As always, he delivers his speeches well. He sounded forceful and determined and on top of things. I just don't believe his claims that somehow he's going to introduce budgets that cut enough waste, fraud, and abuse while taxing only the very wealthy and be able to do all the things that he's taken on such as bailing out the economy, starting us on the way to a health care policy managed by the government, fund clean energy, and get kids to stay in schools that are really educating them. And cutting the deficit at the same time. It's a pipe dream, a fairy tale.
Every president promises savings from cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. Have we witnessed any vast improvement in government efficiency?
And how will we believe that he's cutting out all wasteful programs when he just signed the biggest bill in government history that was hurriedly put together by House and Senate appropriators and full of pork and government spending that has nothing to do with stimulus? Does he really think that those same congressmen to whom he caved in writing the stimulus are going to take all those wasteful programs out of the budget?
Even the Associated Press isn't buying a lot of Obama's claims.
And he keeps setting up strawmen arguments that his opponents think that our problems will take care of themselves or don't want to do anything to address those problems. And he's still pretending that our problems with the mortgage mess arose because of deregulation rather than by government interference forcefully encouraging banks and mortgage companies to making risky loans premised on a housing bubble.
So on delivery he gets an A+, (whereas Bobby Jindal would get a C-), but on substance I just don't buy it. However, that's nothing new for a State of the Union-type address. Every president promises all sorts of goodies while swearing he'll be cutting the deficit. I don't believe them either. Even the New York Times doubts that he's going to be able to do all this without raising taxes. We'll see if the markets share the faith in him that the American people seem to have in his rhetoric.
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4 comments:
A C- is a bit generous for Jindal. He started off sounding a bit Deputy Dawgish (but got better as he went on)and he spoke as if he were adressing an elementary school class.
His spoke of not succumbing to a message of gloom, as if he didn't even listen Obama's optimistic message.
Basically, just another repub wanting Obama to fail so he has a better shot in 2012.
Fortunately for him, he's got a lot of time for people to forget his speech and improve his oratory skills. Given Palin's tax problems and shameless nickel-and-diming, he's probably the frontrunner.
Listening to Obama made me feel as if I were in an alternative universe where ordinary notions of truth and the laws of physics and economics don't apply.
More for less!
We're not at War!
Spending is Costless
The top 2% can pay for everything without destroying incentives.
Love Big Brother!
Soaring rhetoric leaves me cold.
Well it is about 5:00 PM on 02/25/2009 here in Texas and the buzz is about Jindal's performance on the Today show this morning.
Apparently he didn't go with the advise of being "warm" that he tried after Obiwam's speech and knocked it out of the park. If he can repeat that in the future.......
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