Patterico's Pontifications

3/13/2009

Honeymoon’s Over

Filed under: Obama — Patterico @ 8:11 am



Gregg lights into Geithner:

In a hearing before the Senate Budget Committee Gregg dressed down Geithner with facts, figures, and charts. While always keeping his cool, the exchange was somewhere between a mother’s scolding, a drill sergeant’s questioning and an attorney’s cross examination.

In his opening statement, Gregg politely called the administration’s budget forecast a lie.

“The argument that it cuts the debt in half in four years is, ahh, is truly spurious,” he told Geithner.

Ahh, yes it is.

As Karl notes, the honeymoon’s over. Time to start working on the divorce.

66 Responses to “Honeymoon’s Over”

  1. While I agree that Geithner’s been disasterous so far, is he not being set up as the ideal fall guy for gross incompetence by this administration? No wonder they wanted Gregg to join their cause so desperately – they knew this was coming if he stayed on in the Senate. Thank goodness.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  2. The Democrats want to put up an Anti-Limbaugh billboard with the slogan, “Americans didn’t vote for a Rush to failure.” A RUSH to failure by Obama and the Democrat majority in Congress is what we got in spades.

    I’ll be blogging on this and have it up by lunch Central time.

    PCD (db2059)

  3. When you’ve never run anything but your mouth, well then it gets tough when you actually have to do the job. Rookie mistakes together with world class arrogance from a guy who doesn’t actually know all that much–no economics, no history etc.

    Mike Myers (674050)

  4. When you’ve never run anything but your mouth, well then it gets tough when you actually have to do the job. Rookie mistakes together with world class arrogance from a guy who doesn’t actually know all that much–no economics, no history etc.

    Mike Myers (674050)

  5. It’s almost as if he had no significant executive experience.

    Well, there was the Annenberg Challenge, which blew through ungodly sums of money, but at least the Chicago Schools are the envy of America, right? Oh crap.

    Techie (9c008e)

  6. Peel back the layers. Awesome… the internal fraud is exposed. To leave the fraud unexposed is not pushing America forward.

    Since the left groups are heavily coordinated with daily talking points, PP here should see a huge influx later. The usual suspects and new faces… all defending Teh One.

    Vermont Neighbor (229b93)

  7. Karl notes that the honeymoon is over, I’d like to note that it was a forced marriage that I for one didn’t agree to… I demand a divorce, alimony and attorney’s fees.

    GM Roper (85dcd7)

  8. Ear Leader:
    The Audacity of Image and The Paucity of Ability.

    redc1c4 (9c4f4a)

  9. The Audacity of Image and The Paucity of Ability.

    Yep. The War on Errorism has started.

    Vermont Neighbor (229b93)

  10. How many of his nominees are currently under FBI investigation? The FBI raided one office yesterday, and Carrion @ HUD seems like he would fit in nicely in Chicago. Couple that with a Treasury that is not staffed below Geithner, and apparently nobody wants to go there, it is safe to now assert that this is the BESTEREST ADMINISTRATION EVAH !!!!

    JD (3635a0)

  11. I’m too busy right now to read it, but I saw a photo and headline indicating Volker was weighing in on the budget with O. That’s a location where I’d like to have a hidden mike. Never did like that image of the proverbial fly on the wall, especially after The Fly movie. Gregg has jumped 10 points on the Econ Hero scale. I had him in the basement with some of his earlier statements in support of bailouts and stimuli. Do not take your foot off his neck, Senator.

    allan (b41e41)

  12. Meanwhile, Arianna is blogging from the media capital, Rome. Too glamorous, the life of a lib. Her crazees back at the compound are pumped up over a bazillion-point headline stating that Jon Stewart mocked Jim Cramer – –

    Priorities.

    And extra points for the story on Tent Cities. “Do you know of one? ” So effing disconnected from reality.

