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President Obama, we are assured, is “apoplectic” and “furious” over the scandal at the General Services Administration. David Axelrod says so.
How does Axelrod know? The answer illustrates the collapse of governing at the Obama White House.
Axelrod does not work for the United States in any capacity. He is Obama’s campaign strategist. He does not work in Washington. He lives and works in Chicago, headquarters of the Obama campaign.
Yet he is the go-to guy when the administration has something to say, even on important taxpayer business like the GSA scandal. So there he was Sunday, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” segueing between comments on government and the campaign.
He said “we” when he meant the White House, as though they are the same. Sadly, for most purposes, they are.
This is not a case of a man wearing two hats. It is an illustration of how governing has taken a back seat to campaigning. Obama has put aside his day job and turned full time to the quest for four more years.
There is no budget, and no serious attempt by the White House to make one. The explosion of debts and deficits, growing strains on Medicare and Social Security, the expiration of tax cuts, warnings from Europe about the impact of debts on markets— all set aside until after the election. So, too, plans the president has on foreign policy, the Mideast, gay marriage, carbon taxes and regulations.
Incumbency is a powerful tool, and no president forsakes its advantage. Yet the impression of Obama’s first two years, that he never stopped campaigning, has morphed into the sense that he does nothing else. When it comes to the people’s business, there is no there there.
He has held twice as many fund-raisers as George W. Bush at this stage, most involving the ultimate perk — the use of Air Force One, with taxpayers picking up most of the cost.
His official trips outside Washington virtually all involve battleground states. He has been to Ohio 20 times, Florida 16 times, Pennsylvania 15 and Michigan 11, according to CBS News.
Obama’s bid to energize the youth vote is an excuse to visit other swing states. He flew yesterday to the University of North Carolina for his 11th visit to that state, then to the University of Colorado, for visit No. 7 there. Today, he is scheduled to address students in Iowa — his eighth visit there.
He’s making the rounds of another part of his base, the late-night comedy shows. He made his first comments since the dimensions of the Secret Service prostitution case became known on the Jimmy Fallon show yesterday. Yuk, yuk, ha ha.
Taxpayers are on the hook for this charade because the president is using the trip to push a bill to freeze interest rates on student loans. It’s the perfect two-fer, a campaign issue in swing states that passes for government action. All with a little fun on the side, of course.
With Axelrod surely behind the gambit, a cynic could argue that having one man wear two hats is efficient. But the White House doesn’t even have to make that fatuous claim because the press doesn’t question Axelrod’s dual role.
Previous presidents sent a top aide out to explain government business, but this White House seems hollowed out of serious adults. Obama’s latest chief of staff, former budget director Jack Lew, bungled the facts on Senate rules so badly in his first appearance that he went into hiding.
Obama could send out the vice president, though that could be really dicey. Joe Biden visited the Everglades Monday and ended up joking that his Secret Service staff might shoot a Florida official named Ronald Bergeron.
A recording and transcript, available on CNSNews.com, captures Biden’s bizarre ramble: “But you see this man right here, my Secret Service guy? He played in pro football, also was on that national championship team that Clemson had. He said if I go, he’ll shoot you, Ronnie, so I’m only kidding. That’s not true. He didn’t say he’d shoot Ronnie. He said he’d shoot the alligator if I went. I just think it’s incredible, and I still think you’re nuts, Ronnie.”
So that’s what the Obama presidency has come to: Axelrod or idiocy.
Another birdbrain city rule
The Nanny City never sleeps. And neither should you if you want to avoid a hefty fine from Mayor Bloomberg’s busybodies.
The New York Times reports that the health code was amended, giving the Health Department wider power to crack down on . . . birdbaths. Some homeowners report fines of up to $350 for letting sparrows take a dip on summer days.
Somebody ought to make a video game out of it — Angry Bird Lovers.
Because of the West Nile virus, the health code makes it a violation to keep “standing water” instead of just “stagnant water,” a distinction only a bureaucrat could love. And inspectors, beyond citing the breeding of mosquitoes, can also fine for conditions “conducive” to the breeding, the Times says.
In theory, the changes don’t sound dramatic. In practice, zealous agents can turn the nuances into weapons against well-meaning citizens. And they do.
The handful of examples offer a cautionary tale to the mayor’s latest anti-smoking initiative. He wants to require residential landlords to spell out in writing each building’s policy about smoking.
Again, it doesn’t sound dramatic. But how will the policies be used and enforced? What will be the penalties?
The birdbath cases are instructive. Today’s rule is tomorrow’s insanity. Someday soon, there will be stories about apartment owners fined for smoking tobacco in their own homes.
Bet on it.
Terrorists never rest
Osama bin Laden is gone, but the Brooklyn trial of a man who plotted to launch suicide bombings in city subways is a reminder of the many evil plots that grew out of al Qaeda and why we in New York must stay vigilant. A would-be jihadist testified for the government that he was assigned to carry explosives in his shoe and blow up an airliner after 9/11, and another man said he worked on a plan to blow up the Long Island Rail Road.
Imagine — some people think it’s time we lower our guard. Nuts!
Thought bubble
Newt Gingrich has found a way to stay in the news: by thinking out loud about quitting the GOP presidential race. In fact, talk of dropping out is about the only time the two-time front-runner makes news, which means he’s not likely to quit. It would mean giving up show business!
Yank-ee doodle
Headline on Drudge: “Detroit judge proudly pulls a Weiner.”
Because the reference needs no explanation, it’s the sort of thing to make New Yorkers proud. The rest of the country follows our lead, even into the abyss.