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Obama’s Newspeak
By Alex Beam, Globe Staff | July 10, 2009
It is inevitable in modern American politics that each new president inaugurates his own brand of bushwa - rubbish, lies, eyewash, whatever you choose to call it - that reminds one of nothing so much as the previous guy’s bushwa. Mr. Obama is no exception. Consider:
Soon after taking office, Obama & Co. rebranded George Bush’s “war on terror,’’ choosing to call it instead “overseas contingency operations.’’ There is a history here. In 2005, Bush’s people tried to rename the WOT, suggesting instead the delightfully Rumsfeldian “global struggle against violent extremism’’ (GSAVE!) or “the long war’’ (nice movie title) when discussing, well, the war on terror.
Those never caught on, and there is no reason to believe the jaw-cracking “overseas contingency operations’’ will either.
The White House knows that wars, of late, have been losing propositions. It is no accident that Obama’s new drug czar (“Czar’’ - so harsh! So Russian; perhaps the Club Med title “Gentle Organizer’’ would work better here) told the Wall Street Journal that “he wants to banish the idea that the United States is fighting ‘a war on drugs.’ ’’
Of course, it’s not like we are making peace with drugs either. Oh, never mind.
The Bush administration oversaw “bailouts’’ of its fat cat friends on Wall Street. The people-friendly Obama administration continues to throw money at its bankrupt pals, but prefers to talk about “rescuing’’ failed companies and the American economy. Neither phrase softens the blow to the taxpayers footing the bill, the Los Angeles Times noted sardonically: “We suggest they call the package an ‘iPod,’ because everyone will pay for an iPod.’’
With 10 percent unemployment creeping up, the Obama-ites better have their economic Newspeak ready. They do! As hundreds of thousands of Americans file new jobless claims each week, the administration brags about the vast numbers of jobs it has “created or saved.’’ All administrations claim to create jobs, even in periods of high unemployment, but economists are marveling at Obama’s new, bogus metric of jobs “saved.’’
“The expression ‘create or save,’ which has been used regularly by the President and his economic team, is an act of political genius,’’ a not-exactly-admiring Harvard economist Greg Mankiw writes on his blog. “You can measure how many jobs are created between two points in time. But there is no way to measure how many jobs are saved.’’
Yes, we can!...
Remember signing statements? Those were the dastardly little postscripts George Bush attached to legislation that he didn’t completely approve of. Signing statements ignore the “fundamental principle’’ of the separation of powers, the American Bar Association huffed. On the campaign trail, candidate Obama was asked, “Do you promise not to use presidential [signing statements] to get your way?’’ “Yes,’’ he answered. “I taught the Constitution for 10 years, I believe in the Constitution, and I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We are not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end run around Congress.’’
oh puleeze... if he does something different, you whine... if he decides that something had some level of merit, you whine.
sheesh... get a grip.
btw, bush WAS and IS an idiot... and was a horrible president. having the odd workable idea (which MAY or MAY NOt have come from prior admins) doesn't change the fact he was the worst president in my lifetime.... and that includes Carter, so it's saying A LOT.
oh puleeze... if he does something different, you whine... if he decides that something had some level of merit, you whine.
sheesh... get a grip.
btw, bush WAS and IS an idiot... and was a horrible president. having the odd workable idea (which MAY or MAY NOt have come from prior admins) doesn't change the fact he was the worst president in my lifetime.... and that includes Carter, so it's saying A LOT.
oh puleeze... if he does something different, you whine... if he decides that something had some level of merit, you whine.
sheesh... get a grip.
btw, bush WAS and IS an idiot... and was a horrible president. having the odd workable idea (which MAY or MAY NOt have come from prior admins) doesn't change the fact he was the worst president in my lifetime.... and that includes Carter, so it's saying A LOT.
Pissed that Obama is going to manage to be worse, ain't ya .
oh puleeze... if he does something different, you whine... if he decides that something had some level of merit, you whine.
sheesh... get a grip.
btw, bush WAS and IS an idiot... and was a horrible president. having the odd workable idea (which MAY or MAY NOt have come from prior admins) doesn't change the fact he was the worst president in my lifetime.... and that includes Carter, so it's saying A LOT.
by doing the same basic stuffoh puleeze... if he does something different, you whine... if he decides that something had some level of merit, you whine.
sheesh... get a grip.
btw, bush WAS and IS an idiot... and was a horrible president. having the odd workable idea (which MAY or MAY NOt have come from prior admins) doesn't change the fact he was the worst president in my lifetime.... and that includes Carter, so it's saying A LOT.
It no longer metters what bush was, it only matters what Obama is.
right now he is behind Bush!
oh puleeze... if he does something different, you whine... if he decides that something had some level of merit, you whine.
sheesh... get a grip.
btw, bush WAS and IS an idiot... and was a horrible president. having the odd workable idea (which MAY or MAY NOt have come from prior admins) doesn't change the fact he was the worst president in my lifetime.... and that includes Carter, so it's saying A LOT.
