What the (Bleep) Just Happened? (56 page)

BOOK: What the (Bleep) Just Happened?
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ObamaCare and, 129, 131, 135, 137, 138, 144

unemployment and, 171–72

U.S. debt and, 107, 113

Penn, Kal, 143

Pennsylvania, 69, 343

People’s World
, 199

Perez, Antonio, 172–73

Petraeus, David, 243, 307

Petrobras, 186

Pfarrar, Chuck, 234

pharmaceutical companies, ObamaCare and, 130

Piven, Frances Fox, 39, 166

Plouffe, David, 46

Podesta, John, 65

Podhoretz, Norman, 24

Poland, 273–74

Portman, Rob, 335–36

Posner, Michael, 216

Power, Samantha, 266

premium-support model, for Medicare, 338

private property, ObamaCare and Founders’ intentions, 145–46

private-sector union membership, 196

Project Gunrunner, 294

Project Vote, 34

public housing, 83

public opinion.
See also
anger about Guantánamo Bay detention facility, 226

about ObamaCare, 131–32, 137–38, 141–42

about size of government, 86–87, 200

about socialism, 85–87

about unions, 196–97

public-sector unions

attempts to control pension and benefits costs of, 190–95, 343

public opinion and, 196–97

Putin, Vladimir, 123, 252, 272, 277

Qaradawi, Sheikh Yusuf al-, 245, 257

Radical in Chief
(Kurtz), 39

Rathke, Wade, 166

Reagan, Ronald, 5–6, 9, 25, 264

as Happy Warrior, 22, 23, 317, 319, 329–30, 359

taxes and, 95–96, 155, 156, 337

unemployment and, 171

recess appointments, by Obama administration, 326

Recovery Summer!, 96–97, 176

redistributionist agenda emotionalism and, 61–62, 148

expansion of government and, 59–74, 313–17

failure of, 326–27

foreign policy and, 346

Left and “virtuous” redistribution, 7–10, 26–28

Obama’s campaign rhetoric in 2008, 45–59

Obama’s education in socialist ideology, 38–44

Republicans’ naive beliefs about negotiation and, 71–73

taxes and class warfare rhetoric, 109, 147–55, 157–58, 161, 163

U.S. citizens’ anger over, 13–21

regulations, effect on employment, 178–88

REI, 143

Reich, Robert, 157

Reid, Harry, 21, 25, 148

Iraq and, 237–38

ObamaCare and, 131, 144

taxes and, 177

U.S. debt and, 108, 116, 119, 120

Rendell, Ed, 25

Republican Party.
See also
Ryan, Paul

disenchanted Democrats and, 25

failure to cut entitlement spending, 85

gains in elections of 2009–2011, 69–70

government shutdown in 1995 and, 104–5

naive belief in Obama’s willingness to cooperate on policy, 71–73

ObamaCare and, 131, 136

Tea Party’s growth and failure of, 331–32

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), 264

Revolutionary War, 15–16

Reynolds, Alan, 156

Rezko, Tony, 39

Rhode Island, 193

Rice, Condoleezza, 265

Rice, Susan, 215

Rivlin-Domenici commission, 337

Robb, Charles, 25

Robin Hood story, as false analogy to redistribution, 64

Rodriguez, Jose, 233

Rolling Stone
, 243

Romer, Christina, 91, 171, 172, 176

Roosevelt, Franklin, 22–23, 79–81, 82, 83, 84

Roosevelt, Theodore, 320

Roots of Obama’s Rage, The
(D’Souza), 205

Rose, Charlie, 75–76

Rose, Donald C., 43

Rules for Radicals
(Alinsky), 40–42, 62–63

Russia

Iran and, 252

U.S. debt and, 114–15, 123

U.S. foreign policy toward, 271–77, 350–51, 356

Ryan, Paul

budget plan of, 71–72, 107–8, 122, 334–40, 341–42

taxes and, 162–63

Sadat, Anwar el-, 254

Salafists, in Egypt, 259

Salazar, John, 226

Salazar, Ken, 185

Salvatrucha, Mara, 289

San Francisco Chronicle
, 58

Sarkozy, Nicolas, 262, 299, 304

Saudi Arabia, 69, 114, 137, 215, 355

Sawyer, Diane, 256

Schaller, Thomas, 57

Schultz, Eric, 58, 295

Schumer, Charles, 138, 226

Schweitzer, Peter, 94

Scott, Janny, 134

SEAL Target Geronimo
(Pfarrar), 234

Sebelius, Kathleen, 133, 141

Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More Than Ever, The
(Sunstein), 66

