Obama Now Inherits The Mess He Has Created

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.

H.L. Mencken

I alluded to these issues in the post below, but the WSJ's James Taranto does a good job of flushing them out:

The mess today's winner will inherit includes not only high unemployment and slow growth but impending policy changes that threaten to make those problems worse. On Jan. 1, unless Congress acts, the Bush tax cuts expire--or, to put it another way, "massive, job-killing tax increases" are about to take effect (that quote is from President Obama). If Obama gets his way--which he likely would if re-elected--Congress will forestall the hike only for taxpayers making under $200,000 or $250,000 a year. That would be good for those fortunate enough to have jobs, but it would not change the tax increase's job-killing nature, as it would hit investors and small businesses hard.

Then there's ObamaCare. Although enacted nearly three years ago, it was written so that most of its provisions would not take effect until the next presidential term. "The bottled-up rules to set up President Barack Obama's health care reform law are going to start flowing quickly right after Election Day," Politico reports. "As soon as Wednesday, the gears and levers of government bureaucracy are likely to start moving at full speed again."

Taranto misses at least one other obvious national land mine - the looming effects of Obama's energy policy and his war on coal in particular, which provides nearly half of our electricity. No new coal plants are being built to replace existing plants, and the effect of the EPA's recent rules punishing coal will be catastrophic for electric generation, both in cost and availability.

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It's Over

The title of this post refers both to the election and, I fear, our great national experiment in capitalism and democracy. America can turn out the lights. Obama has won. I seriously doubt that our nation will come close to recovering in my lifetime. And just so everyone realizes, all the goodies Obama cooked into Obamacare, and the effects of his war on coal, our primary source for electricity, all those kick in after this election. Things are poised to get much, much worse for our nation.

I will say this - if there is ever any hope for our nation, it is decades past time for conservatives to take off the gloves and start a scorched earth policy with regards to the left. The time for rational discussion is over, the time for intellectually honest hellfire and brimstone is here. And the time to hold anyone who supports the left wing media is long overdue. Want to know who to boycot - take a look at who is advertising in the NYT or on MSNBC. We need to break the backs of these people.

Three years ago, I predicted that Gingrich would be one of the few who could unseat Obama. Romney killed himself in the last two debates. Benghazi will go down as a horrible failure for both Obama - and Romney.

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Next Post, Wednesday, Early A.M., EST

All that needs to be said has been said. I think that I will be very frustrated with Romney, but in four years, our nation will be in a much better state than it is today. Another four years of Obama and our nation will not fully recover in my lifetime.

So that's it. It's all down to the only poll that matters. We will know Wednesday on the East Coast. God help us all if Obama wins a second term - and / or the Democrats retain the Senate.

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Another Prostitution Scandal - This One Involving Senator Menendez of N.J.

A Democrat Senator goes to the Dominican Republic and hires a pair of hookers. After a few hours of fun, he doesn't pay them the agreed upon price, thus managing to stiff them both twice in a single transaction. What do you think - a game changing scandal?

The Democrat in question is Senator Bob Menendez of N.J. He is 58 years old and divorced. He is up for re-election next Tuesday. The most recent polls show that he holds a 14 point lead over his Republican challenger. The allegations against him have been raised by two prostitutes through their attorney and were published a few hours ago in the Daily Caller. Menendez himself has not yet responded to the allegations, but an aide, contacted yesterday, refused comment on the "false allegations."

Even assuming that these allegations are true, its not likely that this will be a game changer. True, client number nine, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and Rep. Anthony Weiner, both Democrats, have been brought down by sex scandals in the recent past. But, both were married at the time, and in Spitzer's case, you had the yawning hypocrisy of him having spent years prosecuting organized prostitution in New York. With Weiner, it was the ignominy of him publicly broadcasting a picture of his woody across the internet. That was too much for even Democrats to swallow.

Spitzer and Weiner aside, Democrats have a track record of being incredibly forgiving of sex scandals. Bill Clinton is the poster child for Democrat tolerance. Before him, Barney Frank's squeeze was running a gay prostitution ring out of his apartment - forgiven. Gary Studds may not have read many books, but he did bend over a few pages in the halls of Congress prior to his reelection. Scandals of all sorts swirled around Ted Kennedy, but if his murder of Mary Jo Kopechne didn't stop his repeated reelection, no mere sex scandal would. For a more detailed history of Washington sex scandals of the past fifty years, see here.

Bottom line, this scandal, standing alone, isn't going to cause a 14 point swing among New Jersey voters between now and Tuesday. The only thing Senator Menendez could do to get himself in any appreciable trouble with his constituency over this allegation would be, if it is true, to lie and cover-up. But even then, it will be long after the election before a cover-up could be proven. Between today and next Tuesday, it will be just he said she said she said. Menendez will be safely ensconced in his seat for another six years before the issue will again arise.

This is not a game changer. All that said, Menendez would be wise to lay off the Viagra and for God's sake, learn the one lesson every government official in Washington should know by now - if you are going to hire foreign hookers, pay them their full asking price.

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