Patterico's Pontifications

1/24/2009

L.A. Times: Obama’s Promise to Root Out Waste Is “Unprecedented”

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General,Obama — Patterico @ 1:08 pm



The L.A. Times reports:

Acknowledging public doubts about “the size and scale of this recovery plan” which is likely to exceed $800 billion in new spending if the new president wins his way with Congress, Obama also promised an unprecedented new commitment to “root out waste” in government to ensure the money is spent wisely.

Indeed, I believe a commitment to root out government waste is entirely without precedent.

Where did the paper get the idea that a promise to “root out waste” is “unprecedented”? It’s a new journalistic technique called “stenography.” Read on:

“I know that some are skeptical about the size and scale of this recovery plan,” Obama said in his address today.

“I understand that skepticism, which is why this recovery plan must and will include unprecedented measures that will allow the American people to hold my administration accountable for these results,” the president said. “We won’t just throw money at our problems – we’ll invest in what works.”

Unprecedented!

We’ll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government,” the president said in his address today, “and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov.”

Ah. So if Obama says it’s “unprecedented,” then it is “unprecedented.”

But is it really unprecedented?

“We begin this year and this administration in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action,” Obama said.

Look, he said “unprecedented” four times. Now who can argue with that?

P.S. The article does take care to warn that hundreds of millions of dollars are being slotted for the key job-creation industry of contraceptives.

Just kidding! There’s not one word about that. Instead, the article touts the wonders of Obama’s plan to spend money “with an eye toward not only creating jobs, but also advancing alternative energy production, health care, education, transportation and Internet access.”

A lack of skepticism towards Democrat spending by the Los Angeles Times?

Unprecedented!

P.S. Editors: it’s recovery.gov, not “reovery.gov”:

It’s a front-page story. Those are the ones you try to get right.

29 Responses to “L.A. Times: Obama’s Promise to Root Out Waste Is “Unprecedented””

  1. Our situation is far worse than the Great Depression. Interest rates, inflation, unemployment and gasoline shortages are far worse than the Carter years.

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  2. Strangely enough President Hussein on Wednesday signed an executive order on ethics only to waive that order for William Lynn to serve as the deputy secretary of Defense. William Lynn is a Raytheon executive and a was a lobbyist in 2008 for the defense company.

    The decision of the Administration to impose an additional set of requirements, and then waive them for this nominee, does not change the standards to which we hold all nominees,” Levin said.

    Insane.

    ML (14488c)

  3. While I don’t wish financial harm to anyone, those layoffs can’t come soon enough. The displaced workers will eventually find work more akin to their talents – like, for instance, PR.

    Dmac (eb0dd0)

  4. The splash screen on recovery.gov also prominently features the word.

    sierra (4be1ff)

  5. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  6. Unprecedented? Like the Grace Commission?

    Steverino (69d941)

  7. “We’ll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste

    Makes me think of Bill Clinton’s early claim that his administration would be the most ethical in the history of the White House.

    So I have a suspicion that when Obama says “unprecedented,” it eventually will be one more thing he’ll be throwing under the bus, right along with Jeremiah Wright, etc.

    Mark (411533)

  8. The Times has the unfortunately facility of figuring out the downside of Democrat ideas when it is too late to do anything about it. I don’t know if that is a bug or feature. If they figured it out in time, it could be fixed and we don’t want that.

    The latest example (It’s too soon for Obama to disappoint the Times) is the new the new County Hospital. I call it the Gloria Molina Memorial Hospital because she was not about the permit any step short of a new hospital, no matter how inadequate in size.

    They could have built a services building next to Big County, where the new hospital is, and connect it to the old hospital. It would have allowed new facilities for ER, ICU, Surgery and other technical services while keeping the old building (still a modern design) for patients. It has room for up to 3500 patients and could be retrofitted for air conditioning and new electrical service. It was the most modern hospital in the world when it was finished in 1928 and is still a modern layout. It has the nursing stations in the middle of a cluster of patient rooms, just the way new hospitals do.

