Editorial: Obama's focus on fairness, not on a foul record

The Orange County Register ^ | 1/25/2012 | The Orange County Register Editorial Board

[Mark Landsbaum]

President Barack Obama's State of the Union message Tuesday predictably sounded like a campaign kickoff. In this election year he used the bully pulpit to advance political strategy, rather than give an even-handed accounting of where he has brought the nation.

We suspect voters preferred a more candid assessment such as, to paraphrase Jimmy Carter, "Are you better off than you were three years ago?" But stumping politicians know better than to ask questions that have embarrassing answers.

[Doogle]

...his famous laser like focus we’re all familiar with.....

[Rudder]

Mr. Obama's fundamental error is that he regards Americans' earned income as belonging to the government first. He referred to tax cuts that allow people to keep what they earn as government "spending." It is not the government's to spend unless the government takes it from those who earn it.

Socialist or just plain Communist?---you decide.

[Joe Boucher]

Like Mrs. Clinton said, we’re going to take your money to use on thing we find important.

[shibumi]

Gee. I was thinking of commenting on your thread.

But it’s been ~last MAY~ since you actually responded to any posts, well .....

I guess you don’t really care what us little FReepers think.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Obama likes to use the word “fairness” because it is something that his focus groups say is desirable. Everybody wants fairness, but not everyone’s definition of it is the same.

It is an issue that has been argued about, literally, for millennia. Seven centuries before Christ, Aesop wrote the fable of The Grasshopper and The Ant, the former living the high life, dancing and singing, while the latter was working his little ant butt off, preparing and storing food for the winter. When the cold weather came, the grasshopper was starving to death, while the ant was well-fed. Is that fair? Liberals and conservatives will have differing points of view.

I now, humbly offer you the fable of the pizzerias, written by me, twenty centuries after Christ. Two new pizzerias have just opened, two blocks apart, with a busy office building between them. Giovanni’s parents were immigrants from Rome, and food has always been carefully and lovingly prepared. He saved his money and opened up his pizza palace, using only the finest ingredients, many of which are imported from Italy. He calculates that it will cost him $1.50 to make a slice of pizza, and he can earn a decent profit by selling it for two bucks.

Two blocks away, Guido, a fourth-generation Italian-American, has opened up his store. He’s looking to make a fast buck (literally) so he skimps on the ingredients and is able to produce a slice for a dollar, which he also plans on selling for two dollars.

On the day that both pizzerias opened, the workers in the office building flocked to them in equal numbers. Those who went to Giovanni’s got a real taste of Italy for their two bucks, and would never go anywhere else. Those who were unfortunate to sample Guido’s pies, which tasted like American cheese and ketchup on top of cardboard, would never make that mistake again. In just a few weeks, as word of mouth spread, Giovanni was selling 2,000 slices a day, making a profit of $1,000, which would generate an income of over $300,000 a year. Poor Guido was selling almost no slices a day, and closed up shop even before his one-year lease was up.

This is the type of American Dream story that takes place every day in every industry. Somebody works harder than somebody else, or is smarter, or risks more of his capital, or has a new idea or a brilliant innovation. Shouldn’t he be rewarded? And who should decide the extent of that reward—the marketplace or Obama and his hundreds of Czars? What would “fairness” dictate?

[DollyCali]

Good post TSSYF

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Hello, Dolly. And thanks very much.

[Sicon]

I wonder where this SOTU address placed in terms of viewership/ratings, as compared to past SOTU addresses. Hard for me to believe there were many people interested in or able to stomach listening to this imbecile blathering for an hour or so...

[MrB]

We need “codeword interpreters” on our side like the left has for “anything we don’t like = racism”.

“Fairness”, as they would implement it, is nothing other than socialism/communism.

[Peet]

Hard for me to believe there were many people interested in or able to stomach listening to this imbecile blathering for an hour or so...

Alfred Hitchcock - Family Plot.

I can't stand to listen to the Whitehouse Wingnut;

I start yelling at the teevee and the Mrs. yells at me to shut up. Unless she yells at the teevee first.

Nobama, no how.

[metmom]

Mark Landsbaum
Since Aug 8, 2001

First thread or comment posted was on Saturday, January 22, 2011 2:44:35 PM

TEN YEARS between sign up date and first posting?!?!?!
I think this comment explains it all.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2710514/posts?page=9#9

“Thanks so much. We link to our columns and blogs because page views on our newspaper website pay our salaries. Advertisers pay for the people who visit our site, alas, not other sites.

Please click through and keep another newspaper in business.”

Mark Landsbaum

**************************************************************************

You know what, Mark? We don’t appreciate being used to line someone’s pocket. If you couldn’t have been bothered to participate in the FR community for those TEN YEARS, but finally start in to only get a profit, don’t expect people to be flocking to your website.

[humblegunner]

We don’t appreciate being used to line someone’s pocket.

Damned straight.

Those of us who support this site financially do NOT
do so in order to provide advertising for bloggers.

[metmom]

Ping to this thread starting at post 5

[shibumi]

Couldn’t have said it better myself, metmom. But you know what? It gets even better.

Check out the posting history of his alter-ego:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:landsbaum/index?brevity=full;tab=comments

He’s alternately using ~TWO~ FReeper accounts to pimp the same blog.

(How do you feel about them there apples?)

[metmom]

He’s alternately using ~TWO~ FReeper accounts to pimp the same blog.

(How do you feel about them there apples?)

This......

IBTZ x 2

[50mm]

He’s alternately using ~TWO~ FReeper accounts to pimp the same blog.

This has got to be a coincidence. Nobody would be so bold as to doublepimp a blog.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Thanks for the ping MM. I hadn't even noticed that this pimp was using two screen names. I wonder how long it will be before he gets the lightning....hopefully the mods will come and take care of him soon, perhaps like this:

[Salamander]

Ain’t going’ there again.

There was SO much creepy trash on that blog that Abine actually CRASHED trying to delete it all.

Anybody wants to go there, do so _at your own peril_.

It’s friggin’ -infested-.

[metmom]

Ain’t going’ there again.

There was SO much creepy trash on that blog that Abine actually CRASHED trying to delete it all.

Anybody wants to go there, do so _at your own peril_.

It’s friggin’ -infested-.

Maybe the mods would be interested in knowing that......