Danger Ahead: Obama Jumped the Shark, But Didn’t Drown
When the beloved American sitcom of the 70s, Happy Days, was shedding viewers faster than Obama has recently shed supporters, the show’s writers got desperate. So desperate that they dressed the public’s favorite character — Fonzie — in his best leather jacket, swimming trunks, and a pair of water skis for a vacation scene. Fonzie, the hero’s hero, encountered a shark, whose ominous fin was big enough to fit a man-eating monster the size of a whale. But Fonzie was not deterred. He blithely jumped the shark with water-skiing prowess the likes of which had never been seen. It was a stunt fit for Evel Knievel.
Viewers were not as desperate to save Happy Days, however.
Instead of propping up the show’s popularity, that scene became memorialized by Americans as the symbol of pure, pitiful, downright embarrassing desperation. The rational viewer’s willingness to suspend disbelief to jump-the-shark levels was tested past the breaking point, and the show became the water-cooler joke of the decade. A far, far cry from what the erstwhile writers had intended.
What we have here in America today is a real-life jump-the-shark drama, starring a super-narcissistic president so desperate to create his own vainglorious legacy that he is willing to destroy his own political party and do enduring damage to his country in pursuit of his purely selfish ends.
Standing in arrogant defiance of the will of the American citizenry, Barack Obama — Narcissus incarnate — pulled every dirty trick in the corrupt politician’s playbook to save his floundering presidency for the glory of the five minutes it took him to sign his ill-gotten prize.
Before the ink was dry, the judicial civil war began. The attorneys general of at least 13 states have already filed constitutional challenges. Anti-ObamaCare moves in numerous other states are working through individual legislatures. Nullification laws have been passed in Idaho, Virginia, and Utah; others are set to follow. State constitutional amendments to ban ObamaCare are being promoted in other states.
Despite the few remaining Obama sycophants on the far left and in the gasping-for-breath old media, this nation is experiencing a rebirth of the Reagan Reformation — a resurgence of anti-big-government forces — which was wholly unimaginable a mere 12 months ago. In spite of himself, Obama has become the one conservatives have only dreamed of — a single man who would perfectly display the despicable picture of tyranny for the American people. Thanks to Obama, the citizenry have clearly seen the horrendous beast of tyranny for the first time in more than a century.
Yet the narcissist in chief stares at his own reflection, beams in the limelight provided by his few remaining adorers, and bows until his back aches, fully believing that he truly is the god conjured by the imaginations of his idolatrous campaign groupies. Insulated in his bubble of Chicago cronies, his ego propped up continually by Reggie Love, with all the accoutrements of the presidency at his disposal, Narcissist O has just gotten his own kind of Enabling Act.
When Obama jumped the shark on health care reform and didn’t immediately drown, his ego instantaneously puffed to the size of one of his own whoppers — at least 3000 percent.
Imagine 4 terms of Obama. Ohh good that shows how bad the 30′s were. It could not be done without the active suport of the media.
A fine and thoroughly enjoyable rant. But what of the central questions of the day?
– In the short term, what can be done to thwart Obama without incurring even worse?
– Should the GOP succeed in regaining control of Capitol Hill, what should its agenda and priorities be?
– In that event, what is Obama’s most likely response?
– If we can predict that response, or a range of responses with attached likelihoods, what can we do to forestall it / them?
It’s simply not enough to detest the man and condemn what he’s done and is doing to America. We have to think strategically. At the moment, there isn’t enough of that going on.
That will not go well. For anyone. Here’s what the monsters – yes, monsters – in the White House envision:
Most of us dead. The rest of us in chains.
Does that sound a tad, well, extreme? It isn’t. At one time or another, they’ve said as much. It’s embedded in the pedigree of their ideas. And, it’s been done. Over and over again. History is my witness.
History also tells us what we must do to rid ourselves of these monsters.
Nice column, thank you.
But we need to look forward, we need to understand what the radicals are planning.
Too many people feel sure that we will stop the subversion of the republic at the next elections:
do we really think that the same marxists that have been able to conquer all the media and all the universities and to put a radical in the White House have not thought about this ?
I repeat myself:
I fear A LOT of “October surprises”. I fear violence, provocations, I fear the organizations like acorn (that is just changing its name).
These radical puppets are moved by subtle minds and by colossal interests: they think they are making the “revolution”…instead they are just serving the Saudis, the Chinese and the Russians.
We need George Washington, not the slumbering pseudo-strategists of the political underworld.
Now that the Tea Party gave the Republicans back their spines, they are performing a lot better than we could have expected a year ago. The RINOs are in retreat, denying their tendency to make nice with the socialists. More people are seeing clearly that our country as the last best hope is under threat. Obama’s ego will continue to push him deeper into trouble that will turn life long Democrats into Republican voters. He has seven more months to further destroy his party’s chances in November. Yes, he can.
Hey Francis, why don’t you start? All good logical points should be considered, why not yours.
Obama, the man, is the illusion put forth by the Left. He is to be their ace in the hole, their lure for the masses, the bridge to their world socialism utopia. It is the Left that has jumped the shark and who have miscalculated this as their moment to finally emerge the victors in their quest to remake America with their Marxist, communist, statist indoctrination. And why wouldn’t they believe that the time is now?
They’ve successfully worked their “pressure from below” massaging the public for decades, infiltrating all our pillars of society, fomenting class envy and entitlement mentality, erased our proud history from the minds of our young and eroded our Judeo-Christian foundation and principles. They learned to “work the system” to create the “pressure from above” with our crony capitalism and opaque corporatism enlisting the help of a wealthy anti-American elite willing to finance their fantasies.
But, it was their success in rapidly turning our unity and patriotism after 9/11 into an all out assault on the right that has them emboldened. With the help of a treasonous media, the Left was able to defy history and divide a country at war against a volatile and intransigent enemy and turn the wrath of the people against their own country–proof of their pinnacle of power and invincibility.
But, oh what a web we weave when we practice to deceive! The people are awakening to their diabolical plans and are striking back. They are caught off guard and are being cornered to have to show their cards. I pray its not too late.
It is much worse:
Obama is directly endangering our troops by deluding/lying… and claiming Israel defending itself, against terrorist dictators that parade as religious, endangers American troops; exactly the opposite is true! …
Obama’s insistence that the tyrants, parading as religious, in Iran be kept in power at all cost, is precisely the show of weakness that emboldens Taleban/Al Qaeda ( both of which are the brainchild, creation, and dependant of middle east intelligence agencies in a: good cop bad cop scam…) to attack our troops; And now the Obama stunning show of treachery against Israel, is emboldening the terrorist, that Obama demands be granted statehood on the West Bank/Gaza, to step up terror attacks against Israel…
In Act III, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, as Cassius approaches him to plead the case of, and seek mercy for Publius Cimber:
Cas. Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon:
As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,
To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.
