For more than three years, members of the political class have wondered why some Americans disagree with President Barack Obama's policies. Surely, after all, the problem can't be in the policies themselves. If only Americans understood individual mandates and Keynesian economics, they would grasp the logic of Obama's views.

Earlier this week in Iowa, Obama finally spelled out what the political class has suspected all along. His critics are just poorly informed. Here is an excerpt from his speech with the key line in bold.

And when enough of you knock on enough doors and pick up enough phones, and talk to your friends or your neighbors and your coworkers -- and you're doing it respectfully and you're talking to folks who don't agree with you, you're talking to people who are good people, but maybe they don't have all the information -- when you make that happen, when you decide it’s time for change to happen, you know what, change happens.  Change comes to America. 

Comments:


KC Mulville
Joined
Jan '11
KC Mulville

It takes two to disagree.

Perhaps Obama doesn't have all the information. No, that can't be so - he's the president, no one can possibly be more informed.

So the explanation for his disagreement must lie elsewhere. 

Sisyphus
Joined
Jul '10
Sisyphus

More of the "smartest man in the room" stuff from the lightweight who won't release his college transcripts but feels entitled to drive the Republic into the ditch. There is no more determined ignoranti than Bumbling Barry the Ideologue.


Joined
Sep '10
Patrick in Albuquerque

Maybe the choom gang will believe him.

Stuart Creque
Joined
Dec '10
Stuart Creque

The problem is that HE ISN'T SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGH.  He and his supporters just have to SPEAK UP and TALK SLOWLY so that us elderly, somewhat hard of hearing and slow-thinking people on the right can finally get the message.

Basil Fawlty
Joined
Mar '11
Basil Fawlty

Change isn't the only thing that happens.


Joined
May '12
Pete E

This is great news. Firstly, it is a civilized and civilizing thing to say about your rival. It implies that an exchange of information will sway minds. That rational debate is fruitful. Of course, he thinks his side is better informed. I think my side is. We could hardly think otherwise.

Since I think it is actually our side that is better informed, it is also strategically advantageous to encourage lefties into open discussion of policy.

Nick Stuart
Joined
May '10
Nick Stuart

We're information challenged.

Maggie Somavilla
Joined
Sep '11
Maggie Somavilla

Well, it's not hard to see where he's coming from. It's a lot like the place we're coming from, only we're right. Why can't they see that?

James Lileks

Perhaps he's right. We don't have enough information. We know that the policies of the left result in more government, less freedom, and diminished personal property. But we don't quite get why that's a good thing.

Fricosis Guy
Joined
Jun '11
Fricosis Guy

Obama is.simply reassuring the initiates of his modern day Gnostic cult.

tabula rasa
Joined
Jun '10
tabula rasa

Biden:  "The just don't get people like us."  God help us if we do.

Joseph Stanko
Joined
Jun '10
Joseph Stanko

No no no, you've got it all wrong.  Clearly he's talking about moderates and the undecided, not us.  

Note carefully he says "you're talking to people who are good people."  Everyone knows we conservatives are greedy, heartless, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic warmongers, so he can't be talking about us...

Cal Lawton
Joined
May '10
Cal Lawton

I don't have all the information.

CoolHand
Joined
Dec '10
CoolHand

The information I have already makes me want to ralph.

More seems unlikely to better that situation.

Fricosis Guy
Joined
Jun '11
Fricosis Guy

Obama says you don't have all the information...and for $35,000 per plate he'll be glad to share over dinner.

Howellis
Joined
Apr '12
Howellis

If only he understood (as Hayek teaches) that no one, including him, has enough information.

Sisyphus
Joined
Jul '10
Sisyphus

If the man has such a handle on the information, how did he manage to preside over the epic three year drop in the labor participation rate, to Carter levels? That's more Americans not working as a proportion of the population than in any year since 1981. The next stop is the Depression Era.

But just focus on that meaningless 8.1% number the opposition press keeps pushing.

Fake John Galt
Joined
Jul '11
Fake John Galt

It is not about the amount of information. It is about the point of view. If you want to understand Obama's point of view look toward his religion "Black Liberation Theology" his church and pastor Jeremiah Wright. What he does is very consistent when viewed through that lens.

Chris Campion
Joined
Jul '11
Chris Campion

So, let me just get this straight:  The Smartest, Most Informed, and Courageous Guy In The Room *still* can't get the job done?

I guess we're doomed.  Unless The Obamination wakes up one day, and realizes the truth that the rest of us do, in that a) he's not as smart as he's been told all his life he is, b) his belief system is based on a century of failed ideology that resulted in the deaths of roughly 100 million people, and c) it's not his place, nor any politician's place, to create a larger and more intrusive gov't - it's the opposite of this.

Note that none of these three things is ever likely to happen.  Well, maybe, if he gets a divorce post-presidency, and a divorce from his papier-mache' ego.


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