    Vermont Neighbor (229b93)

  13. Hot damn, at least the Clintons had those 800 FBI files of dirt on their opponents. Baracky needs to start getting that Chicago mob to do its dirty deeds. Guess it takes time to organize that new Obama brown shirt/civilian Gestapo. There are rumors of plans for martial law as necessary. Wondering who is a bigger commie- Barack Hussein or Hugo Chavez?

    Just saw a hilarious version of the Last Supper with the Messianic Ear Leader and his merry band of assclown media disciples plus self-hating Joo Soros. The whole gang is there, including Olberdouche, Chrissy ‘I squat to pee’ Matthews, Couric and some other CNN/MSNBC buffoons.

    aoibhneas (0c6cfc)

  14. Why don’t we just face the fact that we’re a country of idiots who, by electing the Magical Mau Mau, went from being the only super-power to being a laughing-stock to the rest of the world?

    nk (31b2d3)

  15. I’m too busy right now to read it, but I saw a photo and headline indicating Volker was weighing in on the budget with O. That’s a location where I’d like to have a hidden mike.

    Me too, Allan – but I find it hilarious that after studiously ignoring Volcker from Day 1 of his appointment, now he’s seeking his advice??!! No doubt Volcker’s explicitly stating that it’s way too late to use him to cover his arse now. First he tried Buffett, but now that isn’t working, so on he goes to the next guy – he’s quickly running out of people to throw under that bus.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  16. “Why don’t we just face the fact that we’re a country of idiots who, by electing the Magical Mau Mau, went from being the only super-power to being a laughing-stock to the rest of the world?”

    – nk

    I think we were the laughing-stock of the rest of the world well before the election of the “Magical Mau-Mau”… not that that’s particularly comforting to anyone (except maybe a few short-sighted trendy liberal types).

    Leviticus (43095b)

  17. I think we were the laughing-stock of the rest of the world well before the election of the “Magical Mau-Mau”…

    Except for when they hated us for being so evil.

    Pablo (99243e)

  18. So in your viewpoint (respectfully), the intellectuals of Europe who deemed Bush an ignorant cowboy were the ultimate deciders here? Somehow I don’t think that the Poles, Ukranians, Iraqis, and now even
    the French(!) are laughing now. That’s what happens when you realize that what you thought was a relatively poor linguistic predecessor starts to look like a genius compared to the current occupant.

    I’m asking my friends who are big Lefties what they’d think Obama and his staff would have done after 9/11. Not one person has offered anything close to the actions that Bush took almost immediately afterward – quite telling.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  19. You could add in the Brits to that list as well, especially after their treatment last week – and Brown is only the Labor PM to boot. They also hated Blair for his support for Bush, but now they’re expressing all sorts of sorrow now that he was kicked to the curb.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  20. aoibhneas,

    Obama couldn’t organize a Kindergarten fire drill without a teleprompter.

    PCD (db2059)

  21. Muzzle the White House:
    Kidnap the Teleprompter!

    AD - RtR/OS (5c10b1)

  22. The whole administration is embarrassing, the DVD thing was so mortifying. Geithner needs to go, quickly. The cutesy gifts need to go away. How flipping arrogant is this administration that it thinks our stupid office supply commercials are somehow relevant in kidding around with frickin RUSSIA? A public gift between a head of state and an ambassador should require minimal explanation, if any. That whole button thing was really embarrassing. And stupid.

    Vivian Louise (c0f830)

  23. But I thought Hillary was one of the few experienced and competent folks in this administration – oh, well…

    Dmac (49b16c)

  24. she is…… and that describes the problem succinctly.

    they have no experience, no competency and no clue.

    other than that, they’re awesome.

    redc1c4 (9c4f4a)

  25. But I thought Hillary was one of the few experienced and competent folks in this administration – oh, well…

    Only at 3:00 AM

    Vivian Louise (c0f830)

  26. “Except for when they hated us for being so evil.”

    – Pablo

    That’s what I was talking about. I assumed that “laughingstock” meant “contempt” (more or less), and that “contempt” was what the rest of the world was expressing for the US when they decried our policies as evil (since it probably wasn’t fear). Maybe my assumptions were wrong.

