Debate Open Thread

Did anyone watch the GOP debate last night?  I DVR’d it and will probably watch sometime today.  Anyone change their mind or learn something new?  Feel free to discuss.

The Greek Bailout

It looks like Europe has finally united and bailed out Greece — or have they?  Darrell Delamaide’s column at MarketWatch yesterday puts the whole Greek bailout process into perspective.

To start with, the bailout is not for Greece, but for German, French and other foreign banks who willfully abandoned due diligence to buy more Greek debt than any financial analyst would have thought the country could sustain.

After months of nail-biting negotiations, Greece finally reaches agreement on a bailout to prevent a debt default next month.

The 130 billion euros ($171.9 billion) in aid agreed to by Europe’s finance ministers in their marathon session will go into a managed account to make sure it goes directly to Greece’s creditors when their bonds fall due. Read MarketWatch’s full coverage of the Greek deal.

The agreement was made possible when the Greek Parliament a week earlier approved a package of draconian austerity measures, which they, as well as the European finance ministers who insisted on it, know they will never be able to deliver.

Antonis Samaras, the leader of the center-right New Democracy party, said as much during the debate when he urged members of his party to go along with the austerity measures in order to get the bailout done — and then they could be renegotiated after Greek elections in April.

In the shambles that is Greek politics, Samaras’s party is leading in the polls, though it is not expected to win an outright majority.

Even as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was leading the charge on Monday to wring more austerity out of the Greeks, one of Germany’s top economists branded the bailout “illusory” and said the type of deflation being exacted of Greece is unrealistic.

Asked in an interview on Monday with Spiegel Online whether this new bailout could save Greece, economist Hans-Werner Sinn answered, “No, and the politicians know it can’t.”

From the MarketWatch’s full coverage story linked above:

The euro initially popped higher after euro-zone finance ministers and international officials announced an agreement to provide Greece with 130 billion euros ($172 billion) through 2014. Greece will also launch a debt swap that will see private bondholders accept a 53% write-down on the value of their holdings of roughly €200 billion worth of Greek government debt.Z

Gee, that sounds familiar.  Where have we seen a government screw private bondholders as part of a bailout package?   Looks like Europe has taken a page from the Obama playbook.

The comments following Darrell Delamaide’s column are as interesting as the column itself.

Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Yet another indicator that shows things don’t look good for Obama…

It’s February, nine months before a presidential election, and only 22 percent of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going. Voters haven’t been this unhappy with the country since George H.W. Bush’s presidency, when only 21 percent of Americans reported being happy with the country’s direction. And before that, the lowest approval rating was 19 percent during Jimmy Carter’s first term.What do the two presidencies have in common? Neither of them won re-election. And, if the trends holds true, Obama looks to be in an equally precarious situation.

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research released its 2012 campaign outlook, and it’s clear Obama’s sitting in the same position George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were in during the February before their election losses—voters don’t feel good about the country.

Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush—presidents who won re-election—all had at least 41 percent of voters optimistic with the state of the union.

Just goes to show you that when you put an incompetent teleprompter reader in the White House eventually people realize that the ability to give a speech doesn’t equal leadership.

Obama Needs a New Slogan

When you don’t have a record worth running on, apparently coming up with a new campaign slogan isn’t easy.

Advisers say a fresh slogan to replace the winning “Change we can believe in” mantra of 2008, is unlikely to appear before Obama knows who his Republican opponent will be and starts big campaign travel swings, likely in the spring or summer.

His campaign posters now say simply, “Obama 2012.”

But Obama’s surrogates have roadtested some slogans in recent months, including “Winning The Future,” which the White House used to promote its budget, and “Greater Together,” which the campaign has used to brand its youth outreach effort.

A new tagline will have to reflect a new reality.

Obama is no longer a Washington outsider, unemployment is falling but still high, and economic insecurity for many voters is a huge concern that a simple slogan cannot overcome.

Got any slogan suggestions?

Throwing Gasoline on the Fire

Gasoline has jumped to an all-time high in the U.S. for this time of year and on track to hit an all-time record later this spring of $4.25/gallon. That begs the question, will the people who are still employed and spending most, if not all of their payroll tax cut on gas vote to reward Obama with 4 more years?  Will the 14 million unemployed who can’t afford to drive much of anywhere, regardless of the price of gas, vote to give the guy another shot?  How about senior citizens who see the $150 million raid on the social security trust fund and a half trillion dollar cut in Medicare as hastening the day when their benefits will be cut?  Will they take a chance that things will improve during a second Obama term?

