Recovery Falls
"Summer's almost gone," Jim Morrison sings on my laptop. "When summer's gone, where will be be?" Tell us, Mr. President!
Asked to what degree he regrets his administration's decision to call this Recovery Summer, the president stammered then said, “I don't regret the notion that we are moving forward, but because of the steps that we've taken. And I'm going to have a press conference next week, where, after you guys are able to hear where we're at, we'll be able to answer some specific questions.”
He emphasized: “the key point I'm making right now is that the economy is moving in a positive direction, jobs are being created; they're just not being created as fast as they need to, given the big hole that we experienced…We're moving in the right direction. We just have to speed it up.”
Given the big hole that we experienced? The size of unemployment isn't the rate of re-employment. We're not moving quickly enough in the right direction because -- well, the President would tell you, but he's too busy stammering. So I'll tell you. You don't declare "Recovery Summer" unless you expect something at the end of the season that looks more like a recovery than a waste of everyone's time and money. And you don't expect that unless you think the policies behind the Recovery-To-Be are sound. Has Obama learned his lesson? You tell me.
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May '10
Re: Recovery Falls
Jobs are being created; they're just not being created as fast as they're being destroyed.
Jul '10
Re: Recovery Falls
Does Obama have any relationship with the truth?
I honestly - honestly - cannot thing of a single thing I've heard him say that wasn't a lie. It's astonishing.
Why is it that the American people, who shun liars in their personal lives, tolerate lying politicians? Yeah, most folks aren't paying that much attention to politics, but Obama's dissembling is so bald-faced, so promiscuous, that it's impossible, over time, not to know that he's an epic liar.
I fear that George H. W. Bush was ironically prophetic during the '92 campaign:
"Character counts"?
Sorry, Mr. President. Not to Democratic voters.
Not anymore.
Edited on Sep 3, 2010 at 5:11pmRe: Recovery Falls
Yes, but it is purely platonic.
Jun '10
Re: Recovery Falls
Obama has a post-modern relationship with the truth, namely, the truth is a function of popular opinion, which is shaped by those who control the narrative. The more you repeat and extend and inculcate the narrative, even with yourself, the more the narrative becomes the truth. It is both a matter of self-discipline and self-fulfilling prophecy.
This is why his "mandate" is so important in his narrative. It is an expression of the majority opinion among people he agrees with - the "The Obama Faith-full", i.e., the truth. It is also why his weekly address to "his" public (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/04/weekly-address-honoring-american-worker) is so important. It establishes and extends his narrative - framing the issues. The big speeches are actually less important, because they are not the Faith-full. It is the cumulative narrative given to the faithful that constitutes the "truth" that he acts on.
Jun '10
Re: Recovery Falls
James. Unfortunately, I must question your premise. Declaring "Recovery Summer" is an "all-win" proposition for Obama. The trick is to keep the word "recovery" undefined. That way, at the end of the Summer, you can define "recovery" as "that which just happened." All you do is frame the reality in terms of a alternative that is worse, and, compared to that worse alternative, what happened was a "recovery." Easy.
Meanwhile, people hear the term "Recovery Summer" over and over, and it becomes part of their reality, just like "death panels" became part of people's reality, and "Obama is a muslim, born internationally" becomes part of reality.
Obama (and Beck) understands that the game of power is not about truth, it is about controlling the narrative - it is about soundbytes. If you try to fight him in the realm of truth or actual understanding, you become irrelevent in his game. The faster the news cycle, the less time the "truth" has to erode the narrative.