Why George Costanza is the Anti-Obama Role Model
By Wayne Allyn Root, Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee, LNC Member, and 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee
Remember Seinfeld? It was one of the most successful TV series in the history of American television. The show revolved around Jerry Seinfeld and his buddy George Costanza. George was the ultimate loser. Everything he did was a colossal failure.
One day that all changed. George was hired by George Steinbrenner and the world champion New York Yankees. He had hit the lottery — important job, big money, and beautiful women. Seinfeld was in shock. “George how did you do it?”
“Simple,” George said. “One day I woke up and realized I was the world’s most pathetic loser. So I decided to do the opposite of everything I’ve ever done. Every thought, opinion, decision — I now do the opposite. And suddenly… I’m a winner!”
As one of America’s strongest critics of President Obama, I am constantly asked “What would you do differently if you were President?” The answer is simple — EVERYTHING! It’s the Seinfeld solution. Obama is George Costanza. Every decision he makes poisons America. Obama is killing the American Dream. To save America we have to do the OPPOSITE of everything Obama is doing.
Obama’s agenda of big government, big spending, big unions and big debt are driving the American economy to never-before-imagined levels of economic disaster, debt, unemployment, and small business failure. The answer to how we save America and turn around this economy is simple: Do the exact opposite of EVERYTHING Obama has done. Let’s go down the list:
Obama has spent almost one trillion dollars on a failed Stimulus Package and trillions more on bailouts. Now he wants more. We should ban stimulus, bailouts, and earmarks. They are nothing more than pork barrel spending to buy votes and reward the political class’s cronies.
Obama is imposing on everyone the biggest income tax increase in history. And in a Chicago-style mafia shakedown he is placing most of the tax burden on small business owners. We should do the opposite. Taxpayers and small business owners are the heroes of our economy — they create most of the jobs and taxes. We should reward the taxpayers and job creators with a one-year Income Tax Vacation. The cost would be about the same as Obama’s failed stimulus fiasco and would turn this economic Armageddon into one of the great economic booms in world history. It would be Reagan’s tax cuts on STEROIDS.
Obama has named czars to oversee every aspect of American’s personal and business lives. We should fire them all and ban the word “czar” forever.
Obama has dramatically increased the size, scope, power and spending of government, including with his health care and so-called financial reform bills. We should repeal them both and do the opposite — dramatically decrease the size of government and put more money and power in the hands of the citizens. We should cut overpaid government employees by the millions, stop all raises, and cut their obscene salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America.
Obama doesn’t believe in “States’ Rights,” ordering the U.S. government to sue the state of Arizona. We should kill the lawsuit, secure the borders, enforce immigration law, and respect States Rights’ — as the Constitution demands.
Obama is spending billions on our failing public education system solely to reward his teachers’ union campaign contributors. We should eliminate the Department of Education and transition government out of this area. In the interim we should move education funding to the state and local level, and encourage vouchers to give parents the freedom to pursue alternatives such as home-schooling, private, charter, and religious schools. We should abolish public employee unions and restore to administrators the ability to hire, fire and grant raises based on performance.
Obama supports the Federal Reserve and asks them to print ever-more money, devaluing our currency and stealing every American’s savings. We should audit the Fed, and make it transparent and accountable to the people — with an eye to eliminating it as soon as possible.
Obama responded to the Gulf oil disaster with an oil-drilling moratorium costing 100,000 jobs. Obama’s tragic solution destroys the Gulf economy and makes America more dependent on foreign oil. We should do the opposite, by encouraging more offshore drilling — and allow it closer to shore, where disasters can be more easily prevented.
Obama is adding 18,000 new I.R.S. agents and demanding more tax filings for small business owners. We should aim to eliminate the I.R.S. and streamline bureaucracy for small business.
Obama supported the release of the Lockerbie terrorist bomber. We should have demanded his release to the U.S. so we could give him the death penalty and justice to the families of 270 victims, 190 of whom were American citizens.
Obama has treated friends such as Israel harshly, while treating evil rulers that support terrorism (Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela) with kid gloves, even bowing down to some. We should do the opposite — treat friends with respect, and not give enemies the time of day. We should also do what should have been done decades ago — eliminate foreign aid to despots and adversaries of America across the globe.
