But three years into his presidency, I think it is fair enough to come to the conclusion that while Obama may be a lot of things, a socialist is not one of them.

Socialism – what is it? These days people seem to call everything under the sun socialism, and things have veered a lot from what I learned in school – that socialism is government-run, often -owned, and -controlled industry.

The problem? While I know there are plenty of touters of Friedman economics who believe  that any type of government interference makes the possibility of a free market impossible, I think most practicing economists understand this to be a bit like the laws of physics – damn hard to apply to every day life due to gravity. What I mean is, if this is the defining characteristic of free market capitalism then all of our government consumer protection organizations are socialist.

This is a far cry from standard definitions of socialism and capitalism – this is extremism to the level of communism.

The problem is too many people confuse social services and social programs with socialism. Sure, if the government offers a service it can be difficult for private actors to compete. But that doesn’t mean they cannot.

I spent some time living in Sweden, often considered to be a bastion of socialism, and would you believe that five days a week I received two mail deliveries, one from the state run post office and one from the private run commercial post service. Private industry competes openly with government run business, is this socialism?

A government, voted by the people for the people, which sets laws and regulations to protect the people, is not socialist.

Passing a law that states every citizen must purchase health insurance or be fined, is not socialist. You can be fined. You can opt not to and pay the fine. You can opt to not pay your medical bills and have the taxpayers pay them instead. Sure, that is your right and your freedom.

Social Security is socialist because you cannot opt out, you pay into it automatically, and the government controls where your money goes. But let’s remember that Obama is not responsible for starting Social Security, and it has provided money for a lot of retirees over the years.

There have been no acts that Obama has passed in his three years in office that have changed the capitalist nature of the United States.

Even the buyouts of the banks, where the US took over part of the banks following the latest economic crisis, were not socialism. Just as according to plan, as soon as they had the funds, the banks bought themselves back. The purpose of the bank takeovers was to preserve capital so that the banks didn’t fail and people didn’t lose all their money, not so that the government could be active in the daily running of the banks. The purpose was purely capitalistic, not socialist.

Let’s also remember the initial TARP act, which lent money to the banks, was President Bush’s act, not Obamas.

Is Obama a socialist? No. Is America at risk to become a socialist country? No. Comparatively speaking the United States has fewer social programs than pretty much any other western nation in the world. Maternity leave, health care, standard practices in many democratic capitalist countries around the world are considered socialist by the people of the US and therefore do not pass through our system. Do you need any more proof?

(White House photo)

So, the number one expectation on this list will likely come as a surprise to some. The very first thing that Congress and the President should do at this moment is to get the budget passed. There hasn’t been a real government budget since President Bush left office. Yes, you read that right. President Obama has never had to work within a government budget. This is perhaps the biggest reason why spending is so out of control. There is no budget.

Every person who has ever spent money knows that the instant you lose track of what you’re spending, you lose control. Once you lose control, you get into financial trouble. Any financial adviser will tell you that one of the very first things you should do is to create a budget. In fact, the only way out of this mess is to make a budget.

This issue can’t really be stressed enough, because it really is the first step to getting out of the mess that the President and Congress have gotten the American people into. So, President Obama, quit the campaign trail, get back into Congress, pile the pressure on the Senate Democrats and get an actual budget passed.

In other words, for both Congress and President Obama, DO YOUR JOB.

Second on the list, probably of less importance, but still involving a huge military mistake by someone, is to deal with the spy plane in Iran. Again, this is the President’s job, as listed in the US Constitution as the Commander in Chief. Simply put, the spy plane is a military embarrassment that needs to be dealt with quickly. In fact it is so embarrassing, that it negates any of the past military victories that President Obama has had. Yes, it is even worse than GITMO and that’s saying a lot.

So, President Obama, get your military leaders on the phone, meet them in person, use whatever means at your disposal to get a plan in place to deal with that spy plane. All you are really being asked here is to DO YOUR JOB.

