by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n The presidency of Barack Obama is full of funny things that need not follow any sort of logic. Images and ideas just pop in and out, without worry of inconsistency, contradiction, or hypocrisy. It\u2019s a fascinating mish-mash of strange heroes and bogeymen, this imaginarium of our president.<\/p>\n In the imaginarium there are no revolving doors, earmarks, or lobbyists. So Peter Orszag did not go from being OMB director to a Citigroup fat-cat. Once chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel did not make $16 million for his well-known banking expertise. The more you damn the pernicious role of lobbyists and the polluting role of big money, the more you must hire and seek out both. Public financing of campaigns is wonderful for everyone else who lacks the integrity of Barack Obama who understandably must renounce such unfair impositions.<\/p>\n Those who now vote against raising the large Obama debt ceiling are political hucksters and opportunists; those who not long ago voted against raising the smaller Bush debt ceiling were principled statesmen. \u201cUnpatriotic\u201d presidents borrow $4 trillion in eight years; patriotic ones we\u2019ve been waiting for can trump that in three.<\/p>\n Catching known terrorists and putting them in Guantanamo is very bad; killing suspected ones by drone assassinations \u2014 and anyone unlucky enough to be in their general vicinity \u2014 is exceptionally good. Tribunals, renditions, preventative detention, and all that were bad ideas under Bush-Cheney, but could become good ideas under Barack Obama, the law professor who often sees no need to follow the law when an immigration or marriage statute is deemed regressive.<\/p>\n A million Iranians protesting a soon-to-be-nuclear theocracy is false revolutionary consciousness and to be left alone; a few thousand Israelis wanting to buy apartments in the Jerusalem suburbs is subversive and worthy of presidential condemnation. And when atoning for supposed American lapses, what better place to begin apologizing than in Turkey, the incubator of the Armenian, Greek, and Kurdish mass killings? We need to deny history to make the case that America is not exceptional, and to invent it to persuade us that the Muslim world is extraordinary.<\/p>\n Twenty-four months of a Democratic Congress, and over $4 trillion in spending, resulted in 9.1% unemployment and near nonexistent growth. Yet the culprit for the current situation is ten months of a Republican-controlled House that has yet to approve another $500 billion of borrowing. In the imaginarium, just a little more of the massive amount that has failed will not fail. But if the Republicans are to be blamed for not wanting to waste the last half-trillion, are the Democrats to be praised for borrowing the first wasted $4 trillion?<\/p>\n In the imaginarium, all sorts of demons and devils can unite to derail the brilliance of Barack Obama\u2019s economic recovery plan. ATMs have for the first time after 2009 begun to eliminate jobs. But then so did the Japanese tsunami and the EU meltdown. The DC earthquake did its part, but then so did climbing oil prices and the Arab Spring. Of course, the ghost of George Bush floats over all the present mess. Economic gurus like Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, and Larry Summers used to write brilliant essays of what would work if they were to be in charge, and now write brilliant essays about why it did not work when they were in charge.<\/p>\n There are lots of ways to bring Americans together across class and racial lines. One in the imaginarium is to focus on the \u201cteabag, anti-government people.\u201d Another is to encourage Hispanics to \u201cpunish our enemies\u201d \u2014 or have the attorney general lambaste Americans as racial \u201ccowards\u201d and to defend \u201cmy people.\u201d Joining foreign governments to sue a fellow American state is no more red\/no more blue state unity. Still another is to divide up the people between the suspect who make over $200,000 and the noble who make less, or yet again target the dubious \u201c1%\u201d at \u201cthe very top\u201d who do not pay \u201ctheir fair share,\u201d a mere 40% of the aggregate income tax.<\/p>\n Inside the imaginarium, the way to demonize the \u201c1%\u201d is to vacation among them \u2014 whether at Martha\u2019s Vineyard or Costa del Sol. Buying a corporate jet is a waste of the people\u2019s money \u2014 unlike daily flying on a much bigger private jet paid by the people.<\/p>\n To encourage energy self-sufficiency, the administration lent a half-billion dollars to campaign donor insiders and got unsellable solar panels in return \u2014 as it prevents a huge pipeline from Canada that will bring \u201cshovel-ready\u201d jobs and fuel to the United States far more cheaply than from the volatile Middle East. We have a brilliantly obtuse energy secretary who is a Nobel laureate but who thinks California farms \u2014 a record $15 billion in exports this year \u2014 will soon blow away and that gas should climb to European levels of about $9 a gallon. In the imaginarium, the purpose of Dr. Chu\u2019s Department of Energy is not to encourage energy production and lower prices, but to find ways to prevent its development in search of raising its cost. The attorney general must be entirely conversant in small matters like a Black Panther voting intimidation case, but was completely ignorant of large ones like Fast and Furious that saw his subordinates sell automatic weapons to Mexican drug cartels.<\/p>\n The president regrets that we are not innovative any more, and have gone \u201csoft\u201d and \u201clazy.\u201d You see, his efforts at ensuring cradle-to-grave healthcare entitlements, of granting 99 weeks of unemployment insurance, and of extending food stamps to nearly 50 million are apparently incentives that should have led to a \u201chard\u201d and \u201cindustrious\u201d populace that was more self-reliant and willing to take risks on their own. \u201cSpread the wealth\u201d is a time-honored way of galvanizing people to become more self-disciplined and sufficient.<\/p>\n Business has failed us as well. And the way to get Las Vegas and Super Bowl junketeering CEOs profitable enough again to fund the growing redistributive state, is for them to take risks that result in the sort of massive projects that used to be an American trademark \u2014 things like the Hoover Dam, which changed the environmental landscape far more than would the apparently cancelled gargantuan pipeline from Canada to Texas. Business can be encouraged not to be lazy by a prod now and then \u2014 either by trying to shut down a big aircraft plant or a small guitar factory. And in the imaginarium, the way to gently chide the private sector is with words of encouragement like \u201cmillionaires and billionaires,\u201d and \u201ccorporate jet owners,\u201d along with grandfatherly advice to clueless capitalists about realizing the point at which they should cease making money.