Obama is expanding the war in Afghanistan. We should do the opposite. This is a no win war. The original purpose and goals have been long since forgotten. Bring our brave troops home.
Obama loves career politicians such as Pelosi, Reid, Rangel, Dodd and Barney Frank. We should support term limits and throw all the bums out of D.C. It’s time to start over.
Finally, Obama has continually violated the Constitution, highlighted by his hate for guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens. We should respect and follow the Constitution — the greatest document ever created.
Yes, Obama is our very own George Costanza, the lovable loser of Seinfeld fame. Except that Obama is a Marxist, and he’s not lovable. Obama is leading America towards tragedy, insolvency and bankruptcy. The answer to saving America is clear, simple and effective — DO THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING OBAMA DOES.
As an ex-employee, I agree 😛
foriegn aid
to Israel
$3B per year
“Yet the polls I’ve heard said that cutting all foreign aid is fine with a majority of Americans.”
From my expierence in talking to thousands of people, the majority of Americans oppose tax payer funded foreign aid.
Sorry, the above should say “…before OR during…”
Michael, I’m not going to belabor this topic since I don’t even know why you even wanted to bring it up. But you cited a lot of numbers to show that the Yankees didn’t win as much under Steinbrenner than they had previously. In earlier decades, the Yankees had many more of the greatest players in major league baseball history, so chalking that up to his overseeing the team seems odd.
Either way, the Yankees have been wildly successful as a franchise before OR after his tenure, probably the most successful franchise in the history of any professional sports league.
JT my point had to do with public relations. Here’s my comment from 35.
“Not all of us thought the same of Steinbrenner. I thought he was better at the P.R. game than he was at running the Yankees. To back up my claim I thought I’d go to the record book.”
Look at the length of your post 35 and look at the length of my response to you, Michael. I didn’t make it an issue, but your argument was absurd. Especially coming from a Red Sox fan 😉
Cheezus Christ JT I didn’t this was going to turn into a major issue. Guess it has 😉
Michael: “World Series winning under Steinbrenner and crew was seven titles. Prior to them 14 Titles.”
Um, the Yankees have been around a lot longer than Steinbrenner. Seven titles is great in major league baseball. How many have your Red Sox won?
Tom: “Was Steinbrenner the end-all be-all of Major League Baseball? I don’t think so (I loathe the Yankees).”
Get in line.
Tom: “I made big money on the ‘85 Series, betting on my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals.”
I can see why you’d loathe the Yankees now. 🙂
I think I just proved we can debate anything 😉
Michael,
Yes, all the owners were under the same pressure.
How did their records 1973-2010 measure up against 1936-1972?
If the NCAA only had 16 teams, every one of those 16 teams would make the Sweet 16 every year.
Expand the NCAA to 24 teams, and guess what — some of those teams aren’t going to make the Sweet 16 as often.
Yup and all the owners were under the same pressure.
Not only is the competition fiercer in terms of number of teams, baseball now draws not only from white Americans. Blacks, Latin Americans, Japanese and Canadians have added to the talent pool, making assembling a team more challenging. Free agency came in during the Steinbrenner era as well, where George made some game-changing moves. Reggie Jackson, for ex.
Pre-George, it was all about farm systems and the occasional trade (Babe Ruth comes to mind).
I am a Yankees fan, though I was never much of Steinbrenner fan.
Michael,
Nope, I’m not a Cards fan, especially since they decided I owed them a new stadium whether I thought they needed one or not. Not much of a National League fan in general, but I’ll take the Cubs over the Cards if I have to pick a National League favorite.
I made big money on the ’85 Series, betting on my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals. I was at University of Missouri-Rolla, surrounded by Cards fans with more money than sense. Even ridiculously bad umpiring wasn’t enough to steal that Series for the Cards.
He-he. I knew that was going to come up 😉
So are you a Cardinals fan? That was my old man’s favorite team. For me it the Boston Red Sox.
Michael,
Interesting analysis, but the matter’s a lot more complex than pennants/World Series wins in a given period.
