Partisanship is one thing, but what about truth? Regular readers know I have had my criticisms of the Obama administration. There’s a lot that it’s doing that I do not like. But I am getting sick and tired of people complaining that this administration isn’t transparent in its dealing with the American people. Nancy Pelosi was simply telling the truth when she said in January that, when it came to the debate over health care “reform,” “there has never been a more open process.” It was all right there for you to see. The federal government was going to take over the management of America’s health care system: people everywhere (unless they worked for the government, in which case they were exempt) could expect health care that was 1) more expensive 2) of poorer quality and 3) for which one would have to wait much, much longer. Madame speaker didn’t go in for all that detail, it is true, but anyone who had eyes to see understood what was happening: it was perfectly transparent. The government proposed to take over health care: it was perfectly clear what that meant.
And as for the top-down, we’re-in-charge-here, you-little-people-who-pay-taxes, how much more transparent could they have been about their intentions? They were going to ram it through come hell or high water. Hence:
- The “Louisiana Purchase” in which Senator Mary Landrieu agreed to support Harry Reid’s bill in exchange for an increase of Medicaid subsidies for Louisiana to the tune of $100 million. In plain English: you give me $100 million, I give you my vote. What could be more transparent?
- Then there was the “Cornhusker kickback,” in which Senator Ben Nelson sold his vote in exchange for preferential treatment on federal Medicaid assistance and various exemptions for Nebraska. Can you honestly think of anything more blatant?
- Or consider Florida, where Senator Bill Nelson was happy to sell his vote in exchange for an exception that allowed Florida residents only to stay in the Medicare Advantage program if they are already signed up for it. Transparent, what?
- And now we have Congressman Jim Matheson of Utah. The price of his vote was a U.S. Court of Appeals judgeship for his brother, Scott M. Matheson, Jr. Again I ask, what could be more transparent?
Works for me. Biden is clearly the “Fredo” of this administration.
Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Ben Nelson, Senator Bill Nelson and Congressman Jim Matheson were made offers they couldn’t refuse.
It’s nothing personal; it’s just business.
Well, from my not so close perch in the cesspool of the Middle East, I even understood what Obama had in store for the nation, he was as transparent as a clean pane of glass.
The MOMENT he uttered the words, ‘we are five days away from transforming America’, all bets were off. He absolutely revealed his hand, but to a mostly clueless, mesmerized, guiltridden society, hell bent on electing the first ‘Black’ POTUS, regardless of his stated intentions AND his radical, socialist, marxist associations.
Anyone who is not short of a full mental deck should have seen the ominous portends of an Obama administration,despite any of their attempts to play center field, all in order to confuse the sleepy public.
Mostly fools, and certainly some knaves elected this monstrosity.
Your friend can’t read The Godfather films for toffee. The things you described weren’t Frank Pentangeli at the Senate hearings, they were Vito Corleone at Connie’s wedding. But anyway your friend doesn’t really exist, it was just you.
I know it was you, Roger. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!
Sadly, those of us with a synapse left in our brain and eyes to see are not surprised at what Obama is. His plans to remake our country were very plain to any who took the time to look and “vet” him. The biggest con job of our lifetime is what Obama is. Like Adina from Israel, I too was chilled to the bone when he made his remarks about transforming America. I certainly took him at his word. Hopefully it is not too late to turn the freight train around before it chugs off the cliff. The sun started to shine with Scott Brown and the implosion of man made global warming. If we could just get this monstrous health care bill inot the circular file I would rest much easier until Nov.
But what is the reason for seeing Pentangeli at the Senate when you are looking at Connie’s wedding? I diagnose Obama derangement syndrome.
I am sorry to report, Roger, that sometimes politicians have to do deals. They have something they want to get done; a good thing that they really believe in, and they have to do deals with people who don’t really agree with them to get it done. This ‘doing deals’ is what defines politics as an activity rather than politics as an ideal. A politician who won’t do deals is impotent; he is engaged in solitary activity.
Doing deals and giving favors is grubby and corrupt compared to the ideal of politics, in a ‘Connie’s wedding’ kind of way. But that metaphor does not appear evil enough to somebody who is suffering from ODS, so they say that doing deals is just like mafia boss threatening to murder an opponent’s brother. It’s a kind of craziness really.
