Annals of the One Percent

Obama flies special barber from Chicago to White House every ten to fourteen days.

I imagine that makes quite the carbon footprint.

Punching Back Twice as Hard

The Romney Campaign continues to impress:

Loud and rowdy supporters of Mitt Romney in Boston drowned out an attempt by President Obama campaign’s top strategist to attack the former Republican governor on his home turf.

In a morning news conference on the steps of the Massachusetts Statehouse,David Axelrod, one of Mr. Obama’s senior strategists, tried mostly in vain on Thursday to level Mr. Obama’s latest broadside on Mr. Romney’s record as governor of the state.

Instead, he was booed, heckled and chanted down by supporters of Mr. Romney who refused to let up even for a moment as Mr. Axelrod and Democratic state lawmakers sought to make their case.

With cameras rolling, the Republican hecklers yelled “We Want Mitt!” and “Broken Record!” and held signs that said “Go Back to Chicago!”

Better still:

Romney launched a sneak attack of his own, holding a news conference at the headquarters of Solyndra, the bankrupt solar energy company that received $535 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration. According to reporters traveling with Romney, the campaign did not tell the press about the event until the bus was actually on its way to Solyndra.

"The reason for keeping it quiet is because we knew if word got out that Solyndra would do everything in their power and the Obama administration would do everything in their power to stop us from having this news conference," a Romney aide told reporters, according to an ABC News account. "But taxpayers made a substantial investment in Solyndra, there are serious questions about what happened at Solyndra, why that investment was selected, what happened to that money."

 It's definitely not 2008 anymore.

Update:  In sending supporters to Axelrod rally, Romney fulfilled his promise.

America's First Black, Gay . . . Jewish? President

Yesterday, Obama told a group of Jewish community leaders that "he probably knows about Judaism more than any other president."  I imagine this shouldn't come as much of a surprise from a man who knows more about managing a campaign than his campaign managers and more about writing speeches than his speech writers.  Still, James Madison and John Quincy Adams were unavailable for comment.    

Smart Diplomacy

Yesterday, Obama offended a close American ally, Poland, by referring to a Nazi Holocaust site as a "Polish death camp."

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Obama's words had hurt all Poles and he expected more from Washington than just regret.

"I am convinced that our American friends can today allow themselves a stronger reaction than a simple expression of regret from the White House spokesman -- a reaction more inclined to eliminate once and for all these kinds of errors," Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.

"Today, this is a problem for the reputation of the United States," the prime minister said.

Members of Poland's Jewish community -- including the country's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich -- said in a statement that: "We expect President Barack Obama to personally correct his words."

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski said meanwhile he had sent a letter to Obama "counting on (...) cooperation in correcting this unfortunate error" which "I am certain in no way reflects the thoughts or views of our American friend."

While this verbal miscue probably reflects incompetence and amateurism more than anything else (though imagine the left's reaction if Bush were the guilty party), it is but the latest incident to strain relations between America and Poland.  For example, it was back in September 2009, on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland, that Obama announced he would capitulate Russia and abandon the missile defense shield program Poland had previously agreed to host.

New Campaign Ad

The Romney Campaign's latest ad highlights the billions in taxpayer dollars Obama wasted on Solyndra and other companies that subsequently failed. Companies that also happened to be backed by big Democratic donors.

In related news, Obama's Bain attacks continue to backfire, as the Administration struggles to explain the difference between private equity and Obama's public equity model.

Obama Delays War on Pools Until After Election

The Obama DOJ recently issued new regulatory rules requiring all public swimming pools to provide a lift capable of moving disabled patrons from their wheelchairs into the water.

Compliance with the rule requires pool owners to have a lift for each “water element” in their facility. So if your local community pool also has a spa, both the spa and the pool must be “accessible.” But if you have two spas, don’t worry, only one lift is required.

In fact, most people in the swimming pool industry thought that one portable lift would be enough. Pool owners claim they were led to believe that, as long as they had one device that could be wheeled out whenever someone needed help getting into or out of a pool or spa, there would be no need intrusive permanent fixtures.

But then industry leaders began hearing rumors last year that Obama’s DOJ would require permanently fixed lifts for each pool and spa. They began to write letters to DOJ asking for clarification on the issue.

