The Washington Examiner on Obama’s defense cuts:

Most dangerous of all is the Obama/Gates decision to slash funding for the Missile Defense Agency by $1.4 billion, or nearly 15 percent, thus casting doubt on whether the U.S. will ever actually complete a credible multi-layered defense against ballistic missile attacks. This decision comes despite multiple recent tests that demonstrated the effectiveness of the ground and naval components of the system. Worse is cancellation of the highly promising Airborne Laser program just as it nears tests expected to demonstrate the ability to destroy enemy missiles shortly after launch. Not only do these actions undermine U.S. national security, such vacillation damages our relationships with key allies Japan, Israel and Poland, who are counting on our anti-missile shield against rogue nations like North Korea and Iran. The age-old wisdom teaches that it’s always better to be safe than sorry. It’s almost as if President Obama intends to punish America for its alleged arrogance by making the nation more vulnerable.

Jonah Goldberg explains how President Obama’s European trip reflects something fundamental about his use of language:

Give the man points for consistency. He has put rhetorical innovation on an equal footing with policy innovation. Exhibit A: “Overseas contingency operations.” That’s the Obama administration’s term of choice to replace “the long war” or “the global war on terror.” No doubt they were inspired by the famous Leo Tolstoy novel, Overseas Contingency Operations and Cessation of Overseas Contingency Operations, later dumbed-down by the publisher to War and Peace.

Janet Napolitano, head of Obama’s Department of Homeland Security — primarily created to deal with terrorist attacks in the wake of 9/11 — has decided “terrorist attack” is too hard-edged. It’s “man-caused disasters” now. “That is perhaps only a nuance,” Napolitano explained to a German newsmagazine, “but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.”

Meanwhile, the White House has announced that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will no longer be called “enemy combatants.” No word yet on what the new term will be. No doubt the poetic euphony of “man-caused disasters” and “overseas contingency operations” sets a very high bar for Obama’s Office of Euphemism Generation. But surely “Men Prone to Disaster Causation” or “Overseas Counter-Contingency Operators” are the most obvious choices. My friend Mark Steyn, however, suggests going another way: “Future Facebook Friends.”

The question is whether Obama will wake up to the fact that fancy language only goes so far:

Obama’s naivete may rest in his own belief that his words amount to some kind of Jedi mind trick.

Indeed, Obama spent the week telling Europeans everything they wanted to hear, but got little for it. The French and the Germans still belittled America’s “Anglo-Saxon” capitalism and refused to follow our lead.

This might lead to a painful realization for Obama. While he may think words are everything, for our enemies and even our friends, words are — still — just words.

A nice summation here:

At the dawn of the Obama Administration we have witnessed: four high-level appointees blow up over various issues, tax and otherwise (Richardson, Daschel, and Killefer get axed; Geithner stays); the appointment of at least 12 lobbyists to positions in the Administration — in direct contradiction of campaign promises; a pork-laden economic stimulus bill without precedent in US history; and the reversal of campaign positions concerning controversial policies like rendition.

The first couple of weeks of the Obama Administration has simply reinforced my stated belief that the Obama campaign and subsequent election represents the biggest, most successful political con of my lifetime.

We are singing from the same songbook here!  The question is whether voters will come around to this perspective.

Let’s just be honest about the monstrosity labeled the stimulus package:

1. It will not stimulate the economy in any where near the fashion the Democrats claim it will (if it manages to do so at all).
2. It is not even really designed to do so.
3. It is instead an attempt to grow the size and reach of government and cement it there for generations.

The Democrats have an unalterable belief that government is the solution to any and all problems.  It also just so happens that those connected to or dependent on the government form the base of the party.

Spending is always the hammer and so any and all problems look like a nail to Democrats.  And this economic crisis is no different.  The differences is the scale.  And that means, IMO, the GOP has found a hill to die on.

Ron Brownstein unintentionally makes the case for me.  Details below.

[Read more →]

You can officially start your President Barack Obama broken promises counter:

Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on Jan. 29, 2009, keeping a longstanding promise to counter a Supreme Court decision that limited workers’ ability to sue for pay discrimination. We moved the Obameter and gave him a Promise Kept.

But we also had to give him his first Promise Broken for the same signing. As part of his agenda to bring more transparency to government, Obama said he would institute “sunlight before signing” –  posting laws to the White House Web site for five days of public comment before he signed off on them.

The Ledbetter Act was passed two days ago, yet the request for public comment was posted after he signed the bill. For that, he earns his first Promise Broken.

Methinks you will want to have the ceiling on that counter be a rather large number . . .

Michael Ledeen ponders Obama’s promises:

So President Obama promised virtue and transparency, and declared war on lobbyists. Thus far, we’ve got a tax cheat headed for Treasury, a man who lied under oath headed for Justice, and two celebrated lobbyists headed for the #2 slots at Defense and HHS.

I do not understand why the Treasury guy wasn’t thrown out in a rage of protest.  We’ve got something like 350 million Americans. I refuse to believe he is so uniquely qualified that Geithner’s dramatic lack of virtue should be ignored. Nor do I understand why Holder’s denial that he knew all about Marc Rich isn’t grounds for rejection. Precisely for the reason Obama stated: at a time when confidence in government is crucial, you can’t start your administration by violating your own announced principles.

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr

Jonah Goldberg points to the cognitive dissonance involved as Barack Obama picks his cabinet:

Barack Obama’s signature issue in the primaries was his “good judgment” to oppose the Iraq war. He invoked this more than any other qualification in his early battles with Hillary Clinton. She may have experience, he’d charge, but she lacked the wisdom to oppose the war. Indeed, the whole Democratic establishment was somehow corrupt or out of touch for not opposing the war, according to the Obamaphiles. So now Barack Obama is going to appoint Hillary Clinton to be the chief architect of his foreign policy. Moreover, he picked Joe Biden to be his running mate and “partner” in the White House explicitly because of his foreign policy experience and judgment. But wait: Joe Biden, too, supported the war. Meanwhile, at Defense, it looks like he will keep George W. Bush’s man, Robert Gates. Admittedly, Gates has always been more nuanced about the war than, say, Don Rumsfeld. But surely keeping Bush’s SecDef is not exactly what the anti-war Dems had in mind as “change we can believe in.” Heck, Joe Lieberman’s sitting pretty and he endorsed McCain. It will be interesting to see how long Obama’s charisma can paper over reality.

Via Ace of Spades, and pretty much over once Kelly noted that Burton had gotten the narrative wrong from the start about what Fox had been reporting.  Mind you, a distressingly increasingly-common subset of Obama supporters would disagree, but that’s mostly because they apparently have difficulty grasping the notion that a mere woman could possibly be effective against one of their candidate’s spokesman (Allahpundit says “spokestool,” which is of course mean of him).

Anyway, enjoy.

***This is satire, in case that wasn’t obvious***

Precocious Youngster Sells Cookies To Buy Attack Ad