Do you hope Obama fails?
With the presidency of Barack Obama in full swing and the economic stimulus package signed into law, much is being said and discussed about the hopes of failure or success. The most notable statement came from Rush Limbaugh, in a now famous opening monologue of his program, January 16, 2009.
If I wanted Obama to succeed, I’d be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would be encouraging Republicans to lay down and support him. Look, what he’s talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the US government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don’t want this to work. So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.
I believe I have made myself fairly clear in the past that I do not like Rush Limbaugh, so it should be clear that I am not taking up for the man. He is a loudmouthed individual who has been successful at being just that.
The Associated Press has a story this morning that outlines how the Republican Party is going to be watching very closely how the money from the stimulus package will be spent. They are sure to jump on every little bit of wasteful spending they can find and rightfully so. By the same token, the Democratic Party is going to be pointing at every little bit of success that comes from the spending, trying to make the point that everything is going according to plan, just as they said it would.
I have said all along that I hope President Obama does a good job as President, for if he does, it bodes well for our country. That being said, there are some of his policies that are very troubling to me and when it comes right down to it, I do hope they fail. By way of explanation, let me say this. If he succeeds with his healthcare plan, the federal government will have their foot further in the door of our lives. By continuing the bailouts of Wall Street corporations and banks that were started by President Bush, he is allowing the federal government to have more control over the private sector. Is that a good thing? I would contend that this kind of intrusion is what brought us to the place we are in right now. When President Clinton was in office, he began to enforce the Community Reinvestment Act and paved the way for the subprime mortgage crisis that is the foundation of the economic problems we see today.
Our country was founded on the idea that the people had personal responsibility for their own actions. Our founding fathers knew very well the risks they were taking in joining together as the United States of America and they took responsibility for those risks. If the policies of President Obama and the Democratic Party succeed, our country will be moving closer and closer to a socialistic society where the government takes more and more of that responsibility from the backs of the people. Take for example the $75 billion that is about to be used to prevent foreclosures and help people stay in their homes.
If this plan is implemented, it will reward those people who have made these bad loan decisions and take the responsibility from their shoulders. I know firsthand how bad of a time this is. I have two mortgages myself and have been behind on those payments for years. I have struggled to keep my head above water and am finally to the place where I am no longer behind. No one helped me do that, it was my choice and my responsibility to do so. Now that I am caught up, I can pay more taxes, just to help pay someone else’s mortgage. That hardly seems fair and despite what Vice-President Joe Biden says, it doesn’t make me feel more patriotic to do so.
So, I would have to say this. I really do want our country to do well and I will be well pleased if President Obama does a good job. I will have no problem giving him credit where credit is due. However, when it comes to some of the policies he is working to implement, then I have to say I hope those policies fall flat on their faces. If they do not, then expect to see our country move much closer to socialism than would be healthy.
It depends on what one means.
Obviously, anyone who disagrees with a president wants him to fail at certain agenda points. That’s called “having an opinion.”
I want President Obama to have a Presidency that’s worth noting in history for the good that was done. That doesn’t mean that I want certain things — FOCA, stimulus bills, etc. — to pass. I think, to be honest, that they will make his administration a failure.
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Its not as much that I want Obama to fail, I just that I KNOW that his economic ideology is bound to fail. After 8 years of having a “conservative” president who expanded the welfare state and increased government spending, I know that Obama’s “stimulus” will fail. Obama’s policies are leading America farther into the wrong direction.
I always want what’s best for America. First and foremost. That means that I WANT Obama’s Administration to be successful in stimulating the economy and increasing America’s morale.
I know, however, that in order to do that, President Obama will have to take a huge step in a more conservative/centrist direction.
I highly doubt that will happen, but I don’t want Obama to fail.
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As I have said in another post, Limbaugh is a genius at applying the science of talk radio to elicit the most emotional response from both his base and the media. He succeeded wildly this time;score one for the loudmouth, hypocritical drug addict. The responses from people on this board so far have been reasonable thoughtful explanations, but that’s not what Limbaugh really wants. He wants a supplicant following, and in millions of cases he has just that.
But the biggest danger is that during the past eight years GOP politicians themselves have begun to act like talk radio hosts, tackling not the issues that really need solving but the issues that make them most popular.
There are many instances of this, but the most glaring one came in early 2005. John McCain introduced a bill that would have begun to address the mortgage problems that eventually caught up to us. He had a GOP majority in both the House and the Senate and a Republican President who had just crowed about his reelection victory and declared that he had been given a lot of “political capital” and he “intended to spend it.”
