First Conservative Blog

Conservative Blog post for November 4, 2009

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Obama’s New Paradox – Create More Hope or Fear?

EJ Dionne writes this morning that President Obama needs to invest a little time in creating an atmosphere of ‘hope’ in the country.  Dionne captured this quote from New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg following Governor Jon Corzine’s loss on Tuesday: 

“There are two things happening,” the New Jersey Democrat noted. “One is fear. The other is punishment. Voters fear for themselves and their families, and they want to punish anyone who got them into this condition.” 

This brilliant observation underscores why the GOP – if it can maintain a clear conservative message in 2010 – will absolutely wallop liberal and even so called ‘moderate’ incumbents.  Voters should indeed punish those that make their lives difficult.  It may surprise Dionne that this is the entire reason for electing leaders.  Those that serve us well receive continued employment.  Those that don’t get to stand in the unemployment line with the rest of us.

The really interesting part of this though surrounds what President Obama did or did not do to create his party’s election disasters in Virginia and New Jersey.  Exit polls repeatedly note that the condition of the economy and government spending are top areas of concern.  The fear generated by driving the economy into stagnation by state and federal governments was clearly acknowledged by voters on Tuesday.  And as Lautenberg notes, voters want to punish those that got them into this condition.   At least voters are now paying attention.

President Obama has created a hugely problematic condition for his party.  In order to win election, He had to gin up animosity and ‘fear’ about the Bush administration and about conservative leadership.  Then he had to gin up more fear about the economy to get the Stimulus passed.  And Rahm Emmanuel’s famous quote about never allowing a good crisis to go to waste kept the fear machine in high gear.  It now seems that no one at the White House figured out that sooner or later, voters would want to see some results from mortgaging their grandchildren’s future.

So what does the President do now?  He has already spent a huge amount of our money on the Stimulus package which will only produce bloated state governments and rapidly increasing inflation in 2010.  Job recovery is already choked off because the pressure the Stimulus borrowing puts on interest rates only drives commercial finance costs upwards.  And without an assurance that reasonably priced capital will be available for growth and expansion, business will not have any reason to grow and hire workers. 

President Obama certainly added to the atmosphere of fear, but now that trail is well-worn and voters are sick and tired of hearing about how after one full year, the current economic problems are still the fault of George W. Bush.  Even CNN is bound to be skeptical of administration claims that this is simply the situation the White House ‘inherited.’ 

Democrats are at their core – emotionalists.  As fear is the most powerful of emotions, Democrats have continually endeavored to increase the level of fear in the population to the point where it reached an apex in Virgina and New Jersey.   Now that these elections are concluded, the focus of voter anger is squarely directed at the Obama administration.   One year is plenty of time to start making a positive difference in the economy and there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that the economy has only worsened, despite the 3rd quarter GDP numbers being propped up by Cash for Clunkers and a trillion dollar Stimulus bill.   And the 2010 inflation will only make matters worse. 

Inspiring ‘Hope’ would take the energy out of the drive for taking over health care and driving energy taxes through the roof.   Hope would imply that the economy is improving.  Even Wunderkind Tim Geithner understands that the economy will not improve next year and only offers vague promises of stagnant jobs growth.    Besides, if Obama comes out with a modern “Morning in America” speech, it will only provide fodder for the Tea Partiers and others who understand what life is really like in American neighborhoods.  And deep down, every Obama administrator understands that a liberal takeover of institutions like health care and energy production cannot be achieved in an atmosphere of optimism. 

So look for the fear and the absolutely irrational blaming of GW Bush to continue.  MSNBC will certainly help in the effort, but the interesting player will be CNN.  After turning in a solid last place performance on election night, the CNN wizards may finally be compelled to look at what their fawning adoration of this President has done to their ratings – as well as explore how this may impact their paychecks.  

CNN is now the confirmed laughing-stock of cable news – losing even to the lunatics at MSNBC.  Unless the network returns to some form of investigative and honest journalism, the organization is headed for a terrible financial disaster.  Looking critically at the Obama administration is about this network’s only ticket out of the sewage pool it has flung itself into.  Should CNN decide to abandon its role in Obama worship, they have a shot at survival.   This would make CNN an unreliable partner with the White House for ginning up the fear they need to justify continued government expansion.

Obama really has no choice.  There will be few messages of hope in 2010 and fear should continue to be the dominant theme for 2010.  Without it, Obama can’t take over health care or energy.  But Americans want results.  One year plenty of time to wait.  And come next November, the ‘Hope and Change’ voters bring will be sweeping the House clear and putting a stop to Obama’s reckless government expansion.