Obama’s Broken Promises Were Entirely Predictable
Barack Obama swept into office with the limelight at his back. For nearly two years of campaigning, Obama led a nationwide movement for change and became a phenomenon, breaking all sorts of political barriers along the way. People of all demographics used Obama as a vessel in which to invest their hopes and dreams. But today, just three weeks into his presidency, Mr. Obama is on the verge of losing the country’s confidence and the large reservoir of national goodwill afforded to all incoming presidents. There are several reasons for this, all of which should be and have already been explored. I would hate to say “I told ya so,” but …
What could anyone have possibly expected from a young, overtly leftist Chicago upstart who had accomplished precisely nothing of significance throughout his short career — and yet still promised the world, and more, to his loyal adherents?
Consider his campaign pledges: It wasn’t too long ago that Obama promised to “tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over.” Ah, the corporate lobbyist, every candidate’s favorite whipping boy. “They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president,” Barack once swore to his sea of idolizing worshipers.
That was then; this is now. President Obama has allowed seventeen exceptions to the no-lobbyist rule. And remember that “sunlight before signing” pledge, giving citizens enough time to read a bill — and offer their opinions on it — before it is signed into law? Well, that’s gone to the wayside, too.
Consider his tone and lack of bipartisanship: Obama’s election was supposed to end the “politics as usual,” filled with “divisiveness” and all other sorts of bad things. It was on Inauguration Day, as I recall, when Obama proclaimed “an end to the petty grievances … that for far too long have strangled our politics.” We should “set aside childish things,” Obama suggested, and “choose our better history.”
So much for that. The first thing President Obama did was allow Nancy Pelosi to write the egregious “stimulus” bill, effectively making it her own personal wish list. When opposition to the bill began to mount, Obama brought Republicans to the bargaining table — only to snicker “I won” to their faces.
Additionally, President Obama’s recent speech to House Democrats was as snide and sarcastic of a national address as you will ever see. It was laced with flippant, partisan attacks on those who dared to question the logic of this massive bill. His administration went on the offensive, campaign-style, impugning the motives of those who have philosophical problems with the stimulus — what he calls “bickering” — while discarding any semblance of bipartisan spirit or grace under pressure.
Consider the dialogue: Gone is the pie-in-the-sky talk about post-partisan politics, transcending space and time, and all that other nonsense. We just passed a spending bill which will — using contemporary monetary standards — cost more than Bush’s Iraq war and Roosevelt’s New Deal combined. It is, by far, the largest spending bill in American history. We could buy real estate on Mars for a fifth of the cost.
One would think Obama, who promised a new era of dialogue, would at least appreciate the historical magnitude of such a gargantuan bill — and conduct himself in accordance. After all it will be Sasha and Malia’s children who will pay off this government-induced debt. Even the bill’s advocates begrudgingly admit that.
Rather, we’ve seen our new leader act more like the teacher’s pet that finally gets detention, or the all-state quarterback who is finally benched for missing practice: self-righteous, arrogant, indignant, shocked, and incredibly thin-skinned. Martha Zoller and Jennifer Rubin each hit the nail on the head: if President Obama were as good at explaining the stimulus package as he is complaining to others about the stresses of the job, he wouldn’t feel the need to resort to testy pompousness. Obama has thus far proven to be better at displaying his obsession with talk radio personality Sean Hannity — he mentions him every chance he gets — than explaining, in a rational and coherent manner, how the Democratic pork-pet projects in his spending bill will save our economy. That’s the reality, and that’s sad.
The writer’s command of the English language is somewhat deficient. The title has the wrong word. It was not predictable: It was predicted! Active voice, dear writer.
Bushed got bashed every day during his administration for siding with Bill Clinton and the CIA that Iraq and Afghanistan has to be delt with; killer groups within the country were praying on innocent people in true killing fields frequency.
Barack’s now on record to let those killer groups go free.
It’s a difference even a slow child can understand.
Then there was all the heat Bush took for his plans to fix a couple of crutial social programs.
Bush wanted to fix medicare and social security. Democrats mocked him for trying to do so and the mainstream media joined the mock party to insure its failure.
Bush wanted to control immigration. Democrats wanted every illegal or legal be treated the same. Given constitutional protections. Which comes down to a political ploy to get more votes. Dems played politics while Bush delt with real world problems.
Bush wanted to keep us free.
Barach wants immigrants to be free to invade the U.S.
Bush believed in missile defense to keep American families safe.
Barack is phasing out the missile defense system which has alread proven it could save millions of American lives.
Barack is on the wrong side of every crucial issue facing America in 2009, and his stimulus plan is a one way ticket to catastrophe.
If the 2012 election were tomorrow, the three plus weeks that barack has been President have shown him to be a weak, callow fellow whose knee jerk socialist agenda will have America on a collision course with economic peril, both foreign and domestic, military peril, and
moral peril in large part due to his hiring hords of tax cheats.
It seems everything Barack comes into contact with goes south; he hires people of low moral character, I guess because he learned politics from the dirtiest players in the union. And those people he hired become an embarassment when their past catches up to them. Then Barack either chimes in with a bunch of mistake excuses or fires them. Or they fire themselves.
Like Hillary did years ago when she grossly mishandled her healthcare fiasco, Barack is also making the mistake of being 180 degrees from bipartisan (something he promised).
He shut the Republicans out of all the Stimulus meetings. Didn’t even post the times or the places of the meetings.
To suggest that Barack is an incompetent, inexperienced, liar and hypocrite, I think, is not stating the case accurately enough. I think those words underestimate him. I think he’s highly incompetent, highly inexperienced. But he is loud, and does break things. Most often, his word.
Barack is a bull in a china shop where everything he breaks costs 100,000 jobs and 50 billion dollars. He is the polar opposiste of a John Kennedy or a Ronald Reagan.
And our foreign adversaries think of him, probably rightly, as a politically correct whimp of biblical proportions who’s more suited to do guest shots on the Howdy Doody show.
Barack has instincts, but they’re instincts to do the wrong thing, probably the best example was his constant whining that the Iraq Surge was doomed to failure. Fact is, it succeeded and won the war at a time when Barack and Murtha were screaming like schoolgirls to turn tale and run.
Barack, my friends, is in way over his head. And before he pulls us all down into some sordid abyss, somebody needs to try to talk some sense into him. However, he’s surrounded himself with such a no hit, no field team of
hard core losers, that I don’t think there’s anybody there who knows how to turn lemons into lemonade.
How’d we get into this mess. Well, 53% of voting Americans bought Obama’s tired old line about change hook, line and sinker, and went and voted for this mentally alert, morally bankrupt, sophisticatedly ill-equipped, managerially flawed, misfiring monstrosity.
Commander in Chief you elected him to be. What were you thinking, smoking and drinking?
The mainstream media’s boy wonder is boy blunder, pure and simple. He makes Blago look like a political genius.
In the face of Barack’s constant missteps and insane misjudgments, at least we’ve increased the export of Presidential jokes from Bush levels. Heck, Bush may have been the laughingstock of the homo Hollywood elete, along with their action figure friends like Tina Fey and Shawn Pig Penn, but Barack’s the laughingstock of our enemies, the ones Bush made sweat.
Maybe Barack’s incompetence and moral turpitude will never rise to the level where his psychophants will scream for his impeachment. Even at Barack’s insistence that he politicize the census.
But fair mind, practical minded citizens all over America are starting to come to the escapable conclusion that we’ve elected a Captain Queeg minus the steel balls.
Logic rationalizations? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Maybe rationales? Rationalizations are those things we use to justify our illogical behavior.
What about that poor woman that needed her car pd. for and rent money?
Anyway…
My Dad used to say it is better to laugh at a problem than cry.
Soooo….
Don’t laugh!
And he’s not leading the debate, may I surmise, because he does not have requisite leadership qualities for an executive. Sure, he’s brilliant at rallies. But so is Bon Jovi.
==========================================
You’ve gone too far now. Bon Jovi deserves better.
And, the womanizing Bill Richardson? Do tell.
Nicholas, what you have written is so right on the money! The only thing you missed on was you said “it might be a long 4 years”. Not “might” but it will be a long 4 years. Thanks for a good article.
———————————————-
Who is John Galt?
If this goes on long enough, people will eventually start mocking the One. But it depends on when enough is enough.
“…may I surmise, because he does not have requisite leadership qualities for an executive.”
Barack Obama is a shallow and poorly read individual. He is not dumb! I’m not talking about his I.Q. Obama never bothered to challenge his intellect. Instead, he rightly sensed that he could get ahead in life by exploiting white guilt and embracing economic and political policies requiring a Messiah. Our new president is not even close to being ready to handle his grave responsibilities. Things are going to get much worse. And this may especially be true regarding foreign policy matters. The naive and feckless Obama can literally get us killed!
General Zinni got what he deserved. If you get in bed with this current crop of bad guys, you should not be surprised to have cockroaches and bedbugs in your clothes. I’ve lived on military bases the last 22 years, and it never surprises me how the Generals , once retired, are the least representitive of the good character of the military. It’s like they drop their honor in drawer, pick up their “badguy” ID card, and walk out to work without changing their facial expression.
On the article in general, I think I’ve read warnings about every single point you’ve made, right here on Pajamas Media. People examined Obama’s behavior, anticipated the his moral character would not change once he was in the white house, and applied his past behavior to what he would do in the new circumstance. All this was predicted by “thinking” people looking at facts. Sad what that says about the United States people. We have been devolving since we lost the education system.
Great article, thanks. Getting all that in one place with the support links is very useful.
Two things I thought I’d never see.
Twenty years ago I stared with with dumbstruck disbelief at the television screen: young guys in jeans dismantling the Berlin Wall, brick by brick – heralding the collapse of the once mighty USSR.
Last night I watched one man, amidst the worst financial crisis in living memory, dishing out money like he’s won a lottery, and I realised I’m watching the collapse of the once mighty USA.
“This is a great country, now let’s change it…”
He’s keeping his promise.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone
“critics of Barack Obama contended he was too inexperienced, too leftist, and in a sense, too good to be true”
I was yelling that at the top of my lungs and nobody listened
How can the dems sleep at night?
I’m so glad you had the insight and endurance required to articulate what has been obvious for months. I find it infuriating that this stuff has to be said, point by point, but I guess it does.
I have not been surprised at anything obama has done, because it is who he has always been. I never believed the things he said during the campaign because those things were not who he was (easily understood by just being awake to his history and slim, slim resume).
What’s going to happen in the streets when a good % of his followers discovered he can’t deliver their toys to their cribs? They’ve always rioted before when they didn’t get what they want. I suspect they will do the same now. Their targets and methods (which will now embody homegrown terrorism) will escalate.
Unfortunately, anarchy always ends up making totalitarianism look like a solution.
Obama has performed way beyond my expectations.
I expected bumbling and ineptitude.
I got catastrophe.
Anyone else notice that this Trillion dollars of disaster passed on
Friday the Thirteenth.
Tell the Truth!
Doesn’t Harry Reid look like Freddie Kruger?
http://www.topnews.in/usa/files/Senator-Harry-Reid.jpg
I’ve, as a pro-America, asked myself, time and time again, how this corrupt, hard-left and spoiled child/man could be elected as president of the most advanced country in the world. I see his behavior as a child in a man’s suit. Has anyone questioned his mental capability? How could millions and millions be deceived so easily? Our politicians are the worst possible people but your politicians are not a bit better, even worse. It’s by no means defending the loser RINO John McCain. How could it happen? I appreciate intelligent answers.
