The indiscreet voicemail, left by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) for a lobbyist, sounded a bit like a “shakedown”, which is no big surprise.

I know from first-hand experience that Ms. Norton can use veiled threats and thuggish behavior when she wants to have her way.

During my time as the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), I was the recipient of late night phone calls at my home, during which Holmes wanted to “discuss” why GSA wasn’t doing more to house government agencies in certain parts of the District of Columbia, in particular, in areas where gentrification was occurring slowly.

Norton’s voracious appetite for “more” often led her to raise her voice and make veiled threats.  Once, she even trumped up a meeting where she advocated for more business on behalf of a real estate organization that I later learned had donated to her campaign.  When I protested these tactics and refused to attend further such meetings, the political pressure was cranked up and political unpleasantness became the norm.  Norton always claimed she was just doing her job.

Many Americans may be shocked to hear Holmes’ indiscreet voicemail, but, from my experiences in Washington, it seems that Holmes may have learned these tactics from the top leadership of her party.  Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Majority Whip, has been especially thuggish in the past, screaming and issuing threats at the homes of federal agency leaders, should one of his pork projects be questioned.

The “gimme”, as practiced by some Democrat legislators, can range from subtle and respectful, as is probably appropriate for any request, to disrespectful and threatening.  It seems as if there are some legislators who want to make sure there is no doubt in your mind that if you don’t cough up the goods during the shakedown, then negative consequences will occur.

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After three weeks, most Americans still do not understand all of the behind-closed-door deals that had to be cut on the $965 Billion dollar bailout of Greece.  It’s yet another complicated deal, with little transparency to let non-governmental folks understand the specifics.

But, I do understand the power of a dream that can inspire a new generation.  And I know that Obama just killed that dream.

Obama’s decision to expand bailouts to include Greece coincided with a Senate hearing on another decision Obama  made to cut funding for a government space travel program, killing the dream of a permanent station on the Moon or a landing on Mars.

As an unintended, but cruel, joke,  Obama’s decision to retreat from space exploration has been pushed as an example of  the President’s fiscal discipline.  No doubt, Obama was hoping that such cuts would mask the fact that  he has endorsed the greatest deficits spending in the history of the United States.

But, as with many of Obama’s posturings, fiscal discipline was a canard.  Obama’s decision to cut NASA’s space travel wasn’t fiscally disciplined, it was just ill-informed.

Let’s take another look  at these two decisions.

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April was a busy month for bad:   lame financial reform legislation, served up three days in a row like rancid leftovers, SEC fraud filings, Wall Street Hearings in Congress, Greek bailouts, oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and car bombs in Times Square.  With so much occurring, on so many fronts, little attention has been paid to President Obama’s often inflammatory commencement speech at the University of Michigan.

Let’s consider a few of President’s Obama’s pearls of wisdom that he shared with Michigan graduates.

“All you hear in Washington is the clamor of politics – a noise that can drown out the voices of the people who sent you there.” This, of course, is precious, coming as it does from  the leader of the Democratic party, which had to twist arms and bribe legislators to vote for a flawed healthcare bill because members of congress–who were listening to the “voices of the people”–were afraid to vote for a bloated bill that did little to address the most pressing problems in healthcare, a bill which their constituents loudly and repeatedly told congress they didn’t want.

“We’ve got politicians calling each other all sorts of unflattering names.” which may be why in 400 speeches and Q&A sessions, delivered in his first year in office, Obama finds occasion to demonize or blame President George W. Bush, and why Obama, 16 months  into his presidency, continues to use Bush as the whipping boy for bad left wing policies.

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Here we go again. Harry Reid intends to force a vote at 5pm on Monday in a desperate attempt to push yet another bloated bill that will do more harm than good.

This time, the Democrats seem to have zeroed in on reforming the entire American finance system without bothering to read, or even consider, the many, negative, unintended consequences to our economy (and especially to small businesses) that this legislation will unleash.

Once again, the Democrats are keen to push a flawed agenda to capitalize on the remarkably convenient timing of the ever-so-welcomed, SEC fraud charges levied against Goldman Sachs.

Once again, Democrats are keen to push long standing, left-wing, ideological dreams that Americans have long resisted.  But, pity the poor small business community that will, once again, be forced to pay a disproportional cost of the 1336 page monstrosity of a financial reform bill.

Embedded deep within the Democrats’ financial bill is an inexplicable assault on Angel Investors who help drive small business expansion and entrepreneurialism.  Sections 412 and 413 (p.380-381) adjust (i.e.increase) the “Accredited Investor” dollar threshold to $1 million dollars—which could affect the amount of angel investing, especially those that invest in small businesses.

