What If Obama Is Sincerely Wrong?
To those readers who want to nurse their hatred of politicians, I want to raise the possibility that Barack Obama actually believes his stimulus plan is a good idea. Don’t get me wrong, he knows full well all the political back deals and payoffs it contains. But I am entertaining the possibility that he actually thinks on net, it is better than doing nothing, or doing what Sean Hannity would recommend.
We have all heard the “Well whaddya think a stimulus is?” line, but the fuller context shows Obama’s charm. And when he says, “That’s not me talking, that’s the economists talking…” well darnit, he’s right!
If someone gets a PhD in economics and manages to write this, or wins the (pseudo) Nobel Prize and writes this, how can you fault Obama for believing his plan will work?
Does anybody know if Obama is right about the Republicans initially saying the mix of tax cuts and spending was a pleasant surprise, and then a week later going nuts about the ratio? I think he is right, but is that a fair charge on his part? Because the package went through an evolution. Did the original version have more tax cuts or less?
Another thing: My theory is that Obama tries to minimize his actual lying. So during the campaign, he would answer tough questions by saying, “I have always said…” so that he can RIGHT THERE be uttering a true statement, referring to the lie of his earlier self.
In the clip above, when he’s discussing earmarks, listen carefully to what he says:
“Then there’s the argument, ‘Well this is full of pet projects!’ When was the last time that we saw a bill of this magnitude move out with no earmarks in it? Not one.”
Then people start clapping, because of course Obama has led them to believe that this ~$800 billion monstrosity is earmark-free. But notice that he doesn’t actually say that.
