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Obama’s “corporate jets” press conference

Posted 30 Jun 2011 in 2012 election, Barack Obama, taxes

A petulant President Obama met with reporters yesterday to increase pressure on Republicans involved in the debt limit discussions and to attempt a positive spin on the results of his incompetent domestic and foreign policies.

But his talking points — and his answers to reporters questions —  amounted to nothing more than a heavy dose of smoke and mirrors from the Alinsky playbook.

Jim Geraghty easily debunked Obama’s primary talking point: if only he could raise taxes on eeeevil corporate jet owners, our country would be able to afford to balance our budget and feed our children.

Today he mentioned a tax break for corporate jets six times. He didn’t mention that he signed legislation preserving the tax code provision into law, or that the grand total of the savings of ending that tax break would be about $3 billion over ten years.

The man who flies anywhere he wants, anytime, cost-free, complained at great length that other people’s private jets are insufficiently taxed. Tomorrow, Obama will fly on Air Force One to Philadelphia, Pa., to attend two DNC fundraisers, where he will probably again denounce the current tax rates on corporate jets, without anyone remarking on the irony.

That’s right; Obama was demonizing the tax breaks included in his own stimulus program. Even if he were to rescinded that tax break, it would amount to $3 billion over the course of 10 years. To put it in perspective, that’s a mere 0.7% of his $418 billion in proposed tax increases over the next 10 years. As Charles Krauthammer put it: “If you collect the corporate jet tax every year for the next 5,000 years, you will cover one year of the debt that Obama has run up. One year.”

But wait, it gets better. Since the President wasn’t able to use his TelePrompTer to answer questions by journalists, his answers were a combination of half-truths and campaign blather. Geraghty listed the highlights:

  • Asked about whether the War Powers Act was constitutional, he responded, “I’m not going to put my constitutional law professor hat on here.” Er, wait, wasn’t that a reason folks were supposed to vote for you?
  • Asked whether marriage was a civil right – a yes or no question that obviously put him on the spot about gay marriage – he began talking about separate issues, like hospital visitations.
  • Occasionally Obama’s gaffes would seem strangely honest, like when he said, “I’ll keep on giving you the same answer until I give you a different one,” on gay marriage, or “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question,” rather bluntly acknowledging he was ignoring Chuck Todd’s actual question on the War Powers Act.
  • The President constantly infuriated by the perception that he hates the private sector responded to a question, “The business community always complains about regulations.” Unlike unions, trial lawyers, public sector employees, apparently.
  • Asked about the ATF “Fast and Furious” operation, Obama said that Attorney General Eric Holder made very clear that he would have opposed the operation… you know, the one that occurred on his watch.
  • Discussing the DREAM Act, Obama said, “Kids who grow up here and think of themselves as Americans… let’s make sure those kids can stay.” There’s no dispute that many of these children and teens often have heartbreaking stories, and no real emotional or physical connection to their country of legal citizenship. But thinking of yourself as an American is not the same as being an American. Citizenship is not a state of mind.
  • “It’s time to stop playing games,” he concluded, and then ended the press conference for the next event on his schedule: welcoming the WNBA Champion Seattle Storm to the White House Rose Garden.

The President’s remarks were loaded with ludicrous demagoguery, suggesting that economic austerity could only be accomplished by eliminating education and food safety.

“If we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, corporate jet owners, hedge fund managers, oil & gas companies that are making 100′s of Billions of dollars, then that means we have to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship. That means we have to stop funding certain grants for medical research. That means that food safety may be compromised. That means that Medicare has to bear a greater part of the burden. Those are the choices we have to make.

Before we ask our seniors to pay for more healthcare, before we cut our children’s education, before we sacrifice our commitment to the research and innovation that will help create more jobs in the economy, I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or corporate jet owner that has done so well, to give up that tax break that no other business enjoys. I don’t think that’s real radical. I think the majority of Americans agree with that.”

Right, Mr. Obama. Let’s cut basic essentials before getting rid of idiotic government spending such as $554,763 for the Amboy, WA Forest Service to replace windows in a Visitor Center which was closed in 2007, or $294,958 to study whether Integral Yoga can reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes in menopausal women, or $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years.

Even the Washington Post — hardly a bastion of Conservative thought — fact-checked Dear Leader’s speech and gave it a “Two Pinocchios” rating:

Two Pinocchios: significant omissions and/or exaggerations. Significant omissions and/or exaggerations. Some factual error may be involved but not necessarily. A politician can create a false, misleading impression by playing with words and using legalistic language that means little to ordinary people.

During his speech, Obama made it abundantly clear that he’s refusing to lead or even mediate on the debt ceiling issue. Teh Won can’t be bothered with trifles like leading or governing. He’s got a reelection campaign to run, and donors to shake down for contributions. Real Clear Politics documented Chairman Zero’s arrogant deflection:

President Obama says he is “amused” when people say he needs to get more involved in the debt crisis talks currently being led by Vice President Joe Biden.

“If you know you have to do something, just do it. And I have to say, I am very amused when I start hearing comments about ‘well the President needs to show more leadership on this.’ Let me tell you something: Right after we finished dealing with the government shutdown, averting a government shutdown, I called the leaders here together. I said we have to get this done,” President Obama said at a press conference this afternoon.

Obama told Congress it is up to them and “they need to do their job.”

“Now’s the time to go ahead and make the tough choices, that’s why they’re called leaders,” he said.

President Obama further chided Congress, saying “These are bills that Congress ran up.” He’s conveniently forgetting his own responsibility in running up those bills during his tenure in Congress.

He’s also glossing over the fact that, as President, he has the ability to either veto these spending bills when they come to his desk, or sign them into law.

On April 15, of this year the Republican-led House passed a budget plan for 2012. Conversely, the Democrat-run Senate didn’t pass a budget this year or last year despite the fact that Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. Now President Obama holds a press conference to chastise Republicans for not doing their jobs ? Oh please!

When speaking about the subject of raising the debt ceiling in 2006, then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama sang quite a different tune.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.

But now that he’s President, the buck no longer stops with Obama. Like a feckless coward, he passes it back to Congress now that it’s politically expedient to deflect blame for his own lack of leadership.

I’ll leave you with one more thought. Back in February 2009, President Obama told Today Show host Matt Lauer that he’d be a one-term president if he didn’t fix the economy in three years.

“I will be held accountable,” Obama said. “I’ve got four years and … A year form now, I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress, but there’s still going to be some pain out there … If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

Finally, something upon which I can agree with President Obama.

Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT

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