Grading On A Curve

For the love of logic -- will Lefty politicians, commentators and blogospheroids PLEASE stop citing the bar-graph representation of recent U.S. job losses as proof that Obama's stewardship has saved the economy! Such self-serving, specious statements serve only to demonstrate how shallow you are, how dim you believe the public is...or (more likely) both.

The graph (at right) demonstrates that as the Great Recession

rippled round the world, monthly job losses compounded, getting progressively worse each month towards the end of the Bush years, staying horrible as Obama took his oath, and gradually slowing down as far fewer expendable workers remained on the clock. It is the exact pattern of every other job slump. It is the exact pattern that was expected. It is the exact pattern that would have occurred regardless of governmental  action/inaction (though the numbers and dates certainly can be slightly shifted by policy decisions). It is not a sign of Democrat magic.

No economist or pundit believed that EVERY job in America was going to be lost. A nation can only hemorrhage 800,000 jobs a month for so long, just as a flame can only burn until it runs out of fuel.  To boast that you were on watch when the disaster bottomed out is like a rooster claiming credit for the sunrise, or an Exxon official waiting for the Valdez's last drop to wash ashore before claiming "There -- I fixed it!".

That 100,000 non-census jobs were created in March is an encouraging sign, and a number worthy of cautious optimism. Let us hope that the trend continues and that the White House will eventually have bountiful, genuine positive news about which to crow. In the meantime, please stop taking credit for the natural ebbing of the unsustainable worst; such emotional and numerical manipulation seems desperate, deceitful, and -- frankly -- Rovian.

The Real Deal?

Change?
No more politics-as-usual?
A chief executive who can utter a coherent -- even lyrical -- sentence?

I want to believe.

Heretofore hailed by an insular crowd as a savior and Kennedy incarnate, Barack Obama now aspires to inspire the rest of America with his style, while instilling confidence in his questioned substance. It will be no easy task. Subtle position shifts and wardrobe additions have already demonstrated the tightrope that he is treading, and may threaten to chink his invaluably shining armor.

Is he the real deal, or a fraud? Pundits and the public alike wait to see whether the demands of the upcoming campaign will prove his mettle or corrupt his ideals.

Shame On Who?

With her campaign nearly as dead as the famous mountaineer for whom she falsely claimed being named, Hillary Clinton has found yet another voice -- and this time it's ugly and irrational.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but her campaign's latest course threatens both party unity and the Clinton legacy, trespassing far beyond the pale of reasonable politics...or logic.

Over this past weekend Mrs. Clinton transformed from honored by Obama's run to outraged by it, from opposing “Rovian” tactics to employing them, from promising change to mocking it, and from bragging about her White House experience to dismissing it when convenient.

In short: from viable to vile.

Read on for details and reality checks on her ridiculous, illogical and hypocritical efforts to salvage the glass slipper that just doesn’t seem to fit.