I decided to stick to direct quotes from the President within the last 18 months. Some I have commented on, the others, as they say at Harvard Law, res ipsa loquitur.    

1)  ”…not because I believe in bigger government — I don’t — not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited — I am.”   Speech to Congress, February 24, 2009

2) “And that is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists…” Speech to Congress, February 24, 2009

3) “My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs.” I wonder if the President knows he doesn’t have a line item veto.  

4)  “My immediate task is making sure that the second half of that money, $350 billion, is spent properly. That’s my first job.”  Press conference February 9, 2009, talking about TARP money.

5)  ”It also contains an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability, so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we’re spending every dime. What it does not contain, however, is a single pet project, not a single earmark, and it has been stripped of the projects members of both parties found most objectionable.” Press conference February 9, 2009  talking about his own economic bill.

6)  “Second is recognition of the limits of the judicial role, an understanding that a judge’s job is to interpret, not make law, to approach decisions without any particular ideology or agenda, but rather a commitment to impartial justice…” I thought about putting this first because he was introducing Sotomayor who is on tape saying judges make policy, among other things.

7) “It’s not just enough to change the players. We’ve gotta change the game.” He has appointed over 150 recycled Clintionistas

8) ”I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.”  Either this is a lie or his later position where he opposes gay marriage, take your pick for number eight.

9) “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.” In reference to Rev. Wright 42 days before he disowned him.

10) “To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn: I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President, too.”

California voters just put four rounds in the tax propositions yesterday. As they should have.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had this to say:

“I respect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system,” Mr Schwarzenegger said in a statement from Washington, conceding defeat. “In order to prevent a fiscal disaster, Democrats and Republicans must collaborate and work together to address this shortfall.”

California has become a preview of where America is going under Obama. An insane political class has decided that you can spend your way out of debt. But California can’t borrow money anymore. They destroyed their credit, their bonds are poorly rated and they can’t print money like the Obama administration has.

There’s an old saying that says, “So goes California goes the nation.” As the world’s eighth largest economy, and one of the world’s richest, California is in many respects a microcosm of the US. It has geographical and population diversity. It has major industries and corporations. But many are in decline thanks to its punitive taxes and regulations. Many of its progressive policy ideas tend to spread to other states and eventually the nation.

The excessive regulations and taxes have driven many businesses and successful people from the state, just as the US polices are driving out corporations and manufacturing jobs. And that has led to a decline in tax revenues, the very thing the government needs to survive.

We’re witnessing what years of those progressive policies have wrought and its not pretty sight. The State, like the Federal Government is awash in debt and had to keep borrowing to meet its obligations. Now its credit is virtually worthless and people have stopped buying their bonds. The Federal Government is on the same track under Obama, with a projected 18 trillion dollar debt in the next 10 years.

Democrats everywhere should look to California and see the nation’s future writ large in stark detail. They should witness how ineffectual and toxic their policies are in the long term. If they’re smart they’ll start voting against Obama’s many frivolous bills before it’s too late. Of course, knowing them they’re likely to bail out California which will be another nightmare for the state. Taking money from the Obama administration is like borrowing from the mob. Once you do business with them, they think they own you. Ask the auto and banking industries.

The best and only real solution to California’s (and the nation’s) budget problems is to make real cuts. All the special interest programs that aren’t absolutely necessary need to go. They also need to seriously look at pay freezes, cutting hours and even laying off people in government jobs.

These ideas are heresy to Statists because they need to show that government jobs are invulnerable.
But we live in hard times and that means the Governator has to make some hard choices.

Well, not that hard. There are a lot of wasteful, pointless and inane things that the state spends money on. It’s time Arnold busted out the red pen and started terminating every pork project in the budget, then look at which jobs can go, which departments are not necessary.

When you have too many expenses the answer is either go out and make more money or cut the expenses. Since they can’t do the former, they must do the latter.

