Obama Says ALL His Decisions Were Correct

Last night (October 18, 2011) President Barack Obama had an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper, aired on Nightline. The interview lasted just over six minutes. During that interview, at about the 2/3 point, Obama said, “I guarantee it’s going to be a close election because the economy is not where it wants to be and, even though I believe all the choices we’ve made have been the right ones, we’re still going through difficult circumstances.”   [emphasis mine]

WOW! Talk abort chutzpah! No mistakes, no mulligans needed (reference to his golf), no do-overs. It must be really nice to be this self-assured.

Let’s see. Can we bring up the Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), better known as Obamacare? “The health care bill that we passed is absolutely the right thing to do, but it’s going to take a while before it’s even fully implemented, much less taken full effect,” Obama said during the interview. “… absolutely the right thing to do …?” Richard S. Foster, chief actuary for Medicare, said that PPACA will result in cuts to hospitals that will jeopardize access for seniors, as well as costs that will increase from 2010 -2019, but after that may be savings later. Not mentioned in Foster’s report is another factor that will impact senior’s health care – decrease of access to primary care physicians (PCPs) as the many newly-insured patients complete for an already short supply of PCPs.

Actuaries for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) said that under PPACA the uninsured would decrease from the current 57 million to 23 million by 2019, with 21 million newly insured being insurance company exchanges, most of whom will receive healthcare and/or insurance coverage subsidies. These 21 million newly insured patients will be competing with the Medicare patients for what already is a shortage of PCPs. Reimbursements are generally about 30% lower for Medicare than private insurance. Diminished access to care for Medicare patients is a very likely outcome of PPACA.

And as of last Friday (October 14, 2011) Health and Human Services gave up on a major part of Obamacare, Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS), that was supposed to reduce the deficit by $86 billion.

Now let’s turn our attention to the economy. Unemployment is currently 9.1%. After an initial “stimulus” of $787 billion in 2009 (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act [ARRA]), government spending had no effect on the economy. We were told that the unemployment rate, if ARRA was passed, would not go above 8%. It has gone as high as 10%. The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the most often used measure of economic activity. In terms of real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) per capita (i.e. population-adjusted) GDP, the U.S. economy has declined at an annual rate of 0.29% since 2008, as compared to an annual growth rate of 1.15% during the eight prior years. Obama’s latest stimulus, the American Jobs Act (AJA), a $447 billion fiasco that even the Senate would not pass. He is now trying to sell it in small pieces. His track record on the first stimulus wasn’t very good, so why does he expect the second one to be any better?

Have I mentioned foreign policy? While he has made numerous faux pas, let’s limit this discussion to Israel. Obama called for a Palestinian state that should be focused on Israel’s pre-1967 borders. Not content with that, he was “less than gracious” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama, upset over Israel’s decision to approve Jewish construction in east Jerusalem, snubbed Netanyahu during his visit to the White House. The White House denied Netanyahu the red carpet treatment generally afforded to visiting heads of state. The Israeli prime minister and Obama didn’t pose for photos together, and Netanyahu was excluded from dinner with the president. When Netanyahu wouldn’t agree to concessions, Obama left a meeting with him, though he invited Netanyahu to stay at the White House, talk to Obama advisers and “let me know if there is anything new.”

I am quite sure that you can think of some additions. But for Obama to make the claim that ALL of his choices were correct shows him to be a completely arrogant narcissist.

But that’s just my opinion.