By Hugh Hewitt
The private sector is doing fine. -- Barack Obama June 8 2012
This declaration by the president on Friday instantly took a place in the ranks of most spectacular presidential gaffes ever.
It is the domestic policy equivalent of Gerald Fords There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe uttered in a 1976 presidential debate with Jimmy Carter.
Joe Biden himself couldnt have outdone the President Obama for cluelessness if he had tried.
Doing fine is certain to appear in many Mitt Romney campaign ads and because of the presidents brevity in communicating his disconnectedness the entire country wont need any long explanations of what was wrong with the presidents assessment.
If a patient was doing fine after heart surgery would you expect him to be up and around shortly?
If a triathlete was doing fine midway through the bike portion of the Ironman would you expect her to finish well a few hours hence?
If your 401(k) portfolio was doing fine would it be growing at 4 percent or higher?
Doing fine is not doing great but it is a far sight better than doing poorly or struggling.
What in the world does the small-business owner with year-to-year-to-year-to-year declines in receipts think upon hearing this statement? Let me eat cake?
When Wisconsin voted to keep Scott Walker in office last week that electorate sent an unmistakable signal that reality had triumphed in the Badger State.
Very few people want to hurt teachers or pay police and firefighters less than a fair wage and well-deserved retirement benefits.
But voters know the score about collapsing public finance balance sheets. Like voters in San Jose and San Diego who this week voted to endorse limits on public sector retirement benefits Wisconsin voters fairly shouted Enough! at the excess of public spending that is crushing private-sector growth in their state and throughout the country.
The presidents indifference to the reality of the economy sent shudders through anyone who knows that what is needed -- right now -- is rapid action to stop the headlong rush toward the fiscal cliff.
If the president believes everyone is doing just fine why would he trouble himself to break away from the links and begin the negotiations with Congress which must occur.
The Congress needs to extend the current tax rates not allow massive hikes to kick in in January
The Supreme Court has to confirm the Constitutions design and by so doing free the economy from the albatross of Obamacare.
The president needs to approve Keystone corral his out-of-control EPA leave tracking policies to the state and direct the regulatory giants in the world of home building -- the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers -- to make their first priority the issuance of permits that allow home construction to move forward fast. (A new home start is the biggest job creator around.)
The president is in a fog. It is easier to beat a clueless candidate but I doubt even Mitt Romney is cheered by such a level of presidential indifference to economic pain.
Examiner Columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School. Hewitts new book is The Brief Against Obama: The Rise Fall and Epic Fail of the Hope and Change Presidency.
The private sector is doing fine. -- Barack Obama June 8 2012
This declaration by the president on Friday instantly took a place in the ranks of most spectacular presidential gaffes ever.
It is the domestic policy equivalent of Gerald Fords There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe uttered in a 1976 presidential debate with Jimmy Carter.
Joe Biden himself couldnt have outdone the President Obama for cluelessness if he had tried.
Doing fine is certain to appear in many Mitt Romney campaign ads and because of the presidents brevity in communicating his disconnectedness the entire country wont need any long explanations of what was wrong with the presidents assessment.
If a patient was doing fine after heart surgery would you expect him to be up and around shortly?
If a triathlete was doing fine midway through the bike portion of the Ironman would you expect her to finish well a few hours hence?
If your 401(k) portfolio was doing fine would it be growing at 4 percent or higher?
Doing fine is not doing great but it is a far sight better than doing poorly or struggling.
What in the world does the small-business owner with year-to-year-to-year-to-year declines in receipts think upon hearing this statement? Let me eat cake?
When Wisconsin voted to keep Scott Walker in office last week that electorate sent an unmistakable signal that reality had triumphed in the Badger State.
Very few people want to hurt teachers or pay police and firefighters less than a fair wage and well-deserved retirement benefits.
But voters know the score about collapsing public finance balance sheets. Like voters in San Jose and San Diego who this week voted to endorse limits on public sector retirement benefits Wisconsin voters fairly shouted Enough! at the excess of public spending that is crushing private-sector growth in their state and throughout the country.
The presidents indifference to the reality of the economy sent shudders through anyone who knows that what is needed -- right now -- is rapid action to stop the headlong rush toward the fiscal cliff.
If the president believes everyone is doing just fine why would he trouble himself to break away from the links and begin the negotiations with Congress which must occur.
The Congress needs to extend the current tax rates not allow massive hikes to kick in in January
The Supreme Court has to confirm the Constitutions design and by so doing free the economy from the albatross of Obamacare.
The president needs to approve Keystone corral his out-of-control EPA leave tracking policies to the state and direct the regulatory giants in the world of home building -- the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers -- to make their first priority the issuance of permits that allow home construction to move forward fast. (A new home start is the biggest job creator around.)
The president is in a fog. It is easier to beat a clueless candidate but I doubt even Mitt Romney is cheered by such a level of presidential indifference to economic pain.
Examiner Columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School. Hewitts new book is The Brief Against Obama: The Rise Fall and Epic Fail of the Hope and Change Presidency.
