Hennessy's View

Maureen Dowd’s having trouble slathering make-up on her favorite pigs these days. Her President—the man for whom she surrendered all pretense of intelligence, wisdom, and self-control—is flailing.

And Maureen Dowd is going all wobbly.  Wobbly on Obama. Wobbly on America.  Wobbly on life.  Here’s an exceprt:

On the razor’s edge of another recession; blocked at every turn by Republicans determined to slice him up at any cost; starting an unexpectedly daunting re-election bid; and puzzling over how to make a prime-time speech about infrastructure and payroll taxes soar, maybe President Obama is wishing that he had thrown the game.

Maureen Dowd makes a big mistake in blaming Obama alone for America’s jobless carnival of mayhem.  It’s not all his fault.

Let’s not make the same mistake made by Dowd and her friends.  Barack Obama did not wreck the American Job Machine.

His Democrat Party did.

Face it.  When the Democrats took overwhelming control of Congress in 2007, unemployment was 5.5 percent.  When John Boehner pried the Speaker’s gavel from Nancy Pelosi’s dry, cold claw, unemployment stood at 9.9 percent.  (Source)

That’s a 44.4% increase in the unemployment number.

For two years, Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House.  What did they do with that power?

They created a new entitlement.  Even after admitting that the existing spending programs were unsustainable, Democrats invented yet another new entitlement.

Sure, George W. Bush and the Tom Delay Republicans had their problems.  But they’re not around THIS TIME.

We are living under a 100 percent Democrat economy now. The GOP’s grasp on 1/2 of  1/3 of the government can’t undo 4 years of Democrat damage.

We have a Democrat in the White House and Democrats running the Senate.  It’s not the Republicans in the House preventing Obama from moving the economy forward; it’s the Democrats in the Senate and White House frightening natural risk-takers into keeping their job-creating money in their pockets.

I can see only one solution to the continuing unemployment nightmare facing people in America. That’s to finish the work started in 2010 by turning over the Senate and the White House.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Last week, the Illinois legislature passed a massive income tax increase on individuals and businesses.  Overall, it represents about a 67 percent income tax increase.

In response, neighboring states of Wisconsin and Indiana have wisely mounted massive campaigns to suck businesses and people out of Illinois.  Even New Jersey’s fabulous governor, Chris Christie, plans to fish the Land o’ Lincoln for some business transplants.

One state bordering Illinois has been notoriously silent.  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has done nothing to steal business and residents away from Illinois.

Is Nixon being lazy?  Or is he just being a good Democrat?

While we’re at it, why isn’t St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay beating the bushes on the East Side?  The city needs business and people desperately, but Slay has been as silent as Nixon.

Look, people, I realize that we have a lot of friends in Illinois.  My wife is from GC.  Most of her family lives in Madison County.  But businesses and workers are going to flee to the state.  Illinois dropped from the 23rd best tax state to the 36th in one step.  With Democrats in charge of the legislature and the governorship, this increase is only the beginning.  Illinois taxes will rise until the people in Illinois elect tax cutting budget hawks.

In the meantime, Jay Nixon has an obligation to put Missouri’s economy ahead of Democrat party loyalties.  Missouri needs to follow the leads of Indiana, Wisconsin, and New Jersey by campaigning for fleeing Illinois businesses and people.

*UPDATE* Over on United for Missouri, Emily Iles explains the extraordinary dangers to Illinois’ economy this tax hike poses.

Popularity: 1% [?]