obama-president-executive

Fear is the New Hope

They hoped for change, but fear is the new hope.

“A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.”

President Barack Obama, February 4, 2009

Many of you are keenly aware of the absolutely insane $780 BILLION spending bill that Obama has just pushed through the House and Senate. And yes, you can quit calling it a “stimulus package,” Obama has now admitted that it’s gone beyond just stimulus and is just another spending bill. Get this, Obama said the following at the Democratic retreat on Thursday:

Then there’s the argument, well, this is full of pet projects. When was the last time that we saw a bill of this magnitude move out with no earmarks in it? Not one. (Applause.) And when you start asking, well, what is it exactly that is such a problem that you’re seeing, where’s all this waste and spending? Well, you know, you want to replace the federal fleet with hybrid cars. Well, why wouldn’t we want to do that? (Laughter.) That creates jobs for people who make those cars. It saves the federal government energy. It saves the taxpayers energy. (Applause.)

So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That’s the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That’s the point. (Applause.)

This is really what he said (laughter). No seriously, this is on record at WhiteHouse.gov. (Silence.)

The Wall Street Journal is so flabbergasted that they don’t even believe Obama really thinks these things:

Mr. Obama is now endorsing a sort of reductionist Keynesianism that argues that any government spending is an economic stimulus. This is so manifestly false that we doubt Mr. Obama really believes it. He has to know that it matters what the government spends the money on, as well as how it is financed. A dollar doled out in jobless benefits may well be spent by the worker who receives it. That $1 of spending will count as economic activity and add to GDP.

Fear is the New Hope
Fear is the New Hope

Actually, I don’t think he has to know that. Rather, I agree with Mike Rozeff at the LRC Blog, Obama truly believes this garbage. It’s consistent with the rest of his person and education. He has no substantial knowledge of economics and he has admitted it – both explicitly and implicitly in his above statement. Yet, Obama, like Dubya, thinks that the government has the capacity to figure out how to make things work again. Seems like Thomas Woods’s brand new book, Meltdown, will be quite appropriate to describe both the economy and Obama’s presidency soon enough.

Face it, this guy is in another world. A world where it’s a good idea to take other people’s money and bailout failing businesses in the hopes that failed managers can stop failing. A world where theft is moral and debasement of currency is how to get us out of debt. A world where fools run the most coercive machineries ever to exist. A world where manipulation is the rule, not reason.

Like the political cartoon I posted, the irony of this situation is just painful. Consider: Obama promised change, hope, a new Washington, and a myriad of other utopian values. Not that I believed this garbage, but one might have expected him to at least stick to the most basic things that he said, like not hiring lobbyists for the cabinet. But wait, so far he’s hired six, count ’em six, current or former lobbyists to work for him. How appropriate for a liar. He was neither a peace candidate nor a moral candidate.

imageMoreover, he is using the same tactics as Republicans – the politics of fear. Just frighten people enough and they’ll fall in line. Unbelievable. Fear is how the Republicans gained control over us in 2001. Fear of terrorism, fear of uncertainty, fear of our fellow American citizen. How else can you explain the encroachments upon civil liberties, the trampling upon the Constitution. Now, Obama is using the same fear to push his agenda. Fear of economic pain, fear of uncertainty, and indeed even fear of our fellow Americans once again. Once again, Obama is instilling fear that those who endeavor to be productive and make money are by default taking advantage of others – the complete antithesis of the concept of voluntary trade.

Fear is the new hope.

Charles Krauthammer may for once have it right:

[He called it a] catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared “we have chosen hope over fear.” Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill…

After Obama’s miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell — and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

Thanks to my buddy Grant for the great title. Maybe this will get played up on social media sites (please submit to Digg, Facebook, Stumbleupon, or your favorite site). Remember, you heard it here first – Fear is the New Hope.

Comment below, what do you think of Obama’s new plans?

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