House of Eratosthenes

President Barack Obama on Saturday pinned blame on Republicans for making life harder for the unemployed and for those who could lose their jobs without new federal intervention. He did so even as he sought to distance himself from the “dreary and familiar politics” of Washington.

Capping a week in which the administration scored a victory _ a $20 billion fund to be paid by BP for the victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill _ Obama reserved his radio and Internet address to focus on the work that didn’t get done.

His main concern was the rejection of a bill in the Senate that would have provided more money for the long-term unemployed, aid for strapped state governments and the renewal of popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals.

The story goes on to mention that the Republican position is not altogether opposed to everything in the bill, but they are “demanding changes to shrink its toll on the deficit.”

Oh yeah, that. We are all so concerned about the solvency of the Republic. Why I just heard PrezBO deliver another one of His wonderful speeches in which He expressed His concern…when was that? Oh, woops. Been quite awhile since I’ve heard anything like that out of Him.

Okay Carrie Fisher, it’s settled. Someone needs to remind Obama of things like budget deficits, He’s clearly not going to take on the issue on His own. So that doesn’t make you a racist. We’ll be awaiting your apology with eager anticipation — if, by “eager anticipation,” you understand what I really mean is disgust and eyeball-rolling.

This thing about “Republican policies are the reason for all your suffering” mystifies me. I suppose it’s to be expected; there are 41 Republicans in the Senate, and they’re using the filibuster to hold up this bill. If the President belongs to the majority party, it’s only natural to see him on the stump delivering speeches about why we should rally the troops in November to whittle the 41 down to something lower. What’s mystifying is the “Republicans cause suffering” meme; obviously, we’re supposed to interpret that as “democrat policies are the only ones that really work.”

And what are these “democrat policies”? They are taking money away from the producers, and giving it to the non-producers. And a new spending program that is, gosh darn it, so important that this time we simply cannot afford to think about whether we cannot afford it. This time, we can’t afford not to spend the money!

Vuvuzela Except every single lap around the track is like that. You cannot listen to these, if you possess any working long-term memory at all, without feeling like your intelligence is being insulted. Because it is. Today we have to spend the money on this. Yesterday it was that other thing, completely unrelated to this thing…and yesterday, not a single soul mentioned today’s thing, they just tried to sell you yesterday’s thing. Tomorrow — take it to the bank — it will be some other damn silly thing. And the day after, and the day after that. Nevermind the fiscal impact, we can’t afford NOT to do it!

Why do these tidbits take hold so well, when it’s impossible to listen to them without feeling like your intellect is being insulted? Because nowadays, the plain truth of it is a lot of voters don’t have an intellect to insult. Blame the parents and the educational system. They haven’t been taught to evaluate a decision from two sides. They haven’t learned to walk any kind of tightrope. They cannot navigate between a Scylla and a Charybdis. There is only “should do” and “should not do.” Up-with-this and down-with-that.

Timing and prioritization are rather elementary talents in the animal kingdom. A mongoose trying to figure out the right instant to lash at a cobra, can do this. But humans enjoy a lot of creature comforts a wild mongoose does not, and these have had a stultifying effect on some of us. And so Obama can say this stuff. We have to spend money on My gimmick today and just worry about consequences later, and don’t worry your pretty li’l head about why I didn’t mention My gimmick today back when I was trying to sell you on the stimulus plan — why I couldn’t lop off a few billion over there, to spend here, if today’s thing is so all-fired important. Don’t worry about that. Just say yes.

And of course when we find out it didn’t work, and now there are consequences to be endured, it’s always, always, always someone else’s fault. It must be true. He’s such a great speaker.

It reflects poorly on Him to be selling this stuff. But the fact that people are buying it, is most certainly not His fault. It’s theirs. They own that mistake.

Grateful hat tip to KC for leading us to the graphic. We’ve been looking for an excuse to use it and we’re glad, albeit unsurprised, it didn’t take long.

He’s got the page number and passage memorized from his dog-eared copy of “Rules for Radicals”.

It’s aaaaaaaaall about perception, and methinks he’s overplayed his hand on trying to control that.

A friend sent me a link to a new book, “Cooking Alinsky’s Goose”. Sounds promising. Wonder if it’s any good?

Might be worth it just for the thereputic value of the cover art. 🙂
- philmon | 06/21/2010 @ 05:28

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Obama Blames Unemployment on RepublicansSunday, June 20th, 2010

Obama Blames Unemployment on Republicans
Sunday, June 20th, 2010