Posted 6:28 AM by steve

I would say it's funny, but it really isn't, that Obama won the election on the basis of really nothing more than vague promises of 'Change' but when Geithner gets slammed when his 'plan' to fix the financial markets consists of nothing more than vague promises. Although Obama adviser Lawrence Summers argues that the Obama Administration isn't concerned about the day-to-day market movement, it ought to be a heck of a shock that he's not getting by with vague promises, that even Congress is demanding details of just what Geithner plans on doing.

And it ought to be troubling for Obama that the markets, a leading indicator of our collective outlook for the economy, are down significantly since he won election. He has to be asking himself (to the extent he's smart enough to think it through) why we are more pessimistic about the future with Obama in office than we were when Bush was still calling the shots.

And where have all his optimistic supporters gone? Why haven't employers started hiring (or, at the very least, kept from trimming payrolls) in anticipation of Obama fixing all of our problems? Why aren't consumers off spending money - and lots of it - in a sign of support for Obama's policies? Isn't the lack of business and consumer confidence really a lack of confidence in Obama and whatever it is that he is trying to do?

I know that I had predicted the exact opposite, that Obama's supporters (and especially in the media) would, in order to validate their having supported him so passionately, push the theme that Obama's victory presaged a complete turnaround in our nation's economy.

And the blame for this lies with Obama. Rare is the President who has been so negative about the future. The public, and understandably so, isn't rallying around a President who has nothing good to say about the future, who is so determined to paint a picture of such despair if he doesn't get what he wants.

Maybe Obama is doing this on purpose, figuring that the only way he can get this stimulus bill through (and keep in mind that 50+% of it has very little to do with stimulating the economy and very much to do with enacting a liberal agenda) is by scaring people and that as soon as the bill passes, he is going to put away the pessimism and fear and put on his happy face again.