Thursday various & sundry

Via Nice Deb, the White House Dossier sheds more light on Obama's priorities:

 President Obama is opting not to visit the tornado-ravaged areas of the South, choosing instead to embark today on a three day tour out West where he will try to boost his political standing by talking up his approach to the deficit and raise millions for himself and fellow Democrats.

The tornadoes, part of a storm that rampaged though six states Saturday, resulted in one of the worst disasters of any kind in the United States since the Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Scores were left injured or homeless while 45 people were killed – about four times as many as died in the Gulf oil rig explosion and the subsequent oil spill last year. In North Carolina alone, there were nearly two-dozen storm-related deaths Saturday, with 130 homes destroyed and an estimated 700 more damaged.

Read the rest. This is consistent with Obama's usual response to crises. He ignores them for as long as he can. If, at some point, he gets a heads-up from his handlers that he needs to say something, he'll then reluctantly take time out from leisure or campaigning to make a weak attempt at a placatory statement.

He wasn't into that whole "work" thing as a college student, either. Power Line:

Obama's historical ignorance could be a full time beat for somebody who does this work for a living, and it tells us something truly important about Barack Obama. His ignorance is as broad as it is deep. Not that you couldn't deduce that on your own from his performance on the job.

Yesterday he was at it again, in his peevish interview with the feisty local broadcast reporter from Texas. Why are you so unpopular in Texas? the reporter asked. Obama being Obama, he was unable to laugh off the question and say he'd do better next time around. Obama responded: "Texas has always been a pretty Republican state, for, you know, historic reasons."

Has the guy ever heard of LBJ? You know, the fellow who first brought us socialized medicine? Has he ever read a single volume of Robert Caro's monumental biography of LBJ? It's hard to miss the extent to which the Democratic Party dominated Texas politics for the duration of LBJ's (long) political career.

Yes indeed. Read the rest. Pretty shocking level of ignorance of recent political history, no? I never thought Obama was a guy with any genuine intellectual curiosity. That's just part of the myth. First and foremost, he's an opportunist.

Along those lines, David Kahane's latest: The Country's in the Very Best of Hands

Which is why I think the Punahou Kid needs a time out, a rest period. Not another vacation, exactly — a few more fact-finding missions to check out the thong bikinis at Ipanema and even the staunchest lefties, such as myself, Eric Alterman, and the fetching Sally Kohn, are finally going to figure out that Hussein really enjoys only the Head of State part of the presidential gig, and would prefer to outsource the Head of Government unpleasantness to some other, lesser royal, such as Maerose Prizzi of the Baltimore Prizzis, or Horseless Harry Reid of the Rory (No Last Name) Reids, or Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground Ayerses.

No, I was thinking more along the lines of a limited-run Broadway revival/reworking of Li’l Abner, only this time with Btfsplk as the real main character. We keep the score by Gene De Paul and of course the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, except we spread the wealth around, which means giving all the best songs to our title character, Li’l Barry:

Read on.


In a profile of Rep. Paul Ryan on the road in Wisconsin selling his budget plan, Christian Schneider makes a logical argument for a Ryan presidential run in 2012 (emphasis added):

Ryan’s budget plan will continue to be debated in congressional office buildings, at family barbeques, and on street corners. But if there is one weakness in the recent public rollout for the “Path to Prosperity,” it is that it is a singular document tied to a singular man — one with a preternatural ability to explain it. In order to sell Paul Ryan’s plan, you have to be Paul Ryan.

Thus, if the consequences for the nation are as dire as Ryan predicts, it may not be hyperbolic to say the weight of the world rests on his shoulders. Without his dogged determination, the desire within Congress to avert fiscal Armageddon simply wouldn’t exist. And if Ryan were to be caught in some kind of scandal, his plan would likely never cross the lips of another member of Congress.

But it is his willingness to be the nation’s fiscal whistleblower that has catapulted Ryan into the political stratosphere. He is now the nation’s foremost Obama nemesis — and although he’s eight years younger than the president, Ryan looks more and more like the adult in the relationship. In a presidential debate, Ryan would be the last candidate Obama would want to see walking across the stage to shake his hand.

Which is why Ryan’s constituents still think there’s a chance he’ll run for president. They believe that if the path the nation is on is as dire as he says it is, Ryan has an obligation to run. Allowing Obama to veto all his good ideas until 2016 belies the budgetary urgency Ryan has been pitching indefatigably since being made budget chairman.

I don't think he'll run but I wouldn't mind if he did.

Along those lines, can we all now move on past the absurd notion of Donald Trump as a conservative?


Passing a law is one thing; getting compliance is another. DC Mayor Vincent Gray gets a letter from Congress:

Senate and House Republicans are urging Democrat Vincent Gray, the mayor of the District of Columbia, to “immediately” and “faithfully” implement the Hyde amendment in Washington.

In a letter to the mayor obtained by National Review Online, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.) and others press Gray to ensure that “no further taxpayer funds are expended for elective abortion.”

The lawmakers also ask Gray to provide Congress with “detailed information about abortion funding in the District during the period in which the D.C. Hyde amendment was not in place.” The mayor, they add, should respond “no later than May 6, 2011.”

The corrupt DC government isn't known for its respect for the law. Why should the Hyde amendment be any different?


Lowlife: Wonkette Goes After Trig Palin Again, Again. Maybe someday Jack Steuf will be ashamed of himself. I hope so.


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