…that even before he’s inaugurated, President-Elect Obama is having such a great affect on world opinion of the US among those that have hated us for so long.

Barack Obama has made it clear you won’t get it from the President.

First off, as a refresher, there are leading economic indicators and there are lagging economic indicators.

The stock market is a leading economic indicator in that to the degree investors have the data and the visibility, the market tracks the forseable future, barring any unforseen events such as natural disasters, wars or terrorist attacks.

The 21 percent rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since Nov. 20 reflects speculation the worst of the recession is over, according to Biggs, managing partner at hedge fund Traxis Partners LLC, and Doll, chief investment officer for BlackRock Inc. Equities will probably keep rising, they said yesterday on Bloomberg Television.

“Sometime around the middle of the year there’s going to be pretty conclusive evidence that the economy has stabilized,” Biggs said. “That’s what the stock market is now looking forward and seeing, and that’s why I think that this rally carries further.”

Employment on the other hand, is a lagging indictor. Unemployment usually confirms what we already know, or at least suspect. The fact that we are hearing news of job losses is, at least from a macro standpoint, good news, as long as we are all resigned to the fact that we are in fact in a recession. Job losses usually mark the beginning of the end.

Context is everything. By no means is 7.2% unemployment severe in the context of past recessions. It’s been much higher in modern times, and around 5 1/2% of that is “built in” – represents the unemployable.

My advice is to reject media analysis of the economy, including – I mean especially – Barack Obama. His understanding of basic economics is impaired.

the president elect warned that failure to pass legislation enacting his proposals within the next few weeks risks letting the U.S. fall into a deeper and more prolonged recession.

…his understanding of politics and fear however is quite well developed, which makes him motivated. And dangerous.

Even Obama supporters are tired of his campaign’s money-grubbing ways:

Word has just been received at The Ticket that President-elect Barack Obama sent out an actual e-mail today without asking for more money from tired donors. No, really.

The N.Y. Times’ Katharine Seelye recently reported growing donor fatigue among eager and happy Obamaites to whom it has occurred that they’ve already given nearly $1 billion to buy all this change to believe in, even many long weeks after the ex-freshman senator won the White House already.

And when’s it gonna end? “I’m way over this thing,” Obama volunteer Abe Silk complained this week on Huffington Post. “You guys really want me to donate $25 to ‘make the inauguration a success’? What on earth does that even mean?”

Oh, Abe (and, by extension, all you dewy-eyed naifs that drank all that “hope and change” koolaid)!  You are not “way over” “this thing”.  It’s just begun.  Only it’s going to come out of  your paychecks pretty soon.   And the only way to be “over it” is to vote for…

…well, no, tu no puedes think about that, can you?

Barack Obama has outlined his plans to create jobs in America via speeches during his inspiring campaign and his calming and reassuring tone as Occupier of the Office of the President Elect.

As economic conditions have evolved and Obama’s confidence in his magical powers has grown, he has revised his goals and ambitions for job creation over the past year.

In an effort to be a progressive source of economic guidance and as a public service, we have gathered and cataloged the President-Elect’s “Job” Creation Goals as outlined in his many and factual addresses to the nation.

Using the same mathematics and economic theory* employed by Obama’s advisers and cutting-edge spreadsheet technology, we have analyzed and extrapolated Barack Obama’s “job” creation predictions.

Here is a sampling of the data and its sources (emphasis mine-JR):

Feb 13, 2008 WASHINGTON – Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters.

Obama’s investment would be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $150 billion to create 5 million so-called “green collar” jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources.

December 24th, 2008 Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama is still four weeks away from inauguration, and already the size of government is growing. His initial goal of creating 2.5 million new jobs has been upped to 3 million, rising in lockstep with a proposed economic stimulus package.

We know money buys influence. Now we find out it can buy jobs as well.

If only it were that simple.

