What was Obama’s Worst Decision of 2009? Presenting the Non-Sequitur Policy of the Year Award

Special Report’s lead story Wednesday evening was the remarkable saga that is now called “Gitmo.” my nominee for the first annual “Non-Sequitur Policy of the Year” award (NSPY, pronounced “nespy”, rhyming with ESPN’s ESPY award). Not a very catchy title, perhaps, but appropriately utilitarian in form and function. This first annual award goes to the policy which most epitomizes the absurdity of left wing activist government. It was not an easy choice.

The sheer volume of nonsense proposed by the Obama-led Administration in one year has made us almost immune to the lure of common sense. The list is long. A $787 billion stimulus bill is passed and “tax credits” (i.e., cash payments made by the government to people who don’t pay taxes) are called tax cuts. When the unemployment rate rose to 10.2%, Obama informed us that the stimulus bill “created or saved” 650,000 jobs. Obama ’s “sweet home Chicago” failure to bring home the Olympic bacon for Mayor Richard Daley and other cronies was trumpeted as a goodwill gesture on behalf of the American people.An astonishing “cash for clunkers” bill, which literally mandated the destruction of property, was hailed as a resounding success. The government’s spending rose to 26% of GDP while expenditures were 60% higher than receipts, but Obama/Pelosi/Reid pushed for further deficits with their massive “health care” and “climate change” bills. The former promises more access to medical care for lower cost and the latter promises a “.7 degree” reduction in temperature in 40 years. Climate scientists were caught manipulating/losing/hiding global warming data, but Obama’s EPA still announced CO2 will be regulated as a pollutant. Obama joined with pro global warming activists who flew to Copenhagen on private jets, while experiencing an extraordinary blizzard. These “activists” furiously applauded that savior of planet earth, Hugo Chavez.

In the same speech where Obama announced an increase in troop strength in Afghanistan, he announced their withdrawal date. Our wizened media responded to this cognitive dissonance by saying Obama “was playing to his base”, as if they too were morons. This week, from deep left field, came the announcement that the House passed yet another spending bill (for “jobs”) on top of TARP, the “stimulus” bill, and the Federal Reserve’s “under the radar” $1 trillion asset purchase program. This “jobs” bill, $154 billion in size, consists of programs for the government to hire more people and to extend unemployment insurance.

Then there are the NYC terrorist trials, Obama’s support of the regime in Iran during the Iranian election demonstrations, and his bowing to Kings and Emperors. The list goes on. Certainly the reader has his or her favorites for the NSPY award.  But, for me, the proposal to close the Guantanamo Prison and transfer prisoners to a not ready for prime time facility in Thompson, Illinois (or as it will forever be known, “Gitmo North”) is the winner. It captures perfectly the concept of empty gestures, wrong-headed economics and the purest of “emperor has no clothes” behaviors. It is emblematic of the now obviously failed Obama presidency.

The prison in Guantanamo Bay Cuba is a modern and expensive facility. International “human rights” organizations are permitted access almost upon request. It is isolated from the American public, controlled by the military, (thus an asset in the fight against what Secretary Janet Napolitano calls “man-made disasters”) and  free from the machinations of rent-seeking politicians. Yet bizarrely, this prison became a symbol, in the mind of the left, of everything that was immoral about the Bush Administration’s conduct of the war.

The move would be costly because a closed former state prison must be rebuilt from scratch. It would be more expensive to operate than Gitmo South because public employee unions will replace and/or assist the military. It is being hailed by Governor “Blago’s” successor as a potential “jobs creating” bill. Only a liberal believes one “creates jobs” by finding something which costs $5 dollars, and make it cost $10. While the risk is initially small, it will eventually expose the country to potentially ruinous decisions by non-military judges. It puts out of commission a perfectly useful prison in Cuba and is the ultimate “rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic” move. Moving these prisoners from the Caribbean climate of Cuba to the frozen tundra of northern Illinois, means “al Qaeda will no longer have a recruiting tool” according to the supporters of this move. Best of all, perhaps, it is unlikely to ever take place, thus extending indefinitely the time period we can continue discuss the closing of “Gitmo.”

It combines bad economics, high dudgeon oratory, bad foreign policy, talk over action, and self evident stupidity. It has it all, and is thus deserving of the first NSPY award.