When people in the White House ask me whether I think Obama's SOTU address should be about tax reform or Social Security reform (i.e., 2/3 Social Security benefit cuts, 1/3 tax increases offered by the administration--and God alone knows what happens after that), I want to say: Why not make the SOTU address about jobs and economic recovery?
Perhaps the Obama administration need to watch the documentary The War Room. The movie chronicles the successful 1992 Bill Clinton campaign. James Carville wrote the words "the economy. Stupid." Many Americans are either unemployed or underemployed. President Obama needs to talk about the economy and jobs. If Obama claims the tax cuts will stimulate the economy then he and the American people will be sadly disappointed.
A blogger friend of mine wrote a post about Health Care Reform today that linked to a column Ezra Klein, who's become quite the hack (which I say with sadness because, when Ezra blogged, he had a post about the Littwin/Bush story I wrote back when I first published it). In the column, Ezra said that HCR is modeled off the Health Care system in my state, Massachusetts -- so Ezra wanted to check on the status of health care in MA. He didn't actually come to my state, though. He just quoted a bunch of statistics he found on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteIf he had come to the state, or at least picked up a telephone and called a few people on Beacon Hill, he would have talked with lawmakers wondering how health coverage in this state will be funded a few years few now. And if he talked with, say, Human Resources people at private companies here, he would have found a community of professionals who have no clue what the price of health coverage will be next year. He also would have found out that many people in MA don't have "health ccoverage" -- they have catastrophic insurance coverage. For example, I pay $94 a month for my "health coverage", making me included in the statistics which claim that 98% of MA residents have "health coverage". But my plan stipulates that all medical expenses before $2000 I must pa; out of pocket. So I still can't see a doctor unless I want to watch $200-500 (or more) disappear -- and I'm forced to pay $94 a month for this, erm, "health coverage".
So welcome to Massachusetts.
How does this relate to a post about Obama and his grip on reality (or lack thereof) on the economy? Look at how Ezra plays with statistics, and look at how the Obama administration has played with statistics. I would say both parties are lying if I believed they knew what they were talking about in the first place, but apparently, they don't.
We have our first Pundit President. Like normal pundits who never venture outside their offices unless it's to get expensive dinners (then blog about them), we have a President who never seems to venture beyond Washington to learn what's actually happening. Sure, he'll try telling us that his administration has already been one of the most productive in history, passing important legislation like the first stimulus bill and HCR -- but does he really know or understand what he's doing? Does he ask anybody, or just look at statistics?
And have you read this shit? Politico reported it first, but if this is true, it's pretty explosive: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=EB5E9565-C4A8-7E36-747EADB1F4AAB099
ReplyDeleteObama wants cuts to Social Security. Yet the rich still receive their tax cuts.
Are you fucking kidding me?
I laughed when Ezra Klein blogged that Obama didn't get credit for the "process" of the tax cut compromise. Klein is amazed that mainstream America isn't obsessed with backroom deals. These people want good paying jobs. They don't give a shit about the process.
ReplyDeleteLook at how Ezra plays with statistics, and look at how the Obama administration has played with statistics.
I don't think Ezra plays with statistics. I just don't think he knows what he is talking about. I'm the guy that got troll comments on this blog because I said the Florida housing market was gonna go bust. Now Florida has record foreclosures and rocket docket court controversies.
So is it a coincidence that newspapers are dying, and they hire people like Ezra Klein? I have to say I feel a little bit of a personal connection to this -- Ezra and I are around the same age, and we existed in the blogsphere at the same time. But media outlets weren't pounding on my door to have me write for them.
ReplyDeleteKinda funny how what rises up from a blogosphere hostile to the mainstream media is a party-line friendly voice who doesn't know what he's talking about. Loyalty is everything, I guess.