Obama is trying to combine populism and socialism.

Problem is, the two paths are often at odds. It has been tried before in other countries — most notably Cuba and Venezuela — but in the United States, populist sentiment is often completely at odds with Socialist giveaway programs. This is probably one of the few countries in the world where populist sentiment is conservative sentiment.

Obama is navigating a ridiculous economic high-wire, on one hand with bailouts and giveaways and earmarks and pork, and on the other hand trying to look stern and outraged when people are caught with their hands in the cookie jar — a cookie jar which Obama himself just offered them.

The money will soon run out for his impossible schemes, and in the end the fiscal conservatives will have the last laugh.