Obama: Killing Business

It's tough to be the president right now. Mr Obama says so: "These are tough times to hold public office."

Poor Mr Obama. How sad.

Senior Arkansas Demorat Senator, Blanche Lincoln, herself under the gun, aimed comments squarely at the Leftist and "Progressive" portion of the Demorats on Wednesday. From The Hill:

Centrist Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) on Wednesday asked arguably the most contentious question during a discussion between Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama, hitting at conservatives and liberals.

Lincoln, who faces a tough reelection fight, asked Obama to push back against "people at the extremes" of both parties, especially against Democrats "who want extremes."

She also took a swipe at Obama's White House, referencing a constituent who "fears that there's no one in your administration that understands what it means to go to work on Monday and make a payroll on Friday."

Lincoln faces a steep reelection bid in 2010. She trails the likely Republican nominee, Rep. John Boozman, by 23 points and has only a 27 percent approval rating in a recent poll.

What a shock to the system! A Demorat who actually asked a pointed question of Mr Obama. One, you'll note, he never really answered. And a question not asked by our national media.

Some Demorats are actually starting to hold Our Hero at arms' length.

Because he really is that unhinged. And the advisors to whom he is listening: Emanual. Axelrod. Ayers. Alinsky. His very own personal A-Team.

We all wondered: what Obama will we see for his first SOTU? Contrite Obama? Understanding Obama? No; not at all. Instead we heard Strident Obama! Not Wavering Obama! Not Listening Obama!

William Jefferson Clinton was the penultimate politician. I remember hearing and reading, back in The Day, that Mr Clinton had the remarkable ability to suck all the oxygen out of a room he was working. That he had the ability to speak to you and make you think you were the only person he cared about, in a room filled with other people. And Clinton changed; he read the writing and changed tack. Mr Obama is no Mr Clinton. Not at all.

Back to the topic at hand: Mr Obama has no one on his staff who has ever had to meet a payroll, much less himself. He has little if any concept of business; business is something that one squeezes because it is Inherently Evil. If it makes Profit, that Profit is Evil.

In the meantime, the debt ceiling will be hit in but a few days:

WASHINGTON — The US debt is on track to hit a congressionally proposed debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars by the end of February, the Treasury said Wednesday, a day ahead of a key vote to raise it to that level.

"Based on current projections, Treasury expects to reach the debt ceiling as early as the end of February. However, the government's cash flows are volatile, making it difficult to forecast a precise date," the Treasury said in a statement.

The current limit on the public debt of the United States is 12.374 trillion dollars.

The US debt exceeded 12.349 trillion dollars on Monday, according to Treasury data.

Furthermore, there are black clouds developing around the United States' credit rating:

Moody’s Investors Service fired off a warning on Wednesday that the triple A sovereign credit rating of the US would come under pressure unless economic growth was more robust than expected or tougher actions were taken to tackle the country’s budget deficit.

In a move that follows intensifying concern among investors over the US deficit, Moody’s said the country faced a trajectory of debt growth that was “clearly continuously upward”.

What will change the economy? Some simple things: businesses having the confidence to expand and build, banks willing to make loans. Some tax breaks. Some relaxation of regulations.

But no. You can throw that out.

Strident Obama says so. And oh, by the way, those in public office have things so difficult now.

Like you don't?

BZ