STRAW MEN

(Published in the Independent Coast Observer)

It’s hard to overstate the farcical bumbling of the Obama administration/campaign over these last several days. I suspect that most Americans, even many supporters of President Obama, are increasingly aware of his failure the past 3 plus years to provide effective leadership for this great nation. 

Still, his loyal supporters have been giddy with the expectation that the “One” would rise above his trail of broken promises and self-inflicted wounds to lead the way to victory over the Republican standard bearer, Mitt Romney, thereby assuring four more years of unmitigated class warfare.

That may happen. But the first week of Obama v. Romney was nothing short of a disaster for the Obamicons. Administration scandals and presidential campaign faux pas (e.g., GSA bureaucrats romping in Las Vegas, an attack on Ann Romney and working moms, Secret Service “fun and games”) were stacked up like Walmart shoppers on Black Friday.

Then on Sunday, David Axelrod appeared on the Chris Wallace show looking so bedraggled that one could almost believe he’d spent the night partying with the President’s disgraced Secret Service detail. Mr. Wallace stumped the President’s political guru with a simple question:  “What’s the choice in this election?” Mr. Axelrod, his mind searching frantically for the appropriate talking point, blurted out this thick-tongued, rambling answer:

“The people will choose between an economy that produces a growing middle class and gives people a chance to get ahead and their kids a chance to get ahead and an economy that continues down the road we are on, and everybody else is running faster and faster just to keep pace.”

Ouch! General Axelrod set ablaze the President’s army of straw men on national television and provided the upstart Romney with a perfect campaign ad. Not an auspicious beginning for Team Obama.

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA

OBAMA'S ECONOMY

(Published in the Independent Coast Observer)

As the November 2012 presidential elections draw closer, voters will tire of excuses and begin to focus on the chilling facts that highlight the economic wasteland wrought by this administration’s policies. (Here are seven gathered by Wynton Hall at breitbart.com)

1. Every fifth man in America is out of a job. Indeed, black male unemployment is now at the highest rate it has been since the U.S. government began collecting statistics on the subject in 1972.  Just 59 percent of black men over the age of 20 are now working. 
2. Every seventh person you pass on the sidewalk now relies on food stamps.
3. On the last day of President Bush's presidency, gas prices were $1.84 a gallon. Today under President Obama, the average price of a gallon of gas costs $3.94. (Much more in CA.)
4.  In 2006 and 2007, 90% of college graduates found a job.  Under Obama, just 56% of college graduates are able to find a job.
5. More than one in four U.S. homeowners are "under water" or owe more than their homes are worth, with many more foreclosures still to come.
6. President Obama has increased the national debt more in three years than President Bush did in eight.  Under Bush, the debt rose $4.899 trillion in eight years.  In three years, Obama has exploded the debt by $4.939 trillion.
7. A record number of Americans are no longer in the labor force.  When the number of individuals who have stopped looking for a job and/or who are working part-time but desire full-time employment is included--a figure known as the "underemployment rate"--real unemployment stands at 19.1%.

As President Obama said in a speech a week ago, "In three years we’ve begun to see what change looks like." 

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA

FAWNING MEDIA

(Published as a letter to the Independent Coast Observer, Gualala, CA)

A common narrative among Democrats is that the Republican presidential candidates are not of very high caliber. Following this partisan logic, none of them would stand much chance against President Obama. This gives great comfort to many on the Left who view the Republican primary battle as a circular firing squad that will leave the incumbent President with a fatally-weakened opponent. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Firstly, the winning candidate will be immeasurably stronger as a result of parrying the repeated onslaughts of his opponents. Now, we should never “mis-underestimate” the creative abilities of the NFM (non-Fox media) to come up with new, clever attacks on a Republican candidate. (Remember Dan Rather’s faked documents against George Bush that “mysteriously” surfaced on the eve of the 2004 election?) Even so, the eventual Republican candidate for President should be ready, willing, and able to deal with the inevitable attacks from the Democrats and the media.

Secondly, President Obama now has a record he must defend, and it’s not a very good one. His supporters routinely trot out lists of his “accomplishments.” Ironically, most of the macro items on the lists have negative connotations to many voters  - - economic stimulus (unprecedented deficits, 5.5 trillion dollar national debt, high unemployment, no budget in 3 plus years), ObamaCare (Big Brother statism, cost overruns, $500 billion cuts in Medicare), Green Energy (Solyndra-type crony-capitalism scandals, denying Keystone pipeline, curtailing drilling, skyrocketing gas prices), entitlements (no ideas, no plans).

Thirdly, Obama’s naivete in foreign affairs (think serial apologies, “open mic” with Medvedev) will not sit well with the electorate. This un-vetted President has stumbled through his first term shielded from scrutiny by a fawning press. That changes soon, and his Republican opponent will expose the glaring weaknesses of an inept administration.

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA