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July 17, 2010
Obama's Next Act by Charles Krauthammer
Krauthammer warns Republicans: Don't underestimate Obama as he prepares for Act Two
Obama's Next Act
by Charles Krauthammer
In the political marketplace, there's now a run on Obama shares. The left is disappointed with the president. Independents are abandoning him in droves. And the right is already dancing on his political grave, salivating about November when, his own press secretary admitted Sunday, Democrats might lose the House.
I have a warning for Republicans: Don't underestimate Barack Obama.
Consider what he has already achieved. Obamacare alone makes his presidency historic. It has irrevocably changed one-sixth of the economy, put the country inexorably on the road to national health care and, as acknowledged by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus but few others, begun one of the most massive wealth redistributions in U.S. history.
Second, there is major financial reform, which passed Congress on Thursday. Economists argue whether it will prevent meltdowns and bailouts as promised. But there is no argument that it will give the government unprecedented power in the financial marketplace. Its 2,300 pages will create at least 243 new regulations that will affect not only, as many assume, the big banks but just about everyone, including, as noted in one summary (the Wall Street Journal), "storefront check cashiers, city governments, small manufacturers, home buyers and credit bureaus."
Third is the near $1 trillion stimulus, the largest spending bill in U.S. history. And that's not even counting nationalizing the student loan program, regulating carbon emissions by Environmental Protection Agency fiat, and still-fitful attempts to pass cap-and-trade through Congress.
But Obama's most far-reaching accomplishment is his structural alteration of the U.S. budget. The stimulus, the vast expansion of domestic spending, the creation of ruinous deficits as far as the eye can see are not easily reversed.
These are not mere temporary countercyclical measures. They are structural deficits because, as everyone from Obama on down admits, the real money is in entitlements, most specifically Medicare and Medicaid. But Obamacare freezes these out as a source of debt reduction. Obamacare's $500 billion in Medicare cuts and $600 billion in tax increases are siphoned away for a new entitlement -- and no longer available for deficit reduction.
The result? There just isn't enough to cut elsewhere to prevent national insolvency. That will require massive tax increases -- most likely a European-style value-added tax. Just as President Ronald Reagan cut taxes to starve the federal government and prevent massive growth in spending, Obama's wild spending -- and quarantining health-care costs from providing possible relief -- will necessitate huge tax increases.
The net effect of 18 months of Obamaism will be to undo much of Reaganism. Both presidencies were highly ideological, grandly ambitious and often underappreciated by their own side. In his early years, Reagan was bitterly attacked from his right. (Typical Washington Post headline: "For Reagan and the New Right, the Honeymoon Is Over" -- and that was six months into his presidency!) Obama is attacked from his left for insufficient zeal on gay rights, immigration reform, closing Guantanamo -- the list is long. The critics don't understand the big picture. Obama's transformational agenda is a play in two acts.
Act One is over. The stimulus, Obamacare, financial reform have exhausted his first-term mandate. It will bear no more heavy lifting. And the Democrats will pay the price for ideological overreaching by losing one or both houses, whether de facto or de jure.
The rest of the first term will be spent consolidating these gains (writing the regulations, for example) and preparing for Act Two.
The next burst of ideological energy -- massive regulation of the energy economy, federalizing higher education and "comprehensive" immigration reform (i.e., amnesty) -- will require a second mandate, meaning reelection in 2012.
That's why there's so much tension between Obama and congressional Democrats. For Obama, 2010 matters little. If Democrats lose control of one or both houses, Obama will probably have an easier time in 2012, just as Bill Clinton used Newt Gingrich and the Republicans as the foil for his 1996 reelection campaign.
Obama is down, but it's very early in the play. Like Reagan, he came here to do things. And he's done much in his first 500 days. What he has left to do he knows must await his next 500 days -- those that come after reelection.
The real prize is 2012. Obama sees far, farther than even his own partisans. Republicans underestimate him at their peril.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Krauthammer is a wise man. In short, his advice is keep your powder dry. Obama does not see this as the end and neither should we. We make lite of him at our peril.
