Melting Down

The summer weather in Washington has been unseasonably cool, but that hasn’t stopped the Obama administration’s overly ambitious agenda from melting down.

According to The Associated Press, the White House is putting off a yearly assessment of where the federal government is financially until mid-August, when they hope nobody notices:

The administration’s annual midsummer budget update is sure to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in President Barack Obama’s budget in February and update in May, and that could complicate his efforts to get his signature healthcare and global-warming proposals through Congress. The release of the update — usually scheduled for mid-July — has been put off until the middle of next month, giving rise to speculation the White House is delaying the bad news at least until Congress leaves town on its August 7 summer recess.

In the meantime, a Washington Post poll shows that the American people are not necessarily giving the president the benefit of the doubt when it comes to healthcare. In fact, only 49 percent of voters approve of the way the president is handling his signature issue, and among political independents, only 44 percent approve of his efforts to reform the system.

Most Americans want healthcare reform, but they want to know how we are going to pay for it and they don’t necessarily feel comfortable with too much government involvement. And voters can’t feel that comfortable with how the Obama administration has done thus far on critical issues.

For example, the stimulus has done little to stimulate job growth, unless you are in the pork or cheese business. In fact, the president’s own website divulged today that we have spent about 4 million bucks for various kinds of ham, 6 million bucks for processed and mozzarella cheese and about $16 million for actual canned pork. Not sure how they stimulates long-term job creation, but I am sure that is happy news if you are in the cow-and-pig business.

The fact of the matter is that jobs are disappearing fast, the stimulus is acting too slow (if at all) and the president is spending money we don’t have and attempting to raise taxes on people who do create jobs in this country (small-business owners). What’s more, the president is trying to impose a government-run healthcare system on Americans who don’t want government-run healthcare.

The president is still personally popular, but that popularity will not last forever, especially if his agenda continues to melt down this summer.

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