Ken Berwitz

Shortly after Barack Obama won the presidential election, his chief-of-staff-to-be, Rahm Emanuel, told a conference of business executives that "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste".

This is probably the best explanation for what Barack Obama is doing that you will come across.

We are in a serious economic crisis (not the most serious one since the great depression, that's just a lie to scare people).  Based on the Emanuel philosophy, it gives President Obama a great window of opportunity to push through legislation he'd never be able to sell under other circumstances and blame it all on the previous administration - as if President Bush caused the sub-prime meltdown intead of trying to prevent it and being stopped by Democrats.

To accomplish this, President Obama first scared the excrement out of people by assuring them there will be catastrophic consequences if we don't act immediately.  Democrats then proposed a huge "stimulus package", rushed it through the congress they dominate, and put it out for a vote without any member of the house or senate being given enough time to so much as read it, let alone digest and think about its contents. 

And, again taking Emanuel's philosophy into account, Democrats overloaded the package with funding for an entire social agenda, much of which won't do a thing to stimulate the economy any time soon (if ever). 

How could he do this?  Nothing to it, really.  Just keep scaring people and blaming Bush.

The result?  Last week our Democratic congress and Democratic President saddled us with an $800 billion dollar or so "stimulus package". 

But why stop there?  You don't waste a serious crisis, remember?  So, yesterday, Democrats passed a $410 billion dollar spending bill, laden with earmarks for every harebrained waste of taxpayer money they could think of.  And now President Obama tells us he needs another $750 billion in additional bank bailout money. 

Current estimates are that this will result in a deficit of $1.75 TRILLION dollars for 2009 - and I'm betting it will be a lot more.

To sum up:  Democrats are running headlong to socialize the USA, while ringing up impossibly insane deficits which they will blame on former President Bush.  (Bush, you may recall, is the guy who wanted to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac years before the bottom fell out, but was stopped by some of the same Democrats who are now blaming him for their collapse). 

It certainly won't be the fault of Saint Barack.

The good news is that some people are finally starting to realize how badly they're being suckered.  Mr. Obama's approval ratings, while still strongly positive, have dropped significantly - more than the normal falloff when the "honeymoon period" for a new President wears off.  The bad news is that it's too late and he - along with his left wing cohorts - are running the show through 2010.

From personal experience I have heard from Obama supporters both in and out of my family who think this is flat-out crazy.  One close relative, who couldn't find a thing wrong with Mr. Obama thoughout the election, told me that "we are spending money we don't have" and expressed his acute fear that it can take down the country.

We deserve this too.  A majority of voters elected Barack Obama and gave him a Democratic congress driven by hardline leftists.  What did they expect?  Nonpartisanship?  Moderation.

We have two years to live with this political atrocity before we can do something about it.  I hope that, by then, it won't be too late.