To quote or cite from The Godfather Trilogy, just check the transcripts, which are online. While at it, note the number of times the word “reason” or “reasonable” is used. Kay sums it up in Part III:
KAY:
Let’s be reasonable, Okay? That’s your big thing isn’t it Michael. Reason. Backed up by murder.
By the time the democrats finish adding in all of the exemptions it will be something along the lines of this:
If you are a democrat, you do not pay but receive full benefits.
If you are a Republican, you pay but you receive no benefits.
OBAMA said he was going to change America, so he was transparent. What he didn’t say was how he was going to do it. He s doing it by lying about everything he does. I guess being transparent, means that he is the biggest liar, this country has ever heard.
I call it “Opaquely Transparent.”
“My friend believes The Godfather offers a deep education in politics.”
Ah, the Hollywood hating right and their incessant Hollywood references. But then again, RK, anything that deepens your education is all to the good.
Joseph
What’s not to hate about Hollywood. They make really bad films that are either teen schlock or pseudo-intellectual garbage.
All the best film franchises are based on the far superior British popular culture (James Bond, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter).
I personally believe as you do, Roger, that the Obama administration is totally transparent. But I’ll take it a step further. I think that the centerpiece of the administration, President Barack Obama, is transparently cashews.
The President’s physician cautions Obama to drink less. My question, what’s he been smoking?
This I’ll stipulate.
While a reefer or two doesn’t put you on the road to madness, by the same token, Obama’s inability to stop drinking and smoking shouldn’t compel Presidential cabinet members to make a mad dash for the Constitution’s 25th amendment.
However, considering President Obama’s growing propensity to exhibit obsessive, bizarre behavior, not to mention, a lackluster job performance, should not someone seriously question his (how shall I put it?) smokey thinking? Mental fitness for the job, if you will. Moreover, since it appears that the members of Congress seem to have difficulty taking action without being offered a carrot the size of the Louisiana purchase or the 100 million dollar Cornhusker kickback, the people appear to be faced with a national conundrum; what to do if we agree that the Presidential Marlboro Man, (aka Mr. roll em’ if you got em’) is smack dab in the center of the swirling question: Is President Obama delusionally disordered?.
At the same time, I can hear people saying that everything he does, he does with undeniable, clear-minded intention, the single minded determination of a lion stalking his prey. They would say about Obama that having a deep unshakable belief in the Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals” playbook accounts for every untruth uttered; every promise broken; every anti-American-valueless move made. Maybe that’s true. Matter of fact, lil’ ol’ blond haired blued Rachel has been a party to that line of thinking for the past two or so years. Heavens to Betsey, I knew he was the most left voting member of the Senate. I knew he palled around with Rashid Khalidi, an Israeli-hating former member of the PLO. I knew he palled around with Bill Ayers who, at a point in time, would have bombed America into oblivion if he could have. I’m aware, like everyone else, that Obama pewed with Mr. Hate Speak, himself, the Rev. Jeremy (9/11 was a glorious day) for more than twenty hate-filled years. I knew all that and still thought Obama didn’t markedly deviate from the standard deviation of normal mental Chicagoian chicanery.
As of a week ago, though, I think we were wrong. I look at Obama differently. I fear he’s gone off the deep end. Jumped the shark. Lost his grip on reality. To my way of thinking, the guy who since being elected President has done the opposite of what he should have done; plus the opposite of someone who took an oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” is now borderline certifiable. He’s turned out, in just 13 plus months to be the worst President in United States history. Not arguably to be. To be. But I’m seriously thinking a big part of the problem is that President Obama is disordered and delusional. Sick.
A quick look at the rise before the pall. Were there tell tail signs that we all missed?
