Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty
April 1, 2010
In This Issue . . .
1. I Guess After the Cornhusker Kickback, Obama Can't Reject Oily Deals Anymore
2. More Bad Jobs Numbers -- Who Saw This Coming?
3. Look Out! Constituents Have Been Reported in the Area!
4. Addenda
If you think there's been a lot of outrageous news coming from the administration lately, imagine what they'll try to slip in on April Fool's Day.
Jim
1. I Guess After the Cornhusker Kickback, Obama Can't Reject Oily Deals Anymore
After he signed a bill that opened the door to taxpayer funding of abortion, I suppose I was prepared to hear Obama say "Drill babies, drill." But no, Obama threw us a bone -- a small chicken wing, really -- after enacting the biggest and most far-reaching liberal policy victory since the Great Society and/or establishing that lying under oath is not an impeachable offense if the Dow Jones Industrial Average is high enough: "The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling."
Vladimir at Red State thinks he's found the catch: "Don't mistake oil and gas leasing as a green light for an oil operator to 'Drill, Baby, Drill.' An oil and gas lease is full of all kinds of 'subject-tos.' Most significantly, an operator's ability to drill and explore a lease is subject to his ability to secure the requisite approval from the various government agencies that issue permits for that activity. So, theoretically, the Feds could issue a lease, but if one of the regulatory bodies refuses to issue a permit, there's no drilling. But that would never happen, would it? Well, it did, less than two weeks ago."
His site buddy, Moe Lane, says that if this was designed to win over votes for cap-and-trade, he is unimpressed: "Let me put it another way: the White House is implying the promise of jam tomorrow -- in reality, it's just a study to revisit the denial of jam yesterday -- in exchange for jam today. Only the jam today is actually a swarm of angry wasps. Try again, Mr. President. Start with rescinding your interference with the Bush drilling permits, and expect to give up more. A lot more: your opponents are not interested in indulging the Greenies' quaint, somewhat primitive religious sensibilities."
The Lonely Conservative, too, smells a trap: "I'm thinking he'll allow the oil companies to do the heavy lifting before he swoops in and nationalizes the industry. That, and he's trying to get moderates to go along with cap and tax."
You gotta figure that if this were a consequential policy shift, we would see more environmentalists tearing their shirts in fury, or trying to figure out how to burn their Obama t-shirts without emitting any carbon. Still, Don Surber does his best to trigger some blown gaskets, a condition that may or may covered under Obamacare: "This will never happen. The permitting will take 8 years. Obama is just trying to provide cover to Democratic senators who vote for taxing the air that we breathe. Still, it is an admission by Obama that Sarah Palin was right, Sarah Palin was right, Sarah Palin was right, Sarah Palin was right."
We ought to be able to say, "Ah, a centrist move from a president we didn't prefer, how refreshing." But after the Obamaniacs won the health-care vote through kickbacks, reconciliation, a flirtation with Demonpass, and, ultimately, persuading enough House Democrats to commit career suicide over it, the trust is gone. He might as well have announced this proposal while riding a giant wooden horse at a rally at Troy University.
2. More Bad Jobs Numbers -- Who Saw This Coming?
The official March jobs report comes out tomorrow; on Wednesday, there was an ominous indicator: "Private-sector jobs in the U.S. dropped by 23,000 this month, according to a national employment report published Wednesday by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers."
Rob at Say Anything lays out the argument that we're still paying the Uncertainty Tax: "Already businesses around the nation are being hit with the new taxes and regulations from the health care bill, and with Democrats still pondering policies like cap and trade and a VAT tax there is an 'uncertainty tax' across the entire economy right now. Investors and entrepreneurs don't want to invest, invent, innovate and expand without knowing the sort of tax and regulatory environment they're going to be doing business in. If you were thinking about starting a new trucking company, would you do it as Congress considers cap and trade legislation that might put you out of business before you start? If you're an investor, would you put money in a new venture only to see it crumble under the weight of a value added tax? Of course not. Those policies aren't just potentially devastating for our economy in and of themselves, the mere possibility of them act as a suppressant to economic growth in this country."
I would urge Rob to avoid that phrase, as it might spur Congress to consider actually taxing uncertainty. Lord knows they've already taxed our patience.
Ed Morrissey notices the return of economists' favorite adverb, "unexpectedly," and notes, "Those big employment numbers may still arrive, the WSJ reports, but it will mainly be temp workers for the Census Bureau. The private sector only gained in the service sector (+28,000 jobs), while losing factory jobs (-9,000) and small-business jobs (-12,000). This time, the White House can't blame the weather, either."
If I find myself in a fistfight, I hope it's with one of these economists who are always getting quoted by Reuters or Bloomberg, because then I'll rest assured that I'll always have the element of surprise. These guys never expect everything.
Why do I get the feeling the administration is desperately seeking any shred of positive news about job development? Ah, yes: "Americans anxious about unemployment and the economy increasingly blame President Obama for hard times, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid signs of turbulence in November's midterm elections. Last week's jubilant signing of the health care overhaul, Obama's signature domestic initiative, seems to have given the president little boost. Instead, his standing on four personal qualities has sagged, and 50% of those surveyed say he doesn't deserve re-election."
3. Look Out! Constituents Have Been Reported in the Area!
For all we know, there might really have been a genuine security concern that prompted Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan to cancel a town-hall meeting. But immediately after the health-care vote, just about every Democrat started reporting threats and just about every left-of-center commentator started comparing it to Kristallnacht in a display of precise coordination that rivals the Blue Angels'. With so few details, you'll have to pardon a bit of suspicion that the bar for cancellation has been lowered; one wonders why the usual "call the cops" strategy wouldn't have sufficed.
Also, this spin rankles: "'We just thought it best to cancel it for safety concerns. This was not meant to be a place where we're going to talk partisan politics,' Pat Lowry, a member of Ryan's staff, told News21. 'Don't get me wrong, Congressman Ryan will debate anyone, anytime.'"
Hey, Pat -- I'll be polite just in case you're related to the boss -- if you're canceling an event, that ipso facto means you're not willing to debate anyone, anytime. Perhaps your judgment is wise, and you're simply not willing to debate the guy who's wearing the "I'm Threatening the Congressman" t-shirt, but you can't strike the tough-guy pose and play the victim card simultaneously. Risk the spit or get off the pot, pal.
The Lonely Conservative vents: "Democrat Representative Tim Ryan must think his constituents are savage beasts. He canceled a scheduled town hall meeting, citing fears of violence... Democrats are cowards. They ask for your vote, then they refuse to face you after selling you down the river while trampling the Constitution."
4. Addenda
The district Eric Massa represented might not fill his seat this year? On paper this leaves Pelosi one vote shorter; on the other hand, Massa clearly wasn't that loyal a Democrat anyway. Boy, New York Democrats, such as Gov. David Paterson, who control the process, must be brimming with confidence about their party's chances of keeping the seat, huh? |
