Calling an Audible

As a former quarterback, I know that when a game plan is not working, you change strategy. Fast. If you don't, you will likely lose the contest and have to endure the ignominy of failure.

If President Obama were calling signals for the Washington Redskins, he would have been relieved a long time ago. His economic blueprint of spending large amounts of federal tax dollars in order to stimulate consumer spending and create government-suggested jobs has obviously not worked and has run up a huge debt in the process.

Remember "cash for clunkers," whereby the feds gave you money to upgrade your car? Well, truth be told, Obama's entire economic vision might be classified as a clunker.

Everybody makes mistakes, but the president's economic team is leading the league. Only Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner remains from the original money gang, and he can't even leave his house after saying the U.S. economy would not be downgraded. So it is obvious that a new economic game plan is needed.

Wait, maybe it's not so obvious. The president is not sold.

After seeing the Dow drop about 400 points in a few hours earlier this week, Obama gave a short speech saying America would essentially stay the course. What course? Almost immediately, the Dow dropped another 200 points.

A few days earlier, Obama called for federal construction "loans" so that companies could hire folks and "rebuild America." What loans? The country doesn't have any money. We owe $14.5 trillion. Under Obama, the USA runs up more than $4 billion in debt every single day.

What loans?

The president's Hail Mary pass seems to be the notion that somehow taxing the rich will lead to economic prosperity. Well, after the market decline, there are now far fewer rich people than there used to be. Actually, enhancing revenue would be a good thing, and we could do that by instituting a flat tax and cutting loopholes that allow American corporations to stash trillions of untaxed dollars overseas. The president's pal and General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt is doing just that. But Obama seems reluctant to tackle tax reform.

He's also hesitant about easing up on regulations and mandates that are strangling corporate profits. Obamacare and all the new business rules are running up overhead big time. Memo to the president: If private health insurance companies have to pay for stuff like birth control and breast-feeding supplies, they will pass the costs along to their customers in the form of higher premiums. And companies will cut back personnel to avoid paying those higher premiums. This is called "doing the math."

It is perplexing that the president does not seem to smell the panic. You don't have to be an economic genius like Barney Frank to know that government-mandated economic stimulus has been a disaster. It is time for new solutions.

Blaming the tea party is not a solution. Blaming W does not advance the ball. Let America be America. Unleash the private sector, Mr. President.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama." To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the website www.billoreilly.com.

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