Third on the list is approval of the Keystone project. This project has been in the works for years and is likely President Obama’s only hope for the creation of real jobs (since clearly, all other proposals for job creation have either failed or have been sidelined). Not only is it a step toward energy independence, it is a political feather that can be placed in the Presidential cap. The environmental impact surveys have been done. The time to act is now. So, President Obama, if you want to keep your campaign promise of creating jobs, here’s your best chance for doing so. Delaying this will hurt America’s efforts toward creating energy sources closer to home. Approval of this will fulfill promises made during many, many Presidential speeches.

Since this is getting rather long, these three are the top expectations that should be accomplished before hitting the campaign trail. President Obama, GO DO YOUR JOB and stop the campaign until you get this done. You have plenty of cronies to sing your praises and raise money for you. You need to DO THE JOB you were elected to do.

Congress, the only way you can end the constant disappointment and bring at least some respect back is to do the one thing you are tasked to do by the US Constitution, pass a budget. So, Congress, do some compromising, take the first step to getting America back on a financially smart course, and DO YOUR JOB.

(White House photo)

Clearly, Social Security is one of those political hot topics that set off emotions. People, especially the elderly, don’t want anyone messing with Social Security. What this payroll tax is really labeled on most paychecks is the Social Security tax. The payroll tax terminology is really just political labeling designed to misdirect people from the fact that this tax goes directly into the Social Security fund.

By cutting this tax, you cut the funds going directly toward Social Security. That happens to be the unintended consequence of this particular tax cut. Which means that Social Security can turn “upside down” even faster than it is happening right now. “Upside down” is a political and/or economic slang term, meaning the amount of money going into a program is less than the amount of money being paid out by that program. For a business, it means a red bottom line. For a bank, it means a negative account balance.

In fact, the Social Security administration trustee report  for 2010 states that Social Security is upside down. The last time this was the case was in 1983.

Now, the other side of this coin is that it does give the economy a slight boost. People are getting and spending the money that they see in their paycheck. But this is still only a temporary effect. Because this tax cut cannot be sustained indefinitely. At some point, it will be impossible for the government to pay out Social Security checks with very little money coming in.

The other real problem is that this particular tax was sold as a way to help businesses. But businesses aren’t hiring based on a slight break in the Social Security tax. Businesses have a lot more expenses to weigh when they are going to hire someone. The Social Security tax isn’t even in the top ten of those expenses. So, in reality, zero jobs have been created directly due to this tax.

Then there is the question of how to pay for it. Frankly, I am against both sides on this one. The main reason is that any funds produced to cover the shortfall will wind up in the general budget and will not go back into Social Security. Whether there is a millionaire tax or a pay freeze, the results are exactly the same. There will not be a dime headed back into  Social Security. Unless Congress makes the direction of those funds eminently clear, then it will be the same general free-for-all spending spree that Congress is famous for.

Which means more borrowing to cover up the shortfalls in the Social Security system. Thus, the damage that has been done to the Social Security fund will be compounded. What it really means is that Social Security will not last nearly as long as predicted or indicated. Changes will have to come much, much sooner than even the experts are predicting.

Yes, there should be more money in people’s pockets. Yes, the tax rates should be lowered. However, is this payroll tax cut, AKA social security tax cut, really a good solution to both?

For a President who is so adamant against changing the programs of Social Security and Medicare, he sure is doing a lot to make sure that they do change by necessity. If anything, this discussion is another reason you should be putting away more funds for your retirement. At this rate, it won’t be long before there will be no Social Security at all.

(Photo: USCIS)

So what’s stopping him from approval? Well in this case, it is the environmentalists who are worried about a part of Nebraska that could potentially be affected. Now, there is nothing wrong with taking care of the environment. But in this particular case, the plan has been in the works for several years.

