Obama’s Oddly Conservative Codas
By Matthew Rothschild. February 25, 2009
I watched Obama’s speech, and I was impressed with his performance and his command, and with some—but only some—of what he had to say.
I liked his call to bold action, but his defense of government intervention in the economy was neither as fulsome nor as persuasive as the one offered at his first press conference.
In his speech, he gave a quick tour of previous positive public interventions, and concluded, “Government didn’t supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise.”
Well, that’s not exactly true. During World War II, it basically ran the economy. And, anyway, should government’s only role be to catalyze capitalism?
Plus, did Obama really have to say that he didn’t believe in bigger government?
He’s in the midst of a tough ideological battle with the Republicans, and he just surrendered an enormous amount of territory.
Likewise, he didn’t need to propose, in his recovery plan, and then stress, in his speech, that 90 percent of the jobs he creates will be “in the private sector.” Those will be largely nonunion jobs, and less secure ones, at that.
Nor did he have to reiterate his pledge to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. That’s precisely the wrong thing to do in the Great Recession. He will either accomplish this goal and kill off the recovery, or fail to meet the goal he foolishly set for himself.
And while he had the cutting knife in his hand, he menaced Social Security with it.
He sang some populist notes, like talking tough with bankers, though he didn’t propose the obvious solution, nationalization. How could he, with his paeans to the private sector?
He also put as much blame on the American people for overspending and overbuying, as he did on the banks for swindling them and then gambling on their securitized mortgages.
He played to the stands when he repeated his lecture to parents to turn off the TV and read to their children. In a line that Ronald Reagan could have uttered, he said, “There is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father” who is involved with their kids.
Though his agenda was liberal and ambitious in some places, his coda was too often oddly conservative.
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Comments
Nothing like reading the Progressive to make me think Obama isn't so bad after all.
Yes, he scolded the American people for overspending (the man lives to scold), and did not spend all his time singing "the banks are made of marble that the workers sweated for." Hey, he's an equal opportunity scold. What do you want?
But I'm sorry, Matt, it is YOU who condescend to the American people if you cannot even admit some of them bought more house than they knew they needed or could afford and figured they'd dump it before the market tanked and those ARM's balloned. I mean give us all some credit, we are as good a bunch of hustlers as the big boys any day.
As for World War II, it is absurd to say the government pretty much ran the economy. The government instituted rationing precisely because it was NOT running the economy and could not simply direct U.S. business to do as much war production as it would have done naturally, given the burgeoning markets all over the world, which the war gave American business. The U.S. came out of the Depression because of a huge profit-driven intensification of production, with government priming the pump as well, yes, but not because of some TVA of your mind.
Finally, I am really looking forward to see how the Progressive takes a strong stand in favor of reducing the tax breaks the rich get for donating to all those charitable institutions, such as the ones that fund the left these days. When will we see the editorial on that one? I can't figure out which will approach light speed faster, the pace at which the Democrats in Congress move to cut that one, or to cut any threats to farm subsidies. Any one want to bet?