"Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner says, 'We're facing a very consequential debate about some fundamental choices as a country.' People talk that way in Liberal Land. Moreover, such statements pass muster with those who simply take in the words, decide whether they sound nice to them, and then move on. 

"But, if you take words seriously, the more fundamental question is whether individuals are to remain free to make their own choices, as distinguished from having collectivized choices, 'as a country' -- which is to say, having choices made by government officials and imposed on the rest of us. 

"The history of the 20th century is a painful lesson on what happens when collective choices replace individual choices. Even leaving aside the chilling history of totalitarianism in the 20th century, the history of economic central planning shows it to have been such a widely recognized disaster that even communist and socialist governments were abandoning it as the century ended."

"When Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson accepted the reality that they could not effectively govern the nation if they sought re-election to the White House, both men took the moral high ground and decided against running for a new term as president. President Obama is facing a similar reality — and he must reach the same conclusion. 

"He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

"Congratulations, average American! It’s your turn to be blamed for President Obama’s — and America’s — problems. 

"This is the biggest honor you’ve won since Time magazine named 'you' the Person of the Year. ... 

In 2008, Obama said Bush’s deficit of $9 trillion was 'unpatriotic.' Now he questions the patriotism of those who think the Obama deficit of $15 trillion argues against spending even more money we don’t have. And of course, there’s that giant unfunded disaster known as Obamacare ... 

"But, yes, by all means, let’s blame our lack of competitiveness on the American people."

"Only domestic politics can explain two of the Obama administration's most controversial moves: Exporting illegal guns to Mexico and balking at building an oil pipeline from Canada. ...

"We don't know for sure why the ATF and Justice Department embarked on Fast and Furious. Officials are keeping mum. But no one has come up with a more plausible explanation than the charge that it was intended to make a case for gun control at home. 

"In any case, Mexican citizens and government officials are understandably incensed. But maybe not as incensed as Canadians citizens and government officials are over the Obama administration's decision to punt until after the 2012 election the decision on whether to allow the Canadian firm TransCanada to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to Oklahoma and Texas. 

"This was a crass political decision if there ever was one. The policy arguments for blocking the pipeline, first proposed in September 2008, are pathetically weak."

"[...] Obamacare was shoved through the sludge of parliamentary trickery, lies, horse trading, cooked-up numbers and false promises. Even after waiting to see what was in the bill, as Nancy Pelosi suggested, there was a historic electoral backlash. (Some people just don't know what's good for them.) 

"As for the court's decision, it probably won't imbue many people with any more confidence in process. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan -- only recently charged with defending the administration's positions in federal courts as solicitor general, working there while the health care law was being written and picking the legal team to defend it -- will be rendering her entirely untainted decision on the matter."

"President Obama was wrong to say at the Asia-Pacific economic summit that America has gotten 'lazy' in the past few decades at attracting foreign investment. ... 

"It’s within the president’s power to do a few major things to make us more competitive. He could cut a deal with Republicans to reform individual and corporate taxes, exchanging lower rates for loophole closings. He could cut a deal restraining entitlements, sending a signal to the markets that Washington can begin to control its budget. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican on the Supercommittee, has offered a compromise plan along these lines. The president has shown no interest. He apparently prefers waging a blunt-force campaign against a 'do-nothing Congress' and carping about what’s wrong with us.

"If this helps him win a second term, he can add poor judgment to his running indictment."

"As the Occupy Wall Street movement has gradually turned ugly in recent weeks, the Democrats who had earlier associated themselves with the protests have no doubt begun to recognize the peril in which they have put themselves and their party by even tacitly encouraging the resurrection of this most disagreeable liberal type. They have yet to fully grasp, however, just how much damage the simultaneous reemergence of so many harmful and unpleasant aspects of the modern left may yet do to the Democrats in 2012. 

"A Gallup poll published this month showed that only 21 percent of Americans consider themselves liberals. The rest of the country might well put up with liberals in power now and then, but not if the left insists on constantly reminding us why, to coin a phrase, we are the 79 percent."

"When the nation’s highest law enforcement official lies to the American people, he must go. 

"And if he claims that he didn’t lie, then how else do we explain this situation? He’s either lying or he’s so grossly incompetent and lazy that he didn’t read important life and death briefings from his deputy attorney general and didn’t know about this deadly operation run by people under him. So, which is it? Incompetent, lazy, or lying? No matter which explanation fits, he needs to go. 

"Holder conceded this week, 'I have ultimate responsibility for what happens in the department.' He can prove it by resigning. And if he refuses to resign, then President Obama – with whom the bucks ultimately stop – can prove that he respects honesty, transparency, and accountability in his administration by firing Holder.

"I stand with the members of Congress who are calling for Holder’s resignation. I stand with the family members of Brian Terry who are demanding transparency and accountability. Mr. President, where do you stand?"

"Last week, Politico reported that the Federal Housing Finance Agency paid $13 million in bonuses to 10 Fannie and Freddie executives. It's true that Fannie and Freddie bigs are making 40 percent less than the bygone execs who drove their organizations into conservatorship. But with Freddie reporting a $4.4 billion loss for the past quarter, bonuses hardly seem in order. 

"The problem with these government-supported entities is that, with Washington serving as the deepest of deep pockets, there's no such thing as failure. 

"Congressional Republicans and Democrats have moved to block further bonuses. Of course, they'll hold hearings -- just to show how indignant they are. 

"But they're not likely to do anything about the corrosive forces that fueled Fannie and Freddie. Boosters were able to claim that Fannie and Freddie could open the door to broader homeownership -- at no cost to taxpayers. When the bill finally arrived, it was too big to stop."

"The White House laments that America hasn't built enough massive government infrastructure projects. Nonsense. At the rate it's growing, the Great Stonewall of Obama may soon be the second largest manmade object visible from outer space. 

"While many construction workers across the country remain idle, Team Obama's attorneys have been laboring overtime to erect impenetrable information blockades around three festering scandals: Solyndra, LightSquared, and Fast and Furious. 

"This much is clear: The 'most transparent administration ever' is hyper-allergic to sunlight and subpoenas."