Obama's Telling Case of Suspiciously Specific Denial

COMMENTARY | Remember when you were a kid and you did something you knew would get you in trouble with your parents and -- because you were so afraid of getting caught -- you inadvertently ratted yourself out because you couldn't keep your mouth shut?

President Barack Obama has been talking a lot lately, mostly about how things are improving and how anything that isn't improving isn't his fault. Why is that?

TV tropes calls it "suspiciously specific denial." Authors of the book, "Criminal Interrogation and Confessions," call it "deceptive denial."

So, from the president's chatter, what issues can we identify that he knows have gotten him into re-election trouble?

The Economy

Obama told chief executives at the Business Roundtable in Washington that "the economy is speeding up," Market Watch reported Tuesday. He told firefighters in Virginia the same thing last month.

The Washington Times reported Thursday that the U.S. government recorded its worst monthly deficit in history in February.

Evidently, Obama doesn't know that "speeding up" as you're heading toward an economic cliff isn't quite a good thing.

Unemployment

Obama keeps saying we're "turning the corner" on jobs.

But a March 7 survey by Gallup showed the Job Creation Index fell to +14 in February from January's +16 and their March 8 calculations, tallied by Chief Economist Dennis Jacobe, show unemployment hit 9.1 percent in February and underemployment rose from 18.7 percent to 19.1 percent.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that weekly unemployment claims rose by 8,000.

Still, even though the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday that 227,000 more jobs were added, the unemployment rate -- also calculated by conducting "household surveys" -- held curiously steady at 8.3 percent. Of course, the BLS also admits "it's likely" that their numbers "include at least some" illegal immigrants.

Gas Prices

In 2008, Obama said that under his plan "energy costs would necessarily skyrocket." To play his part, Obama's new energy secretary, Stephen Chu, said he was trying to "figure out how to boost the price of gasoline" to European levels, to wheedle consumers into buying more-efficient cars.

Now that Americans are paying more than $4 -- and nearly $6 per gallon in parts of Florida and California -- the president is again pushing green energy.

Didn't Solyndra and the Chevy Volt teach him anything?

"We can't just rely on fossil fuels from the last century," the U.K. Guardian quoted Obama saying at the Daimler truck plant in Mount Holly, N.C. on Wednesday. "We've got to continually develop new sources of energy."

So, he's pushing for $1 billion in tax credits and grants to fund the construction of charging stations for electric cars and bio-fuel pumps for alternative fuel vehicles to encourage people to switch to electric cars.

In case you've forgotten, Obama also warned in 2008 that he would bankrupt the coal industry. Considering that coal produces 57 percent of the nation's electricity supply, where does the president suggest we get the electricity to power all of those new charging stations?

And the bio-fuels? They don't really exist yet.

"We're making new investments in the development of gasoline" made from "algae," Obama told listeners at the University of Miami last month. "If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we'll be doing all right."

Of course, he didn't mention the $14 million it's going to cost taxpayers to find out "if" they "can figure out how to make energy out of that."

Then there's the exit poll results by CBS on Super Tuesday that showed 77 percent of respondents citing high has prices as a factor in weighing their vote.

In January Obama blamed Republicans when he rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline. So why did he personally lobby Senate Democrats to vote against it on Thursday?

Obamacare

In 2009 Obama swore it would not add to the deficit. But a 2010 report by the Employment Policies Institute at Cornell University said it could cost as much as $50 billion more per year than originally thought. The Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius -- the one in charge of implementing this fiasco -- said she has "no idea" if it will add to the deficit or not. "Ignorance is bliss," so they say.

In the meantime, the majority of Americans want it repealed. Twenty-seven states have sued and the Supreme Court will render a verdict on its constitutionality just prior to November's general election.

The ongoing contraception mandate Catholic Church/Sandra Fluke debacles aren't going to help.

Yes, despite the harsh reality that Americans are living each day, Obama keeps telling us that everything is getting better.

"Suspiciously specific denial," or "deceptive denial," call it what you will. The thing is, when you feel the need to keep telling someone that everything is fine, it's usually because you know it isn't already obvious.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-telling-case-suspiciously-specific-denial-015200568.html

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