Look –  polls three years before an election are meaningless.  I doubt Reagan was doing all that well in April of 1982, to pick a pointed example, and we all know how that turned out.

As we get closer to the Presidential election, incumbency, a full-court press by a biased mainstream media and the GOP’s lack, to this point, of a barn-burner candidate may well even things out for Obama, if things don’t go even further south (as they very well may).

But today’s Gallup results show that maybe, just maybe, P Americans are waking up and finding that they spent 2008 with electoral beer goggles, and they’re not crazy about what they woke up with, and they’re starting to gnaw their arm off to get away, just maybe:

Americans anxious about unemployment and the economy increasingly blame President Obama for hard times, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid signs of turbulence in November’s midterm elections.

Last week’s jubilant signing of the health care overhaul, Obama’s signature domestic initiative, seems to have given the president little boost. Instead, his standing on four personal qualities has sagged, and 50% of those surveyed say he doesn’t deserve re-election.

“People are still hurting; a lot of people are still struggling, and I think a lot of what we’re seeing in the polls reflects people’s views on the economy,” says Rep. Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Note to the GOP:  betting on  your opponent to “keep screwing up” is not a “strategy”.  Get out of the lesbian strip clubs and get a message together.

That is all.

About a quarter of Americans O believe this nation will be the most powerful nation in the world 90 years from now:

Just 27% of U.S. voters now think the United States will still be the most powerful nation in the world at the end of the 21st century, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That’s down eight points from the previous survey in February just after a highly-publicized U.S. military surge in Afghanistan

I don’t think it ever got this bad during the Carter years.

The Tea Party is all about idle unemployed people!

That’s the NYTimes’ big discovery:

Tom Grimes lost his job as a financial consultant 15 months ago, he called his congressman, a Democrat, for help getting government health care.

Then he found a new full-time occupation: Tea Party activist.

In the last year, he has organized a local group and a statewide coalition, and even started a “bus czar” Web site to marshal protesters to Washington on short notice. This month, he mobilized 200 other Tea Party activists to go to the local office of the same congressman to protest what he sees as the government’s takeover of health care.

I can tell you from experience; having a hobby helps when you’re out of work.

And it’s a fact that Obama’s policies are making an awful lot more people unemployed.

But I’ll tell you what: when I speak at the 4/15 Tea Party at the Capitol, I’ll ask how many are unemployed, and how many are working but not looking forward to getting financially flensed by Obama’s tax orgy.

Bloomberg radio on XM reported this morning that that Jimmy II, palms sore from high fives all around, is hitting the road to sell his health care deform bill.

But sir! Isn’t it the law of the land now? Why does it need to be sold?

Again and again and again?

President Obama spent 14 months getting to this moment, but aides said Monday that he wouldn’t spend much time savoring it. He plans an aggressive campaign to clarify what the bill does and try to deflect a Republican counter-assault. And other policy goals he had postponed in favor of healthcare now jump to the front of the line.

We’ve heard that before.

Only a clinically delusional man could at this juncture think he can simultaneously campaign for his health care plan and move other priorities (it’s the economy stupid) back onto his desk.

Any expectations of bipartisanship or cooperation on the part of the now neutered Blue Dogs on any issue have dissolved in the caustic environment that is the residue of Madame Pelosi and President Obama’s pressure-cooker tactics. Nonetheless, it appears Obama has more to concern himself with than the GOP.

The President is facing an American counter-assault.

Republicans, right now, can feel they’re on the side of the voters, who polls show simply don’t like the overarching bill. A CNN poll Monday showed 59 percent of voters oppose the reform bill passed by the House late Sunday, compared with 39 percent who support it.

Iowa is only the first stop in what will be a concerted White House effort to explain a bill that many Americans don’t understand.

Mr. President; Mr. Emanuel, you arrogant, condescending pricks with all due respect, America understands a lot more…now.

In November they may have found dubious the GOP’s attempts to hang labels of extremism and socialism around then-candidate Obama’s neck, but sixteen months later an implicit “we told you so” is being met with nods of acknowledgment.

“If this is going to be turned into a real asset for Democrats, the president and others have to be out there in a continual effort to sell this plan,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. “Just letting it lie is not good. It’s got to be sold, sold actively and sold vigorously.”

