I watched Obama’s press conference today, and he is a wonder to behold. He is a relentless demagogue who plays Americans against Americans and sets up false choices as part of a class warfare agenda.
Here’s a false choice (my rough transcription) which jumped out at me during the Q&A:
“Republican leaders need to ask their consituents if they are willing to sacrifice the safety of their children for a tax break for a corporate jet owner.”
This was typical throughout the press conference. He’s the only reasonable one, the only one who cares about people, the only one trying hard to reach a “balanced” debt deal, and so on and so on, the facts be damned. Of course, if it seems to some that he’s been detached, it’s only because he’s been so busy working on the Taliban, and bin Laden, and the Greece crisis.
He had the audacity to say with a straight face that his administration is trying to remove burdensome regulations, when in fact Obamacare and Dodd-Frank alone impose vast regulations (most of which have not been written yet, which freezes business investment) on virtually every area of the economy.
Not only does he not get it, he is ideologically incapable of getting it. He views the economy as a zero sum game, a point I have made before.
This reminds me of the failed luxury tax on yachts years ago, which devasted the shipbuilding industry in Rhode Island leading to substantial layoffs; the choice was not between yacht owners and children, but between job creating industries or not.
Andy Levy summed it up well:
Do not underestimate the ability of this man to appeal to our worst jealousies and envies, while telling us he is doing the opposite with a smile on his face.
Update: This is too precious, via TweetDrudge, Democrats were the ones who passed the tax breaks for corporate jets in 2009 as part of the Stimulus Package. Hey, can you blame him for not knowing it, he didn’t read the bill.
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It’s up to the Republicans to lead here. If they don’t, I will blow up the country and it will be their fault.
I think that about sums it up. That and needing to punish those who are profitable because they made the right decisions so as to subsidize those who didn’t. Creating jobs is about “fairness”, not economics.
The same quote stood out to me as well. The President has no need to debate the opposition when he can just vilify the opposition. Should we flip the question have Democrat Leaders ask their constituents if they are willing to sacrifice the safety of their children in order to replace the windows on a Forest Center visitor center closed in 2007? Or perhaps sacrifice the safety of their children in order to trade in their clunkers for cash? There are plenty of stupid things that the Democrats have spent money on.
Obama and the Dems are escalating their class warfare election process. The next 17 months will see them throw gasoline on their little fire, which will lead to increased internal strife and ugliness. This is not going to be a pleasant.
Some people say we can’t cut a penny of the budget, while others contend we must strangle kittens in order to return to prosperity. I reject these false choices. The republican leadership needs to ask its voters, do they really want to strangle kittens just so CEOs get a better deal on company jets?
[…] CHOICES AND DEMAGOGUERY:” A review of Obama’s press conference. So, pretty much the usual, then, I […]
I think those corporate jet owners should put their jets on ebay and fly commercial like the rest of us. If bigwigs had to go through TSA body-gropes the TSA would have to back off pretty quick.
This guy couldn’t be more divisive if he tried.
I think that’s what he is trying.
[…] “False choices and demagoguery.” […]
What about government jet-flyers? Like the ones that use 747’s for vacations?
“Do not underestimate the ability of this man to appeal to our worst jealousies and envies, while telling us he is doing the opposite with a smile on his face.”
I was taught the EXACT same thing in CCD class about the Devil leading us to sin.
A might too absurd. As our self-inflicted debt and demographic bomb ticks away, this Presidency and complicit press have descended into an all out flea circus with a rat as ringmaster.
The only war that Obama is willing to truely lead is the class war. He is going to play on his bonafides as an advocate for the poor. Nothing is further from the truth. Progressives really don’t support the poor except in the area of the voting booth. Unfortunately, those who vote according to their own wallet, and how much largess a politician promises them from another taxpayer, are too damn stupid to realize that while Obama may talk the talk, he doesn’t walk the walk. If he did, he would not be amassing his own personal wealth, but instead, taking just enough to live confortably, and donating the rest of his wealth to charitable organizations that really provide for the poor.
But somehow, he and Michelle Antoinette, seem to think that there are no limits to how they spend the taxpayer’s money. Michelle recently dropped well over a half million taking her extended family (mother, nephews, etc) on a lavish trip to Africa. Since when did it become the responsibility of taxpayers to provide her extended family with a vacation? Since January 20, 2009 obviously.
Once again, Obama will claim that Republicans hate the poor, but he will never give his own money to the poor. And Republicans want the poor, along with every other economic group, to be able to keep more of the fruits of their labor. Instead, Obama wants to keep his money in his own checking account, and redistribute YOUR wealth.