But it is not the environmentalists the President should really be asking, it is the Nebraskans. They are the ones who have the most to gain from the pipeline and the most to lose by a potential oil spill. Yet, not one news report is asking Nebraska how it feels about  having a pipeline run through its state. If the President delays this project, it should be because Nebraska is against it. It should not be because some environmentalist in Washington DC who has never been to Nebraska says it shouldn’t.

The environmental impact studies have already been done. Canada has already approved the plan. So what’s stopping our President?

The simple answer appears to be the lobby money from the environmentalists. Apparently, he can’t afford to tarnish his image with them.

The other alternative is that he is trying to maintain this farce of being a green President. However, anyone who bothers to research the alternatives of solar, wind, and nuclear power know that these types of energy are not really a viable solution for the entire country. At best, they are a partial solution for certain parts of the country. But if you throw in the waste generated and the hazardous materials used to create such products, you have to wonder exactly how “green” these projects are.

It is kind of like GE saying, “We will make these energy efficient light bulbs, but we will use the very dangerous chemical mercury to make them.” This is conveniently forgetting that most of that mercury is going to wind up in our landfills, because most people are going to throw them away instead of treating them as the hazardous material that they truly are. So in reality, what happens? A couple of tons of CO2 is traded for a couple of tons of Mercury. So how exactly is that saving the environment? But perhaps a more important question, where are the environmentalists screaming about mercury light bulbs?

But the Federal government has already proven that it has no clue when it comes to green jobs. At least two solar companies have gone bankrupt and cost the taxpayers lots of money. There will likely be more in the future. The fact is that the President wishes to be a green President rather than a financially responsible one. Therein lies much of the problem.

Yes, the President clearly blew a very real opportunity for job creation. He didn’t need a jobs bill or Congressional approval to do it. All he had to do was say, “Yes”.  But apparently, his priorities lie on the campaign trail instead of with getting Americans back to work. His actions have clearly proven this to be the case.

The version set forth by Democratic aides: Eric Cantor was owned.  The president was getting ready to wrap things up—and Cantor, shaking in his boots, started “rudely” interrupting the president.  One aide actually said, and I quote, “Obama lit him up. Cantor sat in stunned silence.  It was incredible. If the public saw Obama, he would win in a landslide.”

(Wait a minute: So, was Cantor struck silent by Obama’s brilliance, or was he rudely talking over him?  Ah, well….)

Eric Cantor recounts the events this way: After a long period of deliberation where it became painfully obvious that neither side was going to give any ground, he finally offered a compromise.  Instead of having one big raise of the debt ceiling combine with one big series of spending cuts—why not have a series of bills, each with a relatively small debt ceiling increase and a relatively small series of cuts?  You know…a kind of “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” deal—bit by bit, with a scalpel instead of an axe.  That…was what you said you wanted to do, Mr. President, during the 2008 campaign—wasn’t it?  “No axe, where a scalpel will do”?

Of course, as Eric Cantor recounts the events, Obama didn’t like that—not one little bit.  He wanted either tax hikes or less cuts—that, or no debt deal.  The president then started warning Cantor not to call his bluff (he wasn’t), complained that even Ronald Reagan would never sit through such talks (he would—and did), and then declared that he would tell the American people the right way to go.  And finally, Obama stormed out with an “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The way the aides tell it, Obama was calm and collected, while Cantor was either stunned silent or driven to outbursts—take your pick.  Cantor’s version has it the other way around—he was polite and reasonable, Obama was pushed to the breaking point.  Frankly, we may never know directly which version is right—there were no cameras in the room, as far as we know.  However, let’s recall a previous encounter between the two, during the health-care battle.  Recall that when Cantor and Paul Ryan calmly laid out their case, Obama had an expression on his face that implied mental daggers.  Before that, there was the notorious “I won,” during the stimulus debacle.  I’d say Cantor’s account better fits the pattern.

There’s an old mantra concerning the vast opportunities of the American citizen.  It goes something along the lines of, “Anyone can grow up to be President!”

