OPINION:
The liberal media went wild over a video of Mitt Romney saying people who pay no taxes and live off government handouts have no reason to vote for him. Left unsaid is that Barack Obama has been running on exactly that platform. When it comes to the culture of dependency, President Obama built that.
Mr. Obama views government as a bottomless well of free handouts. Every idea, every proposal, every promise Mr. Obama makes involves the government giving something to somebody. His urgent focus is to expand and strengthen government’s role in everyone’s daily life. This was illustrated in the Obama campaign slideshow “The Life of Julia,” a detailed roadmap for cradle-to-grave dependence on government. Every slide began with, “Under President Obama” — which the White House believes is the proper place for Americans.
Mr. Obama said he wanted to spread the wealth around and fundamentally transform America. Unfortunately, he has. There are more Americans in poverty now than when President Lyndon Johnson declared war on it in 1964. Mr. Obama is called the “food-stamp president” for good reason. A record 47 million Americans per month — almost one in six — are on food stamps, which is practically double the number from when Mr. Obama took office. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack posited that food stamps are an “economic stimulus” that actually creates wealth. “Every dollar of [food stamps] generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity,” he claimed in 2011.
The White House also believes in the miraculous effects of unemployment benefits. In 2011, White House spokesman Jay Carney said handouts to the jobless were critical to the economy because “every place that, that money is spent has added business and that creates growth and income for businesses that leads them to decisions about jobs, more hiring.” So unemployment creates jobs — such political doublespeak would make George Orwell blush.
The vaunted “stimulus” program was nearly a trillion dollars of giveaways to well-connected insiders. It failed to produce the promised job benefits but did prop up a network of Obama cronies who would have a hard time competing on a level playing field. All Mr. Obama can do is spend other people’s money and run up debt like a teenager with a credit card. He has no concept of where wealth comes from; he just assumes he has a right to appropriate it. The results of his policies have been predictable: a stalled economy, record numbers of Americans not working and astronomical debt. Yet Mr. Obama continues to promise more handouts, more programs, more giveaways, more government.
Mr. Obama’s voter base is typified by the euphoric 2008 supporter who said she, “never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know, if I help him, he’s gonna help me.” There is no reason for the moocher class to vote for someone like Mr. Romney who promises fiscal accountability. He threatens their government goodies.
The Washington Times
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