Levin: Obama is still the one he’s been waiting for

Levin writes this morning his insightful analysis of Obama and his SOTU speech. Bottom line is that Obama hasn’t changed one bit even though the political world is talking as though he has:

President Obama’s foot remains where it has been since the day he entered the Oval Office, on the gas pedal. He’s not braking for anyone or anything. All this pre-SOTU spin from Obama’s whisperers, gobbled up by the Obama-hungry media, was always nonsense. Obama has no intention of touching entitlements in any significant way, period. Why would he tamper with the New Deal and Great Society when he considers them a good start but insufficiently bold to advance his statist beliefs? Obama has no intention of honestly working with Republicans on health care, cap-and-trade, etc. These are hallmarks of his transformative agenda. They define him and his presidency. His bureaucracy is working overtime to institute them.

It amazes me that some usually thoughtful people seize on anything they can find to argue, or hope, that Obama has been chastened by the last election. For weeks they’ve pointed to the tax deal as evidence of his “pivoting.” Actually, what Obama did is tee-up the tax fight for a time when he believes his class warfare demagoguery can be best employed — during the final weeks of his re-election bid. He already started it last night. And, of course, the Republicans fell for it, hailing the tax deal as momentous. Obama is ready to deal some more, they reckoned — a sad delusion.

As a matter of basic logic, how could the biggest deficit-spender in American history reverse course and become a responsible fiscal hawk? It was never going to happen. How could a man who believes his lot in life is a matter of destiny, his and the nation’s, allow his legacy to be tainted by a Tea Party-driven election? In his mind, he won’t. “We are the ones we have been waiting for,” as he famously said about himself and his supporters. He’s not going to allow a single mid-term election, driven by what he perceives to be yahoos and miscreants, change the course of history — his history or the nation’s. Too many commentators just don’t comprehend this man.

The contradictions and ironies in his speech are too numerous to catalogue. Suffice it to point out a few of the most glaring examples. This is our Sputnik moment, he says, at the same time he is cutting NASA’s budget (one of the few programs he wants to cut), directed its top administrator to focus on Muslim outreach, and entered into a treaty with the Russians that weakens our strategic defense efforts. Obama says he is willing to work with Republicans on reforming Obamacare, yet the GOP has offered several reforms that Obama has completely ignored for they focus on private alternatives and competition — neither of which are compatible with Obama’s top-down, government-driven ideology. He says Medicare and Medicaid are unsustainable, yet he not only offers no suggestions on how to reform them, he rejects his own Deficit Commission’s recommendations, uses Obamacare to expand Medicaid, and drains resources from Medicare. Obama’s idea of unleashing research, development, and science to create the new technologies and jobs of the future is centered on targeted federal grants and initiatives — bigger government, more spending, and more regulating. It is, of course, the American private sector that is the engine of spectacular economic progress. And a Democrat SOTU speech would not be complete without an attack on the oil industry. But for the Obama administration’s anti-energy production policies, the oil industry would, in fact, be exploring and drilling more within and around our shores, thereby increasing supply and driving down price. Still, Obama says the government shouldn’t be subsidizing these companies with tax breaks. No, direct taxpayer subsidies are to be reserved for GE, GM, Chrysler, Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other favored businesses or quasi-businesses.

Obama said that it is time to put party labels aside and work for the nation. Within 12 hours of that statement, he hit the road to begin his re-election and raise an astounding $1 billion in campaign cash. I guess he meant for everyone else to put partisan politics aside. After all, history calls him.

We conservatives must stay focused. We must defeat Obama in 2012 by nominating an intelligent, articulate, confident conservative for president. We must keep a close eye on the Republican leadership in Congress to make sure it does not return to its loser ways. Keep in mind; they are not of the Tea Party movement, although they’ve benefited politically from it. We must continue to take on the Left (including the mainstream media) both intellectually and politically. And we must send more conservatives to Congress. Our focus must be victory and we must not be distracted by the symbolism, games, ways, and intimidation tactics of those who’ve brought this great nation to this perilous point.