The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents — #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic. — 2008

My Take – As of today, we have over 16 trillion dollars in government debt.  If the first 42 presidents ran up 5 trillion, and Bush the Younger added another 4, which is horrendous, then where oh where did the other 7 trillion dollars come from?  According to Wikipedia, 32% of the total debt is held by foreign central banks, including China, Japan, the UK, Switzerland, and Russia.  That’s not a new phenomenon, but it’s a growing one.

Where did it go?

• UAW/GM/Chrysler bailout
• Solyndra and other ‘green energy’ snake oil projects
• Lavish lifestyles of the rich and elected
• Cash for Clunkers
• Stimulus packages of one stripe or another

And what has all of this debt brought us?  Well, the UAW made out like a bandit while wiping out the careers and retirements of thousands of non-union workers.  Solyndra and its ilk did OK for a little while until the basic laws of business and economics caught up with them.  Mrs. Obama certainly has a…. distinctive set of dresses to boast about, and how many families can say they went to castles in Spain and on African safaris at no cost to them?  The cost of a good used car is through the roof because a lot of the good used cars got turned into scrap to give the UAW another boost.  And billions upon billions have gone down the rat hole of “shovel ready projects”, complete with signs paid for with borrowed money to trumpet how much pork was coming home.

Better people than me have said it, but comparing this administration’s spending to that of a drunken sailor is an insult to the drunken sailor, since he at least stops spending when he’s out of money.

The private sector is doing fine. — 2012

My Take – The price of everything is going up.  The number of people who have either taken part time employment because they can’t find a full time job, or have just given up on looking for a job, is higher than I’ve ever seen it.  Companies are actively trimming their work force so that they can get out from at least a little of Uncle Sam’s regulatory thumb.   Even companies that have been slathered liberally with taxpayer money are failing.

Yeah, the private sector is going just peachy.  To quote a slogan from when I was a child, are you better off than you were four years ago?

Most of all, I want to thank you for all the generous advance coverage you’ve given me in anticipation of a successful career. When I actually do something, we’ll let you know. — 2006

My Take – I know it hasn’t really ever happened, but I really wish I could find a news source that didn’t have an editorial department.  Yes, I know that the ideal of a neutral news organization that only reports the facts without spinning it or cherry picking what gets reported for political purposes is a myth, and that the press has never truly been unbiased.

But it seems that in the past couple of decades even the genteel facade of neutrality that I remember seeing in the papers and on the evening news growing up has been stripped away.  News organizations seem to be either rabidly out to destroy those in power if they disagree with them, or they seem to be the worlds biggest cheering section and smoke screen for those they like.

As someone who tries to be an informed voter, I find myself doing a lot of coin flipping in deciding whose reportage is accurate, and whose is nothing more than political editorializing with a news banner over it.  I wish it weren’t so.

The forces of division have begun to raise their ugly head again … It reminds me: We’ve got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country. A lot of pent-up anger and mistrust and bitterness. This country wants to move beyond these kinds of things. — 2008

My Take – Recently, an actress of African descent announced that she supports Mitt Romney in this election.  She was almost immediately attacked, belittled, and insulted.  These actions seem to have frequently included remarks about her race.  How post-racial is that?

Am I wrong because I’m of northern European descent* and I like the messages of Herman Cain and Allen West?  Of course not.  Is the Irish guy I ran into today with the Obama tee-shirt on wrong?  Nope.  I may disagree with his choice, just as he may disagree with mine, but I’m not going to fault him because he chooses to support a candidate who happens to have a greater concentration of melanin than we do.

Race is still a large issue in this country, and it will be for a long time.  The reasons why are both simple and complicated.  The situation is complicated because there are so many different cultures and ethnicities mixed in our great melting pot, and breaking down the barriers and prejudices of all of them is going to take a lot of time, energy, and patience, and it will only be done as the people who hold them learn that race is an accident of nature, not a determinant of anything good or bad.  It’s simple because race is usually only brought up when it’s used as a bludgeon, which only makes the hard work of getting something done about race even harder.

