No Adults in the Room: No More ‘Wise Elders’ to Advise the President
Although this may appear to be a rough time for President Obama his fortunes can get a lot worse.
A growing roster of known problems plague the president. He faces low approval ratings, high unemployment, an unpopular foreign policy, and brewing political scandals on multiple fronts. James Carville says it is time for the White House to “panic.”
Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman raised the ante by suggesting Obama should call it quits. Former Clinton advisor Dick Morris quoted a Democratic strategist who believes Obama could “pull a Lyndon Johnson”: tell the nation he won’t run, and will just focus on the nation’s economy.
Judging from the annals of American political history, how likely is this? And would President Obama’s temperament permit him to consider withdrawal?
Do he and his advisors understand the gravity of their perilous political standing, or are they living in an insulated bubble where only good news is delivered? And if President Obama were to withdraw his candidacy, would he do it on his own or would he have to be pushed? And exactly who could do the pushing?
Gallup’s August 28 tracking poll shows the president experienced his worst three-day average approval rating in his presidency: 38% approval and 55% disapproval from Aug. 25-27.
Independent pollster Larry Sabato says that Obama is in the “danger zone.” “He’s in the deep red danger zone. There’s no question about it,” he told PJMedia:
I’ve got to tell you his ratings are not only bad, but he’s declining at the wrong time to get re-elected.
Many Democrats — such as Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who also is seeking re-election — may be running away from the president. McCaskill’s aides have indicated she may not appear with Obama when he comes to her state on October 4. A Democratic campaign aide close to the senator told the Kansas City Star: “She’s going to try, but Tuesday (the day of Obama’s visit) is bad for her.”
In our republic, it’s been rare for an incumbent president to voluntarily step down. The last modern president to withdraw was Lyndon Johnson in 1968: faced with implacable opposition to his Vietnam policy, Johnson faced a hostile public and a disapproval rate of 57%, similar to Obama’s current polling. Johnson shocked the nation by announcing that he would not seek a new term in office.
For Johnson, his decision to leave the embattled presidency provided a reprieve. Author Clay Risen wrote in “The Unmaking of the President” that Johnson’s decision was electric: “It was as if someone had flipped a switch in the national psyche: in a Harris Poll taken after his withdrawal announcement the previous Sunday night, the public went from 57 percent against to 57 percent in favor of the job he was doing as president.”
However, it ‘s unlikely that a voluntary resignation “for the good of the country” could repeat itself. For one thing, Washington has changed markedly from the post-World War II days — and not for the better.
One difference between then and now: back then the nation had what were called “wise men.” These were small groups of elder statesmen who were ready to offer nonpartisan advice to any sitting president. They were public people trusted to care more about nation than political advantage.
In the latter half of the 20th century, these elder statesmen were products of New England’s upper class. They were people from industry and political life who, through their stature, could sway presidents of both parties.
In 1986, the wise men were profiled by reporters Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas in Six Friends and the World They Made. They traced the careers of six Ivy League statesmen who changed our foreign policy from the Second World War through the Cold War: W. Averell Harriman, Robert A. Lovett, Dean Acheson, John J. McCloy Jr., George F. Kennan, and Charles Bohlen.
Eventually, there were others who offered public service over partisanship. They included people like Clark Clifford and Robert Strauss.
In one of their most visible actions, the wise men supported Lyndon Johnson in 1967 for his prosecution of the war in Vietnam. Then in a pivotal private meeting at the White House on March 25, 1968, they reversed themselves, calling for U.S. withdrawal. Their conclusion stunned LBJ: a few days later he announced his surprise voluntary decision not to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.
While each had strong personalities and political views, when called upon by presidents these men put country above partisanship. They would privately advise presidents who faced monumental questions.
Lifelong Democratic strategist Peter Fenn says that the idea of a detached, independent advisor was a good thing for society: “It was somebody who had been in government, been in business, had a foot in both worlds, had nothing to prove for himself,” he told PJMedia.
Former White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen, who served under President Gerald Ford, said the nation benefited from their wisdom:
And a lot of times the wise men were not from the same party as the president, or [did not] have the same philosophy, but they did have some special knowledge or insights or experiences.
Adds Fenn: “I’d call them the 30,000 foot people. And that was the Harrimans and the Strausses. The Clark Cliffords of the world.”
And today they no longer exist. This can spell trouble for our nation as it careens from crisis to crisis.
“And don’t expect Barack Obama to voluntarily walk away from his presidency even as he falls in the polls. It ain’t going to happen.”
You are correct without a doubt. If it requires a call to his coalition to take to the streets and fight, they will follow and blood could flow. That is a frightening but real possibility.
No previous president would have even considered dividing the nation as this madman has done. There are no holds barred when it comes to Marxists.
Mr. Pollock: Would you read the first 20 or 30 comments below and then please write a critique of reaction to your article? As someone NOT on the political wavelength of Pajamas Media for the most part, I found your article reasoned, reasonable and with historical perspective.