On Jan. 31 of this year, DOJ granted the industry’s call for a clarification: But it was not the answer they wanted. All 300,000 public pools in the United States must install a permanent fixed lift.

Simply put, this means more litigation, higher costs, and fewer public pools as operators are forced to close when they are otherwise unable to comploy.  Conveniently, however, Obama has decided not to enforce the new rules until next year . . .  giving us one more reason to vote him out this year. 

The Church Against Obamacare

FNS host Chris Wallace interviews Cardinal David Wuerl, the Archbiship of Washington on the 12 lawasuits brought by 43 Catholic institutions against contraceptive mandate.  Among other things, they discuss the First Amendment issues involved and the lack of news coverage from other media outlets.

Romney Tops Obama By 28 Points Among Male Veterans

So finds a new Gallup poll released today.

Happy Memorial Day!

God Bless America and its fallen heroes.

A User's Guide To Smoking Pot With Barack Obama

No really.  Among the highlights:

When you were with Barry and his pals, if you exhaled precious pakalolo (Hawaiian slang for marijuana, meaning "numbing tobacco") instead of absorbing it fully into your lungs, you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around.  "Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated."

Of course, Obama now punishes people (and much more severely, I might add) for inhaling, which brings us back to . . .

"Eventually You Run Out Of Other People's Money"

We are clearly nearing that point:  Half of all US households receiving government benefits.

Hat tip to Vodkapundit.

The Amateur

Bill Whittle interviews Ed Klein on his latest, "The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House."  For those unfamiliar with the book, its title comes from Bill Clinton's assessment of Obama.

Change

The number of high-school students with jobs has hit a 20 year low:

The American job market is no place for students as the number of employed high schoolers has hit its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to new figures from the National Center for Education Statistics.

In 1990, 32 percent of high school students held jobs, versus just 16 percent now. Blame their elders.

Sectors that traditionally have offered teens their first paying gig — fast-food chains, movie theaters, malls and big-box retailers — have now become the last resorts for out-of-work college graduates or older Americans forced back into the labor force out of sheer financial necessity. The resulting squeeze has left students on the outside looking in.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Today Is Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day

Graphic Stolen from Michell Malkin's site

This post is a bit off topic for this site, but I felt it was necessary to take part in "Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day," an effort to defend free speech and, in particular, bloggers that have been  (or will be) targeted by harassment and intimidation. 

For those who don't know who Brett Kimberlin is, I refer you to this story in the Washington Examiner for some background:

Brett Kimberlin, [is] an activist and the founder of the group Velvet Revolution who was convicted in 1981 of exploding eight bombs in 1978 in Speedway, Ind. One of his bombs blew off the leg of a man who subsequently committed suicide.

Nowadays, Kimberlin targets conservative bloggers like Aaron Worthing and Robert Stacy McCain in Maryland, and Patrick Frey of Patterico's Pontifications in California. Why? For publishing facts about Kimberlin's criminal record.

Kimberlin harasses his targets by, among many other ways, filing false charges in courts that require expensive, time-consuming litigation, disrupting his targets' workplaces, and dropping dark hints about spouses and kids.

Because McCain blogged about Kimberlin, his wife received threats that have forced them to leave their home for an undisclosed location.  For the same reason, Patrick Frey suffered through a month's long harassment campaign that included a SWAT team, guns drawn, being falsely sent to his family home.

I refer readers to each of their websites to read more about their individual experiences with Brett Kimberlin.  I also refer people to Michelle Malkin's site, where you can find a roundup on "Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day."

How to Make Obama's Spending Look Small

In one easy to follow infographic:

Another Record . . .

For Obama to add to his list of accomplishments.  He has now presided over the 30 worst months of unemployment in the last 25 years.

Forget Bain

Obama's public-equity record is the real scandal.

Despite a growing backlash from his fellow Democrats, President Obama has doubled down on his attacks on Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. But the strategy could backfire in ways Obama did not anticipate. After all, if Romney’s record in private equity is fair game, then so is Obama’s record in public equity — and that record is not pretty.

