The Weak In Review

This week’s blog is not limited to a single topic. There were just too many screwy things going on in the past seven days to focus on any one of them. Instead, this article addresses the bad performances, unfortunate decisions and worse non-decisions as it presents the Weak In Review.

 

The Keystone Pipeline

 

The Administration delayed taking action on the Keystone Pipeline indefinitely. Bowing to “progressive” pressure, Obama put 42,000 jobs and energy independence on the backburner. Mary Landrieu, D-La, in the midst of a knock-down-drag-out fight for her political life, decried the failure to move on the project.

 

The decision to be indecisive was made as the President experiences the drag energy dependence has on our European friends in imposing Russian sanctions. Evidently, he doesn’t learn by example. Or, he doesn’t believe that the U.S. will become energy dependent. Ot he does believe that energy dependence promotes global coziness. Or…

 

The Ukraine

 

Speaking of Russia, Obama had a phone chat with Putin this week. He lectured the Russian leader on the need to withdraw his Country’s troops from the Ukraine Border. Putin insisted that the U.S. ensure that force is not used in the volatile area.

 

So far, Putin is winning. Washington won’t send so much as night-vision goggles or body armor to the Ukraine. It might seem provocative.

 

Meanwhile, the parties reached a tentative agreement in Geneva that not even Obama believes will work. It includes terms like avoid violence and stop all the illegal stuff. No consequences were specified. It does not mention the presence of Russian troops. Believing it won’t work is optimistic because there is nothing in it to work.

 

Minimize Tax Day

 

The White House announced that the Obamas netted less money this year than last. The lesser income stems from a boost in tax rates and falling book sales. Some characterized it as Obama getting a taste of his own progressive medicine.

 

However, focusing on Obama’s higher tax bracket misses the point. The President underpaid the tax percentage for his bracket by almost 50%. For someone who claims to believe that people should pay their fair share, Obama pays as little as he can.

 

The Avoidable Care Act

 

The President held an impromptu press conference earlier this week. He lauded his signature legislation yet again, saying, “This thing is working”. That is certainly a convincing statement. And he, yet again,  taunted Republicans. He likened their refusal to support the Avoidable Care Act to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief.

 

Kubler-Ross, a Swiss psychiatrist, claimed that humans, when faced with impending death, go through five stages of grief beginning with denial and ending with acceptance. In between are anger, bargaining and depression. According to Obama, the Republicans are still in the anger stage on their way to eventual Obamacare acceptance.

 

The President should have read the next page in the Kubler-Ross five stages of grief saga. It turns out, the theory gave her a lot of it as it’s been thoroughly debunked. That does not portend well for the ACA Con.

 

Truth Issues

 

Speaking of Obamacare, most of those queried in a poll released this week believe the President lies to the American people on major issues.

 

All of those Affordable Care Act fibs, made repeatedly over a period of years, have taken their toll on the President’s credibility. The most surprising thing about all of this is not the lies. He is a politician, after all. The surprising thing is that people paid enough attention to the statements he made in the first place to recognize that they were lies. Being a great orator has a downside after all.

 

The Smoking Gun

 

Republicans believe they’ve found the smoking gun in the seemingly interminable IRS investigation. A string of email messages appear to state that the IRS’s obstruction of conservative non-profits was motivated by the 2014 election cycle.

 

The latest revelation, whether smoking or not, does warrant further investigation. It also undermines the President’s claim made earlier this year that the IRS behavior included not even a “smidgen of corruption”. Obama preferred to attribute the conduct of IRS employees to bone-headedness and confusion. We’d be fine if only we had federal workers with thinner skulls that accommodate normal-size brains.

 

Toughest Interview

 

Jay Carney called Obama’s toughest interview of 2012 his foreplay with Jon Stewart on the latter’s Daily Show, a late night comedy staple. That’s probably because most of the President’s interviews have been on comedy shows, during contrived commercials or with softball lobbing journalists. Who can forget CNN’s Candy Crowley’s performance during the second town-hall debate between Romney and Obama in 2012?

 

Meanwhile, Carney continues to vilify Fox News and its “ridiculous stories”. Unlike his skull, his skin must be very thin. Worse for us is the Administration’s mistaken belief that insulting news organizations is acceptable press secretary protocol.

 

The Bundy Debacle

 

Harry Reid couldn’t resist mixing it up in the Cliven Bundy cattle grazing skirmish taking place in the Senate Majority Leader’s home State. Reid called Bundy supporters “domestic terrorists” who endanger their community. Bundy may be taking an extreme position but Reid has made way too many trips over the top himself.

 

Harry’s son, Rory, also got into the act on his daddy’s side. People can understand a son supporting his father, but can’t figure out why the younger Reid bothered in this case. Maybe it does have to do with the alleged grab of Bundy land to increase Rory’s bottom line. We’ll have to stay tuned for that one.

 

Such was the weak that was.