Obama’s Target List-While calling for civility, Obama demonizes everyone in sight.

Obama’s Target List-While calling for civility, Obama demonizes everyone in sight.

October 26, 2011 4:00 A.M.
Victor Davis Hanson
What with exhaustion, overexposure, and the temptation to comment on just about anything in the news, presidential candidates and presidents alike naturally often slip up. Given their hectic speaking schedules, they frequently mispronounce words (“nucular,” “corpse-man”), engage in the trivial (inflating tires and tuning up cars in lieu of drilling for more oil), and simply get things wrong (57 states). “Bushism” was coined about 2001 to refer to all the various ways that George W. Bush mangled the English language. There are, of course, just as many “Obamaisms,” though they are rarely commensurately lampooned by the media.

FDR unfairly and often demonized his political opponents. Truman could be coarsely blunt; Nixon far more so and in paranoid fashion. Jimmy Carter’s beatific façade seemed to hide all sorts of inner mean streaks. But what seems somewhat different from past presidential sermons, malapropisms, and flat-out wrong statements is the tendency of Barack Obama to lecture, talk down to, caricature, or even insult various people and groups — even as no other president in recent memory has reminded the nation so often of the need for civility, unity, and tolerance.

After only one year plus of campaigning and three years of governance, there is already a sizable corpus of Obama’s targets. The common theme is less ideology, politics, race, class, or gender than a sense that many groups and people simply don’t measure up to Obama’s high standards. Some are deemed lazy, stupid, greedy, fearful, or clinging; others are too affluent, of questionable ethics, and ill-informed and ill-intentioned — and thus are culpable for our current problems.

Where did the president pick up this habit of hypercriticism and easy caricature? Who knows? Michelle Obama showed similar tendencies during the campaign, when she labeled the U.S. a country that is “just downright mean,” until recently not worthy of pride, and variously talked about unnamed persons who perennially “raise the bar” on those struggling to get ahead.

Yet lecturing, demonizing, and caricaturing are not just symptoms of narcissism or being socially dense, but are also a revelation that Obama feels that he can say almost anything he wants, with the expectation — always borne out in the past — of few consequences. Still, his handlers worry about this habit, which explains both the serial use of teleprompted scripts even for the briefest of commentary and the almost lightning response from the White House, either that the latest target had it coming, or that the president’s critics themselves were suspect in noticing such insults, or that the remarks were meant only in jest. Note as well that while almost everyone else is culpable, the president himself rarely is — at least not as much as ATM machines, George W. Bush, tsunamis, the European Union, the nine-month-old Republican-controlled House, the Arab Spring, and skyrocketing oil prices. Others err; but the president has made all “the right choices.”

Here is a tiny sampling of those who have been on the receiving end of the president’s disdain:

African Americans: “Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’.”

Americans: Are “not a model for the world” and have a “tragic history.” Also, “we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared,” and, more recently, we have gotten “a little soft” and lost our “competitive edge.”

Bankers: “Fat cats”

Border enforcement: Its overzealous adherents want “alligators and moats” on the border and would arrest children on their way to get ice cream.

The Cambridge, Mass., police: “Acted stupidly” and, like law-enforcement officers in general, racially profile

Corporate-jet owners: “Are you willing to compromise your kids’ safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax break?”

Democratic base: Must “shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up . . . if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place.”

Doctors: Needlessly chop off the limbs of diabetics and take out tonsils to increase their own profits

Donald Trump: A “carnival barker”

Grandmother: “Typical white person”

Las Vegas: Where you are likely to “blow a bunch of cash when you’re trying to save for college”

Millionaires: They don’t pay their “fair share” and are synonymous with those who have 1,000 times more.

Nancy Reagan: Don’t “get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any séances.”

Rural Pennsylvanians: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment.”

Sarah Palin: “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.”

Special Olympics: Comparable to the president’s dismal bowling scores

Super Bowl: Where you go “on the taxpayer’s dime”

Supreme Court: Would “open the floodgates for special interests”

Supreme Court Justice Thomas: “I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don’t think that he, I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation.”

Tea Party: “The teabag, anti-government people”

The target list grows weekly. By the end of 2012, those on it may outnumber those not.

— NRO contributor Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author most recently of the just-released The End of Sparta, a novel about ancient freedom.

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Support for Health Care Law at New Low

Oct 28, 2011 12:01am

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new poll tonight finding a significant drop in favorable views of the new federal health care law, to their lowest since the law was passed in March 2010.

Just 34 percent of Americans now view the Affordable Care Act favorably, down 7 points from last month. (It was about this low, 35 percent, in July 2010). Fifty-one percent now view the law unfavorably, numerically a new high (likewise, by one point).

Kaiser says the drop occurred mainly among Democrats, who, while they still are more supportive of the law than are other Americans, have grown less so. It suggests glum economic views are a factor and also notes persistent criticism of the law in the GOP debates.