    “So in your viewpoint (respectfully), the intellectuals of Europe who deemed Bush an ignorant cowboy were the ultimate deciders here?”

    – Dmac

    My original comment isn’t normative: it says nothing about whether or not the world was right to hold us in contempt under Bush. It only says that they did (and they did).

    Leviticus (68eff1)

  27. Thank you for the clarification, Leviticus – my bad.

    Only at 3:00 AM

    HA! I’d forgotten all about that ad.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  28. Wondering if Big O actually took any classes at all those schools he supposedly attended. Possibly he only registered; hence no transcripts available. What kind of education is required to become a community organizer?

    One more … are law degrees available over the internet?

    PatAZ (9d1bb3)

  29. It only says that they did (and they did)

    Actually, no they didn’t.

    Huge portions of Europe (those being any part that wasn’t a UK paper or Le Monde) thought very highly of us, where I was told by a girl-scout camp counselor that she didn’t know or hear from a single person who was not supremely excited for her to be coming to the US from Europe for the several months of summer camp.

    The papers hated us, but that shouldn’t shock you.

    The papers here hate us too.

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  30. And let us not forget that, while the US seems to be slowly realizing they put an idiot (who’s only skills are reading out loud and picking the most damaged people possible for government service) in charge, China apparently is beginning to notice that owning a lot of the US debt might not be a great idea…

    That sound you heard just now? That was the nation’s credit card being declined…

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  31. Allan has been warning for months that the Chinese would eventually wake up and realize that unfortunate reality – not to mention the European leaders telling Obama this week to forget about asking them to enact stimulus plans like he’s doing here. How ridiculous this has become, where quasi – socialistic Europe is now telling the dynamic center of capitalism that excessive gov’t interference in the economy won’t work?

    Dmac (49b16c)

  32. I’m wondering if the stock market rally is a sort of realization that Obama is not going to get anything more done. Even the Democrats are balking if they want to be re-elected. Now, if only we are not attacked before we can get a competent president in there.

    Mike K (8df289)

  33. We can only hope for both of those things to be true, Mike.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  34. And yes, I think the rest of the world is telling Obama to get his house in order, and stop throwing more money out the window. The thing about creditors is this: whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to do what they ask of you.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  35. Yeah, a divorce in which the spouse won’t leave the house, keeps committing their soon-to-be former mate to financial obligations that outlast the marriage, sics the police on anybody who doesn’t take his side in the divorce and pens a memoir in which he portrays himself on the side of the angels and insults his former friends and family.

    steve sturm (369bc6)

  36. “Actually, no they didn’t.”

    – Leviticus

    You’re probably right on this one: I’ve been mistakenly equating opposition to the war to having contempt for the US, and there’s no equivalence there…

    … Although at this I suppose point we’d have to go back to nk’s original statement and see whether or not certain countries (European countries, for the sake of consistency) actually had lower overall favorability ratings of the US based on Obama’s handling of the financial crisis.

    Which I doubt.

    Leviticus (68eff1)

  37. Megan McArdle illustrates the point about the honeymoon being over as she discusses the ridiculous budget proposal and Obama’s lack of credibility.

    SPQR (72771e)

  38. Although at this I suppose point we’d have to go back to nk’s original statement and see whether or not certain countries (European countries, for the sake of consistency) actually had lower overall favorability ratings of the US based on Obama’s handling of the financial crisis.

    Is that what I said?

    nk (31b2d3)

  39. I got a big chuckle out of left-Kult commentators such as Ezra Klein, Jane Hamster, and Matt Yglesias complaining about a Citigroup sell-side equity research analyst publishing a report warning that the potential passage of the EFCA (Card Check)might be a negative for Walmart. Damn ungrateful lout, Citibank took TARP funds, don’t they know they are supposed to just SHUT UP and support Obama’s agenda! They silence and/or positive spin was bought and paid for dammit!

    Just like investment banking business bought favorable research coverage during the dotcom bubble, right. Nobody complained about that lack of independence did they? These morons on the left just expose more and more of their cluelessness every day.