Jan 10, 2008 Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama said his two-year plan to boost the U.S. economy will generate up to 4 million jobs, higher than his previous estimates, the biggest portion of them in construction, manufacturing and retail.

Here is our analysis:

As you can see, by this time next year, Barack Obama will have predicted the unprecedented creation of over 32 Million Jobs by the end of 2011. This is cause for great rejoicing and a renewed confidence in our political system.

The surplus of new jobs will actually allow many workers to choose more than one, although experts predict an executive order will limit job selection to two per worker and three per household for American citizens and  three per worker and five per household for illegal aliens undocumented workers that can document a contribution to the Obama ’08 campaign.

We will revise our estimates as new data is made available to us via the media.

*Hopey Changey^©

Dictators need to have a war to keep their nation in a state of crisis.  If they don’t have one, they need to manufacture one.

I was going to write about Obama’s state of the union speech yesterday – but I’m going to use King’s observations instead, since he’s both qualified and coherent:

“All we have to fear is the status quo,” I think, is how Ed characterized that. But I think much of this is hyperbole. Take for example “2 million out of work.” The context for this is a workforce over 140 million people. Through November, the 12 month percentage change in employt is a decline of 1.4%. (You can play with the data.) This doesn’t even match the 12-month percentage change in March 2002, hardly a period that called for the drama of this speech. Payroll employment declines of 2.5% or more have occured in both the 1974-75 and 1981-82 recessions. We may get to that level; I think that’s more likely than not some time in the next six months, at which point you will say “4 million out of work” rather than two. But let’s keep some perspective rather than dwell on “we could lose a generation of potential and promise.” That’s just bathos. Four million jobs lost sucks, but it’s not without recent precedent when the size of the economy is accounted for.That same perspective is needed elsewhere. 2.8 million more people involuntarily in part-time work? Take a look at the data. 25% of them are workers age 16-24. We don’t have data before 1994 for the unemployment series that includes part-time workers who wish they were full time (known as U-6), and we know it’s higher than it has been since we’ve tracked the current series. But it was pretty high in 1994, also not a date when we thought the end of the world was nigh.

King – an actual licensed economist, for those who don’t already know – goes on to show how bad the crisis at this moment is not, at least for most Americans.  Read the post.

The question:  why did Obama uncork a stemwinder on exactly how badly we all need his trillion-dollar hug?

Rahm Emanuel noted that the new administration didn’t want to waste a crisis, that they could pass things in crisis mode that wouldn’t get past Congress in normal times. The speech tries to elevate a normal recession into a crisis. In doing so it risks imposing a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist anymore when fiscal policy works through its lags.

See “The New Deal, Circa 1939”.

(And yes, I wrote this before I read Roosh’s excellent “Trillion Dollar Hug“, which you need to read now).

Obama gave a speech yesterday. Word has it (I didn’t watch or listen) he discussed the economy in no uncertain terms.

Let me guess though, I’ll bet he used the words “crisis” numerous times; I’ll bet he furrowed his eyebrows real good like and probably had a real ominous look on his face too.

Were ya scared?

Did he make you think you need him to save you? …that this crisis is too severe for you to solve it on your own? Did he speak of sweeping, decisive, massive and immediate action being required on the part of the federal government? Did you need a hug? A big government hug?

These days it seems like it is our patriotic duty to consume more. And if we don’t choose to spend more money ourselves, the government will do it for us.

Obama is building his case: You need big government. You need guys like him; guys that are smarter than you cuz they read more books, went to better schools and have more letters after their name. Guys that aren’t afraid to take massive, decisive action; to write big checks with someone else’s money.

These problems, despite being undeniably caused by liberal policies in the first place, must be solved by the government. The government must “create” three million “jobs.” The government is the answer, no matter what the question, when you’re a liberal.

Liberals can’t do anything if it doesn’t justify government’s growth and influence in our lives.

But wait a minute. Isn’t it excessive spending that got us into this mess in the first place? Spending more now seems like drinking Scotch to cure a hangover.