Why would it call forth the same old vitriol about Obama? I think it’s your mention of Obama ego without also noting that ALL PRESIDENTS HAVE MONUMENTAL EGOS THEY WOULDN’T BE THERE IF THEY DIDN’T, that they latched onto for a springboard to same old comments.
I agree that the President is in the grave danger zone BUT, here’s my prediction. Remember Clinton’s “It’s the economy stupid!” mantra that led to their victory in 1996?
President Obama tossed his out last week:
“DON’T COMPARE ME TO THE ALMIGHTY–COMPARE ME TO THE ALTERNATIVE!”
I said in my very first posting to this website months ago — passage of the Ryan budget by 238 Republicans is probably the single dumbest thing the Republican gurus have done since closing down the government by Newt Gingrich back when Clinton was president.
JUST THAT ACTION — in effect ending Medicare (as the country now knows it) for anyone under 55 will be the thing that will re-elect Obama.
Why did they do that to themselves? Nobody was asking them to take that vote! Amazed me. I KNOW the AynRand/Libertarian/Corporate Elites wing of the Party does want to end Medicare and Social Security. But until they took that vote they could tap dance and rationalize and be evasive about their motivation. That vote put them on the record.
I think it all quite amusing that Fox News is reportedly backing off a bit on its extreme right requirements for a Republican candidate–they realize they’ve gone too far and Party has ended up with Romney (reasonable but unlovable) and now a greenhorn in terms of politics–Herman Cain. Perry is finished. The hardliners are reduced to BEGGING Governor Christie to run.
If I were the Governor I’d resist in 2012–study foreign policy, all the issues, finish up your term as governor, build up your speaking fees (so you can raise some money yourself when needed) and run in 2016. By then, I predict, Obama will have won and there will be a chastened Republican Party where you fit in.
As to WISE MEN today? If I were Obama I WOULD read Mr. Pollock’s article and have the discussion–should I resign?–with a panel I think could work for him and the country: General Powell, President Carter, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Mrs. Obama, Jon Stewart. I’d add that comic who is only on paid cable tv–name escapes me. He is one of the MOST insightful, astute, knowledgeable commentators I’ve heard). Why two comics? Because they seem to me to be remarkably perceptive and KNOW the American audience well. If he knows of a few corporate types for whom country trumps corporate bottom line, add them to the panel.
“Why did they do this to themselves?”
Because Ryan was actually trying to do what’s right for America, despite the politics. He was willing to get burned by that 3rd-rail of politics. One cannot deal effectively with the budget problem without honestly addressing SS/Medicare. I do not agree with Ryan’s proposals, but at least he offered a plan. It was politically courageous.
Now folks are talking about Medicare and other entitlements. The polls now show folks realize SS/Medicare are not sustainable. The only ones who really do not want to see any change are the seniors already on the program. They fear any change to it, instead of recognizing, that if we do nothing, soon they will get nothing.
As to the rest of your post, it is pure fantasy. Obama does not take advice, as many who have worked for him and quit have stated. He is a reactionary revolutionary. Thus, nothing will change, and he will lose in epic fashion. He will get crushed the way he crushed McCain. You are whistling past the graveyard, you Democrat.
Save this comment. Review it after the election, when you see the Republicans suddenly enjoying the huge majorities the Dems had in ’09. Watch the economy rebound immediately. Watch the enormous changes, repeal after repeal of laws and regulations. Watch the shrinking of government. Watch the Far-Left Dems be relegated to the tinfoil fringes where they belong. For years and years.
BH O’bummer, the first Irish Black president (remember he identified his Irish roots) believes deep in his heart that his Warbling Swan Song will part the oceans and heal the earth. How could he not win reelection.
I hated Hillary, actually donated early to O in the primary but was repulsed by March 08. Felt relieved that McCain was the GOP nominee and was just giddy when Sarah was selected, only to watch McCain’s handlers over manage her and look like a loon with Lehman’s failure. I felt Doom, after the election was encouraged with his first cabinet selections, looked pretty good.
Those first selections were an illusion, Obama picked the worst set of cabinet members and department heads ever for a president. I wan’t a Clinton man but at least he had decent managers in the cabinet.
Obama it seems does not want good advisers around him, just Yes Men.
***No previous president would have even considered dividing the nation as this madman has done.
And we know, thanks to PJ media, that he has the justice department thugs to back him up.
“So don’t expect any non-partisan “wise men” or Democratic Party elders to emerge and ask Obama to step aside for the good of the party — or for the good of the nation. And don’t expect Barack Obama to voluntarily walk away from his presidency even as he falls in the polls. It ain’t going to happen.”
At this stage in the game, I think Obama is going to do as badly as Walter Mondale did in 1984. All the Republicans have to do is nominate somebody who does not sound stupid or crazy. Other than that, a can of soup can beat Obama right now. But there is a long way to go between now and then and anything can happen. I’ll feel a lot better about a year from now, knowing that we have a solid candidate going up against a failed president.
