Poll: People don't want Obama's new regulations

A new Gallup poll, taken after Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to advocate a series of new government regulations, finds that most Americans are worried about giving the federal government new regulatory powers, and a large majority do not want to see the government become more involved in regulating and controlling business.

Gallup asked, "Which worries you more? Too much regulation of business by the government or not enough regulation of business by the government?" Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed say they're more worried about too much government regulation, while 37 percent say they're more worried by not enough regulation. (Six percent say they have no opinion.)

Then Gallup asked, "Which of the following do you most agree with -- the federal government should become more involved in regulating and controlling business, the federal government should become less involved in regulating and controlling business, or things are about right the way they are?" Fifty percent say the government should become less involved, versus 24 percent who say it should become more involved, and 23 percent who say things are about right the way they are.

There are striking differences between the political parties when it comes to regulation, but the Gallup survey suggests the issue tilts in the Republicans' favor; Republicans, and people who lean Republican, are quite united in their opposition to more regulation, while Democrats, and people who lean Democratic, are significantly less united in their support of it. (The poll did not give results for independents.)

For example, 76 percent of Republicans say the government should become less involved in regulation, while just 36 percent of Democrats say the government should become more involved. Looking at it from the other end, just 13 percent of Republicans say the government should become more involved, while 27 percent of Democrats say it should become less involved. Thirty-three percent of Democrats say things are about right the way they are, versus 11 percent of Republicans. However you look at it, far more people favor less or the same amount of regulation than favor more regulation.

Interpreting its findings, Gallup notes that in the State of the Union, Obama "mentioned the need to institute a fee on the biggest banks in order to continue to recover money given to banks; a proposal to slash tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas; instituting new regulations for financial institutions in order to provide more information to consumers; financial reforms that would affect lobbyists; and the healthcare reform effort that entails a great deal of government involvement in the nation's healthcare system. While the American public may favor some of these initiatives on an individual basis, the current results underscore the degree to which the average American in a general sense is concerned about too much government involvement in business."

That's a dry way of saying Obama and his Democratic allies are going to have a hard time winning the sort of wide-ranging new regulations they want to impose on American economic life.

washingtonexaminer.com

Team Obama Blows $2.5 Million On 30 Second US Census Commercial

Your taxpayer dollars at work…
The Obama Administration blew $2.5 million on a Superbowl Census commercial.

It’s not even a good ad. But, who cares? It’s not their money.

Sean Hannity reported on the Super Bowl ad last week:

The U.S. Census Bureau is dishing out $2.5 million to pay for a 30-second commercial this Sunday. But that is just a small part of the census ad campaign. Now according to the USA Today when it’s all said and done, they would have blown $340 million on their efforts to encourage people to cooperate with the census.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

More: Census Super Bowl ad flops

The U.S. Census Bureau’s “Snapshot of America” Super Bowl 44 ad has met with harsh criticism from television writers, media pundits and the Kellogg School of Management, which gave the Census ad an “F” grade — the lowest of any commercial that ran during Sunday’s game.

Television critics charge that the Census ad, which cost $2.5 million and was directed by independent filmmaker Christopher Guest (whose comedies include “Best in Show,” “For Your Consideration” and 1984’s seminal mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap”), was dry, uninformative, and culturally obscure.

“Is the U.S. Census’s biggest problem making sure that fans of ironic indie movies don’t ignore the Census?” Wrote Time magazine’s James Poniewozik in his review of the Super Bowl ads. Twitter user Steven Miller echoed the sentiment: “If you drew a Venn diagram of ‘Christopher Guest Comedy Fans’ and ‘People Unaware of the Census’ they wouldn’t overlap.”

Derek Rucker, who is the Richard M. Clewett Research Professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School, wrote that the Census ad “fell flat and didn’t live up to the strategic framework” that its pre-game buzz promised, and gave the ad an “F” ranking, just below Focus on the Family’s Tim Tebow ad, which received a “D.”

USA Today’s ad meter compiled the responses of 250 adult participants in McLean, Va., and San Diego, Calif., by “electronically chart[ing] their second-by-second reactions to ads during the Super Bowl.” Among this test group, the Census spot placed 52nd out of 63 ads.

