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WEDNESDAY,  JUNE 16,  2010

AND AGAIN – AT 7:52 P.M. ET:  I'm sure there's an explanation for this.  Perhaps alienation.  Perhaps a tradition we don't understand.  Perhaps a legitimate grievance against imperialist America and its destruction of Helen Thomas.  The truth will come out.  From the Dallas Morning News:

A 45-year-old Arlington (Texas) woman who has had past run-ins with counterterrorism agents has pleaded guilty to federal charges after police found three pipe bombs in a pickup she was driving.

Kimberly Al-Homsi and Yasinul Ansari, her 18-year-old accomplice, both entered pleas before U.S. District Judge John McBryde in Fort Worth. They admitted to one count each of possession of an unregistered firearm, in this case homemade pipe bombs found in the truck in February.

They could each receive up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine when sentenced Sept. 24.

Plea papers filed after a Friday court hearing offer no clues as to why Al-Homsi and Ansari, one of her son’s friends, spent early February buying pipes and gunpowder at Arlington hardware and sporting goods stores and assembling bombs in her apartment bedroom.

Maybe it was their Fourth of July celebration.

The afternoon of Feb. 13, a motorist called 911 to report that someone in a pickup had pointed a weapon at him on West Abram Street in Arlington.

Police found the truck and tried to pull it over, but the driver did not stop. The pursuit ended in Fort Worth after the truck carrying the pair hit ice at Rosedale Street near Loop 820.

Police found a toy gun inside, in addition to three pipe bombs in a bag.

And...

Al-Homsi’s history of provocative behavior has attracted the attention of not only local media, but also police and federal counterterrorism agents.

She first made headlines days before Christmas in 2005 when she waved a fake grenade at a motorist on Central Expressway in Dallas. She was charged with a bomb hoax and received probation.

On Feb. 25, 2007, Al-Homsi and a friend, Aisha Abdul-Rahman Hamad, were spotted at Dallas Love Field walking back and forth, apparently pacing off distances. When confronted, the women told officials they were looking for the Frontiers of Flight museum.

And...

In interviews with reporters, Al-Homsi has claimed to have dual American and Syrian citizenship, as well as overseas weapons training. She also claimed to have known Wadih el Hage, the former Arlington tire dealer convicted of being a personal aide to Osama bin Laden.

Authorities say she has no terrorist ties.

Oh, come on.  What does she need, a membership card and a signed photo of bin Laden?

June 16, 2010     Permalink

THIS SHOULD OUTRAGE EVERY AMERICAN – AT 7:35 P.M. ET:  The United States Government is, in effect, ceding American territory to criminals.  I don't recall anything like this ever happening before.  Do you?  From Fox:

About 3,500 acres of southern Arizona have been closed off to U.S. citizens due to increased violence at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The closed off area includes part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge that stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told Fox News that violence against law enforcement officers and U.S. citizens has increased in the past four months, forcing officers on an 80 mile stretch of Arizona land north of the Mexico border off-limits to Americans.

The refuge had been adversely affected by the increase in drug smugglers, illegal activity and surveillance, which made it dangerous for Americans to visit.

"The situation in this zone has reached a point where continued public use of the area is not prudent," said refuge manager Mitch Ellis.

“It’s literally out of control,” said Babeu. “We stood with Senator McCain and literally demanded support for 3,000 soldiers to be deployed to Arizona to get this under control and finally secure our border with Mexico. “

And...

“We need support from the federal government. It’s their job to secure the border and they haven’t done it,” said Babeu. “In fact, President Obama suspended the construction of the fence and it’s just simply outrageous.”

Sheriff, they just don't care.  There are probably plenty of people around the president who believe the southwest should be returned to Mexico, or turned into some multicultural theme park. 

Oh, that guy McCain – wasn't he the one who ran against Obama and lost?  I wonder how many Americans would vote the same way today. 

