Fortify The Faith

Lashes
Mr. Obama himself chose to lash his re-election bid to his tax hike for the rich. His tax hike isn't valuable to him because of the revenue it would raise (which isn't much). It isn't valuable to him because it somehow fits into his green-eyeshade management of the budget (neither he nor his party in Congress have shown much interest in managing the fisc).


His tax hike is only valuable to him because it nominates a villain for the campaign season—the greedy, undeserving, unpatriotic rich. It's valuable because it affords a rhetorical escape route when the subject of unsustainable spending comes up. He can talk about making the rich pay their "fair share," not about the chasm that would persist between spending and revenues, with or without his score-settling tax hike. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., WSJ, 7/31/2012)


Politicians bash other politicians, we expect that. But rarely has a politician gone to such extremes as Obama to denigrate a particular segment of Americans. His contempt for the rich shows in the unscripted moments (You didn't build that!). And yet, he seemingly ignores that a large number of his own supporters are the very same wealthy people (who he has no problem asking for the fruits of their labor to re-elect him). One can only wonder at the mental gymnastics that Obama must engage in to reconcile all of these things.


WSJ Columnists Echo RedStateVT
Team Obama will play the Mormon card at some point too. Count on it. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., WSJ, 7/31/2012)


But actually, what Romney said was not a gaffe in any sense of the word that this column understands. (James Taranto, WSJ, 7/31/2012)


Daddy Day Care
Sweden's paternity-leave benefits, enjoyed by citizens and foreign residents alike, are the most generous in the world—and a debate is under way nationwide over whether to extend them even further. Sweden should require men to take a minimum of three months' leave, instead of the current two months, some politicians argue.


Fathers currently can take off work for as long as 240 days with a government-backed paycheck. Even if a father decides to take a more modest leave than allowed, he must take at least two months before the child is 8 years old to receive the government benefits....The Swedish government will pay 80% of a parent's salary—up to a cap of about $65,000—for 13 months. (WSJ, 7/31/2012)


Right now - as we write this - drafters of the Democrat Party platform are rushing to add this idea....and kicking themselves that they didn't think of it first. 


Why Sweden is not now, and never will be again, a world power. 


Choices
Republican lawmakers will spend much of the week railing against impending cuts to the military that also resulted from the debt-ceiling legislation. Democrats are largely focusing on an effort to renew the Violence Against Women Act, and supporting a provision in the health care law requiring most employers to cover contraception, which takes effect on Wednesday. (NYT, 7/31/2012)


It struck us that nothing so clearly outlines the fundamental political differences in this country as this. Republicans demand a strong military. Democrats demand legislation for ridiculous fringe issues. To wit, apparently absent the Violence Against Women Act it is perfectly legal to assault a women in this country. Otherwise, why do we need a law prohibiting it? Also, the soaring cost of condoms cries out for government intervention.