Since taking office, Obama has invested billions of taxpayer dollars in private businesses, including as part of his stimulus spending bill. Many of those investments have turned out to be unmitigated disasters — leaving in their wake bankruptcies, layoffs, criminal investigations and taxpayers on the hook for billions. 

Click the link for a list representing just some of these Obama public-equity failures.  Then there is this:

. . . fully 71 percent of the Obama Energy Department’s grants and loans went to “individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party.” Collectively, these Obama cronies raised $457,834 for his campaign, and they were in turn approved for grants or loans of nearly $11.35 billion. Obama said this week it’s not the president’s job “to make a lot of money for investors.” Well, he sure seems to have made a lot of (taxpayer) money for investors in his political machine.  

Hat tip to Instapundit. 

Devastating Debt Charts

James Pethokoukis has pointed to two charts that Romney should show at every campaign stop.  Here is the second one, which shows the long-term fiscal impact of the president’s recent budget:

This chart is terrifying and, what's more, it wasn't prepared by some right-wing think tank.  The Obama White House prepared it.

Is Obama a Big Spender?

Obama and his media surrogates are now trying to claim that he is not.  James Pethokoukis (and reality) lays waste to this argument.

More here.

Obama Wages War on Coal

Your budget is a casualty.

Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a shocking drop in power sector coal consumption in the first quarter of 2012. Coal-fired power plants are now generating just 36 percent of U.S. electricity, versus 44.6 percent just one year ago.

It’s the result of an unprecedented regulatory assault on coal that will leave us all much poorer.

Last week PJM Interconnection, the company that operates the electric grid for 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) held its 2015 capacity auction. These are the first real, market prices that take Obama’s most recent anti-coal regulations into account, and they prove that he is keeping his 2008 campaign promise to make electricity prices “necessarily skyrocket.”

The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt.

Why the massive price increases? Andy Ott from PJM stated the obvious: “Capacity prices were higher than last year's because of retirements of existing coal-fired generation resulting largely from environmental regulations which go into effect in 2015.” Northern Ohio is suffering from more forced coal-plant retirements than the rest of the region, hence the even higher price.

Last Night Was Another Rough One for Obama

Obama lost 36 Arkansas counties to a random Tennessee lawyer in the Democratic Primary.  Equally, if not more embarrassing for the President, 2 out of 5 Kentucky Democrats chose "uncommitted" rather than vote for him.

Does anyone still think Obama is a "strong" incumbent.

ObamaCare Fails to Deliver

And it wasn't even close:

Despite administration predictions that millions of small businesses would claim ObamaCare's health insurance tax credit, actual usage has been a trickle because it's not big enough to justify the lengthy compliance hurdles, a new Government Accountability Office report found.

Just 170,300 small businesses claimed the credit in 2010, Internal Revenue Service records show. The Obama administration's Council of Economic Advisers predicted 4 million businesses would claim it. The Small Business Administration forecast 2.6 million.

But the credit was too small to spur firms that didn't previously provide employee insurance to begin offering it, the GAO report said. That's in part because the credit was too complex for business owners.

Hat tip to Vodkapundit.

Would Obama Have Forced Mother Theresa to Supply Contraceptives and Sterilization Services?

It would appear so.  Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., made this point n an open letter on Monday and in a videotaped message observing that:

the Obama administration would not have considered the work of Mother Teresa as “religious” and thus would not have exempted her charitable organizations from a new federal regulation, issued under Obamacare, that will force Catholics to act against their faith.

“Under the mandate, even the work of Mother Teresa wouldn’t be qualified as religious,” said Cardinal Wuerl in the video.

“Contrary to America’s great tradition of religious freedom, embodied in the First Amendment, Catholic institutions will now be forced to act against their conscience and provide coverage for drugs and procedures they believe are morally wrong, simply because they serve people of all faiths or no faith equally,” said Cardinal Wuerl.

Mother Teresa founded a hospice in Washington, D.C., where members of her order, the Missionaries of Charity, care for people with advanced AIDS.

The administration’s new regulation includes a “religious” exemption, but that exemption is narrowly drawn and does not extend to Catholic lay persons or to Catholic hospitals, schools or charities.

Much more at the links above.

