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For a president allegedly as eloquent as Barack Obama, it’s amazing to hear the nonsense that escapes his mouth when he tries to ad-lib. 

1. “That’s my [jobs] plan.  Then you’ve got [the Republicans’] plan, which is, let’s have dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance.  So far at least, I feel better about my plan.” – Remarks at the Asheville, NC, regional airport, October 17, 2011

The president was trying – and failing – to make the case that Republicans are wrong to insist on less regulations as a way to spur economic (and thus job) growth.  By Obama’s logic, halting the regulatory state’s unceasing war on productivity means an instant descent into a public health crisis.  But what liberals like Obama fail to see is that America in 2011 is in a far different regulatory environment than in 1971.  Forty years ago, a polluted Cayuhoga River caught fire and smog emissions were quarantining people indoors.  Today, Americans enjoy arguably the safest public drinking water and air quality in the developed world. 

Obama understands the distinction, at least when he’s not shilling for votes.  On September 2 of this year the president overruled his rogue EPA Administrator when it became obvious that her proposed ozone regulation would lead to the kind of economic disaster Republicans predict.  At the time Obama said, “I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover.  With that in mind, and after careful consideration, I have requested that Administrator [Lisa] Jackson withdraw the draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards at this time.”  

2. "The way I think about it is, you know, this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and, you know, we didn't have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades. We need to get back on track." – Comments during an interview with the NBC affiliate in Orlando, FL, September 30, 2011

Using Obama’s timeframe of “the last couple of decades” we see the Professor-in-Chief opining that America’s competitive edge was declining not just during George W. Bush’s presidency, but also throughout Bill Clinton’s time in office.  Setting aside the record economic growth during the 1990s thanks to a budget-conscious conservative Congress and a politically astute president, Obama’s statement indicates he thinks the Reagan Years were the good old days. 

Of course, Reaganomics was premised on the idea that cutting marginal income tax rates and reigning in the regulatory state are the keys to unlocking growth in productivity and saving.  After a decade of bipartisan economic mismanagement, Americans were looking for incentives to work the country out of high unemployment.  When Reagan’s supply-side tax cuts finally took effect, the longest economic boom in American history took off, raising the average standard of living during every presidency until Obama’s. 

If Obama wants America to recapture its competitive edge, it’s time he supports any number of plans to reduce tax rates while broadening the tax base.  Until then, the only person he can chide about a declining America is himself. 

3. “The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra…” – Speech given at Solyndra, Inc. headquarters in Fremont, CA, May 26, 2010

Insider deals, preferential treatment, breaking the rule of law and professional ethics for fat cat donors – the Solyndra scandal has it all! 

So far, there’s no better statement from which to build a negative campaign ad than this sentence from one of Obama’s cherished “green energy” disasters.  More than anything, this statement confirms that the liberal understanding of economics depends wholly on the heavy hand of government picking winners and losers at taxpayer expense.  At least in this instance Obama was reading from his teleprompter, not trying his hand at making an on-the-fly insight. 

4. “I have complete confidence in him, and I’ve got complete confidence in the process to figure out who, in fact, was responsible for that decision and how it got made.” – Press conference supporting Attorney General Eric Holder, October 6, 2011

While congressional investigators continue to probe Eric Holder’s role in supervising a government scheme that armed Mexican drug cartels, it’s dumbfounding that Obama thinks the issue is only about who made the initial decision.  Washington, D.C. is full of bad ideas that get traction.  What makes Holder culpable isn’t that some low-level bureaucrat implemented a criminally negligent program.  It’s that once Holder knew about this outrageous project he refused to shut it down.  Moreover, he’s since been caught lying to Congress about what he knew and when.  Holder can’t be trusted to investigate the Fast and Furious scandal because it is increasingly apparent that he bears some of the responsibility for letting it go as far as it did. 

Consequently, Obama’s statement isn’t loyalty; it’s stupidity of the first order. 

5. “I believe all the choices we’ve made are the right ones…” – Interview with ABC News in Jamestown, NC, October 18, 2011

Wow.  Really?  Like the Recovery Act that added nearly $1 trillion dollars to the deficit while unemployment increased?  Or how about the Dodd-Frank financial regulation fiasco that continues to scare investors away from long-term planning until each of the projected 234 new rules are in place?  Would the president like to take back all those promises that Obamacare would actually save money with programs like the CLASS Act, which as of last week even the HHS Secretary acknowledged could not be implemented in any way that passed both legal and economic scrutiny? 

Apparently not. 

In the Age of Obama, the sage in the White House believes all of his policies could not be improved.  If his self-congratulatory reflection continues, expect Americans to render a different verdict next November.