Reflecting on Gov. Rick Perry

Just finished reading another excellent column by Charles Krauthammer. What does that have to do with sudden emergence on the presidential election scene by Gov. Rick Perry? Plenty. And just like business, both big and small, keeping their capital on the sidelines as the Obama era is defined by attempts to change the rules of the game regarding so many aspects of our lives - Americans are merely waiting for enough confidence to make predictions about certainty before getting back in. Perry has jumped on to the ship of presidential politics because he leans hard on the right rail, urging the ship back on to a straight course after three years of listing more and more to the left from a president who has been an absent leader, a blamer, someone who would rather blame the last captain than actually get into the wheelhouse and steer the ship. Perry's involvement may help with that. But here's what I think: Americans want someone back in the wheelhouse putting the ship back on course running strong and upright. They want the listing to stop. They are taking charge of their own lives (strong evidence: credit card delinquencies hit new low) That's why I feel everything happening right now in August will lead to a strong look at another governor, Jon Huntsman - and there will be a lot of agreement around him from both left and right about what we can do as a country. Until then, we are in for some choppy seas in a listing ship.

Palin: crib notes bad - Obama: teleprompter good

You gotta love the media - the way they love to hate Sarah Palin - it is making her a multi millionaire and (if they keep it up) the next president of the United States. Most recently, it is outrage over "crib notes" on her hand during the big speech at the Tea Party convention this weekend. Here it is: msnbc.com: Did Palin have crib notes written on hand?

They just can't get over their "Palin (insert conservative name here) is stupid" label shtick.

What they can't seem to wrap their own effete (but hey, their brilliant, just ask them) minds around is that a story like Sarah's crib notes will bring instant recollection of Barack's affection for the teleprompter - up to, and including, presidential speeches in an elementary school classroom.

Here's a heads up to the power elite: "the folks" out there will find Sarah's crib notes endearing - and they already find Barack's teleprompter revolting.

Keep it up MSNBC, you just can't help yourselves.

Many Firms Reluctant to Hire Because of New Taxes, Regulation - CNBC

                                            photo: swampolitics.com
                                                                                                                                        
Many Firms Reluctant to Hire Because of New Taxes, Regulation
Couldn't help but take notice of the headline, and this quote, from a story today on the CNBC website:

As Washington and Wall Street grow increasingly restless about the unusually slow pace of job creation and the risk of a so-called jobless recovery, key business groups have begun to bang the drum more loudly.

Not that we haven't seen anything like that happening around the country already, right?

“To create jobs we must ease the uncertainty over tax increases as well as health, environmental, labor, legal  and fiscal policies,” (American Chamber of Commerce) president and CEO Thomas J. Donohue said in a speech Tuesday. Chamber members are predominantly small companies with ten or less employees.

Small business. And those businesses make up the largest part of our economy - and as a block, overwhelmingly our largest employer group. In other words (and economically speaking), they provide support (you know, backbone) for everything else we want to accomplish in this nation of ours. You have to ask yourself: do you like that? Or do you want it to change? Change into what, I'm asking. Because if you voted for change, this is what you're getting.

Just one year in, as President Obama's public opinion rating sinks further, faster than any president in modern times, to well down in the forties on both the approval and disapproval sides - officially into "presidential malaise" territory. My only advice is, please don't start the Rose Garden strategy yet. But you can count on this: voters are already poised for change (again). 

Sending your coalition to the palace walls on health care politics this early in your term, watching a surprising number jump off in "retirement" - really ought to give you pause for thought. And that is the "Chicago Way" isn't it? Oh, I see. We need change.