Random Thought for the Day

I like minimalism, but I can only take so much of it.

 

~Dean L

Obama's Russian Waffling

Obama apparently has evolved not just on gay marriage, but on Russia as well. In 2007 he felt it was necessary to seek a global ban on fissile material for weapons.  Since then he has done nothing to stop Iran. Evolved. In 2007 he said Russia is not an ally or enemy of the United States.  But in 2013 he thinks Russia is prone to Cold War thinking from time to time. That would make them I suppose, an occasional enemy.  In 2008 he wanted a missile defense system to protect from Iran, but not Russia necessarily. He was worried however about an aggressive Russia in 2008.  That didn't stop him from backing down on missile defense in 2012 when he thought he was not on microphone with Medvedev.  So Iran was not a nuclear threat and clearly the Russians were no longer aggressive in 2012. Evolved? And in 2013 Obama decided that there was no need to meet with Putin directly at the Group 20 economic summit upcoming. He's been put out by Russian non-co-operation. Evolved?

 

How about confused, naïve and all over the map?

2007:

In an October 2007 speech in Chicago, Obama said if elected he would work to "take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair-trigger alert, and to dramatically reduce the stockpiles of our nuclear weapons and material." He said he would seek a "global ban on the production of fissile material for weapons" and an expansion of "the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate-range missiles."

and

President Obama said in April 2007 that Russia is "neither our enemy nor close ally," and said the United States "shouldn't shy away from pushing for more democracy, transparency, and accountability" there.

2008:

In a September 2008 presidential debate, Obama said the United States needs missile defense, "because of Iran and North Korea and the potential for them to obtain or to launch nuclear weapons," but stressed the need to also increase spending on nuclear nonproliferation.

and

In a September 2008 presidential debate, Obama said, "our entire Russian approach has to be evaluated, because a resurgent and very aggressive Russia is a threat to the peace and stability of the region."

2012:

“On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space,” Mr. Obama could be heard saying to Mr. Medvedev, according a reporter from ABC News, who was traveling with the president.

“Yeah, I understand,” the departing Russian president said. “I understand your message about space. Space for you ... .”

Mr. Obama then elaborated in a portion of the exchange picked up by the cameras: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”

2013:

In a rare diplomatic rebuke, President Barack Obama on Wednesday canceled his Moscow summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The decision reflected both U.S. anger over Russia's harboring of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and growing frustration within the Obama administration over what it sees as Moscow's stubbornness on other key issues, including missile defense and human rights.

Obama will still attend the Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but a top White House official said the president had no plans to hold one-on-one talks with Putin while there. Instead of visiting Putin in Moscow, the president will add a stop in Sweden to his early September travel itinerary.

Obama, who is traveling in California, said in an interview Tuesday that he was "disappointed" by Russia's move to grant Snowden asylum for one year. But he said the move also reflected the "underlying challenges" the U.S. faces in dealing with Moscow.

"There have been times where they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality," Obama said in an interview on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

There are a lot of other examples of  Obama's inability to forecast events and motivations of others, as well as an inability to stick to a strategic imperative.  Clinton's reset button is a symbolic example of saying one thing without backing it up or understanding the context of their own statement.  Guess what Hillary, Russia had to hit that reset button with you and they were not inclined to do so. Détente requires two parties participating, not just one.  And as a result of all of these statements about diplomacy and resetting relations, without a guiding principle (except maybe capitulation), the administration looks like it is running from problem to problem in crisis-management mode trying to put out fires in a reactive, unthoughtful manner. It looks like waffling on Russia but it is far worse. It's an incapacity to lead.

 

 

Saturday Learning Series - Six Sigma (still?)

There's a lot to learn with this Six Sigma stuff, if you are interested. Continuing along, this MIT lecture series takes a look at people. The secret ingredient.

I finally get what Obama's recovery summer is all about

Year after year the president has been able to spin that the unemployment rate has been slowly but surely falling.  The latest jobs report indicates that the unemployment rate has fallen from 7.6% to 7.4%.  Obama's plans must be working, right?  Well yes, if his plan is to reduce unemployment by having everyone leave the job force.

