President-elect Obama’s speeches have been so full of tiresome platitudes unattached to ideas that it’s been hard to know what he stands for, and hard to determine how he will act as president. His appointments of Clinton retreads aren’t the “change” some were “hoping” for, and have given a few hope that America won’t swing drastically to the left.
But Obama’s statist beliefs have always been there and bubble up on occasion. His “spread the wealth” comment should have cost him the election, but his opponent wouldn’t stand up for economic freedom, and that lost him the election. In his speech on Thursday, we see Obama’s penchant for statism in all its glory ignominy.
[O]nly government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy – where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.
This disgusts me. This is the opposite of what I stand for. And I believe it is the opposite of the truth. Only government can cause recessions this deep and severe. Only government can create the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy.
Only free men undeterred by round after round of poisonous government intervention (which is again the wolf in sheep’s clothing posing as the remedy) can lift us out of our economy’s current state. Only vast numbers of free individuals making the incalculable amount of individual decisions can steer the market. A few government officials can never have the skill to accomplish this impossible task, and should never have the authority to try.
Just as Carter had his “malaise” speech, this should go down as Obama’s “only government” speech. This is the speech that should lose him the next election.
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