June 16, 2010     Permalink

OH DEAR, OH, DEAR, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE? – AT 7:20 P.M. ET:  We prefer the Rasmussen poll because Scott Rasmussen polls among likely voters, the ones who actually show up, and his track record is solid.  So today's results will probably hit the White House with the impact of the Gulf oil spill.  Oh, wait, it'll have to be much more than that to get Obama's attention:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).

Forty-eight percent (48%) of Democrats Strongly Approve while 75% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 12% Strongly Approve and 52% Strongly Disapprove.

That unaffiliated figure is disastrous for the president.  Neither party can win a presidential election with only its own followers.  They need independents, and independents are turning away from Obama in massive numbers.

Overall, 42% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. That’s the lowest level of approval yet recorded for this president. Fifty-seven percent (57%) now disapprove. The president’s approval rating has held steady in the 46% - 47% range for six months and it remains to be seen whether this new low is merely statistical noise or the start of a lasting change.

That would certainly be change we can believe in. 

But remember, no relaxing.  Obama is an astute politician who can fight back, and the GOP isn't winning popularity contests.  The November midterms are four and a half months away, and we must be in fighting mode.

June 16, 2010      Permalink

WHAT RECOVERY? – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  There are troubling signs that the already dubious economic "recovery" is stalling.  Are we in for a double-dip recession?  With economic damage from the Gulf spill added to everything else, we have to consider that possibility:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Home construction plunged in May to its lowest level since December, as builders scaled back after a federal tax credit to lure buyers expired.

In a second report, declines in the cost of food and energy helped to drive down wholesale prices in May for a second month.

The housing report also showed that building permits declined in May, a sign the construction industry would not fuel the economic recovery.

The Commerce Department said that construction of new homes and apartments fell 10 percent in May from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000. April’s figure was revised downward to 659,000.

The results were driven by a 17 percent decline in the single-family market, which had benefited earlier in the year from federal tax credits of up to $8,000.

COMMENT:  The American people lack confidence in the real economy.  They are not impressed by the fact that the casino economy on Wall Street is making money.  They know that states are approaching bankruptcy, the federal government's debt keeps rising, and unemployment hasn't been dented.

And the administration continues to blame BUSH (!!) and CHENEY (!!!!).

Hope 'n change have clearly failed.  Maybe it's time for knowledge and competence.  Okay, I admit it.  I like the old-fashioned virtues.

June 16, 2010     Permalink

DON'T BE TOO SHOCKED – SICKENED YES, SHOCKED NO – AT 8:59 A.M. ET:  Apparently, Syria, having given us nothing, will get some neat gifts from the United States:

WASHINGTON—The State Department has dispatched a high-level diplomatic and trade mission to Syria, according to senior U.S. officials, marking the latest bid by the Obama administration to woo President Bashar al-Assad away from his strategic alliance with Iran.

The U.S. delegation comprises senior executives from some of America's top technology companies, including Microsoft Corp., Dell Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp., according to the U.S. officials. All these companies' businesses in Syria are constrained by U.S. sanctions.

The mission is controversial, given recent U.S. allegations that Syria transferred missiles to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Syria, Hezbollah and Lebanon deny the allegations.

U.S. officials said the business delegation will meet with Mr. Assad and his cabinet and seek to facilitate the flow of information technology into the Arab state, which is ranked by watchdog group Freedom House as among the most repressive in the world.

COMMENT:  Well, Hillary Clinton is secretary of state, and her husband, as president, transferred sensitive technology to China.  So I'm not entirely shocked by this move.  But it would be disgraceful to give Syria anything, even a handshake, unless we're guaranteed something of value in return, like a change in Syrian friendship with Iran. 

One more act of appeasement, one more demonstration that the loyalties of this administration lie with the Muslim world.

June 16, 2010     Permalink

NORTH KOREA AS LECTURER AND TEACHER – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  North Korea gives a perfect lesson in how a rogue nation acts when confronted by a weak, appeasement-oriented United States.  From the New York Post:

You got to hand it to the North Koreans; they don’t take anything from anyone.

