Of late, President Obama has been imploring lawmakers to embrace "shared sacrifice" to help break the stalemate over the debt impasse while lecturing, "We might as well do it now - pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas."
But where's the sacrifice from the President? While the rest of America is pinching its pennies, Obama is poised to jet off to a lavish 50th-birthday celebration in Chicago that will double as a fund-raiser for his reelection. This party will take place the day after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's arbitrary Aug. 2 debt ceiling deadline. The cost to attend the bash? As much as $35,800 a couple.
Then, later next month, he'll head to the same palatial 28-acre estate he rented last year on posh Martha's Vineyard for a family vacation while most Americans are opting to stay home and save money.
Everyone deserves a vacation. Especially the President. But does he deserve such a lavish trip when he's doing such a poor job? To his credit, he canceled a fund-raiser/vacation in Montana this summer. But that was simply smart politics when the nation's economy is sputtering and a debate over what to do about the national debt shows no sign of resolution.
According to Gallup, the President's approval rating stands at 42%. Rasmussen notes that 68% of responding voters feel the country is on the wrong track.
The excessive golfing likely doesn't help. Since taking office, Obama has played 75 rounds of golf. In comparison, Bush golfed 24 times as commander in chief.
Now, Obama is entitled to birdie and bogey, but not when he hasn't submitted a budget on time, which he didn't his first two years in office. And when it comes to the debt ceiling debacle, the President has yet to submit to a proposal of his own. While regular Americans suffer, the White House is leading from behind once again, reacting to Republican proposals without putting forth any of its own.
The country's housing market is in shambles. Gas prices are soaring, bringing food prices along for the ride, and unemployment is staggeringly high. The disconnect between Washington and Middle America is becoming ever greater, and the President appears more and more disconnected from our problems. Let them eat cake has turned into let them eat their peas.
But given that his campaign is predicated on the rhetoric of class warfare, Obama is a walking contradiction. He scolds the rich with one hand and lights their cigars with another. He slams corporate jet owners while accepting campaign cash from businessmen who fly in on corporate jets to give it to him. Among his closest economic advisers is Jeffrey Immelt, the head of General Electric. You can't get much more corporate than that. Eat the rich, and eat with the rich.
If Obama is unwilling to give up luxuries in his personal life, than he should forgo them in his policies. Union members, craven environmentalists and bureaucrats have feasted on our economy, potentially putting America's credit rating at increasing risk. Whether it's the auto bailout, the stimulus or a mythical green economy, everywhere there's evidence of lavish government programs that reward Obama's key constituencies at a time when tax breaks - an ideological no-no for the left - would do much more to help our economy.
So before his next getaway, Obama might want to take the time to practice what he preaches and have a little empathy for America. He could also show true leadership and cut back himself.
If not, we saw what happened in 2010. Voters tired of an inept Congress stormed the Bastille and wrecked the party at Versailles. When it comes to 2012, they'll be ready to do it again. |
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