Job #1

"The way I see it, the first job of my administration is to put people back to work and get our economy moving again," President-elect Barack Obama said, days before he takes the oath of office.

No, sir. The way you see it is wrong. You need to be Commander in Chief, not campaigner-in-chief, nor poll-follower-in-chief.

Your job #1 is the safety of Americans from the war the terrorists began during the Clinton administration.

Bush knew that. We watched him gather all his power - all his political IOUs - together and spend them all on the war on terror. He did exactly what we all needed him to do. He pushed every resource to its limit (including legal limits). He asked every agency to re-invent new and better ways to keep us safe. When necessary to get job #1 advanced, he got Congressional votes for our war effort by looking the other way on Congress's fiscal boondoggles. He allowed Congresses controlled by both parties to party well into the night with pork barrel projects designed to get them re-elected. That's what allowed him to work well into the night on our safety in time of war.

Shame on Congress. Shame on the "watchdog" media. Thank you, Mr. President. You gladly sacrificed your popularity for the better goal of our safety. If you had acted as though popularity, power, and legacy were most important, we would have had eight more years of Clintonesque politics, and eight more years of terrorist murders of Americans.

It's an axiom - a basic truth - of war that the best defense is a great offense. Likewise, it's a basic truth that, in the absence of war, the best-prepared defense is a well-prepared offense.

So, after Obama takes a powder on the whole Commander in Chief thing, and jumps in front of the ignorant me-first parade to say paychecks is job #1, and leaves Iraq while it's still vulnerable to takeover by another tyrant who will want to wage war on us, and cuts the defense budget so we're as unprepared for the next effort as Clinton left us for the current effort -- after all that, where will the ignorant me-first parade lead our poll-follower-in-chief after the next terrorist act of war?

When the parade makes him say it, he'll say that winning the war on terror is job #1. But, by then, he will have lost the great advantage handed to him by his predecessor.

This is the difference between a true leader and a media starlet. Country first, if you please.

Obamanomics

I listened. Now, I’m reading the text of Obama’s economic speech. He read it eloquently from teleprompters, with no audience eye contact and no open questions, just like all his great performances. So, what is Obamanomics? What is this American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan?

It’s … a Plan. It’s Reinvestment, in that it takes money from one place and puts it somewhere else. But, it doesn’t foster Recovery – just the opposite. And, it’s not American, if you believe in capitalism’s incredible growth and wealth potential, or if you believe in American rugged individualism and personal responsibility, or if you believe in continuing the fight against the socialist welfare state.

If Obamanomics doesn’t foster recovery and flies in the face of 200 years of Americanism, how can it be meeting only meek and mild resistance from Congress? Simple – most Congressmen aren’t leaders, don’t have foresight, and their #1 priority is re-election. Not recovery, and not our future. Congress has devolved into the Clintonesque Club – “follow the polls”. Hence, the Democratic Congress’s poll numbers are far lower than even George Bush’s. Lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut, as we say out West. What’s the Clintonesque Club mantra? “Find the parade, get in front, and pretend to lead, no matter where it’s going. It's the polls, stupid.”

If the great unwashed masses with no critical thinking, no sense of history, and no understanding of how the American economy became the world’s most amazing success story … If the me-first mentality says “Bail me out, Big Brother!”, “Please, Big Gov’mint, take over everything!”, and “Change, any change, just change!” … If the polls say “Spend our kids’ inheritance right now, on me!” … Well, the weasels on Capital Hill learned how to find that ignorant parade and get in front. That’s why Congress is going along with Obamanomics. Thanks, Obama.

We deserve the government we elect, Senator Franken.

1929’s Wall Street crash and bad recession did not have to be a decade-long depression. FDR and his Big Government Overspending New Deal did that to us. The American economy was not hurt in the beginning as badly as the European countries, but our depression lasted much longer than theirs did, because our government got in the way and used up all the investment capital for short-term stimulus. Thanks, FDR. In fact, FDR's policies never did lift us out of depression; the Europeans did that for him by starting the second world war in 35 years, eventually requiring our resources, our factories, our farms, and our military. That’s the economic shot in the arm that finally threw off the choke hold of FDR big government over-spending.

