Professor David L. Schaefer points out that while Obama talks about “hope” to his dewey-eyed audiences, it’s clear that his philosophy is really one of pessimism. Like Jimmy Carter and other leftists, he prefers to use the power of the state to redistribute scarcity rather than allow the market to increase our output. You can read his piece here.
JFK was no laissez-faire zealot, but at least he seemed to grasp that, as he once said, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” the Obama approach, in contrast, seems to be, “let the tide go down, but let’s try hard to make sure all the boats stay barely afloat.”