This coming from the guy who flys the “mother of all Corporate Jet Fleets” on my dime!
Obama’s Porkulus bill included a tax break for corporate jets. Why wasn’t he complaining about THAT?
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh while the One was doing his presser. Rush’s commentary included your quote – and your same point exactly. (Great minds really do think alike!)
What amazed me was when Rush said that the EPA budget has increased 125% over the last 2 years. How many people know that?
Eliminating the EPA would be a HUGE boon to our economy! And the Dept. of Education (DoE) – get them OUT of the school business….states and localities are responsible for that, not some federal bureaucrats redistributing OUR money back to us, with statist, burdensome strings attached! And the DoE having their own version of a SWAT team….don’t get me started on THAT wasteful, tyrannical part of the DoE!
He also mentioned that Obowma brought up cutting the National Weather Service (NWS) -another a red herring. Then Rush pointed out: 80% of the Commerce Dept. is the NWS. What is that all about?! What about NOAA, and all the other weather services under the federal government? Wasteful overlap. Cut it!
Waste is everywhere in this administration. Cutting Mrs. Obama’s staff down from 22+ to 2 or 3 would be a small start. Cutting the czars – and reducing the salaries of the staff, advisors, and heads of the various bureaus – would be another. Chop. Chop. Chop.
Demagoguery is correct. 100% on the money. Fraud. Waste. Tyranny. Lies and d*mn lies. That is the Obama Way.
I think those corporate jet owners should put their jets on ebay and fly commercial like the rest of us. If bigwigs had to go through TSA body-gropes the TSA would have to back off pretty quick.
Well, I think that Al Gore and all those holier-than-thou NGO officials should put THEIR jets, and their mansions, and their Soros-paid staffs on eBay and fly commercial like the rest of us.
At least corporations produce goods and services that customers want.
Off topic, but related….. Might I also add:
If you know your history, Louis XV ruled France in this same devil-may-care manner. When asked what he was doing, overspending taking France into massive debt for self-indulgence, his reply was, “That will be my son’s problem! I will be long dead by then!!”
He left his country’s debt – intentionally – for his son to handle. That son, Louis XVI, was a weakling who couldn’t handle anything. He and his wife, Marie Antoinette, suffered for it. The French people were starving, and the royals didn’t care (“Let them eat cake!”). The French were secular, with little faith in any God (though Catholic, they followed the ideas of the Enlightenment).
The result: The French Revolution. Robespierre, the guillotine, and ultimately Napoleon.
Is that what this administration wants? It is the logical outcome, as history in this case demonstrates. There are other examples. Russia and the czars, with the Bolshevik Revolution as the outcome comes to mind.
We MUST stop this debt crisis. Do NOT increase the debt ceiling! Cut the spending! Or we will be in the same boat.
Rhetorical question: Is there anyone in the press corps with the ‘nads to demand that Obama connect the dots between corporate jets and children’s safety? I’d like to see this dunderhead explain this non sequitur.
The corporate jet comment will undoubtedly be an Obamateurism of the day on HotAir, and it will be hard to beat for Obamateurisim of the week.
I watched some of it and marveled at how in control he appeared to be as his mouth kept spewing lies. Amazing. Of course he can spout this and that as he was prepared to answer the easy questions thrown at him.
You are right, in what I watched he wasn’t challenged on his statements at all. Of course, you can’t expect the journalists to actually be prepared with good comebacks.
I guess the mystery of how a Chavez/Castro/Gaddafhi type conference sounds is answered.
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“But…uh…see…ummm…let me be perfectly clear. Back in 2009 we needed those corporate jet tax breaks so that I could fix the recession that Bush caused. Now that I have the economy all fixed up we don’t need those tax breaks anymore. Yeah, that’s the ticket!”
$5 says he actually tries to make this argument.
[quote]Do not underestimate the ability of this man to appeal to our worst jealousies and envies, while telling us he is doing the opposite with a smile on his face.[/quote]
/this
[…] bloggers out there who did have the luxury torture of watching today. Bill Jacobson at Legal Insurrection was one of them: I watched Obama’s press conference today, and he is a wonder to behold. He is […]
Well, I think that Al Gore and all those holier-than-thou NGO officials should put THEIR jets, and their mansions, and their Soros-paid staffs on eBay and fly commercial like the rest of us.
At least corporations produce goods and services that customers want.
Yup, same rules for every one. But I still don’t like it when CEOs & upper mgt get perks & bonues while their companies take bailouts and go in the red. I consider that robbing the shareholders.
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