…and that will be their downfall, if we haven’t already witnessed it.

How obtuse can one pollster be, let alone an entire administration – nay an entire political party – to not realize the obvious fact that the more this cluster has been sold, the lower it’s popularity has sunk?

“I don’t think there’s any place that it’s going to be helpful to them,” Jesmer said, scoffing at Democrats’ assertion that they will be able to turn the tide of public opinion. “They have been selling this thing for 13 months — all they’ve been doing is selling it.”

That is the sole reason the Senate vote was conducted on Christmas Eve and the House vote in a hurry-up huddle on Sunday night –  for fear sniveling, castrated Democratic lawmakers might escape to find themselves in a conversation with increasingly disapproving constituents.

The party hopes to make that case with a healthy dose of testimonials from Obama, who signs the bill Tuesday, then totes it on the road to Iowa on Thursday to sell it.

Remember 2008, 2006, and 1996?  When conservatives, disaffected by the GOP and the people who’d represented it in Washington, stayed home in droves?

Sorry, Dems; it swings both ways:

Is President Obama losing his base?

Liberal and progressive organizations that helped propel him to the White House are turning on him now, little more than a year after he took office. Their collective discontent, on issues from health care to nuclear energy to the handling of terrorism suspects, could mean bad news for Democrats during this fall’s congressional elections.

One wonders if anyone’s regretting rejecting Hillary?

Polls show that liberals and blacks still approve of the job Obama’s doing. That approval, however, doesn’t necessarily mean they will make the effort to vote, and many of the activists and groups that worked to get people to the polls in 2008 say they’re not inclined right now to help Democrats in the fall.

Now, I”m not going to get too excited about the polls; the base will most likely rally around their guy, at least partially.

But if the base ain’t buying it – and not turning out 100% – what will the undecideds and “independents” do?

Remember when Obama was going to “restore” America’s respect around th world?”

Either do most Americans:

The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin — 51 percent to 41 percent — Americans think the standing of the U.S. dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama’s presidency.

Democracy Corps and Third Way lean just a tad to the left, which makes this next bit absolutley hilarious:

“This is surprising, given the global acclaim and Nobel peace prize that flowed to the new president after he took office,” said pollsters for the liberal-leaning organizations.

It was surprising – the the same way it shocked us that Milli Vanilli wasn’t all that talented.

But the numbers apparently were bad enough that even DN/3W couldn’t whitewash ’em:

On the national security front, a massive gap has emerged, with 50 percent of likely voters saying Republicans would likely do a better job than Democrats, a 14-point swing since May. Thirty-three percent favored Democrats.

“The erosion since May is especially strong among women, and among independents, who now favor Republicans on this question by a 56 to 20 percent margin,” the pollsters said in their findings.

A dedicated lefty might respond “yeah, but that’s just polling Americans”.  True – which is something the poll has in common with Presidential elections.

More importantly, though?  The whole “America lost respect during the Bush years” meme also pretty much polled only Americans.  Most foreigners who answer public opinion polls hate America, while a significant subset simultaneously hope to immigrate…

Michael Moore is pledging to whip Obama and Democrats in Congress into shape – liberal shape – if he is named the next White House chief of staff. And Moore vows to sleep in the White House basement and work for $1 per year if the president hires him.

“Now, don’t get too giddy with excitement over my offer, because you and I are going to be up at 5 in the morning, 7 days a week and I am going to get you pumped up for battle every single day,” Moore writes in a letter posted on his Web site that he said was sent to Obama. “Each morning you and I will do 100 jumping jacks and you will repeat after me: “THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED ME, NOT THE REPUBLICANS, TO RUN THE COUNTRY! I AM IN CHARGE! I WILL ORDER ALL OBSTRUCTIONISTS OUTTA MY WAY! IF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE WHAT I’M DOING THEY CAN THROW MY ASS OUT IN 2012. IN THE MEANTIME, I CALL THE SHOTS ON THEIR BEHALF! NOW, CONGRESS, DROP AND GIVE ME 50!!”

Okay, put aside for a moment the unrestrained use of all-caps…and the call for a dictatorship…before Michael Moore orders congress to do 100 jumping jacks and 50 push ups, I’d like to see Michael Moore do…just one…of either.