First they torpedo and sink a South Korean warship. Then as tensions mount between the two nations with the South imposing trade restrictions on the North and the North cutting off ties with the South in response, the United Nations Security Council is supposed to come in to investigate. The South wants the North to admit its crime. Not likely given the North’s response to the mere suggestion of an investigation.

North Korean UN ambassador Sin Son Ho declared that "If the Security Council release(s) any documents against us condemning or questioning us in any document, then myself as (a) diplomat, I can do nothing — but follow-up measures will be carried out by our military forces," he warned.

Got that? North Korea is demanding that the UN investigation bring “to light the truth of the incident impartially and objectively," North Korea’s government-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary Wednesday. And essentially if the country isn’t satisfied with the outcome of that investigation it will respond militarily.

COMMENT:  What does North Korea have to fear?  Apparently nothing.  The United States is, under Obama, almost indifferent to the sinking of the South Korean ship.  And the South Korean public, tragically, has become almost as casual, possibly reflecting the reality that, with a weak America, confronting North Korea might not be a good idea.

June 16, 2010      Permalink

MORE WORMINESS IN FLORIDA – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  The Florida race for a U.S. Senate seat, once considered reasonably safe for Marco Rubio, turns more tumultuous by the day, and Rubio's future is in serious doubt:

The emergence of a politically unknown billionaire self-funder in the Florida Senate race is prompting top Democrats in the state to say publicly what some have been whispering for weeks: If Jeff Greene, who got rich betting on the collapse of the housing market, becomes their nominee, many in the party will have the cover they need to get behind Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist.

Greene is detested by Dems.  His background is filled with baggage.

Establishment Democrats in Florida, for now, are sticking with Rep. Kendrick Meek, who lags far behind in early general election polls against Crist and Republican Marco Rubio. Yet with Greene promising to drop at least $40 million of his fortune on the primary and pulling neck and neck with Meek in one survey, Sunshine State Democrats are beginning to consider the increasingly realistic prospect that their nominee might be a “meltdown mogul” — one who collects erotic art, had Mike Tyson serve as his best man and once hosted “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss as a house guest.

If Democrats start endorsing "independent" Charlie Crist, the current governor and former Republican, Crist might win a decisive advantage.  Still, it's Florida, and you never know. 

Crist is currently leading in the three-way race, even without Democratic support.

This is too bad, and bad luck for Marco Rubio, a true rising star in the Republican Party.  We'll follow the race closely.

June 16, 2010     Permalink

POSSIBLE? – AT 8:07 A.M. ET:  NRO is reporting a new poll that gives hope to the GOP in California:

I think we’ll know very soon if this CrossTarget poll of the California Senate race is an outlier, or whether Carly Fiorina has gotten enough of a bump from her primary win to make this a neck-and-neck race with Barbara Boxer.

Boxer 46.5%

Fiorina 47.0%

Undecided 6.5%

Rasmussen had Boxer by 5, but the incumbent’s lead has been pretty marginal in most recent polls: 6, 3, 9, 4, 7, 1.

And if Barbara Boxer really is in trouble… well, the Democrats had better run and hide in the rest of the country.

COMMENT:  Approach this with caution.  But, even if the poll is off by as much as five points, Boxer would still be in serious trouble. 

June 16,  2010     Permalink

TUESDAY,  JUNE 15,  2010

THE PRESIDENT HAS SPOKEN – AT 9:05 P.M. ET:  Look outside.  The oceans are receding.  The oil is drying up.  BP is building windmills.  Taliban fighters are playing Doris Day records.  And all because of Barack.

Okay, now wake up.  According to The New York Times, here's what Obama said:

WASHINGTON — President Obama told the nation Tuesday night that he would instruct BP officials “set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners” harmed by the Gulf oil spill, and he named Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to develop a long-range plan to “restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region.”

Aren't we lucky.  Question for lawyers:  Does the president have the legal authority to "instruct" BP to do anything?   I don't know Ray Mabus, but isn't secretary of the Navy a full-time job?  Is the "long-range" plan something for weekends?  Vacation days off?

You just don't get the feeling that this administration puts much thought into anything the president says or does.  It's show biz.