Penn Jillete's Obama Rant

He asks the question: Would Obama be President if he had been busted for doing drugs under the laws he now condones and aggressively enforces?
Language warning.

Another Democrat Criticizes Obama's Attacks on Bain Capital

On Morning Joe, Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. defended Cory Booker's criticism of the Obama attacks on private equity  explaining:

I agree with [Booker], private equity’s not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, private equity is a good thing in many, many instances,” Ford told the Morning Joe panel.

Obama vs. Catholics

Today, dozens of Catholic institutions, including the Archdiocese of New York and the University of Notre Dame, filed lawsuits against the Obama Administration challenging its attack on religious freedom via the contraception mandate.  As the University of Notre Dame explains in its complaint:

This lawsuit is about one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference. It is not about whether people have a right to abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. Those services are, and will continue to be, freely available in the United States, and nothing prevents the Government itself from making them more widely available. But the right to such services does not authorize the Government to force the University of Notre Dame (“Notre Dame”) to violate its own conscience by making it provide, pay for, and/or facilitate those services to others, contrary to its sincerely held religious beliefs.  American history and tradition, embodied in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, protects religious entities from such overbearing and oppressive governmental action. . . .

If the Government can force religious institutions to violate their beliefs in such a manner, there is no apparent limit to the Government’s power. Such an oppression of religious freedom violates Notre Dame’s clearly established constitutional and statutory rights.

The First Amendment also prohibits the Government from becoming excessively entangled in religious affairs and from interfering with a religious institution’s internal decisions concerning the organization’s religious structure, ministers, or doctrine. The U.S. Government Mandate tramples all of these rights.

More here.  And here.

The latest from Michael Ramirez

I know which resume I prefer.

Obama Surrogate Describes Anti-Romney Ad As "Nauseating"

Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Meet the Press:

"I have to just say from a very personal level, I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity," Booker said, referring to the Obama ad which spotlighted the story of a Kansas City steel company that went bankrupt after Bain Capital's involvement.

"If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses," he added. "And this, to me, I'm very uncomfortable with."

Booker tied the choices he faced as mayor to those faced by companies Bain dealt with.

"This is not about what happened at Bain Capital. Heck, I've reduced the employees in my city 25 percent because it's the only way my government would survive. Call me a job-cutter, if you want," he said.

Then there is also the fact that Romney had already left Bain by the time of the events involving that steel company.

Rep. Paul Ryan v. Former Obama Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee

Hat tip to Gateway Pundit.

Margaret Thatcher on Income Inequality

Rev. Wright Urged to Stay Silent Until After 2012

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose "God damn America" sermon set off a firestorm during the 2008 campaign, agreed not to publish an account of the episode until after President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, according to an interview Wright conducted with the author of a new book on Obama. Wright said he made the decision at the urging of a friend and mentor, the prominent University of Chicago emeritus professor Martin Marty.

I wonder why?

Warren Buffett Buys 73 Endorsements for Obama

How generous.

Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.

Althouse Ponders

Why Would Obama Pretend to Be Born in Kenya?

With the Focus Now Squarely On the General Election

I think it is worth remembering that this is not a "Sit-It-Out-And-Pout" election. This is a "Get-Obama-Out" election. 

Day One

The Romney Campaign has released its first television ad . . .

It sounds like a good day to me.

Broken Promises: 7 Times In 2008 Obama Promised To Create 7 Million New Jobs

Videos at the link.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

I Was Never a Birther

But was Barack Obama?



This is the Obama biography used by his literary agency from 1991 until 2007.  A copy of the 1991 promotional booklet was recently obtained by Breitbart.com.  Read the whole article at the link. 
More here.

Scary Chart of the Day

Via the Weekly Standard.

The Latest From Project Veritas' Voter Fraud Investigation

This time in North Carolina.

And yes, the Obama Administration still opposes state efforts to require voter identification.

