The Brian Sullivan Blog
  • March 9, 2009 10:38 AM EDT by Brian Sullivan

    The President Must Realize The "Socialist" Questions Are Fair

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    Yesterday the President felt the need to re-respond to a question posed to him a few days ago by a New York Times reporter about whether he is a Socialist.    The President initially dismissed the question as a joke by the reporter, but apparently felt that perhaps he needed to take it more seriously.

    Here is an except from the story today in today's Washington Times, quoting Obama as he describes the preexisting financial condition he inherited:

    "I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed a massive new entitlement -– the prescription drug plan -- without a source of funding. And so I think it’s important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we’ve actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word 'socialist' around can’t say the same."

    The New York Times asked, "So whose watch are we talking about here?" but Obama wouldn't name names.

    "Well, I just think it’s clear by the time we got here, there already had been an enormous infusion of taxpayer money into the financial system. And the thing I constantly try to emphasize to people if that coming in, the market was doing fine, nobody would be happier than me to stay out of it. I have more than enough to do without having to worry the financial system. The fact that we’ve had to take these extraordinary measures and intervene is not an indication of my ideological preference, but an indication of the degree to which lax regulation and extravagant risk taking has precipitated a crisis."

    The President is correct when he says many of the economic and financial problems we have now are ones that have been building for a few years.    Over the last few years it is clear that both President Bush and Congress were asleep at the regulatory switch.    Everyone - consumers, Bush, Congress - had a part in this mess.   Congress reaped the political and financial rewards of the housing boom.   Consumers were told and sold the idea that houses never go down in price so don't worry about the funny loan, you can always sell.

    But that's now history, and the President seems to be confusing American frustration over what he "inherited" than what he and his Congress are doing now.   The "socialist" line of questions has less to do with the financial bailout and more to do with the public frustration over the $787 billion dollar spending plan.    Obama continues to put the financial blame squarely on the mistakes of the past seemingly without realizing Americans are now more focused on the massive entitlement and social program spending in the stimulus plan.    A quick check of the planned spending by one state discussed on my blog this weekend - Wisconsin - makes it clear that while the it is the states and not the Federal government that will determine many of the beneficiaries of this financial largesse, federal taxpayer dollars are going to fund these programs.

    President Obama is not a Socialist.    He is merely doing what he feels is best for the country and those who voted for him and there are few checks and balances to counter it.   But the President must also realize that given the hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars being spent on social and entitlement programs that will result in little to no economic stimulus, the line of questioning in both serious and fair.   He should not take the American public skepticism lightly and should address this issue more convincingly.

Simon Templar

Well, you may not think that bam bam is not a socialist but Mr. Webb, the President of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Communist Party, thinks he is an ally and freind. That's dangerous and anti-American enough to me....Please, if he were, do you really believe he would admit this to the New York Times! I am not interested in trying to prove or disprove this, nor should anyone at Fox News. Deal with the issues and reality now before the country is completely and irreversibly destroyed, you fools! If you can not, may I suggest you resign from your media jobs and let someone else with balls, guts, and spines take those positions and return the American Press to its original and honored place in the American democracy.

March 10, 2009 at 3:52 pm

Kraut

Obama is not even a socialist anymore. This guy is trying to implement the Marxist ideas - meaning he is a Communist. On top of it, he surrounds himself with people who remind you of a certain regime in Germany, swaying people with PR, like the pied piper. This guy and his sidekicks will be the downfall of the US. I lived with it (Socialism and and next to Communism) for a long time - I can see the signs. It is disgusting.

March 10, 2009 at 4:07 pm

J

I side with Adam--taxing those who stimulate the economy is not the answer. I don't know if ppl realize this, but those falling into Obama's "rich" category ARE the small business owners. What makes it OK for "them" to be taxed? We should all hope to be as successful as they are one day. As one of my family members always says--"I can spend my own money better than the government can."

