Friday, February 6, 2009
202-456-1414
In case you don't know or haven't guessed, the above phone number is for the White House Switch Board.
So... get this... it's Friday, February 6, 2009 and...
THE WHITE HOUSE OPERATOR CAN'T FIND A LISTING FOR THE WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE!!!
She tells me... "We're still a bit disorganized here."
Great. Just frigg'n great.
Folks... you can't make this kind of stuff up! (And by the way... I never would.)
Here's what occasioned my call to the White House this morning: Last night, while watching O'Reilly, Fox broke in with live coverage of President Obama's address to the Democratic Caucus presently on taxpayer subsidized "retreat" at the Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, VA.
While the President was speaking, I received a phone call, thus missing part of the speech. So, this morning I made it my first online task to locate the transcript of the speech.
I CAN'T FIND IT...!!!
Amazing...
Nope. Found videos. Found digests of the transcript. Found news stories quoting parts of the speech. Couldn't find the actual transcript. Not on the New York Times. Not on the Washington Post. NOT ON THE WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE!!!
AMAZING...
So I call the White House. I ask to be connected to the office which handles the White House Website. Apparently... the White House Phone Center doesn't yet HAVE a number for the office that handles the White House Website. It's not that she didn't want to give it to me or couldn't give it to me - she made that clear; nope... it's that as of Februrary 6, 2009 they simply don't have a reliable all-inclusive internal phone number directory.
(You've gotta wonder... what would happen if President Obama picked up the phone and asked to be connected with the White House Website Webmaster? Would they say, "Sorry, Sir, that office isn't listed yet"?)
In all seriousness... TOTAL SERIOUSNESS... this is... er... troubling.
Anyway... I asked the operator next if she could instead connect me to the Press Office, figuring that they could steer me to where I could find a transcript, but this time I was told that only members of the press could be connected to the press office. (O.K., reasonable enough.)
ANYWAY...
(*SHRUG*)
America 2009. God help us.
*** Update: RealClearPolitics.com just came through! Here's the transcript!
I'll be commenting on the President's remarks within the Comments Section of this thread.
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10 comments:
Commenting upon the President's Remarks; excerpting of course -
OBAMA: Thank you for giving me a reason to use Air Force One. (Laughter.) It's pretty nice. (Laughter.)
BARKER: Actually... (*PURSED LIPS*)... not so funny, Mr. President. I realize it's a joke, and yes, I appreciate the reality that it is indeed a tremendous thrill to ride on Air Force One, but the "tone" is exactly that which I fear - namely, that you're a spendthrift.
Think about it folks... he takes the full-sized 747 Air Force One from Washington DC to Williamsburg, VA - a 31 minute flight that could have easily and much more cheaply been done via helicopter or government "Learjet."
(Note: ANY plane the President is using is designated "Air Force One.")
What was the COST of this little political jaunt (to visit Democrats "retreating" via taxpayer subsidy at the Kingsmill RESORT & SPA)? Heck... financial cost aside... I thought our new President was an environmentalist...?!?! What was the... er... carbon footprint... of this little PR stunt?
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: I want to acknowledge the great Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. (Applause.) She is our rock who's proven to be an extraordinary leader for the American people. And I want to thank Nancy and Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, and the entire caucus - (applause) - Javier Becerra - all the leadership working so hard, all the chairmen like David Obey, who've worked so hard in passing an economic recovery plan that is so desperately needed for our country. (Applause.)
BARKER: Blah... blah... blah.
Yeah. I know. It's form. (*ROLLING MY EYES*) Still... ask yourselves... has the economy gotten BETTER or WORSE since Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the Democrats took over Congress BACK IN JANUARY 2007...???
Has spending INCREASED or DECREASED...??? Have deficits INCREASED on DECREASED..??? Has the nation debt gone UP or DOWN...??? Has unemployment gotten WORSE... (*SIGH*)
Anyway... you get my point.
OBAMA: All of you acted with a discipline that matches the urgency and the gravity of the crisis that we face.
BARKER: He's KIDDING... RIGHT...?!?! He's frigg'n KIDDING... (*ROLLING MY EYES*)
How much "discipline" does it take to SPEND MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE...?!?! What Obama and the Democratic Congress are proposing as economic policy is the exact OPPOSITE of "discipline!!!"
OBAMA: So you went to work, and you did your job.
Isn't their JOB to make the hard choices... to BALANCE the budget (as they promised they would while running for office in 2006 and after taking office in 2007)... isn't their job to CUT wasteful spending and unnecessary government programs as opposed to INCREASING the size and scope of government - and thus deficits and the national debt...???
(BTW... so much for Obama's campaign promises about going "line by line" through the federal budget.) (*SNORT*)
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: ...don't come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis. (Applause.)
BARKER: HUH...?!?! Is the man on CRACK...?!?!
Folks... undisciplined SPENDING... unsupportable and unsustainable DEBT CREATION is exactly what GOT US INTO THIS MESS in the FIRST PLACE...!!!
Obama's plan isn't "change"; it's the Bush/Paulson plan on STEROIDS!!!
I mean... seriously... even if you're a liberal... heck, even if you're a socialist... if you're in FAVOR of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid strategy... you must concede that it is built UPON the Bush/Paulson legacy, not in CONTRAST to it!
Folks... is it 2009 or 1984...???
OBAMA: ...I welcome this debate. But come on, we're not -- we are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. (Applause.)
BARKER: HUH...?!?! He's drunk!!! He's gotta be drunk!!!
Folks... the Obama/Pelosi/Reid plan is nothing BUT more spending - more spending of BORROWED money - more spending of PRINTED money backed by nothing but promises to pay in the future.
Folks... if Bush indeed "doubled the national debt" (with Democratic support by the way...), Obama's plan makes Bush look like Scrooge!!!
Folks... again... putting aside whether you APPROVE or DISAPPROVE of Obama's "stimulus" package, it is what it is and he's trying to sell it as the exact opposite. This should scare ALL of us.
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: We can't embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face...
BARKER: Agreed. (*NOD*)
OBAMA: I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV -- if you're headed for a cliff, you've got to change direction. (Applause.)
BARKER: But you're NOT calling for a "change of direction;" that's my point!!! You're calling for an ACCELERATION - a multiplication - of the failed Bush/Paulson/Pelosi/Reid/McConnell/Boehner economic flailings...!!! You're STEPPING ON THE GAS in order to reach that "cliff" FASTER...!!!
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
OBAMA: That's what the American people called for in November, and that's what we intend to deliver. (Applause.)
BARKER: No. NO! The American People - including Democrats - did NOT vote for INCREASING deficits, INCREASING debt, INCREASING future unfunded liabilities...
No, Mr. President... the American People - including the Democrats - did NOT vote for appointing TAX CHEATS to high government positions.
(*SIGH*)
No, Mr. President... the American People - including the Democrats - voted for MORE fiscal discipline - not less!!!
OBAMA: They did not vote for the false theories of the past...
BARKER: You mean... like Keynesiasm....??? (*SNORT*)
Yo... Mr. President... has no one ever briefed you on Japan's "Lost Decade...???"
Mr. President... is there NO ONE on your staff familiar with the actual RESULTS of FDR's failed policies...???
(*SIGH*)
OBAMA: They didn't vote for the status quo -- they sent us here to bring change.
BARKER: Yes, Sir... CHANGE... so why are you insisting on pushing full steam ahead for the failed policies of the past...???
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe.
BARKER: Bull$hit.
Fearmongering. Scare tactics. Again... folks... ask yourselves... does this not sound like BUSH...?!?!
(*THROWING MY HANDS UP IN FRUSTRATION*)
OBAMA: This is not my assessment. This is not Nancy Pelosi's assessment. This is the assessment of the best economists in the country.
BARKER: Again... sounds like BUSH!
(*SHRUG*)
OBAMA: ...we're not moving quickly because we're trying to jamb something down people's throats.
BARKER: Again... (respectfully, Mr. President)... BULL$HIT!
OBAMA: Understand the scale and the scope of this plan is right.
BARKER: Bull$hit.
OBAMA: ...when they say, well, why are we spending $800 billion -- we've got this huge deficit? First of all, I found this deficit when I showed up. (Applause.) Number one. (Applause.) I found this national debt doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.
BARKER: One more time... (*SIGH*)... the DEMOCRATS have CONTROLLED BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS since January 2007. It's now February 2009. (*SHRUG*)
Mr. President... as you may have learned in law school... (or perhaps in elementary school - where I learned it)... CONGRESS CONTROLS THE PURSE STRINGS.
(*SIGH*)
But in any case... the past is the past. Bush is GONE. Republicans have been out of power on The Hill since January 2007! YOU and your Democratic allies are the ones calling for all this spending... all these deficits... all this borrowing... all this debt.
(*SHRUG*)
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: ...we are going to lose about a trillion dollars worth of demand this year...the reason that this has to be big is to try to fill some of that lost demand....We're doing this because this is what the best minds tell us needs to be done.
BARKER: "Best minds." Yeah. Sure. Not to be TOO cynical... but doesn't it sound like he's preparing to blame failure on "the experts" if (when!) "the experts" are proven wrong via resultant stagflation? (*SMIRK*) (*SNORT*)
As to "demand"... (*SIGH*)... bad news, Mr. President - what goes up must go down. Excess DEBT FINANCED demand is in large part to blame for the current situation - the bust... the bust of demand. The fires of demand were being ARTIFICIALLY stoked!!! And you want to ACCELERATE demand...??? Via ACCELERATING DEBT BUILDING AND FUTURE LIABILITIES...?!?!
Folks. I may not be Obama's idea of "the best minds," but I know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately... Obama doesn't know what he's talking about.
JEEZ... it's like he didn't live through the '70's the same as I did! (*SHAKING MY HEAD IN AMAZEMENT*)
Excess debt... BAD.
Devalued currency... BAD.
Stagflation... VERY FRIGG'N BAD!!!
OBAMA: ...we started this package with a healthy amount of tax cuts...
BARKER: BullShit. Just look at the bill. It's mainly a spending bill. As to tax cuts, most of them are gimmicks, often nothing more than specific timed welfare payments misleadingly referred to as tax cuts.
The only tax cut that I'd support is a permanent cut in the corporate tax rate itself; it's insane that we have the second highest corporate taxes in the developed world.
(BTW... Secretary Geithner... cheating on your taxes does NOT count as a "self-administered tax cut.") (*SMIRK*)
OBAMA: That's not me talking; that's the economists talking...
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
Yeah, yeah... we've got it... plausible deniability. Got it. If "your" polices backfire (as they will) down the road it won't be YOUR fault... it'll be "the economists' fault.
Politics as usual, folks. No change. Little hope.
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: Well, you know, you want to replace the federal fleet with hybrid cars. Well, why wouldn't we want to do that? (Laughter.) That creates jobs for people who make those cars. It saves the federal government energy. It saves the taxpayers energy. (Applause.)
BARKER: (*SIGH*) Where to start...
FIRST of all... you don't replace cars simply for the sake of replacing cars. You replace cars when you need to - when it makes economic sense. I'm sure there's a federal standard for when vehicles are replaced... if you want to change that then outline specifics - how and why.
SECOND of all... hybrid cars don't necessary make economic sense. You have to factor the purchase/operating costs in and unless gas is double or triple the cost it is today for extended periods of time over the life of a hybrid vehicle... chances are the total ownership cost of the hybrid will be HIGHER, not lower. (*SIGH*)
THIRD of all... THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY!!! Let me repeat... WE'RE ALREADY OPERATING AT HUGE DEFICITS... we're already simply PRINTING MONEY and BORROWING MONEY (from the Chinese, at interest) to tread water.
Why not just buy every American a yacht...?!?! Jeez... think of all the "stimulus" that would generate - the shipyard jobs...
(*SIGH*)
OBAMA: ...you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That's the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That's the point. (Applause.)
*** THANK YOU ***
*** THANK YOU ***
*** THANK YOU ***
He admits it. So... why NOT double, triple, quadruple the SPENDING being proposed? If a trillion dollars worth of spending is good... following that logic wouldn't TWO TRILLION be BETTER... would THREE TRILLION be BEST...
(*SIGH*)
My fellow Americans... our new President is an economic dunce.
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: All of us are going to have to make some sacrifices.
BARKER: Yeah...??? And what "sacrifices" are you, Michelle and the kids gonna make...???
JEEZ, BARAK... you just took a JOY RIDE on a 747 because you figured it would be fun!
(*HEADACHE*)
OBAMA: ...let's think big right now. Let's not think small. Let's not think narrowly.
BARKER: No! LET'S THINK SMALL!!! Let's think RESPONSIBLE!!!
