I'm pleased to see columnist Salomon Rayek, in his comments after the U.S. election, has given President Barack Obama credit for the amazing amount of power he yields.
Just think of it, one man all by himself destroying the mighty United States.
If Obama hadn't deregulated the banks and Wall Street, there never would have been the mortgage or bank collapses that led to a worldwide recession.
If Obama hadn't encouraged widespread lending, based on no collateral, to industry and consumers, the auto industry wouldn't have needed a bailout and consumers could just keep consuming on credit.
If only Obama hadn't exported all those manufacturing jobs offshore, the U.S. would have little unemployment. If Obama hadn't got America involved the phoney "Weapons of Mass Destruction" war in Iraq, there would be trillions in the treasury for education and health care.
Boy, he sure did a number on Uncle Sam. Oh wait, those are all a legacy of the Republican George W. Bush presidency.
Rayek whined about the Democrats demonizing Republican candidate Mitt Romney. They didn't have to after he called 47 per cent of Americans slackers, welfare bums and a drain on corporate America.
Rayek didn't mention the Republican smear campaign that called into question the president's citizenship, birth certificate and religion, and was judged by Americans who were tired of dirty tricks.
Obama won by a huge majority in the electoral collage and by a comfortable margin in the popular vote. That's democracy.
Rayek would be at home in the Republican party, whose favourite and only strategy is to find someone else to blame and point fingers.
The president can only achieve what the Congress and Senate will allow. To attribute that much power to the office means you have been smoking the wrong stuff, Salomon.
At any rate, Rayek can find solace in the fact that we in Canada are blessed with a true conservative government and a prime minister who is kept busy selling all our natural resources to any bidder, along with all the processing jobs that should be realized here.
Two thirds of jobs that will be created in B.C. will be in resource extraction in northern B.C. for export.
So, Rayek can become a miner or driller, as can our graduates. He could have become a millworker except we shut down most mills on the coast and now outsource those jobs via raw-log exports to countries that compete with the few lumber mills we have left.
Rayek could complain to someone. Unfortunately, his call will go to a call centre outsourced to Bangladesh. Ah! the joys of free enterprise.
Larry Calvin, Kelowna