Obama's words don't match deeds

Tony Marsh had an excellent piece in The American Spectator on March 3, 2009. Here are some excerpts (italics) with my comments.


In Barack Obama the Democrats have a communicator… his body language is non-threatening, his rhetoric reassures with its reasonableness and comforting cadence. But his words in no way match his actions. His lips say moderation, his actions say spend, tax and expand government.
Yes, Obama is treated like a rock star. Some say he’s cool; I say he’s slick.


It's understandable that most pundits marvel at his mastery of delivery, but few seem to note how remarkably comfortable Obama is with his own hypocrisy. He hides his real policy agenda behind a screen of dense rhetorical smoke. President Obama understands he can't achieve his radical reorganization of America's economy by telling people that's what he actually intends.
The platitudes are getting old; the honeymoon is ending. Even the liberal press is poking at his policies. Check out RealPolitics.com for a daily dose of the growing criticism from the likes of the NY Times.


At some point, the president's rhetoric must meet reality. Once the painful economic reality hits the twenty- and thirty-something's who provided Obama's winning election margins, it's unlikely they'll be quite so enthusiastic. After all, just the spending he's committed in his first four weeks will cost each of them the equivalent of 10 Caribbean vacations over the course of their lives -- or 50 new laptops and 500 new i-pods.
Consider for example his promise to go through the budget "line by line" to eliminate wasteful spending and cut programs that aren't working almost hours after signing the biggest spending bill ever passed in the entire history of humankind.
Despite his oft-promised job-creating infrastructure improvements, President Obama's so-called "stimulus" plan spends only about 15% of its nearly trillion dollar price-tag on actual infrastructure. Rather than investment, the Obama plan rolls back welfare reform, nearly doubles the national debt, and throws money at a random collection of government pork.
We've only just seen the start of the spending spree. Obama has told his liberal allies he will push for universal health care, increase grants for college tuition, and promote a "re-tooled and re-imagined auto industry" Translation: a big fat Detroit Bailout.

All I’ve heard since the inauguration is: “He inherited a mess. Give him time. We have to do something!” But when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging.