'To Be Fair'
When does the statute of limitation run out on blaming George W. Bush for all the world's problems?
When does the statute of limitations run out on blaming George W. Bush for all of the country's troubles? Not yet, apparently, judging by his successor's remarkable speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
In the course of defending the stimulus, the health-care bill and his handling of the Gulf oil spill, President Obama drifted toward an explanation of his own current political troubles. Some people oppose his agenda, he allowed, simply because they're Republicans and opposing is what partisans do. "But to be fair, a good deal of the other party's opposition to our agenda has also been rooted in their sincere and fundamental belief about the role of government," Mr. Obama said. "It's a belief that government has little or no role to play in helping this nation meet our collective challenges."
That "to be fair" is a classic Obama touch.
...Mr. Obama thought he could get away with tracing the lineage of this "idea" to Mr. Bush's concept of the "ownership society." But for Mr. Obama, it explains everything. "If you're a Wall Street bank or an insurance company or an oil company," he said, "you pretty much get to play by your own rules, regardless of the consequences for everybody else."
The claim that the financial, energy and health-care industries were somehow unregulated until Mr. Obama descended from the heavens is simply dishonest. Those are likely the three most regulated businesses in America, though the competition is stiff. But if the President is going to blame his problems on philosophies no one believes and deregulation that didn't exist, he shouldn't be surprised if voters come to believe that his super-regulatory government should be able to perform miracles like quickly plugging oil blowouts a mile under the sea.
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