{"id":6881,"date":"2014-01-06T15:13:39","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T23:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6881"},"modified":"2014-01-06T15:13:39","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T23:13:39","slug":"crashing-and-burning-in-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/crashing-and-burning-in-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Crashing and Burning in 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Recent polls suggest Barack Obama has become a turn-off. Why?<\/p>\n

In part, all presidents wear on Americans. Their presence has become as ubiquitous in our lives as the busts of the emperor Augustus dotting the Mediterranean world. So who wouldn\u2019t annoy after speaking and appearing on our screens 24\/7 for five years?<\/p>\n

But in Obama\u2019s case, two character traits made him especially aggravating this year. Both explain why\u00a0vero possumus<\/i>\u00a0and hope and change have descended to \u201cyou can keep your plan, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

One, Obama blames everything bad on everyone else, and takes credit for a few good things that he had nothing to do with. He reminds me of a losing Little League coach who blamed the lights, fans, and umpire for his last-place standing, only to brag about his own genius after inserting a 12 year old who hit a freak homer to win his only game.<\/p>\n

Why so? Few care to speculate anymore other than the obvious that his\u00a0cursus honorum<\/a><\/i>\u00a0was always characterized by rhetoric in lieu of achievement. By that I mean I don\u2019t know how his transcript merited admittance to Harvard Law School; what publications\u00a0he authored<\/a>\u00a0as editor of\u00a0Harvard Law Review<\/em>; on what basis he was offered tenure at Chicago; how his record in the Illinois legislature prepped a U.S. Senate career; or why his brief sojourn as a U.S. senator\u00a0qualified him as president<\/a>. But I do concede through it all he sounded pretty confident and mellifluous.<\/p>\n

George Bush, ATM machines, the Tea Party, the post-2010 Congress, the earthquake in Washington, D.C., the Japanese Tsunami \u2014 all this and more have caused Obama\u2019s otherwise brilliant policies to fail. You would have thought that he entered office with a Republican supermajority in the Senate and a raging Tea Party majority in the House, all conspiring to thwart his every godhead\u00a0from January 21, 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Putting higher taxes on the productive classes, discouraging energy exploration of federal lands, adding more regulations, chronically bad-mouthing the successful, borrowing $6 trillion \u00a0to waste on stimulus and handouts, and socializing a sixth of the American economy with an unworkable Obamacare plan apparently had nothing to do with our non-recovery.<\/p>\n

The flip side is that public efforts to subsidize failures like Solyndra or shut down federal leasing of new gas and oil drilling have mysteriously led to record energy production \u2014 thanks to Obama! The more you try to shut down Keystone or block drilling in Colorado, the more you become the gas and oil president.<\/p>\n

Obama may have tired of watching the hunt for bin Laden, and instead in\u00a0mediis rebus<\/a><\/i>\u00a0preferred to play cards with sidekick Reggie Love, but he alone also got bin Laden \u2014 not really at all the men who broke into the Pakistani compound, or the prior policies that facilitated their operations.<\/p>\n

Force a sequester upon Obama<\/a>, and suddenly his fiscal sobriety\u00a0has reduced the deficit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The second aggravating habit of the president\u00a0is to calmly talk nonsense<\/a>, from the trivial to the profound. In the hip cool world of the ex-Harvard Law Review<\/em>\u00a0editor, it is legal not to enforce the laws. Plead to your frustrated constituencies who want more stuff right now that you are not quite a dictator, king, or autocrat \u2014 and then you can do your best to act like one.<\/p>\n

In such a fantasy world, corpsemen are soldiers instead of zombies. An uncle he stayed with he never met. Austrians speak Austrian. Syrians dare not cross red lines to use chemical weapons. Putin is a valued partner in the Middle East. Iran is now backing down and acting adult-like, not racing to acquire a bomb. The IRS scandal is both \u201coutrageous,\u201d but also now some cooked-up and over-hyped media melodrama. We are still hunting the perpetrators of Benghazi \u2014 once we figure out who exactly was set off by that hateful video that day.<\/p>\n

You can\u00a0keep your existing health plan<\/a>, your current doctor \u2014 and save $2,500 a year without new taxes \u2014 and with your preexisting condition and the 25 year old on your plan thrown in as a freebie.<\/p>\n

On\u00a0any given day<\/a>, Obama says things that are not just untrue but also cannot be by any stretch possible. In other words, when he is not intentionally deceiving, he is simply clueless. If he tomorrow were to assert that Iran dare not use chemical weapons, that it is time for Assad to go, that Putin better start treating gays with respect, that in 2014 you really can keep you own doctor and health plan, that Guantanamo is to be closed, that Obamacare is going to save you money and provide better care, that there will be no lobbyists or revolving doors in his administration, would we laugh or cry?<\/p>\n