For one thing, the periods were drastically different.
At the start of the 36 year period ending in 1972, Major League Baseball consisted of only 16 teams (two leagues of 8).
It wasn’t until 1961, 2/3 of the way through that period, that the American and National Leagues added two teams each (the Angels and the new DC Senators — the old Senators had moved to Minneapolis to become the Twins — for the American League, and the Mets and Astros for the National League).
In 1969, again, two new teams for each league (Pilots and Royals for the American, Expos and Padres for the National).
So, each of the leagues, and Major League Baseball as a whole, was half again as big when Steinbrenner took over the Yankees as it had been in the 36-year period you’re comparing his reign to. Half again as much competition for the pennant, half again as many potential rivals in the Series.
There was also a three-year period in that earlier time when the Yankees were the only New York baseball franchise (the Dodgers and the Giants moved to California in 1958, the Mets didn’t land in New York until 1961), meaning that if a player wanted to live and work in New York, the Yankees were his only option. During that timeframe, Kansas City was the Yankees’ farm team and they raided it for key players, including Roger Maris (that gravy train stopped rolling in ’60 or ’61 when the Philadelphia franchise moved to KC and became the Athletics).
Steinbrenner took over the Yankees during a period of league expansion that meant he didn’t have the easy time his predecessors had had recruiting the best players. He also inherited a dilapidated stadium and the Yankees ended up playing on a strange field (Shea) for two years while it was renovated.
Was Steinbrenner the end-all be-all of Major League Baseball? I don’t think so (I loathe the Yankees). But just comparing pennants and Series victories between two 36-year periods doesn’t tell the whole story.
Recently I got the idea that Mr. Root somewhat admired George Steinbrenner who recently died.
Steinbrenner was for a number of years the voice of the owners of the New York Yankees.
Not all of us thought the same of Steinbrenner. I thought he was better at the P.R. game than he was at running the Yankees. To back up my claim I thought I’d go to the record book.
Now I am not a statistician by any stretch of the word so my figures may be off a bit but checking Wikipedia I come up with the following numbers.
Steinbrenner and company ran the Yankees since 1973. In those 36 years since 1973 the Yankees won the AL Pennant in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, & 2009 or eleven years. ‘Course I am not counting this season since it is not over.
In the 36 years prior to Steinbrenner and crew which would begin in 1937 the Yankees won in 1937, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, or 21 pennants.
World Series winning under Steinbrenner and crew was seven titles. Prior to them 14 Titles
Steinbrenner may have been larger than life but his front office skills seem to lack those of his predecessors.
I’ll take the substance over the myth any day of the week and I’m always open to corrections.
lake: Libertarians (of all people) need to remember the USS Liberty and the Jewish murders of American sailors in a non combatant role.
me: OK, I’ll bite. I don’t remember this, I was a kid at the time. On reviewing an account, no, I don’t need to remember this. Characterizing that unfortunate incident as “Jewish murders” is incendiary and false. What purpose your words serve, thankfully, I cannot fathom.
Per Tom Blanton // Aug 4, 2010 at 1:15 pm!
Lake: Libertarians (of all people) need to remember the USS Liberty and the Jewish murders of American sailors in a non combatant role!
I suspect this is one of the reasons why he is able to get re-invited to radio and television shows – besides being entertaining, he doesn’t come across as a wild-eyed extremist.
No, Root gets re-invited to talk radio/TV shows because he reliably regurgitates the red-state fascist narrative. Really though, someone should explain to him that LP stands for Libertarian Party, not Likud Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposite_Day
I’d say Israel is more than a friend to the US, it’s family. A dysfunctional family at that. Serious co-dependencies writ large. 😉
Some “friend” Israel . . . an ingratious, double-crossin friend. Israel is not an asset, it’s a liability. Root shows once again that he’s an Israel exceptionalist.
Lake spills “and like Republican Nixon in the 1970s and Democratic Presidential Wanna be California Governor Gray Davis in 2003, at least one kreep bites the political dust!”
And that is supposed to mean what? Last I recall the problems are still with us.
Root wants to “streamline bureaucracy” – why not eliminate it?