SEIU (Service Employees International Union)

intimidation campaign of, 198

ObamaCare and, 130, 139, 144

Occupy Wall Street and, 165, 168, 199

September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

Bush’s reaction to, 28–29

Obama’s reaction to, 203–6

Shahzad, Faisal, 220, 221

sharia law, Arab Spring revolts and, 245–46, 258–59, 268

Sharon, Ariel, 300

Sharpton, Al, 75

Shell Oil, 186

signing Statements, Obama administration and, 323

Simpson, Alan, 115

Simpson-Bowles deficit commission.
See
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

single-payer health care system, 128–30

Slaughter, Louise, 105, 139

Smith, Adam, 82

Smith, Alfred E., 22, 23, 24

socialism.
See also
Left

American exceptionalism and, 10–11

as government-directed redistribution, 8n

Obama’s czars and, 66–69

Obama’s education in ideology of, 38–44

Thatcher on immorality of, 359

Socialist International, 66

social justice.
See
redistributionist agenda

Social Security

increasing costs of, 83–84

need to reform, 339

Obama’s threat to withhold benefits, 118

as percentage of mandatory spending cost, 88

redistributionist agenda and, 62

Solyndra, 93, 264

Soros, George, 166

Sotomayor, Sonia, 48

South Carolina, 292

South Korea, 299

Specter, Arlen, 332

Standard & Poor’s, 121

Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), 67

START treaty, 276–77, 282

Stephanopoulos, George, 57

Stern, Andy, 198

Stewart, Jon, 59

stimulus.
See
economic stimulus

Suleiman, Omar, 255

Summers, Larry, 176, 196–97

Summit of the Americas, 213

Sunstein, Cass, 66

Supplemental Security Income, 84, 88

Supreme Court

ObamaCare and, 127

Obama on Warren Court, 44–45

Sotomayor and, 48

Sutton, Percy, 39

Syria, 260, 261–62, 352, 356

Taliban, 245–46, 258, 353, 354

Tariq al-Mansour, Khalid Abdullah, 39

TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), 68, 97, 98, 99, 112, 117.
See also
economic stimulus

taxes, 146–69

class warfare rhetoric and, 109, 147–55, 157–58, 161, 163

deductions and maneuverings to limit tax liabilities, 157–62

deficit spending and, 82

economic benefits of low tax rates, 95–96, 155–57

entitlement spending and, 153–54, 162–64, 176, 177

government’s lack of stewardship of tax revenues, 148–49

income redistribution and, 51

paid by oil and gas industry, 187

paid by wealthy, 161–65

reforms needed, 336–38

Ryan plan’s proposal for, 340

stimulus money and back taxes, 94–95

Sunstein on, 66

Teamsters, 144, 195–96

Tea Party movement

elections of 2010 and, 19–20

Occupy Wall Street contrasted, 166–67

Republican Party and, 331–32

Ryan’s budget plan and, 106, 108

Tennessee, 144

Terry, Brian, 286, 295, 296–97

Thatcher, Margaret, 164, 317, 319, 358–59

Third Way, 222

Thomas, Evan, 55, 85

Tibet, 278–79

Tides Center, 166

Tides Foundation, 130

Time
magazine, 80

“too big to fail” concept, 98, 99

Toomey, Pat, 332

Truman, Harry, 24

Trumka, Richard, 197–99

Tunisia, 254, 259, 352

Turkey, 214, 302, 303, 355

Tyler, Alexander, 313–14

unemployment, 170–88

“green jobs” and, 93–94

increasing rate of, 2007–2012, 63, 170–74

Obama’s “saving or creating” of

jobs, 92, 95–96, 170–74

regulations’ effect on, 178–88

stimulus and, 95–96

unemployment benefits and dependence on government, 84, 88, 174–77

unions and, 196–97

unions

auto bailouts and, 99–101

Boeing and, 179

costs to economy of, 197

ObamaCare and, 130

ObamaCare waivers and, 143–44

states’ attempts to control pension and benefits costs, 189–95

support of Obama’s programs, 195–99

unemployment and, 196–97

United Auto Workers (UAW), 100–101

United Federation of Teachers, 166

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, 189

United Nations, 206, 301, 357

United States

founding principles, 312–13

individuals’ changing relationship to government, 313–17

past warnings to, 327–29

UN Security Council, 350

UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 181

U.S. Congress.
See
Congress

U.S. Constitution

balanced-budget amendment proposed, 118–19, 341–42

Obama’s intention to “break free” of constraints of, 44–47

U.S. Supreme Court

Arizona’s immigration law and, 291, 292

Obama on Warren Court, 44–45

U.S. Treasury securities, foreign holdings of, 114–15

Utah, 292

Vedder, Richard, 197

Venezuela, 356

Virginia, 19, 69

voter identification requirements, 344

Wagoner, Rick, 101

waivers, from ObamaCare provisions, 142–45

Walesa, Lech, 274

Walker, Scott, 190–93, 196

Wall Street Journal
, 143

Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), 99, 180, 342

Walpin, Gerald, 95

War Powers Resolution, 268

Warren Court, Obama on, 44–45

Washington, Harold, 43

Washington Post
, 65

waterboarding.
See
enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs)

Waters, Maxine, 108

Waxman, Henry, 141

Weather Underground, 320

Webster, Daniel, 327

West Point, Obama’s Afghanistan speech at, 243–45

WFAA-TV, 58

White Castle, 143

Whole Foods, 189

“Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City” (Obama), 42

Wilson, Joe, 132–33

Wisconsin, 151, 190–93

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