If that isn’t enough bad news, in Section 740B“Small Business Loan Data Collection”, (p.1219-1224), Congress requires the collection of proprietary data, and storage for three years of data that must be obtained from any small business attempting a loan.

Then, Congress stipulates that this information about the small business must be made available to the public upon request.  These are the kinds of intrusive requirements that could only be drafted by persons who have no experience in what it takes to start, maintain and grow a business.

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Welcome, Goldman Sachs, to the growing list of people and companies that have been attacked and demonized by the fickle, Obama Administration to score political points.   You certainly did not want to land in the position (no one does), but, nevertheless, here you are, excoriated in the press and at the center of a political feeding frenzy.

Time to take a deep breath, calmly assess the situation, and plan your next moves.  Your cause is not lost, and you have enormous resources, that could be used as effective weapons should you choose to use them.

First, you have to be honest with yourself and understand that you made some huge mistakes over the past few months.  For whatever reason, the Obama Administration singled you out to be the political piñata and now hopes that, by repeated whacks in public, you will produce the political candy that will get Dems re-elected.

Here, too, you should understand that the Democratic leadership carefully picks its victims.  There are many potential villains, but only the most vulnerable are ever singled out for destruction.   The political hyenas took your full measure and singled you out from the pack of other financial institutions because you looked least likely to put up a strong defense.

Maybe you went to one too many silly photo ops at the White House; maybe you attended too many mindless campaign events; maybe your statements were too timid.  But, you made one, or more, of these particular mistakes, and, as a result, the predators are circling, hoping to skin you alive and mount your hide atop the Capitol.

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The Obama Administration, once again, is in need of a villain to serve as a political piñata, and it is now clear that Goldman Sachs has been selected to fill the villain void.

Careful observers will note that Team Obama  is never content to argue the potential benefits of their increasingly dodgy legislation (e.g. Stimulus, Healthcare, Cap and Trade).  Obama is no fool; he understands that his wealth redistribution schemes, his desire to grow government, to provide new kickbacks to Unions, and to crush small business growth are so antithetical to most Americans that passage and support require that a villain be found that can be blamed for any and all possible evils.

Already, we have seem Team Obama single out CEOs of automotive manufacturing corporations, financial industries, drug manufacturers, and health insurance companies for special, public floggings.  So, it should come as no surprise that, once again, President Obama has found a convenient, new villain, Goldman Sachs, to be publicly flogged and abused, to help drive support for the President’s complicated, new, financial regulations and bank oversight legislation.

Cynical minds must wonder at the timeliness of the SEC’s charges of fraud levied against Goldman Sachs . Consider the exhaustion of Congress after the recent healthcare reform struggle.  As a result, the legislation for financial reform, among other proposed reforms,  had been lagging and moving lethargically in the Senate.  With another election cycle approaching, legislators were finding it hard to rally interest in, yet another, bloated piece of legislation which did little to address the Wall Street abuses that initially caused the interest in the financial reform.

All 41 GOP senators were united, voicing strong language against a useless, toothless piece of legislation, and their objections began to garner support.  Even Obama apologist,  Paul Krugman, weighed in, saying that no reform was better than the lame legislation currently being considered.

But then, just as Financial reform was crawling on its belly, going off to die, the “crisis” with Goldman Sachs suddenly occurred.  How remarkably convenient!   Suddenly, the financial reform legislation has new life, and a pitchfork campaign to further demonize Goldman Sachs is in full gear.

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A small business association called the American Small Business League (ASBL) did something unexpected this week.  ASBL President, Lloyd Chapman, decided to take the Obama Administration to court and expose the growing divergence between the Administration’s stated goals to meet the federal statutes for small business participation versus the Obama Administration’s total failure on federal, small business contracting.

By any measure, Obama’s record on federal, small business contracting has been abysmal.  The recent, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Economic Trends Report confirms that “for small business owners, 2009 ended with a thud.”

Many factors have contributed to the disaster in small business contracting.   A rush to push the $787 billion Stimulus funding quickly gave federal contracting officers no real options other than to dump the additional federal money onto existing federal contracts that are held by the largest companies.  There just was not enough time to conduct procurements to encourage the participation of small businesses.  So, small businesses received very little of any of the new federal business or the loans anticipated from the $787 billion Stimulus spending, even though President Obama and Democrats in Congress stated that awards to small businesses were the primary goal.