While I no longer live in the state, I’m a native Californian. In fact, I can trace my family back five generations on my mom’s side. They were some of the first settlers in Sonoma County, where I was born. I love my home state but I haven’t lived there since 1996. I left in disgust as I watched the state government completely trash the place.

Now the state is going broke and their predictable answer is to try to raise taxes. Not make cuts in stupid programs, which they have a mountain of. No. They want to compete with New York for the highest taxes in the land.

As a result, thousands of millionaires have fled the state in this decade. No surprise. Who likes being mugged by greedy bureaucrats who spend billions on things like education for illegal aliens and endless pay raises for themselves? The state spends millions on things like “green chemistry” and anti-smoking campaigns, and they threaten to cut police and teachers and release prisoners if they don’t get their way.

Governor Schwarzenegger started out as a fiscal conservative but eventually morphed into another tax and spend liberal who wants to waste money on things like global warming initiatives. It’s time he got back to the campaign promises that got him elected and back to the world of common sense.

We the people can help out. The state budget is a public record. We can send our suggestions along. Maybe if enough people do that they will get the message.

Ever since Bill Clinton gave us the greatest insight into the modern political mind with the words, “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is,” it has become important for the intelligent citizen to closely parse all political speech. I didn’t listen to President Obama’s speech to Congress live because I was busy watching a “Maude” marathon on some obscure cable network. I recorded the speech so I could fast forward through all of the obligatory applause breaks and got his hour and ten minute speech down to forty five minutes. I pulled out a few quotes from the speech so I could break them down and share their deeper meaning. Mr. Obama’s words will be in bold and my explanation will follow. I may have missed your favorite quote, or your take on these may be a little different than mine, so feel free to add it when you comment.

“Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy.”

So your theory, Mr. President, is that if we would have given out a wind turbine or a solar panel with every bad loan we would be ok today?

“And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before”

The new plan is to pile up another trillion or two in debt? That’s our bold new strategy?

“People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway.”

Encouraged, some may say forced, to do so by a liberal congress which tried to enact yet another piece of social engineering with no regard to the unforeseen consequences.

“Not because I believe in bigger government — I don’t.”

… and to prove this, for the rest of this speech all I will talk about is new government programs with big budgets and more bureaucrats.

“Because of this plan, 95 percent of working households in America will receive a tax cut — a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st.”

Enjoy your eight dollars a week! Have a pound of hard salami on me!

“And that’s why I’ve asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort — because nobody messes with Joe.”

Except that scam artist Stanford who took him and his family for 22 million.

“…this time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks, or buy fancy drapes, or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.”

In the private sector! From now on those privileges are reserved to those in government service.

“But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater.”

How do we know? Unfortunately for the taxpayers the government is always in action.

“But to truly transform our economy, to protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change…”

Coldest winter in 30 years and thickest polar ice since 1979, are you sure about that whole global warming thing?

“… we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. That’s what we need.”

More taxes on the wealthy! More government regulation! Happy days are here again comrades! But I don’t believe in bigger government!

“We’ve also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history — an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine and science and technology.

“More taxes! More Bureaucrats! But I don’t believe in bigger government

“This budget builds on these reforms. It includes a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform — a down payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American.”

More taxes! More Government in your life! But I don’t believe in bigger government.

“Now, there will be many different opinions and ideas about how to achieve reform, and that’s why I’m bringing together businesses and workers, doctors and health care providers, Democrats and Republicans to begin work on this issue next week.”

…and then the genius says, “Let me see that map of the Middle East again!”

“Now, I’m proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks

…”Of course there is still plenty of pork and pet projects we just aren’t calling them earmarks. What the meaning of “is” is, Excellent! Hehehehe!

“And yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. “

If you spend $800 billion you don’t have in the first three weeks of your administration and cut that down to just $400 billion in four years haven’t you cut the deficit by 50%?

“And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.

“Really? Then why is this speech so long?