Woe is President Obama. His re-election already clouded by a bad economy and a chaotic world, he has picked a lousy time to run against the DNA of America.
The latest bad news for him comes in a Gallup poll showing that a huge majority of Americans aren’t buying what he’s selling. It’s a “fear” survey, and Big Government turns out to be the scariest thing that goes bump in the night for most of us.
The poll finds that 64 percent of adults believe government is the largest threat to the country, far more than those who fear business or organized labor.
It’s not just Republicans (82 percent) and independents (64 percent) who feel that way. Now, 48 percent of Democrats also fear government most, up from 32 percent when Obama took office.
The poll also is bad news for the Occupy Wall Street movement, which, like Obama, has demonized bankers and other business leaders. Despite those attacks, big business is seen as the top threat less now than in 2009, declining from 32 percent to 26 percent, Gallup reports. Organized labor is the top threat among only about 9 percent.
The survey captures the mismatch between Obama’s central planning agenda and what most Americans want and don’t want. It also helps explain why he is having trouble in many states he won in 2008.
The problem is not just the “lousy” economy, as Bill Clinton called it. It’s that Obama has responded to the mess he inherited with attacks on private employers and calls for more and bigger government programs. He has expanded Washington’s power and cost, and most people believe his choices have come at the expense of their future.
So much so that they now see his helping hand as a threat. It’s a trust issue, but it also goes to the heart of American Exceptionalism.
The entitlement culture notwithstanding, most people still don’t want handouts or a president to protect them from all of life’s vagaries. They want a job and freedom from government.
But Obama demonstrated last week that he’s firmly on the other side of that divide. In a speech that some supporters said illustrated his campaign theme, the president was fixated on income inequality.
His Kansas text can be boiled down to this: America is broken and he needs more power to make life fair.
“For most Americans, the basic bargain that made this country great has eroded. Long before the recession hit, hard work stopped paying off for too many people,” he said. “Fewer and fewer of the folks who contributed to the success of our economy actually benefited from that success.”
He moaned about “those at the very top” who got wealthier and “everybody else” who didn’t.
That’s the Occupy Wall Street message writ plain: 1 percent versus everybody else. I have suspected that was the gist of Obama’s view of America, but rarely has he expressed it so clearly.
He railed against Republicans by distorting their policies as every man for himself, then painted his own view of society in the warm bath of liberal welfare.
“I’m here in Kansas to reaffirm my deep conviction that we’re greater together than we are on our own,” he said vaguely.
“I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyone plays by the same rules.”
That’s what he says, but here’s what Americans hear: More government is coming, run for your life.
Let’s retire this idea
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli gave a speech on pensions Monday and, after reading it, I was concerned. After talking to him, I was alarmed.
In his speech, he saw a conspiracy of “coordinated, sustained attacks on public-employee pensions” that he finds unfair. Being from the union bloc, he didn’t express much concern for taxpayers forced to support those so-called public servants.
City taxpayers, for example, will pay $8.7 billion in union retirement costs next year, up from $1.5 billion in 2002. That’s nearly 20 percent of local tax revenues.
That’s bad, but when I called DiNapoli, he offered an even more dangerous idea.
Saying the recession had wiped out the nest eggs of many private workers, he said New York should “explore the idea of allowing other people to buy into our public pensions.”
He sees efficiencies and government “expertise,” and said California Gov. Jerry Brown was moving in that direction.
Red alert. Rule No. 1 is this: If Gov. Moonbeam is doing it, don’t.
Corzine’s Global worming
The congressional grilling of Jon Corzine makes for decent theater, but don’t count on the circus to yield answers about the collapse of MF Global and the missing $1.2 billion. Corzine is using the hearings to construct his legal defense.
Last week, the former New Jersey senator and governor was asked whether he authorized an improper transfer of customer funds from segregated accounts.
“I never intended to break any rules,” Corzine answered.
Denying intent is a key defense in any criminal charge, but Corzine never answered the question of whether he authorized anybody else to move the funds. So he used yesterday’s hearing to close that loop.
“I never gave any instruction to anyone at MF Global to misuse customer funds,” he said.
Here’s the score so far: Corzine could walk away scot-free, the lawyers are smiling and members of Congress are pleased to grandstand.
As for customers who lost money? Well, somebody has to lose.
The very worst of Times
Timing is everything, in tragedy as well as comedy. On the same day that New Yorkers were mourning the murder of Police Officer Peter Figoski, The New York Times editorial page was hailing the fact that a convicted cop killer in Philadelphia will not face the death penalty.
The Times’ anti-police refrains are unrelenting, but it topped itself on the Mumia Abu-Jamal piece. He was convicted in 1982, yet his bid to avoid the ultimate punishment has attracted a cult following of supporters, many of whom bizarrely call for his release.
The Times doesn’t go that far, but praises Pennsylvania authorities for agreeing that Abu-Jamal should spend the rest of his life in prison, without possibility of parole.
Unfortunately, there is little chance that anyone convicted of killing Officer Figoski will be executed. New York state abolished the death penalty years ago, meaning only a federal prosecution could make it a capital case.
Figoski, a 22-year veteran, leaves behind four daughters, 8 million mourners and one foolish newspaper.
When bad is good
Reader Karen Blatt sees a big advantage of Newt Gingrich’s bad-boy reputation, suggesting our low expectations could help him weather another storm.
“At least we know what we’re getting!” she writes. “Perhaps when he’s caught cheating next time it won’t be front page news for a month.”