President Obama has a huge problem: jobs. As in, lack of them. As in, not creating any. He promised them on the campaign trail, and he promised them as part of the $1.2 trillion stimulus package he signed a year ago.

After one year in office, with a huge majority in Congress, he has accomplished remarkably little, which is a relief to a Conservative. He has spent an inordinate amout of time, resources and energy wrangling over socialized medicine and cap and trade, and the unemployment remains stubbornly high.

Tomorrow, employment data will be released for January. Weekly initial jobless claims for unemployment insurance has been running about 470,000, and this week the number hit 480,000. The employment sector will not grow until initial jobless claims fall below 400,000. We’re still a long way off.

There are two factors in play. The President has been jawboning big business for the last three years, while on the campaign trail and since his inauguration. Business will not hire workers without some stable signs of an increase in aggregate demand, and as long as this administration sends a [...]

Nine months ago, Congress passed and President Obama signed an economic stimulus package totalling $1.8 trillion. Hastily designed and implemented, the legislation was highly criticized because it was virtually impossible for anyone to have actually read the bill (much less understand it) prior to implementation. The President himself told us that it was imperative we pass these bills in order to restore economic stability. Conservatives, especially fiscal conservatives, howled, claiming the bill was inappropriately designed, that the money being spent could not possibly generate economic growth because it would take too long to move through the system, with the added concern of driving up an already astronomical deficit. The Administration insisted that the spending was necessary to keep unemployment from exceeding 10%. We were being deceived, and we knew it.

It generally takes about six months for changes in fiscal or monetary policy to be felt throughout the broader economy, so after nine months we should be seeing some signs of economic improvement. That is, the weekly economic statistics [...]

Ah, who cares?

As disappointed as I was about the outcome of the last general election, I thought I’d take a few months off from writing and spend it observing this new global (dare I say, Intergalactic?) phenomenon that is our new President. Today is July 6, and I fear that he is almost exactly what I thought he would be last summer, that is to say, pathetic.

Having said this, I have to confess that the reason I took some time from writing was that I wanted to be objective in my assessment of this man (as opposed to self-styled Deity). So many conservatives have been lambasted precisely because they wouldn’t give President Obama a chance. Not that he needed one, but we DO have to be fair. And I was secretly praying that his rhetoric was merely that and he was pandering to his ultra-liberal base and that, being a man of reason and logic, he was a closet conservative and would instinctively do the right thing. No such luck!

I’ve waited five and a half months for him to do something, anything, good for the country. So far, here’s what President Obama has accomplished:

• He’s spent $1.2 trillion (that’s $1,200,000,000,000) of succeeding generations’ money on absolutely nothing of any consequence
• He’s flown around the world numerous times at taxpayer’s expense, all the while chiding the taxpayers to tighten up their belts and pay for his largesse
• He’s been on television almost every day whining about the failed policies of “the last eight years” and gathering support for his socialist agenda.

That’s it. He’s talked, and talked and talked some more. One gets the sense that talking is all the man knows how to do, and, after reading his resume, that’s all he’s ever done. At least he’s consistent.

Meanwhile, here in middle America, our country is suffering [...]

Just when you thought it wouldn’t get worse, it does. A pair of bills (Sen 773 & 778) have been introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W-WV) that would be a part what’s being called the “Cybersecurity Act of 2009″. These bills would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private data online, regulate the cybersecurity industry, and shut down portions of internet traffic if it deems there is an “emergency”. A new office called the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor would be created and would report directly to the President. Hmmm….wonder how I apply for that position. Do I have to pay taxes to be considered?

For your enjoyment, here is a working draft of the bill:

http://cdt.org/security/CYBERSEC4.pdf

This new Act raises privacy concerns on many fronts, not the least of which is it grants the White House the authority to disconnect “critical infrastructure” networks from the internet. These would include banking, utilities, health/medical, etc.

Sounds all well and good right? If there were a massive cyberwarfare attack on our infrastructure, this is just another way to protect critical elements. However, we know that this power can [...]

Somehow, I managed to stay awake for last night’s Presidential press conference. Say what you will about President Obama’s communication skills–and they are considerable–he is no macro economist.

Which is a shame, because he has access to two of the brightest macro-economists of our generation: Ben Bernanke and Larry Summers. He should listen to them; learn from them. They have much to teach him. My reaction to watching the President last night is that he is clueless as to how the economy really works, and his recent historical perspective is revisionist.

First, kudos to the media. As opposed to the first press conference, they asked him some hard, direct questions. Unfortunately, President Obama is incapable of answering these questions in a transparent, straightforward manner, but the questions were direct even if the answers weren’t.

Now to the revisionist Obamanomics. First, President Obama claims he inherited a $1.2 trillion budget deficit. According to the [...]

Here we are! 2009! What can we say?

2008 is gone and I think we’re all grateful for that. Republicans had their hats handed to them, although Conservatives fared pretty well. And there’s the difference. Moderate Republicanism is indistinguishable from the Democrats. If Republicans want to regain their stature in Washington and the state houses across America, they need to do it at the grass roots level and they need to return to Conservative values. Barack Obama is the President-elect not because of his microscopic resume, or because of the political cesspool he climbed out of, or the message of change and hope, because he represents neither. He won the national election because the Republican candidate was a moderate with a poorly-crafted message, and so since the two were indistinguishable, people chose the candidate that was younger, better-looking, and articulate. We can’t do that again.

After 18 months of the media (and Obama) telling us [...]

Two weeks ago today, the Obama Nation was gloating. Sweeping victories in the general election, Democrats now control the White House and both houses of Congress. Well, it’s been two weeks, so that means it’s time for me to get out of my fetal position, stop throwing up, an assess what’s transpired since then.

In the last two weeks, there has been a steady stream of companies lined up at the Treasury Department’s door to obtain “equity stakes” from the American taxpayer. I admit that I was one of the first (and few) to defend Treasury Secretary Paulson’s and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke’s bailout/rescue/money grab in an effort to shore up a global economy on the verge of total economic collapse. This was, and is, an unpopular position, because the consensus was, and is, that stupid management decisions should not be compensated for by the American taxpayer.

My argument [...]

That’s what Ben Smith is reporting, yesterday morning:

Andrea Mitchell reported this evening that Obama is considering Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, something that’s been buzzed about as a possibility for a few days.

I haven’t been able to confirm it, and neither Obama nor Clinton camps would comment, though NBC apparently has confirmation that she went to Chicago today.

One interesting item: Clinton aides are not knocking the report down, which they might.

Since Ben wrote that, apparently, there are confirmations are coming from a number of sources, including the Washington Post:

There’s increasing chatter in [...]

I’ve often wondered how Catholics could elect Democrats in the last 40 years or so. That would seem to have been rendered a moot point this cycle, as Gerald Warner observes:

Missed it by THAT MUCH

Remember, you read it here first: on September 11 this blog reported a mounting backlash from Catholic bishops against Biden, Barack [...]

(Cross-posted from Bitsblog)
Fox News:

John McCain’s campaign prepared to accuse Democrats on Saturday of leaving behind 12,000 miniature American flags after Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday in Denver.
Boy Scouts have arrived with 84 trash bags full of bundles of flags at the site of a McCain rally scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. local [...]