Worse yet, Obama decided to delay the long-overdue need to increase the number of federal contracting officers that are in critical short supply.  Ten years ago, each federal contracting officer was responsible for an average of  $300 thousand dollars of federal contracts.   Today, each federal contracting officer is responsible for $50 million dollars in federal contracts.   Put bluntly, contracting officers have been stretched thinly and no longer have the time needed to open procurements to small businesses.

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The Obama Administration is putting the best face on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) recent March 2010 jobless numbers report, touting the steady nationwide jobless number of 9.7%.  But for minorities, the news is bad and getting worse.

The really bad news is buried in the middle of the 38 page report.  The BLS data reveals an alarming and growing divergence between the number of white and the number of minorities that are unemployed.  Worse yet, it is clear that minorities, especially African Americans, are falling further behind.  If unchecked, the long term implications of that imbalance are nightmarish for the nation.

Larry Summers and others in the Administration have not yet shown much interest in the appalling unemployment rates for minorities and, instead, exude childlike enthusiasm at the nation’s overall jobless rate that held steady for the 2^nd consecutive month.

While the unemployment for white Americans averaged 9.3%, African Americans averaged 16.6%, just a little less than double the rate of white unemployment.   Hispanic Americans reported 13.3% unemployment, while recent, young veterans are averaging 14.7%.  Black men, over 20 years old, are showing 20.2% unemployment and teenaged, African Americans, ages 16-19, of both sexes, show a mind-boggling 39.3% unemployed.  Hispanic teens also report a staggering 30.3% unemployment.  The long-term repercussions of these unemployment numbers are troubling, yet the Administration is curiously silent.

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An unlikely power figure has emerged in the Obama Administration. He’s not a great orator, nor trendy, nor well-known.  But, if the ability to influence national leaders, shape a national agenda and influence public opinion are indicators, then, Peter Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is, arguably, the most powerful and,  potentially, most dangerous, man in Washington, DC.

As Director of OMB, Peter Orszag is the arbiter of all financial information shared with Congress.  A series of little-known, OMB “circulars”, such as A-11, have established the rules, and repercussions if violated, by which Executive branch agencies communicate with Congress, especially regarding budgets, funding and agency priorities.

OMB, the President’s gatekeeper for budget matters, executes a complicated juggling act, balancing Obama Administration priorities and budgetary spin, against agency needs.   Frequently, to secure a critical vote, an elected member may be rewarded with a pork project for the folks back home, and, often, it’s the OMB director that has to figure out how to avoid the appearance of a bald-faced bribe, while manipulating CBO scoring on infrastructure projects.  Orszag, as the former head of CBO, understands exactly how this game is played.  Thus, most of the project and budget information that Congress reviews have been shaped by OMB’s preferences.

Peter Orszag controls much of the content and quantity of the data flow to Congress, to the President and to American citizens.  Orszag has oversight over most of the federal government’s critical data reporting structures.  Apart from the ineffective and error-prone Stimulus reporting sites (data.gov, recovery.gov),, OMB oversees federal contract opportunities and federal grants.

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This past week in Washington, DC has seen the GOP actively engaged in discussions and strategizing about taking back the House of Representatives and taking back the Senate.  But before the GOP, Tea Party, or anyone else, can take back the House or Senate, they will face a more difficult and important battle–taking back our language.

Democrats have made an art form of mis-speak, consistently showing only a passing familiarity with good, old Merriam-Webster.  Think Kafka and Orwell, where words are elastic, and plain-speaking is all but abandoned.

Understanding what President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are saying is difficult; for, though the language may seem to be English, in reality, they speak a different language, the language of the Democrats in DC.  To understand exactly what they are saying, Americans need an “English –Democratic Party Dictionary.   Here is a sampler of some of the most important words and phrases that cause confusion:

• INVESTMENT: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi frequently talk about the need for “investments”. For example, ” President Obama recently identified a need to invest in American infrastructure (and education)  What Mr. Obama and Nancy Pelosi really seem to mean when they talk about “investments” is that government needs to spend more.  Democrats  have learned from extensive polling that disguising calls for more government spending, and even greater national debt, are more palatable (to those that have not yet figured out the scam) if,  they talk about spending as  “investments”.  As most Americans know, making an investment  implies a return worthy of the risk.  Investors always want their money back and a profit to boot.  Fat chance of that!  According to the Democrat-version, “investments” are just spending by another name.  There will never be a return, and taxpayers putting their money are risk will never get their funds back, nor is there any chance of a decent return.

