"A Time for Crisis"

What an interesting Freudian slip. At least, I assume it was a slip. I certainly hope it was.

At an address to the U.S. Conference of Mayors on March 20th, President Obama thanked the mayors for indicating they wanted to cooperate with his plans, and warned them that taxpayers were skeptical, particularly since federal money had been “frittered away before.” He insisted that taxpayers wanted to see their money spent “efficiently”—interesting that he chose that word, instead of “effectively.” Efficiently can imply ‘without waste,’ but it can also imply ‘without delay.’ Even the ‘without waste’ interpretation only suggests government overhead costs should be minimized. It certainly doesn’t imply spending money on the right things—but that really isn’t surprising, since at the Democrat’s Congressional retreat, the President insisted that stimulus is all about spend, spend, spend.

But, then came the interesting turn of phrase. “There’s little room for error here, especially in a time for crisis.” For? Not a time of crisis? For.

If President Obama was not so renowned an orator, I might just accept it as a misspeak. If he weren’t on a teleprompter, I could accept it as stream of consciousness. But, then there’s that nagging little phrase from Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” And Obama does use a teleprompter. So, I have to wonder—what did the prepared remarks say? And regardless of that answer, what does it tell us that he called this, intentionally or not, “A time for crisis”?

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I can add. 2+2 usually equals 4. If it doesn’t, then there’s another number in there somewhere. A lot of commentators, on both sides of the aisle, have been calling on the President to stop being so negative, that he’s making the situation worse. Obviously, the left thinks he’s just making a newcomer’s mistake; the right thinks he’s doing it deliberately.

But, as I look at the arguments from both sides, I can’t help but wonder if, just maybe, Obama agrees with his chief of staff—and that some of this hyperbole really is part of a plan. It hasn't happened yet, but I predict this phrase will come back to bite him.