Democrats and their allies immediately seized on Mr. Obama’s address to say it could help swing the public behind comprehensive energy legislation, stalled in the Senate, that would address dependence on foreign oil and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are responsible for warming the planet.

It would also cost American families a mint, with no guarantee of results. 

But Republicans, who are deeply opposed to Mr. Obama’s idea of capping carbon emissions, accused the president of manipulating the crisis for political gain.

“Exploiting the tragedy in the Gulf to try to ram through a devastating job-killing national energy tax is more of the same Chicago-style politics that has the President’s approval ratings plummeting to an all-time low,” said Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chairman.

A bit harsh, but pretty accurate.  Before we enact more Obama legislation, we'd better find out exactly what's in it.

The speech changes nothing.  No new ideas.  No breakthroughs on cleaning up the mess. 

You didn't miss anything.  But be careful of that "energy" legislation, with its accompanying costs and taxes. 

June 15, 2010       Permalink

COMING TO A LIBERAL, UNDERSTANDING CITY NEAR YOU – AT 8:06 P.M. ET:  This has happened in Britain before, and should be a warning to us.  But the people who allow this kind of thing to happen don't care:

Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade by soldiers.

Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such as 'Butchers return' and 'What are you dying for? £18k'.

They were soon confronted by 100 people, some wearing English Defence League T-shirts, who shouted 'scum' and 'Muslim bombers off our streets'.

Police, who had received intelligence warning of trouble at the march in Barking, Essex, separated the groups behind barriers on opposite sides of the road.

But violence flared after 200 soldiers from 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment - who lost five men in a recent tour of Afghanistan and had been granted freedom of the borough - marched past thousands of well-wishers.

MAC supporters shouted slogans such as 'murderers, murderers' and 'British troops go to hell', while the mainly white crowd opposite, some of whom are believed to have been BNP supporters, threw frozen pork sausages and chanted 'scum' and 'Allah, Allah, who the f*** is Allah?'

COMMENT:  Well, neither side behaved well, but I'd point out that the Muslim extremists are welcomed into Britain by British immigration policy.  Why?

The other nuts are commonplace and can be dealt with by the police.

We recall the horrible welcome accorded some American troops when they returned from their noble effort in Vietnam.  It can happen again. 

June 15, 2010      Permalink

A WARNING FOR EUROPE – AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  Some people really do understand the debt crisis in Europe.  From London's Daily Mail:

Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned.

In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money.

The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds.

The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds.

COMMENT:  We should recall that all three countries were recently run by dictators, including the colonels in Greece.  And if the debt crisis should spread, add Italy to the list, and possibly even Germany. 

The tragedy is that there are some "intellectuals" in Europe who wouldn't mind dictatorships, except they'd demand dictatorships of the left.  Individual freedom means very little to a certain class of deep thinkers.

And let's also caution that democracy isn't guaranteed in the United States, especially if government gets greater and greater control of things, and Obama-appointed judges approve the schemes.

June 15, 2010      Permalink

BULLETIN – AT 6:35 P.M. ET:  Washingtonpost.com has a new headline up at this hour:

Signs of strain in BP, White House relationship

We wonder how much journalistic shoe leather it took to dig that one out.

June 15, 2010      Permalink

PATHETIC, JUST PATHETIC – AT 10:43 A.M. ET:  Related to the story just below, the United States continues to cozy up to third-world dictatorships, the better to be "understood" by those advanced societies.  Anne Bayefsky reports on the latest chapter in our decline as a nation:

Just as Iranians were reminded of their stolen June 2009 election and continued oppression, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) decided to kick them while they’re down. On June 10, with the active involvement and approval of the Obama administration, the Council adopted a decision on human rights in Iran that was a sentence long and contained no condemnation whatsoever.

The context was a review by the Council of Iran’s human rights record, as part of the Council’s consideration of all 192 UN states. The review featured a vigorous defense by Iranian representatives of Iran’s stellar human rights achievements, followed by Iran’s rejection of a host of “recommendations” made to improve its actual behavior. The “outcome” was a sentence identical for dictatorships and democracies alike, in which the Council merely refers to a bundle of documents containing praise, criticisms and responses without drawing any conclusion attributable to the Council itself.