Caesar goes on to describe how he is, essentially, the center of the universe, that no other man approaches his own importance, and as such must remain constant in his insistence that Cimber be banished:
Cæs. I could be well mov’d if I were as you;
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me;
But I am constant as the northern star, 68
Of whose true-fix’d and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumber’d sparks,
They are all fire and every one doth shine, 72
But there’s but one in all doth hold his place:
So, in the world; ’tis furnish’d well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;
Yet in the number I do know but one 76
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshak’d of motion: and that I am he,
Let me a little show it, even in this,
That I was constant Cimber should be banish’d, 80
And constant do remain to keep him so.
And, of course, his fellow politicians, and even his closest friend, Brutus, turn on him, mocking him:
Cin. O Cæsar,—
Cæs. Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus!
Dec. Great Cæsar,— 84
Cæs. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?
Casca. Speak, hands, for me! [They stab Cæsar.
Cæs. Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Cæsar! [Dies.
With Caesar’s death, they proclaim:
Cin. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! 88
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.
Unfortunately, what follows is civil war.
God save our Republic.
As each day goes by, I believe more and more that this is some sort of divine test for America. There is a reason why this is happening, and at this time. America was moving too far away from her founding principles. Freedom and libery are taken for granted until they are at risk of being removed. What we are witnessing now is pure panic by a large portion of the American population. They are are fighting for their liberty, for their lives. I pray to G-d every night that this nightmare will pass, and soon.
Obama has shown that he can lead the left wing, Obama has shown that he can lead the Democratic Party, he has not shown that he can be President of the United States and lead the entire diverse nation. That would be jumping the shark.
Wow. As we know, the president and Congress have already accomplished more in a year than the last one did in eight years. However, I have just read that an historic arms deal has just been reached with Russia. Its been an amazing year and this new president and congress are breaking records when it comes to progress. America is great once again. At this rate the first sentence of number one might end up being considered ! Dont you agree?
You keep doing it dont you PC . Despite telling us on another tread that “THOUSANDS DIE as you write” you continue writing your nonsense nevertheless.Have you no heart no compassion for your fellow man ? We can only presume you belong to an extreme Green NAZI wing of the moonbat DEMS who want POPULATION CONTROL on top of their other Green NAZI economy killing controls.
In the short term, keep the pressure on. Any time one of those democrats who voted to pass this mess comes back to his district, have a large and loud crowd present and every time make sure you have signs that say things like, “We’re in the streets just like your thugs were”, and “What do you think of mass action when you didn’t pay us to be here”, so that those watching will realize that they’ve seen this before just not from the same side of the coin. Rallies have to be loud and they have to protest the left stomping on our rights the same way the left used to rally and pretend they were being deprived of something. Don’t let a democrat get in front of a camera without there being a crowd around yelling at them and disagreeing with them.
When the GOP regains control,
(a) Defund everything that is part of the democrat propaganda machine, NPR, Arts grants, anything that had spewed the democrat agenda at the behest of the left. Don’t fight a war to rid us of it, just appropriate it no money, and when asked about it tell the truth by saying, “with a new five trillion dollar health initiative on our plates we don’t have money to pay for things like this”. Then, they have to argue over both the real number of trillions this crap will cost and why we can afford to borrow money for what amount to paybacks to supporters. Be ruthless, too, defund anything that has taken sides on an issue and sided with the democrats.
(b) Launch investigations of all government employees unions, raid their offices, publish detailed lists of how much they spend on meetings and hotels, publish every single detail of any expenditure they’ve made that didn’t directly aid their members, members who are supposed to be our servants but who are in reality an arm of the democrat party. Never, under any circumstance, negotiate with public employee unions. There are a lot of people out of work and they don’t need to have as much skill as air traffic controllers to effectively replace union members unwilling to take major pay cuts. Giving out jobs has been the democrat weapon for too long, rid us of the unions and give out jobs the same way they did, but give them to people who want the country to work rather than wanting to suck on the teat while the country goes to hell.
Barry’s response is always to stand in front of his teleprompter and whine about how harsh America is. Get lots of people to stand in front of the reality of the welfare plantation and talk about how harsh the Federal government is to those it treats as wards rather than citizens. You can’t show enough pictures of Detroit and other leftist run cities, they’re falling apart and it’s the fault of the same policies Barry wants nationally. Point out that the infrastructure is crumbling and Barry doesn’t want to put people to work, he wants to take over more parts of the economy in spite of being unable to take care of what the Federal government is already responsible for. When he whines, bring out dozens of Medicare recipients who have been cut off because of him, and there will be thousands to pick from.
Forget predicting responses, watch for areas they leave undefended and drive either a budget axe or an investigation into them. Every time Barry whines on the free air time of the major networks, run one of his lies in an attack ad and don’t apologize for attacking. They’ve gotten away with their “bipartisan” and “hate speech” crap for too long while ignoring both themselves. More people will be attracted by showing we’re not going to take crap anymore than will be driven into the arms of what they now know is the lying socialist fascist racist party that brought us Barry and his many czars.
And RETRAIN THE TROOPS to deal with long marches rather than sprints now and then when they’re not giving up the important stuff like majorities over their pet peeve or listening to democrat propaganda and fifth columnists like Frum has been.
have a Care Bear sorta day.
(I don’t know about you, but I like the little red, white, and blue, KickAss Bear with an axe on his chest.)
“Don’t you agree?”
Heck no.
Yes, Obama just agreed to sign New START, a successor to the START II treaty signed by Bush Sr., which we only recently finished complying with. You don’t just dump nuclear weapons when you decommission them; you have to burn them up in nuclear reactors. That takes time.
Thanks for this, another fine evidence of your thinking and your writing skill. Comment 12 is a bit puzzling…are there any accomplishments under Obama that are or will be great for America?
Its easy to make sweeping destruction with other peoples money..
“12. Poor Citizen:
Wow. As we know, the president and Congress have already accomplished more in a year than the last one did in eight years.”
Totally agree.
Bush: After 8 years 400B deficit.
Obama and Congress: After 1 year, ~1.5T.
They’ve accomplished so much more!
12. Poor Citizen: Yeah, progress in destruction.
I have enjoyed all your columns which I have read but this one goes to the front of the class.