The best summation yet of this patsy!
It is time to take back our country from the media and the fool called the ONE!!!!!!!!
Here you go, lifted right from one of Nic’s links to the campaign site:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/
Shine the Light on Federal Contracts, Tax Breaks and Earmarks
* Create a Public “Contracts and Influence” Database: As president, Obama will create a “contracts and influence” database that will disclose how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them.
* Expose Special Interest Tax Breaks to Public Scrutiny: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the Internet in an easily searchable format.
* End Abuse of No-Bid Contracts: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will end abuse of no-bid contracts by requiring that nearly all contract orders over $25,000 be competitively awarded.
* Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
* Shine Light on Earmarks and Pork Barrel Spending: Obama’s Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act will shed light on all earmarks by disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be approved by the full Senate.
I guess the batteries are dead in the flashlight!
Last fall, I had friends who refused to vote for McCain. Their reasons were many, and valid. Mostly, they wanted to make a point. They all reasoned that Obama’s inexperience would result in a disgruntled country voting a conservative candidate into office in 2012.
At the time, I tried to convince them. Obama would do irreparable harm to this country. We would not be able to change it back, as easy as they were believing. This is not another Jimmy Carter. Carter was a fool, and without many allies to do his dirty work.
In three short weeks we have become a different nation. We have loaded an unfathomable tax burden on citizens, we now have a government that enjoys ridiculing businessmen while plying gifts on the homeless.
This is how we supposedly make our society more equal, by making us all slaves to our government.
The Fairness Doctrine, an assault on dissent and free speech is next.
It is predicted.
Better get those “shovel ready” jobs moving quick before the snow melts. Then it will be “sand bag ready” jobs.
Tragic circus.
Here’s two more promises that he’ll break. First, this is not the last stimulus bill we’ll see. As it is determined that certain lobbyists, unions, plaintiffs’ attorneys and friends of dems didn’t get as much as whoever, the dems will try to augment the first distribution. Second, the one I really like, is the Obama phrase, “will create or save four million jobs.” As unemployment rises and damn few new jobs are created, we will hear regularly that “it would be a lot worse if the bill hadn’t passed; we’ve saved 10 million jobs already.” Maybe, the unemployed newspaper folks will be less worshipful of the Lord Obama then.
Mr. Obama’s chief asset is that he’s a media created celebrity. The MSM will cover for him as long as it can, but eventually the facade will crack even for the likes of Chris Matthews. Our new president will reveal himself for the peevish, entitled, callow youth that he is. Sixty million voters bought into what was nothing more than a slick advertising campaign. The product is suddenly revealed as junk, but there’s no money-back guarantee. We’re stuck with it.
It is apparent that, in the midst of all the din and noise on The Capitol Hill, no comprehensive thinking has been devoted to ascertain in advance how and what benefits will accrue to the economy of this country from this stimulus package.
There are essentially two components (apart from various inevitable pork-laden earmarks) in this stimulus package:
1) Tax cuts and tax rebates (A Republican input)
2) Spending on infrastructure like highways, bridges, electricity grids, etc.(A Democratic input)
Giving a few hundred dollars to a family, by way of tax cuts and rebates, will only straightaway induce them to go out and buy some sundry and consumer electronic items from WalMart or Target stores. If these products are at least manufactured within this country, it will certainly give a shot in the arm to the country’s economy. But, it is an unpalatable fact that almost all these items are imported from China, Mexico and other countries. We are not living in times akin to 1930’s or even a couple decades later when almost every household item was made within this country. Hence, buying these products may somewhat ameliorate the economic situation in the countries we import these products from and certainly not in this country. Hence, this way of boosting consumer spending is just applying a 1930s’ remedy to a 2010s’ disease.
As for the proposed spending on various infrastructure projects, unless the Government (at the state or the federal level) decides to execute all these projects directly without involving any private enterprises or contractors, they all will be non-starters. If the overall objective of this exercise is to create jobs in the private sector, there are many hurdles in the way. I doubt that even a die-hard Democrat would relish the situation in which the government will have to create jobs on its own payroll for carrying out these infrastructure projects on its own without private sector participation. But, on the other hand, if any private contractor makes a successful bid for any such project, he or she will have to tie up needed working capital in advance. After all, the Government will pay the contractor only either after the project is completed or in part payments depending on the progress in the project execution. I am not sure that anyone in the government would favor payments to private contractors (who are not in the big league) in advance of the projects being even started. Do we have an extradition treaty with Mexico or Brazil?
Here lies the crunch. The banks are not as yet willing to advance any credit to medium and small scale enterprises and businesses. After all, they got burnt and themselves into the present mess by giving loans to people with poor credit (of course, out of greed to earn fat bonuses), like in the case of sub-prime mortgages. Hence, the main and most crucial problem related to the credit crunch must be sorted out before any of these ambitious plans are rolled out for execution. If this is not done posthaste, the stimulus package is DOA. That was the reason why the former Treasury Secretary, Paulson (a Wall Street veteran) soon realized this problem and changed the tack midstream to bail out the banks first, however distasteful and unpopular it might be, and incurred the wrath of ignoramuses in both chambers of the US Congress. Only a few people in the governmental hierarchy in the present administration, like the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, seem to be aware of this catch-22 situation but they are obviously afraid to speak out.
That is some photo at the top. Is this a humble supplicant begging the Almighty for wisdom and solace? Or this the worry wart, second guessing past decisions, “Gee, I hope I didn’t go too far too fast. If I keep doing this, 2010 elections might be tough on my party”?
Or is this a version of, “Wow, I really hate all these unfair attacks on me for trying to help the poor by taking a little from the rich and showing people how to be really good. I am not as happy in this job as I thought I would be. I don’t like it too much so far. Guess I’ll have to forbid any bad news from reaching me. A guy has to make a buck in this world, and I have to say the money is good and will get much better. Look at Clinton.”
Why has Barney Frank not been tried for treason ? Jane Fonda too ?
Interesting post. Mr. Obama knew when he made those promises about “change” that the only genuine “change” would be a new Chief Executive, himself or his then opponent, Mr. McCain. What a great talker/speaker he is though…
After reading this article and the comments it’s a perfect example of a bunch of people who know absolutely nothing about what is happening to our country.
The people on this site haven’t got a clue. Their stuck in their ideology and they don’t care.
This is what has happened to us. The Neocon controlled media leads you around like the dunces you are and you swallow the garbage hook, line and sinker without ever seeing if what you’re reading has a speck of truth.
I’m not an Obama fan but I’ll wait see whats going to happen unlike you predictors of the future. Their just self fullfilling prophecies by a bunch people who haven’t a clue.
As one who has studied history, our true history, what’s going on now has been around for a long time. It will not change until you decide to get the truth. I’m 61 and it will not happen in my lifetime, even if I live to be a 100.
Obama is the Manchurian Candidate of 2008. I suspect the like of George Soros and is Acorn buddies had huge influence on getting this fraud elected. I find it distrubing that the MSM continues to shower praise on this man. He is totally incapable of running this country, and is leading America down a dangerous path.
The fact that the Democrat-contolled Senate (and House, for that fact) passeed this pork-packed stimulus bill without one, ONE,senator reading it is reprehensible. To have Obama sign it without review or oversight, is criminal.
Obama is a fraud, and a hubris racist, who now retreats anywhere by the WH when the pressure is on. He cannot even hold an open press conference…the news staff are all plants. That speaks volumes to his transparency and ethics. This is what we get for electing a man based on his skin color rather than experience, wisdom, ethics and leadership.
The article you cite points out 2 exceptions, not 17. Care to list the other 15 or was 17 just hyperbole?
Contrast this with Bush’s cabinet dominated by lobbyists better than half of whom are now going back to lobbying the agencies they just worked for. Why no outrage at that?
Tone is subjective and so I won’t bother to debate this. Suffice to say I thoroughly disagree with your assessment there. He did reach out to Republicans, they did not reach back.
Re: the I won comment.
It was in response to being pressed to accept economic policy he specifically campaigned against.
Of the 17 cabinet and cabinet level posts and their deputies (34+ total) there are maybe 5 with issues that you can really make any noise about. Since when is 5/34 = nearly every? More hyperbole.
Why include an etc after you have made a complete listing? That would imply at least several more rather than no more.
The people deserve the government that the people put in office. That choice was made without the benefit of any vetting process by the MSM who acted as part of the democrat campaign apparatus. The fact that buyers remorse has set in at such an early date should come as no surprise to anyone.
Our only hope is that by midterm elections a repeat of 1994 will occur. Clinton turned out not to be so bad in terms of governance since he had to contend with a Republican majority. The damage done until then may be severe and hopefully not irreversible.
Obama may be smart but his command of history is deplorable and his lack of understanding economic principles defies understanding.
@22: Rajan: - Here lies the crunch. The banks are not as yet willing to advance any credit to medium and small scale enterprises and businesses. …they got burnt and themselves into the present mess by giving loans to people with poor credit (of course, out of greed to earn fat bonuses)…
Hardly.
Paulson did not “change tack”. He did not foresee this insane “stimulus” package back when TARP was suggested because there was no need for a gargantuan “stimulus” last fall. There still isn’t. What we need are major income, capital gains and corporate tax cuts and a reduction in the size of government as well as its insanely huge entitlements programs.
Banks are still not lending much, overall, because TARP was rushed through without any thought whatsoever given to The Law of Unintended Consequences. Just like this fake “stimulus” package.
Instead of focusing funds on banks that would be in the best position to provide credit afterward, the first $350B in TARP funds was spread indiscriminately over 100s of banks. Most of that money is balancing these banks’ books to make them financially viable again, not being loaned out as credit. If they simply loan that money out in a failing economy, they’re back where they were. They won’t be providing credit until deposits pick back up, which requires people to put money into savings and investment accounts. So TARP has only done have the job it needed to do.
The credit problem arose because loans were given to millions of borrowers who would not have qualified without the government regulations imposed by CRA – a federal affirmative action program ostensibly intended to provide “affordable mortgages” but, in fact, intended to purchase votes for Democrats from minorities and the so-called “poor”.
These regulations neglected to factor in the reality of interest rate fluctuations – particularly in the context of sub-prime loans. Rate fluctuations turned those “affordable” mortgages into untenable burdens when interest rates doubled over the three years from mid-’03 to mid-’06. This was because CRA didn’t include anything that required the mortgages to remain “affordable”. Duh.
An avalanche of defaults and foreclosures followed, followed by a burst of the housing bubble, followed by the devaluation of hundreds of billion$ in securities based on those (now toxic) mortgages, followed by a meltdown of the credit sector. It had little to do with “greed”, other than the left’s greed for political power, exhibited by vote-buying regulations like CRA.
What did you expect from the affirmative action
president? The only talent he has is skill in
confrontation and the rhetoric that supports it.
This talent only works in opposition. When you
become “the man” the usual outcome is failure.
That is why he needs to blame others for his
failures and the failures to come. Do exactly
what I want or you are responsible for my failures.
In fact, if you present an alternative or even
criticize me you are responsible for my failures.
1. Marc Malone,
You grammar Nazi! he-he-he
~
Enjoyable summation on what we’ve all been bitchin’ about, Mr. Guariglia.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.
Keep the faith.
26. Nav:…I’m 61 and it will not happen in my lifetime, even if I live to be a 100.
Proof that with old age comes wisdom, but somtimes, old age travels alone.
