Good Government

Free Market Friday: Tone-deaf

November 14, 2014

Michael Carnuccio

The president noted after the recent election that he hears the one-third of Americans who voted, but he also hears the two-thirds of Americans who didn’t vote. The president then suggested he would listen to and work with Republicans and their policy suggestions, so long as he approved.

Before the election, President Barack Obama noted that many Democrats on the ballot supported his agenda and stated the elections were a referendum on his policies. Now, the president, some of his staff and some national media assert the elections weren’t a referendum on his policies, after all, but a backlash against incumbents or a bad mix of seats up for re-election that didn’t bode well for Democrats.

It’s curious that most of the incumbent losses were experienced by Democrats while Republicans made significant gains in both women and minorities elected.

Given the significant electoral changes, such views by the chief executive demonstrate a tone deafness that only an out-of-touch politician could suffer.

In reality, this is the first election that has followed the implementation of many of the president’s policies. Millions of Americans have learned that they actually won’t be able to keep the plan or doctor they liked. Millions have suffered health insurance premium increases exceeding 20 percent since 2010 – not an average reduction of $2,500 per family as promised by the president. Millions are now trying to figure how to pay the exorbitantly high deductibles associated with health insurance plans that meet the Affordable Care Act’s requirements.

African-Americans have been hurt by the tragic decrease in labor force participation, assaults by the Obama administration on popular school choice programs for African-American children in Washington, D.C., and Louisiana and an average decline in household income.

Instead of embracing the opportunity to build the Keystone pipeline, which would help kick-start an economic recovery and create thousands of jobs, the president has chosen to listen to environmental extremists. To make matters worse, the Environmental Protection Agency is headed full throttle towards implementing rules that will fulfill the president’s promise of making electricity prices skyrocket.

Bureaucratic dysfunction, scandal and failures from multiple federal agencies have all demonstrated the best that big government has to offer.

In response, the people have spoken loud and clear. The president isn’t listening. Hopefully the new Senate leadership is.