Just one.

One floppy man-boobs jumping jack.

“With or without Michael Moore, Democrats are in for a rude awakening in November”

…but with Michael Moore they’d be in for a rude awakening when they find two years’ worth of chicken wing bones and empty Snack Pack Pudding cups in the basement of the White House.

Allahpundit at Hot Air on the administration’s push on amnesty for illegals, quoting his former boss Michelle Malkin, notes that while these things pop up from time to time…

…maybe this time is different.

Obama took up the issue privately with his staff Monday in a bid to advance a bill through Congress before lawmakers become too distracted by approaching midterm elections…

If anyone can deliver immigration reform to America, it’s an “assertive” president with a 45 percent approval rating who’s lost three big state elections in a row.

But this isn’t about giving green cards to illegals:

The wild card is the GOP. Obama obviously wants to use this as wedge issue, to try to cut the Dems’ losses in November by reminding Latino voters that Republicans are “nativists” or whatever.

It’s an attempt at a wedge and a distraction; Obama believes he can count on a thick film of GOP sovereignty activists to put a crack in the party’s opposition, and get the Tea Party – whose members are largely anti-illegal-immigration, but it’s not the Parties’ focus by any means – to divert its attention.

So will Obama’s fragile, panicky cohort of Blue Dogs stay the curse?

Course, I mean.  Will they stay the course?

Right after the inauguration last year, I was guesting on Marty Owings’ internet talk show Radio Free Nation (which still appears on Saturday nights).  The show was pretty diverse; you had a center-lefty (Marty) and a group of far, far, far lefties.  And me.

Anyway – I made a fearless prediction for them.  Barack Obama would not get us out of Iraq; he would not resolve the Afghan situation; he would not close Guantanamo or end rendition; and he would not change  Bush-Administration policies like the Patriot Act.

Was I right?

Well, duh; it doesn’t take any more of a rocket surgeon today to figure out that Obama is an emptier suit on foreign policy and defense than on most topics than it did a year ago.

The funny part?  He tried to do it on the sly:

With virtually zero debate – or media attention – President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension for what many considered the most crucial and controversial aspects of the USA PATRIOT Act. The provisions, set to expire Sunday without the signature of Obama, include extensions to allow:

-1) “roving” wiretaps, permitting surveillance on multiple phones and e-mail addresses.

-2) court-approved seizures of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.

-3) surveillance on “lone-wolf” foreign nationals, who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.

Originally set to expire in December, a two-month extension was passed by Congress late last year.

Simple fact:  Dick Cheney is Barack Obama’s foremost counterterror strategist.

Did you see this?

“Hiding spending does not reduce spending”

…it’s everywhere, but you have to see Ryan’s calm but complete takedown of the President and his policies regarding health care reform.

Is Obama running out of gas?

Donald Sensing says maybe.

[Obamacare] didn’t pass then and hasn’t passed yet, and last November Joel Kotkin, executive editor of NewGeography.com and a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University, concluded the same thing:

A good friend of mine, a Democratic mayor here in California, describes the Obama administration as “Moveon.org run by the Chicago machine.” This combination may have been good enough to beat John McCain in 2008, but it is proving a poor way to run a country or build a strong, effective political majority. And while the president’s charismatic talent – and the lack of such among his opposition – may keep him in office, it will be largely as a kind of permanent lame duck unable to make any of the transformative changes he promised as a candidate.

Now today comes the Associated Press with “Outlook no brighter for Obama’s new health plan:”

WASHINGTON – Starting over on health care, President Barack Obama knows his chances aren’t looking much more promising. A year after he called for a far-reaching overhaul, Obama unveiled his most detailed plan yet on Monday. Realistically, he’s just hoping to win a big enough slice to silence the talk of a failing presidency.

When the left-leaning AP is saying “trouble”, there’s trouble.  And perception is reality, especially among our not-that-bright political class:

This is not far from becoming a meme, and in Washington politics memes take on a life of their own, creating reality as much as reflecting it.

It’s not a bad thing – in principle.  A gridlocked government is a government that can’t screw up the economy.