But instead of getting behind McCains calls to reign in irresponsible mortgage practices and address FHA, Fannie and Freddie shortcomings, what did the party of fiscal responsibility turn their attention to? The Terry Schiavo debacle. Egged on by every blowhard on Conservative talk radio, the GOP Congress and White House rode a wave of popular support to concentrate on one woman, and the rest of the agenda that could have helped millions fell by the wayside. McCain’s attempts to begin to address what eventually became a full fledged crisis died a quiet death because his colleagues preferred to focus on what was popular, not what was right. And even Bill Frist admits the folly of this in hindsight, after having led everyone over the edge and making diagnoses and unsubstantiated declarations on the Senate floor.
Again as I have said before- listen to these entertainers, sure. But do so with a healthy amount of skepticism. And next time your elected officials start to act like a host instead of a public servant ask yourself: Where might we (and the Republican party) be if they had heeded to call of a colleague instead of courted popularity like a high school prom candidate?
Larry,
A bit off topic, but speaks directly to the GOP courting that which is popular at the moment.
GOP Chair Promises an “Off the Hook Campaign” to Appeal to the Urban Hip Hoppers
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/19/steele-gop-needs-hip-hop-makeover/
Interesting direction.
I believe that the political, economical, and moral-cultural positions and policies of Obama and the predominance of the Democrat party are destructive. In my opinion it is important that these policies are exposed and thwarted. These positions and policies have been tried before in history with dire consequences.
I don’t think I could have said it better, Larry; I completely agree with your take.
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I agree with Rush….
I want what’s best for the country, which includes keeping us safe, averting further financial catastrophe, and maintaining the freedoms/principles which we are founded on. That doesn’t mean I want Obama to succeed in the change he has promised to America.
Obama’s ideas about how to accomplish these basic goals are so out of line with my own views, that it’s hard to say I support him. He wants to avert financial crisis by following fiscally liberal anti-free market philosophy, which I do not believe in. He wants to push through acts like FOCA, and in other ways (as far as I can see) undermine and disenfranchise all Conservatives in this country, particularly Christians. I certainly don’t want him to succeed in that respect.
Overall, it’s silly to *forget* we ever heard hi speeches or read about his platform, and just adopt the “give him a chance” mentality. The fact is he ran on a platform, and has talked about many of his goals at length… which I am vehemently opposed to. Why are we being asked to “give him a chance”. Give him a chance to reverse his positions, you mean? That’s the best chance I could give him.
Kathy,
I have been one of those who have wanted to give President Obama a chance to do his job, but I am beginning to wonder about that. It’s pretty clear that he is going quickly about the task of achieving his agenda, just as he promised he would do. I want our country to succeed, but the direction Obama is moving our country is not encouraging at all.
No doubt about it, I want President Obama to succeed ……… but with good ideas and good policies being implemented. So far, this has not been the case. I suppose it is to be expected, though. His party has the policies he espouses firmly entrenched in the minds of most of the left-leaning masses.
On the other hand, if he succeeds the way I want him to, those on the left won’t like it very much, which is perfectly okay with me. I personally believe it would be disastrous for this president to have another term in office: it’s looking pretty disastrous for him to be in office now!
Succeed with good conservative ideas and policies – Yes
Succeed with his ideas and policies – No
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Would that the GOP had embodied even a bit of Conservative ideals over the past decade. The Republican party gave us Bush and an all-powerful party for 6 years. There were many good Conservatives who could have led the country in a reasonable direction, but it felt to good to be popular so they chose not to. And, in 2004, faced with overwhelming evidence that Bush policies were leading to massive job loss and shrinking GDP, the GOP insisted on more of the same.
I’m not very happy with the pork in this bill, but it took us 8 years of bad managment to get to where we’re at. Anyone who thinks that this should be solved in a month is igonoring history. We have at least one example of modern day massive spending increases that reverse deep recession. So I will give it more than a month to see what happens.
I don’t necessarily want him to fail, but what I would like to see is the same media scrutiny given to Obama that was given to the last administration, and I just don’t think that’s going to happen. I have this suspicion that if things go wrong with any of Obama’s agenda, the media radar will just focus on something else instead.
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Gina — I don’t agree with that at all. I find the whole notion of the “liberal media” to be an idea whose time has passed and has become a convenient excuse for GOP disarray. Sure there are liberal media groups but there are many and growing numbers of conservative ones as well. Yes, the liberal media outnumbers the conservative media but the numbers on the media right are too big to ignore. The popularity of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Washington Times, and many more very vocal and widely read conservative media outlets guarantees that any and all slips will be quite broadly publicized. Many liberal papers have taken Obama to task already for his handling of the stimulus package though their issues were more concerned with his trying too hard to create a bipartisan majority. You can’t expect the op-ed pages of liberal newspapers to take the President to task for the same issues that the conservative media will — they just don’t see things the same way. But when he messes up he will hear it from everybody….as he should.