One open mic, two bows, three apologies, four red lines, five deadlines, six \u201cperiod!\u201ds, and he might have gotten by. But seven, eight\u2026?<\/p>\n

Enough already.<\/p>\n

Statism<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t recall that Greece worked.\u00a0Detroit is bankrupt<\/a>. California managed to have the highest income, sales, and gas taxes in the U.S., along with the highest poverty levels, near-worst roads, and at-the-bottom schools.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s cure for nationalizing a sixth of the U.S. economy is to call in private-sector techies to fix the website and a CEO or two to iron out the organization.<\/p>\n

Borrowing $6 trillion did not lead to any \u201csummer of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, what model \u2014 Illinois, Maryland, Italy, Spain \u2014 is the administration using to chart our course to ever more statism? Is Apple run by\u00a0G-10s<\/a>? Is fracking a discovery of the Energy Department? Is the IRS a model of fairness and probity?
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

The Detritus of a Culture
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to hear any more from Anderson Cooper that his 85-year-old mom\u00a0bragged of great cunnilingus<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 nor to read that\u00a0Cosmopolitan<\/i>\u00a0magazine sent one of its bloggers\u00a0to masturbate publicly on the New York subway<\/a>. Life is sick enough without all that. I\u2019d rather read about the heroism of Depression-era farmers, or the ordeal of those who fought on Okinawa to ensure that Mr. Anderson can editorialize about octogenarian oral sex.<\/p>\n

Miley Cyrus\u00a0is neither attractive nor talented<\/a>. But to paraphrase the Wizard of Oz, she has one thing you don\u2019t have: a mini-celebrity name and a prior image as a pure Disney screen teen. Add that mix with this year\u2019s raunchy sex on stage and you have a grating sort of disconnect that bewilders an audience \u2014 for about six weeks. Now she has poked about with one outsized foam finger too many.<\/p>\n

Kanye West somehow keeps in the spotlight. It is hard not to run across his name, quotes, or rhymes in the news. Yet a visitor from an alien solar system who examined his corpus of work and collated his public commentary would quickly conclude that he is talentless. A potty-mouth 5th<\/sup>\u00a0grader could make up his ditties. He does not seem to distinguish music from banging or shouting. Were he not protected by his own victimhood, his cheap slurs of racism and anti-Semitic rants would have doomed his public persona long ago, despite Rev. Farrakhan coming to his rescue. He is more or less famous for being a famous version of the Kardashians. Wait, isn\u2019t he hooked up with one?<\/p>\n

Ditto Oprah. Unlike Cyrus or West, she is talented on TV and can act. She is also a billionaire\u00a0who now stages racial dramatics<\/a>\u00a0to save a fading career. Did she not know that her suburban mom morning audience was non-partisan and liked her therapeutics because she transcended politics and race, and seemed to focus on people as people?<\/p>\n

That was her currency and she threw it away, hyping Obama when he was 65% up in the polls and then whining about racism when he was not. It is hard to feel any empathy for Oprah when she claims that a racist Swiss clerk at Trois Pommes denied her the opportunity to examine first-hand a $38,000 crocodile purse (where is PETA when you need them?), or to listen to yet another half-educated sermon on racial relations, in which she hypes her fading movie by warning us that lots of bad Americans\u00a0will have to die off<\/a>\u00a0before racial relations meet her criteria.<\/p>\n

Die now, you Trois Pommes bigots!
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

The Middle East
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

The Middle East remains a critical region. It borders Europe\u2019s southern flank that is now in financial chaos. It still produces 30-40% of the world\u2019s petroleum. The Suez Canal is vital to world commerce. Who knows what our new ally Recep Erdogan\u00a0is up to.<\/a>\u00a0A nuclear Middle East would not let others alone. Asian industry depends on access to the Persian Gulf. Trillions of petrodollars allow terrorist global reach that they would not otherwise have. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism were born there. Israel is a successful democracy surrounded by lunatics. Hot spots \u2014 Cyprus, the West Bank, Gaza \u2014 could spark a wider war anytime.<\/p>\n

But all that said, the American public grew tired of the Middle East. Maybe it was the aftermath of the war in Iraq. Maybe our new energy production gives us that leeway. Maybe Benghazi. Or was it the psychodrama of threatening and not threatening Assad? Or maybe Iran\u2019s bomb? Or maybe the nutty periphery like our other two allies Afghanistan and Pakistan?<\/p>\n

