Responding to Obama

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

That, of course, is the most memorable line from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1933 inauguration. Indeed, a key element in FDR's approach to the economy was re-instilling confidence and assuring people that things were going to be OK.

It's a remarkable contrast to President Obama's op-ed in today's Washington Post in which he seemingly reaches back to the 1986 movie The Fly, warning people to "Be afraid, be very afraid."

By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.

...Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

This is overwrought and just plain inaccurate. So far this recession isn't even as bad as the one in 1982, where unemployment peaked at 10.8% in December of that year. Rather than reassuring Americans, he then goes on to unequivocally state that the economy will lose 5 million jobs and sink into a potentially irreversible crisis "if nothing is done."

Given such hyperventilation I feel it is my duty to calm and reassure the president.

President Obama, I can assure you that something is being done. Even today thousands of businesses and millions of Americans, acting in their own self-interest, are responding to the crisis. They are cutting unneeded workers and reducing expenses, positioning themselves for renewed growth. Investments in unneeded sectors such as housing are slowing and money is being re-allocated to more productive sectors. Already new companies stand ready to expand and grow -- here is a list of 20 companies that are hiring with at least 350 vacanies.

That's not to say that Americans do not face obstacles. They struggle with an income tax code that has already claimed a number of your nominees as victims. They pay seemingly ever rising taxes that Congress wastes on ill-advised pieces of legislation such as your stimulus package that only serves to drive us further into debt. Money is taken out of our paychecks to fund programs like Medicare and Social Security that will probably go bankrupt before many of us even reach retirement. Those that choose to start businesses have to face an expanding number of regulations that make an already difficult endeavor even more so.

Obama continues:

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

He begins with a strawman. No one ever said that tax cuts will "solve all our problems." Rather, tax cuts have been offered up as a preferable means of stimulating the economy than wasteful government spending. The president's unwillingness to engage in intellectually honest debate does not reflect well on him.

Obama is correct, however, that Americans voted for change. Why, however, he thinks that increased federal involvement in education (No Child Left Behind), energy policy (2005 energy bill) or health care (Medicare drug bill) is a break from the past is inexplicable. Been there, done that, doesn't work.

He concludes:

So we have a choice to make. We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time.

President Obama, I couldn't agree more. We need a break from bad habits like rampant overspending, pork barrel politics and government control over the economy. And you are absolutely correct that some tough choices, particularly from you, are in order. Which constituencies are you willing to offend to overhaul the tax code and make it simpler and more fair? Which entitlement programs will you reform to make viable? Are you willing to cut benefits? Which government agencies and programs will you abolish to bring our deficit under control?

The future of our country depends on your answers.