Do we have an adult in the room?
DO WE HAVE AN ADULT IN THE ROOM?
The House Speaker, Representative John Boehner, looks like an adult who cannot control his children, thus he appears to be an ineffective adult.
President Obama looks like an adult, based upon his demeanor and rhetoric, but has reflected that he does not appear to be an adult who is worthy of the Office of the Presidency, most notably because, on December 17, 2010, he gave in to the ‘hostage-takers’ by signing the legislation, which continued the Bush tax legislation for those with taxable incomes in excess of $250,000.
His signing of that legislation was shortsighted, at best, and mental shortsightedness should be a characteristic that should negate one’s ability to function, responsibly, in the Office of the Presidency. The grade most appropriate to describe the signing was not even a D-, i.e., it was an absolute F.
Now, President Obama is willing to give in on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other expenditures. Until he understands why we are where we are, he has, absolutely, no right to damage those programs. No one, on either side, has shown that he or she understands the provenance of our current economics. HINT: The financial ‘crisis’ of 2008, and the real estate bubble were results of the underlying causes of our economic malaise.
Excuse me if I have led anyone to believe that President Obama didn’t understand the implications of his signing the December 17, 2010 legislation. I believe the evidence reflects that he knew, exactly, what he was doing and it was planned, i.e., it appears he never had any intention of truncating the Bush tax legislation of 2001.
When Senator Obama ran for the nomination of his party in 2008, one of his promises was that he was going to reverse the Bush tax legislation. Subsequent to his election, he said he would allow the legislation to ‘sunset’ on December 31, 2010. Finally, he signed the legislation on December 17, 2010, under apparent duress (President Obama stated that the continuation was wrong, but he had no choice because the Senate Republicans were holding ‘hostages’), which extended the legislation.
Could the duress, purportedly caused by the need to extend the benefits for the long-term unemployed and the continuation of the tax legislation for those with taxable incomes under $250,000, have been get-out-of-jail-free’ cards for President Obama?
Nancy Pelosi waited until after the November 2010 elections to offer this legislation. This fact should stimulate political and pragmatic discussions as to why she didn’t offer this prior to those elections. I was told by my Congressman, Brad Sherman, that there were Democrats in conservative districts who didn’t want the vote prior to the elections. I suggested to Representative Sherman that the People need our leaders to take the correct actions, i.e., placing emphasis upon the ‘politics’ is not what we need. I, further, suggested that if our leaders take the correct actions, things would work out, as best as possible.
Based upon all the polling, the Democrats were going to lose 45-60 seats in the House of Representatives. I believe that had the House passed the legislation, prior to the November 2010 elections, those projected losses would have been mitigated or even reversed.
It would have been interesting to see the legislation passed, prior to the elections, only to have the Republican Senators say they would hold it up unless the top 2% were included.
Would the general public, i.e., the other 98% have backed the Democrats or the Republicans?
If my thesis is rational, why was the legislation not passed prior to the November 2010 elections? What would have stimulated the Democrats to commit political suicide?
The debt ceiling could have been raised anytime during the past two years. Why was this not done when the Democrats controlled both Houses and the Presidency? Again, what was so overwhelming that would stimulate the Democrats to abdicate their responsibilities?
Perception is in the mind of the perceiver,
Please keep in mind that the single greatest human frailty is that ‘one tends to believe what one wants and needs to believe’.
The People are being ‘tenderized’ to accept the ‘settlement’.
mz
July 23, 2011