Obamaonomics 101. His job is done. Take responsibility for nothing.
"The sky is not falling."
As the presidency goes, Barack Obama could take it or leave it. Sure, he loves the perks of the job: the private plane, the red phone, the valet, the chefs willing to make him a grilled cheese on sourdough at 3am. But in terms of doing the actual job, he's just not that into it.
Obama truly considers himself a transcendent character: the first bi-racial person to be elected to the American presidency, and therefore a historic, almost celestial figure. In fact, on election night 2008, he strode on stage and delivered a victory speech that might as well have been a farewell speech. Obama looked at his winning electoral votes and thought, "My work here is done."
That's why he's avoided the heavy lifting usually required of presidential leadership. He gave the "stimulus" to Congress to write, which is why it ended up being a lard-filled political document rather than a truly stimulative economic one. He let Congress write the massive ObamaCare bill, which is why that turned out to be a 2000+ page hot mess that even the then-Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, had to admit that they needed to pass to find out what was in it. He let Congress also write the equally indecipherable Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill, which is so job- and economy-killing that even the Dems who voted for it (again, without having read it), are fleeing the bill like Anthony Weiner from modesty. He is letting Congress (and the country) twist in the wind on all budgetary matters, from the actual annual budgets, to proposing spending cuts, to other ideas for deficit reduction, to what to do about the debt ceiling. He's AWOL all over the place.
Obama doesn't dig the job. Never has. He enjoys the big house and the pick-up basketball games with LeBron, and he's savored the fact that he's been able to findamentally change America toward a European socialist model. But as far as doing any real work, the dude would rather not.
This morning, he told NBC's Today show: "Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, 'You know, guys, I want to do something different,' they'd be fine. They're not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president."
Now that it's clear that his policies have wrecked the economy, with its most important indicators---unemployment, housing prices, consumer confidence, gas prices---all sliding in the wrong direction, he might want to take a powder. Go and do something "less stressful," as he said this morning. Write his memoir. Give speeches. Create a foundation to rival Bubba's. You know, cash in and check out.
Responsibility.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/atms-blame-bad-econ...