The incomprehensible UN decision reads: "The Human Rights Council...Adopts…the report of the Working Group on the Islamic Republic of Iran, together with the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the recommendations and/or conclusions, as well as its voluntary commitments and its replies presented before the adoption of the outcome by the plenary to questions or issues that were not sufficiently addressed during the interactive dialogue in the Working Group.”

The reaction from the Obama administration was to declare victory and to manufacture something positive to say about Iran. On June 10, U.S. Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe rushed to the UN microphones in Geneva to announce repeatedly: “I have to emphasize that we are very pleased that Iran was willing to participate at all…. In the case of Iran, we applaud the willingness to participate at all…. We’re pleased that at least they were willing to show up.”

COMMENT:  What a pathetic embarrassment.  We praise the Iranian thugs for showing up.  What is equally pathetic is that there has not been a single resignation in protest from the Obama administration.  We expected more of Hillary Clinton, but she's fallen in line. 

We joined the Human Rights Council, ostensibly to improve it, after it was boycotted by President Bush (who looks better and better every day).  Instead, we've adapted to the Council's ways.  How chic and third-world we've become.

June 15, 2010     Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  As freedom fighters in Iran commemorate the first anniversary of their failed uprising, failed in part because Barack Hussein Obama Jr. would not get behind it, Australian journalist David Burchell laments the West's behavior toward those who fight for democracy:

IT is surely one of the great paradoxes of this age that while many of our cleverest minds have fallen headlong in love with peoples whose causes are more or less entirely alien to us, we can find no stirring in our hearts for peoples whose greatest hope is to become . . . well, more like us.

Thus we artlessly dispatched our hearts on a sentimental journey to Gaza designed for our benefit by the canny Islamists in Ankara and their bloodstained allies in Gaza; people who, in any other context, would treat our Western soft-heartedness and woolly-mindedness with undisguised contempt.

And yet our hearts have no space whatever for the thousands of young Iranian students who, on Saturday, defied the threats of their government, the beatings of the extra-legal militias, and the pusillanimity of their erstwhile leaders, merely to ask for the right to have their votes treated with dignity, rather than being fabricated out of some dodgy Russian software in Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

To the best of my knowledge, not one single person has died at the hands of Iran's green opposition, even as thousands of their number have been arrested, hundreds sexually and physically tortured in prison, and dozens murdered in loneliness, often in the most squalid and humiliating of circumstances. Their cause has been Gandhian, almost to a fault. ("The students will die, but they will not accept humiliation", they chanted at Tehran University.)

And yet their plight leaves us entirely cold. Who knows: if they strapped bombs to themselves, or professed a secret admiration for the racial policies of the Third Reich, would they then become sufficiently exotic to pique our jaded imaginations, and would we then love them a little more?

COMMENT:  Burchell is, of course, referring to the Western left, that gang of political prostitutes who will do anything and say anything to be promoted in a university or on a newspaper, grab an award, acquire a commencement-speech invitation, or just be invited to a proper party on Manhattan's west side.

Now that left has a champion in the White House, a man who took four days to make it to a microphone to say a few boilerplate words about freedom when Iranians were in the streets.  Think about the implications.

June 15, 2010     Permalink

EVEN IN NEW YORK – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  It isn't only Barack Obama who's suffering in the polls.  Even in New York we're seeing a drop in Democratic candidates' numbers, although not nearly enough to produce a GOP upset.  But, hey, it's early yet.  From the New York Post:

ALBANY – Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s huge lead over his Republican rivals for governor slipped in recent weeks as independent support for Democrats tumbled across the board, the latest Siena poll found.

The statewide survey shows Cuomo’s favorability rating fell eight points to 59 percent, its lowest level since December 2008. The Democratic standard bearer remains the state’s most popular figure, but he lost significant support from independent voters in hypothetical matchups against GOP hopefuls Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino.

However, the poll shows those voters aren’t exactly leaping into the Republican column.