Conservatives and Republicans have observed – sometimes jokingly, often not – that Barack Obama shows every sign of becoming the next Jimmy Carter.

What would it take to complete the impression?

Why, stagflation, of course; the unholy union of price inflation (due to rampant spending and the crushing constriction of credit due to out-of-control federal deficits) and high unempoyment.

Is it baaaaack?:

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economic recovery.

Unemployment up.  Economy stagnant.  Inflation ratcheting up.  Iran throwing its weight around.

I feel like I’m 16 again.

Sales of “Dubya” memorabilia are spiking…:

Demand for the items spiked after a billboard featuring the ex-commander in chief appeared alongside a rural Minnesota highway last week, stirring up buzz.

CafePress spokeswoman Jenna Martin said sales of Bush-related products virtually disappeared after Obama replaced him.

But last week, she said, 10 of the firm’s top-selling 100 designs were “Miss Me Yet?” items, moving to the tune of up to 500 orders a day.

…as sales of Obama items (not to mention Obama-themed stores and Obama radio stations) crater:

“There were no Obama-themed designs on the list – Bush has stolen the political spotlight, just like Sarah Palin did the week before when she re-surfaced with crib notes written in her palm,” she said.

I’m not saying we need to imbue this factoid with any significance at all.

But if it means those wretched “Obama Tells Mothers To Go Back To School” and “Obama Backs Insurance Regulation” get pulled one of these days, I think we can all agree it’s for the greater good.

After bagging on executive bonuses during the campaign, President Obama has discovered that  “savvy” bankers deserve some bonus love:

President Barack Obama said he doesn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay.

The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”

So what defines “savvy” in the world of President Obama?

Let’s just say “savvy” is less in the head and more in the pants.  Wallet pocket, I mean:

Well, Dimon has given over $100k just to the DSCC. Plus individual candidate donations, most of which go to Democrats.

And Blankfein gives almost all of his donations to Democrats – $136k to $4k.

Yep.  They’re’ “savvy”, all right.

….but I’m smarter than you.

Enough about about Health Care reform. What do you think about Health Insurance Reform?

Obama reminds me of the guy that says

“Enough talk about me. What do you think about me?”

There are many and several ways America has expressed it’s disapproval of reform of health care reform via an ever-expanding liberal government growth plan.

It’s been three weeks since Massachusetts voters elected Scott Brown to the Senate, in large part because of his opposition to the health care confusion Democrats have sown. It’s been even longer since Americans at tea parties and lawmakers’ town hall meetings plainly told Washington they wanted no part of the health care elixir that Congress was peddling.

Still, our political elites, impressed by their own intellects, insist that the public will get the health care system they want the public to have, not the health care the public wants.

This was confirmed by the president when he told Couric he would not throw out the proposals that are stalled in Congress and start over, even though public opinion (see chart) strongly indicates that he should.

Everyone’s heard the message loud and clear save one man.

Unfortunately he happens to be the President of the United States.

“Just in case there’s any confusion out there, let me be clear,” Obama said. “I am not going to walk away from health insurance reform.”

You see what he did there? He smuggled the word insurance into his monologue. Make no mistake, a man of words, and only words, chooses them wisely. Also of note, Jimmy II also threw in his signature and so very very tired “let me be clear,” mantra; a sure sign he intends on being anything but.

America cares about jobs and the economy at the moment and for the time being the majority are satisfied with their health care and are dissatisfied with the size of their government. Obama is increasingly making himself an island on both fronts.

There was immediate skepticism from Mr. Obama’s own party that the forum would break the impasse. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said he had reached out to Republicans “on several occasions” last year to seek their ideas and feedback. “I was, however, disappointed that these meetings did not result in any serious follow-through to work together in a bipartisan fashion,” he said.

So, it’s the Republicans’ fault that health care reform is pushing up daisies?

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said he welcomed the outreach. “Obviously, I am pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care,” he said in a statement. “The problem with the Democrats’ health-care bills is not that the American people don’t understand them; the American people do understand them, and they don’t like them.”

At least someone’s listening.

Tangent warning!

Riddle me this: if you could remotely control the President and somehow direct his actions to further derail his Presidency, and really light up Americans who are quickly growing angry at their government’s expansion into issues no one believes in or cares about, what might you do?