Thanks for your factless rant about the ‘neocon media (the Joos!)’ leading us all astray. And those darn London banker fellas, all conniving, with the Zionists ….. The US is facing ‘change’ at knifepoint, our childrens future is being ripped out of their lives and sold for pennies, we face a fascist twist of a strong central government taking control of business and forcing it’s behavior. We are discussing real things here, not tin foil hat “neocon” conspiracies. kthxbye.
Ode to Obama
I raise this hammer O’ Great Leader
Let it smash the Capitalist that robs us
The oppressed will no longer cower
The coin shall be returned to its rightful owner
I raise this sickle O’ Great Redeemer
Let it slash the Warmonger that bleeds us
The downtrodden will no longer suffer
The eagle shall be caged in the name of peace
I raise this many hued Peacock O’Great Savior
Let its cry silence the Liar that deceives us
The proletariat will no longer grovel
The voices of dissent shall be silenced
I raise this form of Gaia O’ Great One
Let her tears drown the Vandal that despoils us
The innocent will no longer crawl
The resources of our Mother shall be preserved
NAV,
What is a NeoCon in your opinion? Is a neocon diametrical to a neoMarxist?
Who makes up the Neocon media? WHat is the size of this Neocon media’s audience? Does being exposed to this Neocon media preclude one from discerning right from wrong or good from evil? Do you have a copy of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” on your bookshelf?
Just because you are the type that lashes out at things you cannot comprehend – like budgets, supply/demand, exponential math, homicide vs self-defense, et al, that is no excuse to play the “Jooooish Banking Conspiracy” card.
Dude,where’s my car?
A few questions, dont-read-of-me: Isn’t “many hued Peacock” a redundancy? Is the hammer in the first stanza the one Peter, Paul, and Mary used to sing about? What denomination is that coin? Isn’t it a little unusual for a Redeemer to slash somebody? Isn’t “dissent” what the rightful owners, the downtrodden, the Liar, the Vandal, the innocent, and the proletariat were heavily into before the inauguration?
The President has lost his halo in less than 30 days after his inauguration. What we see is a man whose judgment is so shallow, that he is required to insist that his ideas must be accepted or that disaster will result. One cannot play that game for very long without finding himself standing alone.
ARE YOU SAFER TODAY THAN YOU WERE ON JAN 19, 2009?
With the media still snorting the Obama hype, and the people willing to be deceived out of everything they should cherish, and an obviously under qualified individual in the most powerful job in the world, it is also predictable that we are heading straight over the cliff.
The leftist billionaires that have orchestrated this disaster want no less than the end of Americas position of dominance in the world economically,militarily, and politically.
They have engineered the success of their plan through the mechanism of using our own money to fund the demise. Most of the stimulus bill furthers those aims.
We have billionaires on our side too, they need to wake up and quit playing on both sides.
Capitalist need to use their power to fight back, now!
If not we will soon be just another appendage on the world globalist state of misery!
“Give the guy a chance” the much loved but seriously misguided liberal members of my family asked. “I’ll try” I answered, but held little hope. Obama shows up on Arab television blaming and apologizing for America… strike one! Obama lowers himself to an unbelievable standard by picking a fight with a private citizen (Limbaugh)… strike two! Obama breaks virtually every one of his campaign promises in a matter of weeks, and allows the house to run roughshod over my country… strike three looking…You’re out!!! Even the family liberals are strangely silent…hmmmmm!
Open borders, billions to fund ACORN et al to register illegals and the dead, plus Whitehouse control of the Census means Republicans (or any other political party) will NEVER be in the majority again.
Most (66%) of the porkulus is meant to create more jobs; but only for those expected to always vote Democrat.
Monica Crowley and the Politics of Confidence
That Monica Crowley is one deadly woman!
I mean that in the very best of ways. She may be very easy on the eyes but she is indeed deadly to the Democrats and especially to President Barack Obama.
I happened to catch a too brief ten minutes of her 3 p.m. EST broadcast today on WABC, New York, and the absolute Queen of Conservative Zing-mistresses didn’t disappoint. Like a modern day, political Annie Oakley, she took aim at the Obamaniacs and nailed them repeatedly with her commentary.
Whether an original thought or not, she zeroed in on why Obama is a failed president lest than a month into his lone 4-year term. Americans didn’t expect miracles from him, she pointed out. They didn’t expect him to, wizard-like, immediately solve the banking and economic messes we’re in, or any of our messes, for that matter. What they craved, what they hoped and longed for, was one primary thing: Americans wanted this messiah to restore confidence in government and in that he has failed miserably.
Monica focused on all the bailouts, not the AIG and other bailouts but on Obama’s poor choices for his cabinet and other administrative positions, so many of whom have bailed out of contention.
It’s not as if Rahm Emanuel and Company didn’t have adequate time to vet their candidates. After all, most people knew by October that the Obama/Biden ticket would beat McCain/Palin. The mainstream media more than assured that victory in its admittedly one-sided coverage of the campaign. So they had four months, at a minimum, to insure that the job was done right.
It wasn’t, obviously.
Chief among Obama’s cabinet choices was the guy Monica referred to as the administration’s Pee Wee Herman, confessed tax cheat, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner….
(Read the rest of this article on Monica and Obama at http://genelalor.com/.)
“24. Bill Perron:
Why has Barney Frank not been tried for treason ?”
And putting Barney Frank in a prison full of men would somehow comprise punishment?
Regarding Obama’s ineptness, I think George Bush’s legacy will start to shine a lot sooner than anyone had imagined.
If the Republicans had played their cards right and nominated a black contender, like Steele, “We the People” would not be in this situation, today, and the “Campaigner in Chief” would not be mortgaging the White House. What’s next for this bum to take to the pawn shop? Maybe he’ll start pimping.
Watching Obama’s willingness to throw his Grandma under the bus when it suited him told me everything I needed to know about what he’d be like as POTUS. No surprises yet.
Our “Pimp in Chief” is making whores out of the Federal Reserve, Treasury Dept., Government Printing Office, and U.S. Mint. He’s hocking everything in sight.
This is what Obama calls “Political Capital”.
Out of context, but notable:
“Larry King: Do you think Republicans follow Rush?
Bill Maher: Who else are they following?
I think they’re absolutely following Rush. And that’s how clueless that party is. They looked to find the future, and they found RADIO. ”
NAV:After reading this article and the comments it’s a perfect example of a bunch of people who know absolutely nothing about what is happening to our country.The people on this site haven’t got a clue. Their stuck in their ideology and they don’t care
I don’t hold a precious credential, that i can flash to whom ever, to prove that i am worthy, so if that makes me a know nothing, then let that be my credential I am a nobody. but it doesn’t take a PHD(piled higher deeper) to witness a train wreck. not an economist says the economy will correct itself painfully, the stimulus bill looks like a pay for play restitution…. the big payoff. oh wait its not what it seems… yes i believe that too.
46. kathy
you are correct. no surprises yet, but it is early, and i am sure he can surprise even me.
who knows, there may be a silver lining to this. we all needed a wake up call.
Jeb – So only 1/7 of Obama’s nominees should be in jail? Yeah, not bad, I guess … and “the gratuitous swipe at the Rom”? I thought that kind of PC insanity had finally been put out to pasture. Oops, excuse the gratuitous swipe at horses.
“How could it happen? I appreciate intelligent answers.”
We had a candidate this past election cycle who was a brilliant business executive with a record of solid accomplishment, and who had executive experience as governor of a large state. Just the man for these troubled economic times.
Instead, we got a community organizer who had not so much as run a corner grocery.
How did it happen?
Romney’s a Mormon. Can’t have that.
Romney looks like the guy who lays you off. (Whatever that means.) Can’t have that.
Romney started off rather less socially conservative than he is now. Can’t have that.
We have no one to blame but ourselves for our current crisis in leadership.
He said the recession has left the nation so weak that only the federal government can “jolt our economy back to life.” And he declared that failure to act swiftly and boldly “could turn a crisis into a catastrophe.””
“Certain that he had succeeded in his goal, Obama left Washington before the Senate vote was completed, returning home to Chicago last night for the first time since becoming president.”
Act Swiftly?
The bill left the Senate on Friday and he goes home for the weekend and will sign it on Tuesday?
The reincarnation of Nero?
Or a simple do as I say, not as I do.
There is no doubt that Obama and the Democrats have taken influence peddling and corruption to a new level. The Republicans are better but, not by much. All politicians act as if they are part of a organized crime syndicate…which they are of course…Have they ever been held in less regard than they are today…I’d rather shake hands with a drug dealer than a politician…
Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for “That One”.
And what does “Barack Obama swept into office with the limelight at his back,” mean?
We can thank Huckabee for putting BHO in office…..what a selfish dirtbag
Obama reminds me of some people I used to work with in the Army. You always seem to have these barracks lawyers around. They are very concerned about the troops and will argue with every order or policy.
One more than one occasion one of these “barracks lawyers” got promoted and put in a position of authority. They had two choices, they could complain that what their superiors wanted them to do was wrong, and probably get relieved with the accompanying loss of career, or they could do the job.
In every case they decided to keep their career. They also decided that there would be no dissent allowed. They morphed into the most authoritarian of bosses, refusing to listen to their peers or subordinates. Generally they performed badly in that case too.
The thing is that they really believe that they are the smartest and ‘best” people in the room and think everyone else is either stupid or corrupt.
They’re a pain in the ass at best, but a disaster waiting to happen in a position of power.
Romney’s Mormon? I didn’t know that. He should talk about it more. It’s a terrific religion. Much better than the madrassa mullah we have now in the White House. I heard he doesn’t have a birth certificate. Is that legal? How do we know he didn’t come here from Syria or something? And the drugs, my goodness, he admitted to using cocaine and marihuana and LSD and heroine in college. I think he’s still doing that stuff. Is that legal for a president to be a druggie? Don’t they test for that? They should. Oh, this is just the worst. I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I just lost my job after 28 years at the same company and now Oflimflam Man is going to take my pensions and give it to black people who want a house. We have to stop this. And do it NOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wah can I do to stop Obama? I’m open to suggestions.
Ever since November, a quote from Braveheart pops into my head each time I hear the leftoids speak of hopeychangey:
Stephen: [To William Wallace] The Almighty tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he’s pretty sure you’re f#cked
….I could not agree more.
#53 Kent
Romney looks like the guy who lays you off. (Whatever that means.) Can’t have that.
Funny thing is to be able to lay you off he had to HIRE you in the first place….
Successful business people create JOBS.
What has obama ever created??
58. Clarke Brown:
We can thank Huckabee for putting BHO in office…..what a selfish dirtbag
Feb 14, 2009 – 7:20 pm
yep, can everyone remember the shuck & jive that the Huckster & Mac daddy pulled to deny Romney a huge primary win???
McCain showed his true self indulgent colors back then as well.
#15 David M. in Eurabia:
Full disclosure; I reluctantly voted for Mr. McCain realizing that Mr. Obama was all the things that the author stated. I am 64 years of age, well traveled and a veteran; so I am not some young pup easily conned.
Basically I believe that all too many American voters did not do enough checking up on Mr. Obama and with the media lauding everything Obama and not properly vetting him, there was little for the average American to see that was negative. Mr. McCain compounded the problem since he did not attack Mr. Obama on his character and tie it to Mr. Obama’s past ideological traits and associations from his Hawaiian teenage mentor communist Frank Marshall Davis up to American terrorist Ayers; instead Mr. McCain praised Mr. Obama’s ability to be president. Even though Mr. Obama double-crossed Mr. McCain on ethics legislation, Mr. McCain would not use that against him nor did Mr. McCain use his POW heroic actions to his benefit. I wrote Mr. McCain on each of these issues, as I imagine others did , but he would not change his campaign tactics.
