Obama Asks for Some Cheese and Crackers to Go with His Whine

I had written in February of 2009, the second month of Obama's administration here, about his whining about the mess he's inherited. If someone takes a job, saying he can do it better, then end of story. Good leaders never badmouth who they replace. It's bad form to say the least.

It shows a serious lack of leadership when year and four months after assuming the position, that Obama is still blaming Bush and Republicans for the problems we're having. Speaking in Buffalo, NY, yesterday, he did just that. He said that he and his party moved "quickly" to fix the financial problems when he came to power, and that the whole time he's been in office Republicans have been doing their best to "gum up the works". Note to Obama, Republicans have no power. Both houses of Congress controlled by Dems, with him in the executive branch, and the judicial branch pretty much makes socialist rulings from the bench.

Republicans could not and cannot stop him and he got, and gets, his way, things get worse, and it's somebody else's fault? What, if Republicans had voted for all his socialist programs they would have worked?

Reagan came into office facing a worse situation. Unemployment was double digit, inflation was double digit, the military had been gutted, Carter had been talking about the 'cultural malaise', and interest rates were double digit (at one point 21.5%). All that and Congress was Democrat controlled. He didn't say one word about his predecessor, or whine about the mess he inherited. During his administration, while not bad mouthing his opposition or his predecessor, the economy grew by 31%, manufacturing grew by 48%, 18.4 million jobs were created, per capita income grew by 20%, and exports grew by 92.6%. He did this with the Democrats controlling both houses of Congress and opposing him every step of the way.

Obama on his opposition: "Their basic attitude has been, if Democrats lose, we win. After they drove the car in the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want the keys back. No. They can't drive. We don't want to have to go back in the ditch."

Obama and the Dems believe increased government control, higher tax rates and increased spending, printing and borrowing money is the solution. Republicans believe the opposite (with the exception of some RINO's). A reminder here that the Democrats from the 1930's to the present have controlled Congress, with the exception of a couple times, in the 1950's and 1990's. Over two thirds of a century of Democrat control. The Republicans lost the last two election cycles because they became Dem Lite, not because they opposed the Dems.

In the same vein as Obama whining, have you noticed the Dems whining about the Gulf oil spill? They are saying it's Bush, Cheney and Halliburton's fault. I even read the comments of some knucklehead congressman that it was Reagan's fault!

Waawaaawaaaa.....grow up and take responsibility people. You said you could do a better job, and you're not, so don't blame others for your incompetence and bad policies.

Quotable Quote

"We warned of things to come, of the danger inherent in unwarranted government involvement in things not its proper province. What we warned against has come to pass. And today more than two-thirds of our citizens are telling us, and each other, that social engineering by the federal government has failed. The Great Society is great only in power, in size and in cost. And so are the problems it set out to solve. Freedom has been diminished and we stand on the brink of economic ruin. Our task now is not to sell a philosophy, but to make the majority of Americans, who already share that philosophy, see that modern conservatism offers them a political home. We are not a cult, we are members of a majority. Let's act and talk like it. The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when? Our party must be the party of the individual. It must not sell out the individual to cater to the group. No greater challenge faces our society today than ensuring that each one of us can maintain his dignity and his identity in an increasingly complex, centralized society. Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, galloping inflation, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite. Our party must be based on the kind of leadership that grows and takes its strength from the people." --Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine (1961 recording)

Please take ten and listen. I can't tell whether this is a history lesson or prophecy. I am stunned that people, in a free nation, are willing to turn every aspect of their lives over to the government, and give up liberty.

Reagan Speaking After Similar Loss in ’74

Some excerpts here from a speech to CPAC in March 1975. He could have said it last night:

Since our last meeting we have been through a disastrous election. It is easy for us to be discouraged, as pundits hail that election as a repudiation of our philosophy and even as a mandate of some kind or other.

Bitter as it is to accept the results of the November election, we should have reason for some optimism. For many years now we have preached “the gospel,” in opposition to the philosophy of so-called liberalism which was, in truth, a call to collectivism.

Now, it is possible we have been persuasive to a greater degree than we had ever realized. Few, if any, Democratic party candidates in the last election ran as liberals. Listening to them I had the eerie feeling we were hearing reruns of Goldwater speeches. I even thought I heard a few of my own.
Bureaucracy was assailed and fiscal responsibility hailed.

But let’s not be so naive as to think we are witnessing a mass conversion to the principles of conservatism. Once sworn into office, the victors reverted to type. In their view, apparently, the ends justified the means.

The “Young Turks” had campaigned against “evil politicians.” They turned against committee chairmen of their own party, displaying a taste and talent as cutthroat power politicians quite in contrast to their campaign rhetoric and idealism. Still, we must not forget that they molded their campaigning to fit what even they recognized was the mood of the majority.

And we must see to it that the people are reminded of this as they now pursue their ideological goals—and pursue them they will.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party”—when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.


The whole speech http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/reagan/reagan1975.asp