The chickens are coming home to roost

The WSJ’s Dan Henninger pens a sobering piece today that talks at length about Barack Obama’s now-obvious attempts at making the private sector take second place behind government “solutions” that will only “empower” people to depend and rely more and more on the federal government to “resolve” economic and financial problems rather than the private sector by throwing billions of $$ and over-regulation at it in hopes that it will “cure” our problems. Not to mention the massive amounts of $$ Obama plans to spend on “entitlement programs” which won’t just be paid for by the “super-rich.”

If you haven’t had your coffee yet this morning. Don’t bother. That article will wake you up better than even the most leaded of brews.

The sad part is, this didn’t have to happen.

For years we heard from Democrats on how Bush’s “stay the course” strategy in Iraq wasn’t working and how he needed to admit his mistakes and change course. Of course when he finally did admit mistakes, he was given no credit for it, and when he changed course, he was laughed at and told it couldn’t be done by many of those same Democrats – like our current president when he was serving as the junior Senator from IL – who then turned around and demanded a pullout. They were wrong then, and are wrong now, and most of them – including President Obama, still won’t admit it.

Yet Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and a countless number of other Democrats can parade before the cameras for years telling concerned Republicans – including those in the Bush administration – about how things were “just fine at FM/FM.” Some of them even accused the Republicans who wanted more oversight and accountability at FM/FM of “racism” because they thought the crux of the matter was the GOP’s alleged “hatred” for black people. It’s a matter of record what the Bush administration and other Republicans tried to do, and it’s also a matter of record what Democrats like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Maxine Waters tried to do, and that’s to thwart any reform measures that had any teeth whatsoever, which is why no meaningful reform bill ever got passed during the first 6 years, and certainly not the last two when Democrats controlled Congress.

The galling part – on top of the meltdown currently underway – is the fact that these SAME Democrats (Dodd, Frank, etc) were “demanding” answers from the Bush adminstration last fall on FM/FM as though the Bush administraton never did anything to try and prevent this from happening, and as if Republicans like McCain, Dole, Sununu, etc never tried to get meaningful reform passed, and as if they (Dodd, Frank, etc) were the ones who were actually trying to spearhead meaningful reform efforts. If lightening really did strike people who lied as it relates to this issue there would be a bunch of Congressional Democrats lighting up the House and Senate with enough electrical power to comfortably heat up the east coast for the entire fall and winter seasons.

None of those Democrats were/are admitting their part in enabling the financial meltdown – not admitting their role in keeping policies in place that enabled the “greedy lenders” to do what they did, not admitting their role in fostering the “gimme” entitlement mentality that has infested this country for decades, thanks in no small part to the “Great Society” programs. They’re just content in letting the blame lay squarely on the shoulders of Bush and other Republicans. Not surprising, seeing as though personal responsibility isn’t exactly a hallmark for many Democrats in Washington, DC.

Bush wasn’t a perfect president by far, and made plenty of mistakes, but he – and other Republicans – actually did try to get it right on this issue by advocating and pushing for policies that may have prevented the collapse of FM/FM, and the people who prevented meaningful reforum were race-baiting, politically correct demagoguing Democrats, many of whom were beneficiaries of campaign $$ from FM/FM.

What’s the moral of this story? When Bush made mistakes, he was made to feel obligated to admit them by Democrats as a way to “move forward so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past.” But when Democrats make mistakes, they should feel no obligation to admit them and instead should shove off the blame on everything and everyone else. That way we can continue down the same destructive path – which is exactly what’s happening as we speak. It’s all becoming much more clear to me now.

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5 Responses to "The chickens are coming home to roost"

NC Cop says:

February 26, 2009 at 11:04 am

Great write up, S.T. You’re absolutely right. Let’s not forget how Reid and Pelosi railed against the Bush administration’s “burdening trillion dollar debt” that would have to be shouldered by our children.

Their solution? Effectively trippling the debt in less than two months, yet no one says a thing. Don’t expect our one party media to criticize it.

Dark days.
omapian says:

February 26, 2009 at 12:40 pm

The moral in the classic Aesop fable, The Grasshopper and the Ant: the grasshopper learns that poor choices produce poor results and actions have consequences. In the Stimulus bill, it is those who make good decisions that must suffer when other people make poor choices. Spreading the wealth rewards bad choices and punishes good behavior.
The Founding Fathers anticipated a scenario where some crisis could cause a panic and nervous representatives would consider alternative courses of action. Members of the House, who face election every two years, would look for immediate solutions. Members of the Senate, who serve six year terms, with one-third facing election at a given time, could consider long term consequences. In the 111th Congress, the Senate neglected their responsibility to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
Note: Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate has ranked States by foreclosure rates for 2007. (http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107814) The top 15 States had a combined total of 1,020,674 properties, which is 79.4% of all US foreclosures. Those 15 States (NV, FL, MI, CA, CO, OH, GA, AZ, IL, IN, TN, TX, MO, NJ, UT) were represented in Congress by 233 members of the House (53.6%) and 30 Senators (30%).
Using those 2007 foreclosure rates, 15 states appeared to have either permitted, encouraged, or required predatory lending practices while 35 did not. The Founding Fathers would not be surprised to learn the House could pass a spending bill without reading it. They would not expect the Senate to do likewise.
Carlos says:

February 26, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Wonder what the red/blue breakdown of those 15 states is?

The grasshopper/ant fable is irrelevant. The last few congressional sessions have been stalemates between jackasses and jackass wannabees. There has been precious little wringing of hands over excessive spending by either party except in their speeches. But we all know actions speak louder than words.

Finally, the easiest way to balance the budget would be to eliminate any spending by the feds for anything not specifically authorized as a function of the federal government in the Constitution, but that would put too many academics and judicial types into apoplexy (not to mention the millions that suck from the teat of Mother Government), so no statesman would ever try to do that.

Also, let’s not forget it was our former prez who refused for years to veto any spending bill.
Karmadancer says:

February 27, 2009 at 1:26 pm

Sorry, guys. The root of the problem existed long before W took office:

….Community Reinvestment Act of 1994…..

IIRC, that was someone else’s presidential term, yes?

Resting her arm after once again having to beat the not-entirely-deceased equine,
— kd
Anthony (Los Angeles) says:

February 27, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Actually, the CRA was passed under Carter. Clinton (and Housing Secretary Cuomo) greatly expanded its use to coerce banks into making overly risky loans, one prong of their two-prong approach. The other was to encourage banks by letting F&F buy those bad loans, bundle them into marketable securities, and then resell the poison into the financial system.

Regardless of who was president, the important thing is that the problem was a result of liberal social engineering.

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