The Obamessiah's Speech And Optimism

Barack the Obamessiah is giving a big speech on the economy tonight which should be a barrel of monkeys:

Aides say the speech, which will have a heavy focus on the economy, will try and strike an optimistic tone. That's a sign Obama has heard the criticism, including from former President Bill Clinton, that he needs to mix sober talk with an upbeat bottom line.

"He believes we will meet these challenges and lift ourselves out of this," one top aide said of the recession. "He will say, 'The best days are ahead of us.'"

The aides said foreign policy will be touched on lightly in the speech so that the president can focus largely on the economy and related issues, including health care, education, and energy.

Aides stressed the speech will be "thematic" and thus will not get into much detail on the president's plans to deal with the credit crunch and housing crisis.

Hm. A non-detailed speech that will "try" to strike an optimistic tone?

Haven't they tried that before?

I'm glad he will attempt optimism in this speech, but I have my doubts as to whether it will work because I do not believe Barack Obama is an optimistic man at heart. Sure, he sometimes mouths optimistic platitudes, but his entire campaign was based on the assumption that something was wrong with America and only his election would heal the country. That's not optimism, it's conceit.

Since winning the presidency, Obama has flailed a bit because it's hard to run a country on the vision of not being George W. Bush. As we've seen from the market, part of the skittishness of investors is because of the doom and gloom talk on the part of this administration. We'll see if the president can change that tonight, or whether he'll just keep trying to blame the previous administration for the economy's ills.

Update - Volfan, in the comments, brings up a good point. The non-optimistic talk isn't the only thing wrong with Obama's 'cures' for the economy. It's this:

The joint address to Congress, similar to a State of the Union speech, which presidents traditionally give in subsequent years of their administration, is also Obama's first chance for a formal roll out of nuts-and-bolts policy.

He is set to address healthcare, climate change, energy and education, as he argues that the size of the crisis means his key agenda items are more, not less important than they would have been in sunny economic times.

Obama has already driven a 787-billion-dollar stimulus plan through Congress, unveiled a 275-billion-dollar foreclosure plan and tried, so far unsuccessfully, to steady the banking industry.

We have a serious economic crisis and he's being opportunistic. Is that what passes for leadership these days?

For the Democrats, yes, it is.  I've got to admit that Bill Clinton is right on this one - Obama needs to be more optimistic, at least in his rhetoric.  Clinton had similar socialist designs as Obama when he was President, as well as a similar talent for moving speeches and triumphant appearances.  But, Clinton also realized that America runs on good feelings.  When people feel confident and safe, they spend money, create jobs, and produce like crazy.  That's what makes America great, and has for a very long time.  Even while trying to implement things that would hurt the economy (like his huge tax increase in 1993), Clinton spoke of better days ahead for America, and of how America would overcome all the hurdles in front of it.

Obama has yet to figure that out.

His lame best efforts so far include some utterly forgettable empty nonsense about how we hoped for change, but that things will get far worse before they get better.  In fact, he's gone out of his way to talk down everything about this country from day one (or, if you want to be particular, from way back on the campaign trail).  It's no wonder, then, we're seeing economic turbulence and plummeting markets on a daily basis.  Guess what?  Rasmussen tells us of a new record low:

For the second straight day, the Rasmussen Investor Index on Tuesday shows investor confidence falling to a record low.

At 54.5, the Investor Index is down five points from a week ago, 13 points from a month ago, and 47 from a year ago.

Just 6% of Investors say the economy is in good or excellent shape while 67% rate it as poor. A year ago, just 32% rated the economy as poor.

If we're talking about investment as the key to jump-starting the economy, this is a major, major problem:

Investor confidence is low enough that 37% would put new investment money in a savings account. Just 27% would opt for a real estate investment and only 16% are eyeing the stock market.

As I've said before, I suspect this constant negativity is intentional.  Without substantial depression and panic from the American people, his socialist reforms will never be accepted; if enough Americans are desperate enough, they'll grab at anything proposed by anyone who promises to help them out.

This is what Obama calls leadership.

Unfortunately, reality calls it a recipe for disaster.

There's my two cents.