Our era, however, seems to have deemed that mantra a bit too restrictive.  Nowadays, apparently…you don’t even have to grow up.

(White House photo)

President Barack Obama

“Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.” (Applause.) [Applause.] {We’re not rude. He is the President of the United States of America, after all.}

“It is wonderful to see all of you. I’ve got a lot of friends in the room here. People who knew me before anybody could pronounce my name.” (Laughter.) [Polite chuckle.]

“People who knew me before I had gray hair.”(Laughter.) [Strained polite chuckles.] {We didn’t elect you Comedian-in-Chief. Get on with it.}

“We had to save an auto industry. I never expected to be a automobile executive.” (Laughter.) [Glaring.]

“Over the last 15 months we’ve created over 2.1 million private sector jobs.” (Laughter.) [A different, more cynical kind of laughter.] {Why did the Dems laugh at this line? Is Obama’s voodoo math an inside joke to them?}

“We are saying to schools…” {really long run-on sentence here} “…make sure that every single one of our young people are equipped to compete in a 21st-century economy.” (Applause.) [Applause.]

A lengthy speech about all Obama’s great achievements in two and a half years drew no discernable reaction from the DNC Crowd, until…

“And that {continuing the greatness that was his first 30 months in office} may be a little bit of challenge — because, let’s face it, back in 2008, I was new. (Laughter.) [Stony silence.]

Now I’m gray. (Laughter.) [Scattered polite chuckle.] {You said that already. If you’re going to do standup, at least keep it fresh.}

The old posters are all faded. (Laughter.) People make fun of hope and change. [Laughter and mocking calls of “Hope and change”.]
And some folks have said, well, change didn’t happen as fast as I wanted, or it’s not exactly as I expected, or why can’t he just change the minds of all those Republicans. (Laughter.) [Scattered booing.]

“And so if you’re willing to join with me in what will be my last campaign…” (laughter) [Wild, uproarious applause that continue on for several moments]

“So, thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.” (Applause.) [Applause.]

Osama Bin Laden

Either way, what does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean for President Obama politically? Like most matters political, it depends on whom you ask.

Obama’s base was not really that keen on hunting down the former master of terror. While virtually all Americans of every political stripe cheered the end of Bin Laden, the victory will have little carry with the Left. The Left is quietly – although not as quietly as they once were – none too happy that the Obama administration has continued to policies of his predecessor by operating in various theaters of war around the planet.

Nothing could make Obama’s political adversaries on the Right any happier than to see Bin Laden’s body dumped on the bottom of the ocean, except maybe if they could have seen Bin Laden’s body violated in indecent and inhuman ways and then dumped on the bottom of the ocean. But the Political Rationalization Machine quickly kicked in and the Conservative pundits gave at least equal credit to the Bush Administration and the fine men and women of the US Military, conveniently diminishing in their estimation the grandeur of Obama’s role in the achievement of a decade-long quest for retribution.

Those rare Middle-grounders who are sold out to neither the Right or the Left, those relative few wafflers who determine the country’s direction every four years based on such important qualities as public speaking skills, never-to-be-fulfilled promises, the current state of the economy, and nice hair, were generally more pleased with Obama’s foreign policy skills after Bin Laden’s death than they were before. Had the POTUS chosen to rest on his laurels, he may have gained some political hay from the incident.

Instead, he quickly followed up his greatest international achievement with ill-advised and unwanted advice to Israel coupled with an almost-immediate and highly insulting retraction/clarification/”that’s not what I said”.

Bottom line – the killing of Osama Bin Laden doesn’t change President Obama’s estimation from the Right, Left, or the Middle.

Because Al-Quaeda is still out there, it doesn’t change his mission one bit. Removing Bin Laden from this earthly life was a good thing for America, but – whether it’s fair or not – the corresponding political bump for the president will not make it to 2012.

The government will send an emergency warning to anyone in the path of a terrorist attack or natural disaster. It will also provide “Amber Alerts” – special urgent requests to help find missing children. Who could argue against that?