Mr. Obama wowed the young with his JFK type oratory combined with his hip youthfulness; Mr. McCain was said to be too old to be president. Mr. Obama was also the first serious African-American candidate, so he received an even greater Black vote and White vote for feel good reasons, not logical ones. He was a blank slate in that with his call for change, one could project whatever they wanted in change on to him; some conservatives fell for this. Even Republican presidential candidate Huckabee admitted this week that he thought Obama would govern from the middle and was wrong; others may have felt safe to vote for him because they believed that too. Most elderly FDR Democrat voters, the group that usually votes in every election, voted Democratic again as usual. The economic meltdown was wrongly blamed entirely on Bush by the media and McCain was a Republican too. McCain voted for TARP which Americans when polled opposed. Mr. Obama did vote for it too but had not made a big issue of it and anyway, it was passed under a Republican Administration. Finally I suspect many who voted for Mr. Obama wanted change after 8 years of President Bush and after being on a mental war footing for 7 years; although in reality we were without the sacrifice of a WWII or even a Korean War type commitment and no draft. Mr. Obama opposed Iraq and Mr. McCain wanted to continue the war Bush policies.
One has to remember that all too many Americans have never really had to sacrifice or have ever seen really bad times. Nothing economic in the past 8 years measures up to the severe recession of 1981-82, the stagflation of the late 1970s and the oil embargo and associated problems of the early 1970s. These events are not even in the memory of most voters.
I’m afraid many Americans will indeed see sacrifice and hardship while governed by Mr. Obama. The power politics of the Nixon years and the ineptness of the Carter years will, in my opinion, be the operational mode of the Obama Administration. Do be afraid, very afraid.
Kent,
I was for Romney, too. But Romney raised his meek little hand when the crappy Democrat questioner asked for the show of hands of any evil Republicans who believe man-made global warming is a problem. I almost puked. ONLY Fred Thompson had the guts to face this insulting questioner head on. Mitt learned from that, I hope. I supported Romney at our caucus meeting, but only because McCain and Huck were less palatable. Now we have Obamanation. But, at least the oceans will subside. Whew!
Another embarrassing grammar goof:
“Nicholas Guariglia is a polemic and essayist… ”
A ‘polemic’ is the written piece, a ‘polemicist’ is the writer!
This kind of threat-forecasting and platitude-dribble is for the sandbox. It’s drivel, drivel.
It is sad that we have elected a malignant narcissist or perhaps a sociopath as our president. We will all pay dearly in increased taxation and our consequent loss of liberty.
Obama ran out on to the field for the first play of the game. He buckled his chinstrap, got in the huddle — and called a HAIL MARY. His first play was a Hail Mary!!
I said it last year: his arrogance is disgusting. Did you see his body language as he walked away from the White House to the chopper (going to Chicago for the weekend) — it was as if he was saying F____ YOU WASHINGTON.
There is a very dark side to this man.
There are two types of voters in America – those who remember how bad things were under Carter, and those who, thanks to Obama, are about to find out.
Is it too early to call for impeachment? Is it not un-constitutional to hi-jack the census? Is it not un-constitutional to ram the spending bill thru with no exposure, circumventing constitutionally defined channels for legislation? Is it not un-constitutional to promote and defend tax-cheats who knowingly broke the law, to cabinet positions? DUMP GIETHNER. What is the constitutional justification for executive orders? Is this guy the emperor? We do not have a ruler in this country, we hire citizens to do a clearly defined job for us. Want to be emperor, check in somewhere in Africa where they have a different type of political system. The say you were a constitutional law scholar. Is that true or just more hot air? Impeach him now before it is too late. The chicago mob never willingly gives up any turf.
Obama’s promises are worthless. His only goal is to have as much power as possible. He is American Putin or Chavez.
The thing to come in the next couple of months is a direct assault on freedom of speech.
Read my blog on what will happen here:
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/
Any website that advertises Joe the Plumber’s book can’t be very creditable.
Anyway, the ship has already sailed. The republic is dead. Arm yourself for the coming debacle.
Obama is EPIC FAIL.
As for Romney, he has maybe slightly more integrity than Obama. When Huckabee said Romney looks like the guy who lays you off, he was referring to the fact that Romney is a Private Equity guy. Private Equity buys up companies, chops them up, lays a bunch of people off, and sells off the parts. While some companies might need liquidation, that doesn’t change the fact that Private Equity generally destroys jobs, rather than creating them.
Rachel: “Bush wanted to control immigration.” The rest of your points are most likely valid, but if there is one thing Bush did not want, did not do, it’s control immigration. Illegal immigration has skyrocketed over the last 8 years.
And to his disgrace, he did not pardon Ramos and Compean.
Poor Nav: “The Neocon controlled media…”
That is the very media that got him elected. You might try engaging your brain before you type.
Impeachment? That’s as idiotic as it was during the Clinton years. Do you really want Biden as President? Really?
Let’s not forget an early but big broken promise. With Rick Warren, the Obaminator said something like (a paraphrase), “certainly we can all agree that there should be less abortions.”
Then,just a few days after the inauguration, we have him signing an executive order, “giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information”
In other words: OBAMA LIED AND BABIES DIED
Thank you for this! It’s an excellent summary of what we have been observing for the last few weeks, even while most of the media coverage of President Obama continues to fawn over him. My father firmly believes Republicans are “selfish” and doesn’t seem to have heard anything about how much debt this bill creates. He listens to NPR and watches NBC; ask him to name a single thing the bill pays for and haha.
This is a devastating commentary on Obama…
(would-be pythonesque parody)…but let’s focus on the important stuff:
#32, Delia, you were correct to call Marc Malone (#1) a “grammar Nazi,” because Nazis were wrong yet confident they were right. The title is fine the way it is, and it’s in the active voice; “was predicted” is in the passive voice. Active: “I did it.” Passive: “It was done by me.” Marc, relocate to the last seat in the last row. Delia, no gold star for you because it appears you did not know Marc was wrong. Let’s all keep “past” and “passive” straight from now on, all right?
End of report. Resume squabbling, everyone.
(/would-be pythonesque parody)
51.been there, done that: who knows, there may be a silver lining to this. we all needed a wake up call.
Agreed. I’m not buying the gloom & doom The Republic Is Finished So We Just Cave In BS. That’s exactly the weakling attitude that gave us this mess we’ve got on our hands right now. Purge, clean house and get the hand-wringers out of the way.
These silly Obots won’t get a clue til reality grabs them by the back of their necks, lifts them out of their protective bubble, thrashes them around for awhile & shakes some sense into them before throwing them down. Arguing with the unteachable is a useless endeavor.
Pendulums swing. Now it’s to the left & the Obots crow with delight: we won, you’re finished, the pendulum will swing no more and stay in this place evermore.
History does not support their wishful thinking. We’ll just have to see if the American Republic stays stuck or not.
Not what I said, nor the truth, but I’m sure it made you feel good to say.
” … It was in response to being pressed to accept economic policy he specifically campaigned against. …”
He campaigned for fiscal responsibility. (Of course he has no idea what that means.)
As far as reaching out to Republicans …. “I’m inviting you to my Superbowl party so you have to agree with me” isn’t reaching out in any meaningful way. But mainly, the Republicans have serious reservations about the bill, as do some Democrats. Therefore they are voting their assessment of the bill. Does reaching out mean ignoring their own judgment?
” … No constitutionally defined channels were circumvented so no. …”
In the case of the census this is simply false. The Constitution puts the census under the control of the Commerce Secretary not the president. if Pres Obama continues to press this I expect it to be brought before the Supreme Court.
79. Benson,
How do you know for certain I didn’t KNOW? No gold star for me huh? You gold star Nazi! Well, all I gotta say to you is, “I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father ‘smelt’ of elderberries.”
-And, I concur. This article about the little Zero was most excellent and pretty much sums up my thoughts to the ‘t’ and then some evennnnnnnn.
Jeb, well, what about putting a tax cheat in charge of the Treasury? Some kind of joke surely.
Why, just speculate why, did Obama take charge of the census?
Do you, Jeb, think Obama has any kind of detailed knowledge about what is in the bill? I don’t.
Obama promised the public would have access and see what is in legislation before it is passed. Why did he dishonor his own freely given promise?
If the people want the bill, and almost every Dem in Congress voted for it, why is Obama going around the country trying to sell it?
34. donttreadonme:
“I raise this form of Gaia O’ Great One
Let her tears drown the Vandal that despoils us
The innocent will no longer crawl
The resources of our Mother shall be preserved”
Good work! You are the only one I have seen that really understands where whole bunches of the really weird ideas and decisions coming out of this administration originate. There were signs way back when Obama started campaigning, and the point where he showed himself most clearly was when he made the speech in Berlin saying “we are the ones we have been waiting for”.
————————————-
Who is John Galt?
Thanks Nicolas for articulating the issues.
McCain went to a Chicago-gunfight armed only with experience and civility. The MSM unmercifully castigated him for even those two virtues, so he was unarmed, ill-prepared and hugely underfunded and dis-inclined to speak the truth, as was the entire Republican apparatus. They saved the vitriol for themselves, ignorant this was fight to the death.
Sadly, the Republican party is into compromise, which means both parties get less than they want. What the conservative base wanted was NO compromise on issues like:
- illegal immigration
- gov’t spending
- Gitmo and its inhabitants
- now global climate change, used to warming
- GWoT/defense
- law enforcement
- the definition of torture
- abortion
- welfare
- insert your own endless list of issues
“Turning the other cheek” did those Christians of old no good; the lions didn’t care and dined unabated. The Jewish vote seems pathologically self-sacraficial; I fathom no other explanation.
For example, take the torture issue. Saying, “Well, no one wants to use torture; but sometimes it’s necessary” is not a conservative position. It’s apologetic, middle-of-the-road BS. It’s not gunfighter-speak from a superpower – not a clear and confident message to our enemies.
How about “The United States employs any means available in its self-defense, including especially water-boarding and the latest physotropic drugs. Anyone who doesn’t think that’s right is either suicidally stupid, or has a covert agenda that’s clearly anti-American and un-patriotic. It is our sworn duty to brooke no other positions as reasonable. Shall I repeat that for you journalists, so you can quote me accurately?”
How’s about Our position is that the press has a responsibility to protect the nation. Leaking secrets is sedition at best, treason at worst. We intend to find and prosecute those who’re placing the country at risk, to the fullest extent no matter their rationale for their acts. They’ll have their day in court. While only a few may hang, most of these fellow-travelers will be ruined professionally, financially and socially, we’ll see to that at a minimum.”
Conservative ideals are diametrically opposed (exactly opposite) to our current administration’s positions, so NO MORE COZY-COZY. Conservatives only lose to compromise.
There can be no compromise with someone who is robbing you at gunpoint, and being civil shows cowardice.
Republican Party: Save the civility for your friends and allies. Frame the issues truthfully…might as well, because the press is going to crucify you anyway. To state “I respect my fellow congresscritter for his Gramscian-principled position; but…” is either a baldfaced lie, or they’re in cahoots.
Publicly shame and ostracize the turncoats from the party – make them crossover to the darkside, and advertise it as such…from now on, these folks get no further support from the Republican Party and we will mount agressive campaign to unseat them, at every opportunity. They’re going to vote with the Left anyway, when it counts. Why give them any cover as conservatives? We lose nothing; we’re already in the forever-minority using the staus que.