But what if the right thing to do right now is nothing?

Here and there are some small signs that the economy is at least bottoming — a crucial stepping stone to meaningful recovery.

New orders, employment, backlogs, and exports all ticked higher than the previous month.

The November factory-orders report showed non-defense capex rising at a 3.9 percent annual pace, the first increase in four months and the best gain in 10 months. Computer orders surged 12.5 percent.

Commercial construction rose 0.7 percent annually in November, and is up 12.1 percent over the past three months.

And in the November personal-income report, real disposable income jumped 1 percent for the month and is up 7.1 percent at an annual rate over the past three months. Real consumer spending in that report rose 0.6 percent in November.

Additionally, the credit freeze continues to thaw. The three-month LIBOR rate is all the way back to 1.4 percent. And corporate bond rates continue to decline, a signal that private capital markets are starting to function again. The 30-year mortgage rate is holding around 5.3 percent.

At a recent conference in San Francisco, academic economists were very pessimistic, expecting recession to last through the whole year. But easy money and low retail gas prices may be a lot more stimulative than the academics think.

The stock market says we’re already over half way through the recession, it’s up almost twenty percent since it’s low point in November.

Americans are already saving more. Banks are amassing cash which they will lend as soon as their balance sheets improve.

Unemployment has a long way to go to match Reagan-era suffering let alone Great Depression levels. Reagan came into office with 7.6% unemployment, it rose to 9.7% then fell to 5.5% on his watch.

Riddle me this: How did he do that?  How big was Reagan’s government stimulus? (It’s a trick question).

Obama’s fear mongering is designed to set the stage for the hero to enter. The damsel in distress is you, he’s going to rescue you, and we all know what the hero gets to do to the damsel once he rescues her.

It’s not enough for Obama to be the first African American President of the United States.

Obama needs a legacy, and in the annals of history, the great liberals, the ones with fist-pounding speeches and legacies, all did the same thing. Increase government, create ever more massive government spending and debt, and screw the next generation (or two or three).

Obama’s 9/11 is the economy and he is going to take the only action a liberal knows.

The economy will improve. The free-enterprise system will come to the rescue like it always does. Capitalism will survive. It may have started already. Obama just wants the credit for it.

You see liberals have just one lever in front of them, and they’re always itching to pull it whenever we give them the chance. Obama wants to pull it so hard, it will be in the history books.

Oops. Richardson is out.

WASHINGTON — Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for commerce secretary, withdrew from consideration for that job on Sunday, saying a pending investigation into whether his administration gave lucrative contracts to a political donor would have “forced an untenable delay” in his confirmation.

…and said his administration had “acted properly in all matters.” But he said he had concluded that the inquiry could last weeks or even months, drawing out his confirmation hearings and distracting the new administration as it grappled with the economic crisis.

Maybe he just wasn’t interested in the grappling.

It’s okay. He, like Obama, wasn’t qualified any way. He’s been a politician since he graduated from college. Commerce? He’s done none.

The investigation concerns CDR Financial Products Inc., a Beverly Hills, Calif., company that in 2004 was awarded two consulting contracts worth about $1.4 million to advise the State of New Mexico on a large bond issue for building infrastructure, one of Mr. Richardson’s initiatives. The company’s president, David Rubin, a major Democratic contributor, gave about $100,000 to two political action committees controlled by Mr. Richardson, as well as $10,000 to his re-election campaign in 2005, according to published reports.

Oh, well other than that transaction. Sounds like commerce.

…allegedly.

The announcement, just days before the Senate is to begin confirmation hearings for some of Mr. Obama’s cabinet selections, was a setback for the president-elect, who has assembled his cabinet in near-record time. It raises questions about the thoroughness of Mr. Richardson’s vetting, deprives the Obama administration of a prominent Hispanic — Mr. Obama has, however, named two other Latinos, Representative Hilda L. Solis of California and Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, to cabinet posts — and leaves a hole in the new White House economics team at a critical juncture.