Congrats on a great piece
I sure hope we can wrest control of this country back, unfortunately what the Democrats know and are trying to exploit is that there are mnay Johnny one note conservatives. If we can avoid cannibalism and understand that huge numbers are needed to turn the events of the last few years back and we all work to that purpose things will be all right. This means we need the most electable folks running. If there is enough of a turnout the message will be dleivered. Now that doe not mean we the people can let up, we need to get real reform going, reform of government. Thatr means significant reductions and the reason we need to pay attention for a long time is that we will only be successful on an incremental approach. WE must also offer realistic solutions, not just ignore real problems. The finacial meltdown is a case in point, the regulators had in their hands all of the rules needed to avoid it but they did not. We need to really deeply ask why?
Obama reminds me of a certain short-lived Roman Emperor who was also a narcissist: Caligula.
I’d say the 30s were much worse than today. After all, people were free in those days in ways we can’t imagine now. Unions were conspiracies to commit fraud — the Wagner Act and others made crimes non-prosecutable, when committed by union members. Few people paid Income Tax — but Social Security taxes were levied against every person drawing a paycheck. Oh, and your Social Security card/number would never, ever be used for any purpose other than servicing your SS account. The various New Deal programs subjected every business to Fed control — sure, some were ruled unConstitutional, but many weren’t, and are still around today (on steroids). The laughable interpretations of the Commerce Clause have laid the foundation for most of the unConstitutional government programs we suffer under today. Finally, the witholding of Income Taxes put the tin hat on top of everything. All of your wage was potentially theirs, and how much they decided to give back was up to them. The Fair Deal, the Great Society, and whatever they decide to call this mess, are just tweaks.
“What we have here in America today is a real-life jump-the-shark drama, starring a super-narcissistic president so desperate to create his own vainglorious legacy that he is willing to destroy his own political party and do enduring damage to his country in pursuit of his purely selfish ends.” — Kyle-Anne Shiver
Weak. This is a perfect example of an ad-hominem argument. Besides smearing Obama and his intentions, does the author have any coherent policy criticism? It would seem not. Name calling is a steaming pile of rhetorical tripe — and that goes whether you use one-syllable names or six syllable names. As if you have special insight into anyone’s psychology. Please.
The few arguments the author actually makes are built on rotten bricks. For example, the president’s approval rating is rebounding in both the Gallup (50%, up from 46% just two weeks ago) and Rasmussen daily polls (49%, up from 44% two weeks ago). No president has every failed to win re-election with a Gallup approval rating over 47%, so Obama is looking pretty good. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that only 19% of adults say they are “angry” over healthcare’s passage. That’s hardly the recipe for an electoral spanking. And while approval of the GOP is declining, it is rising again for the Democratic party. So how did Obama “destroy his own political party?”
Even the characterization of Reagan as “small government” is laughable. When, exactly, did Reagan cut the size (or even the growth rate) of government. He cut taxes as president (after raising them enormously while governor) and increased the size of government. Worse, he funded both efforts with debt, which mean he charged the good times to future generations. But he’s a great conservative, right? As presideent, Reagan also granted actual amnesty to illegal aliens and was the first president to cut and run in the face of Islamic extremism (Lebanon). Great precedents, all.
At least you gave me a good laugh. I thank you for that.
First, learn to spell.
Then look at the government takeover of GM,
Fanny Mae, Freddie MAC, the banking industry,
healthcare.
I don’t recall Reagan ever doing all of that.
Plus his associates were a little different–
No Reverend Wright, Bill Ayres, Rahm Emmanuel (holding
both an American and Israeli passports, Tim Geithner,
David Axelrod, etc.
If you can’t discern the difference between Obama & Reagan
you shouldn’t discuss politics at all.
National Strike: April 15-18
http://www.countusout.wordpress.com
22. Jack in Silver Spring:
I’m thinking Nero.
Obama will drown in time as ObamaCare weighs him down; however, in the meantime, ObamaCare is indeed drowning the Democrat Party. ObamaCare remains toxic & resistance likewise remains. People want the obamination repealed ASAP.
#9 Harvard Yard Conservative
There are, fortunately, some significant differences between Caesar and Obama. Caesar was proud of his country, he wrote his own book, and he could spell “Syracuse”. Those are just a few.
Obama and Obamanism can be defeated. More billboards and bumper stickers and videos exposing them as wicked, ugly, hypocyrites and evildoers will help the cause. But if it comes to civil war, conservatives should not be faint-hearted about that or they will lose.
Kyle-Anne, when did conservatives turn into such wimps? Suck it up, soldier! xxoo
Growing up, I just missed Viet Nam and never served. My five grown kids know nothing of war and up until now they never thought twice about their freedom. I was raised by a family that had been in many wars and was told regulary about men/women giving their lifes for this Nation.
My kids, like many, had all the perks of spoiled kids and any talk of the cost of freedom was never taken seriously by them. From Viet Nam through several years of peace many of our people found fault with America, Many, ( Obama types ) found hate. Now to those folks, China and Russia etc seems to offer a balance, a fairer way that they foolishly respond to.
Freedom has never been free, freedom comes with the cost of blood of our young and much pain. To see it tossed aside as if it is nothing, and to watch so called educated leaders think nothing of discarding our history is a crime. This President, and all like him must be made an example of and marked in history as the fools that they are.
#27 Sebastian Shaw wrote: “People want the obamination repealed ASAP.”
No they don’t. The polls, in a matter of days mind you, are starting to shift in a pretty dramatic way. Moreover, once people begin to realize the benefits of HCR and how the GOP attempted to deny them of those benefits you won’t be able to pry that vote out of their hand with a crowbar. At any rate, I look forward to the November campaign in which the GOP tries to convince hard working American families that they are better off going back to the old ways with insurance companies denying coverage due to preexisting conditions, re-instituting the Medicare donut hole so seniors pay more for the prescription drugs, and re-instituting the ability of insurance companies to rescind coverage when people need it the most, to name a few. Health care in this great nation is a right not a privilege as conservative extremists believe. No sir, you will be the one to drown. Drown in the dustbin of history as a new America built on the change that the majority of Americans voted for and the People’s house validated.
The bottom line is that your kind doesn’t understand defeat. In a political sense we need to smash your face into the ground and hold it there by putting our foot on the back of your neck so you don’t get back up. You and your ilk are the enemy within and a clear and present danger to our way of life in America.
I agree with #2 it was a very fine and enjoyable rant but that’s all that is coming out of the Republican party. Can anybody really argue against the idea that Bush and the GOP that was in power did such a lame job that they as much as offered to hand the government to anyone the Demos ran? And by the way I think BO was just testing the waters when he began his run and was as surprised as anyone that he could depose the Clinton’s. His election, resume on the back of a postage stamp, said that the people were fed up with the government running as usual. Fed up!