“At this stage in the game, I think Obama is going to do as badly as Walter Mondale did in 1984. All the Republicans have to do is nominate somebody who does not sound stupid or crazy.”
. . . to whom? Independents, one (such as I) supposes. Will independents buy Newt Gingrich? Michelle Bachmann? Rick Santorum? I won’t even mention Ron Paul [I just did, didn't I?].
“Somebody who does not sound stupid or crazy” narrows the field considerably. Throw into the mix the mainstream media’s “objective reporting” [gag me] and the left’s propensity to uncover heretofore undiscovered ballots, in multiple recounts, and The One stands a decent chance.
Clarification: “Independents, one (such as I) supposes”. I am the supposer, ^not^ the independent. Not well worded.
Thank you for this excellent history of how the selection of presidential candidates has changed. Originally, the argument for the change was that we would move from backroom politicians selecting the candidate to a more open procedure. But now it appears that the supposedly more open procedure actually leads to more perverse political interests holding sway over the selection of candidates.
I’ve had to work on several occasions with narcissists and discovered they are absolute “hell on wheels” when things go against them. No matter how educated they are, they end up taking out their rage on any poor soul who happens to block their desires. Notice how Obama recently chided his Black supporters and told them to quit whining. Even Maxine Waters noticed and was upset. At some point, like the narcissists I worked with, his rage may go beyond the pale. Maybe, if we’re lucky, his rage will be so public that he will have little choice but to say afterwards that he will not run for re-election.
The media failed in their duty to vet Obozo, his sketchy family background, his even sketchier advisors…
No wise men around? Unfortunately you are not quite correct. We still have Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinksi. Aren’t they part of the Wise Man Cabal? Still skulking around dark corridors whispering words and making deals, pulling levers most of us are unaware of? We have had TOO MANY so-called Wise Men. Unelected and directing the world unknown to most of us and unaccountable to no one except themselves and those whose fortunes are tied to deals that no democracy would sanction should they be known to the citizens of this country. Who negotiated the trade deals that have wiped away millions of jobs in this country? The idea that our country and its fates are tied to people who are unelected and largely unknown to the general electorate is REPUGNANT. One could argue that we have become mired in this morass BECAUSE there have been TOO MANY wise men whose wisdom is self serving and more wise guy than wise man. Wise up, will you?
Total agreement with Betina and Surls (comments #5 and 6). Mr. Pollack is confusing “Wise Elders” with “Vampires.”
Especially when he name-checked the infamous Clark Clifford, of Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Let’s include Robert McNamara on that honor role. These were not wise men offering counsel. They were selfish monsters who ran the meat grinders that caused untold suffering in America and around the world.
Those aren’t “wise men” – they’re “wise guys.”
It would seem that we’ve traded off the wise men for the money men.
Those wise elders were some real geniuses all right. They managed to direct us into a Great Depression and four bloody wars that cost over 600,000 American lives, all in the space of 50 years. Quite an accomplishment.
Lucky for us, they’re all safely in the grave now, so we’re spared any more of their wise advice.
Funny how things change, but the problems never do.
Obama remains the American Sphinx. Who is this guy and what truly motivates him? We still don’t know.
I bet 2-1 that Obama will take an LBJ exit. He has had no preparation for failure, especially the epic level that he is experiencing. He does not know how to make things better and he is ideologically blinded from approaches that might work.
He is a narcissist who enjoys the good life. His presidency will continue to become more and more painful. At some point he will toss in the towel and sugarcoat it with noble talk about it being the best for everyone.
And actually he will be right. Running for a second term will be no good for anyone — not Obama, not the Democratic Party and not America.
I agree, Huxley, there are a few items for Obama to weigh:
- Failure is humiliating
- Resignation reverses your unfavorables and launches you on a much more lucrative retirement
- In reality, you hate your job
- The sickening knowledge that even if you manage re-election, Operation Fast and Furious might lead to a much more ignominious end than a voluntary resignation pre-prosecution
Ultimately, I think the decision will depend heavily on whether Michelle and Jarrett have gotten everything out of the White House that they want by the end of 2012.
Obama is also a follower,never a leader. He’s a programmed individual, devoid of any originality. He likes to crown himself with other people’s feathers, when things go well-not giving credit where credit is due, and destroy anyone, if things go south to deflect his empty and shallow being.
Thank you, Mr. Pollock, for reminding me that our nation once was led by respectable men who loved their nation. However, it is now personally profitable for anyone to be in politics, at the expense of the dignity of our ascendants and our future as Americans. Though, I think Americans wont’ accept being put at risk, and we are witnessing an historic rebirth. The time has come to fundamentally change the game in DC.
The end of the Wise Men came the day Walter Cronkite told the nation that the Viet Nam war was unwinable.
On that day the MSM learned that they had the power to influence the public that they had never held before.
It was then that the possible development of such men was no longer a viable option. You weren’t going to get that Duality of experience (Business leader / Political leader who would then retire) with someone outside of the government.