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  40. Their silence

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  41. So, here we are with give or take 20 trillion worth of debt. It needs to disappear, or at least radically shrink before we can move on. You know, in order for consumers to go back to doing what they do best – consuming. But how do you reduce the debt level? Former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon had his own strategy in 1929: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate… It will purge the rottenness out of the system… Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people.”

    If it’s a depression we’re in let willing buyers and sellers mark debt down to what it is really worth. Mellon’s plan was not followed by the Hoover or Roosevelt administrations. Instead, they introduced elaborate bailouts, stimulus programs, and boondoggles. Sounds kinda familiar, eh? That set up for a Great Depression, rather than a ‘quick and dirty’ depression that historically comes around during the extreme low end of long economic cycles. Kind of how forest fires get rid of underbrush and old growth so that new tree growth can occur. By the end of the 30s, the US economy was almost exactly the same size it had been at the beginning.

    Look at what went down in Japan, holding off liquidation brought a “lost decade” in the ’90s. Some would avow that Japan still hasn’t recovered. Bush the son followed in Hoover’s footsteps. And now, the Obama administration follows in Roosevelt’s and Miyazawa’s.

    Let the depression do its work. Let the bad times do what they do best. Call it accountability, or whatever you like. All we’re doing now is taking good money out of the economy and throwing it at everyone that screwed up. How does anyone expect taking money OUT of an economy somehow fixes an economy and gets it rolling? Look, there’s a lot of serious capital out there, but it’s all tucked away in corporate bunkers, US Treasuries, and money mkt accounts, but because of all the fearmongering coming out of the WH and Congress that’s where it’s going to sit [although, some it is peeking out with this potential bear rally]. But all you get from the mountain top is Save the Whales…from Wall Street to the mortgage mongers who all were idiotically using the same hedges. That’s why they all collapsed simultaneously in a heartbeat. Until all this debt is either inflated away or sealed off in writedowns we’re going nowhere. Except for…

    As I see it, this week has the markings of an old-fashioned bear rally in the near term. How far up will it go? I’ve heard Dow at 8k would not be unreasonable. Still a trader’s playing field, not suitable for 401k type investing…purely an opinion, of course.

    allan (b41e41)

  42. I was in a doctor’s office today and we’ve heard all the jokes about old magazines that they have in the waiting room. I picked up the Newsweak [yes, the spelling is intentional] issue from just before Dear Leader’s inauguration and was thumbing through it. It was, of course, completely hagiographic and full of breathless reports of all the wonderful things the new administration was supposed to be doing for us and how they would hit the ground running and work hand in hand with the new Congress to make all our lives better. It is remarkable how in the space of just seven weeks they have managed to expose themselves as the band of incompetents that we always suspected they were. Remarkable and sad. Of course, I don’t expect Newsweak to pick up on that — Lord, I am glad I dropped that magazine years ago!

    JVW (bff0a4)

  43. …but they were all over the Koran flushing incident at GITMO…oh, wait…they got that one wrong as well, right?

    Dmac (49b16c)

  44. Did the honeymoon with Obama ever start on this blog? When? Where?

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  45. #22 PCD:

    Obama couldn’t organize a Kindergarten fire drill without a teleprompter.

    Funny you should mention that. A couple of us here had a vision of that last September.

    EW1(SG) (e27928)

  46. You may remember when Patterico praised Obama as a “good man,” Lovey. That’s fairly close to a honeymoon as you’re ever going to get on a conservative blog. I never read anything on Lefty sites that didn’t call Bush every evil and disgusting name in the book, and that was BEFORE he even took office.

    Dmac (49b16c)

  47. I think Baracky knows a divorce is coming, so he is squandering all the community property of the nation before we dump him.

    Patricia (2183bb)

  48. You may remember when Patterico praised Obama as a “good man,”

    I remember that. I also remember the lynching he got for that. Some honeymoon.

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  49. Not with 61 percent approval rating, BTW. Those who don’t like him now, never did.