There are a lot of interesting dynamics at work right now.  How they play out will likely determine the outcome of November’s election, not just for President, but for House and Senate races as well.  If you’ve made up your mind to vote for Obama, what, if anything, could happen between now and November to make you change your mind?  If you’re undecided, what factors will weigh on your final decision?

Obama’s Re-election Strategy

Is Obama trying to lose the election?  The current disconnect with reality and desire to pander to every far left cause has me wondering if Obama is trying to lose, is he just this clueless, or, as Rush noted recently, is he simply confident that he has bought enough votes to assure his re-election?

The keystone pipeline was a no brainer, and could have boosted consumer confidence to a new level resulting in higher approval numbers for Obama, not to mention bringing unemployment down, creating good paying jobs, and stimulating the local economy of many towns along the way, but Obama chooses to pander instead to environmental extremists.

The recent constitutional over reach with respect to religious liberties was another bone-headed move and not very well thought out, although it appears the move may be the first broadside in an effort to shift the political conversation away from abortion to “the GOP wants to ban contraception”.  I guess we’ll find out in a few months if that’s a viable strategy.

The fact that Obama is talking out of both sides of his mouth with respect to the individual mandate in Obamacare, on one hand calling it a tax, and on the other calling it a fine, depending on the audience, was largely overlooked by the MSM. But then his budget director got caught on camera saying this.  So either the OMB Director committed perjury before Congress or the Solicitor General will be perjuring himself before the Supreme Court.  Either way, it should be interesting.

Obama’s allegiance to AG Holder and turning a blind eye to Fast and Furious, would be a huge controversy were it not for complicity of the MSM. To date, no one has been fired, much less prosecuted.

The recent call for significant nuclear disarmament at a time when the threat level is at a post-Cold War high, and the continued indifference to the action in Egypt, Syria, etc., may pander to the far Left, but the majority of Americans have to see these actions as detrimental to America’s future.

Obama proves once again that he is not a serious president by submitting a budget with a deficit that adds another 1.3 trillion of debt, when it was just 4 years ago while campaigning he called Bush unpatriotic for much smaller deficits. When the GOP finally lands on a nominee, the conversation will be about Obama, and not only can he not defend his record, his own words will be used against him to a point that everyone will finally realize that he is not a serious president.

America is slipping into a malaise of mediocrity under his guidance and if he is reelected, we may have federal school officials checking our kids’ lunch boxes for the proper nutrition ……… Oh wait.

This president has abdicated leadership and is the most partisan president this country has ever had. The only things Obama has improved in the last three years are his bank account and golf game.

Thanks to Cluster for most of the content for this post.//RS

Mid-Week Open Thread

Been a bit busy, sorry I haven’t had a chance to blog. Anyway, have at it. Posts to come soon.

Why Has Gasoline Consumption Declined So Much?

I’ll give you a hint, it’s not because of more fuel efficient cars. It’s an interesting analysis that all goes back to this chart:

It’s worth clicking to the story and reading the entire analysis, especially since it’s worth knowing what these numbers indicate.

Weekend Open Thread

You know the drill…

Religious Freedom and the 2012 Election

Did Obama just hand the Republican Party an issue to galvanize conservatives in 2012 to boot him out of office?

The top Republican in the Congress on Wednesday denounced President Barack Obama’s new rule on contraceptives as an assault on “religious freedom” and vowed to overturn it, as the White House sought to prevent the issue from becoming an election-year liability.

Fanning a political firestorm, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner joined an outcry from religious leaders and social conservatives over a requirement that health insurance plans, including those at Catholic hospitals, charities and universities, offer birth control to women.

Seeking to ease a controversy that has roiled the 2012 presidential race, White House spokesman Jay Carney appeared to leave the door open to compromise. He said Obama was sensitive to religious beliefs on contraception and hoped to find a way to implement the rule that can “allay some of the concerns.”

But Obama, at a meeting with Senate Democrats, reaffirmed his decision and was “not equivocating,” Senator Frank Lautenberg, who attended the closed-door session, told Reuters.

Between things like this and the economy, things continue to look bad for Obama this year.