While the healthcare bill was being hammered through the legislature did the GOP have an alternative plan with many good reasons to support their idea? Nah, they stood around with their arms crossed over their chests chanting, “Not good, not good!” Well that wasn’t and isn’t going to be good enough in the future.
Is someone going to tell me that the GOP “tried” to but couldn’t manage the task when it came to this legislation? If so let me ask you a question, do you think that Congressmen and Senators are sent to DC by their constituents for times when “the liv’n is easy?” And if I’m wrong please instruct me what did they do that was absolutely awe inspiring, make everyone want to come to their feet and take off their hats? What was that?
This is a battle of Ideas, get that! And the GOP is out of leadership and ideas and I’m fed up with all this whining, “Ain’t it awful?… Those darned ‘ole Democrats and their dirty methods… We’re against it, we’re against it.” This is not a political program to govern the greatest country that ever was. At our founding we were “against” British rule but we also put forward a political program that sublime, it was the wonder of peoples everywhere until this very day. And now we have come to this, the GOP, our saviors. God help us.
Obama needs to be more than just defeated. This punk and his allies need to be brought up for crimes against America. The attempts to destroy this constitutional representative republic are against everything this country has EVER sttod for. While I was no Clinton fan, at least Bubba knew when the polls were against him and reacted accordingly. This punk is so commie, so hateful, that he just doesnt have any regard for anything except his communist ideology. Im not necessarily afraid-I just say be prepared for the worse. Violence might be an evil necessity.
Oh by the way-The problem is morew than just Obama. Hes just the most public face of the problem. Soros is an even bigger problem. So are so called “academians” like the commies Francis Piven, Cornell West, the idiot at hahvard Henry Louis Gates, the madman at MIT Noam Chomsky. Also needing to be exposed are so called “judges” like the 9th circus court of communism in San Freak Sicko, especially so called “judge” Stephen Reinhart. We need to find a way to disqualify those like Nancy the Nazi from public office-it would be nice, but San Freak Sicko is beyond hope, they will never throw her out. Same with Harlem and Charlie the RangHO. Whole institutions in media, academia and law need to be drained of the communist, anti-american virus that has infected them ever since the late 30s. And yes, Joe Mccarthy was correct. Right message, wrong messanger.
Poor Citizen and Progressing.
The very epitome of libtard fools. Completely ignorant of reality and facts and perfectly content to live in their make believe worlds.
My guess right now is that we have passed some sort of tipping point in terms of geometrically escalating government borrowing leading to hyperinflation. This was the view of investment guru marc faber just the other day.
While the sheeple might vote for republicans in november, we have no indications that republicans have the slightest inclination to slow government spending, as that involves reducing people’s entitlements, or special interest entitlements like the military and defense industry.
So, of more concern to me is the end-game. A cynical view is that as things get worse, the sheeple have been conditioned to seek answers from the government, and will eagerly offer up more of their freedoms for the promise of more government support.
We can talk about obama or soros as the biggest part of the problem, but the sad fact is that multiple generations of americans have been taught to revere and depend on the government, to conform, and the media and politicians pander to this. This is the american culture now, not just a handful of influential liberals.
I do not understand why Republicans are such sore losers.
I do not understand why Right Wingers are so violent and hate-filled.
I do sort of understand that GOP/Right Wing means old white guys with ED issues, spiritually and mentally and especially physically.
Don’t you people ever tire of your buffoonish ways?
A simpler approach is the notion that all democracies spend themselves to death once more than 50% of the public gets more from the government than they contribute. I believe we are past this tipping point as well.
Comment #12 Poor Citizen-You need to change your ID to poor deluded citizen. NO!!!! I do not agree except you don’t understand the problem.
I must say – I did not vote for him. I am so tempted to ask my liberal sister-in-law the same question she asked me several years ago sbout voting for Bush, “Are you embarrassed now?”
#37 tomcj go on back over to the HuffPo or Policito. Your kind is not welcome to the New American Revolution. Have some more Kool-Aid and may the chains of Socialism rest lightly on you.
both the democratic and republican parties are corrupt, insular, opaque, lazy and copiously full of crap.
obama represents no one and nothing, having no ideology or any scruples. he is simply mentally ill.
we need either a very strong third party to sweep this dung away or go to a parliamentary system.
because, this, is so over.
Well,the other day,Barokeydoke’s toady-in-chief Runt Emanuel said that passing ObozoCare was worth taking a political beating…I’m glad he feels that way…because the beating has just begun…and promises to continue for a long,long time.
“The attempts to destroy this constitutional representative republic are against everything this country has EVER sttod for.” — Darth Vader
“… I just say be prepared for the worse. Violence might be an evil necessity.” — Darth Vader
That these two “thoughts” exist in the same post, three sentences apart, tells you all you need to know about the bankruptcy of the Right today.
The duly elected president of the United States and our democratically elected representatives in Congress have acted with a Constitutional mandate. You — with your threats of violence — are not a patriot but a parasite. You can’t prevail in the marketplace of ideas, so you resort to impotent, laughable little threats. How is it you love the Constitution but hate democracy? You want to take America in a new direction, try winning an election.
Barack and Reggie are on the down low; that’s obvious. The truth about Obama–his birth, schools/grades, friends, etc., is known; must be known because he didn’t arrive in a pod. Surely those who’ve interacted and observed this man for four decades might have informative things to say. Where are the investigative journalists? I know more about Joe the Plumber’s personal life, job history and financial & tax situation than I do about this president.
@24. Progressing
An argument is ad-hominem when irrelevant personal characteristics of the person holding the opposing viewpoint are used to attack that viewpoint. In this case, however, the article is about Obama’s narcissism, so Obama’s personal characteristics that do/don’t indicate narcissism are very relevant, and not at all “ad-hominem.” Your sarcastic statement “As if you have special insight into anyone’s psychology” is based on what special insight into the poster’s psychology credentials? And who is it that’s conducting ad-hominem arguments again?
Is a 4% increase in a poll that has “95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points” a REBOUND? Seriously? The article states that Obama has shed supporters “recently.” While you might successfully argue about his use of the word “recently”, can you dispute that an increase of 4% (within the polling margin of error) is significant compared to the the loss of 18 points since his high point at his inauguration? Does it matter to you that 51% is still 6% lower than Obama’s term average? And are you convinced that a “random” poll of 1544 adults is truly representative of a population of 308,944,375 (many of whom don’t vote)? What about a poll of 500 likely voters (rather than all adults)? Rasmussen puts the approval rating at 49% today. While I haven’t researched your claim regarding re-election, a lot can happen between now and 2012, especially considering his significantly downward trend since inauguration. So it seems to be a bit premature to say he’s “looking pretty good.” Even George H.W. Bush was at 71% (Gallup) in March of his second year, and Nixon was at 54%. They were looking pretty good, weren’t they? Oh, and Reagan was at 46% in March of ’82, so…I guess he beat the odds in ’84?