Obama Shoehorns Himself Into the White House Biographies of Past Presidents

No seriously.  On the White House website, Obama has added bullet points bragging about his own accomplishments to the biographical sketches of every single U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge (except, for some reason, Gerald Ford). Here are a few examples: 

• On Feb. 22, 1924 Calvin Coolidge became the first president to make a public radio address to the American people. President Coolidge later helped create the Federal Radio Commission, which has now evolved to become the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). President Obama became the first president to hold virtual gatherings and town halls using Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.
• In a 1946 letter to the National Urban League, President Truman wrote that the government has “an obligation to see that the civil rights of every citizen are fully and equally protected.” He ended racial segregation in civil service and the armed forces in 1948. Today the Obama administration continues to strive toward upholding the civil rights of its citizens, repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, allowing people of all sexual orientations to serve openly in our armed forces.
• On August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Today the Obama administration continues to protect seniors and ensure Social Security will be there for future generations.

I can only assume that all Bibles in the White House will soon be edited to note that:  "Like Jesus, Obama also sports the middle initial of 'H'."  (As stolen from an Althouse reader).

More here. And here.

How's That Phony War on Women Working Out?

Shock Poll: Romney now leads among women.

Mickey Kaus Asks

How does Obama bribing Reverend Wright differ from John Edwards bribing Rielle Hunter?

You Think?

Survey: Obama’s switch on same-sex marriage mostly political.

Time will tell whether it was a good or bad political calculation.

The Good News: Obama Has Decided to Talk About the Economy for a Change

The Bad News:  Obama is only doing so to try and attack Romney over layoffs made by an Obama campaign bundler.

More Good News:  The Romney campaign has already put out a response.

Friends of Obama: Jeremiah Wright Claims Close Obama Ally Offered $150,000 Bribe in 2008 to Shut Up

Ed Morrissey, at HotAir, has this report:

In his new book on Barack Obama titled The Amateur, Edward Klein caught up with Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s minister and friend for 20 years and pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. The Hillary Clinton campaign nearly derailed Obama’s nomination by digging up Wright’s incendiary and controversial sermons at TUCC, including exhortations like, “God damn America!” and saying that 9/11 was nothing more than America’s chickens coming home to roost — among many other statements. Obama later proclaimed ignorance of Wright’s rants despite his long association with TUCC, and eventually renounced Wright and TUCC entirely when Wright wouldn’t keep his mouth shut.

In his on-the-record interview with Klein, Wright claims that an Obama ally offered him $150,000 to keep his mouth shut and stop preaching until after the election, in excerpts published by the New York Post . . . .

According to Wright, Obama [also] met personally with his then-pastor to ask him to do the same, although Obama apparently didn’t offer money for his silence. 

Read the whole thing.  Plus, additional thoughts from Legal Insurrection.

Happy Mother's Day

Here is a touching video tribute to Ann Romney from her five sons.

Still Spiking the Football

From The Guardian in Britain:

Detailed leaks of operational information about the foiled underwear bomb plot are causing growing anger in the US intelligence community, with former agents blaming the Obama administration for undermining national security and compromising the British services, MI6 and MI5.
The Guardian has learned from Saudi sources that the agent was not a Saudi national as was widely reported, but a Yemeni. He was born in Saudi Arabia, in the port city of Jeddah, and then studied and worked in the UK, where he acquired a British passport.

Mike Scheur, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, said the leaking about the nuts and bolts of British involvement was despicable and would make a repeat of the operation difficult. "MI6 should be as angry as hell. This is something that the prime minister should raise with the president, if he has the balls. This is really tragic," Scheur said.

Yet, as Professor Jacobson observed, this fits a larger pattern:

Whether it was naming Navy SEAL Team 6 as the group which killed bin Laden, or releasing details of how that mission was accomplished, leaking information which presents Obama in a good light is part of the political strategy.

You can’t properly spike a football without showing it to the crowd.  

The "Shiny Objects" Strategy

Ace looks at Obama and the media's strategy of talking about ANYTHING other than Obama's record of failure.

The Romneys

Probably not a story that will be featured in the Washington Post anytime soon.

The Latest from the Crack Investigative Team at the Washington Post

A 5,000 word hit piece on Mitt Romney regarding an alleged bullying incident when he was fifteen.  Unfortunately for the Washington Post, the story has already run into a number of problems. 

After this piece, I look forward to reading their exposé on the time Obama shoved a little girl.  Anything to avoid focusing on the economy.  