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  50. BHO hasn’t had a 61 pc approval in nearly a month. His approval has been trending downward and his disapproval has been trending upward. And his index (strong approval v strong disapproval) has fallen off markedly, despite the efforts of CNN, MSNBC, et al.

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  51. Bradley, there are no kickbacks in Chicago or DC politics. You must be mistaken.

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  52. Comment by John Hitchcock — 3/13/2009 @ 5:37 pm
    Speak for yourself, John. There are a lot of Americans who still want to give him time to do what he needs to do. They are not in a hurry to RUSH to the divorce courts yet!

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  53. Wow, Lovey. I point out your error and source it and you have what to offer? Closed ears and eyes. “Those who have eyes, let them see. Those who have ears, let them hear.”

    John Hitchcock (fb941d)

  54. “Is that what I said?”

    – nk

    No – not exactly, anyway (and I never said you said that). You said that we were a nation of idiots who went from being a super-power to being the laughingstock of the rest of the world because we elected Obama.

    Then I said that we were the laughingstock of the rest of the world before Obama was elected.

    Then Scott said that we weren’t – that while the war may have been unpopular, Europeans (his example, and hence the one I ran with) still had a favorable opinion of the US as a nation.

    Then I said, Good point: disagreeing with the handling of a particular situation isn’t the same as having contempt for someone/having an unfavorable view of them.

    Then (with that in mind) I said that we ought to reexamine your original statement, and see whether or not the unease of the world at Obama’s handling of the economic crisis translated into the US being a global laughingstock.

    I hope this breakdown doesn’t seem trite. I’m not trying to be pretentious – I’m just trying to make sure we’re on the same page as regards a) authorial intent, b) definitions of terms, and c) the trajectory of the discussion up to this point.

    Leviticus (bfceeb)

  55. There are a lot of Americans who still want to give him time to do what he needs to do.

    Yeah… The prolem is, what he needs to done isn’t being done.

    For a group that mocked Bush’s inability to conduct foreign policy, you sure are accepting of someone who’s even worse.

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  56. Leviticus,

    You deserve an answer not flavored with half a bottle of La Crema Pinot Noir. Please bear with me.

    nk (31b2d3)

  57. Comment by Leviticus — 3/13/2009 @ 6:13 pm
    Don’t feed the trolls, Leviticus. 😉

    Emperor7 (0c8c2c)

  58. Another example of what empty suits the Obama administration contains, is the announcement that the administration would no longer use the term “unlawful combatant”.

    Orwellian language games. That will solve our problems.

    I think I saw a contest for a new term and my favorite is “undocumented freedom fighters”.

    Four years of silly vapid nonsense. That’s the “Change” we are getting.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  59. Welcome to Chicago!

    Dmac (49b16c)

  60. “You deserve an answer not flavored with half a bottle of La Crema Pinot Noir. Please bear with me.”

    – nk

    No worries, good sir.

    Leviticus (382951)

  61. Thank you, Leviticus.

    I’m not all that worried about Obama’s “handling” of the economy. Sure, he’s rewarding his constituency with our tax dollars but I kind of remember that the effective tax rate in 1980 was 8o% for people making more than $300,000 a year. I think the American ethos can overcome whatever kleptocracy a President tries to impose. Our economy will bounce back, with or despite Obama, and the debt my daughter will have to repay will be more than made up by the benefit of her having been born in the USA.

    On foreigh policy, however, there is very little the populace can do. The President is really in charge and we succeed or fail with him. And so far Obama has shown himself to be ten times the doofus Bush 43 was. Scott Jacobs, at The Jury Talks Back, has some examples up.

    nk (0a1ba0)

  62. e7,

    I’m pretty sure you make factual assertions that were untrue, and that someone specifically proved it with citations.

    You can ignore that… but to call other people trolls when you’re the one who isn’t living in reality is very entertaining. Please continue.

    Bush generated a lot of anger. But Obama’s generating more, and faster. the real difference is that the democrats are going to pretend it’s not happening until after election day.

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  63. Welcome to Chicago!

    We are all Chicagoans now.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407)


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