Krauthammer’s Take: Time to get scared

Krauthammer’s Take:
Charles includes this quote:
"The chief economist of Credit Suisse said to the “New York Times” today that this is the worst recovery ever, including during the Great Depression. He said if you aren’t scared by that, you don’t know what is going on."


'via Blog this'

White House apologizes to Charles over Churchill bust gaffe – Telegraph Blogs

White House issues embarrassing apology to Charles Krauthammer over Churchill bust gaffe.

'via Blog this'

What the Wisconsin recall really means

Charles Krauthammer on what the election results really means.

Oikophobia

James Taranto:

If you think it's offensive for a Muslim group to exploit the 9/11 atrocity, you're an anti-Muslim bigot and un-American to boot. It is a claim so bizarre, so twisted, so utterly at odds with common sense that it's hard to believe anyone would assert it except as some sort of dark joke. Yet for the past few weeks, it has been put forward, apparently in all seriousness, by those who fancy themselves America's best and brightest, from the mayor of New York all the way down to Peter Beinart.
What accounts for this madness? Charles Krauthammer notes a pattern:

Promiscuous charges of bigotry are precisely how our current rulers and their vast media auxiliary react to an obstreperous citizenry that insists on incorrect thinking.

-- Resistance to the vast expansion of government power, intrusiveness and debt, as represented by the Tea Party movement? Why, racist resentment toward a black president.

-- Disgust and alarm with the federal government's unwillingness to curb illegal immigration, as crystallized in the Arizona law? Nativism.

-- Opposition to the most radical redefinition of marriage in human history, as expressed in Proposition 8 in California? Homophobia.

-- Opposition to a 15-story Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero? Islamophobia.

Now we know why the country has become "ungovernable," last year's excuse for the Democrats' failure of governance: Who can possibly govern a nation of racist, nativist, homophobic Islamophobes?

Krauthammer portrays this as a cynical game: "Note what connects these issues. In every one, liberals have lost the argument in the court of public opinion. . . . What's a liberal to do? Pull out the bigotry charge, the trump that preempts debate and gives no credit to the seriousness and substance of the contrary argument."
But this has its limits as a political strategy. Krauthammer writes that "the Democrats are going to get beaten badly in November"....

Incompetent attorney general

Charles Krauthammer: Eric Holder is "one of the most incompetent attorneys general in US history."

Another debate

Krauthammer's Take on the latest GOP debate. He sees this debate as reflecting the tone of the campaign. Okay, let them stop debating.

Chavez or TR?

Charles Krauthammer: Obama "is more like Hugo Chavez than he is Teddy Roosevelt."

What "is" is

Charles Krauthammer to Herman Cain: “Both in the morning and on the Greta show you used the word ‘settlement.’ Many people will say the candidacy is so attractive you aren’t a politician and you aren’t a guy who dances around, you shoot it straight,” Krauthammer said. “And when you make a distinction between settlement and agreement, it sounds like you – it sounds Clintonian.”

Is that a new expression?

So our system of government is broken?

Krauthammer:

Spare me the hysteria. What happened was that the 2010 electorate, as represented in Congress, forced Washington to finally confront the national debt. It was a triumph of democratic politics—a powerful shift in popular will finding concrete political expression.

 

But only partial expression. Debt hawks are upset that the final compromise doesn’t do much. But it shouldn’t do much. They won only one election. They were entrusted, as of yet, with only one-half of one branch of government.

 

But they did begin to turn the aircraft carrier around. The process did bequeath a congressional super-committee with extraordinary powers to reduce debt. And if that fails, the question—how much government, how much debt—will go to the nation in November 2012. Which is also how it should be.

Krauthammer's explanation

Krauthammer:

That late-day rally that we saw probably started around 3:00, when the word went out that the president would not address the country. There was cheering, hats thrown in the air, general irrational exuberance. …
The real story is what happened around 2:00. The man who really runs America, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said something extremely unusual. He said: For two years I’m going to keep interest rates low. Normally, the chairman of the Fed will say words like “indefinitely,” or “for a while.” They’ll use obscure words. But he was extremely specific.
This is a contrast from his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, who spoke in language that was so opaque and obscure you’d think you were listening to an extinct Himalayan dialect.
But Bernanke said two years, and that of course reassured people at a time when there is uncertainty about health-care costs, about taxes and regulations, all of which incidentally are caused by the administration and the government. He was extremely clear, extremely specific.
Now, there is a downside because one of the reasons that we are where we are is a long period of artificially low interest rates [that] created a bubble. So this could help to prolong the bubble.

Permanent middle-aged unemployment

Charles Krauthammer: Middle-aged workers may never get employed again.

"We don't estimate speeches"

Krauthammer on Obama's speech in Iowa about American manufacturing:

Well, this is another speech from Obama in another state that’ll be important next year that he’s done entirely to boost himself politically. And the reason he’s making speeches is that he’s run out of ideas on what to do about unemployment. He’s had his trillion-dollar stimulus, he’s had the bailouts, he’s had the “cash for clunkers” program, he’s had two binges of the Fed printing a lot of money. It hasn’t worked.

A few weeks ago, Paul Ryan asked the head of the CBO to score – to give the numbers for, the debt numbers for – the Obama alternate [budget] framework, which he offered in the speech [on] April 13. And Elmendorf responded immortally, “We don’t estimate speeches.”

And that’ll be the epitaph of the Obama administration. “We don’t estimate speeches,” meaning, “We don’t put numbers on, [we don't] even try to score, we don’t take seriously — speeches that are all about effect, not about substance; [speeches that are] all about generalities with no reality, economic reality, underneath; speeches that are essentially done to attack the Republicans; and, in the end, speeches intended to get Obama reelected next year so he can make more speeches on the economy in his second term.”

Krauthammer on Obama's Mid-East policy

Krauthammer on Obama's endorsing the 1967 lines as the basis of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

What Obama did today is something that no American president has ever done, which is to endorse the return to the 1967 lines, which … would reduce Israel to a country with a waist eight miles wide.

Now, the reason this is odd is because you would expect it would be at least in return for something. But the Palestinians in the two and a half years of this administration have not offered anything as a concession to the Israelis. [Palestinian leader] Mahmoud Abbas has boycotted the negotiations. And then, a few weeks ago he joins in a government with Hamas, which is dedicated to the extermination of Israel. In return for all of those anti-Israel gestures [by Abbas], Obama makes the biggest concession [to the Palestinians] of the entire Arab-Israeli negotiations in 50 years.

Trump and Sharpton

Charles Krauthammer: "Trump is the Al Sharpton of the Republican Party, provocateur and clown, unserious. I think he's going to harm the party if he runs for the same reason that Sharpton harmed the Democrats."

Ryan’s Leap - Charles Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer on Ryan's Leap. That is, Paul Ryan's proposed budget.

The Professor's War

Charles Krauthammer on the Professor's War. Scathing.

Sell signal

Charles Krauthammer: "Some people look at troop movements, others look at the freezing of assets. To me, the leading indicator here with Qaddafi is the fact that his favorite nurse — from whom he’s been inseparable — described in WikiLeaks as a buxom Ukrainian blonde, was evacuated to Kiev today. I am not an expert on this, but I would say if you are holding Qaddafi shares, that is a strong sell signal."

That would be Galyna Kolotnytska. 

Charles on Wisconsin unions

Charles Krauthammer discusses the Wisconsin/union controversy. The issue is not collective bargaining rights but the sweetheart deals that union workers have.

Charles Krauthammer: Everything begins with repeal of Obamacare.

Krauthammer warns that a government shutdown would hurt Republicans.