The once and future President
TOM BURGUM
Contributing Columnist
burgum@lbknews.com
Anyone listening to the Obama campaign rhetoric has to wonder, “who the hell was president the last four years?” Mr. Obama seems locked into some future vision that includes all the neat things he is going to do to create jobs, manage the debt, reduce spending, reform the tax code, tax all millionaires and billionaires earning over $200,000 a year, reform Obamacare − yes, my gullible friends, it already needs serious amendment − and strengthen our standing in the world.
It seems as if we’ve heard all this before from Mr. Obama, or as Yogi Berra would say, “it’s like deja vu all over again.” Of course, Mr. Obama’s rhetoric soars when he is looking into the distance and telling us of a world where his policies induce the Muslim Imams and feminist activists to tip toe through the tulips hand-in-hand; where the capitalist will lie down with the labor leader; where the oceans recede, and where Republicans finally shut up and do what they‘re told.
To put it another way, “One of the reasons why Barack Obama is regarded as the greatest orator of our age,” wrote the incomparable Mark Steyn, “is that he is always banging on about some other age yet to come − e.g., the Future!”
It is not unwise of Mr. Obama to “bang on about some other age” as he really doesn‘t want to talk about the present. Mr. Obama, during an appearance on David Letterman, was asked what the debt is: is it $10 trillion, maybe $16 trillion. He couldn’t remember. Too bad Johnny Carson wasn’t the interviewer. Carson, as Carnac the Magnificent, could have held up a card to his forehead that read, $16 trillion and you can bet that Carnac would have known it was the national debt.
Mr. Obama may not know how much his administration has borrowed in the past four years but, by gosh, he knows the future. When he was addressing the United Nations, he told us the, “The future must not belong to those who bully women.” That was, according to Steyn, “a reference either to Egyptian clitoridectomists or the Republican Party, according to taste.”
Next, he told us, “The future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.” Given that many Muslims treat non belief as slander, the future looks pretty grim for those of us not inclined in that direction. It certainly can’t be good news for gays and feminists. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Sandra Fluke took it on herself to badger the local Mosque to subsidize sex for 31 year-old children. On second thought, Sandra, stick to badgering Catholics. They stopped killing non believers sometime in the 16th Century.
Not even the dismal failure of his green energy program can stop Mr. Obama’s rhetoric and dreams of Unicorns pooping green energy. When Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes suggested that green energy projects had not created the millions of jobs promised in 2008, Mr. Obama responded: “We have tens of thousands of jobs that have been created as a consequence of wind energy alone. Is that enough? Absolutely not. Can we do more? Yes.” That is Washington speak for, “are you going to believe me or your lying eyes? “ Can’t blame him, the green energy record is grim.
Marita Noon, Townhall.com put together the following record of companies receiving government funds that didn‘t survive. The (*) denotes a company with significant connections to the administration.
Solyndra(*) – Received $535 million; Bankrupt – September 2011
Abound Solar(*) – Received $400 million; Bankrupt – June 2012
Beacon Power(*) – Received $68 million; Bankrupt – October 2011
AES Eastern Energy Storage* – Received $17. 1 million – bankrupt – December 31, 2011
Amonix(*) – Received $21.6 million; Bankrupt – July 18, 2012
Azure Dynamics(*) – $1.7 million; Bankrupt – March 27, 2012
Babcock & Brown(*) – Received $178 million; Bankrupt – March 13, 2009
Energy Conversion Devices Inc. / Uni-Solar – $13.3 stimulus tax credit; Filed Chapter 11, Bankruptcy protection – February 2011.
Ener1(*) – Received DOE $118.5 Stimulus grant; Bankrupt – January 26, 2011
Evergreen Solar, Inc(*) – Received Stimulus fund, grants, tax-credits, low-interest loans and subsidies; Bankrupt – August 15, 2011
Konarka Technologies Inc. – $20 million in government grants; Bankrupt – June 4, 2011
Raser Technologies – $33 million Stimulus grant; Bankrupt – May 2, 2011
SpectraWatt* – $550,000 Stimulus grant; Bankrupt – August 23, 2011
Stirling Energy Systems – $7 million government grant; Bankrupt – September 28, 2011
Thompson River Power LLC – $6.5 million in Stimulus funds; Bankrupt – July 2, 2012
Mr. Obama, for some reason, looks forward to more of the same even though the tens of thousands jobs created cost approximately $6.7 million per job. No wonder Mr. Obama finds it easier to be glib about the future. The last four years don’t lend themselves to glib.
Vice President Joe Biden has substituted confusion for future vision. He was speaking to a rally in North Carolina and castigating Republicans for their villainy when he told the crowd the middle class has been “buried the last four years.” I have to believe that more than one person in the crowd wanted to ask, “Well, whose fault is that, who the hell was running the country the last four years.”
No doubt that was a bad moment for Biden, but he has also been able to be the barer of gifts. Last weekend, Vice President Joe Biden, at a rally in Florida, was proud to announce the Obama administration will now provide free colonoscopies. Way to go, Joe. Something we can hang our hat on, no waiting for Obama to lead us into broad, sunlit uplands. The free colonoscopies are available right now.
But, what a metaphor for the last four years. What a metaphor for what the “once and future President” has been doing to the country.