“There is a need to point out that these things are the problem and not the man. Firing the man is not going to alter the policy……..”
and like Republican Nixon in the 1970s and Democratic Presidential Wanna be California Governor Gray Davis in 2003, at least one kreep bites the political dust!
Oops! Here’s that url. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104036827981.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis
Its a good look at what may have helped cause the housing bubble and bust which helped bring down the house of cards.
Aaron here’s a story to check out. The policy is the problem.
I was reading the N.Y. Times letters to the editor for some odd reason shortly after Steinbrenner died and a guy wrote in comparing the Yankees under Steinbrenner to the previous ownership. According to this writer the Yankees had a better percentage with the prior ownership then under Steinbrenner and his group. If that is true it would be interesting but it goes back to the old adage about a lie will be halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on from Mark Twain.
Obama is not the Federal Reserve nor is he a policy adopted by the Congress some years ago. There is a need to point out that these things are the problem and not the man. Firing the man is not going to alter the policy.
as19: People don’t identify with blaming a system.
me: Yes, most do not. OTOH, “blaming” is the problem. Rs blame the Ds, Ds blame the Rs. The accusatory rhetoric amps up or down depending generally with the “right track/wrong track” polling. When “wrong track” is ascendant, the partisan hyperbole increases. (Intra L hyperbole tends to be at a fevered pitch most of the time!)
For me, “The Opposite” episode is one of the great parables of all time. Costanza took the game to another level.
While George’s life turned around by doing the opposite of his egoic impulses which had led him to “loserdom,” it should be no surprise. A dysfunctional mind leads to dysfunctional results. George started telling the truth, and the truth started to set him free, not only materially but in his state of mind. He became far more at ease with himself, no longer the quaking, volatile neurotic.
But also recall the OTHER part of that episode: Seinfeld’s “Even Steven.” Things had a tendency to work out for Jerry and those around him; some were up while others down. Jerry stayed in middle, observing the clowns to the left of him, jokers to the right. 😉
Is Obama Costanza, pre-discovery of THE OPPOSITE? Perhaps. But, for the most part, calling him out and not W tends to sound like Root is a partisan R.
Maybe the better lesson is “Even Steven.”
I’ve been hopeful that Root could be groomed into an effective advocate for liberty. He’s improved IMO over the past few years, but he’s prone to relapses! Like the Cordoba House overstatement. And this awful IMO penchant for using the theory of “states’ rights” come to mind.
Maybe Root needs to try doing “the opposite” in order to attain a state of “even steven” 😉
Why not eliminate foreign aid to every nation?
Aaron: “I would categorize Wayne Root as an incrementalist libertarian.”
Incremantalist on foreign aid? So…why not an across the board 10% cut in foreign aid for every nation?
That’s as “incrementalist” as favoring some nations over others.
Aaron: “[Root] believes in pushing policies that significantly reduce the size of government, but not to the point where the public would stop giving the proposals serious consideration.”
Yet the polls I’ve heard said that cutting all foreign aid is fine with a majority of Americans.
Root appears to be diluting libertarianism, even when there is no need.
Americans are inclined toward non-intervention, but the media and state keep whipping them up into war frenzy. It’s been so for decades. Perhaps for centuries.
And the LP, rather than tapping into Americans’ natural non-interventionism, actually helps whip up the war frenzy, and the xenophobia that fuels it (e.g., Root’s and Hosper’s saber rattling against the “Ground Zero” Muslim cultural center).
Michael @ 18
That wouldn’t surprise me. However, it’s problematic to measure job losses because one doesn’t have the ability to go back in time, change one factor and then re-measure the output.
There’s a difference between theory and history. Theory is a priori.
Michael @ 16
People don’t identify with blaming a system.
People tend to blame whoever is in charge at the time — and that is what gets media attention.
I am not as media savvy as Wayne Root. I would probably bore a television audience to tears with my explanation as to how Abraham Lincoln grew the size of centralized government and any number of other transgressions that took place in American history.
BTW the job loss in the Gulf may be as high as 200,000 not the 100,000 Wayne mentions.
Thomas @ 11
“Why not eliminate foreign aid to every nation?”