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In December 1908, the President of Haiti, Nord Alexis, attempted one last, desperate, act before leaving office; spiriting his family away to the safety of Jamaica, then New Orleans, to escape the rising tumult in the Haitian capital of  Port-au-Prince.  I give thanks that he was successful, for Nord Alexis was my ancestor.  His foresight, in getting his family out of Haiti and into the U.S., made my life, with the freedom, opportunity, and prosperity that only America can offer, possible.   My story is just one of many strange incidents connecting Haiti and the United States over the past hundred years.  With the devastation wreaked by the recent earthquake, it is clear that a new chapter in Haitian-U.S. relations is about to be written.

Americans should be proud of our quick response to the devastating earthquake that has wiped out virtually all services, businesses, schools, and institutions in Port-au-Prince.   Our President, Barack Obama, has moved government resources and emergency management experts to the area without hesitation, debate or delay.

Within hours, the US Air Force had reestablished air control and the long line of aid and assistance began to flow.   The Army’s 82, All-American Division,  is already on the ground helping to reassert law and order, as well as assist in the difficult job of distribution of relief aid.   Each day more planes arrive in Haiti, with even more assistance.

More impressively, American citizens and private companies have already raised millions in relief with more on the way.   Dozens of organizations such as the American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services,  and Salvation Army, have already mobilized their resources and are on the ground providing relief efforts in a hundred different ways.

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Isn’t it finally time for the behind-closed-door racial slurs to die?  If our legislators truly do represent the people, then, how is it possible that in this nation, with so many people, of so many different ethnicities and races, an individual could  be castigated for accented speech or the texture of their hair or the color of their skin?

I was born in 1958, at the cusp of one of the biggest change in our country’s ideology– the civil rights movement.  But, six years later, desegregation had still not infiltrated all aspects of our national society and in Louisiana, it had had almost no effect at all.

As  a six year old, desegregation had little impact, until the day that Bobby Kennedy came to our house and, sitting at our kitchen table, convinced my dad to “try once more” and apply to have me attend an all-white, private school in New Orleans.  That day changed my life.

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Everyone keeps saying how lucky we are that the “crotch” bomber on Flight 253 was unable to ignite the explosives hidden in his underwear, but I am sorry to report  that  the attack was a actually a huge success.  The plane was not destroyed and no lives were lost, but the larger, strategic goals of al Qaeda were certainly advanced.

Too many Americans, and many in our Department of Homeland Security, forget that al Qaeda targeted our economic power and symbols on 9/11.   The goal, as Osama bin Laden announced, was to force, or cause the US to take actions, that would erode our economic prosperity and weaken us as a  nation .

Unfortunately, we have given bin Laden a victory he does not deserve.  DHS has, for some time, been unaware that the failure of many of the security measures and procedures that they have championed, has resulted in additional, self inflicted wounds.

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President Obama, in his speech on the economy, given at the Bookings Institute, once again, tried to be all things to all people.  Most of the speech was aimed at the dwindling number of devotees who were anxious to hear that additional taxpayer revenues would continue to flow to favored, pet projects.

Nor were these fans disappointed, for, despite running $1.2 trillion in annual deficits, President Obama has once again promised to borrow from the future to fund yet another round of pork and dodgy projects disguised as infrastructure and green investments.

At the same time the President was busy adding more spending programs to our bloated budget, he insisted, once again, that he was committed to fiscal discipline.  Obama said “We’ve combed the budget, cutting waste and excess wherever we could.”  Really?

What programs have been cut and what sorts of excess were eliminated?  For the curious….here goes.  After several months, Obama’s OMB has released a list of the top four programs that have been identified after an exhaustive search and combing of the federal budget.

The Administration reviewed over 38,000 different ideas, to aggressively root out wasteful practices, many of them submitted by government employees.   After much work, synthesis,and review, OMB announced the four cost-cutting idea finalists:

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Lawmakers in New York and Illinois were quick to recognize that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial offered a new opportunity to secure billions of additional taxpayer funds.

Both states are reeling from the combined effect of economic slowdown and years of profligate spending on government, grown far beyond what the tax base will support.   Thanks to President Obama’s decision to transfer terrorists from GITMO to U.S. soil, both states, and the city of New York, are going to be paid almost $3 billion dollars to secure, transport, administer, house, and contend with the requirements associated with having these terrorists in the United States.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the four other terrorists and all Americans associated with the trial, will require rigorous, differentiated security measures: twenty-four hour a day surveillance, transportation, housing and judicial security.  Certainly, New York will be required to raise its threat level to better prepare and respond to the new threat of  sympathetic  jihadists using the trial, as a showpiece of their own, to make a violent, retaliatory public statement.

