(Melchizedek Communique, MC012610) Various writers are comparing President Barack Obama to former-President Herbert Hoover. Hoover is seen as having been ineffective in dealing with the Great Depression.

In its July 2010 issue, Harper's magazine was first to make the comparison: "To understand how dire our situation is now it is necessary to remember that when he was elected president in 1928, Herbert Hoover was widely considered the most capable public figure in the country." Hoover, like Obama, was well educated, intelligent, and had a wide knowledge of people. And yet, Herbert Hoover failed.

The New Republic magazine reportedly now "has a story on how Barack Obama is totally Herbert Hoover, redux." [1]

"What could possibly be a worse plan?" asks a writer at The Moderate Voice. "Let’s see: we might be entering a double-dip recession and unemployment is in double-digits, and you are going to freeze spending? What in God’s name are they thinking?" The writer, Kathy Kattenburg, entitles her article, "Herbert Hoover Returns to the White House." [2]

The freezing of spending is reported to be announced in Obama's State of the Union Speech, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 27th. You won't be able to change channels, since it will be on all the channels. If you have been boycotting television, however, you will be spared. "President Barack Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that, an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, administration officials said Monday." [3]

Exempted from the freeze will reportedly be the Pentagon, foreign aid, and Veterans Affairs. Not exempted and so "sharing the sacrifice" include air traffic control, farm subsidies, education, nutrition and national parks. [3]

Herbert Hoover was a Republican, but what is Barack Obama's excuse?

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, comments on the proposed spending freeze, "Wall Street is delighted. But it means Main Street is in worse trouble than ever." This "recession" is extraordinarily serious, yet Obama's spending freeze will make it impossible for the president to help improve the jobs situation. [4]

Former Senator Gary Hart claims, "Though he does not say so in his [State of the Union] speech, plans are being made to severely cut Social Security and Medicare (Medicaid is already gone; that was for poor people), because high unemployment has reduced revenues so drastically they cannot be afforded. He also will not announce the planned cuts in the FBI, federal aid to education, the highway program, and school lunches. Those funds are being transferred, under public pressure, to continue the build up in Afghanistan." [5]

But will congressional salaries be cut, as part of the "spending freeze"?

How about a 10-percent, across-the-board pay cut for federal employees? Is that part of the "shared sacrifice"?

Get ready for more sacrifice, though you may wonder how you could possibly sacrifice any more than you already have. Disconnecting from television would be a good sacrifice, and you would likely lose some weight. You can get paid money for your blood, so that might be another sacrifice. What else can we sacrifice? We could convert ourselves into "carbon offsets", part of the United Nation's stealth international currency. This is a gruesome thought, however, because converting yourself into a "carbon offset" international monetary unit involves the ultimate sacrifice. (Background: "U.N. Carbon Money Scheme", Melchizedek Communique, Jan. 24, 2010. http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc012410.html)

------- Notes -------
[1] "Herbert Hoover: Like Obama or Exactly Like Obama?", gawker.com, Jan. 26, 2010
http://gawker.com/5440697/herbert-hoover-like-obama-or-exactly-like-obama
[2] "Herbert Hoover Returns to the White House", by Kathy Kattenburg. The Moderate Voice, Jan. 26, 2010
http://themoderatevoice.com/60577/herbert-hoover-returns-to-the-white-house/
[3] "Obama to seek spending freeze to trim deficits", by Jackie Calmes. New York Times, Jan. 25, 2010
[4] "Obama's Tiny Jobs Ideas for Main Street, A Big Spending Freeze for Wall Street", by Robert Reich, Jan. 25, 2010
http://robertreich.org/post/353436115/obamas-tiny-jobs-ideas-for-main-street-a-big-spending
[5] "The End of Big Government", by Gary Hart. Huffington Post, Jan. 25, 2010
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/the-end-of-big-government_b_436086.html