    But it would not be as desirable as a whole hospital that you could name after yourself.

    The result is that we will have an inadequate public hospital. The Times has just figured that out.

    Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center recently moved into its new building with 36 beds specifically for pediatric patients. An additional 19 are available for pediatric use but can also be used for adults. Before the November move, the facility had 74 in-patient beds for children, already a steep drop from the 135 licensed pediatric beds there in 2006.

    The same is true of the adult services. The whole facility only has 600 beds. Soon the Times will figure that part out.

    Mike K (ee3203)

  9. It’s almost as if the decision was made on what was best for certain donor groups,rather than the populace it serves.Sure glad to know that can’t happen now.

    corwin (ddbfe0)

  10. Patrick,
    What IS going to happen to California/the state government?Does anyone have an answer?

    corwin (ddbfe0)

  11. If he insists on spending us into oblivion, he may end up unpresidented.

    Patricia (89cb84)

  12. SPQR #5:

    Be careful. You might be visiting Room 101!

    Eric Blair (e92b94)

  13. so saying a 5 syllable word is enough to convince those who have been drinking the kool-aid this is the right thing.

    this article is as good and understandable an article about the supposed bail-out that i have ever read. worth reading.

    http://pajamasmedia.com/claudiarosett/present-for-the-inauguration/

    ktr (d30ef9)

  14. Would it be racist to point out that the first black President thinks that we need to have contraception included with a stimulus package?

    I guess he’s lucky he’s not Sarah Palin.

    Jack (d9cbc5)

  15. I heard an Assemblywoman on Hugh Hewitt last week. She said the state is technically bankrupt but Chapter 9 does not apply to states (is that true ?) and so they cannot just declare BK. She said they are unable to borrow and are out of cash. The road projects underway will have to stop unless Obama bails those out. Borrowing 15 billion on a bond issue a couple of years ago to fund operations was the last straw for the capital markets, such as they are now.

    MIke K (ee3203)

  16. By the way, I just posted the chart of the money supply for the USA on my blog. Pretty scary.

    MIke K (ee3203)

  17. Good Luck to Prez. Obama. If the fire breathing ideologues (and I mean that in a good way) that came into office during the Republican Revolution couldn’t do it (limited success?) I don’t see how President O is going to get it done either, even if he wants to.

    EdWood (4b86a5)

  18. The last two budgets were passed by a Democrat congress. Is Obama saying Democrats did not cut out the waste?

    Perfect Sense (9d1b08)

  19. There’s a hand-out from Cong. Jack Kingston (R-GA) posted over at PowerLine that notes that the last two budgets (passed by Dem Congresses) increased the National Debt by $2T, and that they are asking for deficit spending of $1.2T for the next year.
    Too bad none of the Dems have read “The Forgotten Man”, or so it would seem.

    AD (f7d033)

  20. Too bad none of the Dems have read “The Forgotten Man”, or so it would seem.

    Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. They would dispute the facts and conclusion that Amity Shlaes presents. Besides it is impermissible to say anything negative about FDR.

    Horatio (55069c)

  21. I believe!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!

    Obama über alles!!!!! (48dd5e)

  22. At American Thinker, they posit that the financial collapse is deliberate, according to the Cloward-Piven theory.

    Interesting….Obama’s Manufactured Crisi

    Patricia (89cb84)

  23. You Bail Them Out, We Opt Out.

    Dear [May Be Too Much to my Taste, OK!, It will rather be:] Expensive Ben S. Bernanke,

    All of Our Economic Problems Find They Root in the Existence of Credit.

    Out of the $5,000,000,000,000 bail out money for the banks, that is $1,000 for every inhabitant of this planet, what is it exactly that WE, The People, got?

    If my bank doesn’t pay back its credits, how come I have to pay mine?

    If my bank gets 0% loans, how come I don’t?

    At the same time, everyday, some of us are losing their home or even their jobs.

