For the last time: there is no Obama mandate

Eugene Robinson still thinks Obama has a "mandate" and even compares the electoral situation with Reagan. Obama won with 53% of popular vote against McCain's 46% -- a mere difference of 7%. Electoral votes considered, it was 365 vs. 173.

When Reagan ran for president in 1980 against Jimmy Carter, the E.V. result was 489-49. And in 1984 it was 525-13 (Mondale). Now that smelled more like a mandate!

Wake up, Mr. Robinson. There is no mandate in sight for President Obama.

Nationalized health care snuck into stimulus

The Democrat-owned stimulus package is nothing more than a $900 billion bribe for votes. It's low on tax cuts where money is put into people's pockets and high on large government spending. Paul Krugman of the NYT cannot wait:

The bottom line, then, is that this is no time to let campaign promises of guaranteed health care be quietly forgotten. It is, instead, a time to put the push for universal care front and center. Health care now!

Kimberley Strassel points out in the WSJ:

It began one week after the swearing-in, when Nancy Pelosi whipped through a big expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The Schip bill was Democrats' first stab at stealth expansion, unveiled in 2007, though vetoed by George W. Bush.
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Under "stimulus," Medicaid is now on offer not to just poor Americans, but Americans who have lost their jobs. And not just Americans who have lost their jobs, but their spouses and their children. And not Americans who recently lost their jobs, but those who lost jobs, say, early last year. And not just Americans who already lost their jobs, but those who will lose their jobs up to 2011. The federal government is graciously footing the whole bill. The legislation also forbids states to apply income tests in most cases.
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The "stimulus" also hijacks Cobra, a program that lets the unemployed retain access to their former company health benefits -- usually for about 18 months. The new stimulus permits any former employee over the age of 55 to keep using Cobra right up until they qualify for Medicare at age 65. And here's the kicker: Whereas employees were previously responsible for paying their health premiums while on Cobra, now the feds will pay 65%. CBO estimates? Seven million Americans will have the feds mostly pay their insurance bills in 2009.

Thanks to Strassel for shedding light on this. It further illustrates the Democrats' nationalization agenda disguised as a bill to stimulate the economy.

Liberals on the offensive after House passage of stimulus bill

Let the finger pointing begin! Oh where do we start...?

Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones provides a strategy:

(1) Take stock. He certainly isn't going to stop reaching out to Republicans — to ditch the central premise of his campaign after one negative experience would be preposterous. But he can acknowledge that the output is the same. If he doesn't reach out to the Republicans, he will get slammed for being partisan and get zero votes for his priorities. If he does reach out to Republicans, he will get thanked for his efforts and get zero votes for his priorities (as we've seen). Either way, Republicans remain an unhelpful, recalcitrant bunch.

As a conservative, I'm glad the Republicans in Congress are standing firm. Even as a liberal, however, you've got to admit that this is the best way for the opposition party, having no control in the legislature, to play the political ball game -- even Kos acknowledges it. Let the Democrats "own" it. I'm sure it's how the Democrats would've done if they were the minority. Also keep in mind that there were 11 House Democrats who joined the Republicans in voting "no."

(2) Lowball. Next time, instead of reaching out to Republicans with a serious attempt to include their priorities (30 percent of the stimulus in tax cuts), Obama should start lower (10 percent?) and negotiate up. His bipartisan credentials will only be burnished by the fact that he went through the process of wrangling with the opposition and adding pieces it supports bit by bit.

Good idea. Negotiations 101.

(3) Stand strong when necessary. Obama should be less willing to ditch important provisions that Republicans oppose. They'll oppose the final bill regardless. And remember that there are the members of the Democratic caucus that need to be greased, too. MSNBC's First Read wrote today, "We've been hearing chatter from congressional Democrats that they'd like the president to act as concerned about winning their support as he acts when it comes to the Republicans." If Obama cuts too many progressive priorities from a major bill because the Republicans demand it, he will have an even bigger mess to deal with.

Unfortunately, history has shown that tax cuts work better and faster to stimulate the economy. It's evident in JFK, Reagan, and George W. Bush's administrations. Republicans will oppose Democrats' massive spending bills and Obama can stand as strong as he'd like, but history and facts are on the Republicans' side.

(4) Finally, play the PR game. Did Big O forget that he's the guy with the soaring popularity recently elected with a mandate for change? And that Republicans, who have a popularity rating under 30 percent if polling is to be believed, got their tails kicked in November? Make some hay out of this situation in the media. Obama should take to the microphones and explain exactly how far backward he bent over to make this bill one that everyone could get behind. Make the Republicans look bad. Make them think twice about unified opposition next time. So what if it turns into a war of the words — who is the public going to sympathize with, Obama or John Boehner? (Especially considering the public is strongly behind massive stimulus.) Obama doesn't have to create bipartisanship by kowtowing to GOP demands. He can create bipartisanship by making people terrified of opposing him.