<\/p>\n In the imaginarium of Barack Obama there is no contradiction between smearing and shaking down Wall Street, a bunch that needs both to be told when and when not to profit, and to whom and to whom not to give tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Barney Frank, who helped pressure Wall Street and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to issue billions in unsound loans, and Chris Dodd, who shook down fat cats for below-market interest rates for his vacation home, logically are the eponymous heroes of the Dodd-Frank fiscal reform act to ensure others do not do as did they. Former liberal governor, senator, and Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine, who both wrecked MF Global and can\u2019t account for $600 million in lost investments, is, in George Soros-like fashion, the best emblem of the contradictory desire to be the worst pirate on Wall Street in order to make the most money in order to be its most liberal critic. In the imaginarium we receive advice about the need for higher income taxes from multibillionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates who have always sought to avoid them. Big government and big inheritance taxes, both magnates swear are good, and therefore the administration of their own postmortem fortunes will forever avoid both.<\/p>\n In the imaginarium, community organizer Barack Obama never lived in a small mansion. John \u201ctwo Americas\u201d Edwards never lived in a big one. \u201cEarth in the balance\u201d Al Gore never lived in a few of them, and yacht owning John Kerry never lived in lots of them. You see in the imaginarium of Barack Obama you can be whatever you wish to be. Just wishing and saying something can wonderfully make it so.<\/p>\n \u00a92011 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The presidency of Barack Obama is full of funny things that need not follow any sort of logic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[536],"tags":[119,12,1014,48,105,74,405,293,164,1039,134,219,5,1056,242,1052,67],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-nd","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12953,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-progressive-imaginarium\/","url_meta":{"origin":1439,"position":0},"title":"The Progressive Imaginarium","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness \u201cT-Bone\u201d lives in the progressive Imaginarium.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) conjured him up as his fake pal from the \u2019hood. The \u201cBone\u201d would now and then materialize to prep the yuppie Booker on his street cred.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cT\u201d was the umbilical cord of authenticity with\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7917,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/from-comedy-to-farce\/","url_meta":{"origin":1439,"position":1},"title":"From Comedy to Farce","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJMedia It was tragically comical that the commander in chief in just a few weeks could go from referring to ISIS as \u201cjayvee\u201d and a manageable problem to declaring it an existential threat, in the same manner he upgraded the Free Syrian Army from amateurs\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 9 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 9 comments","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/from-comedy-to-farce\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"obama_lies_big_12-4-13-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/obama_lies_big_12-4-13-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2057,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/where-did-these-guys-come-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":1439,"position":2},"title":"Where Did These Guys Come From?","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The Origins of Obamism I do not think it will be easy to delay Obamism. It is not just that both houses of Congress are under liberal leadership with ample majorities, with a White House and captive media egging them on. The problem is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2009"","block_context":{"text":"December 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/december-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":678,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-storyteller\/","url_meta":{"origin":1439,"position":3},"title":"Obama, Storyteller","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online A\u00a0sign of an undisciplined mind is serial lapses into self-contradiction, or blurting out a thought only to refute it entirely on a later occasion. For a president to do that is to erode public confidence and eventually render all his public statements irrelevant.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "First Term Policies"","block_context":{"text":"First Term Policies","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/first-term-policies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6697,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-credibility-gap\/","url_meta":{"origin":1439,"position":4},"title":"Obama’s Credibility Gap","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The former hope-and-change president no longer gets a pass. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 By 1968, President Lyndon Baines Johnson was finally done in by his \u201ccredibility gap\u201d \u2014 the growing abyss between what he said about, and what was actually happening inside, Vietnam. \u201cModified limited hangout\u201d and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Punditry"","block_context":{"text":"Punditry","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/punditry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-uncool-president\/","url_meta":{"origin":1439,"position":5},"title":"The Uncool President","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services In 2008, Barack \"No Drama\" Obama was the coolest presidential candidate America had ever seen \u2014 young, hip, Ivy League, mellifluous and black, with a melodic and exotic name. Rock stars vied to perform at his massive rallies, where Obama often began his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1441,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions\/1441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}