 

The labor participation rate had become startlingly anemic during the recession, and at those lower rates, it's easier to hide a bad recovery.  People are no longer looking for jobs and are therefore not counted, as this graph indicates.

 

Source:BLS http://data.bls.gov

 

After the recession inherited by president Reagan, and the double dip, labor force participation rate climbed dramatically for the remainder of the decade after 1983.  Don't be fooled into thinking that we are talking a couple of percentage points and these differences are small - a few points represents millions of job seekers. 

 

After the mild recession of 1990, the labor force participation rate took off again after roughly 1994.  After the 2001 recession, the recovery was more mild but it was a recovery nonetheless.  But look at the non-recovery post 2008.  There is no recovery in labor force participation rate.  Millions of people are no longer actively seeking jobs. 

 

And I finally get what Obama's recovery summer (version what, 5?) is all about.  It's about playing with the denominator in the equation to make the numbers look better and make people feel better about the nation - even as  their own circumstances inform them otherwise.  Don't believe your own eyes and own circumstances people, Obama says everything is going well as he pivots once again, back to the economy...

 

Sure he will be touting this latest reduction of the unemployment rate as a success.  And the media will lap it up.  But it is only a success if the objective is to have everyone leave the workforce.  Then he is succeeding admirably.  Wait until the stalled mandates for Obamacare kick in.  We'll be pining for the days of 58% labor force participation rate.  With an aging population and a soaring national debt, we're going to need a lot better labor force participation rate than low to mid -60's anyway.  But that's not going to happen under this president, ever.  He had his shot with his $787 billion stimulus that may be the biggest waste of money in history until the end of time. He had his shot, he blew it. All that is left for this president is to keep hiding the mess. That's his recovery summer.

Friday Musical Interlude - Sir Duke Day

This Stevie Wonder song, about Duke Ellington, was the #1 song in the first week of June 1977 when Star Wars was the #1 movie.  Good song.  Too bad Stevie Wonder decided to boycott Florida because of the Zimmerman verdict.  While he may be musically talented, he shouldn't venture into politics and/or criminal justice.

Here's Sir Duke himself, with 1939's Take The A Train.

Thursday Hillary Bash - biopic 'followup' edition

Earlier this week I had to briefly comment on the news that a Hillary Clinton biopic was in the works for a release in 2016 during the run up to the presidential election.  Breitbart also had a list of things you wouldn't be likely to see in the biopic.

You won't see her portrayed in the way she looks in this picture either.  From Benghazi to Whitewater to talking to ghosts, she will be getting all of the slobbering and fawning to be expected from a liberal press, and none of the unpleasantness a 'fair' biopic .

She is destined to get glowing treatment in her biopic, but she is not destined to be president.

The last time a candidate who lost the nomination and was nominated the next time around George McGovern who pseudo-ran in 1968 and was nominated when he ran a full campaign in 1972.  Of course he lost the election to Richard Nixon.  That's been a while.  Historically it has been Republicans who gave the next-in-line a turn as they did in 2012 with Mitt Romney.  He lost.  Democrats could be picking up a losing trend by selecting Hillary this time around. I'm sure that most Republicans and conservatives would be comforted by that fact if it were not for a media that has already started slobbering over her they way they were with Obama in 2007 and 2008.

 

That prospect is frightening for conservatives.  Another Democrat victory would herald a big Republican problem, just as not being able to defeat Obama in 2012 appeared to have done.  But this would be worse.  It would mean that since Bill Clinton won in 1992, 1996 and Obama won in 2008 and 2012, and Hillary in 2016, it would mean 5 of the last 7 presidential elections have been won by Democrats, and 1 of 2 Bush's wins was not a very strong win.  That's what's called a rout.  On the other hand a GOP win would make the score a little more even 4-3 for Democrats.

 

Liberals in the media are doing their best to ensure that rout happens.  A biopic right before an election is the farthest thing from fair one could imagine, but we will have to imagine it nonetheless.