Posted by
Slavic Mike on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:06:54 PM
It has been a while since I have written, admittedly, and I have had many things to say, but time, patience, and coalescing of ideas sometimes need to age before they ripen. This idea is ready to fall from the tree. I hope our young Pres or one of his boy's club can stumble upon it soon, and not just pick it up, place it, and then let it rot on top of the fridge like so many others.
Make a decision already for JC's sake. Our Pres's youth or inexperience is showing like the slip of a lady who rushes to dress for work in the morning, only to not get in that last hip jiggle that lowers the hem of the skirt to cover. It seems our young, dear leader needs more than the average amount of help in making a decision. I have to shake my head when the leader of the free world can not bring himself to decide the proper course. If he is a leader, has he not had to make tough decisions already? 9 months into the Presidency, and he has not demonstrated any great urgency to address great war issues while economic catastrophes loom all around. Yet he has overused his favorite plaything--Healthcare Reform. He is taking it to bed at night and sneaking in playtime with it during the workday. This toy may be his favorite thing, but the toy room is a horrible mess. It needs to be cleaned up Now!
So to help him, perhaps put him on the right track, I suggest he stow his favorite thing, and get to cleaning up at least the 2 biggest messes before it is too late for him, and more importantly, too late for us. His standing is small potatoes compared to that of his subjects--reminder--the people who elected him; the people who supported him; the people still trying to get themselves unstuck from under the bus; the people who are risking their lives every day to protect his; the people who are daily trying to scratch out an existence (every time I see or hear Sen. John Kerry, by the way, I think to myself, who scratches for him?). I digress.
The solution to this problem young Pres has experienced to wit--decision making--is almost Beckian (I just invented that cultural term, in honor of Glenn Beck, which I will say must mean to view a problem from the simplest terms and actually pose a solution instead of just whining about it, or having people over to drink a beer over the issue, btw is the beer thing a Chicago way?). The problem of what to do has a simple and tested solution. Here goes.
Pres. Roosevelt juggled a great depression, a great war (WWII), and his own socialist desires to subject his subjects, see New Deal, Social Security. He initially horribly failed on the economic front, eventually bailed out by capitalist leaders and hard-working citizens. He succeeded somewhat on the great war front, helping to stop Naziism, but he left millions, mainly Slavs, impoverished and libertyless, not to mention dead in Eastern Europe. He couldn't resist playing with his favorite toy--socialism--and managed to stick us with the Social Security mandate for infinity. So lesson is--you can't juggle all three--economy, war, social engineering--at the same time and expect any significant measure of success in any of the areas. Today's socialists put him on a pedestal because he stuck us with a stealth tax that successive generations have been bearing like an unexciseable boil. Historians have glossed over these failings to this day much like how our major media vitrually hides young Pres' failings.
Pres. Johnson (the Pres from Texas that everyone liked) tried to play with a great war (Viet Nam), and socialism in the form of welfare, or what he deemed The Great Society, and failed. The Great Society became the big, expensive government boondogle which was far from leading to Great Society, but did lead to a lot of other great things like a crime explosion, a government spending explosion, and stagflation less than a decade later. The war was lost, because it was not properly prosecuted. Can someone tell me why a country would enter a war and not intend to win? Pres Johnson's good buddy Dem's in Congress bailed out his legacy by cutting war funding during the Republican Pres's administration, and lo and behold, another culture suffered horribly and endlessly--in Cambodia.
So that's 2 for 2 Mr. Young Pres. 2 attempts at managing war, economy and socialism, and 2 huge failures. Now lets see what happens when a Pres handle's war, economy and society properly. I trust you won't want to hear it, but hear goes, perhaps you will be thinking about what I am about to write while you are teeing it up at a primo country club for the 24th time in 9 months, or while you are clanking one off the back of the rim on the White House playground.
Pres Reagan managed a war, remember that one, the Cold One (think of beer if you must), and helped small business and his subjects by lowering taxes and proposing responsible budgets. Shock and awe! Yes, responsible budgets that were busted like the melons that goofy haired comedian used to pop using a sledgehammer--popped by a Democrat Congress. A pattern is emerging hear--there is that Democrat Congress again nosing around causing trouble. 2nd digression ended. Pres Reagen managed to push for and won for us a lowering of taxes. The economy boomed, despite Democrat guffaws and protestations and the usual belittling of a Republican Pres' intelligent quotient. Not long after Reagan's work was done, work that despite their best efforts, modern day historians no longer can ignore--the Cold War ended. The economy was the greatest of the century. Sorry, I am running out of superlatives.