John Zirinsky, a senior analyst at the Lombardo Consulting Group, spent some time testing a potential ad for this year’s Super Bowl, using focus groups, in-depth interviews, and “just about every contemporary methodology.” His take on the Census ad is that it failed several essential tests for a successful Super Bowl ad.

“The first, most basic criteria for a successful ad is that it must be understood—on some level—by those watching. Especially in the environment of the Super Bowl, where attentions are often so diverted, it is important that people easily “get” the ad. Next, the ad must have a hook—with Super Bowl spots, these are often humorous—that makes people notice and remember the ad. Finally, what the best ads do—and this is often cited as a key justification for the $2.5 to $3 million 30 second buys—is that it generate buzz. (Think about the first GoDaddy spot from a few years back: the ads had awful production values and weren’t something you’d rewatch but it was straightforward, memorable and within a couple weeks everyone knew what GoDaddy was.)”

Zirinsky doesn’t buy the theory that “chatter” about how “awful and wasteful the spot was” will “provide some buzz for the Census.” He doesn’t think that’s what the Census had in mind, as gaining traction by annoying viewers “would be a rather perverse outcome.”

Salon’s Mike Madden defended the Census ad — which, he said, “drove a lot of Republicans completely crazy” — by citing a defensive tweet from the Census Bureau arguing that “if 1% of folks watching #SB44 change mind and mail back #2010Census form, taxpayers save $25 million in follow up costs.”

It wasn’t just conservatives who objected to the ad, as evidenced by MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, who wrote, “Really, Census people, that’s as good as you can do? That should cost Hollywood a Cong. Seat,” and Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Slezak, who ranked the Census spot as one of the five worst ads of the night. “How weird to hire all those funny character actors, then accidentally air an unfinished version of a commercial that left us all wondering what the frak we just watched,” Slezak wrote.

The ambiguous nature of the ad is a characteristic the Census Bureau has not only acknowledged, but defends as savvy marketing. “You may not watch it one time, walk away and completely understand it — unless you are a Christopher Guest fan,” the Census Bureau’s Kendall Johnson told CNN. In that same interview, David Griner of Luckie and Co. and AdFreak.com, wondered if the “upper middle-class, white audience” that normally responds well to Guest’s comedic style “didn’t understand the role of the census and would not have been active to take part in it.”

dailycaller.com

Harvard Law Graduate and Commander in Chief has a pronunciation problem with "Corpsman"

While speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama mispronounced the word "Corpsman" as "corpse-man."

Las Vegas Mayor: “When Obama Comes I’ll Give Him the Boot Back to Washington"

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman blasted President Obama after his attacks on his city. The outspoken mayor said, “I’ll do everything I can to give him the boot back to Washington.”
Mayor Goodman says an apology won’t be acceptable this time.

Obama will be campaigning with unpopular Senator Harry Reid in Las Vegas later this month.
KTNV reported:

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman had some harsh words for President Obama Tuesday. Here’s what he had to say hours after the President remarked that people who are trying to save money shouldn’t go to Vegas.

“I guess you’ve all seen the president’s remarks or read about the president’s remarks, well I’ve got some remarks of my own. I was back in Washington, D.C. about two weeks ago, going up and down the halls of the capitol telling people about our economy here, trying to get them to be sympathetic to what we’re trying to accomplish, then I have to read what President Obama said.

“He has a real psychological hang up about the entertainment capitol of the world. An apology won’t be acceptable this time, I don’t know where his vendetta comes from but we’re not going to let him make his bones by lambasting Las Vegas, that’s why (the press) is here today.

“He didn’t learn his lesson the first time, but when he hurt our economy by his ill conceived rhetoric, we didn’t think it would happen again, but now that it has I want to assure you, when he comes I’ll do everything I can to give him the boot back to Washington and to visit his failures back there.

“I gotta tell you this, everybody says I shouldn’t say it, but I gotta tell you the way it is. This president is a real slow learner.”

More… Opaobie added:

We know Obama never was a Boy Scout, but at least they know not to take a dump…TWICE… right where they plan to pitch their tents.

Is it time for another beer summit?

Still more… Franco added this:

If Obama was in Vegas with the national treasury he’d put a billion on a long shot on “the big wheel” and tell us he’s saving money by eating at the buffet.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

First Lady drags daughters into obesity campaign

Hey, whatever happened to leaving the Obama girls alone?