Speaking of Reagan, as you do so lovingly, if you re-read the article you might notice that the author doesn’t actually characterize Reagan as small-government. He mentions the “resurgence of anti-big-government forces” that brought Reagan to power, which is distinctly different thing than what Reagan actually accomplished. The author is arguing that a similar resurgence of sentiment is occurring. You do nothing to counter his argument by discussing the Reagan presidency.
You also mentioned that approval of the GOP is declining, and rising again for the Democratic party. On what data do you base this assertion?
And you misquote Kyle-Ann Shiver with “destroy his own political party.” The statement included an important bit of context: “willing to destroy…” Quite a difference, I think.
Hopefully america will end its love affair with undivided government. Look what bush accomplished with a republican house and senate: Started a couple of never-ending wars, and passed tax cuts which spent a supposed budget surplus. Neglected to regulate the financial industry and bailed out the investors after the crash.
Obama and dems passes obamacare. Immigrant amnesty, global warming taxes, and what ever else they can accomplish before november.
Well, I suppose the odds of democrats maintaining their grip after november are slim, but the two parties still have plenty of common ground on things that will help destroy america.
Also, much as it pains me to say so, intellectual honesty requires that I concede that obamacare is an enormous, generational, victory for the socialists. It may be a pyrhhic victory, but as with most government mistakes, its the taxpayer rather than the politicians who pay for the mistake.
If the GOP ever get control again, there is no reason to expect anything other than their usual time-tested BS: tax cuts to the wealthy; revert any reforms beneficial to the environment, the poor, peace, prosperity, and the world at large; use talking points instead of thought out policy whenever possible; lie, lie, lie, lie, and then lie some more, targeting always gullible “Middle America;” and generally screw things up for the next cycle of political leaders to fix.
It is too late for a political solution,
and way too early for talk of rebellion;
There remains the way of economic reform:
Remove the cocoon of bureaucratic red tape
which smothers small business and start-ups,
allow them to generate enough new wealth to
pay our bills – for a while – and reinforce
success by calling for Prizes for Performance
on the larger 21st century Hi-Tech innovations
the US needs to produce in order to pay off our
overseas debt. Do _not_ wait for Moody to drop
the US Treasury bond rating to AA.
Here’s one that slipped in under the radar. Remember when Obama cancelled the F 22 Raptor program, it was too expensive. It was a proven capable fighter aircraft. The whole program was cancelled. In its place was supposed to be the new F35 vertical takeoff fighter which was far cheaper. Well its been a year since that decision was made and not one F35 has been delivered as of yet. The program was fully funded, costs have now doubled as it approaches the cost of the F22. In the meantime our fleet of war aircraft are aging quickly as they have been in hard use. Soon those planes will be too old to fly safely and there are no replacements on the horizon. Folks this is a big one and nothing is being said about it. I guess who needs a national defense system? Sleep well tonight Obama will protect you.
tomcj:
I do not understand why Republicans are such sore losers.
I do not understand why Right Wingers are so violent and hate-filled.
I do sort of understand that GOP/Right Wing means old white guys with ED issues, spiritually and mentally and especially physically.
Don’t you people ever tire of your buffoonish ways?
There are good rants (LOL) and then there are rants that you would expect to find at a hillbilly picnic. You’re rant falls under the latter tomcj.
Sore losers? A bill this size rammed through before anyone really understands the implications, causes disquiet; not sore losers, tomcj, interested citizens. Ever met any outside your little “circle?”
There’s a lot you don’t understand but just as when I walk my dog, tomcj, I’ll so some clean up behind you. Could you really be so intellectually challenged to not remember or know about the violence the Left put the country through in the ‘60s and ‘70s? Bombs. Police officers (I believe “pig” is a name provided by the ‘all power to love’ crowd) murdered and riots on a weekly basis. This went on for nearly a generation. “Violence, sore losers,” the wonder is the words don’t turn to stone in your mouth.
You throw ideas about as far as the toe on your shoe… old white guys? They gave the world the finest political documents ever written… search you memory you might be able think of the names. LOL And the Left? How about a little trip down memory lane, no further than the 20th century where the “Socialists” taught the world what mass murder, genocide and rapine really meant.
And the fine political documents coming from the Leftist minds would be? You have my rapt attention.
You can always count on a leftist such as PT Bull and BC to lie, obfuscate, and deny the relevance of objective evidence.
Evidence such as this, which indicates plainly that the Bush II years were years of steadily increasing prosperity for the average American. But leftists would rather that you not know that they’re opposed to prosperity. It gives individuals too much control over their lives and futures.
Evidence such as this, which indicates that the Bush II tax cuts — note that to a leftist, any tax cut enacted by a Republican simply must be “for the wealthy” — actually corresponded with a rapid increase in federal revenues. But of course, there’s no amount of money Congress can’t overspend.
And of course, a Republican administration liberating 50 million people from two murderous dictatorships simply can’t be right. Bombing an aspirin factory in the Sudan, to avert inquiry into a Democrat president’s abuse of power…now that’s another story!
Yes sirree, you can always count on a leftist.
after signing this monstrosity, and his declarations of how it was a beautiful day and Armageddon didn’t happen leads me to believe he is far beyond narcissim. Narcissim is only for mortals. He seems to think he really *is* a god. He even has worshippers who tell him so and does nothing but bask in their adulation.
Oh, and about that “tax cut for the wealthy?” Turns out not to be the case. I wonder if BC has anything to say about that?
“The bottom line is that your kind doesn’t understand defeat. In a political sense we need to smash your face into the ground and hold it there by putting our foot on the back of your neck so you don’t get back up. You and your ilk are the enemy within and a clear and present danger to our way of life in America.” – Praetorian @ 31
And there we have it, the truth straight from the mouth of the thugs who embrace the tyrant and his congress. Read the words over and over until the hatred sinks in. Think of the tyrants of the past who have unleashed thugs on their own people to do just what Praetorian states. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot practiced genocidal terror, just as Praetorian prescribes.
Well Praetorian, come and try to smash me and try to put your fascist boot on me- in a political sense, of course.
I have not seen the polls “turning” to favor Obama’s health care. I would like to see them…which ones, where?
“Only the strong will survive.” And yet at every turn, we who oppose the marxist thug are told to above all else avoid violence. Sorry. The way of peaceful opposition is a slow death march for the good, decent, productive and yes, overwhelmingly white, middle class. Only armed rebellion, leading eventually to the breakup of the ungovernable disUnited States will save us.