Moderates are political weasels or numbskulls, and should be characterized as such. Like I only want to protect liberty and the country under certain conditions? I don’t want to be embarrassed by taking a principled stand? We need to make these undecideds take a stand. Let us be clear, You are for us, or you are against us identifies who’se side everyone is on, going forward. Strategic information, no?
Compromise – reaching across the aisle is DC-speak for “divying-up the spoils.” It’s all about spending our money and granting-receiving favors. Why do we continue to tolerate this again?
I would suggest that unless the Republican Party starts reforging and vociferously articulating their conservative planks soon, they’ll never achieve a majority again; doomed forevermore to face the “We Won” declaratives of despots. But that’s just my take.
One does not have to be particulary prescient to see that the convergence of open borders; a huge expansion in the gov’t payroll (with a 10% cut in defense); disproportionate support for unions while demonizing free-enterprise; with billions ($4B at last count) poured into the coffers of ACORN et al to register illegals and the dead; plus Whitehouse oversight of the upcoming Census and 98% re-election of incumbents leads to permanent minority status for taxpayers.
Unwinding this self-wrought “perfect storm” any time in the future looks to be extremely difficult, as we will be trying to persuade an ever-larger voting majority to cease being parasites, without calling them bloodsuckers out loud, or in public.
Nicey-nicey nuance looks to be insufficient to the task at hand. The Left has shown us what’s required in this dance-to-the-death.
Jeb@81: a thinking person would be OUTRAGED that the adminstration even suggested the shift of oversight from Commerce to the WH. Do you think they don’t intend to exploit it, if they can get away with it, because imbeciles like you carry their water?
sorry, I missed the and make that psychotropic. B^(
I meant I missed the end-italic HTML symbol.
Jeez, no spell check.
Good piece.
Too bad the people who voted for Obama are not reading it.
Look, I bring this stuff up to the people I know who voted for Obama and to a person they accuse me of just wanting to make sure a black man fails as President.
So, I’ve just quit trying. Y’all take over for a while, ok?
Neocon is a frame of mind that I have followed for many years. I discovered it along with much of our true history.
I’m a veterans researcher that has been researching the illegal and immoral experiments performed on military personnel in this country since at least 1946.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, just into the truth. Many of you on this site can’t handle the truth.
The media breakdown on control goes like this.
CBS is Sumner Redstone territory, conservative extremist.
NBC owned by GE which is the flagship corp of the Morgan empire another rightwing extremist family.
ABC is controlled the Disneys. They’re also considered to be a part of the extended Rockefeller family. The Rockefeller man Kissinger gave us NSSM200. Our design for world dominance. Rightwing extremist all the way.
Fox is controlled by Rubert, I never saw a dime I didn’t want, Murdoch. Extremist rightwinger.
80% of our print media in the US is controlled by Gannett, Hearst, Luce and Scripps. All rightwing extremist families. Hearst and Gannett supported the overthrow of our government in 1934. They wanted someone more like Hitler or the Moose to run our country.
Neocon is a frame of mind and it could be either conservative or liberal. Both conservatives and liberals were involved in the attempted overthrow of FDR.
Our current conservative party is totally controlled by these people. That is why it has become about the most corrupt party we’ve ever had. At least for those of us who’ve paying attention.
This meme is spreading quickly so here is a primer for those of you who care to read it.
The quote below is the totality of what the constitution says about the census.
That is it nothing more. It does not specify which cabinet level post within the executive department will conduct it nor does it say how it will be overseen.
In the recent past the census director reported to the commerce secretary, appointed by the president, and to various others including other senior WH staff all of whom reported to the president. All Obama has done to this point regarding the census is to possibly say that he would like the census director report to him as well as the commerce secretary. WH senior management, not just the commerce secretary, are regularly reported to on the census. This is a non-issue that some on the right are trying to turn into and issue. That is possibly one more person that the census director would report directly to in addition to the others all of whom were appointed by the same man the additional report is being made to. It certainly is not a constitutional issue as the constitution only specifies that the people of the US should be counted every ten years. It does not specify who should do the counting and has absolutely nothing to say about all of the other data collected for the census. Do a little research before you swallow whole anything you hear from a politician, newscaster, or talk radio personality.
Here is the link to the relevant statute.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/13/usc_sup_01_13.html
Read it if you like
More on the same meme. He has not. He has discussed having the census director ALSO report to him or his office.
That, unlike the other nonsense, is an actual disappointment. He should put it up for public review for the promised period or even a bit more given its length. He promised to hold himself to a higher standard here and he is instead doing exactly what his predecessors did.
For the same reason every modern president has traveled and talked in support of legislation they find important. Why have Republican politicians been doing the tv and talk radio circuit to denounce the bill?
Shorter, screw all relevant laws and treaty obligations.
The census issue is addressed above. The rest of your rant makes clear just how serious you are about engaging in any productive debate.
I’ll keep saying this:
Elected Republicans, you are as responsible for the mess we are in as any Democrat.
You lost the faith of the American people and so they were easily tricked into voting for a messiah they hoped would set things right.
Thanks elected Republicans. You are directly responsible for Lord God Obama. All he had to do was tell the American people that he would be different than you and they fell for it.
ELECTED REPUBLICANS! You did this to us.
And no I’m not talking about Iraq. Iraq was not why Republicans lost. It was the spending. Spending and not standing up to President Bush’s spending requests like the entitlement he created for medicine.
Spending and trying to govern like Democrats is why you lost.
90. Nav: …too much to quote.
I’ll research it, bit by bit, and respond. I honestly don’t know where it’s going but it’s worth learning about. There are at least start points on each media entity from your post. I still think that ‘neocons’ is code for “Joos” and people who use it are anti semites, but I’ll research it, if just to argue.
@91. Jeb: - Here is the link to the relevant statute. … Read it if you like
Actually, perhaps you should read it yourself before you try to lecture others on the topic.
The Constitution and U.S. Federal Law don’t leave any wiggle room on who has authority over the Census. U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2 demands that:
The Law in question – Title 13, Chpt 1 – states unequivocally that the Census is performed solely under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce:
Specifically:
Subchapter 1, Section 9 goes on to clearly place control of the Census outside the reach of the Executive, or any other federal entity other than the Department of Commerce.
As the law presently stands, BHO and his tainted administration have legal authority over one – and only one – aspect of the Census: nominating a Secretary of the Department of Commerce, in whom is vested sole authority over the Census per U.S. law. Along with other reasons, that nomination must be specifically confirmed by direct representatives of the People – the U.S. Senate – precisely because the post is responsible for the most crucial national public survey the federal government performs.
If BHO wants to propose a change to the law, great. Let’s have that discussion in an open an honest forum – unlike the backroom, closed-door mendacity he relied on to pass the Democrats’ fake “stimulus” / socialist porkfest (oh, and nice try deflecting this onto his “predecessors”, Zippy). Until then, regardless of the motives YOU may wish to impute to him, this usurpation of authority is ideologically indistinguishable from FDR’s failed effort to stack the Supreme Court with leftist justices.
What comes around, goes around, America. You voted this arrogant, elitist charlatan into office. Now, you’ll pay for your foolishness.
Ozzie-I didn’t know what Joos was until now. Why not just say jews. No, I look at neo as being abnormal or not really conservative in this case. I would say neocon is more likely fascists.
Our media doesn’t come anywhere near the truth and most of the people commenting on this sight sound like Limbaugh, Dobbs, the Wolfster, or big daddy pappa bear O’Reilly.
I’ll give the president the benefit of the doubt. He needs it. Of course I gave Bush the benefit and I knew he was a puppet.
Obama looks to be about the most moral president we’ve had since Ike
Obama’s stealing the census from Congress has suddenly awakened and enraged the Republicans. Maybe this will arouse them as well to challenge Obama for stealing the Presidency itself. They surely know he is not an Article 2 “natural born citizen” (which is more than merely being a 14th Amendment “citizen”) by virtue of either Obama’s birth to a dad of Kenyan/British citizenship or birth in Kenya itself — as manifested by his unwillingness to supply his long form birth certificate now under seal.
The constitution does not in any way stipulate who will conduct the census and requires nothing of the census other than it count the number of people in the US. No other information the census collects is covered in the constitution. To pretend otherwise and to claim this to be a constitutional rather than potential statutory issue is sloppy and/or ignorant at best.
The relevant statute that I linked to and you excerpted does not preclude the census director reporting to the president in addition to the commerce secretary other than to place restrictions on process by which that information may be shared and what specific information could be shared. Obama would be required to follow procedures and there is substantial information he would not be privy to, but general reporting by the director of the census should not be a problem. The statute would prevent Obama or any other president from acting on that reporting other than through the agency of the commerce department and as previously mentioned would limit what specific information could be given particularly as relates to individual census forms. So far Obama has possibly suggested that he would like the census director to report to him as well as the commerce secretary. He has not suggested removing authority over the census from the commerce secretary, has not stated the detail of reporting he would request, and has in fact done absolutely nothing concrete in relation to the census or its reporting despite the tempest in a teapot that some on the right are attempting to make of it. The immediate assumption many here and on the right in general is that his desire to have some reporting is necessarily total access to any and all collected information outside of legally proscribed channels and for use in nefarious purposes. Despite the howls and rants there is to date no evidence for any of these assumptions. It is more than a bit ironic that this is exactly the behavior that was decried as BDS when the shoe was on the other foot. Has ODS set in so thoroughly in less than 1 month?
How is the passing of this stimulus package different in process than virtually every other piece of legislation passed in the past 30 years? How is it worse on process grounds than the overwhelming majority of the party line legislation passed between 2001 and 2006? Some honest reflection on why you are outraged is in order. IMHO it has an awful lot to do with the letters behind the major players names.
@99. “Jeb”: - The constitution does not in any way stipulate who will conduct the census…
Yes, it does. Go read it, along with the statute to which it specifically refers. It’s perfectly clear on the subject of who conducts the Census.
- The relevant statute that I linked to and you excerpted does not preclude the census director reporting to the president…
There are plenty of things the Constitution doesn’t “preclude”. This doesn’t give the President authority to do them. Perhaps you forget – or simply never learned – that the Constitution specifies the authority of government. It does not have to “preclude” that which it does not specifically authorize. If it did, it would be over 1,000 pages long.
The Constitution and associated statutes specifically state that the work is done under the direction of the Secretary, by employees of the Department – not in any way connected to, subject to the approval of, or required to report directly to the Executive. There’s a reason for this, and it’s to help prevent the Census from being politicized.
The President has all the control and access s/he needs by virtue of selecting the Secretary and, following confirmation, acting as the Secretary’s executive superior. Short of that, the Executive and/or immediate staff has no authority, according to the Constitution and the controlling statutes, to have any direct oversight or interaction with those performing the Census itself. What BHO intends or what anyone “on the right in general” thinks he intends through usurpation of this authority is completely irrelevant. The simple fact is that he doesn’t have the Constitutional authority to do it.
Oh, and go avail yourself of Dr. Charles Krauthammer’s original definition of Bush Derangement Syndrome. It was a response to government officials using 9/11-Truth-style rationalizations to attack the President. It was not a response to valid speculation on the President’s motivation for unconstitutional actions he announced in advance of their implementation.
- How is the passing of this stimulus package different in process than virtually every other piece of legislation passed in the past 30 years?
Surely you can’t possibly be that naïve. This bill is the largest federal spending bill ever conceived, let alone passed, by the United States Congress. In that regard its significance surpasses every piece of legislation passed not only in the last 30 years, but possibly going all the way back to the ratification of the Constitution itself. As such, pretending that it should be treated the same as any other bill is nonsense.
