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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: puborectalis who wrote (7643)	2/25/2009 3:32:00 PM
From: GROUND ZERO™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

Did I say anything different? Maybe if you read the posts before you post something it would save you some time... Message 25442014 GZ

To: puborectalis who wrote (7643)	2/25/2009 3:35:34 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 103300

Words ‘ring hollow’ in Obama’s error filled speech Posted by Dan Spencer (Profile) Wednesday, February 25th at 10:23AM EST 23 Comments Calvin Woodward and Jim Kuhnhenn fact checked President Obama’s non-State of the Union speech and found the speech so error filled that Obama’s words “ring hollow.” I have already said I did not care for Obama’s the government will do every thing speech. Another reason the Obama speech failed to impress me were the many misrepresentations Obama made as he tried to sell his anti-Reagan bigger government vision. These are just the examples the two Associated Press writers highlighted: Obama’s Housing Bailout OBAMA ASSERTION: “We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages. It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values.” THE FACTS: If the administration has come up with a way to ensure money only goes to those who got in honest trouble, it hasn’t said so. Defending the program Tuesday at a Senate hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it’s important to save those who made bad calls, for the greater good. He likened it to calling the fire department to put out a blaze caused by someone smoking in bed. “I think the smart way to deal with a situation like that is to put out the fire, save him from his own consequences of his own action but then, going forward, enact penalties and set tougher rules about smoking in bed.” Similarly, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. suggested this month it’s not likely aid will be denied to all homeowners who overstated their income or assets to get a mortgage they couldn’t afford. “I think it’s just simply impractical to try to do a forensic analysis of each and every one of these delinquent loans,” Sheila Bair told National Public Radio. We know Obama’s housing bailout hit a raw nerve. Rick Santelli’s now infamous rant inspired a tea party movement that extended all the way to Obam’a Chicago base. Invention of the Automobile OBAMA ASSERTION: “And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.” THE FACTS: Depends what your definition of automobiles, is. According to the Library of Congress, the inventor of the first true automobile was probably Germany’s Karl Benz, who created the first auto powered by an internal combustion gasoline engine, in 1885 or 1886. In the U.S., Charles Duryea tested what library researchers called the first successful gas-powered car in 1893. Nobody disputes that Henry Ford created the first assembly line that made cars affordable. The Washington Times also called Obama to task for this error and uses the Library of Congress to show the President misspoke when he credited the U.S. with the invention of the automobile. Oil Imports OBAMA ASSERTION: “We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before.” THE FACTS: Oil imports peaked in 2005 at just over 5 billion barrels, and have been declining slightly since. The figure in 2007 was 4.9 billion barrels, or about 58 percent of total consumption. The nation is on pace this year to import 4.7 billion barrels, and government projections are for imports to hold steady or decrease a bit over the next two decades. Fiscal Responsibility OBAMA ASSERTION: “We have already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade.” THE FACTS: Although 10-year projections are common in government, they don’t mean much. And at times, they are a way for a president to pass on the most painful steps to his successor, by putting off big tax increases or spending cuts until someone else is in the White House. Obama only has a real say on spending during the four years of his term. He may not be president after that and he certainly won’t be 10 years from now. This may be Obama’s most galling misrepresentation. He continues to say one thing while doing another. He calls for fiscal responsibility while encouraging outrageously massive deficit spending. As for that deficit Obama likes to say he inherited, nearly one-fourth of the national debt was created since the Democrats took control of Congress just two years ago. ... Jobs OBAMA ASSERTION: “Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs.” THE FACTS: This is a recurrent Obama formulation. But job creation projections are uncertain even in stable times, and some of the economists relied on by Obama in making his forecast acknowledge a great deal of uncertainty in their numbers. The president’s own economists, in a report prepared last month, stated, “It should be understood that all of the estimates presented in this memo are subject to significant margins of error.” Beyond that, it’s unlikely the nation will ever know how many jobs are saved as a result of the stimulus. While it’s clear when jobs are abolished, there’s no economic gauge that tracks job preservation. The estimates are based on economic assumptions of how many jobs would be lost without the stimulus. I have written a good deal about Obama’s quest for a job goal he can believe in. He has finally settled on the “save or create 3.5 million jobs” over the next two years. Unfortunately it is little more than a stroke of political genius expediency because it begs the question of how to measure jobs being saved. ... redstate.com thks to Tim