During the Presidential campaign against McCain, Obama made some statements that, while many believed, some suspected came under the category of campaign rhetoric. End earmarks. Put healthcare negotiations on CNN. Do away with America’s nuclear arsenal. Be the post-racial President. Fundamentally transform America. Be transparent. Listen to the American people. Those were the ingredients with which Barack Obama made speeches. Women fainted in his very presence. Anchor men got tingles up their legs. Then Obama was elected and elected to go back on his word, time after time. Not just his supporters became increasingly unsettled. His opponents were amazed that a brown eyed handsome man with sky high approval ratings could fall so far so fast. Obama started losing trust with the suddenness that some men start losing their hair. But not the concern. People like Nancy Pelosi tried to white wash the whole thing. For example, when asked why the President signed bills with thousands of earmarks, she’d say, “during a campaign, a lot of things are said.” Okay, so Obama’s end to earmarks statement was campaign rhetoric. Were we to assume that the same was true of, say, the statements about broadcasting healthcare negotiations on CNN? Was he just making things up willy nilly? If so, why? Barack knew that George senior’s “read my lips” sunk George. Why would Barack set a trap for himself? It doesn’t make sense.
In particular, though, the statements about Obama’s desire for nuclear disarmament, once sounding a tad naive, in retrospect, are the breadcrumbs leading to an inescapable conclusion: that Obama is daft. What good is a socialist America in the image and likeness of Obama/Alinsky if half its people are vaporized in a first strike? Surely, Obama wouldn’t unilaterally dismantle our nuclear capability. “Like, man, he’s not crazy,” I can hear any discerning California Democratic surfer guy or girl say.
Obama may be a little extreme left, but his elevator still stops at all the floors, or so I used to think. In hindsight, should I have detected a bit of unsoundness of mind when Obama unilaterally threw Turkey and the Czech Republic under the Russian bus, surrendering to blowhard, bully boy demands and reneging on the promise to install, for them, missile defense systems? While hindsight is 20/20, maybe I should have caught wind of the coming mental storm clouds.
Now, though, I’m giving our President’s sanity a bit more thought. For the other crazy shoe just dropped. Obama pipes up with a nutty statement about meeting with Robert Gates to discuss destroying half our nuclear arsenal. On its face maybe it doesn’t sound too threatening, (how many times can you kill your enemy?), but the psychological effect on Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and assorted nut job terrorists around the world shouldn’t be underestimated. What weak loons they must think we are to unilaterally ash can half our nuclear weapons? Plus, consider how close our potential enemies are from their own missile defense shield. I have a feeling secret-guarding isn’t high on Obama’s list of priorities.
Look, I could recite chapter and verse Barack’s list of intolerable acts. But in the interest of time, I won’t. Suffice to say, it grows longer as Obama, once again, blithely, goes against the wishes of the American people to keep our country Army Strong. Instead of maintaining a full arsenal of military deterrents, Obama apparently wants to transform the United States into a nuclear free zone. Which is not to be confused with a nuclear safe zone. To Rachel, this is almost like touching the third rail of a second avenue New York subway train. On purpose. Is he touched? Better question, what’s going on in ObamaHead? Sheer lunacy? Has President Barack Obama lost his marrididdles, cat’s eyes, and taws?
In wartime, there was never a sounder mind than General George Patton. Here’s what General Patton believed (not a direct quote). “Disarmament is the sure road to health, happiness, and peace; and that by removing the fire department, we will remove fires. The desire for disarmament springs eternal in the eternally naive. From wishful thinking and from the erroneous belief that wars result from logical processes. There is no logic in wars. They are produced by madmen much like disarmament is promulgated by men who are in the mentally sense, mad. No man can say when future madmen will reappear. I do not say that there will be no more wars; I devoutly hope that there will not, but I do say that the chances of avoiding future wars will be greatly enhanced if we are ready.”
My one final question echoes Patton’s call for readiness. But it is about you and me. Are we ready to admit that there is something very wrong with Obama?
They would say about Obama that having a deep unshakable belief in the Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals” playbook accounts for every untruth uttered; every promise broken; every anti-American-valueless move made. Maybe that’s true. Matter of fact, lil’ ol’ blond haired blued Rachel has been a party to that line of thinking for the past two or so years. Heavens to Betsey, I knew he was the most left voting member of the Senate. I knew he palled around with Rashid Khalidi, an Israeli-hating former member of the PLO.