"Blame Bush" syndrome wearing thin

It's time for Democrats to turn to the next page in their playbook.

Candidate Barack Obama gained traction in 2008 blaming then-President George W. Bush for the ills of the country, not unusual after a two-term president. However, President Obama has now been in office over a year and is still blaming President Bush for what is wrong in the nation.

It's time for the President and Democrats to stop whining, put on their big boy pants, and take responsibility for wide-reaching partisan legislation jammed through Congress the past twelve months.

Obama wanted the job ... now it's time to do the job. As the Wall Street Journal reveals today, the "Blame Bush" finger-pointing is wearing thin on the American people.

It's time for Democrats to turn to the next page in the playbook.

Obama: "C-SPAN promise of transparency? What transparency?"

Barack Obama campaigned on transparent government. As the Wall Street Journal reminds us in today's editorial:

At a January 2008 debate he said that a health-care overhaul would not be negotiated "behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-Span so the American people can see what the choices are."

The C-Span pledge became a signature of his political pitch. During a riff at the San Francisco Chronicle about "accountability," he added that "I would not underestimate the degree to which shame is a healthy emotion and that you can shame Congress into doing the right thing if people know what's going on."

As Bobby Eberle at GOPUSA wrote, Democrat transparency ... as clear as mud.

C-Span decided to follow through and ask that health care discussion be televised. The WSJ continued its editorial:

Apparently this Congress knows no shame. In a recent letter to Congressional leaders, C-Span president Brian Lamb committed his network to airing "all important negotiations," which if allowed would give "the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American." No word yet from the White House.

At a press conference in December, even Mrs. Pelosi said that "we would like to see a full conference." One reason she mentioned was that "there is a great deal of work involved in reviewing a bill and seeing what all the ramifications are of it," though her real motive at the time was that a conference seemed like a chance to drag the bill closer to the House version.

With public support collapsing, however, Democrats now think the right bill is any bill—and soon.

Democrat hypocrisy knows no end.

Sarah Palin's WSJ column: "Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care"

"The president's proposals would give unelected officials life-and-death rationing powers." Check out Sarah Palin's column in today's Wall Street Journal.

WSJ: "Obama's attack machine"

The thing about fear is that you can see it. For an insight as to what the left today fears most, witness its attempted political assassination of Eric Cantor.

So begins the Wall Street Journal's "Obama's attack machine" article from April 3.

I've seen that attack machine move into high gear in the Virginia blogosphere over the past weeks ... predictable attacks that are there just for the sake of being there ... kind of like a pesky gnat you can't get rid of.

Why would the left feel so threatened by Virginia's up-and-coming congressman who serves a the Republican Whip in the U.S. Congress?

Described as one of the GOP's up-and-coming talents, the WSJ described Rep. Cantor:

The 45-year-old Virginia congressman came to Washington in 2001, and by last year had been unanimously elected Republican Whip, under Minority Leader John Boehner. In recent months, Mr. Cantor has helped unify the GOP against much of President Barack Obama's agenda, in particular his blowout $787 billion stimulus, and yesterday, his blowout $3.6 trillion budget.

He's also one of the GOP's up-and-coming talents. Along with Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, or California's Kevin McCarthy, he represents a new guard, one that's sworn off earmarks and brought the conversation back to fiscal responsibility and economic opportunity. They've focused on party outreach, and are popular with younger voters and independents. They are big fund-raisers, part of a drive to recruit and elect more reformers. And they are on the rise.

Eric Cantor is personable, popular, and probably most known to many voters for his annual "Republican Roundup" held annually at Innsbrook in western Henrico County where thousands gather on a fall afternoon to take in complimentary barbecue, entertainment, kids activities, and politicking by high-ranking Republican electeds.

Because of his popularity with voters and fellow Republicans in the House, Democrats see Cantor as a threat and have targeted him:

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is so obsessed with Mr. Cantor, he can barely find time to be indignant about anything else. Talking Points Memo, Huffington Post, Think Progress and other leading liberal blogs are today all-anti-Cantor-all-the-time.

But the real ugly was unleashed a few weeks ago, when the goon squad set on Mr. Cantor's wife. An outfit called Working Families Win began running robocalls in five districts noting that Diana Cantor was a "top executive" at a bank that had received bailout funds -- the clear implication being that Mr. Cantor's vote for said bailout hinged on this fact. "In the middle of the AIG scandal, our congressman [fill in the blank] voted to make Virginia Republican, Eric Cantor, the conservative leader in Congress," it droned (incoherently and incorrectly), before demanding voters oppose the "Cantor Family Bank bailout."

At least when Chuck Schumer ran ads targeting Republicans for voting for a "bailout" that his own party brought to the floor -- and passed -- he kept his attacks on the members. And the last anyone looked, the AIG intervention was being overseen by the Obama administration, not the House minority whip. This may set a new political low, not the least because Mrs. Cantor in fact works at a subsidiary of the bank in question. Not to mention that Mr. Cantor led the initial GOP revolt against the "bailout."

Just watch the Virginia dem blogs and you will see their obsession with Eric Cantor. If they are that obsessed, he must be doing something right for conservative Republicans. Keep an eye on this rising star.

Rush opines at Wall Street Journal on fairness doctrine

Mr. President, Keep the Airwaves Free: As a former law professor, surely you understand the Bill of Rights.

Sunday with Ross Mackenzie: "Reflections on Murdoch's Purchase of The Journal"

After taking last week off for Labor Day, Ross Mackenzie, retired editor of the RTD Editorial Pages, is back in today's Richmond Times Dispatch with his response to the recent hand-wringing from liberal outlets in response to Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Wall Street Journal. He gives a recap of some of the more obvious groanings, such as MSNBC's columnist David Sweet bemoaning, "Murdoch will tarnish a journalistic jewel," and then takes them to task because of their hypocrisy:

Murdoch may know what too many in and out of the news business smugly refuse to concede -- that a public fed up with the obsessive liberalism of the mainline media yearns for conservative outlets and expression. How else to explain the popularity of talk radio, Fox News -- and, nota bene, the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal? So, yes, Murdoch may understand very well the success a healthy dose of conservatism -- or not-liberalism -- may bring.

He concludes his reflections with this:

In the view of those hostile to Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, what's bad for "American journalism" and "our democracy" is not their definition of "fair and balanced" that has so contributed to driving journalism down -- but Murdoch's definition that has demonstrated so much success."

Indeed. I pray that Ross Mackenzie and his common sense stay around for a long time ... because a Sunday without him is just another Sunday. And the Times-Dispatch without him is just another newspaper.