Flight from Trantor

Prof. Obama without the teleprompter.

And this is from the left-leaning UK Guardian (via Roger Kimball):

The Guardian decodes Obama

"Is Barack Obama a great orator? He is, inarguably, an accomplished teleprompter. But, Cicero, is that the same thing as being a great orator?"

Barack Obama: “I, I, would say that, er … pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] … if you look at … pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] … the, the sources of this crisis … pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] … the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] …

"Capitalism is not too important to be left to capitalists. It has to be left to them."

Funny to be reading this kind of stuff in the Telegraph.  It seems that we get better reporting from the Brits these days:

Capitalism is based on risk. The reward for risk is profit. The punishment for bad risk should be bankruptcy.

Roosevelt's New Deal failed because it hindered people from helping themselves. This welfarist event this week risks making the same mistake on an international scale, with its £1 trillion slush fund for wrecked economies. The politicians have left the stage, thank God. Now let us hope they stay off it for as long as possible, and let the people who can sort out this mess get on with doing so – whatever the risk entailed.