The Washington Monument Game

The Washington
Monument Game

The Obama scare regime uses a strategy that’s been around for a very long time.  It’s called the Washington Monument game.   Former Reagan administration Budget Director, James C Miller III defined the game as follows:

"The Washington Monument Game refers to an apocryphal story wherein the president assembles his cabinet, tells them their spending plans are over budget, and orders them to review their budgets to establish priorities so they will know where to cut.  The next day the cabinet reassembles and the Secretary of Interior says that after thorough review he’s identified the lowest priority; he proposes closing the Washington Monument.  This tactic, of course, is designed to assure full funding of his budget, as what President wants to be responsible for closing the Washington Monument?"

Washington DC takes access to the Washington Monument pretty seriously, never more obviously than the time that an eccentric nut drove up to the structure’s base in a white panel van claiming to have 1,000 pounds of explosives inside; he was shot dead by US Park Police snipers.    

Whenever any sort of budget cut, fiscal discipline or spending constraint is mentioned, the addicted-to-big-spending establishment says, no you can’t.  If you cut, limit or control, the first thing we have to do is close down the Washington Monument.  There will be no more 55 story, 72 second elevator ride up the Monument, flitting past the 896 stairs and 190 memorial stones embedded in interior walls. 

"'From the top you have a view of the greatest of all Washington monuments: the city of D.C. itself,' a guide says on the minute-long elevator ride to the top of the 555-foot structure. And she's right. There's all of it, cinematic and pristine: the Potomac, the Anacostia, the Washington National Cathedral, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, the White House and Capitol."

Because the Washington Monument soars far above every other structure in the Nation’s Capital, the views will be no more.



My August 23, 2011 Snapshot
Park Police Helicopter Inspection
Minutes After Earthquake

But wait a minute!  The premise of closing the Washington Monument unthinkable?  Not really.  It’s been done.  It was closed by none other than the Obama administration, in the aftermath of the August 23, 2011 earthquake and remains closed to this very day.  Obama failed to obligate funds to fix the structure from his treasure trove of trillions of dollars.  Instead, he went hat in the hand to the private sector for help.  Thank you David Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group for contributing the money needed to repair the iconic structure.  We are glad there are people who understand and are willing to grapple with our country's priorities instead of digging us deeper into the hole while blaming Bush and Boehner.  It's too bad we don't have someone like that in the White House.