This?

Amid the growing fight over the accuracy of climate data, President Obama is seeking to have the federal government put its imprimatur [screeeeeeeeeeeeeeechhhhhhhhhh!-JR]

…that means approval; consent. I had to look it up.

on the science by calling for the creation of a new federal office to study and report on global warming.

Rep. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat: “This service will be a vital part of our growing body of knowledge on climate change, and will be held to the highest standards of scientific integrity and transparency”

Right.

Sir, is that the Nancy Pelosi definition of transparency or the Barack Obama variant?

…oh, and re the “highest standards of scientific integrity”…is that the IPCC definition or the Al Gore version?

I thought so.

Barack, we love ya. You’re making all the right moves…you know…for the one-term-and-out deal.

Sadly, you’ll be a one-term president, and a mediocre one. At best.

The Obama Store closes:

This time last year, the Obama Store was teeming with customers. Ideally situated in the basement of Washington’s Union Station, the store was filled with consumers eager to buy anything with Obama’s likeness while others took pictures of the life-size cut-outs of the president and first lady. Now, the Obama Store is boarded up.

How quickly things change in a year.

This follows almost exactly a year after “Obama 1260”, Washington DC’s all-liberal talk station, switched formats – to conservative talk.

Gotta hand it to the late proprietors; they certainly saw a trend:

The Obama Store was capitalism at its most brilliant rawness; find a market and exploit it quickly. The store made possible one-stop shopping for all of your tacky Obama merchandise needs. T-shirts! Hats! Calendars! Hand-warmers! Keychains! It was like something out of Spaceballs (“Obama: The Flame Thrower! The kids love this one.”). The store carried every imaginable product with the words “Obama” and “Commemorative,” except, notably, the Obama Chia Pet.

Obama got 93 percent of the vote in DC.  That may have been more than even in the Fifth District.

Okay, so I’m not going to make a habit of defending the President but…uhhh, Senator Reid, it already is.

I mean c’mon!

Read that quote.

Las Vegas is the poster child for where people shouldn’t be spending their money…by design!

A city whose mantra is “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas^TM” isn’t aiming to be the wholesome venue where Pa Ingalls brings Ma, Half-Pint and the rest of the clan for a family vacation.

During the president’s town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, he discussed the need to curb spending during tough economic times.  “When times are tough, you tighten your belts,” the president said.

True.

“You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage.

True.

You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”

True.

The president’s comments come nearly a year after he criticized companies that received federal money for taking corporate junkets to Las Vegas.

Should Americans not have a problem with that?

“You can’t go take that trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on taxpayers’ dime,

(unless your name is Nancy Pelosi)

” he said at the time. Local business leaders say Nevada tourism suffered last year in part because companies canceled trips to Las Vegas in the wake of the president’s comments.

Or I might respectfully offer another theory…maybe…just maybe…it was because….of a recession…that occurred…oh…give and take…all of last year?!

Not to worry: I think America has figured out that there is a very low correlation between reality and whatever the President says.

Besides…

President Obama is scheduled to visit Las Vegas this month.

…to apologize and find someone to bow to.

UPDATE:

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said during a hastily called news conference that Obama is no friend to Las Vegas and would not be welcomed here if he visits.

“I’ll do everything I can to give him the boot,” Goodman said. “This president is a real slow learner.”

Fouad Ajami on the descent of Obama from near-deification to merely human:

The curtain has come down on what can best be described as a brief un-American moment in our history. That moment began in the fall of 2008, with the great financial panic, and gave rise to the Barack Obama phenomenon.

The nation’s faith in institutions and time-honored ways had cracked. In a little-known senator from Illinois millions of Americans came to see a savior who would deliver the nation out of its troubles. Gone was the empiricism in political life that had marked the American temper in politics. A charismatic leader had risen in a manner akin to the way politics plays out in distressed and Third World societies.

I unpacked that last bit – and realized that that’s the bad news.

It’s not that we, The People, elected an unqualified, inexperienced empty suit as the most powerful person in the world; we’ve done that before.  It’s not that we allowed a full-court media press to get him elected over a slate of more-qualified candidates based purely on conjured-from-whole-cloth star power.