Pres Clinton comes along, raises our taxes and admits so, then has his arm twisted by a Republican Congress so he can't pursue his socialist agenda (remember his wife's secret Healthcare Plan?), and he is forced to contract welfare spending. He does not have a war to prosecute initially because there is none. So he dawdles and dithers and lo and behold, a war finds him, and he does nothing about it (need I count the terrorist acts committed against America and Americans? Okay for the deniers--World Trade Center the first time, the Cole bombing, embassy bombing in Africa, and much more as they say on the TV auto dealer ads). Our boy Pres Clinton, in the later stages of trying to sew together a legacy, neglects his duties, cheats on his wife (please don't do this while in office), and ignores the worst threat from a foreign presence to our native soil since the War of 1812. 9/11 thus arrives at our doorstep, Wall Street scandles erupt, all sent in a neat little package to the next Pres, who happens to be a Republican (Bush II).
Pres Bush II then comes on the scene in the 21st Century and manages a war to success in Iraq, despite that pesky Democrat Congressional obstruction, and fights for and gets lower taxes, and saves our butts from terror, and helps grow small business and our 401K's. Pesky Congressional Democrats Frank and Dodd do their darnedest to keep the Pres down, wreck our 401K's, and in typical pol fashion blame it all on capitalism, Wall Street greed, and Republicans.
So now back to our present reality--the need for making a decision. My analysis seems to show that juggling a war, an economy and a favorite socialist agenda can not be done. And trust me when I say this, don't fool yourself into thinking you are the one--the only one--who is the master juggler. You can't even quit smoking for JC's sake. And btw, the guys I know who talk about beer as much as you do are all alcoholics, just between you and me.
So put away that narcissitic feeling, tuck in that "I'm the one" slip, kick under the bed that golden pedestal--and get Beckian. The solution is simple and I can save you some face--announce that we can not expect to successfully prosecute this war in Afghanistan and save the economy and start a brand, spanking new behemoth social program at the same time. It is just expecting too much, and even our best intentioned Pres' could not do it. So you have learned from them. (NO--you have not learned that the war must wait (pssst-people die every day that you wait--the people who I am relying on to save my butt if not yours; and NO--the economy can not wait--most of us are still trying to achieve even though those pesky Dems are doing their best to throw tacks in our driveway and castrate our medical providers, and neuter our insurance professionals; Note to Sen Kerry, did you know that your wife's industry has a higher profit margin than the insurance industry you labelled as greedy and unconsionable? I guess you don't think too much of your wife's work? Just a thought. does this mean you are going to make her give the money she made back to the people??)
Young, dear Pres Obama, what you should be learning is that the social agenda is last on the list. The social agenda is frosting if you want to call it that. You can't frost a cake that doesn't exist. The war comes first, because to do nothing is to say bye-bye to U.S. The economy is next, See Pres. Reagan and Pres. Bush II--THEY SEEMED TO MANAGE BOTH OKAY. BTW, don't consult your local media regarding these matters because they will go into spastic convulsions before they could tell the truth about the effectiveness of Republican Pres' dually running war and economy. Oh, and a tip on the economy--you try to do things that grow it--hint, hint by growing business so there are more jobs available. Did you know that successful businesses pay more in taxes, and hire more people, which means there are more people to pay taxes? I am thinking you some how missed this notion by the way you and your boys are talking. And did you know that by lowering the tax rate, you can utilize the Miracle Grow of a richer government and society as a whole, which is put more money into the soil, uh, the people's purses? What textbooks did you pay for to read at Harvard? Did they try to teach you anything about how to live in the real world?
Okay, I think I beat you up enough over this little inability to make a decision thing. Here's one more tip. When you are in the woods, try a safe shot out of the trees, then you will be at full strength aiming at the green. Try to trick your way out of the trees, and you find more trees. Try this too much and you will feel like giving up the game.
Remember, take care of the war, get er done. At the same time you can get that economy engine going with tax breaks, and the people's wealth will grow like weeds. Uh, cutting the people's weeds is not a government thing btw. Your subjects can handle that themselves just fine thank you. Don't forget--Drop the social agenda. It just isn't the right time to be playing that game. We all have to grow up sometime. Okay, have a great day at school.
Your Subject,
Slavic Mike.