President-Elect Barack Obama is speaking at George Mason University, where he is expected to give more details of his proposed economic stimulus plan. The following is my live-blog of his speech, with initial reaction.
In opening comments he refers to this upcoming year as the kind that "come along once in a generation" that mark "a clean break from a troubled past."
Says he doesn't "believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible."
Doom and gloom scenarios follow, if we don't accept the "dramatic action" P/E Obama is about to propose. "We arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility."
Bemoans the loss of confidence in government, which seems to us to be the only good thing about the current economic downturn.
Obama reminds us of America's greatness, something that sets him far apart from the majority of his Democrat cohorts. It is a big part of why he was able to get elected without offering up any new ideas.
And then come the lines that we've been dreading:
"It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long term growth, but as this particular moment only government can provide the short term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the cycle (sic) that are crippling our economy, where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending."
Announces that we will "invest" in priorities like energy and education, healthcare and new infrastructure... Claims overwhelming majority of jobs will be in private sector. We are skeptical..
"We will double the production of alternative (read:costly) energy in the next three years. We will modernize more than 75% of federal buildings.." So we really are going to be digging holes and filling them back up again.
Solar panels, wind turbines, yada yada... No talk of increasing nuke plants.
Healthcare - all of America's medical records will be computerized within five years. Government is supposedly good at this sort of thing.
Offers a $1000 "tax cut" for 95% of Americans. This will undoubtedly be a wealth redistribution in the form of a wasteful paper-shuffle rebate.
A laugher here: "Government at every level will have to tighten its belt." I'm floored by that one.
He understands that some might be skeptical. He tells you that you are wrong.
"The true test of policies we'll pursue won't be whether they are... conservative or liberal ideas, but whether they create jobs, grow our economy and put the American Dream within reach of the American people." I must call bullshit here. I didn't notice many of these ideas, which would end the recession immediately, in the speech.
"Must be free of earmarks," - but yesterday we learned he has a weird definition of what an earmark is. And, of course, Obama has no authority to prevent earmarks, since he lacks the line-item veto.
"We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible... Every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs, more families will lose their savings, more dreams will be deferred and be denied...and our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that at some point we may not be able to reverse."
My interpretation: You must allow me, the Messiah, the One, to save your rear-ends the way I see fit, and must not question the motivations or wisdom behind my decisions, but blindly accept them like the mindless stooges you will soon be.
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