It’s that this is how “the People” operate in festering third world hellholes; they look not merely to government, but to government run by outsized personality cults, to “save”them.

If you change the “America” references in Ajami’s post to “Argentina”, the Obama story becomes painfully similar to the Juan and Eva Peron story.

Juan was a socialist demigogue who was elected several times; after his death, his vacuous but attractive wife Eva took over, winning over Argintinean (and world) glitterati, but instituting gigantistic, prosperity-leaching socialist programs that left Argentina – which had clambered up to the lower reaches of the “First World” – sodden with debt and helpless by the time the economy tanked in the seventies.

There is nothing surprising about where Mr. Obama finds himself today. He had been made by charisma, and political magic, and has been felled by it. If his rise had been spectacular, so, too, has been his fall. The speed with which some of his devotees have turned on him—and their unwillingness to own up to what their infatuation had wrought—is nothing short of astounding. But this is the bargain Mr. Obama had made with political fortune.

“Don’t cry for him, Chicago”.

President Obama seems to have realized that capital gains aren’t a chief concern of business owners and instead is now focusing on a $5000 per capita tax-credit to business that hire new employees.

WSJ: The details of the initiative, which Mr. Obama is expected to highlight when he visits Baltimore today, include a $5,000 tax credit for every net new employee in 2010. This credit would be retroactive to the beginning of the calendar year and could be received on a quarterly basis, if the business so chooses. In addition, employers would receive a tax credit to cover Social Security payroll taxes on wage increases.

As a small business owner that is in fact looking to hire someone in February, I can finally say that the President is proposing a policy that will

1. make me think twice about my plan to bring on a contract worker vs. hiring them full time; which is to say paying the self-employment taxes and
2. make me think twice about making it a full-time permanent position now versus a later date.

Tax cuts across the board would still be a better idea and the macro issues and effects related to this proposal have yet to be debated but I for one am pleased with the President’s initiative.*

*No, someone didn’t hack into my laptop to write something positive about Barack Obama.

…and she wasn’t popularized for her intellect…if you know what I mean.

Ettinger, 28, said that even though she doesn’t have health care — “I can’t afford it” — she still thinks Obama should have waited to tackle the thorny legislation that has been blamed for the devastat ing Democratic loss of Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat.

He did create some jobs, but most of them were government jobs and that doesn’t really help the middle class. But it helps a bit,” said Ettinger.

Apparently Hooters doesn’t offer health insurance.

According to Representative Marion Berry, all we really need is more Barack Obama.

According to Barack Obama, that is:

The retiring Berry, who doesn’t say when the remarks were made, now scoffs at Obama’s 50-or-below approval rating:

Writes ADG reporter Jane Fullerton:

Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.” [snip]

Does Obama really think he was that big an edge on Bill Clinton in the “personal charm” department?  Perhaps, but let’s remember Clinton combined “Bill Clinton” with a heck of a lot of triangulation to save his presidency in 1994.  Obama seems, if anything, to be triangulating left.

Berry seems to think so, too:

“I began to preach last January that we had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out,” said Arkansas’ 1st District congressman, who worked in the Clinton administration before being elected to the House in 1996… “I just began to have flashbacks to 1993 and ’94. No one that was here in ’94, or at the day after the election felt like. It certainly wasn’t a good feeling.”

We shall see.

Obama holds forth on Constitutional Law.

Justice Alito says “not so fast…”

This is going to be an interesting year.

I only caught the last twenty minutes of Obama’s Castro-length State of the Union last night.  My impression on hearing that part – and the wrap-up analysis – was…

…well, a picture says a thousand words:

Seriously.  “The American people are rejecting statist gigantism – so I’m going to give them more statist gigantism!”

They do breed ’em cynical in Chicago, though; the conventional wisdom was that Obama took a more “populist” tone, going after banks and “Wall Street”.  In other words, he’s trying to give the masses the same ideological bread and circuses that always work in liberal cesspools like Chicago.

Are fiscal show trials going to turn back the Tea Party Tsunami?

The President’s teleprompter mentioned “jobs” twenty nine times by my count. Unfortunately for the citizens of the United States of America, where “when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach” and blah blah blah, their President thinks creating a public sector job is something other than simply enlarging the government.

