Obama Kills Good Press With Narcissistic Runway Rant

January 26, 2012 10 Comments

The big news yesterday evening and today, at least in conservative circles, is Obama’s big blow up at Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Apparently the President didn’t like how Brewer portrayed a meeting between them in her book. So of course he did the most logical thing: He got in her face on the runway at an airport. Brewer didn’t back down and waved her finger at him before Obama stormed off while she was in mid-sentence.

Sadly this isn’t the first time Obama has pulled this stunt. He got in Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s face on the runway a couple years ago. Once you can chalk up to a bad day, twice suggests that this President feels it is acceptable to berate opposition leaders on airport runways. This sort of thing is so bush league, so below the office which Obama holds. But I suppose we’re accustomed to Obama lowering his office. Whether it’s inviting GOP Congressmen to press conferences only to attack them personally or whether it’s commenting in harsh terms on local events without knowing all the facts, Obama has consistently lowered the office of President.

From another angle, all of the good will that the President may have built with his State of the Union speech was destroyed in just a few minutes. Independents are not going to enjoy seeing a picture of the towering President in the grill of a woman. And no, this isn’t a racial thing. Independents wouldn’t want to see Bill Clinton in the grill of a woman like this. Of course, Clinton had the decency to place a phone call to express disagreement rather than waiting to attack on an airport runway.

Make no mistake, the left will love what Obama did. They hate Jan Brewer because of Arizona’s immigration law. So perhaps this excites them about Obama, perhaps they’ll believe he’ll show more passion in the upcoming year. But let’s face it, Obama shouldn’t be focusing on his base. He should be focusing on the independent voters who will  ultimately decide the election in November. He has a great opportunity to reach those folks while the GOP battles with conservatives over who the nominee will be. Obama threw away his chance by getting in Brewer’s face.

It’s especially poor timing, happening the day after the State of the Union. Rather than focusing on his speech, the topic of conversation has shifted to a picture of a towering Obama standing over little Jan Brewer who bravely shakes her finger at him wherein we can all imagine she’s saying “please get out of my face.” And thus all the good will earned by his speech has been lost. The worst part about it is that this confrontation was premeditated by Obama. He had to think about it on his long flight to Arizona. Did it not occur to him that confronting a Governor on a runway in full view of the public would go viral?

This is just another in a long line of political blunders by this President. Obama has never truly controlled his own message because he has such poor handlers. Even when they control their message, Obama blows it up with a bone head move like this. Is there anything more narcissistic than a President who becomes so outraged over a book that he just has to confront someone on an airport runway? Wouldn’t you have to be absurdly self-absorbed to give up a week’s worth of good press in order to yell at someone on an airport runway?

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State of the Union Review

January 25, 2012 2 Comments

We here at Steven Birn Speaks did not watch the State of the Union last night. We did however read the text of Obama’s speech and Mitch Daniels GOP response. It’s amazing that two hours of pomp and circumstance can be reduced to 10 minutes of reading. There were hockey games on last night that were more interesting than the President’s speech and these ungodly 9pm start times aren’t worth the sleep lost. Especially so when one can read the speech in a matter of minutes.

Let’s face it, this speech was nothing more than a campaign speech. Obama wants to raise taxes and the GOP doesn’t. Shocking! Obama used similar lines on several issues that he used in his 2010 and 2011 speeches. In other words, if you’re hearing or reading the speech you’ve basically heard or seen it before. Obama proposed plans that have already failed in Congress (both the Democrat and Republican controlled versions). He has a whole list of things that he knows the GOP won’t even consider. Rather than trying to work with Congress, Obama just throwing stuff out there to appease various constituencies. The GOP isn’t going to raise taxes so why go there? Likewise Obama won’t sign an Obamacare repeal, so the GOP need not go there.

Obama presides over a nearly $1.6 annual budget deficit. Yet he wants to use the “saving” from ending the Iraq war to spend on infrastructure projects, most of which will be done by union workers. Reducing the amount of money government spends doesn’t even enter the President’s mind. Which of course means that he isn’t serious about reducing spending or cutting anything. No surprise there.

While Obama railed against the rich last night, his administration has done little more than aid his rich friends. We all know about Solyndra and several other failed green companies, all of which awarded billionaire campaign donors millions in tax money. We all know that Obama supporting companies like GE pay no tax and receive millions in subsides. Now we find out that the biggest beneficiary of the Keystone XL pipeline rejection is Warren Buffet, another billionaire supporter of the President. Berkshire Hathaway just happens to own the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, which just happens to transport oil (inefficiently) via rail from Canada. Evil rich my foot.

Obama wants to bring in the so-called Buffet rule declaring that those making over $1 million shouldn’t pay less than 30% in taxes. He of course doesn’t distinguish between labor income and capital gains. Buffet’s secretary, who allegedly pays a higher rate than he, was sitting with the First Lady last night.

The capital gains rate is 15%, keep in mind capital gains are investments made with money already earned via labor. There’s risk involved, you can’t deduct the majority of what you lose. Warren Buffet, like Mitt Romney, earns most of his income on capital gains. The truth here is that 97% of Americans pay less than 15% of their income in Federal income taxes. Those who pay more earn over $200,000 a year. So if Warren Buffet’s secretary is paying a higher percentage than he is, I would like her job because she’s making a lot more than I am.

