Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
As discussed on Ricochet yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden recently gave a speech revealing the source of his vaunted foreign policy expertise –“Dr. Strangelove” (yes, the movie). But that wasn’t Hollywood Joe’s only movie reference. Like other surrogates for President Barack Obama, Biden has begun attacking presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a “Back to the Future” candidate.
While the Obama campaign hopes to define Romney as backward looking, the attack backfires as badly as a DeLorean time machine. If, as team Obama says, Romney is the candidate who wants to take America back to the future, then Obama must be the president who has taken America back into the past. Over at Forbes, I have a new column looking at how Obama longs for life before Ronald Reagan.
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
I remember Milton Freidman from an UncommonKnowledge segment with Peter Robinson where he wishes to be described as a liberal of sorts because the definition of conservative is for things to remain as they are and not change.
Jonathan, in light of your post and the column you've highlighted maybe we can convince the left to switch titles. We will take Liberal and they can back to the future of New Deals and the like and be true conservatives.
Re: Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
Stephen, I agree with you. Despite all President Obama's talk about change, his party hasn't changed at all. It's been decades since it produced a new idea.
Stephen Spicer: I remember Milton Freidman from an UncommonKnowledge segment with Peter Robinson where he wishes to be described as a liberal of sorts because the definition of conservative is for things to remain as they are and not change.
Jonathan, in light of your post and the column you've highlighted maybe we can convince the left to switch titles. We will take Liberal and they can back to the future of New Deals and the like and be true conservatives. · 2 hours ago
Dec '11
Re: Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
I generally consider liberals to be the people looking at the glories of the past and argue about its distribution.
For instance this line:
"We are the richest nation in the world and we can't do <whatever>?"
They have no concept of future glories.
Jan '11
Re: Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
I've never understood the Democrat argument that the Bush Tax Cuts and limited government were "failed policies" from the past. Until the mortgage collapse, the economy wasn't great, but that was because of external factors that had little to do with American economic policy: Iraq, Middle East oil uncertainty, Katrina, etc.
But even if you took all of those out of the equation, you'd still have the gargantuan debt of Social Security and other entitlement programs that you'd still have to wrestle with.
You can't address the problem of massive federal spending with ... more federal spending.
In our system, "austerity" means to starve the beast (i.e., government) which is currently choking off growth in the private sector. Paul Krugman would rather starve the private sector. He points to stagnant European economies that experiment with austerity, and then claims that their troubles prove that austerity won't work. But that's because they have no alternative. Europe long ago smothered its private sector, so that day of reckoning is inevitable. Not so for us. They can't grow their way out, but we can.
May '10
Re: Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
I read your Forbes article. Good one. Joe Biden is, and always has been, the Flummox Capacitor of our time
Re: Revisiting 'Back to the Future' Obama Style
Habumike, thanks for your kind words. I have always wanted to work flux capacitor into a column, but "flummox capacitor" (your suggestion) is far wittier.