The “Wise Men” were replaced by the Talking Head, and not to a good end.
That is a brilliant observation. Television brought the War in Vietnam (and the civil rights movement for that matter) right into everyone’s home. It also brought with it the “commentator” who, overtly or covertly, directed the audience on the “proper response” to the images that they saw. In political terms the “Media Adviser” became much more important than the “Policy Adviser.” Appearance took precedence over substance.
The late 1960′s also destroyed the entire concept of “elder wisdom.” The youth culture trumped everything else and it became something of an embarrassment to be “old.” Gravitas became equated with a personality disorder. The ideal (for Democrats at least) was that a Presidential aspirant should surround himself/herself with “hip, energetic young people” despite the fact that such callow folk have zero experience in the outside world. However they all know what looks good on TV and that’s all that’s important.
The twenty-something crowd has a lot of leadership potential, particularly in our military. There are tens of thousands of young people across the American spectrum who have come out ok, despite the university-media complex’s incredible cultural muscle. Only when the baby-boomers have a foot in the grave will we recover.
Give the baby-boomers federally-subsidized funeral insurance and tell them to go away.
Come get us, punk! You’ll still work for ‘Boomers for awhile yet.
JD– brilliant observation. Cronkite is fairly high on my fairly long list of people that will be listed in history (if there is anyone around to write it) that caused/accelerated the demise of the US.
To think that he almost singlehandedly sold the idea that what was, in fact, a massive defeat for NVN was a massive defeat for the US and yet died as “America’s Most Trusted Man”. And, anyone believes ANYTHING that comes out of the MSM?
One of my discomforting memories of those days was greeting my brother-in-law as he returned a month or two after the Tet offensive. He was high as a kite–said that the NVN military was in complete shambles, the war was going to be over in six months. I patted him on the shoulder and changed the subject to the welcome home party. What did a mere Army Sgt know as compared to the estimable Walter Cronkite?
The country used to be run by Wasp aristos, who usually had family money behind them and could be relied on to work for the common good. Now we’ve got grasping politicians who must constantly grub for money to stay in power. Naturally, they are going to work for the special big money interests who fund them.
Compare William Buckley (suave, urbane, witty) to Rush (obvious, heavy handed, gross).
The same people who hated and mocked Buckley while he was alive, hate and mock Rush Limbaugh today.
While there may have been some steadying wisdom from the ‘wise men’, unfortunately they were in gross denial about our own foundational Law. If they were truly wise, they would have recognized that vast swathes of Fed bureaucrazies, from EPA to OSHA, from SocSec to Medicare, from the Dept’s of Labor to Education, from ATF to FDA, and many more, are in obvious violation of the plain text of the Constitution, and are bound to throw not rocks but boulders into the economic engine of the Republic. The real problem is not Obama, or the primary system, or the lack of ‘wise men’; the real problem is the lazy and wicked sovereign of this nation, We the People. We have hired venal and corrupt ministers, allowing and encouraging them for decades to trample on our own foundational Law, blatantly violating it left and right while honoring it with our lips. This does not end well.
Exactly on point. Chalk this disaster up to a lazy, ignorant electorate that doesn’t give a damn about freedom. It is freedom this country meant to its founders, not comfort nor privilege.
From the beginning of socialism and progressive politics, the usurper of freedom has been able to count on the laziness & ignorance of the masses. He has been spectacularly right, in the US and around the world.
What Happened to Our ‘Wise Elders’? I’m afraid they went the way of wisdom.
SCOAMF ain’t going anywhere. His job’s not done; we’re still breathing (barely).
Mr. Pollock asks what happened to the “advisors/statesmen who flourished before 1968″ and the answer is, the Marxists who have taken over the Democrat Party in toto has shunted those “old fools” aside. He quotes Carville, who is an example of the kind of dirty political operative who has replaced those old fellows.
Because I was born in 1937 and received a proper public school and university education, and because I lived the history and watched it, I see that America’s problem with Marxism began when the NEA and AFT unions took over the schools, under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Education. The ignorance of American yougth and Gen-Xrs, along with the ignorance of American Negroes, explains how Marxism has advanced so rapidly and how a complete Marxist empty suit was elected President.
Young fella’ you said it very well. I would only add that far too many on the other side of the aisle have been complicit in the criminal conspiracy that replaced “of the people, by the people and for the people.” The parasites have infected the entirety of the body politic.
A meaningfuly conversation among the would be republican candidates would be the proper role, size and scope of government under the limited powers granted to the federal government under the constitution and what they would do to reign it in. Wouldn’t that be something to watch on t.v.?
The fabled wise men were a product of a long gone, elitist patriarchal system, where everyone was much more conservative and patriotic than we are today.
Obama doesn’t need wise men of the old school – he needs an ideology transplant. Their wisdom would be anathema to Obama’s world view.
Wise men??? Boomers know everything. They don’t need no wise men. Just ask ‘em.