I would categorize Wayne Root as an incrementalist libertarian. He believes in pushing policies that significantly reduce the size of government, but not to the point where the public would stop giving the proposals serious consideration.
I suspect this is one of the reasons why he is able to get re-invited to radio and television shows – besides being entertaining, he doesn’t come across as a wild-eyed extremist.
Point being Aaron that much of this is and has been in the system for some years and that it is not just Obama’s fault. A significant part of the problem is with the policies of the Bush crew.
Wayne should be spreading the blame. Putting it all on Obama’s shoulder makes the LP look a bit like a bigot.
It’s the system not just the man!
As any Marxist will tell you, Obama is not a Marxist.
Michael @ 13
Yes, I’ve seen such graphs of loan resets. It’s one of the reasons why I have believed for a long time that real estate was (and is) overpriced and will continue to decline in value.
Aaron here’s an older url from my files. Check out the ARM graph about half way down. http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/01/weekly-summary-and-look-ahead_17.html
Michael @8,
There are some very good articles on the subject of government’s influence over the supply of money.
I particularly like some of the articles published at Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/
He writes a lot about the government’s failed attempts to increase the total amount of “money and credit” in the system today. He argues very persuasively, I believe, that we are going through a period of deflation in “money and credit.”
Root: “We should also do what should have been done decades ago — eliminate foreign aid to despots and adversaries of America across the globe.”
Why not eliminate foreign aid to every nation?
You may also want to follow this site. http://www.shadowstats.com/
Michael @ 7
Thanks.
Aaron I hope this url takes you to the Fed’s numbers http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/hist/h6hist1.txt.
I understand how the Fed work having done a paper or two on it as well as a presentation. Enjoy the url and run the numbers for us. You might fill us in on the percentages. ‘course the Fed doesn’t tell us what M3 is any more.
re Aaron at # 6 try this on for size.
“Obama Pushes Against Teachers Unions”
http://www.frumforum.com/obama-pushes-against-teachers-unions
“Today, President Obama wades in to a controversy that threatens to split one of the Democratic Party’s most generous source of donations and activists, the teacher unions, from the whole.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/07/obama-insists-on-performance-standards-for-teachers/60586/
Michael @ 4
Here is an NPR article on the subject.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/07/07/relationship-chills-between-teachers-unions-obama/
I believe that there are many folks on the left who had higher expectations of Obama than what he is able to deliver to them. I certainly wouldn’t characterize Obama as being hostile to them. I’m more inclined to think of his supporters as being generally disappointed.
Michael @ 2
Perhaps you might be confusing “money” with “money and credit”.
Government has a large influence over the creation of the base money supply. Banking institutions and borrowers through the fractional reserve system have a bigger on checking deposits and loans.
The government is busy attempting to expand the money supply, while banks and borrowers are deleveraging.
Aaron the teacher’s unions have been critical of the administration over its stand on charter schools. I’d have to go check the records but I seem to recall Arne Duncan not being invited to speak at the AFT convention this year or some such nonsense.
Kudos to Wayne Root on a very creative piece. I expect this will get him another round of radio and television interviews.
“The stock of U.S. money as measured by ‘M3’ money supply fell to $13.9 trillion from $14.2 trillion during the three months ending in April.
This 9.6% annualized contraction is unprecedented in the post-Depression era, and shows how, in this sense, America isn’t printing more money. There are actually less dollars in the system since U.S. money supply is crashing, even well into the recent economic recovery.”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/money-supply-double-dip-2010-5#ixzz0vWAv8rOX
A very childish solution, Dr. Conservative. I’ll only take on one.
“Obama has treated friends such as Israel harshly, while treating evil rulers that support terrorism (Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela) with kid gloves, even bowing down to some.”
I must have missed the moment where he treated Israel harshly. I must have also missed anything he’s done to treat “evil” nations with kid gloves. Or even bowing…
“We should do the opposite — treat friends with respect, and not give enemies the time of day. ”
Enemies? Not one of the nations he listed have attacked us. So i assume he supports continued sanctions though. I say that because I didn’t hear anything resembling “Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship” in there.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but this guy is living in Republican fantasy land.