March 11, 2009 at 7:48 am

J

Taxing the small business owners is not the answer. What makes it OK for "them" to be taxed? Most small business owners fall into Obama's "rich" category, which seems to keep included a wider & wider range of incomes. That is THEIR money, earned by the means that our founding fathers had in mind. Who is the government to take it away? You can't help those who aren't motivated enough to help themselves. As my father always says--"I can spend my own money better than the government can". I want their hand out of my wallet.

March 11, 2009 at 7:53 am

Not a media sheep

Wow it just amazes me that George inheireted Bill Clinton lack of action on many fronts and the press just skimmed over that! I don't know if you folks have forgotten that George was in office just a few months when he/we received a welcome package called 911 and the Dem's cried so hard about the lack of leadership and how could George have let this happen or even that George was behind it! Now this Brian Sullivan believes that Americans are merely sheep and have no intellect in deciphering what a Socialist smells like when millions of us can clearly see it to the north in Canada and across the pond in Europe too! Brian I find your article very bias and nothing short of pure rubbish and why can't the Dem's face up to their real part in this mess that they the Dem's have run the Banking committee for longer then GW was is office.

March 11, 2009 at 10:05 am

tidho

The solution to nearly all our problems is jobs. Obama wants to raise taxes on small business owners to pay for entitlements. He refuses to lower corporate income taxes because he has entitlements to pay for. He wants to raise capital gains taxes because he has entitelments to pay for. All of those things put the country at a competative disadvantage compared to China and India. We're just going to continue to bleed jobs until someone is willing to risk the wrath of the poor majority and fix the root causes of our employment problem.

March 11, 2009 at 2:26 pm

Will

Socialist, schmocialist. How about pragmatist? Where do we draw the line? Are public highways socialism? Are public schools socialism? Is a publicly financed police department and military socialism? Is public housing socialist? Are public hospitals socialist?

March 11, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Proud American

Obama is right, he is not a socialist. He walks like a marxist, quacks like a marxist, so he is a MARXIST not a socialist. Socialist is an understatement.

March 12, 2009 at 7:46 am

lazor

bush tried to reign in the affirmative action mortgage loans BUT the democrats who have been in charge since 2006 beat it down every time. barney franks, harry ried, cris dodd, and nancy pelozi forced banks to make these loans so they can do a news conference pound their chest and say LOOK HOW MANY PEOPLE WE DEMOCRATS PUT IN HOMES

March 12, 2009 at 10:49 am

JIm

I am not sure either party can govern, but I do know what to do about the current lack of leadership and disaster that everyone is talking about but doing nothing to fix, that is to vote all the members out of congress at the next election. I mean everyone of them. That is the only way to change this mess. Yes that may make it worst for the short term, but it will change the direction over the long run. Vote all of them out!!!!!

March 12, 2009 at 12:50 pm

Econ Guy

Where can we find the list of college economics courses that Obama has taken, who taught those courses, and what grades he made? The answers and non-answers that he has given about socialism give me serious doubts about the depth of his understanding of economics. If I had said the stammering and stuttering kinds of things he has said, I would have flunked my sophomore-level classes. I'm not being mean to the guy, just honest.

March 12, 2009 at 4:25 pm

cf

President Obama/Rahm Emanual are doing what they said they would do during the campaign, take your money & give it to your neighbors. If you work two or three jobs to pay for school or a home you can share your wealth. BTW President Obama's parents both had numerous degrees. He seems to have created a distortation of the facts. "Vote Buying, Unions, Corruption, Nepotism & Taxes" is the 'CHICAGO WAY' (I am a resident of & was born & raised in Illinois ). Rahm in 1999, became a managing director at Wasserstein Perella (now Dresdner Kleinwort), Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker, according to Congressional disclosures.Emanuel was named to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") by then President Bill Clinton in 2000. His position paid him $31,060 in 2000 and $231,655 in 2001.[29] During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities.[30] The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) later accused the board of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention." Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 when he ran for congress

March 12, 2009 at 7:11 pm

about this blog

  • Brian Sullivan joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in April 2008 as an anchor. He co-anchors the 10am-12pm ET hours of the FOX Business block. Prior to joining FBN, Sullivan served as an anchor for Bloomberg Television where he hosted the programs Morning Call and In Focus.

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