Blue States Worse Than Red Under Obama

So found Investor's Business Daily:

IBD compared average job growth, unemployment, changes in housing prices, per capita income and GDP growth, and gas prices for the 22 states that voted for John McCain in 2008 and the 28 states that voted for Obama.

On every indicator but one, blue states have done worse, on average, than red states.

One in Three Young U.S. Workers Are Underemployed

"Gallup's unemployment measures show that April has . . . brought gloomy job news for young Americans and underscores that this group has been struggling disproportionately for some time. Those aged 18 to 29 are more than twice as likely as those in any other age group to be underemployed."

Obama: American Troops Are “Fighting On My Behalf”

On his behalf?

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained . . . ."

Via Weasel Zippers.

In a Bold Move

Obama adopts a position on gay marriage that Dick Cheney articulated twelve years ago.  Gay marriage, birth control, dogs . . . .  It seems Obama is willing to talk about anything as long as it's not the economy.  I wonder why?

Mitt Romney on Barack Obama

If he "governed a little more like Bill Clinton did we’d be in much better shape now."  At this point, I would even say governing like Jimmy Carter would represent an improvement.

Obama Nearly Loses West Virginia Primary . . .

to a Texas inmate.  I think it's safe to put West Virginia in Romney's column for November.

Happy Birthday, F.A. Hayek!

From Reason.com.  In honor of his birthday, I invite readers to read (or reread) The Great Utopia from his book, The Road to Serfdom, a work that remains remarkably applicable today, though written more than 70 years ago.

Biden Puts Blame on America For Iranian Nuke Crisis: "We Were the Problem."

Yes, you read that correctly.  Here is the quote, via the Gateway Pundit:

“When we took office, let me remind you, there was virtually no international pressure on Iran. We were the problem. We were diplomatically isolated in the world, in the region, in Europe.”

As with everything else, this Administration is now trying to shift the blame it deserves for losing the Middle East.

Forward

The latest from Michael Ramirez

Obama Asks

Am I an Amerian?

Hat tip to Instapundit.

The Life of Julia

With just a few minor corrections made by Iowahawk. 

Hat tip to Vodkapundit.

Faux Outrage of the Day

During a Romney townhall, a woman said she believed Obama should be tried for treason for operating outside the limits of the constitution.  Romney didn't immediately comment, except to say that the Constitution is brilliant and "inspired."

Now, because Romney did not directly challenge the woman, the media is starting to run extremism stories and the President has released a statement saying Romney must "rebuke extremist voices."

Of course, this is a president hired who communists in his White House and hung out with terrorists.  It is also a president who had no problem calling Bush "unpatriotic." 

More examples of hypocrisy at the links above.

War Against the Young

 Past Obama supporter Walter Russell Mead

An analysis of recent jobs figures at Investor.com reveals a disturbing development: the biggest beneficiaries from the economic recovery are Boomers, while everyone else is getting the shaft.

Since the Obama administration took office, there has been an epochal shift. Young workers have continued to lose jobs and incomes, while older workers have actually gained ground.

In fact, the Obama administration has seen a boom in the prospects of the 55+ crowd; their (I should say ‘our’) employment stands at a 42 year high. Net, there are 3.9 new jobs for people over 55 since the recession began in December 2007, but there are 8.1 million fewer jobs for the young folks since that time.

Obama Launches Campaign in Half Empty Arena

Via Breitbart.com:  "It's a campaign faux pas to hold an event in a room that isn't full; to promise the media a more-than-capacity crowd then fall this far short of that promise is utter incompetence. In 2008, Obama ran a near-flawless campaign, buoyed by enthusiasm and effective organizing. But it's not 2008 any more, and on day one of the 2012 campaign, Team Obama has already made an embarrassing blunder."

Generational Theft

Senator Bob Corker: "As he appeals to college students, his Administration is robbing those same young people of their American inheritance, spending their money on my generation and engaging in nothing short of generational theft."

It's good to see Republicans starting to address this issue directly.  The trillions Obama has borrowed will have to be paid back eventually and that burden is going to fall disproportionately on America's younger generations.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Good Question

Romney to Obama:  Where are the jobs, Mr. President?