Charm City Moms: A blog for Maryland parents by The Baltimore Sun’s Kate Shatzkin

The Obama children and child obesity

President Barack Obama is in Baltimore today, but it’s his wife’s last pronouncement on her campaign against childhood obesity that’s caught my attention. As the president did several months ago in an education speech, First Lady Michelle Obama has taken a personal tack — divulging some private information about her children — to drive home her point about early intervention in kids’ health.

In remarks at a YMCA in Virginia, Obama said her daughters’ pediatrician warned her — some time ago, apparently — that the girls were getting “off track” in terms of body-mass index…

…The personal aspect brings the story home and helps us remember how important the message is.

On the other hand, I do wonder about the kids’ privacy factor here, and how disclosures like these could open the door to unwanted scrutiny for the first daughters…

Hasn’t stopped POTUS and FLOTUS before.

Flashback: Leave Obama’s kids alone…except when POTUS & FLOTUS need them for Obamacare

michellemalkin.com

Obama Bows Again- To Tampa’s Mayor… For What Reason Is Anyone’s Guess

OK. This is getting really weird.
Obama bowed to Tampa’s mayor this week.

The caption reads: U.S. President Barack Obama bows to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio at MacDill Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Edmund Fountain, Pool)

At least it wasn’t a full waiter’s bow.

First the media hacks were bowing to Obama. Now Obama is bowing to dictators, emperors and the Tampa mayor. This is getting weird.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Former Constitutional Lawyer Makes Up Constitutional Quotes During SOTU Address

The former Constitutional lawyer, or senior lecturer, cited the US Constitution last night during his State of the Union Address. Unfortunately, the quote he cited was from the Declaration of Independence… not the Constitution. The B-Cast posted the video:

Modern Conservative reported, via Free Republic:

In last night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama said:

We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal….

Um, wrong founding document, Mr. President. It is in our Declaration of Independence that we read:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And this is the same guy who lectured the Supreme Court moments later in the same speech.

One Day After Obama Promises to Curb Spending – Dems Pass Largest Debt Increase in US History

After tripling the national deficit in one year, last night Democratic President Barack Obama promised he would not leave Americans with a mountain of debt.

Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it’s time to try something new. Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt. Let’s meet our responsibility to the citizens who sent us here. Let’s try common sense… To do that, we have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now. We face a deficit of trust -– deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we have to take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue — to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; to give our people the government they deserve.

Today ALL 60 democrats in the US Senate voted for the largest increase in debt in US history.
The Hill reported:

Senate Democrats passed a $1.9 trillion increase in the federal debt limit Thursday, seeking to push off another politically painful debt vote until after the midterm elections.

All 60 Democrats and no Republicans voted for the debt limit increase. The measure, which the House has yet to vote on, would put the debt ceiling at roughly $14.3 trillion.

Of course, this surprises no one.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) urged the president to veto this record increase in debt:

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today issued the following statement on Senate passage of legislation to increase the nation’s debt limit by $1.9 trillion – from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion:

“It took this country 230 years to reach $10 trillion in debt. Now, in just 15 months we’ve added more than $2 trillion more. The president was right last night when he said we should not leave Americans with a ‘mountain of debt.’ To hold Congress to that challenge, he should veto this debt increase, which is larger than the size of the entire federal budget in 1999. If this increase in the national debt becomes law, it will leave our children and grandchildren a country they cannot afford and a government they cannot control. Until Congress and the president take steps to bring this alarming debt under control, we should not increase the debt limit.”

Axis of the Right takes a closer look at today’s record debt increase.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Indonesia mulls tearing down Obama statue

JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities said Monday they are considering a petition to tear down a statue of US President Barack Obama as a boy, only a month after the bronze was unveiled in Jakarta.

The statue of "Little Barry" -- as Obama was known when he lived in the capital in the late 1960s -- stands in central Jakarta's Menteng Park, a short walk from the US president's former elementary school.

Critics say the site should have been used to honour an Indonesian and 55,000 people have joined a page on social networking website Facebook calling for the statue to be removed.

