Israel Matzav

From hope and change to fear and smear

What accounts for the radical change in mood from four years ago?

The blue-state model of large government, increased entitlements, and high taxes may be good rhetoric, but it is unsound reality. Redistribution does not serve static, aging populations in a competitive global world — as we are seeing from California to southern Europe. “Hope and change” was a slogan in 2008; it has since been supplanted by the reality of 40 straight months of 8 percent–plus unemployment and record deficits — despite $5 billion in borrowed priming, near-zero interest rates, and vast increases in entitlement spending.

Obama’s bragging that the United States is drilling more oil despite, rather than because of, his efforts is supposed to be a clever appeal to both greens and business. Private-equity firms are good for campaign donations but bad when a Republican rival runs them. “Romney would do worse,” rather than “I have done well,” is the implicit Obama campaign theme of 2012.

To be reelected, a now-polarizing Obama believes that he must stoke the fears of some of us rather than appeal to all of our hopes by defending a successful record, and that he must smear with the old politics rather than inspiring with the new. That cynical calculation and the constant hedging and flip-flopping may be normal for politicians, but eventually they prove disastrous for the ones who posed as messianic prophets.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:38 PM