Whatever happened to just picking the most qualified candidate for each position, whether they are Women, Men, Black, Red, White or Blue; Catholic or Jew; Pet Lover or Snappy Dresser?

Would America – no, not the media – the average American, actually give a rodent’s rear end? Are there teams? Are we all making sure we each get our guy (gal) in Obama’s cabinet? If so, then I’m pissed because I’ve heard no mention of an Irish-Italian making the cut.

We didn’t pick our President that way.

…or did we?

By the way, is Snappy Dresser still considered a protected class?

Vice-President Elect Joe-Blow Biden is such a buzzkill.

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) — Vice President-elect Joe Biden said he is worried about the “exceedingly high expectations” that world leaders have placed on President-elect Barack Obama.

“Their expectation for Barack’s presidency is overwhelming,” Biden said, according to excerpts from an interview with CNN’s Larry King Live, scheduled to air at 9 p.m. tonight, New York time. “They are so hungry to have an American leader who they think has a policy that reflects our stated values, as well as one they can talk to.”

Obama’s three-million-jobs-created goal pulled from thin air this week notwithstanding, it turns out Barack Obama may have somehow, unbeknownst, inadvertently, created expectations for his administration that he may or may not be able to manifest.

Shocker.

Newsflash: Some of us never believed anything he said then or now.

I think I know what Joe is saying, at least here at home. People will have to pay their own mortgages, work for a living and go back to worshiping the incumbent savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Oh – I almost forgot – and do their own Christmas shopping (despite the sentiment expressed in our recent poll).

Obama can still walk on water, as long as it’s frozen. Less hopey, less changey. More samey, more lamey.

Bummer.

From “Blues”

I am lazy, the laziest girl in the world.
I sleep during the day when I want to,
’til my face is creased and swollen,
’til my lips are dry and hot.
I eat as I please: cookies and milk after lunch,
butter and sour cream on my baked potato,
foods that slothful people eat,
that turn yellow and opaque beneath the skin.
Sometimes come dinnertime Sunday
I am still in my nightgown,
the one with the lace trim listing
because I have not mended it.
Many days I do not exercise, only consider it,
then rub my curdy belly and lie down.
Even my poems are lazy.
I use syllabics instead of iambs,
prefer slant to the gong of full rhyme,
write briefly while others go for pages.
And yesterday, for example, I did not work at all!
I got in my car and I drove to factory outlet stores,
purchased stockings and panties and socks
with my father’s money.

…and then she reads at Barack Obama’s Inauguration.

Ugh.

Mickey Kaus, on the proliferation of “czars” in the Obama Administration:

We need a Czar Czar, to crack the whip on all the czars. … P.S.: Also a federal czar policy. Right now, czar decisions are made on an ad hoc, case-by-case basis, with no attempt at czar harmonization.

Perhaps we need a standardized training program for czars, something to bring them up to speed on the history and power of the Czars.

Hm. What could that be? What indeed?

When Obama began recycling the Clinton Administration with the nomination of Rahm Emanuel, it was said that Obama’s new chief of staff was going to be the muscle that helped our inexperienced neophyte president deal with – indeed, “moderate” – the Reid/Pelosi ultraliberals that control both houses of Congress.

And with Emanuel gone?

Barack Obama is denying involvement in the Senate Seat Auction perpetrated by Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.

…and I believe him. Sort of.

I also believe that Barack knows this sort of thing runs rampant in Chicago. I believe Barack Obama had to know this interchange would ensue despite his lack of direct involvement. This is in no way proof of Obama’s involvement. At best, a thin and dotted line can be drawn based on the Governor’s expectation that Barack Obama would become involved vis a vis his influence, if not financially. From the wiretaps…

The governor discusses with his staff the possibility of getting a high-paying position with an organization called “Change to Win,” connected to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He would take the seat after resigning as governor. A “three-way deal” is discussed. He would choose the person they believe is Mr. Obama’s preferred candidate — “Senate Candidate 1″ — and the President-elect, they said, would find a way to influence someone to give him the Change to Win post.

