Category: Politics

Victor Davis Hanson has a pretty good read up here:

I was watching on television last week both Barack Obama and his wife Michelle speak about the supposedly depression-like conditions in the US, and a people strapped by students loans, near hungry, and without hope of betterment. Neither said anything of substance, though both were engaging, effective speakers. Still, never has so much talent been invested in saying so little.

If you were to believe them, we are in a sort of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Frank Capra-era housing depression, not a boom-and-bust cycle where for the last five years, rival television shows proliferate on “flipping” houses (in which strapped investors and rookies borrow against rising equity to put in granite counters and stainless steel appliances for quick flip sales).

I am sincerely hoping that Americans begin to see through the flowery rhetoric soon, because the message Obama is pushing, very eloquently, is one of 1930s America.  It’s not a message for the 21st century, and I hope voters will soon see that.

Found via Instapundit.

UPDATE: Actually this was via Clayton Cramer.  I opened it up to blog, and forgot where I got it from, and somehow recalled it was Insty, I guess since he links VDH so often. Either way, it’s what happens when you have about 100 blogs on the RSS feed.

This bit about his tax proposal:

Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama’s “Global Poverty Act” (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.

Given that this is a GOP activist oriented site, I should link to the actual bill as well.  I’m not in favor at all of tying spending to GDP levels.  Spending on foreign aid should be geared toward our national and international interests.  I don’t see any reason to do something like this. The article also points out, this is part of the UN Millennium Development Goal, which also includes restricting small arms and light weapons.  This bill doesn’t implement that, but it does call into question what other parts of the UNMDG Obama likes.

I’m not as sure about that as this Wall Street Journal article, but the article brings up a lot of good points:

Whatever else, Barack Obama isn’t talking sunshine in America. He’s talking fast and furious. People not yet baptized into Obamamania may start to look past the dazzling theatrics to see a vision of the United States that is quite grim and could wear thin in the general election.

There may indeed be a Message B for the fall in the Obama drawer. This week’s speech, like a televangelist’s, may be designed to drive small contributions. The Web-site version ends with an appeal to donate to “this historic moment.” I suspect, though, that it is the core of the Obama campaign, now or later.

Odds are that he will ride it to the nomination among Democrats for whom America can never quite escape the Depression. Hillary Clinton can only offer what she’s got — a clear-eyed ambition to get, and use, Democratic power.

Everything in life has a top — stocks, football teams and political phenoms, as she well knows. Though down, Hillary ought to suck it up for Ohio and Texas and hope the Obama wave starts to break. On current course, it will.

Read the whole thing.

Via Instapundit

Uncle has a small tome up about how the Republicans managed to shrink their tent, and places the blame on George W. Bush.  That is, I think, a quite an appropriate place to put the blame.  Bush has not been a good thing for the Republican coalition, and as Mike Huckabee can tell you, you can’t win with just evangelicals.  The interesting thing about McCain is that it wasn’t the economic conservatives that are turning out and voting for him, it’s former veterans and hawks.  The economic conservatives liked Romney, which should tell you how beat up they felt under Bush.

I don’t think there’s any part of the Republican Party that doesn’t feel stepped on, except for the peace through strength crowd, and they seem to be the ones putting McCain over the top.  Even Huckabee was an act of dissatisfaction among evangelicals, because other than lip service, what did Bush really accomplish for them?  Of course, lip service is better than we small l libertarians got.

While it is sometimes necessary to remove gangrenous limbs, Bush seems to think a nice prescribed blood letting was a better treatment, and we’re seeing how well that has healed the patient.

Simon’s title here is quite apt.  This is what Obama wants to do to our country:

I’ve talked to Barack a lot about his Patriot Corporation Act, which is not trade per se, but it’s certainly part of the economic package around globalization. The Patriot Corporation Act has not gotten the attention that I would hope it would. But, basically it says that if you play by the rules, if you pay decent wages, health benefits, pension; do your production here; don’t resist unionization on neutral card check, then you will be designated a “Patriot Corporation” and you will get tax advantages and some [preference] on government contracts.

He must be stopped.   Still think McCain is just as bad?

Jim Geraghty talks about his choice in the Virginia primary:

If somebody out there is saying, “Jim, you’re settling,” I respond, “Well, yeah. Welcome to politics. In fact, welcome to life.” I can hold myself to the highest of standards, but if I hold politicians to that, I’ll always be disappointed. You rarely get somebody who agrees with you 10 out of 10 times. And some folks are acting like they’ve never had their preferred candidate lose a primary before. It happens. Sometimes the electorate prefers the war veteran with some non-conservative stands to the guys who check all the boxes. I’m not going to rage at Republican primary voters in this process; they’ve made their call.

Read the whole thing.  I feel the same way.

So far the total is 62% (!!!) to 37%. I really shouldn’t enjoy her being defeated so much, especially considering he’s every bit the socialist she is, but there’s just something satisfying about Americans telling Hillary to take a hike.

UPDATE: Joe Huffman has more.  I agree it’s not rational, but I still can’t help but feeling good about it.

… I’d make sure every Cuban voter in Florida saw this.