The "inevitable" Obama presidency

[Tex]

The WSJ had a good editorial the other day detailing life under an Obama administration with a liberal "supermajority" in Congress, ala 1933 or 1965. In short:

1. Medicare for all
2. Punitive, anti-business climate
3. Union supremacy, including card checks
4. Higher taxes
5. The green revolution
6. Curtailing of free speech
7. Voting rights "reform" to ensure larger Democrat voter base
8. Special interest potpourri

And yet inexplicably, it appears this is what America wants. I watched a post-debate clip on CNN last week where some reporter sat with a family who'd been foreclosed on as they watched the debate. The only thing Mom and Pop were interested in was which candidate promised the biggest handout to them. They were leaning Obama, but were impressed with McCain's crappy "buy up foreclosed mortgages" plan. What a crock. The nation's founder are spinning in their graves.

Meanwhile we have Colin Powell, one-time bete noire of the Angry Left for enabling The Big Lie, now lauded for seeing the light. It only took him 18 months to make up his mind, and big shocker: his vote is racially motivated.

But there's still a few reasons to hope. Joe the Plumber finally gets an honest answer out of Obama--3 cheers for socialist income redistribution!--and his foolish campaign and sycophantic media go after the guy, digging up tax records and genealogy. Hilarious panic.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden gift wraps Obama's inexperience to the Republicans by reminding the electorate why they are wary of him: "The rest of the world doesn't think Obama's got the mettle, why should Americans?" What Biden really guaranteed is that the few nervous Americans to whom national security still matters will take a second look at this guy who has no clue what he's doing.

And the polls have tightened a little too. Interesting stuff.

[Venkman]

I agree they'll go for New Deal II, but I'm not sure the country as a whole wants it. But Bush has mucked things up so badly anyone looks better by comparison. Even a Marxist like Obama. Couple that with a McCain who is unable to credibly advance a conservative, limited government counterweight, and you've got the makings of the great leap leftward.

[NorCal Cat]

Goodbye sweet America! I hope all you idiots voting for Obama get what you deserve...more of your money taken away by the government.

[Levin]

Originally Posted by NorCal Cat

Goodbye sweet America! I hope all you idiots voting for Obama get what you deserve...more of your money taken away by the government.

Are you a persona or a real person?

[SoCalCoug]

Originally Posted by NorCal Cat

Goodbye sweet America! I hope all you idiots voting for Obama get what you deserve...more of your money taken away by the government.

Just like the idiots voting for Bush got what they deserve.

Is there not room in your belief system for intelligent people deciding that Obama is a better alternative as president than McCain?

[Tex]

Bill Kristol on Joe Biden on Barack Obama:

So Biden expects a test of the kind Kennedy faced after his disastrous meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna in June, 1961, less than five months into Kennedy's presidency. Biden's presumably thinking of the Soviet-backed construction of the Berlin Wall a couple of months later. Kennedy did nothing, and was criticized for his weakness back home.

So--leaving aside the merits of what Kennedy did or didn't do in 1961--Biden is forecasting that Obama will have what seems to be a weak response to a provocation from, say, Iran or Russia, and he's urging the liberals of Seattle and elsewhere to stand with Obama against the expected domestic criticism.

In other words, Biden is forecasting inaction by Obama in the face of testing by a dictator. I suspect he's right in this forecast. McCain might want to clarify this point. It's not just that Obama's own running mate expects an international crisis early in his presidency. It's not just that Obama has a weak foreign policy record. It's that Biden himself expects what will appear to be a weak response from Obama to testing by a dictator.

Powerline comments further:

Kristol's gloss is a reasonable interpretation of what Biden said. It would be instructive to have Biden expand on his remarks. What four or five scenarios did he have in mind? What would be the cause of the domestic criticism that Biden anticipates to Obama's response?

Biden unfortunately has no events scheduled today. He isn't talking to the press in any event.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Tex

Bill Kristol on Joe Biden on Barack Obama:



Powerline comments further:

Biden said absolutely nothing about Obama failing the test. He said it may not be immediately apparent that they are correct, but to stand strong and trust in their leaders who would be proven correct over time. There is nothing in there at all to give the impression that Kristol pretends we should have.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

Biden said absolutely nothing about Obama failing the test. He said it may not be immediately apparent that they are correct, but to stand strong and trust in their leaders who would be proven correct over time. There is nothing in there at all to give the impression that Kristol pretends we should have.

We hear what we want to hear, don't we?

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

We hear what we want to hear, don't we?

Seems pretty clear to me.

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has it," the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said of Obama. "This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'," Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

Biden said absolutely nothing about Obama failing the test. He said it may not be immediately apparent that they are correct, but to stand strong and trust in their leaders who would be proven correct over time. There is nothing in there at all to give the impression that Kristol pretends we should have.

Merely raising the question suggests Obama can't handle it, inviting comparisons to JFK/Kruschev in Vienna. Moreover, Biden adds:

"And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

Of course, this comment also betrays the implication that a McCain presidency would NOT invite this kind of testing. Hard to see how that's otherwise than a suggestion that Obama is not up to the task.