Unemployment Rate Drops, Despite A Mere 115,000 Jobs Created

So, then why did the unemployment rate drop from last month's rate of 8.2%?  Because 522,000 gave up looking for work, dropping out of the workforce.

That drops the labor force participation rate to its lowest point since 1981. 



Nonetheless, according to Obama, this is "good news."  That seems to suggest the Administrations has lowered its own expectations significantly from two years ago, when Joe Biden was predicting "the U.S. economy would be adding up to 500,000 jobs each month “some time in the next couple of months.”

Gangster Government

Over at Powerline, the latest on "the Obama campaign’s invitation of fraudulent and illegal giving through the disabling of basic credit card/debit card verification devices."

Meet Julia

Obama's composite woman (not to be confused with his composite girlfriend), who is apparently helpless without Obama's paternalistic government to take care of her (real fathers not needed).

Plus:  Twitter's take on Julia.

But What If You Like Your Plan?

The Washington Times reports:

Thanks to Obamacare, more people will find themselves without health insurance. It turns out President Obama’s signature accomplishment was so badly drafted that businesses are likely to find it more cost-effective to pay a government penalty than provide insurance to their employees. As a result, up to 6 million Americans with jobs could either be forced to find more expensive individual plans or go uninsured and pay the individual-mandate fine.

I Suppose No One Ever Said Google's Algorithms Are Perfect

It seems one of the first prominent ads featured on my site is offering a chance to win "Dinner with Barack" and is "Paid for by Obama for America" . . . .  I imagine it's still one of Obama's most efficient uses of resources  in the last three and a half years.

Obama Killed Bin Laden With His Bare Hands

You couldn't be faulted for thinking so anwyay, if you only heard Obama tell it.

Patterico points us to a recent WSJ article, by Michael Mukasey, in which he notes how Obama announced bin Laden's killing to America last year:

“I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority . . . even as I continued our broader effort. . . . Then, after years of painstaking work by my intelligence community I was briefed . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . And finally last week I determined that I had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . .”

Mukasey then contrasts that announcement of national triumph with those of Presidents past, including George W. Bush, who described the capture of Saddam Hussein as:

"a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq.” He attributed it to “the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator’s footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers. . . . Their work continues, and so do the risks."  

He did mention himself at the end: “Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate them.”

And if it is still necessary to drive the point home, then there is this:

Government Motors

Mickey Kaus asks: 

Why would GM cut R & D, the source of its future growth, in order to show profits in the short run? Is something happening in, say, November, for which the 26%-government-owned entity might want its balance sheet to look artificially rosy? …. P.S.: Latest sales figures show GM’s market share has declined again. Total sales are flat for the year to date, and you’d have to say the GM arrow is pointing down because Toyota is surging back into the market after a series of setbacks (earthquakes, floods, stuck accelerators).  

The very fact that people are now asking these questions reveals the problem with the auto bailout.
Well, that and the fact that we are set to lose $30 billion from it, despite Obama's past assurance that we would make money on the deal.  At least his union friends got paid off.

Hat tip to Vodkapundit.

The Spirit of Breitbart Lives On

http://thetrenches.us/

WAR!

The Income-Less Recovery

James Pethokoukis looks at why this recovery doesn't feel like a recovery and believes he found the answer.  As the below chart indicates, "[o]n a per person basis, real after-tax income has shown essentially no growth for the past two years."

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Obama Gets Blowback From Navy Seals Over His Bin Laden Posturing

As one current SEAL put it:

Obama wasn’t in the field, at risk, carrying a gun. As president, at every turn he should be thanking the guys who put their lives on the line to do this. He does so in his official speeches because he speechwriters are smart. But the more he tries to take the credit for it, the more the ground operators are saying, “Come on, man!” It really didn’t matter who was president. At the end of the day, they were going to go.

Click the link for more perspectives from current and former SEALs.  Of course, Obama's relationship with the troops has always been less than perfect.

In related news, yesterday, John McCain made this observation: "[T]he thing about heroes, they don't brag." 

Obama Is Now Posing As Mr. Fixit For Student Loans.

He's not.