State of Hope

Barack Obama has now decided he has pushed the doom and gloom scenario for the economy too hard in his efforts to get the "stimulus" bill passed and now wants to tell Americans things will get better. The economy will certainly recover, with or without the "stimulus" bill, but the fear mongering by Democrats, first to win election and now to pass their spending priorities, has hurt investor and consumer confidence.

One canard in Obama's speech bears focus. He criticized the Bush administration, claiming "regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market".

Really? Which ones? The most profound regulatory failure was the opposition by Democrats to restraining Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose politically guided attempts to expand home ownership contributed to the financial crisis.

But Obama and the Democrats have been successful in pushing this Big Lie, so why stop now?