RE: 24/31
I’m sure Col. Putin would agree!
#57 Anne wrote: “I have not seen the polls “turning” to favor Obama’s health care. I would like to see them…which ones, where?”
Here you go. There are others showing a marked shift but you can find them yourself. But I’m guessing that you only give legitimacy to those polls that support what you already want to believe. Interestingly, the USA Today poll has been the most harsh against HCR, of which the conservatives were touting on the news shows. Wonder how they feel now?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-03-23-health-poll-favorable_N.htm
My wife was listening to conservative radio, I can’t keep her off of it. A caller to the MARK LEVIN show made an a comparison. He stated, “Obama reminds me of Louis IVX who was nick named the Sun King. When asked what is the state, he answered ‘l’setat c’est moi or I am the state.” I think that we now have the proper name for Obama IVX , he is the sun king.
Praetorian (#31): “we need to smash your face into the ground and hold it there by putting our foot on the back of your neck so you don’t get back up.”
Time to up your meds and enroll in anger management. Though its coverage is years off, Obamacare cannot come soon enough for you. Don’t wait; get help now.
37tomcj…it’s just that liberty is hard to shake. I always thought liberty was a really, really good thing. I still do. I’ll miss it.
A Narcissus just had his own delusions reinforced. Be afraid.
I can’t tell you how many times that thought has occurred to me since last Sunday.
Anything attained for the narcissist is a success, even something attained through sleazy back room deal-making and voting procedures Barack himself had previously said were highly inappropriate for such legislation as “healthcare”.
It’s all there, â la Alinsky & the whole crowd, the end justifies the means.
Nice to see you jumped to a new blog K~A. A few more sharks here. But you’re up to it. Repeal the bill! Godspeed and Happy Easter.
That shark, by the way, is a basking shark–a very distinctive dorsal. It’s big and slow and slurps up microfauna with a gigantic mouth. You can jump it all day with no risk.
Imagery is cheap, and very effective for those who have already decided. American moderates will leave you folks to your second-amendment fantasies and join the party of grownups, the party who are now showing that they intend to tackle the problems of the nation. Many of those problems, of course (you don’t even bother to disagree) arose during the past administration.
So all that remains: we know you are crazy, and we know you are stupid. You prove it with pretty much every syllable. But are you truly dangerous? Ask yourselves, wingnuts: You promise violence upon your fellow citizens, but will you deliver? Will you continue to support and applaud the cop-killers and suicide pilots? Or is that just more Republican logic: say anything, create your own reality, facts are irrelevant. The current violence and threats are appalling but important. The grownups need to know. Half-educated twits and their TV cliches are useless. What is needed now is clarity. There was a time when the Republican Party was a valuable partner in governing, a reliable source of smart and original ideas, a counterweight to the Democrats. Now the only pressing question is, how many people will you kill? HOw far does the adolescent (no, not fair to the many thoughtful and balanced adolescents I know–make that sociopathic) impulse to violence go? How many guns do you need?
We really need to know, so we can make arrangements, get the children indoors, count the livestock. We have work to do, and the current paroxysm is inconvenient to the work. So if you’re going to kill folks, please get to it. The posturing is boring.
ice9
“we know you are crazy, and we know you are stupid”
We? Have you got a mouse in your pocket or are you an astro-turfing bolshevik sent by the dictator to incite riot?
“There was a time when the Republican Party was a valuable partner in governing….”
Where is the Constitutional citation for political parties to govern in this country? Don’t the political parties and the government work for the people? Does a simple majority allow the victor to just ignore those who disagree?
#56 Lugh wrote: “Think of the tyrants of the past who have unleashed thugs on their own people to do just what Praetorian states. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot practiced genocidal terror, just as Praetorian prescribes.”
I guess in your world the legislative process isn’t supposed to include things like “votes” in which the majority prevails. Why do people like you hate America and Democracy?
Here’s your mistake ……..”do enduring damage to his country “. It isn’t HIS country. His country is Kenya, or Indonesia or any and all Arab countries in the Middle East or of course the socialist countries of Europe. This is not his country, it’s simply the country who’s citizens were stupid enough to elect him and believe his lies.
44. Of course I hate democracy, as should every Constitution and freedom loving American. America is not a democracy- drill that into your head. America is a Republic, and that means that there are things majorities are not allowed to do to people. As illustrated here, democracy ought to be considered nearly as loathesome as fascism.
As for 31, of course we don’t accept defeat. We’re Americans! We’re stubborn to the bitter end. I dare you to try to subdue us. Go ahead, give us an excuse.
66. Seeing as your work is theft and enslavement, I dare say it’s quite convenient for you not to know the answer to that. Keep looking over your shoulder every five minutes.
Joseph Conrad:…call your office!
Obamacare is like a coin dropped into the giant candy machine of government. The nickel(or $1 trillion) hasn’t begun to work its way through the machine. My guess is that the nickel will get stuck and/or the candy machine will break down.
Yes Obama is narcissistic and does constantly puff up like a toad. Both attributes are worrisome. I think that Obamacare makes a bad situation worse and that Paul Ryan has a better approach. But the game has yet to play itself out.
Everyone knows that one Texan is worth ten Americans – meaning that top notch people can make a difference to the outcome. If the Republicans recruit some “Texans” they may succeed in repealing and reforming. If they stick with a bunch of journeyman players who can’t execute then they will fail.
I see the trolls aka “los segiundo culos” have never been to Cuban clinic ..or probably even to the paradise referred to as prison by it’s inhabitants… yet they have no problems supporting the horror that is their medical system.
Henry Winkler’s also-ran “Fonze,” was to Ron Howard’s Richie’s Happy Days, what the sail-eared simpleton’s pretending to it is to America’s presidency.
You have hit the nail on the head. The danger of this narcissism is fully displayed in this phrase from today’s NYTimes (“Twists and Turns on Way to Arms Pact With Russia”): …..
“Since he also harbored dreams of eventually eliminating the world’s nuclear weapons, arms control was an obvious way to pursue two goals at once.”
This clearly isn’t going happen until we rid the world of Islamic radicals and tinpot dictators like Kim Jong Il … in other words, not for a l-o-n-g time. For President Obama to even have that as a GOAL of his Presidency, shows that he is either dangerously naive or else dangerously narcissistic (as you assert) —– either one of which is just plain dangerous.
To Francis W. Porretto: Actually, you can always count on a right winger to offer up random bits of BS out of context to try to make their case. Slightly more researched analyses like this and this rather clearly shows that the economy was no more than an unstable house of cards under Bush. That supposed “prosperity” was pretty much all illusionary because so much of it was tied in with imaginary stock values based on fantasized derivatives which in turn were based much on the insanely inflated real estate market. I notice that your first chart doesn’t include 2008 — gee, I wonder why.