That said, and your irrelevant thesis regarding “past” and “predecessors” dealt with, some honest reflection on why you think BHO should get a pass regarding his lie about providing full disclosure, transparency and ample time to review and allow public comment on new laws is in order. If all you can do is point to his “predecessor”, you’ve just given the lie to BHO’s laughable pretense of Change.
In the process, perhaps you can provide some insight into why the mad rush to vote on a bill that could have been examined over the weekend and voted on Monday, if BHO had no intention of getting around to signing it until Tuesday.
Good job pointing out the troll contingent’s hypocrisy, Goy. Their Messiah babbled about “new politics” and “change” – what we got was immaturity and pathetic tu quoques. “But Boosh did it too!”
Although IMO it’s a mistake to engage Jeb re: how the stimulus differs from past legislation. It is a giant leap towards unbridled statism, which is precisely why the trolls are so enamored of it. Jeb’s being disingenuous – not naive.
What, he’s not the Messiah, he’s just a boy
out of his depth?
Let Obama release all his personal information
pertaining to his citizenship.
You might not have to wait 4 long years for this disaster to be averted.
I quoted every word the constitution said re: the census. Nowhere in that sentence does the constitution specify who conducts it. It is a statutory matter, not a constitutional one.
No. The constitution requires and enumeration and that is it. Again the constitution does not speak to this particular matter and to claim it is a constitutional matter rather than a statutory one is false. Statute specifies who conducts the enumeration and the added responsibilities of the census as it is currently conducted. Currently within statute there is procedure by which Obama may be briefed on the progress of the census. Obama could follow procedure and be briefed by the director of the census. Hyperventilating aside, I have seen nothing to indicate that he intends to do anything more than what is allowed by statute.
The size of a bill does not determine the legal process by which it passes. You stated that the passage of this bill was somehow different in process than earlier bills. The fact of the matter is that it is not. You have yet to point to any way in which the passage of this bill is different in process than any previous bills. In fact what you now argue is that process should be different for this particular bill due to its size. At what size does should this alternate process kick in. Was the $1.3 trillion tax cut bill large enough for this alternate process or does it only apply to larger bills? or does it only apply to bills forwarded by Democrats?
I have already said that it is a disappointment that he did not hold himself to the higher standard that he stated he would. It remains a disappointment, but to pretend that he is holding himself to a lower standard than predecessors with regard to transparency and public review is false.
The short answer is that he had the votes then. That also allows for the promised time for the bill to be online for review. You just complained of his failure to do just that for earlier bills. Why the change of heart? The bill is currently online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/arra_public_review.
I’m actually ambivalent about the stimulus bill as it stands, but the proper procedures were followed, no rules were broken in its passage, and it did not pass with materially different process than earlier legislation. To pretend otherwise is not honest.
Jeb, your quote from the Constitution clearly shows that Congress has power over the census. How can you possibly misunderstand who “they” are?
“[An] Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”
see #76.
Biden would be no worse. He is dumber than Obambi.
Congress was directed to create the statute. The statute directs the commerce department, a part of the executive, to conduct the census. Obama has not proposed to change any law. He has proposed doing something that he can do as long as he follows the procedures laid out in that statute. People are assuming that he intends to circumvent that statute to receive reports rather than follow procedures set forth in statute. Nothing he has said indicates he intends to direct the census. That again is the assumption of people who assume the worst of Obama in particular. Ironically the same people who supported every expansion of executive power under the previous administration. This is the first I have heard that some are assuming that he intends to change the statute without congressional approval, something the executive obviously has no power to do.
Maybe Biden should change the law and direct the census since he is part of both the executive and legislative branches.
@103. “Jeb”: - It is a statutory matter, not a constitutional one.
Wrong. That claim is just another insipid attempt at obfuscation. The Constitution clearly specifies “in such Manner as they shall by Law direct“. Because it’s specifically referenced in the Census clause, the Law in question becomes part of the Constitutional limit on federal authority. So yes, it is a Constitutional matter. And the Law referenced by the Constitution is crystal clear: in no way is the Executive given authority over or direct access to any aspect of the Census except for selecting the Secretary of Commerce.
- The size of a bill does not determine the legal process by which it passes.
Sorry, son. I’ve already entertained your lame attempt to change the subject. BHO specifically stated that passage of all new laws would be given ample time for public review and public comment. That statement was a bald-faced lie. Pointing at “predecessors” is nothing more than empty deflection.
- The short answer is that he had the votes then.
Really? Did you get this in a communique from his administration? Fine. That’s just more reason to allow the extra time for review before the vote. If true, BHO had nothing to lose, and everything to gain by allowing the public to examine the legislation and provide comments to their representatives before the actual vote. But of course the real reason for the rush was stuff like this, this and this.
- …it did not pass with materially different process than earlier legislation.
Your silly straw man, bub.
Please explain the laws being made in the Stimulis Bill?
The notion there wasn’t time to read the Stimulis Bill is not true. Maybe the entire thing from start to finish. But this package was out there for quite a while. Only some parts were changed. Our politicians should have read the entire thing long before the vote. Then you go over the changes as they happen. Why do these politicians have staff?
Please help me to understand this:
I am sure, most of you know that there is a large volume of circumstantial evidence that BHO was not born in the USA. In that case he would not be a “natural born citizen” and consequently not eligible to be POTUS. About three dozen lawsuits have been filed at state and federal courts, based on this issue. So far all of them were rejected by the courts based on the flexible Standing Doctrine. None of them were ruled on merit. The judges are hell-bent to protect BHO’s secret. (To keep up to date: WorldNet Daily.)
Therefore, it is very puzzling why McCain and the GOP did not object at the joint session of Congress on the Electors conformation event on 1/8/2009. The GOP had nothing to loose (in case BHO could prove eligibility) and a lot to gain (if he did not).
Michel Savage (conservative radio) sarcastically said McCain job was to throw the election to the democrats. He often exaggerates, so I had a good chuckle. I am not laughing now.
I asked some very smart political commentators and I have not yet received an acceptable answer. Maybe you have one.
Goy,
There are procedures outlined in the statute that allow him the access he stated he wanted. He does not need to do an end around the statute to get what he stated he wants. A lot of assumptions are being made here. That he wants the reporting to be done outside of procedural channels set forth in statute. That he wants not just progress reports and data summary, but specific data that is denied him by statute. That he wants to direct the census rather than allowing his appointee to do so. That he has some nefarious plan in mind.
He promised to hold himself to a higher standard and failed to do so on this one point though not with this legislation. Let’s look at what he promised,
He clearly does not believe this to be ‘non-emergency’ legislation (most people agree on this point), so the promise he made regarding ‘non-emergency’ legislation does not apply here. That said he is allowing 4 days of the promised 5 for review of this emergency legislation on the WH website (see above link) so even if you hold this to be ‘non-emergency’ he did give some time for public review.
He did break this promise in regards to earlier indisputably ‘non-emergency’ legislation and that was a disappointment. I guess I have an expectation that no politician will not break at least some campaign promises so I don’t seethe when one of many falls by the wayside. He has done a better job than most at this point. See politifact for a check on how he is coming on his campaign promises.
As Nav pointed out, the bill has been floating about long enough for legislators and their staffs to read it and the changes were small enough that the staffs had time to read them and brief the legislators if the legislators could not find time due to tv and radio commitments where they were commenting as though they knew what the bill contained.
You claimed that the passage of this bill was materially different in process than that of previous bills. You have in no way shown that to be the case. What you have pointed out is Obama’s failure to live up to a higher standard that he said he would do. This is a failing, but an entirely different one.
It seems self evident. There were negotiations that resulted in a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. He therefor had the votes necessary to pass the bill. Had he delayed the majority may have either increased or evaporated. Rather than gamble on that outcome he did what politicians do; he struck while the iron was hot.
You don’t like the stimulus bill. Persomally I’m a bit ambivalent about it. Claiming that it was passed in a materially different process than earlier legislation is false. Claiming some new standard should be in place due to the size is another matter entirely. At what dollar point or % of GDP should this new standard apply? Apparently $1.3 trillion tax cuts don’t apply. Neither apparently does an over $0.5 billion overhaul of Mdeicare. On the other hand a just under $0.8 billion stimulus, or “stimulus” if you prefer, bill does warrant this new procedure. Looking at this it seems that tax bills have a different limit structure for this needed new procedure. What is it you suggest?
Sorry for all the typos. Holding a separate conversation while I type apparently leads to rampant errors. It would be nice if there was a preview option to avoid these errors and potential formatting errors when using script commands.
@109. Voco Indubium: - I am sure, most of you know that there is a large volume of circumstantial evidence that BHO was not born in the USA.
Actually, Voco, there is no evidence publicly available, as yet, to prove conclusively that he was born in the USA.
The only documentation that might provide information on this point (his original COLB) is locked away by the Hawaii Dept. of Health, and BHO has allegedly spent over a million dollars, using multiple law firms, to keep it from being made publicly available. HI Dept. of Health bureaucrats have attested to the existence of the COLB, but have never attested to the specific information on the COLB itself. And as you may or may not know, the state of Hawaii allows a COLB to be registered for births that have occurred outside the USA (or at least they did in 1961). If that had happened in BHO’s case, the short-form copy of his birth certificate most people have seen would not reflect that fact. In fact, according to Hawaii law, that short form certificate can reflect a document that’s been amended by its owner, e.g., to change whatever information s/he might like. The original COLB can not be so amended.
Numerous legal challenges have been presented on this issue, some of which have gone to the Supreme Court. All of them have been dismissed on procedural grounds; none of the cases has been heard on the merits.
The bottom line at this point is that no one cares. And the fact is that if BHO’s vault copy COLB were to be released, and if it were to show that he was actually born in Kenya, Congress would quickly pass legislation to ignore the fact and waive the Constitutional requirement in his case (most likely ignoring the inconvenient fact that such a change requires a Constitutional Amendment). This demonstrates that any foreign national could be elected President of the United States, and keep that job, as long as they keep their background hidden and lie about it long enough. In the future, such chutzpah will be known as O’dacity.
.
@110. “Jeb”: – blah, blah, blah … That he has some nefarious plan in mind.
Again, I’ve already covered this. What you or anyone else thinks his intentions are is completely irrelevant. And there is nothing in the statute that gives the President authority to reassign the director of the Census Bureau to report directly to the White House rather than – or even in addition to – the Commerce Secretary.
In fact, this issue is going to evaporate. The decision to usurp authority over the Census was made after the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Hispanic groups complained that the Republican nominee couldn’t be trusted to conduct a complete Census. Since no one impugned Gregg’s credentials directly, we see that this whole thing was just more hyper-partisan bullshit. With Gregg out as nominee, the problem has solved itself. Thankfully, in the process we got a clear look into BHO’s agenda. And it ain’t pretty.
- He clearly does not believe …
Ah, you’re a mind reader? An authority on what BHO believes, are you? I see. Well you should have just stated that unassailable qualification up front. We could have finished this conversation immediately with the recognition that such a claim is delusional.
The fact is that two successive quarters of negative GDP growth – attributable to the credit meltdown – in no way constitutes an “emergency”. Attendant unemployment numbers that are completely unremarkable when compared to 1976, 1982, 1984, and 1992-93 – especially in the context of the credit freeze-up – do not constitute an “emergency”. Even Reid (laughably) stated that barely over half the bill was aimed at stimulus spending. What could possibly have been the “emergency” justifying the other half? Add to that, BHO’s administration is already defining success down regarding the stimulus, and backpedaling on how long it’ll take to have an effect. Turns out it won’t start to have any measurable effect until right around the time many economists think the economy will rebound on its own anyway. Who could possibly have guessed!?