Elites in America used to be pro-American. The most basic difference between that generation and this generation is that the consensus of the beautiful people now is that America needs to be taken down a few notches.
Sometimes I envy the Russians; they may have a dictator running things, but he’s at least first and foremost working for Russia. Ditto for China. Not so here.
Insulated? They’re drunk on power. This is their moment. The goal is in sight. They’re not letting go, they’re rejoicing. I can hear them from here. Valerie and Michelle singing harmony. Listen close, you’ll hear them, too.
“Hallelujah I’m a Commie
Hallelujah Commie again
Hallelujah gimme a handout
Unions will crush you when they can.”
Many of our wise elders are lobbyists now, right?
Today we celebrate the self-promoter, the specialist, the google combination that yields only one result…heck, some might argue that mastering the narrative and having unshakeable self-regard can take you all the way to the White House. Journalists became journOlists, cheerleaders, and advocates and politicians demanded this in exchange for access.
The go-go 80s and 90s may have been the height of the consumer economy and “songs from the key of me” were at the top of the chart. Reality TV was considered entertainment and sex tapes were a way to become famous.
Things went from bad to worse when we elected a president that never had any intention of representing all the people. Only the people who agree with him at any point in time and the ones who stroked the ego long after it had any relation to reality (I find myself humming that old Billy Squier tune when the Prez reads to us).
Whether BHO is evil or inept I do not know. I am thankful that his actions, and those of Pelosi and Reid, awakened a spirit in America that will fuel the real recovery summer (2013?). Perhaps we are the ones we’ve been waiting for after all, maybe we can be our own wise(r) elders.
I do not think Obama will step down. He dislikes governing but he loves campaigning too much to walk away from this one.
As for wise men, even if they still existed leftists like Obama would never listen to them. Leftists think they are smarter than everyone else.
Actually I’d put it another way;
From observing this man in office it is totally clear to me…
Obama wants to BE president, however, he does NOT want to DO president.
Obama won’t step down because Michelle won’t let him.
George P. Schultz was one of the last genuine ‘wise men’ around.
So, we need to go back to the “wise men” model of governing, who produced the sixties political and Vietnam War debacle and the resulting forty years of wondering in the Great Society wilderness, so we can have a new crop of adults called the “wise men” to make better decisions? Looks to me like you’re proposing a new group of insular idiots to make new mistakes; why not just call them them the current best and the brightest too? In point of fact, were those “wise men” not called the best and the brightest”? By Halberstram? Yeah, that model ought to work out just ducky. I thought we had the best and brightest in government all ready, they’re just all manchilds that never grow up and token women trying to pass for men.
Will Obama do an LBJ? I think the chances are better than 50:50 that he will. It’s the classic sociopath action. Come into an organization, completely disrupt it, then walk away from the mess blaming others. He can’t handle the storm of criticism that is coming his way.
The problem for the country will be when he walks away and leaves in party with no one to step in. If Hilary runs, she will be trashed as the worst SoS to have ever held the office in modern times – no accomplishments, a significantly more dangerous world than when she took over.
Bottom line, the Dems are screwed for a generation. Bad for them and bad for the country.
There were a lot of “wise men” counseling LBJ, were there? Are they who we have to thank for talking him out of a military victory in the war in Vietnam and into the domestic fiasco that was the War on Poverty? With wise men like that, who needs fools?
I’m in the camp of the “Wise Men Weren’t So Wise.” JFK and LBJ did enormous damage to this country and even 20 or 28 years of Republican presidencies couldn’t come close to undoing it. It could barely stop the growth of government.
I do think the sense of civic responsibility is missing, and certainly we’ve grown more and more demotic, and we could use some wisdom.
And maybe we’ll get it. We Baby Boomers have been beating the crap out of ourselves — maybe we’ve learned something.
‘Cuz I gotta tell you, after us, the deluge. The younger generations are either paganized, tattooed, pierced meth-manufacturing freaks or scary organization kids who wore friggin bike helmets their whole lives. Forget red and blue — they’re gonna be fighting clean or dirty.
>Judging from the annals of American political history, how likely is this? And would President Obama’s temperament permit him to consider withdrawal?
Absolutely not. The President has almost limitless regard for his personal awesomeness; the way he sees it, it is his duty to bless us with his leadership.
Also, Michelle likes the perks too much: horking down lobster dinners, constant vacations, obsequeous fawning staffers, etc. She will hang on to these things like a pitbull. Both she and Obumble have never had a private sector job; they don’t anything except the academy and suckling at the public teat.
Quoting Ron Nessen:
There is nothing healthy about Barack Obama’s ego.
The reason LBJ quit was that he faced a serious primary challenge and the real prospect of being repudiated by his own party. The wise men simply brought him the news. The only way Obama would not seek reelection is if he was similarly challenged and thought he might not be renominated.
The Democrat Party has much, very much to answer for. My fervent hope is that they, every single one of them, will be held to strict account in 2012, and that they will be engulfed in an electoral tsunami which will destroy leftism for a generation, and hopefully forever. They stand for pure evil, and must be dealt with as such.