Obama claims to be for the middle class. Yet gas prices have doubled during his Presidency. It is consistently over $3.00, gas averaged $3.50 last year. Given the opportunity to make gas cheaper by drilling or approving a pipeline, Obama says no. Oil leases on Federal land were down 40% last year. Ground beef is up 24% under Obama, bacon is up 22%, ice cream is up 19%. Corn is up 50%, sugar is up 20%. This is all due to inflation, high gas and administration policy. So much for caring for the middle class.

Last night’s speech was more of the same. More big government, more unnecessary confrontation with Republicans and more campaigning. His poll numbers won’t increase much because of the speech. The recent history of this President is that he’s largely tuned out by the general public. The question is whether this speech gets his base excited about re-electing him. Time will tell on that.

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Obama’s Attempt to Channel Reagan Hollow and Empty

January 27, 2011 Leave a comment

Newsweek has a new article out declaring that Ronald Reagan is the new inspiration over at the White House. The Obama administration seems to believe that if only they talked more like Reagan and used his soaring, positive rhetoric then Obama will just as popular as the Gipper. In looking to channel Reagan, the Obama administration not only proves that they just don’t get it but they also prove that they really believe the American electorate is stupid.

Reagan’s positive speeches are good because Reagan actually believed what he was saying. When Reagan spoke of American exceptionalism, he actually meant it. Obama seems to think that if he can just act positive like Reagan did, he can be as popular. But that’s not how it works. Reagan didn’t act positive in public because it made him popular, he spoke positively about American because he actually believed what he was saying. He wasn’t seeking to fool anyone or hide his true feelings. He was quite open about them and like it or not most of his feelings about America were positive.

You see, contrary to liberal orthodoxy Ronald Reagan wasn’t playing the role of Ronald Reagan when he was President. In other words, Reagan wasn’t just playing another character in order to dupe the American public. The left, and clearly the Obama administration, seem to think that Reagan was just playing another role. If Obama can tap into that role and simply change the outcome to a more liberal, pro-government outcome then they think they’ve got something.

They truly believe that Reagan was popular only because of his soaring pro-America rhetoric. It had nothing to do with his policies and the fact that most Americans agreed with them. It was only the rhetoric and his ability to convey his policy in such a rosy way that made Reagan popular, or so goes the liberal line. They think the American public is full of morons who can be told anything and will accept it so long as it’s presented in just the right way. In that the left is sadly mistaken. The American public is not stupid and I suspect they’ll see right through Obama’s attempt to be the liberal Reagan.

In Obama’s two years as President and his year campaigning for the White House, he never led on that he was the fawning pro-America type. In fact, just last year he marginalized the idea of American exceptionalism by suggesting that every nation believes its exceptional. He’s never been one to gush over the military either.

If Obama believes that by merely uttering words that sound as though they favor American exceptionalism or the military or the founders he can win the hearts of Americans I think he’s going to find out he’s wrong. A President actually has to believe what he’s saying, otherwise he comes across as a liar or a salesman. There was no real heart in Obama’s State of the Union speech the other night. I suspect because he doesn’t really believe what he’s saying. He doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism and gushing over the military was never going to be something he does well. A President can’t channel the idea of Reagan unless he really believes in what Reagan stood for. If there’s no true, heart felt belief behind the rhetoric, it’s just empty words. I think the public is going to see this more and more with Obama. He’ll try to sound like Reagan over the next few months but it will all be very hollow and empty.

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We = Big Government; Investments = Stimulus II

January 26, 2011 Leave a comment

President Obama gave his State of the Union speech last night. I woke up to read little more than glowing reviews of it in the Mainstream press. Now that the big mean Republicans are in control of the House the media can go back to fawning over Obama. The President’s speech was full of feel good optimism but at the end of the day he’s proposing more spending that this nation cannot afford.

What struck me most about the President’s speech is that while he’s attempting to appear more moderate he continues to use phrases like ‘we need to.’ The we is always government, the need to is always spend more money.  This nation has a President who truly believes that innovation and prosperity are something that is created in Washington by bureaucrats. There is no better example of Obama’s socialist tendencies than the endless number of times he used the term we last night.

Washington is not what made the United States an economic power. Our nation became an economic power because of the innovations of people like Henry Ford, Carnegie Mellon, the Vanderbilt’s, the Rockefeller’s etc.  Their innovations led to prosperity for everyone in this country. Government didn’t set their companies up, government didn’t create the innovations that created wealth and prosperity for millions. It took hard work in the private sector for our nation to innovate and become prosperous.

Obama doesn’t think that way though. He’s a true believer in the idea that the economy can be run from Washington. He truly believes that bureaucrat ‘experts’ can manage the economy from DC better than the free market can manage the economy. His speech last night proved that once again only this time he’s trying to couch his socialism in the most positive sounding rhetoric possible.

President Obama offered so much new spending last night that he might as well have called it Stimulus II. Instead he called it ‘investments.’ Apparently the American public would hate another Stimulus but if the President calls the same thing an investment folks will support it. I suspect the President has some focus group or polling which shows this. As such, the Republicans have to hammer home that investments equal Stimulus II. Otherwise, they will be woefully defeated in the budget battle coming up.

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