The wheels have fallen off the Obama bandwagon
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Michael Goodwin
Hours after President Obama stumbled through his retreat on ObamaCare last week, a liberal friend was telling me how disappointed she is in him. The insurance debacle, she said with resignation, was the final straw and led her to conclude he lacks the right stuff to be a good president.
“It’s so discouraging,” she sighed. “I give up.”
She’s not alone. Poll after poll shows that millions of former Obama-bots now concede he is not worthy of their trust and are stampeding off the bus. The magic ride is over and they just want to go home and sleep it off.
Even The New York Times editorial page stirred. The big cheese of the Obama Protection Racket assailed his administration’s “incompetence.” Stop the presses!
Finally, a great awakening is taking place. Slowly but clearly, America is moving away from a national nightmare, when nonbelievers in the Church of Dear Leader were labeled racists and fascists. The freedom to disagree is coming back.
But hold the champagne — we already face a long hangover. America is stuck with a weakened, discredited president for three more years. The messes he created won’t be easy to clean up while he’s in the White House.
The rot from his reign of error runs deep and Politico magazine is fleshing out details of two disturbing patterns. It says Obama rarely meets with his cabinet secretaries and is deeply estranged from top military leaders.
That’s in addition to the health- care world he turned upside down and now inside out. His quick fix to make good on his three-year lie that “you can keep your plan if you like it” settles nothing and serves only as the opening bid in a heated high-stakes battle.
Despite his desperate bid to keep his party in line, public fury broke the dam among Democrats, and 39 in the House joined Republicans to pass a bill allowing canceled plans to be offered to all consumers. Obama is so politically toxic that the ranks of party rebels are likely to grow as we get closer to next year’s elections.
As for the millions of people who already lost their health plans because of ObamaCare, their fate is blowing in the wind. Insurance companies are furious at his sudden switcheroo and are not sure if it’s legal, and state commissioners must decide which plans to approve before any can be sold.
If that were all, it would be trouble enough. But the talks with Iran over its nuclear program could come to a head this week, and Obama’s weakness at home will make him more desperate for a deal, even a bad one.
He already was prepared to lift some sanctions for mere promises, and a frantic John Kerry was trying to stop Israeli complaints about the talks. In fact, the secretary of state told congressional skeptics that they should “stop listening to Israel,” according to participants, but refused to reveal the details of a deal he demanded they support.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has given up on Obama and is talking to Pakistan about buying nuclear weapons. And Egypt’s generals are moving closer to Russia, a result of Obama’s preference for the Muslim Brotherhood.
The stubborn backdrop to these problems is the economy that won’t grow. Four and one-half years after the recession ended, jobs and incomes inch up too slowly, and there is wide belief that record stock-market highs reflect a cheap money bubble.
History teaches that a weak president can be more dangerous than a strong one. The grabbing at straws and phantom progress to conceal a lack of real leadership provokes distrust among honest citizens and gives dishonest ones a license to steal. Something similar is happening on the foreign stage as our friends lose heart and our adversaries gain courage.
With trouble growing everywhere, we should give the devil his due. Obama promised to transform America and, unfortunately, that’s a promise he’s keeping.
White House techies admitted to Congress that the ObamaCare Web site cost more than $600 million through September.
The tab doesn’t include the last six weeks, when armies of contractors worked around the clock to fix the bugs.
Taxpayers got ripped off and saw fresh proof of one of the three great lies: Government is here to help.
“It’s so discouraging,” she sighed. “I give up.”
She’s not alone. Poll after poll shows that millions of former Obama-bots now concede he is not worthy of their trust and are stampeding off the bus. The magic ride is over and they just want to go home and sleep it off.
Even The New York Times editorial page stirred. The big cheese of the Obama Protection Racket assailed his administration’s “incompetence.” Stop the presses!
Finally, a great awakening is taking place. Slowly but clearly, America is moving away from a national nightmare, when nonbelievers in the Church of Dear Leader were labeled racists and fascists. The freedom to disagree is coming back.
But hold the champagne — we already face a long hangover. America is stuck with a weakened, discredited president for three more years. The messes he created won’t be easy to clean up while he’s in the White House.
The rot from his reign of error runs deep and Politico magazine is fleshing out details of two disturbing patterns. It says Obama rarely meets with his cabinet secretaries and is deeply estranged from top military leaders.
That’s in addition to the health- care world he turned upside down and now inside out. His quick fix to make good on his three-year lie that “you can keep your plan if you like it” settles nothing and serves only as the opening bid in a heated high-stakes battle.
Despite his desperate bid to keep his party in line, public fury broke the dam among Democrats, and 39 in the House joined Republicans to pass a bill allowing canceled plans to be offered to all consumers. Obama is so politically toxic that the ranks of party rebels are likely to grow as we get closer to next year’s elections.
As for the millions of people who already lost their health plans because of ObamaCare, their fate is blowing in the wind. Insurance companies are furious at his sudden switcheroo and are not sure if it’s legal, and state commissioners must decide which plans to approve before any can be sold.
If that were all, it would be trouble enough. But the talks with Iran over its nuclear program could come to a head this week, and Obama’s weakness at home will make him more desperate for a deal, even a bad one.
He already was prepared to lift some sanctions for mere promises, and a frantic John Kerry was trying to stop Israeli complaints about the talks. In fact, the secretary of state told congressional skeptics that they should “stop listening to Israel,” according to participants, but refused to reveal the details of a deal he demanded they support.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has given up on Obama and is talking to Pakistan about buying nuclear weapons. And Egypt’s generals are moving closer to Russia, a result of Obama’s preference for the Muslim Brotherhood.
The stubborn backdrop to these problems is the economy that won’t grow. Four and one-half years after the recession ended, jobs and incomes inch up too slowly, and there is wide belief that record stock-market highs reflect a cheap money bubble.
History teaches that a weak president can be more dangerous than a strong one. The grabbing at straws and phantom progress to conceal a lack of real leadership provokes distrust among honest citizens and gives dishonest ones a license to steal. Something similar is happening on the foreign stage as our friends lose heart and our adversaries gain courage.
With trouble growing everywhere, we should give the devil his due. Obama promised to transform America and, unfortunately, that’s a promise he’s keeping.
Bam’s web of lie$
What a bargain.White House techies admitted to Congress that the ObamaCare Web site cost more than $600 million through September.
The tab doesn’t include the last six weeks, when armies of contractors worked around the clock to fix the bugs.
Taxpayers got ripped off and saw fresh proof of one of the three great lies: Government is here to help.
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