Cuomo leads Lazio 60-24 percent, down from 66-24 percent on the eve of the state party conventions last month. He ahead of Paladino 60-23 percent, compared to 65-22 percent in the earlier survey.

The state’s two Democratic U.S. senators, who each face election this year, suffered similar declines as independents walked away from New York’s ruling party.

Both Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand saw their commanding leads over a field of unknown Republicans shrink. Schumer’s favorability dropped 10 points to an all-time low of 54 percent.

COMMENT:  Opportunities present themselves, but opportunities must be seized.  One can only imagine what would be happening if there were an effective Republican Party in New York State.  But there isn't.  Republicans are content to pick up the leftovers that Democrats leave them.  Cuomo is beatable for governor, but not by a candidate who's polling at 24 percent. 

I don't think Schumer is beatable.  But Gillibrand, a nonentity appointed by outgoing Gov. David Paterson to fill Hillary Clinton's seat, and running to serve out Clinton's term, is clearly beatable.  But the GOP can't come up with a stellar candidate in a place that calls itself "the empire state."

In New York, the Republican Party belongs to the highest-ranking Republican official in the state.  There ain't no Republican too high right now.  And Rudy Giuliani looks like a man who has retired from electoral politics. 

June 15, 2010     Permalink

OBAMA GALLUPS INTO THE SUNSET – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  Mr. Obama continues to produce weak poll numbers.  Nothing he does seems to improve them, and there's nothing on the horizon to suggest that his situation will improve.  From Gallup:

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama's job approval rating is 46% for the week ending June 13, with an identical number disapproving. This matches the lowest weekly job approval rating of Obama's presidency, recorded two weeks earlier, and is slightly lower than the 47% from a week ago.

Two record-low three-day job approval ratings in the past week helped Obama's weekly average tie the lowest of his presidency. Gallup reported a 44% approval rating last Thursday and again on Saturday. Prior to last week, the lowest three-day approval figure for Obama in Gallup Daily tracking had been 45%, a percentage that has now been reached seven times since the start of April...

...In contrast with earlier in the year, when Obama's approval dipped solely among independents and Republicans, the latest decline -- on the order of two to three percentage points -- is seen about equally with all three party groups.

COMMENT:  In other words, Obama is declining among Democrats as well.  But we give our usual caution:  While this is good news for our side, there is nothing to suggest that the Republican Party is gaining any great popularity.  Republicans are benefiting from the president's declining favorability and monumental ineptitude.  Recall please that Carter, despite a disastrous record, was leading even the great Ronald Reagan until the last weeks of the 1980 campaign. 

There's hard work ahead.  No slouching.

June 15, 2010     Permalink

OBAMA ADDRESSES HIS SUBJECTS – AT 8:26 A.M. ET:  We await President Obama's speech to the nation tonight on the oil spill, with the same enthusiasm with which we await Helen Thomas's debut as a Victoria's Secret model.

It is of course a thrill when dear leader addresses us, giving us the benefit of the wisdom he's accumulated in life.  And that's only the first minute.

What to listen for tonight?  Nothing, really.  The president will rail against BP, which certainly deserves a good chunk of the blame, and surely must write some large checks.  He'll weep and wail about the people of the Gulf, whom he probably regards, privately, as a gang of racists.  He'll tell us all he has done, including going down to the Gulf between rock concerts at the White House, and filling up on good Cajun food.

But most of all, the president, reflecting the theme of this administration, will not let this crisis go to waste, and will make "proposals."  Watch those proposals carefully.  They were probably dreamed up in about three minutes.  They will cost plenty, and produce little, but will make various constituencies happy.

This is a failed administration.  However, failed administrations, even after they start losing popularity, can do immense damage.  The Carter administration, which Obama's resembles, left us with huge inflation and a new, hostile Iran.  We can only imagine what gifts we're about to receive from a man who clearly regards himself as above his meager nation.

So watch tonight.  Have potato chips ready.  You'll need the sound of the crunching to drown out the spin.

June 15,  2010     Permalink