Of Straw Men and Their Pyromaniac Attackers

The liberal talking points misconstrue the conservative philosophy of government as wishing to dismantle the federal government and let everybody fend for himself. They then proceed to attack this mischaracterization. Winning an argument against a chimera is as meaningful as stabbing a ghost.

And I quote:

"The Republican template has been in stark view at presidential debates lately. It is a program to wind down the government’s longstanding guarantee of health care to the elderly and the poor and incinerate the Democrats’ new promise to cover the uninsured; to abolish the Department of Education and its effort to raise national standards; to stop virtually all regulation of the environment and the financial industry; to reimpose military discrimination against gays and lesbians, deport immigrants, cut unemployment insurance and nutrition programs, raise taxes on the poor and lower them for the rich." (9-29-11 NY Times editorial).

And I quote:

"In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everybody’s money, and let everyone write their own rules, and tell everyone they’re on their own -- that’s not who we are. That’s not the story of America." (9-8-11 Obama's Speech to Congress on Jobs).

The themes are the same. In these statements, straw men attributed to those who disagree with Obama's policies are set up to demonstrate the unreasonableness of the opposition.

From Obama's speech:
1. Dismantle government
2. Refund everybody's money
3. ...everyone write their (sic) own rules
4. ...everyone...on their (sic) own

From the NY Times editorial:
1. Wind down the government...incinerate the Democrats’ new promise...abolish the Department of Education...stop virtually all regulation of the environment and the financial industry...

Same language, same falsehoods (straw men). If I declare (falsely) that my political adversary advocates the death penalty for traffic violations and then oppose that position, have I made an argument that mine is the better position?

This administration and its apologists seem unable to argue their case on the merits, largely because the country and its economy are staggering under the onslaught of the Obama policies. So on to the barricades and a big, hot, distracting bonfire it is.

Wasn't Obama Hired to do his Job?

If you could see an aura around Obama, it would be fizzy and thin, and probably a light grey color.

Obama appears to have 1. no executive strategy for leading the United States, 2. no intellectual engagement in the principles that must inform policies and 3. no interest in the work such engagement would require.

He is running around the country making insignificant and vapid speeches, looking for photo ops that he hopes will weaken the conservative opposition, and generally wasting the time he should be applying to executing his job as president. When there is any hard work to be done (crafting a budget, developing a health care policy), he punts it to Congress or some Special Committee.

If a CEO were so diffident about and inattentive to his responsibilities, he would be fired.

Grinding long-term unemployment, near-zero earnings on savings, a jittery and undependable stock market - these things are impoverishing a large portion of the population. Nonetheless, Obama fritters his time away vacationing, fund raising and erecting straw men to demolish. And the U.S. has to suffer the damage he is doing for at least 14 more months because there is no mechanism to fire him or make him do his work.

Or Out of His Depth

It is also possible, no, make that probable, that Obama is out of his depth. I try to imagine what would happen if someone suddenly put me in charge of a multi-billion dollar derivatives fund (say what?) I would surround myself with advisors to try to get a handle on the complex decisions I would need to make. But even with an economics background and a CPA license and several years of experience in tax and accounting practice, I would most likely find it very difficult to become competent in this job before making serious mistakes.

Obama practiced Community Organizing, then Professor and State Senator for a few years. He evidently made no hard choices in the Senate, voting present rather than taking a position on issues. He has never had to make hard choices in a business, balancing risk against reward, evaluating economic data to try to determine probable trends and outcomes, putting his own money where his preferences lie.

Now he is trying to micro-manage the entire U.S. economy with no training or experience in the field. On top of this serious experiential and educational handicap is layered his probably sincere but nonetheless impractical subjective desire to improve the lives of the less well-off.

In addition, it has been reported that he always thinks he is the smartest person in the room, which makes it difficult for him to take advice or admit he is wrong.

So, no relevant experience or education, an emotion-based determination to redistribute wealth no matter how disfunctional the means, and an arrogance that brooks little dissent. No wonder he is struggling.

Sadly, however, the resultant damage to the country is real.

The Ineducable Emperor

It seems President Obama is incapable of learning from experience. He will not publicize his college or law school grades. Perhaps he was a mediocre student. He certainly seems to be a mediocre student when it comes to learning on the job.

After almost three years as president, he shows no intellectual agility in solving national problems. Two years ago, his solution to the high rate of unemployment and slow economic growth was a mix of, among other things, direct government spending on favored businesses (big banks, car manufacturers) and non-discriminating handouts to car and house buyers ("Cash for 'Clunkers' " and home purchase tax credit).

His current solution to the continuing high unemployment and slow growth is...wait for it...government spending and targeted handouts (er, temporary tax cuts). This time around, his preferences include rewarding 1. employers for hiring vets, those unemployed for over six months, new employees; 2. "green" products producers etc.); and 3. bailouts to mostly public sector employers (state governments to retain state employees) and workers (teachers, firemen etc.).

Obama is either a remarkably slow learner or he is so wrapped up in his ideological prejudices that he cannot back down from destructive policies and programs he has already implemented. He seems to believe he is more an emperor than an elected president, with the magical power to change the laws of economics by edict.

Were he to repeal Obamacare, the Dodd-Frank bill and the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, suspend the enactment of new regulations except to the extent of eliminating an equal mount of old regulations and stop denigrating the business community and threatening it with tax increases, it is likely the economy would gasp in the new-found oxygen and take off.

Not likely he will do so.