Badda bing: “Obama is anti-E F Hutton. When he speaks no one listens”

Charles Krauthammer nails it again. No other talking head can match the man’s ability to distill it all down to a few simple, memorable words.

“Well, we were talking here about how detached and disengaged he appears and how disturbing it is particularly for Obama’s allies in the press. But the irony is that even if he were undetached and concerned and involved the markets have shown that he is the anti-E. F. Hutton – when he speaks no one listens. The markets take no notice whatsoever of what he does and the reason is because he has no idea. He’s out of bullets. He’s out of arrows. He doesn’t have a clue.”

He doesn’t even have a clue where he might find a clue. He’s cluelessly clueless.

And just in case you’re too young to understand the E. F. Hutton reference, here’s one of their commercials from the late 70s or early 80s.

This post was last modified on August 13, 2011

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View Comments (58)

  • I'm thinking CJPR might be another one of those "enlightened" liberals that thinks reading a book is time wasted.

    • David's analysis does have that effect on people. It is tough to battle with him and win. so far I think the count is David, Infinity - challengers, 0.

  • If you don't realize how badly Dubya Bush and the Republicans
    wrecked the U. S. economy during their eight years in the White
    House, there's not much anyone can tell you, my man. But don't strain
    your memory too hard. The Republicans are in the process of
    destroying the American economy right now -- more totally than they
    ever did before. This time they don't even have the excuse of a war
    or 9-11. But the GOP doesn't need any of those cop-outs. Their
    "Balanced Budget" Propaganda today is about to create a Depression
    that will make the one the Republicans gave us in 1929 look like a
    cakewalk. Enjoy the Ride, fellas.

    • Can you please elaborate? I would love to see your fiscal analysis of commodity pricing and government regulation in housing markets and how it did not lead to the financial collapse of 2008. I'm quite interested. See, you've failed to underscore the economic isolation of things like wars which self-generate internal revenue while providing external debt simultaneously, while showing your extreme ineptitude by considering that government regulation in loan applications for houses didn't have an effect (or even be the root cause) of our 2008 collapse.

      I love your premise though. The sad part is that it is fiscally implausible to place blame on Bush entirely. (I will say here that I hated him myself, not for the wars so much, but for NCLB and Medicare Part D)

      Next, let's analyze the fall of the greats, such as FANM, FREM, and Lehman. Once again, where do you see the fall of these giants? Oh yes, government intervention.

      It's a shame you leftists are so ignorant of economic theory or applied economics and simply parrot fed lines from the media.

      Next.

    • I'd be interested to here more, CJPR. Can you explain how a proposed balanced budget amendment could lead to another 1930s style depression?

  • And when Obama wins his Landslide re-election in 2012 -- as he will -- what's poor Charlie K. gonna be saying then? I'm sure Charlie K. will be just as Eloquent in Defeat -- after his 2012 Tea Party candidate goes down in flames.

  • So Carney said Obama WILL have ideas on deficit reduction??? WILL HAVE??? How long does it take that dipstick to come up with an idea? Oh yeah that's right he's gotta wait for his buddies Axelrod and Ayers to tell him what to say.

    I have an idea - FIRE the entire White House staff....that's probably tens of million right off the top

  • The person you want to hear from ain't Obama, but whoever is on the other end of his BlackBerry. Obama is just the frontman.

  • 'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.'
    -Ronald Reagan

  • Actually He is technically incorrect, somebody must be listening, because every time Obummer opens his mouth, the Stock Market dives.

    • The day Obama took office (Jan 20, 2009) the Dow opened at 8218.22. It closed today at 11,482.19, (+29%, so far, during his 2.5 years). The day George W. Bush took office (Jan 20, 2001) the Dow closed at 10,578.24. The Dow got killed during eight Bush years, losing 904 points or about 8%. You would have been better off passbook savings or checking account interest.
      When it comes to hard numbers, do your research first; then you won't need to pull your head out of your ass.

      • Woah woah, IHTM commenters, back off the guy. Mitch, I know you're probably as irrelevant as JM Keynes when it comes to true financial analysis, but I'm gonna clue you in on something.

        Check out the price of gold the day Obama took office, and check out the price of gold today. That speaks far more volumes of any market then does the DOW's closing numbers.

        Next?

        • All I'm looking at is the scoreboard...that's it. Heck, under Clinton the Dow popped 226% (3k to 10K). If you're into gold, that's great! You're a huge winner.
          As I write this, gold is at 1816. That's too high, goldbugs. A gold bubble is on the way. I've bought a bunch of puts with a strike of $1400 (underlying gold price). I might fail here, but I believe 1816 is way too high and gold will collapse to around 1300 by the next election. But that's just me.

          • Why would over 30% of gold hedgers and investors drop all assets in gold over the next year and a half?

            You're either ignorantly optimistic, or simply ignorant if you think the economy is going to improve over the next year.

          • Then I lose my put investment. I lost a bunch before, I'm sure I'll lose a bunch again.
            I remember when the Japanese bought Hawaii...there was a fixed amount of property which could never lose its value....Hawaii property collapsed...and the japs got killed.
            The Gold Bug bubble will pop...sooner or later, it'll pop. Gold won't stay at $1816 forever.

          • As long as the economy keeps tanking, and Obama thinks it's the summer of recovery, gold will go up.
            The thing is, gold is an inflation hedge, if it goes down, you lose nothing in buying power. The price of everything else, except maybe oil, will go with gold.

