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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Cal Thomas
It is important to understand the plot line in the tragedy called Washington politics before one can appreciate the play, or not.
When conservatives hold to their convictions about, say, sound economic policy, liberals in the media and in
And all of the drama can be set to the music of "Send in the Clowns" from Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music."
"Isn't it rich?"
When liberal Democrats hold to their views that higher taxes and more government spending are the way to revive an economy, they acquire no negative labeling. In fact, they are no longer referred to as liberals, but as "progressives." Who could be against progress? Which is the point of the word. When their policy fails to produce the announced results, they are not called fanatics, but remain progressives. Liberals who refuse to admit their misplaced faith in Keynsian economics when it doesn't work are like cult members whose misplaced faith has been exposed as bogus. In fact, liberals dig in their heels claiming it isn't that too much has been spent, but too little.
In this game, it's the intent, not the results that count. Feelings trump failure.
"Isn't it bliss? Don't you approve?"
Apparently not, given the latest
With unemployment at 9.6 percent and the real figure well into double-digits when one counts those who have stopped looking for work or who have been forced to take early retirement because they cannot find a job, comes the joker-in-chief to try to sell us the same policy when it didn't work the first time around.
"Don't you love farce?"
On Labor Day, President Obama announced yet another stimulus plan consisting of a request to
"I thought that you'd want what I want. Sorry my dear."
In February 2009 the president said infrastructure spending would create 400,000 jobs. The latest unemployment figures show a net job loss last month.
The few jobs that have been created in the construction industry are a boon to labor unions, but when the money runs out the jobs will end. These are not jobs that are created as a result of a robust private economy, but the modern equivalent of Franklin Roosevelt's
"Isn't it rich? Isn't it queer? Losing my timing this late in my career."
With the public outraged over the huge deficit and the multi-trillion dollar (and growing) national debt, those Democrats who vote for another
This president has become a fanatic, enabled by the likes of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He refuses to budge when his policies clearly are not working.
Cue the music:
"But where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns. Don't bother, they're here."
Available at Amazon.com:
Presimetrics: What the Facts Tell Us About How the Presidents Measure Up On the Issues We Care About
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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