The Community Organizer-in-Chief is oddly unfamiliar with constituent services.
From Politico:
At Wednesday’s town hall in Atkinson, Ill., a local farmer who said he grows corn and soybeans expressed his concerns to President Obama about “more rules and regulations” – including those concerning dust, noise and water runoff — that he heard would negatively affect his business.
The president, on day three of his Midwest bus tour, replied: “If you hear something is happening, but it hasn’t happened, don’t always believe what you hear.”
When the room broke into soft laughter, the president added, “No — and I’m serious about that.”
Saying that “folks in Washington” like to get “all ginned up” about things that aren’t necessarily happening (“Look what’s comin’ down the pipe!”), Obama’s advice was simple: “Contact USDA.”
“Talk to them directly. Find out what it is that you’re concerned about,” Obama told the man. “My suspicion is a lot of times they’re going to be able to answer your questions and it will turn out that some of your fears are unfounded.”
Call Uncle Sam. Sensible advice, but perhaps the president has forgotten just how difficult it can be for ordinary citizens to get answers from the government.
When this POLITICO reporter decided to take the president’s advice and call USDA for an answer to the Atkinson town hall attendee’s question, I found myself in a bureaucratic equivalent of hot potato — getting bounced from the feds to Illinois state agriculture officials to the state farm bureau.
Here’s a rundown of what happened when I started by calling USDA’s general hotline to inquire about information related to the effects of noise and dust pollution rules on Illinois farmers:…
The rest of the Politico article is well worth the read.
BTW, this unusual Politico attack on Obama heralds a 2012 primary challenge from some Democrat… like Hillary?
These aren’t rumored regulations.
Dirt Road pollution
http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/trur.html
Milk as a regulated Oil
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/06/epa_classifies_milk_as_oil_for.html
Pesticide Runoff Permit Requirement
http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=410
Etc.
The EPA has put out several rules that impose costly regulations on farmers. Trying to ignore the issue by finger-pointing doesn’t prove your point.
I’m not too sure how Bush got dragged into this. We were talking about Benito Obamalini.
And yes, as the head cheese of an already troubled country under the burden of excessive regulations, he should have some mechanism in place to filter new regulations through his office.
THAT is not too much to ask of the vacationer-in-chief.
I hate to suggest the President might be clueless, but I would have thought he would know the difference between the USDA and the EPA by now. Why on earth would a farmer ask the USDA about things the EPA regulates?
Nothing arrogant at all about Obama’s response. The farmer is most likely a republican voter who knew any president would have no clue as to what agency was working on a RUMORED regulation. You do recall that the aloof AND dimwitted George Bush didn’t even realize gasoline as at $4 a gallon.
It is the insane people in this country who have held up the recovery and then stupidly blame the problems on Obama.
Politico is not bad (better than the alphabet soup News Agencies). I would not read anything into their criticism of Obama. Obama is just making it hard for any sane person to defend him.