The campaign may be over, but our work has just begun. After it appeared that Obama had a solid electoral vote lead, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said, “Liberalism wins in the long run.” Following election losses, Ronald Reagan said at the 1975 Conservative Political Action Conference:
“Since our last meeting we have been through a disastrous election. It is easy for us to be discouraged, as pundits hail that election as a repudiation of our philosophy and even as a mandate of some kind or other… Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine… We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.”
In that spirit, conservatives should continue shedding light on Obama’s radical leftist agenda and show by contrasting it with our principles why conservatism wins the battle of ideas.
From Euphoria to Despair
Upon accepting the Democratic nomination, Obama told the nation,
“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”
Just prior to his victory, Obama’s advisor put the word out to downplay the expectations for his Administration. The London Times reported in late October:
“The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy.
One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, ‘so there’s not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair.’
The aide said that Mr Obama himself was the first to realize that expectations risked being inflated.”
Perhaps they should talk to Peggy Joseph. At an Obama rally in Sarasota, Florida, Joseph said, “It was the most memorable time of my life. Because I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know if I help him, he’s going to help me.”
In his victory speech on election night, Obama said, “The road will be long. Our climb may be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term.”
What will Obama promise Peggy in 2012?
Change for the Coal Industry
During a meeting with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle, Obama talked about his plans to bankrupt the coal industry. He said:
“Let me sort of describe my overall policy.
What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.
I was the first to call for a 100 percent auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted…
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.
It's just that it will bankrupt them.”
The San Francisco Chronicle article on the meeting did not mention Obama’s remarks on the coal industry. According to the Energy Information Administration, the coal industry employs more than 81,000 people in coal mines and hundreds of thousands more indirectly. Coal resources produce electricity for almost 50 percent of all U.S. homes. There seems to be no back-up energy plan from Obama, but rather a severe prejudice against the coal industry.
Change for Small Businesses
In the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, economic professor and business owner Ralph Reiland talked to other business owners about the effects Obama’s economic plan will have on their employees and businesses. Regarding Obama’s health care plan, Reiland spoke with the owner of a plumbing company:
“… Obama states that employers will be required to pay 100 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums for 100 percent of their employees or face a tax penalty. ‘I pay 75 percent of their coverage,’ explained the owner. ‘The family policy is about $11,000. For single guys, it's about $5,000.’ At an average annual cost of $7,000 per policy, his additional cost for 52 employees to cover the 25 percent of the premiums that he currently doesn't pay is $91,000. ‘That's the price of three installers,’ he said. ‘Just to stay even with where I am, I'd have to fire three more people or raise some prices and fire two.’”
On unionizing?
“[S]aying he'll ‘play offense for organized labor,’ Obama is proposing that workers should be denied the right to a private ballot at work in deciding whether to unionize. ‘That'll never be,’ said the plumbing entrepreneur. ‘I'm in business because I'm independent, not to take orders from a grievance chairman. I'd shut down.’”
On the increase in taxes for businesses?
“[T]he increase in taxes on this small business owner from Obama's proposed hike in the income tax rate from 36 percent to 39.8 percent on incomes above $200,000 and the proposed increase in Social Security taxes comes to $32,000 per year. ‘That's another employee,’ he said, referring to the termination of another installer in order to just stay even.”
By this business owner’s count, he may have to eliminate 5 or 10 employees just to stay even. The Phoenix Business Journal reported that “between 663,000 to 1.3 million small businesses that file taxes under personal income categories” would be affected by Obama’s tax plan. Based on one business owner’s analysis, millions more jobs could be lost. For those business owners that want to keep their wealth and employees, Obama said, “You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.”
(For more on how Obama's economic plan will affect small businesses, read Reiland's column as it appeared on HUMAN EVENTS).
