Obama's Beer Summit and other clunkers

Brought to you by the geniuses who want to rebuild what they see as our clunker of a medical system: Cash for Clunkers, a program which lasted one week before it ran out of money.

The Obama administration is telling lawmakers that its much-touted "cash-for-clunkers" program is already running out of money, according to three Senate aides familiar with the discussions.

The program — aimed at giving at boost to the U.S. auto industry — was supposed to expire at the end of October. But in the one week since it took effect, it appears to have run dry of the $1 billion allocated to it, aides said Thursday.

They don't know what they're doing. But we're supposed to trust them to 'reform' our healthcare system. I can't wait to see the polls after this clunker sinks in. Obama's Approval Index, as of yesterday, is already at -12. (*Update -- Clunker program may continue. **Clunker-fail can't be good for ObamaCare.)

Charles Krauthammer sees ObamaCare passing, but in a much-diluted form:

But by year's end he will emerge with something he can call health-care reform. The Democrats in Congress will pass it because they must. Otherwise, they'll have slain their own savior in his first year in office.

But that bill will look nothing like the massive reform Obama originally intended. The beginning of the retreat was signaled by Obama's curious reference -- made five times -- to "health-insurance reform" during his July 22 news conference.

Reforming the health-care system is dead. Cause of death? Blunt trauma administered not by Republicans, not even by Blue Dog Democrats, but by the green eyeshades at the Congressional Budget Office.

In response to Obama's aggressive push to socialize the US, Americans have found their voices. From Politico's Alex Isenstadt: Town Halls Gone Wild

Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety — welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress.

On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control.

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) had to bail out of a meeting last month and call for a police escort to his car. He's one of many facing the wrath of the sold-out constituent:

At a health care town hall event in Syracuse, N.Y., earlier this month, police were called in to restore order, and at least one heckler was taken away by local police. Close to 100 sign-carrying protesters greeted Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) at a late June community college small-business development forum in Panama City, Fla. Last week, Danville, Va., anti-tax tea party activists claimed they were “refused an opportunity” to ask Rep. Thomas Perriello (D-Va.) a question at a town hall event and instructed by a plainclothes police officer to leave the property after they attempted to hold up protest signs.

The targets in most cases are House Democrats, who over the past few months have tackled controversial legislation including a $787 billion economic stimulus package, a landmark energy proposal and an overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

What's gone "terribly awry" is the direction in which Obama and the Dems are trying to take the US. How positively delightful that some of them are actually being made to feel the heat for their egregious judgment and indifference to the will of the people. Keep screaming.


As for Obama's lame beer summit: It was smaller in scale than a Mideast conflict, but Obama has finally had a chance to prove he can bring people together by the sheer force of his charismatic personality. He got them both to the table, but . . . there were no apologies, and the opponents have agreed to disagree.

Here's a mildly amusing video from Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza. (I didn't laugh until they got to Kucinich and Waxman. Very juvenile of me, and the two WaPo writers.)

Comments welcome.
Linked at Michelle Malkin (buzzworthy)
Most recent posts here.