Academic

DAN RIEHL ON THE REAL FALLOUT FROM OBAMA?S SPEECH: ?Given that the reviews are so overwhelmingly ba?

By Glenn Reynolds

DAN RIEHL ON THE REAL FALLOUT FROM OBAMA’S SPEECH: “Given that the reviews are so overwhelmingly bad, it occurred to me – it’s what we aren’t hearing that’s most significant. You can call Obama incompetent and no one is accusing you of racism, any more. Now, that’s change!!”

UPDATE: A crisis of competence.

The President spoke of ?political courage and candor? last night, yet both were missing from his speech. The President asserted: ?Time and again, the path forward has been blocked ? by oil industry lobbyists.? But the reality is that BP lobbyists have been pushing for the President?s energy agenda from the beginning. The President claimed: ?Countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be right here in America.? But the reality is that China will account for nearly 45% of oil demand growth in the next five years, receives 70% of its energy from coal already, and is projected to nearly triple coal capacity by 2030.

In his 1979 ?malaise? speech, President Carter told the American people: ?I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy. ? The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence.? Carter was wrong. America was not suffering from a crisis of confidence. As the election of President Ronald Reagan would show the next year, it was the Carter administration that was suffering ? from a crisis of leadership. Today, our country is in crisis again. The Obama administration?s constant blame shifting, politicization, and lack of organization demonstrate a crisis of competence. To restore America?s faith, the White House should drop irrelevant policy priorities, refrain from making the economic damage worse, end unnecessary bureaucratic delays, and restructure the response and recovery efforts. As MSNBC?s Keith Olbermann said following the address: ?It was a great speech if you?ve been on another planet for the last 57 days.?

Ouch.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on June 16, 2010 (boomark / email).