No matter \u2014 I detect that most Americans\u2019 attitudes toward the Arab Spring, or talk of reform, or the Shiite-Sunni ongoing rivalry is summed up as something like \u201cplease turn the channel.\u201d Three things seem to characterize those of the Middle East: almost everyone professes to hate Europe and the United States; yet half the region schemes to immigrate to either place; and once immigrating, Middle Easterners dream of turning the West into the Middle East that they under no circumstances wished to live in.<\/p>\n

Take out a dictator, foster democracy and you get blame-America Maliki. Bomb Gadhafi out of power, and you win murders in Benghazi. Karzai hates America so much that he forbids us to leave as he orders us out. Stay out of Syria and you are damned as being heartless. Support Mubarak and you are cynical; support the crazy Muslim Brotherhood and you are na\u00efve; support the junta and you betray your principles \u2014\u00a0ad nauseam.<\/i><\/p>\n

Who is worse \u2014 Hezbollah or Hamas?\u00a0 Assad or Nasrallah? The Iranians or the Pakistanis? Who cares?<\/p>\n

For most of us, a bearded youth strutting around with an RPG on his shoulder is not our problem, twelve years after 9\/11. \u00a0Nor is the contorted face burning an American flag on CNN, shouting the boilerplate \u201cDeath to America!\u201d \u2014 as he brags off-camera that he has an uncle in Lansing.<\/p>\n

The next time around \u2014 and I think there will be a next time around \u2014 the American reaction, foolishly or not,\u00a0will probably be purely punitive<\/a>\u00a0rather than engagement and nation-building.<\/p>\n

Somehow the idea that the existence of Israel means that Egyptians were deprived of democracy, or Iraqis were made corrupt, or Syrians are gassing each other has become sort of like Miley Cyrus\u2019s foam finger, Kanye West\u2019s latest limerick, or masturbating on the subway \u2014 boring.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media\u00a0 Recent polls suggest Barack Obama has become a turn-off. Why? In part, all presidents wear on Americans. Their presence has become as ubiquitous in our lives as the busts of the emperor Augustus dotting the Mediterranean world. So who wouldn\u2019t annoy after speaking and appearing on our screens 24\/7 […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11,136],"tags":[671,12,77,1057,40,1016,67],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1MZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6860,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/vdh-quoted-in-barack-obamas-past-as-murky-as-his-word\/","url_meta":{"origin":6881,"position":0},"title":"VDH Quoted In, “Barack Obama’s past as murky as his word”","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jack Kelly \/\/\u00a0The Pittsburgh Press\u00a0 Onyango \u201cOmar\u201d Obama, 69, half-brother of Barack Obama Sr., came to the United States on a student visa in 1963, remained here illegally after it expired, was ordered to leave the U.S. in 1986, 1989 and 1992, but ignored the deportation orders. After Onyango\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Political Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Political Culture","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/american-culture\/political-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1295,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-derangement-syndrome\/","url_meta":{"origin":6881,"position":1},"title":"Obama Derangement Syndrome?","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media I\u2019d say if you live in the United States of America and you vote for George Bush, you\u2019ve lost your mind. \u2014 John Edwards When does the legitimate \u201cI oppose Obama\u201d descend into the illegitimate \u201cI hate Obama\u201d? It is popular now to suggest\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":687,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-they-did-it-campaign\/","url_meta":{"origin":6881,"position":2},"title":"Obama’s ‘They’-Did-It Campaign","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online The next five months should be interesting \u2014 given that Barack Obama is now experiencing something entirely unique in his heretofore stellar career: widespread criticism of his performance and increasing weariness with his boilerplate and his teleprompted eloquence. Starting with his Occidental days,\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":[]},{"id":6037,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/you-dont-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":6881,"position":3},"title":"You Don’t Say . . .","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Barack Obama in his weekly radio address accused opponents of comprehensive immigration reform of rank partisan politics: \u201cThey\u2019ll try to stoke fear and create division. They\u2019ll try to play politics with an issue.\u201d He should know: Here is what he advised Latino groups before\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":736,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/two-three-many-obamas\/","url_meta":{"origin":6881,"position":4},"title":"Two, Three, Many Obamas","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online As the campaign heats up, one problem is that we continue to meet lots of different Barack Obamas \u2014 to such a degree that we don\u2019t know which, if any, is really president. I think the president believes that private-equity firms harm the\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":[]},{"id":1871,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-versus-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":6881,"position":5},"title":"Obama versus Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Will the real Barack Obama please stand up? by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online There is little need any more to offer consistent opposition to Barack Obama, since he himself is already running hard against the many previous incarnations of Barack Obama.\u00a0 The first one we met was Barack\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "January 2010"","block_context":{"text":"January 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/january-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881"}],"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=6881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6882,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions\/6882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}