{"id":8336,"date":"2011-08-23T00:40:55","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T04:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=8336"},"modified":"2013-04-02T11:13:49","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T15:13:49","slug":"why-obama-is-the-big-loser-of-the-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/anonymous_banker\/08\/23\/why-obama-is-the-big-loser-of-the-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Obama Is The Big Loser Of The Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they\u2019ve tried everything else,\u201d quipped Winston Churchill, who did not live long enough to witness the rise of the Tea Party.<\/p>\n

\"Tea<\/a><\/p>\n

Congress got \u2019er done eventually. The debt ceiling was raised. The U.S. did not default. But the damage was done. Faith in Washington spent. The S&P downgraded the lone superpower\u2019s sterling credit rating from AAA to AA+ for the first time. Our sense of humor along with it:<\/p>\n

– \u201cYo momma so poor she raised her debt ceiling and the S&P STILL downgraded her.\u201d<\/p>\n

– \u201cCaught a just downgraded AA+ 11-inch Maine bass. Gotta cross to Canada across lake for AAA fish.\u201d Economist Nouriel \u201cDr. Doom\u201d Roubini\u2019s tweet from a Maine fishing trip.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Congresses<\/p>\n

No one but short-sellers laughed. The Dow cratered. And skittish investors flocked to… U.S. treasuries. Never mind that the S&P rated Lehman A-grade the month of its collapse. Never mind that the S&P admitted faulty accounting to the tune of $2 trillion. It was not about the numbers, the S&P countered. It was about the words of vitriol in Washington. The \u201cbrinksmanship\u201d of a paralyzed Congress that pushed the financial system back to the precipice. And possibly the Double Dip.<\/p>\n

If so, the first dip was Wall Street\u2019s. The gory shoot-out after years of Wild Wild West derivatives and lawless collateralized debt obligation. But the second dip belongs to the sheriffs. The recovery was Too Small To Succeed.<\/p>\n

The culprits this time were rapacious lawmakers elected by the people for the corporate interest. The buck didn\u2019t stop there. They simply printed more. They frittered away weeks wringing out debt ceiling bills that were dead on arrival. Held captive by a rabid Tea Party insurgency that played the nation\u2019s credit rating as a bargaining chip that bet it all to spare tax hikes on the wealthy. <\/p>\n

And a president who could not say No. A Professor-In-Chief more comfortable behind a lectern than a pulpit. But President Obama\u2019s \u201ceat your peas\u201d bromides meant nothing to a ravenous Tea Party that tasted blood. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

President Obama idolizes Abraham Lincoln. Yet he somehow forgot Honest Abe\u2019s best-known truism: \u201cYou can\u2019t please all of the people all of the time.\u201d Again and again, Obama tried to give everyone something and gave no one anything they wanted. What came out were diluted, half-measures smacking more of erudite academia than brass-knuckled politics. <\/p>\n

President Obama didn\u2019t flex when he had it and \u201cled from behind\u201d when he didn\u2019t. It\u2019s why he hosed down with Stimulus with tax cuts. It\u2019s why the debt ceiling became a virtual hostage crisis. It\u2019s why we are hurrying slowly out of Afghanistan. And it\u2019s why Gaddafi still hunkers down in Tripoli. <\/p>\n

\"Barack<\/p>\n

Again Obama tours the windswept cornfields of Iowa. Three years ago he was an unheralded junior Senator from Illinois with a knack for eloquent speeches. He rides a sleeker bus this time. He carries a glossier job title. But he hears the same questions in dingy town halls: Where are the jobs?<\/p>\n

Only this time Barack Obama cannot blame his predecessor. He cannot whip up crowds into a frenzy with dreamy talk of Change. This time he can only hem and haw: The economy was worse than originally forecast. Republicans won\u2019t be reasonable.<\/p>\n

Valid points, both. But little solace to the down-and-out farmer or the laid-off factory worker. Too long for a bumper sticker. And certainly not the stuff of iconic campaign posters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Because shovel-ready doesn\u2019t always mean shovel-ready. Because he isn\u2019t The One we were waiting for, President Obama is the Loser of the Summer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/center><\/p>\n

This is the third of a 3 part series on the Summer of 2011. See the other parts here: Is The Summer Of 2011 The Worst Ever?<\/a> and The Heroes And Zeros Of Summer 2011<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they\u2019ve tried everything else,\u201d quipped Winston Churchill, who did not live long enough to witness the rise of the Tea Party. Congress got \u2019er done eventually. The debt ceiling was raised. The U.S. did not default. But the damage was done. Faith in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Obama Is The Big Loser Of The Summer - Prose Before Hos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cYou can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they\u2019ve tried everything else,\u201d quipped Winston Churchill, who did not live long enough to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/anonymous_banker\/08\/23\/why-obama-is-the-big-loser-of-the-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Obama Is The Big Loser Of The Summer - Prose Before Hos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cYou can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they\u2019ve tried everything else,\u201d quipped Winston Churchill, who did not live long enough to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/anonymous_banker\/08\/23\/why-obama-is-the-big-loser-of-the-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prose Before Hos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-23T04:40:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-02T15:13:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/tea-party-sign-fail.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"anonymous_banker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"anonymous_banker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/anonymous_banker\/08\/23\/why-obama-is-the-big-loser-of-the-summer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/anonymous_banker\/08\/23\/why-obama-is-the-big-loser-of-the-summer\/\",\"name\":\"Why Obama Is The Big Loser Of The Summer - 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