Obama the Passive

Sometimes, after you've heard a speech, you need to see those comments in print before certain things jump out at you. From the President's speech Monday (his opening line):

“On Friday, we learned that the United States received a downgrade by one of the credit rating agencies, not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt if we make good decisions, but because after witnessing a month of wrangling over raising the debt ceiling, they doubted our political system’s ability to act.”

Putting aside Obama's demonstration of the good liberal quality of not addressing what Standard & Poor's actually said so much as what he thinks he can argue against, note the passive language the president uses: "the United States received a downgrade". I received mail on Friday. I didn't have to do anything, it just came to me! On my birthday, I received presents. I didn't have to work for them, they just came to me.



And this whole bond rating thing, why I must not have done anything there, either, because I just received it! You think if this were a good thing, the president would be speaking passively? No. It would be, "I fought for this!" or "I battled the Republicans and wrestled this concession from them".



But, no. This was a bad thing, so in typical liberal victimology, this was something that happened to the US, while Obama was president, that was beyond his control.

Except, it wasn't. Obama had all of 2010 up until October to tell the Democrats in Congress to "Eat your peas" and pass a budget. They had a majority in both houses and the White House, they could have passed any budget they wanted. It could have included spending cuts and any tax increases they believed were prudent or necessary. They did nothing. Obama did nothing. In that sense, I guess you could say he was passive in not providing adequate leadership.



But, the House, under Speaker Pelosi kept passing continuing resolutions, in lieu of an actual budget, kicking the can down the road until they could use it to demagogue the Republicans. Mission Accomplished.



Obama was certainly not passive when it came to spending. The trillions he spent and is still planning to spend, without sufficient income to cover it is what fomented the crisis. Taxing the incomes of "millionaires and billionaires" at 100% would not feed the insatiable beast that is big government. And despite all the money spent on failed stimulus, and all the green projects and all his cronies (okay, not all his cronies. There must be someone Barack knows who isn't a "Czar" yet!), he still wants to portray the consequences of out of control spending as a passive event. "I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when out of the blue, that darned S&P downgraded my credit rating!"



Only that's the trouble Barry. Instead of minding your own business (and your numerous vacations and golf outings), you should have been minding the country's business. Then, you would not have earned your spot in history as "Obama the Ineffectual".



And that whole "...ability to pay our debt if we make good decisions" thing? It reminds me of when Richard Nixon was running for a second term. They asked noted psychic Jeanne Dixon if Nixon would be re-elected. Her prediction? "I predict Richard Nixon will be re-elected...if he doesn't make too many mistakes." Mirabile dictu! That woman had real psychic powers! In other words, it was the kind of statement you make when you don't want to be proven wrong. "I can fly to the moon without a spaceship...if I can just learn how to flap my arms fast enough!"



When the country needed reassurance and leadership, Obama voted "present" yet again. While he was blowing smoke about the "markets" believing the US was "still AAA", the stock market dropped thirty points in the time it took him to finish his speech. With leadership like that, who needs enemies?



You spent your way to your administration "receiving" the downgrade. You like to say you "inherited" this economy? You inherited an economy with a AAA credit rating. Whatever you have "inherited, you have only further weakened and made worse by both your inactivity of leadership and your very aggressive deficit spending. Enjoy the rest of your term, Barry. Don't bother to get up! We can find our way out without you.



Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.