…and at the same time, is still hawking the now infamous “Two Million.”

Because of the steps we took, there are about two million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed.

Who are these two million people?

200,000 work in construction and clean energy. 300,000 are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, and first responders. And we are on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year.

…and the other 1,410,000, sir?

All public employees, sir. With all due respect, we need jobs that “pay the bills,” sir.

The term “Clean Energy” or “Green Jobs” is a euphemism for “Government Subsidy” and “beauracracy”…and “Failure.” Sir.

The Obama administration’s call for green jobs as an economic savior initially sparked hope for economic recovery. But the federal funds have only dribbled into the sector

Among the victims: the plodding light-rail project in St. Paul; the massive layoffs at Suzlon’s wind turbine plant in Pipestone and the deep job cuts at New Flyer’s hybrid bus plant in St. Cloud, the site Vice President Joe Biden visited last year to herald the administration’s green initiatives.

…back to the teleprompter:

Now, the true engine of job creation in this country will always be America’s businesses.

…but not so much while Obama is President.

So tonight, I’m proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat.

More TARP? Jolly good idea, Mr. President, because the billions of TARP dollars already out there are getting lent out, right? The TARP that the banks that are lending, that are in good shape, are giving back to you with a “Thanks, but No Thanks”?

I am also proposing a new small business tax credit – one that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages. While we’re at it, let’s also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment; and provide a tax incentive for all businesses, large and small, to invest in new plants and equipment.

…like the health care reform you proposed? How’d that go?

Next, we can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow.

Read: grow government.

From the first railroads to the interstate highway system, our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains

…ours will be faster because they will be empty!

or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products

…in China.

Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act.

…because if there is one thing Tampa needs, it’s a high-speed railroad.

There are projects like that all across this country that will create jobs and help our nation move goods, services, and information.

…how do you move a service? Sorry Mr. President, you were saying…

We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities, and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy efficient, which supports clean energy jobs.

…like this?

And let’s tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only ten percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after twenty years

Why don’t we just give them the money when they’re born like Hillary wanted to?

– and forgiven after ten years if they choose a career in public service.

…or you could tell them to skip all that and just give them the job.

From the day I took office, I have been told that addressing our larger challenges is too ambitious – that such efforts would be too contentious, that our political system is too gridlocked, and that we should just put things on hold for awhile.

For those who make these claims, I have one simple question:

How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?

…apparently about three more years.

A year and a half ago, pundits speculated that Barack Obama, if elected President, would either work to move the country far to the left in pursuit of a liberal ideology and to satisfy decades of pent-up liberalism or govern from the center in the interest of furthering his personal ambitions and extending the pinnacle of his political career.

The first year of the Obama Presidency ended all speculation. Ideology trumped ambition, and it’s been a disaster for the President and for Democrats.

January 20th marked the beginning of his second year and also served as a demarcation between the pre-Brown and post-Brown era for the Obama Presidency.

This week offers peril and opportunity for the President to elucidate his New New Way Forward, if like many Democrats recently, Obama acknowledges the Coakley defeat as the comeuppance that it was.

Mr. Obama’s campaign-style speech here capped one of the most bruising weeks of his year in office. The President traveled to this swing-state manufacturing town ostensibly to deliver a speech about jobs and the economy, but instead he repeatedly veered off-script to interject pledges to battle his political foes over health care and other issues “so long as I have breath in me.”

Sadly for alert Democrats and in an inconceivable dream scenario for Republicans, instead of shifting gears from health care reform to job-creation; to align Washington with the rest of America, Obama opted this week to cement his station as an ideologue. Without regard for fairness, public sentiment or for that matter, securing a second term, the President declared war on the banking industry, sending the market into a minor (thus far) sell-off, undermining sentiment tied to economic recovery, and positioning himself within a new Democratic sub-minority, of, well, he and Nancy Pelosi. Even Barney Frank has said “Uncle.”

Save for later the discussion of the fact that his edict fails to recognize the corruption and culpability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both being spared, and the fact that we already have procedures in place such as increasing reserves and FDIC premiums to protect the system and “punish” banks for taking on excess risk. I’ll also forego the well-worn but valid discussion of the of the fact that much of the risk-taking at issue was forced upon them by government policy and that some of the corporations and practices Obama named specifically had nothing to do with the financial crisis.

