Oct 25 Excuses, Excuses

When candidate Obama was running for President last year, he ran on a platform of change - changing the "failed" policies of the Bush Administration. As we have all seen, there has been a lot of talk about change, but there has been little change from the previous administration. When pressed on it, the Administrations usual reaction is to fall back on that old tried and true Progressive/Liberal tactic - to blame President Bush. Well that tactic is starting wear thin in some quarters.

First comes the President's home town paper - the Chicago Sun Times.

You'd think it's October 2008, the final month in the Obama presidential candidacy, rather than October 2009, nine months into the Obama presidency. Yet the Obama White House is in full campaign mode -- maybe because it needs to mask the shortcomings of the Obama presidency.

Take, for example, all the talk of inheriting the worst economy since the 1930s crisis. That came in response to the news that the federal deficit hit $1.4 trillion.

Yet just a few months ago, the Obama camp was singing a little different tune. It was under criticism for the $787 billion stimulus package it bulldozed through Congress on grounds that massive spending was needed to keep the unemployment rate from breaching 8 percent. When joblessness hit 9.5 percent in June, Vice President Joe Biden said, "We misread how bad the economy was."

They inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, or the economy turned out to be worse than they thought. Which is it? It can't be both -- unless your brain is completely addled by the Obama charisma.

OK - Mr. Huntley was not the first - SNL was, as he reminds us...

Another indicator was a ''Saturday Night Live'' skit lampooning Obama for the major accomplishments of his administration -- "jack and squat." If the honeymoon is ending with the American voter, it isn't for obsequious elements of the mainstream media. CNN prostrated itself by fact-checking the ''SNL'' comedy skit.

That transitions into another part of the column that I will get to in a moment. First I want to turn to logical lady Peggy Noonan. While I have had major disagreements with some of her recent columns, this one does raise more than a few good points.

President Obama, in office a month longer than Bush was when 9/11 hit, now owns his presidency. Does he know it? He too stands on rubble, figuratively speaking—a collapsed economy, high and growing unemployment, two wars. Everyone knows what he's standing on. You can almost see the smoke rising around him. He's got a bullhorn in his hand every day.

It's his now. He gets the credit and the blame. How do we know this? The American people are telling him. You can see it in the polls. That's what his falling poll numbers are about. "It's been almost a year, you own this. Fix it."

The president doesn't seem to like this moment. Who would? He and his men and women have returned to referring to what they "inherited." And what they inherited was, truly, terrible: again, a severe economic crisis and two wars. But their recent return to this theme is unbecoming. Worse, it is politically unpersuasive. It sounds defensive, like a dodge.

Emphasis mine. However, the Administration and it's media cheerleaders don't seem to want to admit that they now "own it".

CNN prostrated itself by fact-checking the ''SNL'' comedy skit.

But that's harmless compared to the virulent campaign against Obama critics carried out by the denizens of MSNBC. Its Obama acolytes seek to demonize opponents of Obama's policies by focusing on most marginal corners of right-wing politics like, for example, the "birthers" who deny Obama is a natural born citizen. The larger scheme is to imply Obama critics are racists.

That's the backdrop to the story of Rush Limbaugh getting booted from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams. He was smeared on CNN and MSNBC with false accusations of making two racist comments. He is an abrasive critic of Obama, so he must be racist, or so goes the left-wing story line. I wouldn't defend everything Limbaugh has ever said, but lies were used to blacklist him from professional football for his political views.

Recently an MSNBC personality accused the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of lobbying for policies that amount to being "treasonous to this country." Remember how liberals roared in outrage at any hint of their patriotism being questioned for criticizing the Iraq War? Well, it's the left that doesn't shy from attacking the patriotism of those it dislikes. Recall the repulsive Moveon.org "General Betray-us" ad against Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus. Recent opposition to Chicago's Olympic bid was cast as a sign of a lack of patriotism among Obama critics.

The MSNBC blast against the chamber appears to dovetail with what the Politico newspaper reports is a White House and Democratic effort "to marginalize" the business organization. That echoes the administration assault on the Fox News Channel: It says Fox isn't a news organization

Many conservative groups have been railiing against MSNBC being in the tank for Obama ever since Chris Matthews announced that he got a "thrill go up his leg" over then candidate Obama and compared Obama to "Jesus". Apparently you just have to be in the tank for the Obama Administration in order to be a legiit "news organization"...according to the Obama Administration.

The President and his advisors need to take Mr. Huntley's and Ms. Noonan's advise - they need to grow up and admit that, 10 months in they now own it. The country is no theirs and their continuing to pass the buck has got to stop - for their own good.

Cross Posted at Ladies Logic where your comments are welcome.