put that college acceptance letter back in the envelope because they just can’t afford it.
And this, the big, emotional gloom line:
The situation we face could not be more serious. We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression. Economists from across the spectrum have warned that if we don’t act immediately, millions more jobs will be lost, and national unemployment rates will approach double digits. More people will lose their homes and their health care. And our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some point, we may be unable to reverse.
Only the most gullible and uneducated of us thinks this situation cannot be reversed, so the main gloom line of the speech fell with a loud clunk of disbelief.
Unfortunately for the newly dour Mr. Obama – who, it seems, never thought for a moment that being president would be anything but fun – the American people have started paying attention. They look at the crazed spending and obscene overreach of Porkasaurus and say to themselves, “I just don’t believe this guy any more. If this is how he deals with a crisis, he’s right – we may not be able to reverse it.”
And that’s not just me putting words in their mouth. Jim the hat-tip king is a long-time follower of AOL’s polls and tells me they tilt left. But check this new AOL online poll out. Here’s what they thought:
Do you want Congress to pass the economic stimulus bill?
No – 56% – 22,889
Yes – 44% – 17,785
Total Votes: 40,674Do you think Congress will pass the stimulus bill?
Yes – 77% – 28,891
No – 23% – 8,481
Total Votes: 37,372Has your opinion of Obama changed since he took office?
Yes, it’s worsened – 48% – 20,030
No, it’s the same – 27% – 10,849
Yes, it’s improved – 25% – 10,447
Total Votes: 41,326
Was there magic in Elkhart? No. How about the press conference? No. Obama went back to the rhetorical well and all that was there was empty words.
Even AP, which was so pro-Obama up to November is picking apart his speech in a truth-or-not story that includes:
OBAMA: “Not a single pet project,” he told the news conference. “Not a single earmark.”
THE FACTS: There are no “earmarks,” as they are usually defined, inserted by lawmakers in the bill. Still, some of the projects bear the prime characteristics of pork — tailored to benefit specific interests or to have thinly disguised links to local projects.
For example, the latest version contains $2 billion for a clean-coal power plant with specifications matching one in Mattoon, Ill., $10 million for urban canals, $2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars, and $255 million for a polar icebreaker and other “priority procurements” by the Coast Guard.
OBAMA: “My bottom line is, are we creating 4 million jobs?” he told the news conference.
He said in Indiana, “The plan that we’ve put forward will save or create 3 million to 4 million jobs over the next two years.”
THE FACTS: Job creation projections are uncertain even in stable times, and some of the economists relied on by Obama in making his forecast acknowledge a great deal of uncertainty in their numbers.
The president’s own economists, in a report prepared last month, stated, “It should be understood that that all of the estimates presented in this memo are subject to significant margins of error.”
No, Mr. President, the job is not all fun.
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