[Treasury Secretary Timothy] Geithner is concerned that the proposed limits on big banks’ trading and size could impact U.S. firms’ global competitiveness, the sources said, speaking anonymously because Geithner has not spoken publicly about his reservations.

He also has concerns that the limits do not necessarily get at the root of the problems and excesses that fueled the recent financial meltdown, the sources said.

Lawrence White, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a former regulator, said Obama’s proposals were “a solution to the wrong problem.”

Ironically, these policies may result in the transfer of some pretty good jobs from Wall Street to Europe.

The new rules would ban the use of a bank’s own capital for hedge fund or private equity investment, or for trading unless it was directly connected to client activity.

However, some foreign banks believe they could escape the ban by switching their operations from Wall Street to London or continental Europe.

What Obama’s proclamation does represent is a presidency inexorably out of sync with America; especially the meaty middle, whose voice was heard load and clear in Massachusetts this week. A years’ experience has done little for a man who has never held a real job, owned a business, or exhibited a basic comprehension of the fundamentals of economics or a genuine acknowledgment of the gift that is free enterprise.

Mr. Obama’s display of anger with big financial institutions and insurers may not reassure voters who are dubious about his proposed solutions to the country’s economic problems.

Barack Obama has essentially been out of touch his entire, calculated, and increasingly apocryphal political career and may soon find his presidency floundering having sailed his most avowed mission to reform America’s health care system into a tsunami of taxpayer revolt.

Despite the fact that his policies have been soundly rejected and support within his own party is eroding, Obama’s political capital and popularity aren’t completely exhausted. The opportunity remains to move quickly to realign his presidency with the pressing needs of an American citizenry that haven’t yet completely lost hope in him.

most continue to like and respect the man they gathered around televisions to watch sworn in as president on a cold noon hour a year ago, and most still hold out hope for his presidency. Yet many also worry that, in his quest to mobilize government to solve the nation’s problems, he may have moved too far too fast.

If Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address focuses on restoring full employment, judicicious enhancements to the regulations that govern our financial system, and a renewed confidence in America’s ability to recover, rebuild and prosper once again, Obama’s may find his stock rising again.

“In his State of the Union, Obama has to slim down his ambitions. It should be short and simple and focus on jobs.”

“Obama has to decide whether he wants to be a transformational president, which looks optimistic at this stage, or merely an effective president,” says Bruce Josten, head of government affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce

Odds are, Obama will continue on his latest vector: vilifying banks, demonizing those who would dare seek an honest profit, penalizing employers, mushrooming the federal government and broadening an ongoing orgy of government spending under the guise of economic timulus, which is almost as dirty a word now as health care reform.

In short, Mr Obama’s nightmare January could easily slip into a nightmare February. “Unless and until the president changes the way his White House, works, things are going to continue to go badly for him,” says the head of a Democratic think-tank.

In turn, this will continue to fuel the tea party movement, mobilize the middle, neuter the left and manifest a Jimmy-Carteresque dreamscape only the most opportunistic Republicans could envision before last Tuesday night.

Only Obama’s teleprompter knows which path the President will chose.

The irrepressible Dennis the Peasant examines the results of Tuesday’s Massachusetts’ Senate election, and declares it more like Imperial Japan’s experience in the 1942 Battle of Midway, than the more common metaphor of Napoleon’s Waterloo.

The third and final type of failure is catastrophic failure, and it is also a complex failure. For catastrophic failure to occur, the failures of learning, anticipation and adaptation must all be present at the same time. As one would suspect, catastrophic failure is nearly always as wide in scope as it is irredeemable. A perfect example of catastrophic failure would be the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy at Midway in 1942. (See Parshall and Tully’s superb Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway for a detailed application of Cohen and Gooch’s methodology.)

Although Cohen and Gooch never suggest so, it seems obvious to me that their methodology has an obvious application in the analysis of political – as opposed to military– failure. Here’s my stab at just an analysis of the defeat of Obamacare in 2010.

This is one of those read the whole thing times.