Fiscal Cliff Farce

When will Democrats become more serious about actually solving problems than scoring cheap political points?

Republicans buckled on the Fiscal Cliff farce and gave Obama most of what he wanted. In return, Obama is demanding more spending and even higher taxes. Obama continues to assert that he favors a "balanced" approach yet the deal he demanded favored new taxes over cuts by a ratio of 41:1. Worse still, with all the corrupt pork (Obama calls them "investments) in the bill, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will increase the deficit by $4 trillion more than had Congress not enacted it. So much for fiscal sanity.

And were not enough, this sad charade will be played out again with yet other engineered crisis; this time on another debt ceiling increase.

If you have been paying attention the last four years, one constant stands out. Obama always seeks to either exploit or engineer a crisis then demand action. But instead of actually solving the problem Obama is content to attack Republicans then declare victory at whatever point it suits him and move on to the next. This is true of more than just fiscal issues; health care, immigration, gun control, energy you name it. Obama's focus is always on politics and never on providing the leadership that would actually help both parties come together and solve problems.

The above is hardly an original thought. In his book, "The Price of Politics" Bob Woodward describes Obama's weak and ineffectual leadership style. But what Woodward and others like Victor Davis Hanson miss is that politics, especially the corrupt Chicago Way is all that Obama knows and he is incapable of doing more even if he wanted to.

Obama probably feels that because he was re-elected that people like what he is doing. Perhaps he should ask his campaign team who know better. Had Republicans mounted a more aggressive field challenge in five key states instead of wasting the money on campaign ads we'd be preparing to inaugurate Mitt Romney.

Instead, we are stuck with four more years like the last four. Bitter partisanship with Obama failing to lead and only dividing the country more while the problems just keep piling up higher and higher. By the time a Republican gets in the White House in 2017 the mess will be so huge perhaps even Democrats will know who to blame this time. But don't hold your breath!

UPDATE: Billions in Pork for Obama's Corporate Friends

The Washington Examiner has the story on how the White House insisted that billions in giveaways to big corporations and Hollywood found themselves inserted into a bill that was supposed to serve the public good by addressing fiscal problems. It's more pay to play, the Chicago Way. The only game Obama knows.