Bottom line: even if BHO had ever actually publicly done so, labeling the bill “emergency legislation” just to get around the loophole he created in his own ethics rules is nothing less than intellectual mendacity. He lied about this bill and lied about the other bills as well.
- Had he delayed the majority may have either increased or evaporated.
Precisely. And we certainly can’t have public scrutiny messing up the left’s plan to shore up a permanent Democrat majority, can we. There was no “emergency” associated with the passage of this bill outside the Democrats’ fears that the American People might get a close look at it and start complaining to their representatives before it was rushed through Congress.
- You claimed that the passage of this bill was materially different in process than that of previous bills.
Again, no. That was your straw man, and as such I called you on the irrelevant thesis after debunking it. But keep clinging to it, some readers might still be fooled.
- It seems self evident.
In your opinion. And if true, then it was all the more reason to provide plenty of time to examine the bill’s provisions – at least if he was really interested in all this open, honest, transparent Change™. What a load of crap.
Fear on the Potomac
If nothing else, President Barack Hussein Obama is a master at articulating and inculcating gut-wrenching fear. It’s his stock in trade. I have a few observations on how he can change all that and turn baseless fears into abiding hope.
Obama’s whole campaign for the presidency was founded on various fears, fears for the economy mainly but also fear that foreign nations didn’t like us anymore because of GITMO and our international policies, fear that if we didn’t wake up and smell global warming we will soon be toasted and, of course, fear that America would be racist if it didn’t vote for him.
FDR, with whom Obama likes to compare himself–along with Lincoln and JFK–encouraged depressed Americans by advising we had nothing to fear but fear itself. Conversely, the new president employs fear itself as a tactical and strategic weapon to terrify the people, and the Congress, into supporting him and his policies.
It’s time for a reassessment. Obama should be careful in his fearmongering, very careful about the fear and fears he wishes for, since he could very well get his wishes fulfilled.
Right now, the economy is in the doldrums and the stock market is in a virtual freefall as a result. However, this is not in any way comparable to the Great Depression which, at its depth in 1933, saw a jobless rate of 25%, millions of homeless and hungry people in our streets, and when the DJIA lost almost 90% of its market value before hitting bottom in 1932.
For Obama to continue speaking in terms of the Great Depression as reported here, http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN0749084220081008, is patently absurd–unless he sincerely wants us to return to those dismal days.
Let’s be honest, Mr. President. You deployed your fear machine very effectively with your stimulus package. You had people believing that Humpty Dumpty’s wall would collapse unless we threw a trillion or so bucks into saving it. You convinced your fellow Democrats into approving the boondoggle without taking the bother to read it. Chalk it all up to fear, with a large smattering of ignorance.
Now it’s time for leadership before Humpty’s wall, America’s wall, comes tumbling down: Insure that the trillion is spent wisely!
Another fear on which Obama capitalizes is the fear of our being disliked by the international community. For all his flaws, George W. Bush set the safety of the country as his highest priority and it was that priority which most soured our relations with allies and other foreign nations since it meant adopting policies, such as the Bush Doctrine, which displeased them.
Here’s a news flash for the new president: Bush’s policies worked! . . .
(Read the rest of the fears at http://genelalor.com/.)
@112. goy:
Yes, I know the details. But, please explain your statement: “The bottom line at this point is that no one cares.”
Slightly less than half of the country did not vote for BHO. How is it that no one cares?
The GOP should care and fight. By not fighting they abandon their supporters. Even if they do not care about their supporters, at least theoretically they should fight for the philosophy of GOP.
Even if you are right and the democrat nominated Congress could bypass the Constitutional Amendment, which in my opinion would be very difficult for them to do, it would weaken the democrats’ position to a point where at least an impeachment procedure could be brought into question. They would also be seriously embarrassed. The very least BHO’s popularity could be damaged. And the most he could be declared disqualified.
BHO can do so much damage in four years that the country will never recover. For example, just a couple of things, appoint new left-wing supreme court judges, and give more time for Iran to complete their nuclear weapon program, thereby triggering a Third World War. Does the GOP does not see that?
Also, how come no one cares about the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, and the most successful political document on earth? Will the USA become a lawless country like many Third World quasi- dictatorships?
Have not all the elected officials and judges bound to uphold it?
I haven’t read so much baloney in my life. With 8 years of Bush and aides promoting a me me me attitude, this country is in the tank. And all we hear about is “true conservatism”. Get your heads out the ground or wherever they may be stuck. My memory is pretty good. When Bill Clinton left office, we had a surplus due to his sound fiscal policy. Now we have President Obama trying to dig this country out of the mess that GOP ideologues have placed it end and the clueless want more of the same…mess. It’s a good thing that most sensible Americans don’t listen to talk radio and that don’t believe this PM B.S. The election was about change, it’s still about change and there will be positive change!
Certainly he could not have the director of the census report to him rather than the commerce secretary. He never stated that as his intention so it is not relevant.
There are procedures by which he or others can obtain information about the census as it is being performed. The information that can be given is limited, but it would be possible to get a summary report from the director of the census without contravening statute. One must assume that he planned to collect more information than is allowed or assume that he would not follow the procedures laid out in statute to gain access to said information. He has said nothing that warrants either of those assumptions.
The blah, blah, blah was the meat of the argument which you of course ignore. To repeat,
None of those assumptions are valid. If the issue evaporates as you think it will we will never know whether your mind reading of Obama is more valid than mine.
His words and actions are those of one who believes this to be emergency legislation. He has referred to it as such repeatedly. You make the assumption that he does not believe what he says when he calls it emergency legislation. Regardless, he has clearly labeled it emergency legislation thus putting it outside the promise for review he made during the campaign.
Alternately he could actually believe it when he says it is emergency legislation. The bill will have been up for review for 4 of the 5 days that he promised for ‘non-emergency’ legislation before he signs it. Somehow I doubt that you would be satisfied if he waited the additional day.
The previous couple of bills he signed without 5-day online review do constitute breaking that one campaign promise. As I have said this is a disappointment but, I have yet to encounter a politician (let alone president) that did not break several campaign promises. Have you? Do you get this upset about every one or do you only get this mad if there is a D after the name?
Wow, I did not realize that this bill would shore up a permanent Democratic majority. Who knew it would be so easy.
This bill in close to its final form has been in the public eye for weeks now. Minor changes were made to ensure a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Anyone who wants to know the specifics enough to read it has had the opportunity and one more day on the internet would not materially change that.
Were you this upset when the Patriot Act was rushed through?
You said in comment #100,
This clearly states that you feel that some other standard should apply. I have asked repeatedly what that standard should be and received no answer.
BTW it is not nearly the largest. Several New Deal and Great Society bills outstrip the $500 billion. TARP was nearly as large. Though not a spending bill Bush’s tax cuts far outstripped it at $1.3 trillion.
He wants a piece of legislation passed and has the votes to pass it, therefor he should wait to see how long he can hold together the coalition that guarantees passage? What exactly are you expecting of him? Did you really expect him not to be a politician and not to use politics to move his policies forward? For a group of people who claim their political adversaries are pie in the sky, that is rich. If it was merely holding true to this one campaign promise then him signing the bill on Wednesday rather than on Tuesday would satisfy you. Again, I seriously doubt this would do the trick. In fact I am relatively certain at this point that nothing short of extreme alterations to this bill or outright scrapping it would satisfy you.
He is a man, he is a politician, and now he is our president. It is not reasonable to hold him to a different standard than that which we hold other men, politicians, and presidents. Like all of us (and all presidents) he will sometimes fail, he will fail to keep all of his campaign promises (again like all politicians and all presidents). That is not to say we should not be disappointed when he fails or fails to keep a campaign promise (so far 1 out of ~500), but undue rage is being expressed at failure to keep this one campaign promise. This particular campaign promise and many others, several already kept, one compromised, and one broken were about holding himself to a higher standard than his predecessors. He failed on that count and performed like rather than better than those that came before. As far as campaign promises go he is on track to do better than most at keeping them. Let us all hope that he continues on that track.
@114. Voco Indubium: - … please explain your statement: “The bottom line at this point is that no one cares.”
Thought I did that. Do you suggest we do what the hysterical Democrats have been doing since November of 2000? Harass BHO every day with media lies and political obstructionism? How will that improve anything? And which media would you use, exactly? And how are you going to obstruct with gutless weasels like Snowe, Specter and Collins in office?
- Slightly less than half of the country did not vote for BHO. How is it that no one cares?
I think you’re maybe missing the point, Voco. The ‘natural born citizen’ question has been settled. “The debate is over.” Unless someone comes up with a truly novel way to convince the Supreme Court to settle the matter to everyone’s satisfaction, that avenue is no longer an option.
Also I think you’re being a little unrealistic if you think even a majority of that minority believe BHO isn’t qualified. Most Americans, irrespective of who they voted for, are completely ignorant of these matters. Ask around. Not on the web, but people you know. It’s blindly taken for granted that BHO is qualified because everyone thinks “someone” is responsible for checking these things. When you have an electorate that oblivious, you can get anyone elected President. We just proved that.
It’s possible you’re just completely underestimating the power of the entrenched media to control public perception and public opinion on this, as well as everything else. Where do you think the majority of people get ALL of their opinions these days? How do you think BHO got elected in the first place? Do you think for one minute that this citizenship question would ever even be recognized by that media, or that it would be reported on honestly if they did? Not a chance in hell. Without that, just how are you going to apply any sort of pressure to resolve the question? Answer: you aren’t.
- BHO can do so much damage in four years that the country will never recover.
Well, McCain and the GOP should have thought of that before they decided to throw the election, shouldn’t they. They could have fought the bailout. They didn’t. They could have made a legal issue out of BHO’s fraudulent campaign donation scam. They didn’t, even though the evidence of fraud is overwhelming. They could have defended Sarah Palin against the most vicious media attacks any national candidate has ever experienced and constantly reminded people of BHO’s bald-faced lie about taking public campaign financing. They didn’t. They could have made clear to the electorate exactly how GSEs and CRA trashed the economy. They didn’t. They could have demanded access to all of BHO’s college records. They didn’t. They could have pointed out that BHO’s one and only job in an executive capacity was a dismal failure. They didn’t. They apparently expected us to do all that for them. This is why I get a chuckle out of people here who try to criticize conservatives by whining about “the last eight years of the GOP“. The two have almost nothing in common.
I share your frustration, Voco. Plenty of disgusting things have happened in history. We’re already seeing that this last election will turn out to be one of them.
BTW it is not nearly the largest. Several New Deal and Great Society bills outstrip the $500 billion.
$500 billion should read <$800 billion
@116. “Jeb”: - Certainly he could not have the director of the census report to him rather than the commerce secretary.
That’s what I’ve been telling you. Tell BHO. He was apparently unaware of the controlling law.
Please provide the link to BHO’s statement that actually contradicts this initial report. All I see is that as soon as Republicans complained, and there was a possibility that it would get media attention, BHO backpedaled. In fact, it’s most likely that he was oblivious to the controlling statutes until the Republicans brought them to his attention.
His intent was crystal clear.
And denial is not a river in Egypt.
- A lot of assumptions are being made here.
Once again, the assumptions are not the issue. The President’s response to minority whining and inconsistent statements to the press are the issue.
- His words and actions are those of one who believes this to be emergency legislation.
In your opinion. An opinion not supported by any public declarations he’s made, which he hasn’t made because he could never support them rationally, as I’ve demonstrated.