Just 18 percent of Americans now think the law will improve things for them personally, down from 27 percent in September. And just 28 percent think it’ll make things better for the country - another new low, and down from 38 percent.

Michael Reagan joins The Wells Report to discuss Colonel Gaddafi's Death

Links to several stories about the death of the deposed Dictator of Libya.  Some may contain video.  Please consider before viewing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/obama-speaks-on-death-of-moammar-gaddafi/2011/10/20/gIQAOF6x0L_video.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/libya-video/8838887/Libya-Tripoli-celebrates-reports-of-Gaddafis-death.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/libya-video/8716026/The-rise-and-fall-of-Colonel-Gaddafi-42-years-of-the-mad-dog-dictator.html

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/20/c_131203178.htm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/africa/5826988/Lockerbie-victims-families-welcome-Gaddafis-death

Six things to watch in GOP presidential debate tonight

From USA Today

The GOP candidates for president meet tonight for a debate focused solely on the economy, the issue that will drive much of the 2012 campaign.

The U.S. economy added 103,000 jobs in September -- a number that was better than expected by experts -- but the national unemployment rate remained at 9.1%. The snail's pace of the recovery has prompted concerns that the sluggish economy will be here for a while, well into the 2012 presidential campaign.

Tonight's face-off is hosted by Bloomberg TV and The Washington Post and will be held at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, starting at 8 p.m. ET. Check your local listings on where to find Bloomberg TV or watch the livestream video on the Post's website. We'll live-blog in On Politics.

Here's our preview of six things to watch during the forum:

1. Rick Perry, the debater: The Texas governor, the leader in national polls two weeks ago, has seen his support drop by half in the latest Gallup Poll. Part of the reason is Perry's uneven debate performances and the last event, in Florida on Sept. 22, is widely viewed as his worst. He sometimes rambled in his answers, such as on a question about Pakistan, and he faded toward the end. Perry's wife, Anita, told an Iowa audience that Perry would be "better prepared next time." Unnamed Perry advisers told The New York Times that one prescriptive is to require Perry to get more sleep.

2. Jobs, jobs, jobs: Mitt Romney, who has reclaimed the top spot in the latest presidential surveys, has made job creation and the economy the centerpiece of his campaign. He's sparred frequently with Perry over who has the better record on job creation and who is best equipped to fix what ails the economy. Tonight's focus gives Romney another opportunity to hit Perry for such things as overseeing zero job growth in Texas during August. Likewise, Perry will have a chance to jab Romney with two oft-repeated statistics: Massachusetts ranked 47th in job creation while Romney was governor and the state's health care law he signed has cost 18,000 jobs. The second number has been debunked by some experts, as Factcheck.org has analyzed.

3. Herman Cain on the hotseat: The former Godfather's Pizza chief executive has surged as Perry has fallen and is behind Romney in Gallup and other national polls. With that kind of meteoric rise comes more scrutiny, and Cain could emerge as a new punching bag in tonight's debate. His 9-9-9 plan -- which calls for a 9% corporate tax rate, 9% national sales tax and 9% income tax rate -- is getting more attention. USA TODAY's Jackie Kucinich reports that tax experts say the Cain plan would create a larger burden on low-income people. Cain says he's ready for the "gotcha" questions and defended his 9-9-9 plan on the Sunday talk shows.

4. The setting for the GOP debate hosted by Bloomberg TV and The Washington Post.

CAPTIONBloomberg TV4. President Obama as target: Obama has been like the elephant in the room at all the GOP debates. Each Republican wants his job, and each finds a way to turn the conversation back to Obama and his leadership. No doubt Obama's handling of the economy will come up repeatedly, as will his latest jobs plan. The GOP candidates and their allies in Congress have pounced on Obama's jobs plan because it seeks to increase taxes on the wealthy. The Senate could deal a blow to the Obama proposal before the debate even begins: A procedural vote is scheduled for as early as 5:30 p.m. ET.

5. The devil is in the details: Expect questions directed to the candidates about their specific proposals on jump-starting the economy. We've already mentioned Cain's 9-9-9 plan. Romney has a sweeping plan that covers about 160 pages. Jon Huntsman, a former Utah governor, has his own plan that centers on a dramatic revamping of the tax code. Ex-House speaker Newt Gingrich calls for eliminating capital gains taxes, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul would get rid of the IRS altogether. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann talks about reducing federal regulations, and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum is among those calling for a repeal of the Dodd-Frank law passed last year that imposed rules on Wall Street.


6. The stagecraft and audience reaction: The candidates will be seated side-by-side at a roundtable, facing moderator Charlie Rose and panelists Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post and Bloomberg TV's Julianna Goldman. They'll be surrounded by about 860 audience members, including local, state and national GOP leaders and Dartmouth students and faculty. The format is being touted as a way to facilitate "serious and substantive debate." In two previous forums, some audience reaction has come into play: A gay soldier who posed a question by video got booed, and someone shouted, "Let him die" when Paul was asked what he would do to help a sick man without health insurance.

Obama By the Numbers

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