The governor knows that Mr. Obama wants “Senate Candidate 1″ for the seat but complains “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.” In another call, the governor asks advisers if they think Mr. Obama can get Warren Buffet and others to put up $10 to $15 million for a foundation he could head.

If this drama were playing out in Arizona with Senator McCain’s Senate Seat, the media would be going ballistic over this fiasco. In Illinois, this is de rigeur, as evidenced by the FBI initiating surveillance in October.

We may be in for a series of controversies with an Obama administration as clearly “That One” has suffered from an association problem his entire political career and he may have other debts to pay.

He learned well. Obama is a product of the most corrupt political system in America. He has heretofore exhibited little reluctance to associate with scum if it serves his greater ambitions. Having realized them, he may well regret what represents a clear pattern of poor decision-making. As Momma always said, be careful who you hang out with.

As it stands, the media honeymoon may be over for their lovechild Barack Obama as this stuff makes for great ratings. As more details emerge, we may find the President-Elect in hot water.

…hopefully not.

As much as the GOP would have savored an opportunity like this during the campaign, the economy needs our government’s full attention, even if they haven’t a clue how to fix it. We don’t need another Clintonistic national distraction.

BUN (my daughter) sitting looking on at monitor as I write:  “Oh, my God: in this picture…

…Obama looks just like a black Richard Nixon!”

Discuss.

Liberals are Lupset that Obama, mirabile dictu, is actually acting pragmatic now that he’s in office:

Even supporters make clear they’re on the lookout for backsliding. “There’s a concern that he keep his basic promises and people are going to watch him,” said Roger Hickey, a co-founder of Campaign for America’s Future.Obama insists he hasn’t abandoned the goals that made him feel to some like a liberal savior. But the left’s bill of particulars against Obama is long, and growing.

Obama drew rousing applause at campaign events when he vowed to tax the windfall profits of oil companies. As president-elect, Obama says he won’t enact the tax.

Obama’s pledge to repeal the Bush tax cuts and redistribute that money to the middle class made him a hero among Democrats who said the cuts favored the wealthy. But now he’s struck a more cautious stance on rolling back tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year, signaling he’ll merely let them expire as scheduled at the end of 2010.

Obama’s post-election rhetoric on Iraq and choices for national security team have some liberal Democrats even more perplexed. As a candidate, Obama defined and separated himself from his challengers by highlighting his opposition to the war in Iraq from the start. He promised to begin to end the war on his first day in office.

Now Obama’s says that on his first day in office he will begin to “design a plan for a responsible drawdown,” as he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Obama has also filled his national security positions with supporters of the Iraq war: Sen. Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize force in Iraq, as his secretary of state; and President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, continuing in the same role.

Why, it’s almost as if Obama harnessed the immense frantic manic normally-aimless energy of the left to get into office…

…and then is tacking to the center because he has to be a grownup now.

But the kids are still angry:

“There don’t seem to be any liberals in Obama’s cabinet,” writes John Aravosis, the editor of Americablog.com. “What does all of this mean for Obama’s policies, and just as important, Obama Supreme Court announcements?”

“Actually, it reminds me a bit of the campaign, at least the beginning and the middle, when the Obama campaign didn’t seem particularly interested in reaching out to progressives,” Aravosis continues. “Once they realized that in order to win they needed to marshal everyone on their side, the reaching out began. I hope we’re not seeing a similar ‘we can do it alone’ approach in the transition team.”

It’s almost like some of ’em get it – without knowing it…:

OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: “Isn’t there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?”

Simple fact, Chris – one that I suspect Obama (and/or his staff) are smart enough to see:  the American people might express manic dissatisfaction with one Administration or another (including the sitting administration, which is actually center-left on spending), but at the end of the day the American people are center-right conservatives.

