"The only problem with that: facts."

Quote from Goldberg article where he looks at Obama's admission that the whole "shovel-ready" idea wouldn't work in the real world.

It seems to me that, if I were president, and I not only staked vast swaths of my credibility but gambled the prosperity of the country generally on this concept of “shovel-ready jobs,” I might be a bit miffed with the staffers who swore that shovel-ready jobs were, like, you know, a real thing.

And yet, if you read Peter Baker’s Obama profile, it’s clear that Obama isn’t mad about that. In fact, he still thinks he got all the policies right. Baker writes that Obama is “supremely sure that he is right,” it’s just that the president feels he didn’t market himself
well.

It's not about facts or results with Obama et al. as always it's about marketing and narrative.

As Goldberg says: "This is an old progressive lament: Our product is
perfect, we just didn’t sell it convincingly to the rubes."

And here's some more.

But wait a second. If they spent “much more time trying to get the
policy right,” how come nobody said, “Uh, Mr. President, these ‘shovel-ready jobs’ you keep talking about? They’re sort of like good flan — they don’t exist.”

Mean old logic. Why do facts have to get in the way of the earnest desire to do "good" and be glorified for it.

Repeated from an earlier comment: lacking experience in the real world is a source of pride for these "elites". As is the incomprehension of empirical arguments (Y has been tried in the past and has failed every time) or functional logic (if you make X more of a hassle you will get less of X). Most beam with never having to meet a budget, show a profit, or be measured by the real world.

It's akin to a dandy showing off his baby-soft hands to prove he's untainted by manual labor.

Speaking of a new aristrocracy, here's Bill Whittle:



Watch it all.