A World Reversed

So today, President Bush announces he's going to bailout Chrysler and GM to the tune of $13 Billion dollars. This is money Bush is nabbing from the already approved TARP i.e. the rescue plan for the banks. This sloshing of money from one side of the drain to the other is isn't such a surprise, but the manner suggests yet another nail in the coffin of George Bush's legacy; which is ironic because this maneuver was done for one reason and one reason only: Bush's legacy.

Rep. Senator Judd Gregg let the cat out of the bag last week by revealing Bush was simply pushing the date of a auto company implosion out of his term and into another, namely an Obama Presidential term. The $13 Billion won't keep GM or Chrysler afloat for six months. Even this guess might prove optimistic. The record is now complete. After getting up off the mat by pushing the surge in Iraq, Bush has slugged himself again by signing up for seat-of-the-pants socialism. These temporary measures will fix nothing, not even the legacy which looks to be mixed at best. After a first term that was pointed in such a promising direction, Bush has succumbed to Washingtonitis and become the type he professed to loathe in the 2000 campaign. "I want to change the culture in Washington" he said and then it changed him into the usual turn on the money spigot type. As Obama might say "I am shocked and saddened" expressions that I can't quite seem to link to him.

Speaking of Obama, we may have budding Republican in town. In response to the last question today at a newspeak event, Obama, electo to be, said the the way to bring down the deficit was to grow the economy so the government got more revenue. Hallelujah!! he's got the religion of capitalism: Growth. By golly, he didn't even mention raising taxes. If Nancy Peliosi and Harry Reid were watching this gaffe, it must have produced quite a scene. Peliosi and Reid, the respective Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultze of the DC set might have had a split reaction. Reid obviously would have agreed with everything said, then Peliosi would slapped him and said "Idiot, he didn't mention raising taxes!!" Col. Hogan is uncast since it would have to be a Republican of charm and intelligence and such doesn't exist in DC now.

Perhaps, the religion thing is a bit much. As we know with Rev. Wright, Obama can ditch a religious persuasion as quickly as giving one his patented twinkie speeches. Tastes good at the moment, but doesn't last. But maybe this is an education of Mr. O. Melville said a whaling ship was his Harvard. Maybe, this meltdown is the Obama B school. Maybe, all that trendy college Marxism made sense until you were actually responsible for the stewardship of the economy. With capitalism fading, many roles are changing. Perhaps, Obama is learning his new one. At least, that is the hope. With capitalism reduced to dying embers, maybe that's a foolish hope. But dying was never a match for wishful thinking.