Barack Obama -- February 10, 2009

February 10, 2009

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"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"

Barack Hussein Obama

event	description
Obama Puts Social Security At Risk	Obama's economic stimulus plan would place the Social Security Trust Fund into deficit for the first time ever next year, if the current economic stimulus package is passed by both Houses of Congress. Social Security is funded by payroll taxes that employees and their employers pay into the system. Money that comes into the Social Security Trust Fund is used to pay the Social Security checks retirees receive each month, and since the creation of the Trust Fund in 1983, the program has always had more money coming in than going out. However, that may change as soon as next year, due to a proposed refundable payroll tax credit which would offer workers a refund on their portion of Social Security taxes, meaning there would be insufficient cash to pay benefits.
Amateur Hour	During last year's epic election campaign, Hillary Clinton said that in the White House "there is no time for on-the-job training." Joe Biden, too, remarked that the presidency was "not something that lends itself to on-the-job training." Both were aiming barbs at their then primary opponent. Clinton has since brought what she would refer to as her "lifetime of experience" to the role of Secretary of State, while Biden has traded 36 years in the Senate for the vice-presidency, and the rookie they derided sits in the Oval Office. Now, the words of his former rivals are returning to haunt Obama. After a distinctly rocky start to his presidency, he has admitted he "screwed up" and is returning to one thing in his political career that he has perfected -- campaigning. Last week, he began as a wide-eyed bystander buffeted by events as he lost his key confidant, Tom Daschle, amid an uproar over $128,000 in unpaid taxes for a chauffeur and limousine. Obama and his advisers believed the oversight did not matter because the over-arching virtue of the new White House could not be doubted. He was wrong and seemed out of touch in believing that ordinary people would not notice the contrast between the practice of politics as usual and his campaign slogans against it. In the early days of his presidency, Obama has seemed passive and uncertain. Instead of drawing up his own economic bill, he sub-contracted the near-trillion-dollar economic "stimulus" package, loaded with pet spending projects, to the Democrats on Capitol Hill. They opted to spend money on projects for contraception and beautifying the National Mall. Slipped into the small print was a "Buy America" provision that sent shock waves through capitals from Brussels to Beijing and triggered fears of trade wars and a new American protectionism. The White House is now in damage-control mode. After Robert Gibbs, Obama's spokesman, was lampooned by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show as a non-answering automaton, former campaign strategist David Axelrod was dispatched to television studios to make Obama's case. Making decisions and operating the levers of power is something completely new to him -- and it shows.
Amateur Hour Part Deux	Obama says he'll be looking for "openings" in the months ahead that could lead to face-to-face talks with Iran, saying his national security team is looking at areas where the United States can "directly engage" with Iran. He says it won't happen overnight, that the U.S. is sending signals that it wants to "do things differently," and that it's time for Iran to send the same signals. On Friday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, sent a signal. He demanded that the U. S. admit past "wrongdoings" before dialogue and reconciliation could be realized between the two countries. Obama wants Iran to engage. Iran wants Obama to submit.
Double Standards	Mr. Arbitrage observes how the news media has latched on to the story of Michael Phelps being photographed while allegedly smoking marijuana through a "water bong." What he finds interesting is the hypocrisy in the fact that the news media apparently didn't find it the least bit relevant that Obama was a chronic user of Marijuana. Beyond that he was an admitted cocaine user. Obama wisely put it out there years ahead of his candidacy in the controlled environment of a self written book. Obama astutely realized that his personal lap dogs masquerading as journalists would never ask a single question about it. They were off the hook for not doing their job because they could just claim, "it was old news." So no follow up questions need be asked. In fact, most people in this country know nothing about this fact, despite it being published in "Dreams..." So we have arguably the two most famous men in the world, both of them worshiped by huge segments of the country without most knowing anything about who they truly are. One is a swimmer who may have used marijuana. The media is quite concerned. The other sits in the Oval Office, commanding our military, and nobody in the media asked so much as one question regarding the details of his six or seven years as a pot and cocaine user. MrArbitrage doesn't want to come across as being rancorous, recognizing that the comparison isn't entirely fair, because Michael Phelps actually accomplished something noteworthy prior to receiving our adulation.
Obama Fries	April Winchell's blog brings this to our attention (warning -- rough language). As part of the marketing of "Dreams...," Obama recorded an audiobook version (the cleaned-up version here). In his own voice, he reads several crude passages attributed to one of his high school friends. Well, it didn't take long until "Color of Darkness" produced a rap mix (mp3) they call "Obama Fries." Pump up the volume -- it's a chuckle -- if not suitable for the easily offended. I'm not 100% sure if these guys are the ones that produced this Obama rap, but I'm crediting them until corrected.