We just don’t always vote that way.

Yet.

Cy Thao – a state senator from Saint Paul – earned what (in a just world) would be a footnote in history two years ago, when he summed up the true meaning of socialist/fabian statist/Big-L “Liberal” government as concisely as anyone in history:

When you guys win, you get to keep your money.

When we win, we take your money

Cy Thao (DFL St. Paul), 2007

Seriously – this is Bartlett’s-grade stuff.

Yesterday, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Tom Brokaw gave The Interview That Will Live In Infamy, on Meet The Press.

Money quote (among many – this one closely paraphrased from memory):

BROKAW: “Whoy nault teik thus ulpurtoonitty tull raise thul taxes un gaaaus to fower dullars uh gaullon, luyeek peopull wurr prupared tull pay?”

Literal Translation:  “Why not take this opportunity to raise the taxes on gas to $4/gallon, like people were prepared to pay”.

Ethical Translation, from Condo-Pink Limo-Liberal to English:  “Neither of us have paid for gas in years, and if you jacked the income tax to levels that even choked the Swedes to death I’ll still be netting seven figures; why not sit down at the great Drum Stool of Power in the White House and imitate Keith Moon?”

I’m not sure now who has the bigger ego. Oprah Winfrey or Barack Oprahma?

BEVERLY HILLS (AP) — Although Oprah Winfrey worked hard on Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign, she never considered going to work for the president-elect’s administration, the talk show host said Friday.

“I have a few full-time jobs already and a few full-time commitments, you know — contractual commitments that say I have to be where I am,” Winfrey told AP Television. “So, it never ever occurred to me, not even occurred to me.”

Winfrey said she would stay put, even if the president-elect came calling.

And he hasn’t.

The article didn’t once mention that Obama in fact had her in mind or that there was even speculation. There’s a lot of real news out there boys. Why don’t you get out there and get it.

…Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?

Barack Obama is already deflecting…this is going to be a long four years for everyone if our fears of his emptysuitedness manifest themselves.

All Americans should hope that Obama grows some, and fast. What America needs now is not the rhetoric and campaign promises that landed Obama in the White House on the backs of millions of people that think he is going to save them from their rightful obligations.

Otherwise, the office of President will be of no more value to America than the mock, ego-driven farce that is the “Office of the President-Elect.”

Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama’s refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin.

He’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.

Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.

Could there be someone less qualified than Beans ‘n Frank to deal with this crisis? Yes. Barack Obama. At least Barney Frank knows how it happened on account of his personal culpability and corruption. Not only was he at ground zero, he lit the fuse.

Obama did stress that a significant component of the fund should be used to reduce the number of foreclosures. But he did not specify a particular remedy.

Not so fast, Mr. Jimmy. You might want to consider the effect of that on your soon-to-be-plummeting approval rating.

Many Americans are outraged that their money is being spent to rescue irresponsible mortgage borrowers. Still, that probably won’t stop government officials.

There are a lot of hard-working, responsible people out there, many of whom voted for you Mr. Oprah, who are dead set against bailing out those that took imprudent risk at the expense of those that saved and lived below their means.

Insert leadership here.

What America needs is a President that tells America the truth. Government can no longer cover your six if you make bad decisions. It can’t and it won’t. It’s the only intelligent thing Jesse Ventura ever said.

Based on some of BHO’s cabinet choices, I am guardedly optimistic that he in fact is weighing his options and that he truly wants to do what is best for America, within the limiting realm of his ideology; but the forces of opposition, Frank, Reid, Pelosi et al, are very strong.

And soon, may not even be on his team (which may be a good thing).

“That One” spent two years telling us “Yes We Can.” Now it’s time to tell us “No We Can’t.”

Watching Obama’s cabinet appointments, it’d be tempting to ask “wow – with an overwhelming mandate like they had, why are they not going straight for the end zone, rather than suddenly and visibly racing for the center?”

