an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials, Jan. 18-31, 2013

afflatus: Obama exercising power; aka, “imperial overreach”.

dithering: any Obama foreign policy initiative; see also deliberation, retrenchment, and shrinking.

extremism: encouraged on Hillary’s watch, especially in North Africa. This is really the old, old charge of “appeasing” the Soviets; or the more recent trope of “Obama’s apology tour”. It was recently expressed in a classic Journal causal chain “The Obama policy was to be “absent” from Libya after the fall of Gadhafi, which led to the inattention to Benghazi security, which led to extremism taking root, which led to the attack that killed four Americans”. Never mind how weak leaks in this inevitable sounding cascade of consequences.

huge: any Obama tax cut–can also be “massive”; leads to a “spending blowout”.

income tax: “a direct penalty on the savings, investment and labor that create new wealth”. (see also, sales tax)

modern liberal catechism: green energy, climate change, ethanol.

Obama Protection Club: the lamestream media

peace: the ultimate foreign policy illusion and delusion. Ways to make sure the preposterous idea of peace doesn’t take hold: “perpetual vigilance”, “stalwart solidarity with allies” and Pax Americana (“keeping the seas secure for trade”). Beware “the dividend of an illusory pace to fund Obamacare”.

risk: in foreign policy, see “dithering”and “extremism”, above; in economic policy, “more Fed cowbell”, higher government spending; taxes and regulation.

sales tax: a tax that the Journal suddenly loves because it “hits consumption, which is the result of..wealth creation”. Apparently, no one could consume without the wealthy making it possible.

Senate millionaires: usually Dems, mostly Rockefeller & Feinstein.

spending cuts: in another causal chain: “spending cuts will help the economy grow faster by keeping resources in private hands, which will use them more effectively”.

with impunity: always characterizes how our enemies attack us.

the world: the Reality Principle invoked whenever anything bad over which the US had little control happens; always juxtaposed to Obama’s “illusory” “dreams of easy peace”.