Want this country to move beyond race?  Then quit stirring up old hatreds by equating someone being a jerk now with things that happened 50 years ago.  Are there true racists in this country?  Yes there are, and you now find them on the far fringes of our culture, unless you count the guys running the Nation of Islam, the hucksters who use race as a way to make a quick buck, and the soft racists who believe that non-Caucasians can’t make it on their own and need special programs and privileges to muddle their way through life.  Most of America has turned its back on racism, and it’s way past time that those who use it as a tool or an excuse do the same.

*I’m not white.  I’m much paler than that.

Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided. (4 June 2008) Obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues, and Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations. (5 June 2008)

My Take – One of the slimiest things I see politicians of all stripes do is say one thing to one group, then say the exact opposite to another.  Usually this is done to curry favor with two groups that are opposed to each other.  Want my respect, even if I disagree with you?  Then say what you mean, mean what you say, and don’t change your position just because the people you’re talking to don’t like it.

In Africa, you often see that the difference between a village where everybody eats and a village where people starve is government. One has a functioning government, and the other does not. Which is why it bothers me when I hear people say that government is the enemy. They don’t understand its fundamental role. — 2007

My Take – Actually, to my knowledge, in villages that have little formal government, where each family takes care of themselves and their neighbors, and doesn’t have a warlord or a dictator skimming off the top of the fruits of their labor, more people tend to have enough to eat.  The great African famines have either been caused by or made worse by government manipulation of the food supply to people they didn’t like.   The AIDS epidemic in Africa has been made worse by government programs that hinder prevention and treatment.  TB is making a comeback at least in part because of government corruption that keeps the drugs that control the disease away from those who need them in favor of a black market.

On the very small scale of a village or the large scale of the entire continent, government is the root of a lot of the problems most people face.

I am reminded every day of my life, if not by events, then by my wife, that I am not a perfect man. — 2008

My Take – For once, I have to agree with President Obama.  Ever hear the story that when a person was getting a triumph in ancient Rome, a slave would sit in the chariot with him and every so often lean over and gently say “Remember, thou art mortal”?  Yeah, married life is kind of like that at times.

True story – I have come home from volunteering at Fort Knox, smelling of explosives residue and with multiple contusions from impacts of one kind or another, feeling really amped up, and been reminded that I need a shower, those clothes better not end up in the clothes hamper, and the cat box needs changing.  Of course, while I’m taking care of all that, she’s making me a hot meal and pre-positioning the aspirin for me.  Hey, just because she  treats me like any other mortal doesn’t mean she doesn’t love me.

I’ve got two daughters, nine years old and six years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. — 2008

My Take – Mr. President, were your daughters mistakes when you and your wife had them?  I assume by your statement that both of them were totally planned, or were you all ‘punished with a baby’?  Were you yourself celebrated as a miracle by your mother and father, or were you a ‘punishment’ for their ‘mistake’?

An unplanned pregnancy is a consequence, not a punishment.  No-one does it to you but you, assuming that the sex was consensual.  Yes, a young girl who gets pregnant is going to have a hard life if she brings the baby to term and decides to raise it herself.  But the child is not a punishment.

As the father of both boys and girls, I too am trying to bring them up with values and morals.  One of those values will be respect for human life and knowledge that no child is unwelcome in this world.  Maybe there is a rational reason for a young woman to terminate her pregnancy.  I’m not going to debate that.  What I will argue until my dying breath is that once a child is born, no matter what, that child should be loved and not seen as a burden or a ‘punishment’.  If you don’t want your daughters ‘punished’ if they make a mistake, then I’m sure there are plenty of people who would be happy to adopt, love, and nurture what you consider a ‘punishment’.

I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director. — 2007

My Take – When you are convinced that you are the smartest person in the room, you are probably wrong.  When you insist that your talents outweigh those of the people you work with, you’re usually the least talented person in the group.  Obama’s biggest goofs have happened when he goes off the script of his speeches, or tries to come up with his own policies, or tries to make political deals with people who spent more time in the Senate than they did in a madrassa.  One final thought – Pride goes before the fall.