I wasn't planning to comment on President Obama's promise to "root out regulations that conflict, that are not worth the cost, or that are just plain dumb" because there's no point in debunking such outright hokum. If there's anybody alive who believes Barack Obama can be a deregulator, he probably shouldn't be let out of the house. But maybe there is value in stating the obvious:
Sounds rather subjective, though, don't you think? How do we gauge excessive regulation in the Age of Obama? I can't recall a single federal program, piece of legislation, or proposal in the past two years that was initiated to ease the burden on consumers or businesses. (If you know of any, please send specifics to sorry@dowelooklikesuckers.com.)
[. . .]
When Obama was in a place of political comfort, the free market was a place of unhinged self-interest, unfairness, and misery. Nearly all of our troubles were portrayed as a case of regulatory neglect—and nearly every dilemma was met accordingly.
Nothing's changed but the political conditions.
Comments
This is simply the political equivalent of "watch the shiny ball in my right hand while I lift your wallet with my left hand".
He's trying a "Clintonian Triangulation" but with the health care debacle hanging around his neck, and unemployment over 9% (15-20% in the real world) for the foreseeable future he doesn't stand much a chance of re-election.
Wow...Zank is really in his own world.
The last three or four polls show that Healthcare is more popular than the GOP thinks it is, Obama's popularity is on a HUGE rebound and economy is improving.
He wins in 2012 without a lot of effort.
Well Kev, we'll see. I'm banking on the fact Obamacare is blatantly unconstitutional and that polls conducted on Teh One's popularity are two years too early to be accurate.
Oh, and in the world I live in the economy isn't improving, but I'm glad it is in your world.