Abandoning hope

The man who became synonymous with hope is now a prophet of doom. Discarding the sunny optimism that characterized his presidential campaign, President Barack Obama has apparently decided to embrace a presidency whose chief hallmarks are fear and demagoguery. Jake Tapper of ABC News describes today's radio address:

President Obama then warned, "if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold."

Mr. Obama described his opponents as offering "tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place" and "a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges..."

This is quickly becoming rather tiresome. Obama talks about breaking from the past but then goes for more of the same, slams deficit spending but then increases it and employs strawman arguments against his opponents. He speaks of looming catastrophe and then offers himself as the country's only possible salvation.

It's going to be a long four years.

Update: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ):

“In discussing with the American people his approach to the stimulus of our economy, he has first really used some dangerous words. It seems to me that the president is rather casually throwing out some careless language.”