I think Krauthammer is entirely right. For one thing, Obama has been building a group of mindless sycophants and for another, the new black panthers are being allowed, even encouraged, to disruption elections. Beware. This man is evil and he is dangerous. A second Obama term would effectively end our Constitutional Republic.
Another term for that communist Obama is unthinkable. There’s a good chance he’ll destroy the country in one term. A second term would guarantee that, not only would he destroy the country, but he’d drive a stake through its heart and we’d NEVER recover from it. Truly U-N-T-H-I-N-K-A-B-L-E the damage the SOB would do with another four years.
One of the positive things we have going for us is that the American people remeber the better times of the 80s, 90s and most of the 00s and will want them back.
Obama and the democrats are Godless, anti-American, and sickly perverted.
I refuse to accept defeat. If enough people wake up and also if enough people would LOVE America, we might have a chance and then get a Republican HOUSE and SENATE elected this November. Then maybe they can vote to defund "Obamacare."
If we do not win and win big enough to really take our country back I am terrified as to what will happen. Evil people and forces are at work to literally destroy the country. They seek to revers the 234 year experiment and go back to the dark ages where power and money is always concentrated into the hands of the few and the rest are slaves.
This is why November is so important. Take the House and the Senate back. Put a stop to all this crazyness. There’s not choice here. It has to be done.
De-fund, repeal, outlaw, and ignore. We have plenty of weapons but we must be willing to use them when the time comes.
Otherwise, we face the same scenario that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writing about life in the old Soviet Union, described back in 1974:
Things have almost reached rock bottom. A universal spiritual death has already touched us all, and physical death will soon flare up and consume us both and our children–but as before we still smile in a cowardly way and mumble without tongues tied. But what can we do to stop it? Why haven’t we the strength? We have been so hopelessly dehumanized that for today’s modest ration of food we are willing to abandon all our principles, our souls, and all the efforts of our predecessors and all opportunities for our descendants – but just don’t disturb our fragile existence. We lack staunchness, pride and enthusiasm. We don’t even fear universal nuclear death, and we don’t fear a third world war. We have already taken refuge in the crevices. We just fear acts of civil courage.
We fear only to lag behind the herd and to take a step alone - and suddenly find ourselves without white bread, without heating gas and without a Moscow registration.
We have been indoctrinated in political courses, and in just the same way was fostered the idea to live comfortably, and all will be well for the rest of our lives. You can’t escape your environment and social conditions. Everyday life defines consciousness. ..........From Live Not By Lies. Washington Post, February 18, 1974.
Those of us who survive the mass murder and atrocity that 0bama's minders have planned for us will face something very much like this. Solzhenitsyn also said that if we submit to this, we cannot call ourselves human. And he's right.
So we need to De-fund, repeal, outlaw, and ignore. And rain hell down on those who seek to force us to do otherwise.
Posted by Wild Thing at July 17, 2010 03:45 AM
Comments
The picture of Soros and Emanueal pulling the strings, is so right on.
Posted by: Sean at July 17, 2010 10:25 AM
Krauthammer is the best. His insight and explanations are great.
Solshenitzyn might be the Krauthammer of Russia. His writings got to the heart and truth of Marxism and helped to awaken the populace of the Soviet Union.
We have an advantage in America that the Russians and East Europeans did not have. That is the Second Amendment. The 2A is a barb in the plans of American socialists like the Clintons, obama , Soros and company. They want very badly to disarm us. They are afraid to do so right now, thinking that might be a tipping point to revolution. If we ever let them disarm us, America is lost to socialism. Buy more ammo.
Posted by: TomR,armed in Texas at July 17, 2010 11:41 AM
Krauthammer says, ohbama has his first terms worth of agenda through, then what is he going to do for the time he has left go on vacation...we couldn't be so lucky.
There are so many things we can do to reverse this but the players who count don't have the stomach for it. Recently some republicans have been saying not to do anything with health care, as far as I am concerned they don't belong in congress if thats what they really think. And that Scott Brown is the second coming of Kennedy.
Posted by: Mark at July 17, 2010 01:13 PM
HUGE thank you to all of you for your input about this. It means a lot to me.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 18, 2010 03:34 AM