"We've been discussing for the past two weeks what to do with the statue... whether to take it down, move it elsewhere or retain it. We're finding the best solution," Jakarta parks agency official Dwi Bintarto said.

Members of the "Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Menteng Park" group on Facebook say Obama has done nothing for Indonesia.

"Barack Obama has yet to make a significant contribution to the Indonesian nation. We could say Obama only ate and s (expletive) in Menteng. He spent his subsequent days living as an American," the web page says.

"For the dignity of a sovereign nation, Barack Obama's monument in Menteng Park must be removed immediately."

(AFP)

Another broken promise: “I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all”

No corruption-scented no-bid contracts…except for Barack Obama’s own cronies, that is. James Rosen at FNC has the scoop:

The Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a prominent Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

Despite President Obama’s long history of criticizing the Bush administration for “sweetheart deals” with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington-based firm owned by economist and Democratic donor Vincent V. Checchi, will pay the firm $24,673,427 to provide “rule of law stabilization services” in war-torn Afghanistan.

A synopsis of the contract published on the USAID Web site says Checchi & Company will “train the next generation of legal professionals” throughout the Afghan provinces and thereby “develop the capacity of Afghanistan’s justice system to be accessible, reliable, and fair.”

The legality of the arrangement as a “sole source,” or no-bid, contract was made possible by virtue of a waiver signed by the USAID administrator. “They cancelled the open bid on this when they came to power earlier this year,” a source familiar with the federal contracting process told Fox News.

“That’s kind of weird,” said another source, who has worked on “rule of law” issues in both Afghanistan and Iraq, about the no-bid contract to Checchi & Company. “There’s lots of companies and non-governmental organizations that do this sort of work.”

Contacted by Fox News, Checchi confirmed that his company had indeed received the nearly $25 million contract but declined to say why it had been awarded on a no-bid basis, referring a reporter to USAID.

Asked if he or his firm had been aware that the contract was awarded without competitive bids, Checchi replied: “After it was awarded to us, sure. Before, we had no idea.”

Checchi has donated to Team Obama, MoveOn, the DNC, and ActBlue, among other left-wing entities.

Flashback March 2009:

Obama promises to limit no-bid contracts
Says $40 billion could be saved every year

WASHINGTON – President Obama ordered an overhaul yesterday of the way the US government awards defense and other contracts, saying that more competition is needed to drive down costs and declaring that “the days of giving government contractors a blank check are over.”

Obama joined Senator John McCain, his Republican presidential campaign rival, and other congressional figures to promise taxpayers savings of as much as $40 billion a year, in part by limiting no-bid contracts.

Even in good economic times, contracting reform would be overdue in Washington, Obama said, but with the recession, “It’s time for this waste and inefficiency to end. It’s time for a government that only invests in what works.”

The president announced an executive memorandum that directs his budget director, Peter Orszag, to work with Cabinet and agency officials to come up by July 1 with a way to review existing contracts for waste or fraud.

By the end of September, Orszag is to come up with new rules designed to make it more difficult for contractors to cheat taxpayers by strengthening oversight and ending unnecessary no-bid contracts and “cost-plus” contracts that allow price tags to escalate. The new rules would also make some half-trillion dollars in federal contracts each year more accessible to independent contractors.

michellemalkin.com

Obama Brings TelePrompter to Speak to 6th Grade Class

Obama spoke to 6th Graders in Falls Church, Virginia on Tuesday January 19, 2010.


He brought his TelePrompter. He sure wouldn’t want to go off message when speaking to 6th graders.

How sad.

gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

Pre-Jan. 19 Obama: Scott Brown is an ogre. Post-Jan. 19 Obama: Hey, Scott Brown’s just like me!

Yep, that was the spin out of White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ mouth this afternoon.

Just a few short days ago, President Obama was up in Massachusetts mocking Brown’s truck and casting him as a fat-cat crony of Wall Street.

Today? Gibbs asserted with a straight face that the same kind of “anger” that brought Obama into office also buoyed Brown’s candidacy.

See? Brown’s voters are just like Obama’s. Brown’s win is Obama’s win. Black is white. Up is down. Ignorance equals strength.

Oh, yeah: And elections have consequences.

***

Video of the spin straight from the horse’s mouth, via Allahpundit.

michellemalkin.com