About Those Absentee Politicians

Great news! The outgoing Congress has passed the fewest number of laws since any Congress in the last 70 years. The Founding Fathers would be proud, and as a conservative I am pretty impressed. Instead of raising our taxes, increasing regulations, making life more difficult for citizens and businesses everywhere, the current Congress has done its part by sitting on its collective hands and passing as few laws as possible, specifically 196 at last count. This is great — let freedom ring!

Of course, you would never know of this great accomplishment by reading the NBC News First Read website. Bemoaning the low congressional approval rates, Kyle Inskeep of NBC News recently wrote that the current Congress is the “least productive Congress since the 1940’s” because it has passed so few laws. We can’t have that. The next-least productive Congress, which lasted from 1995-1996, enacted a mere 333 laws.

According to Inskeepf, an active Congress passing as many laws as possible is a good Congress. Even out-going Republican Senator Olympia Snowe got into the act, complaining that “I do find it frustrating, however, that an atmosphere of polarization and ‘my way or the highway’ ideologies have become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions.”

I hope no one on our side is falling for this. When Congress makes laws, money is taken away from someone, business is made more difficult, the fiscal hole our country is in gets dug even deeper. And when fewer laws are made, less of our freedoms are taken away and less money is blown. A Beltway reporter like Inskeep or a politician like Senator Snowe might not see it this way, but people outside of Washington DC are better off when fewer laws are passed.

Kind of reminds me of some conservatives who complain about all the vacations taken by the Obama family, or the fact that President Obama plays so much golf. A few days after the election there was a blog entry at Weekly Standard, reporting with disgust that right after the election President Obama headed to the golf course. In the past, President Obama has also been sneeringly referred to as the “Golfer in Chief.”

People, let’s be clear: the more President Obama plays golf, the less damage he can do from the Oval Office. Yes, our country is much better off when President Obama is on the golf course. For a few precious hours, we can know that things will not get worse.

Take for example President Obama’s trip to a global nuclear summit last March in South Korea. President Obama was actually caught on an open microphone telling the Russians that “after the election I will have more flexibility,” then he looked around guiltily, hoping no one else had heard what he just said.

At that point there were a number of smaller countries that were put on notice: you may be invaded by the Russians just like ex-Soviet Georgia was in 2008. Would American or NATO soldiers rush onto a battlefield because the Russians invaded some friend of ours? Possibly.

But the point is, wouldn’t we all have rather President Obama spent a nice, relaxing weekend on a golf course somewhere instead of going to South Korea that weekend? And this is just in foreign affairs. Instead of passing Dodd-Frank, Obamacare or the $800 billion stimulus, wouldn’t it have been preferable to have President Obama spend some time golfing?

As far as I am concerned we should sign up President Obama for the PGA Tour. The more time he spends on the golf course the less time he will be in the Oval Office doing damage to our country. Or maybe we can all pass around the hat and buy President Obama a membership at Pebble Beach.

Here’s an idea: let President Obama endorse golf stuff. Where is it written that a sitting president cannot endorse golf balls, shoes or clothing? In fact, “the Barry Putter” has a nice ring to it. (Well, let’s face it, a wedge might be more appropriate.) And who knows? Rush Limbaugh might even be willing to interview President Obama on his show to promote the new Obama putter.

A few years ago it was the liberals who complained whenever President George W. Bush went to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to clear brush with his chainsaw.

And chainsaws are dangerous. With all the best-selling books, movies, plays and liberal comedians waxing so eloquently about President Bush dying or somehow getting assassinated, you would think that liberals would want President Bush out of the Oval Office and on his ranch, wrestling with his chainsaw. He could have been seriously injured by that chainsaw. But no, the liberals who hated President Bush so much actually complained when he went to his ranch in Texas! It made no sense at all.

We conservatives need to be consistent here, and we need to keep our eyes on the prize: it is a good thing when Congress passes very few laws, and it is a very good thing when President Obama takes the afternoon off to go to the golf course. In fact, President Obama needs to stay on the golf course as much as possible.