The ensuing boom of the 1950’s needed another shot in the arm when it began to wane a little in the 1960’s. Kennedy knew, in the absence of a world war, we needed a non-war economic stimulus that would work for everyone. He was right; he yelled it out loud, over and over, until the support of the American voters (those polls, again) got Congress to agree – cut taxes on the employers to stimulate job growth to stimulate the entire economic engine to increase the total GDP to increase the total tax income – everybody wins! Thanks, JFK, it worked.

Johnson, Nixon, and Carter forgot that lesson, and again the economy was mired in what even Carter, during his ill-fated re-election campaign, called the “misery index” of high interest rates and high inflation. Well, Reagan also knew the solution. His immense popularity with the American people (those polls, again) gave us his plan of cutting taxes for everyone, including the employers and the investors – those blokes who stoke the coals and get our jobs growing.

Along came Clinton. And, the Clinton recession that began in 1999. Then came George Bush, and he inherited the Clinton recession, which the liberal media renamed the Bush recession. Well, “W” is no genius, but he knows how to read history and repeat what worked for JFK and Reagan. “W” cut income taxes.

“But, the wealthy had bigger tax cuts than the poor!” Well, yeah, since the poor don’t pay any income taxes. Duh.

“But, the wealthy had bigger tax cuts than the middle class – the workers!” Well, yeah, since the upper 5% pays 95% of the bill, I guess an across-the-board tax cut would do that, of course. So, just how unfairly did the “W” tax cut treat the middle class? Well, a few years later, the economy had doubled, the government had a surplus, and here’s what happened to the middle class and the wealthy: The wealthy made a lot more money. So, even with “W’s” reduced tax rates, they wound up paying more total taxes on their total income than under Clinton. And, the wealthy paid a much higher percentage of the total taxes than they had under Clinton.

Meanwhile, the middle class enjoyed their tax cuts, and loved earning more money, and then appreciated paying a smaller percentage of the taxes than under Clinton. “W” tax policies were the best ever for the middle class majority. Thanks, “W”.

If you like history and facts, “W” tax policy made him a hero. If you prefer liberal re-writing of history, “W” is the goat. Keep in mind the "W" tax cuts worked their magic in spite of 9-11, in spite of a war fought on two fronts, and in spite of Congresses (both Republican and Democrat) who spent shamelessly on pork barrel projects, over McCain’s constant objections. Especially Obama’s pork.

OK, so history is clear. In economic stress, we’ve proven that higher tax rates and higher government deficits are exactly the wrong medicine. Thanks for making that crystal clear, FDR. Lesson learned.

Instead, we’ve proven that lower tax rates (especially if coupled with reduced federal deficits) grow the economy, grow jobs, grow incomes, and grow total tax receipts to the government. Thanks for proving that, JFK, Reagan, and “W”. Lesson learned, and, boy-oh-boy, do we need to apply that lesson now!

Now, back to Obamanomics. We are faced with an economic slowdown that ranks somewhere between the 1929 crash and the Carter “misery index”. A big challenge. But, it’s a challenge we’ve faced before.

As I said, I listened and I read his plan. He never extolled the power of a free market economy to throw off the shackles of business downturns and government intrusion, despite history. Instead, he either said or inferred “Only government can ….” over and over. Other than being a good speech-giver, Obama could not be more opposite of JFK and Reagan if he tried. He made 13 references to increased government spending (more before his speech was “redacted” and printed. He made no reference to unleashing the power of employers to employ. He did the Carter "oh, woe is me, woe to us all" speech. Exactly the opposite of a Ronald Reagan or Martin Luther King optimistic, we shall overcome, America will win speech.

Obamanomics proposes the biggest increase in federal deficit spending ever, in the history of the republic. He also proposes the biggest takeover of free markets by the government ever, in the history of the republic. Finally, he proposes the biggest tax rate on the employers of this country ever, in the history of the republic. We already know why – he found a loud and ignorant parade, and got in front. Exactly the opposite of what history and logic tell us we need. We already know what will happen – a needless prolonged extension of the current recession into a deep recession laced with the “misery index” of recession, high interest rates, and high inflation.

And, we know one more thing. There will arise a leader who knows history, learns the lessons, ignores the polls of the ignorant “me first” parade, and will lead us out of the future misery of Obamanomics. That leader may be a Democrat (a la Kennedy) or a Republican (a la Reagan), but he will arise, because the times make the man, and the Obama times will demand such a man. Or woman. Thanks in advance, Obama. We can’t wait.