You’re saying that BHO’s “belief” is all that’s required to designate a bill “emergency” legislation, even if the facts don’t support it. How pathetically naïve.
- … I did not realize that this bill would shore up a permanent Democratic majority.
Ignorance abounds, so don’t feel alone. Do a little research. You can shore up a lot of permanent majority with almost $800B of taxpayers’ money. Roughly $7500 of my money, personally. Yours too, if you pay any taxes.
- You said in comment #100,…
Yes, as I’ve already instructed you: in response to your irrelevant thesis, which I immediately identified as such and then dismissed, and you conveniently edited out.
- In fact I am relatively certain at this point …
Be as certain as you like. BHO lied. It wasn’t the first time. It won’t be the last time. Better get used to it.
- It is not reasonable to hold him to a different standard than that which we hold other men, politicians, and presidents.
Oh give it a rest. BHO should have thought of that before he set up what were apparently unachievable ethics standards for himself.
This is what the WH has actually said,
The rest is Fox news saying an unnamed WH source said he wanted the census director to report to him in addition to the commerce secretary. This unnamed source that only spoke to fox news did not detail how that reporting would take place or what information Obama wanted. You have accepted as gospel fox’s claim of an unnamed source and ignored statements from the WH. Add to that that absolutely nothing was actually done and this is revealed to be nothing but a tempest in a teapot.
Wasn’t it you who snarked about claiming to know others motivations?
The name of the bill is “The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.” Emergency is right there in the title of the bill. You apparently do not believe it is an emergency. That, however, does not mean that others don’t disagree. Obama has repeatedly referred to emergency measures and has talked about it being an emergency to a degree that has prompted many here to call it fear mongering. Attempting to claim that Obama has not indicated that he thinks this is emergency legislation requires deliberate ignorance.
I will bet you any amount of money that there will not be a permanent Democratic majority. Alternately we can bet commenting privileges or some other act of contrition. Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is.
I included the entire relevant quote. If you feel something relevant was edited out point me to it. You specifically stated that there should be a different procedure and I asked you to specify what you feel it should be. Why dodge?
Later in that same comment (#100) you said,
That would have given less than 1 of the promised 5 days. You are a bit inconsistent in your demands. You demand that he give the promised 5 days because you do not believe this to be emergency legislation and simultaneously you wonder why he does not delay the vote cutting out the 4 day waiting period provided. It seems you are near impossible to please.
That is true of every man and woman ever to have lived and is doubly true of politicians. I have acknowledged that he broke his campaign promise for a 5 day online review for earlier non-emergency and stated my disappointment with that. I really don’t know what you can reasonably be fishing for. He is a politician and so he will break some campaign promises just like every other politician. I will no doubt be disappointed again, though I will continue to hope that his record on keeping his campaign promises will be better than most. So far he is 8, 1, and 1. As far as politicians go that is pretty good.
He set up ethics standards considerably more strict than those of previous presidents and has fallen short on one count thus far and you are set to pillory him. Is there any real reason for this other than your dislike for the man? Did you have this reaction when Bush failed to keep campaign promises or do you reserve this level of outrage for those on the opposite side of the aisle?
I have read most of the comments and it is a real pleasure to see people conversing in a civil way and backing up their arguments with facts.
I have a different explanation of why it is predictable that Obama breaks his promises. Or rather, I can offer a different explanation based on the work of Martha Stout and her book, “The Sociopath Next Door.”
It is this: Obama breaks his promises because he has no conscience. He only makes promises because that is the easy, cheap and comfortable way of duping people into giving up something of value (their money, their freedom, their power, whatever) that he covets.
Once the promise has achieved its purpose for him, he is genuinely angry that anyone feels betrayed when he does not keep his side of the bargain. He never had any intent to keep the promise in the first place. In fact, you are a jerk for feeling betrayed! He had to make the promise to get what he wanted!
And when charm and false promises don’t work, then Plan B is comprised of whatever combination of threats, intimidation, ridicule and gaslighting are required to obtain capitulation. This is the definition of a sociopath.
I repeat: Obama only makes promises to get what he wants without ANY intent to keep them. If keeping a promise gets him something he wants, then yes, it will be honored, but only for that reason.
I explain this in more detail at my blog, but I don’t think it is polite to link since I am a new kid on the block, as a newly conservative lesbian Republican and former lifetime liberal Democrat.
Once you really understand that Obama has no conscience and that his only goal is to get power so he can make people jump–sociopaths have only a few genuine emotions and are not capable of feeling connection or empathy with anyone–then you are in a true position of power to foil his fell intentions.
To that end, we have to keep exposing Obama’s flip-flops (aka lies) and failures and must ridicule him as if our lives, the future of our country and the future of the world depend on it. It also will help to commence immediately lampooning his successes, such as committing the U.S. to spending five times the cost of the war in Iraq on his twenty-eighth day in office.
Sociopaths do not fall to reason, but they have no defenses against ridicule. Who knew the joke is even mightier over the sword than the pen? (Eric Hoffer, that’s who, author of “The True Believer,” which I will be explaining on my blog later today.)
Cynthia, you got Bush and President Obama mixed up. Why is it when someone changes there mind their a flip flopper? I do research for vets and am constantly getting new information that either changes my mind on a particular point or my point is reinforced. I’m not afraid of being wrong and changing my opinion on something. This is just being prudent.
Eric Hoffer and True Believer, that’s an old one. I studied him in college 40 years ago. That books almost as old as I am.
My suggestion is get out from in front of the Boob Tube. Turn off the radio. Believe none of what you hear. Research all points to the best of your ability. Find the truth no matter how much it hurts.
Your entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. Obama is president and this country needs our support.
Aren’t all of you tired of Tit for Tat politics and smear? Aren’t you tired of single source journalism?
As usual Nicholas Guariglia hits the nail on the head. Well done!
@ 117. goy:
“It’s possible you’re just completely underestimating the power of the entrenched media to control public perception and public opinion on this, as well as everything else. “
Yes, it is possible. I knew they had tremendous power to control the opinion of “Plebs”, but I was idealistic enough to think, that it can influence, but not control high ranking elected officials, judges and other highly educated civil servants, the “Patricians”.
I agree with everything you said, but I still can not understand fully the passivity.
Say, I am a completely cynical Republican congressman, I don’t give rat’s ass about the Constitution. All I care is my reelection. How is it going to help me to get reelected if the opposition party wins (and chances are that in 4 years they will be even more entrenched)?
Also, why was an almost complete silence on BHO’s citizenship issue by Rush, Hennedy and most of the others conservative radio hosts. Rush alone with his 20,000,000 listeners could have made sure that the eligibility objection is raised on 1/8/2009.
One answer is that BHO was born in Hawaii and Rush and the rest knew it from secret sources. I have difficulty with that answer given the tooth and nail protecting effort by BHO and what I call circumstantial evidence from Kenya. BHO would have released it, as not disclosing hurts him. Not much but, why fight something that you don’t have to. Not even mentioning the legal cost.
The other answer is that this issue was pushed by “fringe” groups or individuals, and Rush and the others did not want appear to be associated with them. I have difficulty with that answer as well. This would be big news, bigger than Watergate. Woodward and Bernstein became folk-heroes. How could a true journalist resist this story?
Nice article…
unfortunately U CAN FOOL ALOT of the People ALOT of the time….. 68,000,000 of them!
BTW, Karl Benz is credited with inventing the automobile as Henry Ford created affordable automobile mass production. Not to riducule Obama but he should have learned this @ Columbia?!?!!!
Maybe he got his facts from Biden!?
While I support any American President for successful leadership…..
A biblical story has come to mind….
Feet of Clay
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
– Daniel 2: 31-33 (KJV)
Reminiscent at turns of the dream-interpreting Joseph and of the visionary prophet Ezekiel, Daniel is a learned Jewish exile at the court of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. As we join the story, Nebuchadnezzar has been having strange and troubling dreams, which stymie his court astrologers and sorcerers — not least because he refuses to tell them what actually goes on in the land of Nod. The enraged king orders that all his so-called wise men be torn into pieces.
But Daniel, taking pity on them and fearing for his own skin, resolves to crack Nebuchadnezzar’s riddle. On cue, God sends Daniel a vision by night, which he relays to the king. Declaring that the dreams are images of “what shall come to pass” (2: 29), Daniel describes what Nebuchadnezzar saw: a towering figure with a golden head, a silver torso, a brass midsection, iron legs, and “feet part of iron and part of clay.” Somehow, a stone cut from a mountain by no visible hand is hurled at the grotesque figure, which is shattered, and its fragments scattered by the wind. Thereupon the stone grew into a new mountain, so great that it “filled [covered] the whole earth” (verse 35).
Daniel then offers the stunned monarch his interpretation: by God’s will, Nebuchadnezzar has become a “king of kings” over a vast territory, and Babylon is represented in the dream-figure’s golden head. Each of the other metal sections, in descending order, represents a succeeding and weaker kingdom — after Babylon, scholars surmise, the Median, Persian, and Macedonian empires. The fourth kingdom, represented as iron legs, will break the whole world into pieces and subdue it — not too far from what Alexander the Great actually did.
But this last kingdom will eventually be divided, as the figure’s feet are into iron and clay, partly strong and partly weak, constitutionally unstable. (The Macedonian empire did come apart at the seams, and Daniel may be thinking in particular of its Egyptian and Syrian components.) It is in the era of this divided kingdom, Daniel predicts, that God shall “set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed,” though it will itself shatter all other kingdoms (verse 44). This is the great stone in the dream, which grows into a worldwide mountain, and which represents an impending utopia.
Daniel’s virtuoso exposition earns him a high government position, and it earned the phrase “feet of clay” an enduring place in English. Of course, our catchphrase distorts Daniel’s text, where the colossus has feet “part of iron and part of clay,” though it does preserve the basic meaning, namely “apparently strong in substance but weak in foundation.” The phrase is most often applied to a seemingly admirable person with a crippling character flaw or moral weakness. “Feet of clay” in this metaphorical sense was first used by Lord Byron in his “Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte” (1814), and it was picked up by a string of notable literary figures. Call the Oxford English Dictionary if you ever find a reference to “feet of iron.”
Index | Next: The Writing on the Wall & Weighed in the Balance
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!
Nav…in number 26…are you serious? NeoCon controlled Media?? Are you living on another planet? Not only is Mr Guariglia right on with every sigle fact if you research it but the media has been proven to be almost 90% liberal in it’s politics. Polls have proven that. You should read bernnie goldberg’s book “A Slobbering Love Affair” and just see some of the true stats on the matter. This is a known fact and has been for many many years. I don’t know how this can even be disputed any longer and even the MSM themselves admit to it. the difference this time with this campaign was that this was the first time ever that the main stream media actually “campaigned” and pushed thier guy into the White House. It is a major breech of trust and the media should be help accountable. They spent more time trying to find out about Palin’s clothing than they did vetting “their savior BHO about his past conections. What about Kahlid Al Monsur…Frank Marshall… Oh the list goes on and on. BUT yet the public wasn’t aware. Neo Con media? Give me a break! The media should be viewed as the 4th branch of the government and it is disgraceful. The only media I can say has any conservative twist to it would be talk radio and Fox cable. And if the idiots in DC have their way, talk radio will be silenced. There… take over will be complete. People are idiots for not sstudying issues and doing the real research that needs to be done. We got what we deserve now for being so stupid and thinking that liberal media was going to tell us the truth. If more people understood what this author knows, this country would be in much better shape.