Wise Men? Gung Ho on Viet Nam and out a year later?
Inn 85 as teh media celbrated ten years of the “liberation” of Saigon, the K was still gong on about how Le Dc Tho lied to him. In my view, all the boys who died on Nixons watch died to Make K and Dick look god. The 72 deal could have been had at any time. And when I say all the boys, I don’t mean just Americans.
I heard Kissinger on the radio in 89 saying German reunification would take 10 years. I said one.
I can’t wait for that dangerous fool- and self hating Jew- to join Nixon. And MacNamara with his weepy mea culpas. It never occurr3d to him to donate the proceeds from his memoirs to the Vets or mine removal in Laos.
Wise Men? Experts? Czars? What’s the difference?
People talk about next year’s election as being the dirtiest, nastiest in history. But they leave out that Obama might morph into something even nastier; something we have never seen in the WH as he fights his party (and reality) to stay there. A lot of dems in Congress are properly terrified of this possibility–as well they should be. Obama’s recent class warfare exhortations to his base to regard the rest of America as the enemy showcases him as being, at the very least, the most spiteful president ever. No president has ever publically aired his anger in the way that Obama has and the assumption is that there is a lot more where that came from.
This is delusional; there is no “Obama.” Comrade Obama is a Red Diaper baby groomed by communists to be the one that could be dressed up and “pass” in America. Whoever it is that pulls his strings isn’t giving up their best hope to cripple the US as a World power just because he’s slipped a bit in popularity. There are any number of ways some sort of incident could be arranged to make some significant percentage of the lumpen proletariat rally ’round the embattled President. We’re watching a contrivance. The Republican opposition is in the main incapable of seeing what they’re seeing. Their version of politics comes from the Rotary and the Chamber and they’re really only interested in keeping reasonable access for their friends to the federal cookie jar. They’re still dumb enough about this to think Comrade Obama is just another somewhat more aloof version of Tip O’Neil, Ted Kennedy, or Up-Chuck Shumer; just another pol with his hand in the til. Comrade Obama is a by the book Alinskyite; anyone who’s ever dealt with a public employee union can predict his every move. Unfortunately, there may be a dozen Republicans who’ve meaningfully dealt with Alinskyite public employee union reps and organizers so most Republicans just don’t get Comrade Obama. Either they’ll figure him out or he gets four more years and if he does, the opposition won’t much matter.
It’s blindingly obvious that there are no more adults left. There are no statesmen, no “permanent advisors”, no disinterested and objective wise heads who are willing to devote a huge portion of their lives to caring for this nation. Because it is the Baby Boomers’ time to do and be those things, and guess what…we went AWOL. Because it’s difficult, and it takes sacrifice. I can almost the universal whine: “Awwww, Mom! I don’t wanna do it – it’s too haaaaaaard!“/ So we didn’t do it.
Even though I’m of that immensely selfish generation, I have been preaching The Failure Of The Boomers for 30 years. And I was a voice crying in the wilderness, because no one wanted to hear it. But now we see it come to pass.
And now we’re getting what we deserve. Hell, we couldn’t have gotten anything else, because we built it to happen this way. For almost 50 years the left, through its willing handmaidens in American popular culture, has preached self-indulgence, cynicism, instant gratification, class hatred and a general “where’s mine?” attitude. At the same time it has mocked our traditional values such as personal integrity, sacrifice, loyalty, faith and individual accountability. And now we act surprised when there’s no one left who isn’t working an angle or making a play for themselves?! How can we pretend to be shocked when no one today wants to do the hard and painful things that we should have done 30 years ago?
Well congratulations, because this is the obvious result of 5 decades of the “liberal philosophy” being force fed to our society. Truly, we reap what we sow.
A few things:
1. Obama might be psychologically incapable of believing his worldview is flawed, or that he is failing. The blame is always elsewhere, and any situation is recoverable if he just says the right things.
2. The real nasty politics from the Left, aided and abetted by the media, won’t begin until the Republicans have a nominee. Then there will be a non-stop deluge of garbage intended to make even Obama look like great by comparison. Record be damned, because The One will make everything all better in his second term – would have done in his first, if it weren’t for those America-hating TEA-loving Rethuglicans.
3. Combine all the usual Democrat base, the no-longer-pretending “liberal” media, the lack of oversight on campaign contributions, the get-out-the-idiot-vote leftist apparatuses (unions, ACORN…), residual Obama worshippers, left-leaning independents and the PC crowd and you have a substantial number of potential Obama voters. For a community organizer, everything boils down to a “get out the vote” problem, and he believes he can solve that problem.
I’m left thinking that not only will he run, but that in the kind of race it will become he could even win. We conservatives have a tendency to apply logic and play by the rules. Forget that. Obama and his ilk have only two governing “principles”: There are no rules, and winning is everything. Get ready for a bitter fight.
