Conservative on Target!

In Obamaland, the Past is Irrelevant: President Obama inhabits a very special world.  It's a world in which his entire slate of previous statements, policy preferences, and actions is apparently wiped clean every time he delivers a new speech or press statement.  As my friend Mary Katharine Ham likes to quip, what Obama said -- or did -- last week, last month, or last year is regarded as irrelevant, so long as he's making himself "crystal clear" today.  Call it a transcendent belief in "the fierce urgency of now."

President Obama's approval rating in the state of Florida, which he carried by a narrow margin in the 2008 presidential election, is in free fall. The latest poll data show that 38 percent of Floridians approve of his job performance, while 54 percent disapprove.

Krauthammer: Obama's Sudden Interest In Cutting Debt A "Farce": "All of a sudden [Obama] he is a man who wants to be the one who cuts the deficit and the debt. It's a farce. And you see it in the threat he made where he said, 'I will not sign a short-term extension.' Let's say we're in negotiations, and we're approaching, and we want something real like tax reform which takes a few months. And Republicans pass a tax reform -- pass a debt ceiling increase for say three months to allow negotiations. He says he will veto it because he is acting in the national interest; has to be a big deal. [Has any GOP politician you know yet outsmarted Obummer in negotiations? Not many if any! – JS]

Lights Out for the Light Bulb Ban? Secretary Chu, who is an advocate of the ban, said of the potential repeal, “We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money.” Confused by the bureaucratic doublespeak? Reaching for your copy of Orwell’s Guide to Big Brotherisms? You should be. Chu apparently believes that government regulations that restrict choice and force decisions upon you are great things for society because they pre-select the best choice imaginable, taking the guesswork out of being a free-thinking being. And they’re saving you money, to boot! … And just last week, U.S. Representatives Joe Barton (R–TX), Michael Burgess (R–TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R–TN) introduced a bill in Congress to put an end to the bulb ban. [Yes! If we can get this passed it will give me some Congressional hope. LATER NEWS AT 8:03 PM: the GOP couldn’t get this through with only 55% of the vote! They can’t even get the lights turned off – or on!– JS]

It is pretty clear now that Geithner only floated the 14th Amendment option as a lame attempt to provide Obama with more leverage at the negotiating table. But the idea, as Tribe clearly lays out in his op-ed, was always preposterous. Still, the episode does demonstrate how fast Turbo Tax Tim is willing to play with the facts surrounding the debt limit debate. Republicans would be wise to take nothing Geithner says at face value.

Say: "My problem with Obama isn't that he's black. My problem with Obama is that he's a white liberal."