Interesting idea, but the honeymoon has ended. After voting for Obama and cheering among millions at his rallies, people are back to reality of facing the prospect of losing their homes and their jobs. Sorry folks, but Mr. President cannot help you pay the bills. He's a popular president, all right, but ultimately he'll be judged by his actions, as with past presidents.

Bye bye, Blago

Unsurprisingly, the Illinois Senate voted to remove Rod Blagojevich from office, 59-0. It's the first time in the state's history that its governor has been impeached.

Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn is now promoted to Illinois Gov. Quinn.

Hopefully the people of Illinois can put all this negativity behind them now...

So ends the War on Terror?

In the NYT, Roger Cohen thinks the War on Terror has ended with President Obama's interview with Al Arabiya news:

In his first White House televised interview, with the Al Arabiya news network based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, President Obama buried the lead: The war on terror is over.

Yes, the with-us-or-against-us global struggle — the so-called Long War — in which a freedom-loving West confronts the undifferentiated forces of darkness comprising everything from Al Qaeda to elements of the Palestinian national struggle under the banner of “Islamofascism” has been terminated.

What’s left is what matters: defeating terrorist organizations. That’s not a war. It’s a strategic challenge.

Is it a "strategic challenge" to hunt down the terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people in NYC? That is a disturbing categorization. Most people already agree that the War on Terror isn't a conventional war, but to call it a strategic challenge would be to absurd.

Gore warns of global warming as thousands without power due to ice storm

All bow to the wisdom and power of The Goracle. We're not worthy!

Now can we help those residents without power? Darn that ice.

Economy, preprare to be stimulated... or not

The bad news? The House passed the nearly $900 billion stimulus package.

The good news? Not one Republican voted for it. That ought to send a clear message.

Conservative talk show master Rush Limbaugh offers his version in the WSJ:

Fifty-three percent of American voters voted for Barack Obama; 46% voted for John McCain, and 1% voted for wackos. Give that 1% to President Obama. Let's say the vote was 54% to 46%. As a way to bring the country together and at the same time determine the most effective way to deal with recessions, under the Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan of 2009: 54% of the $900 billion -- $486 billion -- will be spent on infrastructure and pork as defined by Mr. Obama and the Democrats; 46% -- $414 billion -- will be directed toward tax cuts, as determined by me.

"Then," he writes, "we compare." Sounds fair to me! After all, it is my money which Obama wants to spend. Shouldn't I have some say-so in how it's used?

Dear Mr. Holocaust-Never-Happened...

President Obama's administration is drafting a letter to the madman of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in response to the Iranian president's congratulatory letter upon Obama's inauguration.

Hmmm, I wonder how the letter would start?

Dear Mr. I-Want-Nuclear-Bombs? Dear Mr. Wipe-Israel-Off-the-Map? Dear Mr. Holocaust-Never-Happened?...

More thoughts on Wall Street's spending habits

Citigroup was caught red-handed trying to buy a $50M Dassault Falcon 7X corporate jet and received a call from the White House to cancel that order. After all, it's not the best way to spend billions of bailout money from the government. Columnists on the left are digging in their heels about this. Maureen Dowd at the NYT:

The former masters of the universe don’t seem to fully comprehend that their universe has crumbled and, thanks to them, so has ours. Real people are losing real jobs at Caterpillar, Home Depot and Sprint Nextel; these and other companies announced on Monday that they would cut more than 75,000 jobs in the U.S. and around the world, as consumer confidence and home prices swan-dived.
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Bartiromo also asked Thain to explain, when jobs and salaries were being cut at his firm, how he could justify spending $1 million to renovate his office. As The Daily Beast and CNBC reported, big-ticket items included curtains for $28,000, a pair of chairs for $87,000, fabric for a “Roman Shade” for $11,000, Regency chairs for $24,000, six wall sconces for $2,700, a $13,000 chandelier in the private dining room and six dining chairs for $37,000, a “custom coffee table” for $16,000, an antique commode “on legs” for $35,000, and a $1,400 “parchment waste can.”

Okay, so maybe it was a poor decision made by Citigroup executives to buy a multimillion dollar jet after the taxpayers have funded the company. Maybe Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, shouldn't have spent so much on an office renovation.