          • No, it'll go higher. Actually, I look at it as the dollar going lower, since gold has a steady and intrinsic value of it's own. The dollar, sad to say, no longer does.

          • I totally agree, it is not so much gold rising but the debasement of the dollar. To the Swiss, whose currency is very strong versus the dollar, is an ounce of gold, really as expensive to them is it is to us?

          • Well, dude, check out Jesse's Cafe Americain.

            http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

            The guy is nervous. The problem is gold can go higher, but it means that the economy is sick indeed. However, going by what he said about buying silver, I will not put anything into an etf or into any metal that isn't shipped to my door. Turns out there is a fractional reserve scheme going on with silver.

          • BTW, I'll never forget Reagan's tenure. On his watch, the Dow traveled from under 1k to 3K...just awesome! Credit where credit is due.

          • After Carter dug that deep hole there wasn't a person in the room that didn't know to stop digging. Ron just pointed the way. Oh, and brought down the USSR and improved the lot for hundreds of millions of people, not just the hundreds of millions of Americans either.

      • MH: "When it comes to hard numbers, do your research first; then you won’t need to pull your head out of your ass."

        You might want to look at some HARD numbers that say we were in a "mini recession" the year GWB took office, or the fact that some planes hit some buildings somewhere pretty HARD and a HARD war sorta' happened, or the fact that a Democrat held House refused to address a HARD over-heated housing market as well... but then again, with YOUR obviously swelled head so far up YOUR ass, it would be HARD to stuff all that reading material in as well.

        • Don't give me any bullshit excuses...just look at the scoreboard. The planes hit because the Commander in Chief had his head up his ass and failed to do his job. NO excuses there, either.

          • MH: "The planes hit because the Commander in Chief had his head up his ass and failed to do his job. NO excuses there, either."

            You might want to do a little of your OWN research about how hard it was for GWB to get his people vetted and seated around the table. Seems some silly folks had a problem w/ a stolen election or something like that, and kept blocking aqppointments. It's all right there, go read it.

            You might also want to remember that the previous administration castrated our intelligence community and drew down our military as "unnecessary" and a "peace dividend" following the end of the cold war with the (now defunct if you haven't heard) Soviet Union.

            I swear, linear thinking Libs are a hoot.

          • I'm not gonna read it...."linear thinking"?...We're talkin' tofu now, right? Is that a Yanni/John Tesch/Dr. Phil-coined phrase? Always an excuse for Bush. Always. Now Bush is a victim. Pathetic.
            If we now get attacked with another 3K dead civilians and the Empire State Builiding/Chrysler Building in rubble, I can turn to Right Wing Nut obstructionism/appointment blocking as Obama's reason for not doing the job.

          • MH: "Always an excuse for Bush. Always. Now Bush is a victim'

            No, we the people are the victim. The victim of people who fall in behind a candidate who is no more than an empty suit and a "feel good phrase" which cannot be backed with either logic or pre-constructed plan.

            We want easy answers to difficult questions because our attention span has shrunk to the contents of a 30 second sound bite. We don't read any more and we don't think any more because we're too busy hurrying home to catch the next installment of the Jersey Shore.

            Yeah, linear thinkers. I see, I want, I need, I take and not a whole lot more.

          • unbelievable...Bush, the Commander-in-Chump, is accountable for nothing regarding 9/11...zip, zero, nada. And then I get a Dr. Phil lecture...i'm gonna' puke.

          • What exactly did the previous administration do to cause 9/11? No fair blaming Clarke or Tenet, though right, since they were Clinton leftovers.

            I will be the first to beat on W for domestic policy and the prosecution of the war in Iraq but 9/11 was by no means a personal Bush failure. Of course, you could cite some evidence that proves me wrong.

          • 3,000 dead civilians is the evidence...there are no excuses. If this happens during Obama's tenure, no excuses either. He will have failed.

          • It's self-evident. The US homeland was successfully attacked while George Bush was on watch. What more do you need? How many more dead civilians do you need?
            I guarantee you, if New York and Washington are attacked with Obama in office, you won't be citing any "evidence". You'll simply look at who the Commander in Chief is and rightfully hold him responsible and accountable. That's it. I won't need any "evidence" to prove his culpability and incompetence. Dead civilians are all the evidence I need.

          • Five thumbs down for the truth...Bush wasn't Commander in Chief on 9/11. 9/11 was all Clinton's fault--a liberal conspiracy authored by Clinton/Obama. Gotta' love those Limbaugh Lemmings! Feel better now?

          • Hey, if you are all for the buck stops here mentality with every leader, that's fine. I would imagine that you are equally disgusted with BHO's inability to take responsibility for anything. Literally anything that I can see.

          • I am equally disgusted with Obama's constantly blaming Bush for the economy. Obama never should have taken the job if he couldn't handle the load.
            "Anything" is too big a word. Obama's admitted to screwing up, but only on insignificant issues.

      • And who was in charge of Congress during those years, Bitch? Maybe, in your brilliance, you could draw us a little chart, so we can understand.

    • You are right... Progressive Hemrrhoid! Krauthammer has it wrong... When he speaks, the Dow plummets 200 points... I wish they'd take no notice. Maybe my portfolio would be worth a couple of pennies right now.

      • When he speaks, America's retirement fund shrinks -- much like how his man eggs shrink when Moochelle speaks.

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