The answer, of course – they didn’t have a sweeping mandate.  It was a clear victory, all right, but McCain (thanks largely, I think, to Sarah Palin bringing out a base that’d been sitting on its hands since February) actually got about as many votes as Bush did in 2004; he’d have beaten Kerry.  Obama swept into office on millions of new voters – and as Minnesota Third, Sixth and Senate races showed, his coattails weren’t especially sturdy; people apparently voted for Obama and nothing but the Obama.

So how does the left feel about this?

Charlie Quimby:

I’m not one of those who thought an Obama presidency would be the First Coming for the American Left, so I’m not going to indulge in much hand wringing over whether he has or hasn’t deviated from campaign promises. Anyone who can’t read reality between the lines of a campaign speech deserves whatever disappoint they feel.

For someone who follows politics, that just makes sense.  It crosses party lines; Ronald Reagan disappointed social conservatives by restricting his anti-abortion agenda to preaching from the bully pulpit, among many ecumenical examples; anyone who watches politics knows to be a little cynical or accepting of pragmatism, however you want to call it.

But among the less jaded, is it possible to catalog the extent to which Obama has been oversold -indeed, the extent to which Obama oversold himself?  The light worker, bringing enlightenment to the benighted; the messiah; the guy who’s going to solve your problems  by holding up his end of a quid pro quo that started when they went to the polls and put him in office.

How accepting are they going to be when he doesn’t levitate and make the flowers bloom in January?

Wrong again Mr. Jimmy. Best consult with your National Suckurity team before you follow through on that particularly obtuse ambition.

The Air Force’s airborne laser program passes yet another test, proving “unproven” missile defense once again. The question is not whether we can get it to work, but whether we can afford not to.

Americans should be very afraid of Obama because the bad guys are not. The greatest threat: a rogue nation with new found nuclear weapons capability and the ability to launch said lode ballistic. EMP over NYC. Our best new hope of defending against said threat: the technology that Major B.O. wants to cancel.

Missile Defense Takes Off

This week, Boeing and the Missile Defense Agency announced another successful test — the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft, including the firing of a high-energy laser through the ABL beam control/fire control system. Earlier tests had unit-tested other components of the system, particularly the ability to find, track and target missiles in flight.

A campaign promise that actually should be broken. This is not the time for a wuss in the White House.

…thy name is also Oprah.

Oprah filming in DC for inauguration week

“There are not even words to talk about what this night means,” Oprah told Access Hollywood that night. “Everybody keeps using the word historic — there’s never been a night like this on the planet earth… Nothing can compare to this.”

The morning Caveman discovered fire?

How about the day World War II ended?

The night Jesus was born?

The Occupier of the Office of The President-Elect Barry Oprah reveals his National Suckurity Team, which of course includes Mrs. Bill Clinton, a fervent rival who roundly criticized The President-Defect during the primaries, but now: BFF!

Mr. Obama essentially said Americans should not take too seriously some of the things said during “the heat of a campaign.”

Really, Mr. Oprah, sir? It will be quite interesting to see just exactly how far you get with that ticket once you step into the Oval Office and find out how utterly unprepared you are for the job (and that it’s a smoke-free workplace), and start doing the math on all the promises you made to win the White House for the people who’d been waiting for you to be the people for whom they were waiting.

Some examples I think you’ll have an unfunny challenge with:

1. Give a tax break to 95% of Americans (better hurry up, you don’t want to piss off 95% of Americans – especially those clinging to their guns)
2. “If you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime. Not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing.” (“Read My Lips?” I wonder how he will be paying for the expanded child and dependent care tax credit, the expanded earned income tax credit, the universal mortgage credit, the $1,000 emergency energy rebate to families, weatherizing 1 million homes annually, and lowering health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year?)
3. Dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes (a lot of people that voted for Obama think tax returns are actually grant applications; why bother with filing? Let’s just give them all government debit cards)
4. Match 50% of retirement savings up to $1,000 for families earning less than $75,000 (because saving for your retirement shouldn’t be so hard, or even your own responsibility – behold, the C.R.A. of the retirement industry)
5. Give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create in the U.S. (unless they make more than $250,000 $150,000 $100,000 $75,000)
6. Make employers offer seven paid sick days per year (Mr. Carter sir, can we just combine #5 and #6? Why don’t you just give the $3000 directly to the sickly so we don’t have to hire him; and why stop at seven? Seems so arbitrary. Besides, work is hard. People should have the right to work, or not work)
7. Sign into law an employee free choice act — aka card check — to make it easier for unions to organize (that way once the Unions are done destroying the airline and automotive industries they can move on to retail, hospitality, and health care)
8. Cut spending on unproven missile defense systems (Let’s wait until a missile destroys New York City)
9. Demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers (best wait until your second term for that one – let ’em all vote for you one more time first)
10. Go through the budget, line by line, ending programs we don’t need (like the military?) and making the ones we do need (like the pork in Illinois, only bigger and better, Senator?) work better and cost less

Just put the budget up on a teleprompter. He won’t Change anything, but at least some of us will feel better about it.

The Question: What Nickname Should A Conservative Blog Employ For President-Elect Barack Obama So As To Not Offend Our More Tender Readers?

“Oprah” by a slim margin.

HT Flash

Poor Joe. His role in the Obama administration?

For Biden, No Portfolio but the Role of a Counselor

Which is nicey nice for nada. Please stay out of the way and keep your mouth shut.

One can’t imagine John McCain taking that tact with Sarah Palin. She’d put one of her Naughty Monkeys up his…well you know. Another post-mortem observation proving McCain/Palin would have been a better team for America in this time and place.

Mr. Obama has moved quickly to assemble his White House staff and the beginnings of (Bill Clinton’s-JR) cabinet, he is lagging behind even the chronically late President Bill Clinton in bringing clarity to the role his vice president will play.

Breaking up is so hard to do.

“I’m sure that there will be discrete assignments over time,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president-elect. “But I think his fundamental role is as a trusted counselor. I think that when Obama selected him, he selected him to be a counselor and an adviser on a broad range of issues.”

Ah, discrete assignments over time. Well played Axelrod. Methinks those assignments will entail such tools as a discrete infra-red remote control and a strategically placed hassock emblazoned with the seal of the Vice President.

while Mr. Obama held a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday, Mr. Biden was home in Delaware, having spent Monday night in Wilmington stuffing Christmas stockings with his wife for a charity event.

Quaint. We all know how committed to charity Joe Biden is…stuffing a sock where his wallet is.

The President-Elect did not return phone calls from Jill Biden pleading for Mr. Obama to “Please get Joe the (h-e-toothpick-toothpick) out of the house – he’s driving me crazy.”

Mr. Biden seems to be adapting. He is hiring for his office, including a chief of staff, Ron Klain, who has worked with him since he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the 1990s. With Mr. Obama having settled on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, Mr. Biden, whose most recent Senate post was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has privately told people that he recognizes he will not be the point man on foreign policy.

Poor Joe. He will have to fight for that remote too.

The only guy I feel more sorry for than Joe having nothing to do, is the Chief of Staff of The Guy With Nothing To Do.

Hey! Joe’s the Maytag Man! (He He)

Mr. Biden has also interviewed candidates for chief economist, and associates say he is honing his economic credentials.

Not unduly angry?

Aides say Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama sometimes rib each other in private meetings, and they maintain that Mr. Obama was not unduly angry at Mr. Biden for his gaffe predicting that Mr. Obama would be tested by a world crisis in his first six months in office.

So he was pissed, just not unduly. Ouch.

Since then, however, Mr. Biden has not had much to say to the news media.

Because they’re not asking him any questions.

Through a spokeswoman, he declined to be interviewed for this article, itself a break from his voluble past.