I fear that 0b0ma will usher in a bloodbath to show his hatred for the ”whitey” All this evil man has to do, after the election, when he has lost, is to drop some hints to the large % of both races that has nothing to lose, but maybe a larger slice of the tator puddin…that they should take to the streets with open warfare against The ”EVIL” Repub`s and all they represent…Remember how the whites were out to ”get” and lynch OJ Simpson….well friends both races that love this great nation, we all better hope and pray for a true American to win this election…The line has been drawn in the sand…Prepare for WAR, but hope it never happens….Jimi
So in the end what we really need are not “wise men” but men of integrity, men of honor, men of experience and men of humility (ie who are teachable). Since most people in the country can’t even define integrity, honor and humility I seriously doubt that they’d recognize those traits if they saw them.
No they’d rather watch reality shows and live vicariously through someone else. They’d rather watch people who parrot their own views than someone who gives both sides of the story. They’d rather talk to people on line than converse with someone face to face.
The boomers alone are at fault in this? I don’t think so, but I’m sure it makes the succeeding generations felel better. It’s always appropriate to fix the blame on some else thereby deflecting it from ones self.
We get the leaders we deserve.
“…skin in the game”!
Mr. Pollock… y o u R A Y Z I T Z!
I think Hillary should go to him and say, “Son, it’s time for you to cash in the Presidency like our family did.”
Yeah, and if only Walter Cronkite were still around to read the official talking points everything would be better. Please. The “statesmen” you are talking about were far more likely to be statist men who never saw a problem that couldn’t be fixed with more government.
Garza;
Am a boomer Reagan democrat, 5th Marine Regiment squad leader in I Corps 1967-68 and significant taxpayer the 25 years I was on Wall Street. Every classmate from HS on with whom I’m in contact is as concerned as I am about the brink to which the democrats and notably obama have brought our Great America.
When I watched university students occupy buildings in late 1969 I stood stunned in the crowds, wondering where the administration was hiding and why the unwashed dirt bags in the buildings weren’t being duck-walked to police cruisers.
Have watched this goat-herder and his guilt-ridden wacko white enablers assault everything which I believe is good about America since the white guilt-peddlers and hand-wringing bed-wetters on the left put his islamic a** into our White House after the 2008 election.
As if all that isn’t enough now I gotta listen to your sorry a** demean boomers and hope they all die soon so the problem will be solved. If you’d like to step back through a time-warp to the Arizona battle ground just south of the DMZ where 150,000 Marines fought and died during the late unpleasantness in the ‘Nam i’ll be glad to oblige you. I remember too well the villages of the Arizona, the Phu Locs, An Hoa, Football Island and the Hai Van Pass. You’ll love them as I did, I’m sure.
You may also have lived through the history of the coming of age of a soviet style American news media the last 50 years which has facilitated the rise of the statists among the democrats and the legions of thirty-something talking heads among ALL the major news outfits which obfuscated obama’s history and offers succor to the One and fellow socialist democrats who are a parasite on the American body politic. I have and it has made me feel a stranger in my own land.
Lastly, your probable youth and the fact you’re reading PJM is a good sign for America. PJM wasn’t even a ghose whisper when I and others had to endure the soiling Bill Clinton and his fat 20 year old receptacle did to the White House, the American family and the brave Founders who sacrificed so much to give us this great country. The problem, Barza is far beyond what you uncharitably believe. But don’t give up, you’re on the right track at PJM.
Tom York:
“As if all that isn’t enough now I gotta listen to your sorry a** demean boomers and hope they all die soon so the problem will be solved.
If you’d like to step back through a time-warp to the Arizona battle ground just south of the DMZ where 150,000 Marines fought and died during the late unpleasantness in the ‘Nam i’ll be glad to oblige you.
I remember too well the villages of the Arizona, the Phu Locs, An Hoa, Football Island and the Hai Van Pass. You’ll love them as I did, I’m sure.
You may also have lived through the history of the coming of age of a soviet style American news media the last 50 years which has facilitated the rise of the statists among the democrats and the legions of thirty-something talking heads among ALL the major news outfits which obfuscated obama’s history and offers succor to the One and fellow socialist democrats who are a parasite on the American body politic.
I have and it has made me feel a stranger in my own land.”
As have I tom, seen it and became a stranger in my own land. Memories linger of Inchon Harbor and the thousands of brave comrades who died there, including my best childhood friend. The hate spewers today have no notion of the sacrifices made on their behalf by far better men and women than they will ever be.
I would only add that I don’t think the situation we face today is strictly left vs. right. The problem is that the concept of loyal opposition is no longer understood and politicians of both parties consider themselves part of a ruling class, authorized by uninformed citizens to take whatever they consider to be theirs, by divine right. Simply put, the entire system is broken and if it doesn’t result in a real leader winning the presidency in 2012, all bets are off for future generations. That sir, is my opinion and I’m very sad because of it.
“Sorry this is a bit late – been working on a revolution!”
Mr. Pollock I think we should go back even further – like to the Founders and the Constitution.