They’ll do so by means of special chips and software installed right on your cell phone. Everybody’s got a cell phone, so I guess that’s an efficient way of doing it.

The chip will be mandatory on all cell phones starting in 2012. Wait, what?
You have the option of opting out of Amber Alerts and other lesser calls, but Presidential messages are compulsory. I have no choice in the matter?

The system will be online in New York City and Washington, DC before the end of the year. The rest of the country will soon follow. Um…

Mandating that all cell phone carrying Americans accept a government chip that is capable of tracking their location sure is an effective way of warning us of upcoming attacks. You know what’s even more effective? Why not implant a chip directly into our bodies? Say, in our hands or on our forehead?

I’m not one of those “the end is near” types. I won’t be joining the caravan of wackos in Washington, DC this week predicting that the end of the world is coming up within the month (yes, there really is a caravan of wackos in Washington, DC this week predicting the end of the world is coming up within the month). I’m just saying, put together the push on multiple fronts to replace the dollar with one world currency and add in this new bit of Big Brother-style intrusion into our daily lives – under the very noble and unimpeachable premise of protecting us from the next 9/11 – and you get something that looks an awful lot like the Biblical End of Days.

We can’t say we weren’t warned. For over 2500 years, from Daniel to John of Patmos to the Founding Fathers to Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and Ayn Rand to Matt Drudge, people have been pointing out the dangerous future of a government of the elite, for the elite, with too much control over our daily lives. Frighteningly, that future begins now.

Just as many staunch supporters of the president refused to acknowledge the question of his citizenship as legitimate when it was, his harshest critics will not believe that it isn’t now. There are at least ten different falsification claims floating around cyberspace. (My personal favorite is that the attending doctor ‘conveniently’ died eight years ago – at the age of 81 – as if it were rare for someone who was practicing medicine back in 1964 to have passed on by now.) While these rumors and theories will continue to abound, there will never again be a credible public discourse on the subject.

What can we learn from the release of the long-awaited birth certificate? Three things:

1. President Obama really was allowing the controversy to linger by avoiding the obvious and easy step to put an end to it. As hard as it is to believe, Donald Trump’s pre-campaign actually served a useful purpose by bringing the Birther controversy to a head.
2. The issue was no longer serving as a useful distraction for the Obama administration, but was instead becoming an actual liability. Poll after poll showed that a huge number of Americans questioned the president’s citizenship. As he rolls back into campaign mode, with two years under his belt and no accomplishments to show for it, Obama needs something more than victim status and vague promises to earn a second term.
3. The president obviously reads Camp Campaign and takes my advice very seriously. I think we all suspected this one, but it is good to have confirmation. For my next piece of advice – Mr. President, I think it’s time to start looking at the Fair Tax. Call me; we’ll talk.

President Obama

Anyone who was within earshot of a TV last week knows that there was no bipartisan spirit moving among our elected officials as the process wore on. Maybe if the leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives had spent less time blasting one another in public and more time in negotiations, the president could have made his announcement during prime time instead of waiting until after all the decent folk had gone to bed (on the East Coast, at least).

Of course, in all the excitement (I’ll say it again — yippee) and self-congratulation and attempts to take credit for the non-shutdown, let’s not forget that this is a temporary fix at best. This is a rare six-month budget that ensures another showdown before long. In reality, what has been agreed on is even less than that. The actual, formal agreement only runs the government through Thursday.

The only people who have agreed to anything beyond that are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Majority Leader John Boehner, and President Obama. Three very important people indeed, but they cannot pass a budget on their own. Between now and Thursday they need to get this budget deal written and get buy-in from their respective parties.

The far-Left and far-Right both seem to think that they got the shaft in the deal, which may be the mark of a real and valid compromise. We’ll know in the next few days if the middle-ground, rank and file of each party will support this bill or if this fails to meet even our lowered 21st Century standard for good news out of Washington.