So Much for Hope over Fear

Real Clear Politics ^ | Charles Krauthammer

[Scanian]

WASHINGTON -- Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.

The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.

He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.

[NavVet]

Obama keeps screaming he won the election and therefore he won some sort of mandate for his massive spending plan. This might be true if he had actually run on this plan. However, the only thing he told voters was that he “would come up with a plan”.. Well Barak, if the voters had no clue what the Obama / Pelosi plan looked like on election day, what makes you think you have a mandate. I suspect the reason you didn’t provide any specifics before election day was that you knew the people would have rejected your plan and you if you let the socialist cat out of the bag.

[wastoute]

bump

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I suspect the reason you didn’t provide any specifics before election day was that you knew the people would have rejected your plan and you if you let the socialist cat out of the bag.

That is also why he had the sparsest of paper trails of his career, he would not be elected if people really knew him. He was elected on eight years of the Democrats and media blasting GWB and our weak candidate, also selected by cross over Democrats.

[Moonmad27]

also bump.

[Servant of the Cross]

"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."

When I read that 0bama was spouting this nonsense ("the fierce urgency of pork"), it definitely brought to mind exactly the point that Krauthammer makes about 0bama's fraudulent campaign rhetoric of "hope over fear" being exposed for the lie it was. Krauthammer has it so right ... "So much for hope over fear". It was nothing more than a trite soundbite. I hope more people are waking up to this fraud.

[Scanian]

I understand his approval rating has dropped significantly.

His big mouth has caused him to have a very brief honeymoon (”I won”). The empty rhetoric prez for the ages. A lot of us said he’d take a fall when they took away the teleprompter. Now we’re seeing the confirmation.