The following is from a speech delivered at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar by Edward J. Erler – professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute.
“The Declaration of Independence provided the authoritative statement of Americas political principles. For the first time, government was said to derive its legitimacy -its just powers- from “the consent of the governed.” In order to form just government, the people delegate a portion of their sovereignty to government to be exercised for their benefit. The fact that only a portion of sovereignty is ceded by the people is the origin of the idea of limited government. The people delegate only some of their sovereignty to government, and what is not granted is retained by the people -the people, for example, always reserve (and can never cede) the ultimate expression of sovereignty, the right revolution. The Declaration describes this right as “the Right of the People to alter or abolish” government when it becomes destructive of its proper ends -namely, the protection of the safety and happiness of the people. This right of revolution, is the right that secures every other right, because it serves as a constant reminder of the sovereignty of the people.”
Time is fleeting people!
LBJ never stepped down. He quit running for re-election because he was beaten by his primary challenger in the NH primary. Only then did he realize that the polls were not lying and that people thought he sucked. Only then did the truth penetrate his thick, Texan skull. As a good Party man, he gave up, in order to give his Party a chance to avoid crushing defeat. They got crushed anyway.
The good thing about Obama is that he has no challenger. Further, he won’t believe no matter what. Not being a good Party man, but rather, a revolutionary, he wouldn’t stop for the good of his Party. No Presidency for Hillary. Huge victories are on the way for the Right. Huge.
Another way to read the results of the “elder-statesmen, wise-men” advice to Johnson is that for whatever reason, they advised LBJ to do what he did in prosecuting the Viet Nam war, they continually praised him for doing what they had told him to do, but at the last minute they told him it had all fallen apart and they were leaving him. They left, and left a broken LBJ who chose not to run again.
It is also possible that the referenced wise-men’s pedigree put them in a group that seems to have a connection to those who are able to control the actions of both political parties by manipulating the respective Party’s upper management. Therefore we are still adding new wars to be fought while continuing fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, independent of whether Republican Bush or Democrat Obama is President.
The Violence of Intolerant Polarization
Mohandas Gandhi said, “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” He was right on the mark with that observation, although he was only addressing transparent intolerance and physical violence, not the subtle intolerance and invitations to violence favored by the Obama administration.
It’s just too bad Gandhi isn’t around today advising America’s president.
Intolerance and violence have become hallmarks of life in Barack Hussein Obama’s America, our America, fueled by systematic administration policies of polarizing and dividing the nation for political-ideological purposes. What we are witnessing is a far cry from the civility and unity he preaches but in perfect harmony with what he and his Democrat Party have intentionally fostered.
Obama has repeatedly speechified on the need for civil discourse and actions, which, like so much of what he says, is contradicted by what he does. It boils down to all talk, talk, talk. This administration has talked the civil, tolerance talk and walked the walk of the most uncivil and intolerant administration in American history.
At the same time Obama mouths conciliatory words, his union minions–think Teamsters’ President Hoffa–his mainstream media lackeys–think MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow–his congressional cohorts–think Maxine Waters–have have intensified their vile, personal attacks on anyone who dares to disagree with him.
If anyone seriously believes that that gross, intolerant incivilty isn’t tacitly approved by Obama’s DNC, explanations of why such invective goes unchallenged and un-rebuked by the White House are invited. Objections to the contention that failure to censure scurrilous leftist vituperation has contributed to a pervasive violent atmosphere in the United States are invited as well.
Some of the most devious machinations of the Obamians have been their collective winks extended to rioters, insurrectionists, and to those who would reject constitutional mandates, our national law, in the name of expediency and ideology.
The marked increase in street violence and borderline chaos may be controllable by local authorities, assuming they are given permission to enforce laws in P.C. America. However, another, more sinister, force is in play in America, the manipulated polarization of the populace and the undermining of the very foundations of our Republic.
What really constitutes incivility? What really breeds violence? What really leads to polarization and divisiveness? Is it not a failure of political leadership, a refusal to rein in the uncivil and the criminal elements in a society, a tacit, or worse, an overt approval of incivility and criminality?
In a democratic republic, exceeding in gravity even the absence of a lack of moral leadership and condoning of wrongdoing, a blatant disregard for the law of the land, for the legal authority under which any people live, naturally results in the commission of every conceivable evil by malcontents and nihilists who interpret that disregard as a blank check issued by their leaders to do as they please.
In the United States of America, the guiding force and most basic principles which delineate the rights, privileges, and responsibities of Americans are contained in our Constitution, the same 224 year old document which President Barack Hussein Obama, his administration, and his supporters have repeatedly and consistently ignored, abused, and trashed.
Obama knows full well his constituency base will remain, if not rock-solid, reasonably supportive and must hope they will still carry him on to re-election while his opponents are intimidated into submission and defeat. Meanwhile, his henchmen and henchwomen labor on as his surrogates to conceal his leadership-challenged, intolerance-based administration.
We are witnessing the consequences of that disgrace . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5588.)