Marathon Pundit: Obama and Dems' words harm Wichita's aviation industry

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Obama and Dems' words harm Wichita's aviation industry

Barack Obama, the Great Orator, hasn't figured out that words have consequences. Unfortunately, with an exceptions here and there, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal and a few others, the establishment media won't blow the whistle on the president.

Feeling the pain of high unemployment in the area, the Wichita Eagle has some words for the president:

"Wichita: The next Detroit?" asked an Aviation Week cover story.

Well, no. There are distinct and reassuring differences between the River City and the Motor City, starting with how quickly Wichita's defining industry froze up and how long Detroit's has been foundering. And as the magazine observed, "Wichita is not full of abandoned factories, crumbling houses or other signs of urban blight."

But Wichita's loss of 13,000 aircraft manufacturing jobs in 11 months is huge news that cannot be ignored or glossed over. The coverage brings needed attention to an issue much bigger than Wichita but very relevant to Wichita's future — how foreign competition and off-shoring of jobs are changing the markets for both planes and aviation workers.

This paragraph deserves stand-alone status:

The articles also carry a key point that inexplicably escaped President Obama and much of Congress over the past year — that by condemning private jet ownership over a few owners' excesses, they unfairly maligned an industry that employs thousands of highly skilled workers and powers American business.

But Obama knows the pleasures of flying on a corporate jet, as he purred in The Audacity of Hope:

And the planes, well they're nice. The first time I took such a flight, I was on a Citation X, a sleek, compact, shiny machine with wood paneling and leather seats that you could pull together to make a bed anytime you decided you wanted to take a nap. A shrimp salad and cheese plate occupied the seat behind me; up front, the mini-bar was fully stocked. The pilots hung up my coat, offered me my choice of newspapers, and asked me if I was comfortable. I was.