Federal security and law enforcement agencies, such as DHS, FBI and US Marshals  will be working round the clock to provide the appropriate security, but will be unable to do all of the work required. New York, state and city, law enforcement officers will be required to share the burden, and will expect compensation from the federal government to provide this level of support.  Heavily-unionized, public employees in both states, are about to receive the most coveted of all Labor Union prizes, unlimited overtime that extends for years.

Bringing KSM to trial will be hugely expensive and will essentially represent a federalization of much of the New York state and city law enforcement and public services for the 5+ years that the trial process is likely to run.

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The success of the Chicago-style politics of Dick Durbin, Rahm Emmanuel and Barack Obama, characterized by brass knuckles, intense bullying, finger pointing and public attacks has been mesmerizing.  Meanwhile, very  little attention has been focused on the California-style politics of obfuscation and intimidation practiced by Nancy Pelosi and her sidekick, Henry Waxman.  Ignoring California-style politics is a mistake: these guys are good!

The art of obfuscation is central to California-style politics.  Think back on Speaker Pelosi’s byzantine explanation of why she called career CIA employees liars.  Incomprehensible, deliberately vague misdirection characterizes the California-style of politics.  Never be precise; never say what you mean, and certainly, never let facts interfere with the spin.

Cumbersome, incoherent  legislation is another example of obfuscation, California-style: thousands of pages of  gobble-de-gook, the Stimulus, at 1000 pages, the Energy bill at 1100 pages and the Healthcare bill version #1 at 1300 pages and the latest House healthcare bill at a whopping 1990 pages.

Pelosi seems to have assembled these monstrosities so that few in Congress can read the legislation in its entirety before she calls the vote.   Deceptive executive summaries, with left wing talking points, attached to these gargantuan documents are yet another form of obfuscation.

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It’s okay for the Chinese to lecture President Obama on free market capitalism because he clearly doesn’t understand even the most basic principles of capitalism  and needs all the help he can get.  What’s not okay is for the Chinese to lecture the American people.  Here’s what I think:

Americans understand that prosperity, true prosperity, is created by an economic system where strong dynamic firms with better ideas, management and motivated employees  are free to prosper and the weak are allowed to fail.  This kind of Darwinian economic system has allowed our country to prosper for over 200 years.

Americans also understand that the federal government doesn’t really create jobs that lead to economic growth because Americans know that any job the government creates  can only be paid for by increasing taxes or by borrowing money–probably from the Chinese.  Nor is there any need to remind Americans that small businesses are the engine that move our economy, and that small businesses create 3 out of every 4 jobs in this country.

On the other hand, there is an urgent need to help President Obama learn the basic principles of a free enterprise system and how jobs are actually created in a market economy, for he is plunging headlong in the opposite direction.

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“Make It So!” Jean-Luc Picard, the intrepid, clever and compassionate leader of the USS Enterprise, often issued this directive to his loyal crew to execute a plan, to save the ship, themselves, or entire worlds.  And, the Enterprise crew got it done.  Consider President Barack Obama, worlds to appease, a nation to cajole, and a Congress with more plans to assimilate than the Borg. With jobless numbers at 10.2%, Obama is likely wondering: what went wrong?

Picard’s introspective and analytical nature bluntly assessed his actions, refusing excuses, with a plan to improve his performance.  Obama may spend time on the White House holodeck, envisioning “what if” scenarios, but an assessment of the year since his election, shows that few of Obama’s campaign promises have come to fruition.

The deficit of $459 billion, which President Obama inherited from George Bush has grown to $1.4 trillion, while the economy has shrunk.  The 3.5-million-jobs-created campaign promise has been watered down to claim 600,000 jobs “saved” .

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President Obama’s decision to appoint so many czars is  clearly troubling members of Congress, who have taken the  unusual step of holding hearings on the issue.  The decision of the two Senate committees is remarkable because a President’s management style is rarely questioned by the Senate or House during the first year of his term, especially when they are all members of the same political party.   But, Obama’s decision to appoint almost 40 policy czars, and then give them broad powers and budgetary responsibilities, has created a more serious constitutional issue.  

The Senate is primarily concerned that President Obama may be end-running the Constitution, along with the growing fear, shared by many citizens, that the power and the extraordinary amount of funding that is controlled by the Czars may be undermining the authorities of the senate-confirmed agency heads on whom the Senate has placed its imprimatur and its trust. 

Czars currently influence or directly control over a trillion dollars of government spending, which is more than the spending of the entire federal government during the Reagan Administration.  And, yet, few of the Obama  czars were ever vetted through the traditional review process where potential conflicts of interest are revealed.  Nor are Obama’s czars accountable to the Senate to justify policy or spending decisions. 

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