l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 By Rick Richman
On May 7, Geoffrey Norman posted "Today's Laugh Line" at National Review
Online -- a quote from a column by Mark Halperin in Time asserting Mitt
Romney has "the luxury of an open schedule" allowing him to "spend every
waking hour as a full-time candidate," while President Obama "is required to
do his day job."
It was even funnier if one looked at President Obama's May 7 schedule. Here
was his schedule that day, in its entirety, with all events taking place in
the Oval Office:
10:00 a.m. The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing.
11:00 a.m. The President meets with senior advisors.
2:30 p.m. The President holds a conference call with elected
officials and student government leaders from across the country to discuss
the need to prevent rates from doubling on July 1.
Obama is fortunate he didn't serve as president during the Bush
administration, when the Presidential Daily Briefing was generally given
around 7 a.m. to a president who typically arrived at 6:45 a.m. to the Oval
Office. According to the daily schedules posted on the White House website,
President Obama's official day usually starts at 10 a.m. with his daily
briefing.
Compare President Obama's May 7 schedule with President Bush's day on May 7,
2008: on that day he (1) issued an Executive Order on prohibitions of
exports to Syria, (2) sent Congress an agreement with the Czech Republic, (3
) signed bills designating various Post Office facilities in honor of U.S.
soldiers, (4) signed the "Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of
2008," (5) held a press conference urging Congress to "allow for the
construction of refinery and for environmentally friendly domestic
exploration" and give the Colombia free trade agreement an up-or-down vote,
and (6) addressed the Council of the Americas, with a lengthy speech that in
passing recounted his conversation the prior day with three Cuban
dissidents, which exemplified his Freedom Agenda:
Video-conferencing is one of the great wonders of the 21st century, and
to be able to sit in the White House and talk to these three brave souls in
Havana was a inspiring moment for me ... It also reminded me of a couple of
things: One, that there's an eternal truth when it comes to freedom, that
there is an Almighty, and a gift of that Almighty to every man, woman and
child, whether they be American, Cubano, or anywhere else, is freedom.
... The Cuban government recently announced a change at the top. Some in
the world marveled that perhaps change is on its way. That's not how I view
it. Until there's a change of ... how the Cuban government treats its
people, there's no change at all. ... Cuba will not be a land of liberty so
long as free expression is punished and free speech can take place only in
hushed whispers and silent prayers. And Cuba will not become a place of
prosperity just by easing restrictions on the sale of products that the
average Cuban cannot afford.
Perhaps May 7, 2008 is not a fair comparison, since Bush was not running for
re-election that year. Let's look at his schedule for May 7, 2004. On that
day, he was campaigning in Wisconsin, making remarks to people in Lancaster
about the improving economy:
We got some good news today. They added -- we added 288,000 new jobs
last month. That's a good sign. (Applause.) Part of it has to do with making
sure you get to keep more of your own money. That stimulus plan is working.
That afternoon he held a lengthy "Ask President Bush" event in Prairie Du
Chien, and recounted how the country had overcome a lot:
This country, in a very brief period of time, overcame the stock market
decline, starting in March of 2000 ... Starting in early 2001, we went
through a recession ... And then, just as we were coming out of that
recession, the enemy hit us. ... It affected our economy ... We overcame
that.
... I'd like to take a little credit for the pro-growth that's happening
today because of the tax cuts. See, I believe that when you give people
more of their own money -- and notice I said, more of their own money -- it'
s not the government money we're passing back, it's the people's money we
take in the first place ... when you've got more money in your pocket, you'
re likely to demand an additional good or a service. And when you demand an
additional good or a service in our marketplace-type economy, somebody will
produce it. And when somebody produces the good or a service, somebody is
more likely to keep a job or find work. That's just the way it works.
The tax cuts were important economic policy...We've been counting the
number of new promises the fellow I'm running against is making. He's up to
$1.9 trillion so far ... So the question is, how is he going to pay for it?
... [H]is answer, of course, is taxing rich people. But the problem is there
's not enough tax revenue to be generated to pay for $1.9 trillion worth of
new spending by taxing rich people.
Eight years later, the Bush tax cuts -- a 10% across-the-board cut in tax
rates for virtually every taxpayer, currently rebranded by President Obama
as tax cuts for "millionaires and billionaires" -- will likely be a
central issue in the campaign, as will President Obama's different kind of
stimulus program that he initiated in 2009 along with his call for repeal of
the Bush tax cuts for the M&Bs (which would raise only a relatively small
amount of money, but would assertedly be "fair").
Which is the better stimulus program -- allowing people to keep more of
their money to spend, save, or invest; or transferring more money to be
spent, redistributed, or invested by the political class? Are taxes too low
or government spending too high? Should taxes be raised, reformed, or
reduced? These questions, which go to the heart of the role of government
and its relationship to citizens, are likely to be at the heart of the
coming political debate.
As he seeks to address these issues, President Obama's day job is not likely
to interfere with his ability to campaign. On May 7, after receiving his
daily briefing and meeting with his political and press people (aka "senior
advisers"), he held what was effectively a campaign event -- right from the
Oval Office. You can tell the conference call to the student government
leaders was a political discussion, not a policy one, because the call was
marked "closed to press" (reminiscent of the time he made a closed
conference call to a thousand rabbis to urge them to push ObamaCare in their
High Holiday sermons).
Call it the luxury of a day job with a closed schedule -- where you can
campaign right from your desk, while your opponent is stuck with an open
schedule.
Rick Richman writes at Jewish Current Issues, Commentary Contentions, and PJ
Media, as well as American Thinker. | P*********0
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【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: By Rick Richman
: On May 7, Geoffrey Norman posted "Today's Laugh Line" at National Review
: Online -- a quote from a column by Mark Halperin in Time asserting Mitt
: Romney has "the luxury of an open schedule" allowing him to "spend every
: waking hour as a full-time candidate," while President Obama "is required to
: do his day job."
: It was even funnier if one looked at President Obama's May 7 schedule. Here
: was his schedule that day, in its entirety, with all events taking place in
: the Oval Office:
: 10:00 a.m. The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing.
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