How do you like them’s “objective evidence”? Right wingers…gawd….
Praetorian:
“The bottom line is that your kind doesn’t understand defeat. In a political sense we need to smash your face into the ground and hold it there by putting our foot on the back of your neck so you don’t get back up. You and your ilk are the enemy within and a clear and present danger to our way of life in America.”
Scratch a liberal, find a fascist.
Hm, let’s see: In 2001, when Dubya took office, the Clinton-era / “dot-com bubble” recession had not yet begun. The danger signs were there, but the economic tailoff hadn’t struck yet. So figures for the beginning of Dubya’s term were still very rosy — a high plateau from which to start, rather than the lower ebb to which the economy had sunk by the middle of the year. The St. Louis Federal Reserve research and statistical unit classifies the earliest part of 2001 as a time of recession. Since Clinton-era budgetary and fiscal policies were in effect and the Bush tax cuts hadn’t yet taken effect, that part of Dubya’s tenure is to the “credit” of a Democrat administration.
Now let’s look at the financial crash that occurred at the end of the Bush II Administration. It hit with force early in 2008 – but why? The engines of that crash were perilous real-estate loans, largely underwritten by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under terms demanded by Barney Frank: a Democrat. Dubya was unwise to go along with those terms, but they certainly weren’t his idea, nor any Republican’s. So putting them to his account — or to Republicans’ account when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress — is deceitful.
If I may cite the Wikipedia article on the subject:
In 1977, the Carter Administration and the United States Congress passed and signed the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, or CRA , designed to boost lending in inner cities with areas of extreme blight by forcing area banks to open new branches in these areas and to have a certain percentage of their lending portfolio of small business loans and home mortgages located in these areas. Failure to maintain this ratio would result in the banks being prevented from opening branches in other areas that were not distressed.
And with all of that, personal disposable income continued to rise until about April 2008.. At the end of 2008, personal disposable income was still higher than it had been at the beginning of the year. Federal revenues continued to increase through 2008, which makes the Leftist assertion that the Bush II tax cuts were the cause of the deficits as foolish as anything ever uttered. Interestingly, those very same Leftists will usually scream that the mortgage loans now so preponderantly in default were marketed aggressively — “predatory lending” is the usual term — to poor people and minorities, as if the financial institutions that made them actually wanted to hurt minorities so much that they would willingly lose money to do so!
Well, that’s the sort of emission you get from a mind filled with the hatred of capitalism and freedom. A mind like BC’s mind.
By the way, BC, what’s you real name and why don’t you go by it here?
Bohemond-1
Praetorian-0
Scratch a liberal, find a fascist.
I find it interesting that Praetorian chose as a handle the name of the Roman emperors personal bodyguard. I guess the handles Sokoli Stalina and Leibstandarte SS Barack Obama was already taken.
“Jumping the shark”…that’s great! Did you just make that up? This is why I read the articles here-to find out what’s “now”. You know what else Obama is like? Unwanted e-mail that tries to sell me something. If only there were a hip internet name for that too.
#70 myth buster wrote: “of course I hate democracy, as should every Constitution and freedom loving American. America is not a democracy- drill that into your head. America is a Republic, and that means that there are things majorities are not allowed to do to people. As illustrated here, democracy ought to be considered nearly as loathesome as fascism.”
Oh no, you are quite wrong on this. The United States is indeed a republic, which is a version of Democracy in which representatives represent their constituents. We, of course, do not have direct democracy in our country at the federal level. My representative was elected with the intent that she would represent her district well. Her district supports Health Care Reform. She doesn’t need to be concerned with what people in your district think about Health Care Reform. Indeed, my representative was inundated with calls against HCR from people outside her California district. She in no way shape or form has to consider these views, so their efforts were a waste of time on their part. They/you are irrelevant with regard to policy decisions she makes, just as your representative doesn’t need to consider my left-coast views. That you would view this as fascist pretty much makes you one. Drill that into your head.
To Francis W. Porretto: For one thing, I’m more than familiar enough with Wikipedia to discount that as a source for anything other than links — chronic and increasingly heated ideological warring has made too many of its articles suspect and untrustworthy, especially anything even breathed on by politics. Secondly, you may want to look at <a href="http://www.swlearning.com/economics/econ_data/percap_income/percap_income_data.html"<"real" disposable income relative to everything else.
The bottom line is that Bush completely sucked big time as a President, and this was kind of obvious back in 2004, but he got elected anyway, probably by the same disconnected-from-reality numbnuts now bashing Obama.
People call me BC. That’s enough.
People call me BC.
That’s not all they call you.
(I’m sorry, that straight line was just too much for me.)
Yeah, yeah, but at least I’m more gentle and diplomatic on these blog sites than I ever was on Usenet. And that typo’d link was suppose to be this.
hey folks, Praetorian, has admitted he (still) lives in California…so much for his genius.
Gee, look at that! No trend in favor of the health care bill after all!
Js not your reporter/blogger a tad anti-Semitic in her attacks on Saul Alinsky? How could a US Jew in 1970 ever praised Communism in the USSR, which had a long history, beginning with Russian progoms against Jewish citizens? By the time Alinsky was writing, the horrors of the USSR were better known that they had been at the end of WWII. My husband’s family lived in the suburbs of Chicao from 1953-1985. They were familiar withe Alinsky’s organizing the meat packers who had houses in back of the meat-packing yards, to save their homes from Cook Co. efforts to seize them by eminent doman. Beginning in 1988, the Grants Program of Trinity, Wall St., made grants to clusters of NYC churches that had been organized by staff of The Industrial Areas Foundation, to build Nehemiah housing on blocks of rubble-strew vacant lots in East Brooklyn and the South Bronx — AFTER the churches said that this was the greatest need.
Obama didn’t use Alinsky’s method of community organizing. By his own report, he went to tell the residents of a high-rise, low-income project what they should protest: asbestos. A resident told him (also by his own report): “I just want to get of here.” That was his first and last venture as a community organizer.
Drowning can be a rather complicated and prolonged process. Think in terms of the Heroic US Sailors trapped in the hull of the capsized Battleship Oklahoma (please forgive the analogy and horror the week or longer it took some to use up the available air while their desperate tapping on the inside of the hull proved futile). Obama and the Democrats in Congress, with the signing if this “Health Care Bill” are now trapped in the Ideological “hull” of their own making. While the press exclaims that the Tapping on the inside of the “hull” of the party is a sign of great hope, the trapped “Demorats” will very soon be all too aware of their fate. They will not be hailed as heros, and their infamous act of ultimate failure will be there downfall and their legacy.