People. Bush and the RINOs spent this nation into disaster... OBAMA SEEMINGLY IS DETERMINED TO OUTDO BUSH by a figure of magnitude!!!
THIS IS INSANE...!!!
OBAMA: The plan that you've passed has at its core a simple idea: Let's put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done. (Applause.)
Yeah...? Where's my job offer, Mr. President? Where's my appointment...??? Where's my limo and driver for which I won't claim on my taxes... (*SNORT*)
Folks... this is all pie in the sky bait and switch nonsense. All this plan is going to do is drive us straight into stagflation. (*SIGH*)
OBAMA: This plan will save or create over three million jobs - almost all of them in the private sector.
BARKER: Don't believe him!!! The PRICE of "creating" these jobs is a heavier price than we can afford to pay.
OBAMA: This plan will put people to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges; our dangerously deficient dams and levees.
Putting WHO to work...?!?! Are you going to turn unemployed Wall Streeters into Union Laborers...?!?!
I'm not going to become a construction worker, Mr. President. And since you ALSO want everyone to go to college... WHO exactly are all these new construction workers you claim to be about to employ...???
Don't we already HAVE people who are SUPPOSED to be maintaining and adding to our nation's infrastructure...?!?!
In any case... (*SIGH*)... we're ALREADY running huge deficits... where's the MONEY coming from...??? Mr. President... why do you not mention the end game...???
OBAMA: This plan will put people to work modernizing our health care system.
(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
Mr. President. With respect. It's the "modernity" of our health system that COSTS MONEY!!! It's the research, development, high tech equipment, cutting edge pharmaceuticals, doctors, nurses, technicians... (*TAKING A BREATH*) which COST money!!!
Again... pie in the sky promises. The problem with the American healthcare system is TOO MUCH government involvement, not the opposite. (*SIGH*)
OBAMA: This plan will put people to work renovating more than 10,000 schools - (applause) - giving millions of children the chance to learn in 21st century classrooms, and libraries and labs - creating new scientists for a new future.
BARKER: Renovating 10,000 schools? Did you just pull that number out of a hat...?!?! Across the nation there are many school districts with EXTRA capacity... underutilized and even unused buildings.
Seriously, folks... hasn't the last 40 years shown us that simply throwing money at our schools doesn't translate into "better" schools if by "better" we mean turning out better educated students...??? (*SIGH*)
Money... money... money... that's all the Democrats seem to see. (*SIGH*) And BORROWED money at that!!! (Borrowed and simply PRINTED...) (*SIGH*)
* To be continued...
BILL
OBAMA: This plan will provide sensible tax relief for the struggling middle class, and unemployment insurance and continued health care coverage for those who've lost their jobs. And it will help prevent our states and local communities...
BARKER: In other words...
SPEND, SPEND, SPEND...
No. Actually...
BORROW and SPEND... BORROW and SPEND... BORROW and SPEND...
(*SIGH*)
Listen. Folks. He's attempting to bribe us with our own money; only it's not "our money" per se, it's our debts and our children's debts and our grandchildren's debts he's talking about enlarging.
LISTEN... I like tax cuts. We ALL like tax cuts. But if on the one hand you spend MORE money and on the other collect LESS money...
(*SIGH*)
Beyond the math, what's the message? What's the message to states...??? The message is that if you were a state whose elected officials SQUANDERED money during "good times," the people of OTHER states are going to bail you out in bad times. Sorry... but even though as a New Yorker such policies would benefit me, I'm opposed to rewarding incompetence and irresponsibility. I don't want my state "bailed out." I don't want California "bailed out." What ever happened to taking responsibility...???
OBAMA: ...this plan will begin to end the tyranny of oil in our time...
BARKER: NONSENSE. Absolute hogwash. Com'on... (*SNORT*)
OBAMA: Over the last two years, I visited almost all 50 states. I've got to admit, the one I missed was Alaska.
BARKER: I'm sorry folks, but when I read this I think... "My President is an idiot - the second one in a row!"
He's never been to SEE ANWR in person...?!?! Is that what he just said...?!?! (*HEADACHE*)
Folks. We're in trouble. (*SIGH*)
BILL
Bill, if you liked that operator's response, just wait until we get government healthcare!
"Sorry sir, we can't give you a referral to an oncologist..."
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