There are plenty of warning signs about Mr. Obama we ignore at our peril.
America’s economy got into trouble when people didn’t heed warning signs. Three years ago, Mr. McCain called for stricter oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warning their risky practices threatened our economy and could cost taxpayers billions. He tried to prevent or at least reduce the breadth of the crisis we’re in now. Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats ignored these signs and opposed reform.
When it comes to direct spending, as opposed to handing out “refund” checks through the tax code, Mr. Obama claims he won’t need more revenue because there will be no more spending. He even claims to be proposing to cut more spending ending up with a “net spending cut.” That was Mr. Obama’s most direct answer to Bob Schieffer, the moderator of the last debate, right after Mr. Schieffer said “The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CFARB) ran the numbers” and found otherwise.
Wanting to raise taxes, anyone’s taxes, in a slowdown is a warning sign of a misguided economic philosophy. Mr. Obama’s proposal to redistribute wealth is a warning of indifference or hostility to enterprise. The Joint Tax Committee reports that the bottom 60% of taxpayers with incomes below $50,000 paid less than 1% of the federal income tax in 2006, while the 3.3% with incomes above $200,000 paid more than 58%. Most of Mr. Obama’s tax rebates go to the bottom 60%. They can’t possibly be financed by shifting an even larger share of the tax burden to the top 3.3%.
Mr. Obama’s health-care plan is a warning that government will have more, not less, to say about your health care if he has his way. The core of Mr. Obama’s reform is a new government insurance program, open to nearly everyone, including the young and even the affluent. His goal is to have everyone insured by 2012. According to the Lewin Group, independent health-care consultants, the number of Americans with private coverage would drop by nearly 22 million from 157 million starting the first year, as people shifted toward the public option. People with coverage either through Mr. Obama’s plan, Medicaid or the federal-state children’s program (Schip) would increase by about 48 million. Mr. Obama estimates the cost between $50 billion and $65 billion a year when fully phased in, though others say it would be far more. To fund it, he would impose a “pay or play” tax on employers. This would require all but the smallest employers either to provide insurance for their workers, or pay a tax on some portion of their payroll. Mr. Obama hasn’t said what the tax rate would be. If it’s high, government costs would be lower and more employers might offer coverage, paying for it out of wages. If it’s low, many employers would dump their coverage and pay the tax instead, transferring workers to the public option. Mr. Obama has also not elaborated on how the government would reimburse providers under his plan. The rates could be used to undercut private insurers. According to Lewin estimates, these undefined variables could boost the exodus to government to more than 60 million
Mr. Obama’s dismissal of offshore drilling and opposition to nuclear power are warning signs for an economy whose growth depends on affordable energy. Mr. Obama’s commitment to withdraw our troops from Iraq without regard to conditions on the ground is a warning sign that Mr. Obama is dangerously wrong-headed and ideological on national security. The absence of a single significant instance in which Mr. Obama cooperated in a bipartisan manner in the Senate is a warning sign. So is his failure to dirty his hands by working hard on any major legislative challenge since entering Congress.
For many, a vote for Obama is a Hail Mary. The question is, can we catch it?
Tags: Hail Mary, Liberals, Mr. Obama, peril, stricter oversight, warning signs