On the other hand, the stimulus package in debate right now is about spending, isn't it? The only difference between that bill and what these CEOs have done is who gets to spend. The Democrats prefers spending by the government, but that's just an illusion because taxpayers foot the government spending. These Wall Street executives are also spending money buying merchandise, hiring contractors, etc. Isn't that stimulating the economy?

House Republicans to vote Nay on stimulus

House Minority Leader John Boehner urges his GOP colleagues to oppose the stimulus bill as it comes to the floor for a vote on Wednesday. This comes even as President Obama took time to meet congressional Republicans to win their support on the $825 billion package.

It's a good sign. The Republicans in Washington are finally fitted with a backbone.

Obama already destroying jobs...

Citigroup, beneficiary of billion dollar government bailout money, is warned by the the Obama administration to "fix" its company plan to buy a $50 million jet from France. So Citigroup abandons the purchase.

So much for creating jobs. Citigroup would've hired pilots and crew members, jet maintenance folks, chefs, etc. to operate the corporate jet.

Thanks a bunch, President. There goes an opportunity to create jobs...

Stimulus package not large enough?!

Maybe columnist Bob Herbert is trying to leave NYT and get a job at the administration:

If anything, the stimulus package is not large enough. Less than 24 hours after Mr. Boehner’s televised exercise in obstructionism, the heavy-equipment company Caterpillar announced that it was cutting 20,000 jobs, Sprint Nextel said it was eliminating 8,000, and Home Depot 7,000.

Calling Rep. Boehner's comments on TV an "exercise in obstructionism" is nonsense. He's done what other Democrats have done in the past coming out swinging against Bush and his policies. Just think about all the public criticism from Democrats about the Iraq war and unfounded accusations against our troops. And what about when Republicans raised a red flag about Fannie and Freddie? The list goes on...

Nobody is disputing the fact that job cuts are painful and detrimental to the middle class. Companies have to downsize in order to adjust to the economic meltdown. Also, consumers have to spend less. The big part of the proposed stimulus package is for the government to spend its way out of the recession. If that doesn't sound like crazy talk, I don't know what does.

Sure, the government can create jobs with infrastructure projects. These workers get paid by the government -- wait, by the taxpayers -- to build bridges, offer government services, etc. Then they get taxed on the income. So really, why not just have these workers pay themselves?

That's why tax cuts make sense. Let workers keep more of their hard-earned dollars. Let them decide how to spend that money, be it savings or buying or starting a new business.

Now do you see the stark contrast in methods? Critics like Herbert think tax cuts only benefit the wealthy, but in reality tax cuts benefit everyone except in different degrees. Allow me to ask this: Have you ever gotten a job from a poor person? I know I haven't.

Herbert, of course, thinks that the government should provide all employment.

America's moral leadership has never faded

People keep talking about America's "moral leadership" in reference to President Obama's executive order to close Gitmo. By shutting down this detention facility outside of the United States, many liberals like Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) are claiming America being moral again:

In a season of transformational changes, these are among the most meaningful, because they send a powerful message that America's struggle against terrorism will once against honor some of the most cherished ideals of our republic: respect for the rule of law, individual rights, and America's moral leadership.

He writes about America as if it's a communist state devoid of laws and human rights. The fact that these suspected terrorists are detained in a comfortable military facility in sunny weather reading their Qurans already shows America's moral leadership. We could've shipped them off to some God-forsaken remote camp where they never see the light of day and wake up every morning wondering if they'd live through the night. That's how some countries treat their enemies, Sen. Kerry.

I have seen televised footages of Gitmo. Barbed wires surrounding the perimeter, of course, and steel cages throughout. Prison guards holding their rifles standing at the gates. I have noticed the prisoners dressed in their own seemingly comfortable attire and not some rag. They walk about, some are kicking a ball, some are just sitting, catching some rays. I dare say that their living condition may even surpass that of some prisons on U.S. soil.

The prisoner abuse uncovered at Abu Ghraib was shameful and tarnished our image. But that was promptly addressed by the Bush administration from the top down. Those who were responsible answered to the law and received punishment. The U.S. did not just let that slide. What greater demonstration of respecting the rule of law and human rights?

America, to me, has never lost its moral leadership. People like Sen. Kerry are focusing on the wrong side of the coin.

Pelosi: stop making babies, help the economy

Can you believe what's coming out of the Democratic leadership's mouth?

Where would Gitmo prisoners go?

Okay, so President Obama has chosen closing Gitmo as a top priority. Any logical leader would actually understand that before such a daunting task should come a plan as to where to put the prisoners. No Congressman except Jack Murtha (D-PA) has publicly voiced accepting them to his state of Pennsylvania (without approval from his constituents, I'm sure), and no U.S. ally has made gestures to keep them. What's going to happen to the detainees?