    Credit discriminates against people of lower economic classes, as such it is unconstitutional, isn’t it? It is a supra national stealth weapon of class struggle.

    Credit is a predatory practice. When the predator finishes up the preys he starves to death. What did you expect?

    Where are you exactly in that food chain?

    Credit is a Stealth Weapon of Mass Destruction.

    Credit is Mathematically Inept, Morally Unacceptable.

    You Bail Them Out, We Opt Out

    Opting Out Is Both Free and Strictly Anonymous.

    My Solution: The Credit Free, Free Market Economy.

    Is Both Dynamic on the Short Run & Stable on the Long Run, The Only Available Short Run Solution.

    I Am, Hence, Leading The Exit Out of Credit:

    Let me Outline for You My Proposed Strategy:

    Preserve Our Belongings.

    Our Property Title: Our Strictly Anonymous and Free Right to Opt Out of Credit.

    Our Credit Free Money: The Dinar-Shekel AKA The DaSh, Symbol: .

    Assets Transfer: Our Right Grant Operation – Our Wealth Multiplier.

    A Specific Application of Employment, Interest and Money.
    [A Tract Intended For my Fellows Economists].

    If Risk Free Interest Rates Are at 0.00% Doesn’t That Mean That Credit is Already Worthless?

    Since credit based currencies are managed by setting interest rates, on which you have lost all control, are you still managing them?

    We Need, Hence, Cancel All Interest Bearing Debt and Abolish Interest Bearing Credit.

    In This Age of Turbulence The People Wants an Exit Out of Credit: An Adventure in a New World Economic Order.

    The other option would be to wait till most of the productive assets of the economy get physically destroyed either by war or by rust.

    It will be either awfully deadly or dramatically long.

    A price none of us can afford to pay.

    “The current crisis can be overcome only by developing a sense of common purpose. The alternative to a new international order is chaos.”

    – Henry A. Kissinger

    They Bail Out, Let’s Opt Out!

    Check Out How Many of Us Are Already on Their Way to Opt Out of Credit.

    Until We Succeed the Economy Will Necessarily Continue to Sink Into a Deeper and Deeper Depression

    What Else?

    Let me provide you with a link to my press release for my open letter to you:

    Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Quantitative [Ooops! I Meant Credit] Easing Can’t Work!

    Yours Sincerely,

    Shalom P. Hamou AKA ‘MCShalom’
    Chief Economist – Master Conductor
    1 7 7 6 – Annuit Cœptis
    Tel: +972 54 441-7640
    Fax: +972 3 741-0824

    MC-Shalom (5348ab)

  24. Baracky’s passion for history is extraordinary and his warm loving relationship with M’chelle is not something we’re used to seeing in Presidential marriages.

    Ever get the feeling that history started over on Tuesday? When a prominent “historian” seems to have forgotten the last couple of decades, the Kool Aid is clearly taking effect.

    Pablo (99243e)

  25. Obama is correct: the new commitment is unprecedented. Previous commitments may also have been unprecedented but this is Obama’s first commitment and thus is unprecedented.

    Greg Packer's sock puppet (c4dfd6)

  26. It’s unprecedented that a biracial President who doesn’t look like any of the Presidents on dollar bills has made that commitment. Don’t you people know that the world began anew with the inauguration of the Obamessiah and that everything he does, including wiping his arse with toilet paper is unprecedented and holy?

    eaglewingz08 (c46606)

  27. Hussein is one slick jive talking act isn’t he.

    tarpon (26027c)

  28. […] time to get into accounting.) Just try to spend that. Fortunately, President Obama has an unprecedented pledge to avoid and prevent waste, so it will all be spent […]

    The Jury Talks Back » Your New Federal Building (e4ab32)

  29. […] After Obama repeatedly described as “unprecedented” a business-as-usual plan to root out waste in government, L.A. Times stenographers described the plan as unprecedented! […]

    Patterico's Pontifications » Patterico’s Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year in Review 2009 (e4ab32)


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