BloggeRhythms

FoxNews.com reports that “President Obama will keep an empty seat next to the first lady on Tuesday when he gives his State of the Union address, to represent victims of gun violence, according to the White House.”  He announced the symbolic gesture Friday when talking on the phone with fellow supporters of more stringent gun-ownership laws. 

The first thought springing to mind regarded the old philosophical thought question: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Because, since there probably won’t be anyone watching the POTUS's speech, who’ll know about the empty seat?  

In a similar event, Fox’s  Chad Pergram reports that: “One can only imagine the torrent of political theories that filtered through the Capitol this week when Rep. Steve Israel -- a New York Democrat,  top lieutenant to House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi and potential candidate to succeed her or House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer down the road -- unexpectedly announced his retirement from Congress.” 

What’s most interesting to me is that, apparently, he’s been my Congressman since 2001. And except for a phone message every couple of years around election time, which I always hang up on without listening, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard his name anywhere else. So, this is just like the POTUS’s empty seat speech. Unless others read the article about his retirement, who'll even notice that he’s gone? 

On another subject, yesterday on Fox’s "The Journal Editorial Report," James Freeman pursued a thought mentioned often here recently, adding some details. 

 

According to Mr. Freeman, the two-year decline in the price of oil equates to a reduction of 70% in costs to consumers, adding up to $2.9 trillion in savings for them. As a result, he believes those now available funds will certainly be spent on other things, driving the economy into a probable boom. Especially, he noted, that the closer November comes, more and more will realize that the POTUS’s departure is actually near, building consumer confidence even further.  

Another panelist, Mary Anastasia O’Grady, differed somewhat. Believing that people will keep their savings much longer. She cited economist Milton Friedman’s theory, that if people believe that things are getting better permanently, they’ll readily spend. If not, they’ll keep or hoard their savings. Which means that they’ll have to be convinced for a longer time before beginning a boom in the economy. 

However, since it’s very likely that as the electoral campaign heats up, and the prospects of a Republican winning the White House increase steadily, the odds are, in this writer’s opinion, that Mr. Freeman will be proven right. 

After seven years of being forced to spend the equivalent of extorted funds for fuel, seeing prices come back to normal will free consumer’s to getting their budgets back to normal too. Thereby permitting the purchase of all those things they weren’t able to afford under the POTUS’s regime and his misguided obsession for eliminating fossil fuel. 

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife. 

Aside from the pressures of eventual charges possibly arising from the FBI’s investigation of illegal use of her private email server, the ongoing Benghazi committee hearings and suspicions regarding whether the slush fund called the Clinton Foundation is actually a charitable organization, another setback arose today for Bill’s wife. 

FoxNews.com reports: “President Obama will not endorse a Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential primary race, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday. 

"That's not our job,” McDonough said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “That's the job of the party to make those decisions and then they'll take a look at the agendas and the positions of those candidates." 

In this case, the decision might truly be a matter of protocol, the POTUS not wishing to be involved until primary voters have made their choice regarding a presidential candidate. 

On the other hand, since Bill’s wife was a member of his cabinet, it would lead to the belief that he’d surely want to endorse her candidacy, having chosen her himself for the position. 

Therefore, it’s just as likely the POTUS either likes someone else for the job, or doesn’t want to tie his name to her at all. Leading to the continuing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?     

That’s it for today folks.     

 

Adios