by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n Recently both First Lady Michelle Obama and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis went to the key swing state of Florida to blast the president\u2019s adversaries. For the first lady, Obama\u2019s opponents were concerned only with \u201cthe few at the top\u201d and care little for racial, gender, or class justice. For Solis, the sexually derogatory term \u201ctea-bagger\u201d summed up the wave of 2010 that for a while stopped Obama\u2019s attempts to borrow more money in order to stimulate the moribund economy. Apparently Harry Truman\u2019s unforeseen win in 1948 against a \u201cdo-nothing Congress\u201d is the new model.<\/p>\n Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the Obama administration\u2019s lone Republican, embraced a similar strategy this week. He charged that the 2010 midterm elections \u2014 the largest correction in the House since 1938 \u2014 brought in a group of nihilist Republican congressmen who \u201cmade a decision right after the election \u2014 don\u2019t give Obama any victories. The heck with putting people to work, because we can score points.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from the fact that the midterm referendum clearly illustrated that the proverbial people wanted a change in Obama\u2019s policies and voiced that desire by, in the president\u2019s words, \u201cshellacking\u201d his party, LaHood\u2019s allegations about Republican partisanship, even if they were true, still make little sense. From January 2009 to January 2011, Obama controlled the presidency, the House, and the Senate. Congress passed everything he asked for in order to revive the economy and, he said, to create jobs: Obamacare, more stimulus, new regulations, serial $1 trillion\u2013plus deficits, almost $5 trillion in new aggregate debt, and record extensions of unemployment insurance and expansions of food stamps. Nothing seemed to help.<\/p>\n So in November 2010 the voters apparently thought that the class-warfare talk, the hyper-Keynesian borrowing, and the Obama agenda had made things worse rather than better, with near-zero economic growth and 9 percent\u2013plus unemployment. If the Republican House is to be blamed for nine months of resistance, what could one say of 24 months of activism? For LaHood, Solis, and the first lady, it is apparently inconceivable that some House members genuinely think the vast borrowing and new regulations of the last 33 months, the constant class-warfare talk, and the new entitlements like Obamacare have had a chilling effect on business, which, for a variety of reasons, is sitting this recovery out.<\/p>\n The entry of cabinet secretaries and the first lady so early into the 2012 campaign apparently is predicated on the following assumptions: Compromise \u2014 as in Bill Clinton\u2019s decision in 1995 to craft a bipartisan effort to control spending, balance the budget, and enact popular initiatives like welfare reform \u2014 is out. Obama seems to believe either that such triangulation is ideological heresy or that the independents are lost to him anyway and victory is now possible only through hard-core appeals to his energized base and negative campaigning.<\/p>\n In this sense, the 2010 setback was a godsend for Obama. More of the same was not working; but now its failure can be blamed on the opposition, which, late in the game and reflecting popular discontent, is not so approving of the same level of borrowing. We are now in \u201cIf only they had . . .\u201d Lalaland, where the failure of $5 trillion in borrowed money to jump-start the economy is attributed to the inability to borrow more trillions before the next election: More of what failed surely would not have failed.<\/p>\n By the same token, Obama apparently hopes that recent iconic executive actions by himself or his appointees \u2014 non-enforcement of the Defense of Marriage Act, the end to \u201cDon\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell,\u201d neglect of immigration law for non-felon illegal aliens, the EPA\u2019s effort to shut down coal-fired plants, the NLRB\u2019s attempt to stymie the new Boeing plant \u2014 will so energize gays, minorities, the unions, and greens that he can cobble together 51 percent without the \u201chope and change,\u201d \u201cthis is our moment\u201d soft stuff that won over independents in 2008. There will be no defense of what has been done, only blame for what has not been done. So 2012 is us\/them class warfare, the old \u201cBush did it\u201d mantra, and the slur that right-wing \u201ctea-baggers\u201d hijacked the Republican party and want to give America over to \u201cthe few at the top\u201d as they throw the needy out on the street (\u201cYou\u2019re on your own\u201d) and end Social Security.<\/p>\n Abroad, there will suddenly be symbolic protestations on Israel\u2019s behalf to win back errant Jewish voters in key states. The complete withdrawal from Iraq \u201cended Bush\u2019s war.\u201d Another Predator hit on someone like Dr. Zawahiri could cement Obama\u2019s national-security credentials. If the Syrian tyranny falls, this might be attributed to \u201clead from behind\u201d diplomacy or to a Libyan-like sorta intervention.<\/p>\n Will it all work? It might. But for now Barack and Michelle seem unlikely avatars of the modest-living, plainspoken Harry and Bess.<\/p>\n \u00a92011 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Recently both First Lady Michelle Obama and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis went to the key swing state of Florida to blast the president\u2019s adversaries.<\/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":[49],"tags":[12,1081,342,42,329,77,596,1026,370,50,371,40,129,560,595],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-qx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1474,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-real-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":1645,"position":0},"title":"Obama’s Real Problem","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Why the president's poll numbers have declined. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online According to a popular myth, President Obama\u2019s declining poll numbers are a consequence of his failure to be liberal enough. On race, in the wake of the Shirley Sherrod mess, we are told he needs to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "July 2010"","block_context":{"text":"July 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/july-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2488,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-the-president-in-recovery\/","url_meta":{"origin":1645,"position":1},"title":"Is the President in Recovery?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services President Obama does not care much about deficits \u2014 other than worrying that big debt might matter in his re-election campaign. In his first three budgets, Obama borrowed nearly $5 trillion. Currently, the government is borrowing about 45 percent of everything that it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Debt and Deficits"","block_context":{"text":"Debt and Deficits","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/debt-and-deficits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":115,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/when-big-deficits-became-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":1645,"position":2},"title":"When Big Deficits Became Good","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services As a senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama said that he detested budget deficits. In 2006, when the aggregate national debt was almost $8 trillion less than today, he blasted George W. Bush's chronic borrowing and refused to vote for upping the debt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Debt and Deficits"","block_context":{"text":"Debt and Deficits","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/debt-and-deficits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3096,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/living-the-obama-dream\/","url_meta":{"origin":1645,"position":3},"title":"Living the Obama Dream","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Gas Dreams Come True High energy costs to the Obamites are only unfortunate in terms of overcoming short-term political challenges. Otherwise, they are more or less welcome. That is not a partisan slur, but simply a summary of the 2007-8 Obama team\u2019s view of\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":739,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/secretaries-gone-wild\/","url_meta":{"origin":1645,"position":4},"title":"Secretaries Gone Wild","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner We\u2019ve had some unusual cabinet secretaries in past administrations \u2014 Earl Butz, John Mitchell, and James Watt come to mind \u2014 but never anything quite like the present bunch. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has overseen some $5 trillion in new debt. To help pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Debt and Deficits"","block_context":{"text":"Debt and Deficits","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/debt-and-deficits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6638,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-heed-thyself\/","url_meta":{"origin":1645,"position":5},"title":"Obama, Heed Thyself","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"He used to know some important things. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 Republicans and Democrats are still name-calling in their arguments over the government shutdown, out-of-control federal spending, and the implementation of Obamacare. Yet if both sides would agree to just follow the earlier advice of President Obama,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Debt and Deficits"","block_context":{"text":"Debt and Deficits","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/debt-and-deficits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/3544735027_8a0ac7b28a-201x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645"}],"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=1645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1646,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions\/1646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}