86. Thank you for bringing that up. See, Poor Citizen, about 5% of the time polls, even properly conducted, aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. The poll you keep gloating about was a fluke- in statistical terms, an outlier. As FWP points out, all the other polls say consistently the opposite of what you are insisting.
Excuse me, it was Praetorian who cited the outlying poll.
83. Charlie Martin:
People call me BC.
That’s not all they call you.
(I’m sorry, that straight line was just too much for me.)
No need to be sorry Charlie. I call him SC ………..segundo culo.
tengo uno no quiero segundo.
By the millions we voted for a man with less relevant experience than the universally ridiculed woman on the other ticket running for Vice President. We chose to pretend that a man could come from a corrupt political machine and remain pure. We ignored the fact that he attended a racist anti-American church–either out of conviction or political expediency, both disgraceful reasons. And finally, we never asked questions because we were afraid of what it might say about us, that it might show we had a darker side of our character that we’d rather not know about. In the end we drank the Kool-Aid from the water bowls of the toothless lap dog press and convinced ourselves it was champagne. We knew what we were doing and chose to pretend it wouldn’t really matter. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. We decided it was too expensive. Now the succeeding generations will have to live with our choice.
#85 kdell wrote: “hey folks, Praetorian, has admitted he (still) lives in California…so much for his genius.”
Yes, actually it is quite lovely where I live. It paradise. Who could want more! Certainly better than that trailer park in Alabama where you likely live, but how could you know any better. You probably haven’t ventured any further that the corner Piggly Wiggly to get that liter of Pepsi and bag pork rinds.
#89 myth buster wrote: “The poll you keep gloating about was a fluke- in statistical terms, an outlier. ”
Not an outlier. They’re all starting to show movement in a direction not to your liking. Then again you probably won’t ever believe a poll that doesn’t validate what you already want to believe anyway.
Then you better be able to quote more than one poll. The one you quoted is the only one I’ve seen describing Obamacare with a net favorable rating.
Last I heard Alabama could pay it’s bills Praetorian, what’s the fiscal health of the Peoples Republic of California?
what? did you read that headline? Obama “didn’t drown”?
clearly another obvious example of the racist teabagger’s desire for violence, right?
somehow, the whole world has fallen down the looking-glass. The UN Human Rights Council includes Saudia Arabia and Cuba. Navy Seals are being court-martialed for roughing up a terrorist who murdered Americans. Eric Holder protects Black Panthers while going after CIA agents. Israel is the bad guy but Hamas are noble victims. black is white and up is down…and freedom is slavery.
“Orwellian” is the word.
To cabeza de vaca: How about translating this into Spanish.
I AM RENEWED! The money tree is dead… long live the money tree.
I AM RENEWED! The money tree is dead… long live the money tree.
Understand who many of the people who support Obama and his agenda. The communists called them “useful idiots”. They believed in what they said, some believed in the theory of equality for all, not realizing there is no such thing. Some were corrupt, some were just stupid, some were simply wrong. You would think after a century of history showing how a dominant government in ANY form eventually abuses their citizens. Our founding fathers figured this out long before Marx and communism came along.
The fact some of you have filled the role as the “useful idiot” doesn’t change the facts. Mao, who is loved by members of this administration- killed seventy million of his own screwing around trying to create the perfect society. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, even Chavez, have or are committing acts harmed their people. The fact that some of you feel “on top” right now is fine. Have your fun, but remember in the end all useful idiots suffer the same fact as the people who they taunted. That is the way of all totalitarian regimes operate.
Enjoy your fun. You’ll be rationed, targeted, taxed and manipulated like the rest of us.
@poor citizen
The Bush administration presided over the most substantial reduction in the American nuclear arsenal in history. It was done unilaterally and surprise, the Russians followed suit. I believe that the reduction was in the neighborhood of 5000 warheads. The treaty which you now celebrate involves a further reduction, but on the Russian side, this allows them to take credit for eliminating no longer functional warheads that they couldn’t afford to maintain in any event and in fact, had stopped maintaining. Thus, once again, Obama was skunked in a foreign affairs foray. So before you celebrate, learn the facts.
As far as the so-called health reform, how is it that with 32 million new consumers there is not a single cent to increase the capacities of our medical schools? How is it with all the hoopla of extended insurance coverage, much of which is postponed for years, there is no limitation in premium increases? How is it that every economist that has looked at this law opines that the resulting deficit will be many times larger than was projected? How is it that the United States Treasury now has to pay a higher interest rate on its bonds than corporate issuers for the first time in history?
I have read and studied the Senate Bill although the Reconciliation Bill was not available much before the vote. I guarantee that Obama’s cheerleaders on this thread and on others have never attempted to read and understand this legislation and I will also guarantee you that the law of unintended consequences will apply with full force.
Finally, @progressively, you repeat the White House talking point that the Republicans never offered an alternative and that is demonstratively untrue. Aside from the fact that they were completely excluded from the negotiations with the lobbyists and Democratic staff members who wrote the bill, they proposed a series of reforms including interstate policy sales, increased HSA’s, better reimbursement structures for Medicare and Medicaid, restrictions on tort litigation, etc. all of which were rejected. I read that the Mayo Clinic is no longer accepting Medicare patients. I read that Walgreens in Washington state is no longer accepting Medicaid prescriptions. Why, because the reimbursement rates are insufficient to cover costs. Yet the so called reform legislation extracts a half trillion dollars from Medicare in order to make the alleged numbers, and then double counts that as a saving. The only way that amount can be extracted is to further reduce reimbursement rates and that will inevitably result in more exclusions. Further, Congress will pull back that reduction as soon as the dust clears and that will result in an additional half trillion in deficit spending.
This all could have been done with real leadership, with an intelligently instead of ideologically designed bill that would have garnered bi-partisan support, but that would have required heavy lifting by the President. Instead he has chosen to travel around in the nice jets, give the same pap loaded speech over and over, party hardy each night at taxpayer’s expense, and otherwise enjoy the accouterments of office without fulfilling the basic obligations of the Presidency. His bump in the polls evaporated in a week and the plunge continues. The more people learn about the travesties of this bill, the greater the decline in his popularity will be. I never thought it could be possible to make that nincompoop Carter look good, but Obama has done that trick well.
Disturber
Wow!! The incredibly eloquent Kyle-Anne Shiver has described a man so bent on destroying the country I love so passionately that I can only hope that her words will wake up that part of Americans who are still unaware of the danger this man represents. Keep writing, Kyle-Anne, America needs your voice.
Nice content. Waiting for you to continue the topic.
Hilary Swenson
escort service warsaw indiana