Republicans hold firm in Obama cabinet confirmations

Although President Obama had named his cabinet fairly quickly, Senate Republicans are performing their due diligence in confirming his picks. That's a good sign and demonstrates the check and balance of our two-party political system. Of course, don't be surprised if the White House starts politicizing the delays, accuse the Republicans of stalling the American government. I hope the Republicans stand firm and vet these nominees thoroughly. The character and experience of the cabinet have a great impact on the course of the nation.

Obama-nomics means thinner wallets

Sorry, but Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar have drank the Obama Kool-Aid in their Huffington Post piece. Their list of three top favorite long-term proposals from the Obama campaign:

1. UNIVERSAL MORTGAGE CREDIT that will broaden the financial benefits of homeownership - People often say home ownership is so wonderful because of the "tax benefits." Yet at present the mortgage interest deduction only kicks in if you ITEMIZE your tax return. Alas, 2/3rds of Americans take the standard deduction and thus miss out on this benefit. Team Obama supports a universal mortgage credit available homeowners who do not itemize. If you buy a home you can afford, this means YOU'LL participate in the American Dream not the American Scream.

I get the feeling that people who don't itemize of their tax returns aren't paying much taxes anyways and aren't likely to be homeowners. So good luck with buying a "home you can afford."

2. CREDIT CARD BILL OF RIGHTS that will protect consumers - Team Obama supports such steps as eliminating the universal default clauses (which allow lenders to increase your interest rate if you are late on any of your bills), prohibiting interest charges on late fees, and requiring the prompt crediting of cardholder payments. This means if you use your credit card responsibly, by paying off the balance each month on time and in full - it can once again be YOUR friend and not your foe.

Wonderful -- tip the scale in favor of irresponsible consumers and screw the credit card companies. Even though I have disagreements with some credit card companies' policies, especially those "bait and hook" practices and aggressive marketing to teenagers, I don't want to see them forced by government law. They are in the business of providing credit to those who are worthy and those who should already be paying off monthly balances. It is fair for them to penalize those who misuse and abuse the credit given to them. If such proposed legislation goes through, then it'll actually hurt consumers in receiving credit, especially for those who needs it most.

3. SIMPLIFYNG THE TAX FILING PROCESS so there are fewer headaches in April - Team Obama has also stated an intention to simplify the tax filing process, so that millions of Americans can do their taxes in less than five minutes. By enabling the IRS to use the same information it is already getting from banks and employers, taxpayers would have the option of accessing pre-filled tax forms that they can verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that this proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and mental angst. And YOU can use that extra time to set a realistic budget & reassess YOUR asset allocation.

One word: FairTax. It simplifies the tax filing process by eliminating it (and the bloated IRS, too)!

Obama already misplaces priorities

The economy is in shambles. Unemployment rate is rising. Home values are plummeting. Loans are defaulting. Banks are imploding.

And what does President Obama do during his first days in office?

Obama issues an Executive Order to close Guantanamo Bay ("Gitmo") Naval Base and review each of the detainee's case to determine whether prosecution is possible in the U.S. He's also ending waterboarding as an interrogation technique.

Frank Beckmann writes in The Detroit News:

The argument for closing Guantanamo and ending tough interrogation methods has been that the world thinks less of us because of these issues.

But the attacks of 9/11 and earlier -- the bombings of the World Trade Center, African embassies and Marine barracks in Lebanon -- all occurred before Guantanamo became an adjective and when waterboarding became a U.S. practice. The terrorists attacked anyway because of their religious hatred of the West and its way of life.

He hits the nail right on the head. Why does Obama care so much what the world thinks of America? The administration's priority is to protect Americans at home and abroad. By moving to close Gitmo so promptly, he is sending the wrong message to our enemies.

And the new N.Y. Senator is...

Albany is abuzz with Gov. Paterson's pick for New York's senate seat to replace now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Caroline Kennedy's out of the race. Democrats predict State A.G. Andrew Cuomo.

But looks like Paterson throws a curve ball -- it's Kirsten Gillibrand, considered by many to be a moderate Democrat. She's won elections with the backing of the National Rifle Association and opposition to TARP.

Democratic activists are already protesting the selection and planning to unseat her in the next election.

What the media giveth, the media taketh

There is no doubt that the media's love affair with Obama propelled him to stardom and into the White House, but it's starting to look like a backlash is brewing over his administration's unfair treatment of some media members.

Also, Obama's irritated response to some press members doesn't help.

And so it begins: what the media gives, the media can take away.