The China Presidency
I have an heirloom china pitcher on my mantle that has dozens of glued cracks—so much so that it is now purely ornamental and will not hold water. When I was a boy I’d ask my mother when, and under what circumstances, did the china crack apart.
She would provide stories about each fissure and mend, many of the break narratives handed down to her from her own grandparents in the house. There wasn’t one single accident, but instead dozens that rendered a once useful pitcher into an non-functional art object.
Something of the same is happening with our President. He is experiencing the sharpest popularity decline in the history of first-year administrations. The problem is not just that he inherited a bad economy; Reagan did too. Or that the war in Afghanistan heats up, since it is not nearly as bad as the mess Nixon inherited in Vietnam.
Instead, after 11 months there has emerged a series of bothersome incidents that the public has come to associate with Obama, both the man and his philosophies. Some are major policy issues; others trivial acts of no cosmic importance. None in themselves matter all that much. Each gaffe or mistake was contextualized and mended, or attended to by Robert Gibbs. Some are Obama’s fault; others the work of associates. Sometimes mere chance is the culprit.
I know Bush had his own list of catastrophes; other Presidents did as well. Again, my point is not trying to adjudicate relative culpability, but rather just to remind us all how and why Obama dived over 20 points in the polls in just 11 months—and his speeches transformed from inspirational to caricatures.
In short, taken together, after nearly a year, these fissures have nearly ruined the once pretty texture of the Obama administration, and almost rendered it incapable of effective governance.
Here is a random selection. I provide no chronology or theme. Nor do I judge the relative importance of any one incident. The point, again, is only that each was a fissure, some small, some major—all were glued over. The result is that now the public understands that its china presidency is fragile and held together by mere glue.
Here it goes:
Constant apologies abroad for everything from slavery to Hiroshima
Bows to Saudi royalty, the Japanese emperor, and Chinese autocrats
The on-again/off-again Guantanamo shut-down mess
The fight with the former CIA directors
The public show trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed
The reach out to Ahmadinejad Castro, Chavez, and assorted thugs
The Honduras fiasco
Czars everywhere
The serial “Bush did it”/reset whine abroad
The Queen of England/I-pod fiasco
Gordon Brown gets snookered in his gift-giving
Unceremoniously shipping back the Churchill bust
The end of the special relationship with the UK
The New York on-the-town presidential splurge
Anita Dunn and her Mao worship
Timothy Geithner/Tom Daschle/Hilda Solis and their taxes
What ever happened to Gov. Richardson?
“No lobbyists” = gads of them
The Podestas’ insider influence-peddling empire
Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” chauvinism
The Special Olympics silly quip
Trashing Nancy Reagan
The Skip Gates/police acting “stupidly” mess
Another unforgivable incident: The Justice Department dropping prosecution of Black Panther thugs guilty of racist intimidation at a polling place.
Thanks VDH. As Danile Henninger said today at WSJ, 2013 can’t come soon enough.
Victor (One has reached an age where polite honorifics are no longer offered. If there were to be exceptions, you would certainly be one.), thanks so much for the ever growing list. It is nice to have all those thundering buffalo in one herd.
The majority of American voters were conned by Barack Obama’s Harvard credentials. They didn’t realize that the school’s standards have been significantly lowered in the last forty years. Its affirmative action polices are responsible for the inflated grades of many of its minority and white majority students. This is no mystery. Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield finally threw in the towel. He now gives his students two sets of grades: the secret and truthful one for their own eyes—and the phony grade meant to con the general public.
People are increasingly sensing that Obama is intellectually shallow. He really does not have much of an education. Harvard and the other Ivy leagues institutions have been running something of a scam operation. Only their hard science degrees are usually worthy of respect. Those graduates that acquired a liberal arts degree deserve to be treated like idiots until proven otherwise. Obama merely represents the tip of the iceberg. A very high percentage of Harvard graduates are also just as mediocre.
In the West Point speech, I counted about 30 uses of “I” or “me.”
And Obama’s repeated references to the Bush Administration is getting so old. This reminds me of Orwell’s use of “Goldman” as the scapegoat in “1984.”
Last night it was reported that the President called Rep. John Conyers and complained about his “demeaning comments about Obama.” Conyers replied it wasn’t a personal attack; just on the substance.
Did Pres. Lincoln constantly blame his predecessor about the Civil War? Just wondering.
Dr. Hanson,
Your list of woes makes me want to look back at this poem from just after Obama’s inauguration:
When We Choose a King
By Robert Winkler Burke
Copyright 1/22/09
When we choose a king,
We get what we deserve,
Lessons in gladness or sadness,
For a king always serves.
A king always serves,
To prove right or wrong,
In teaching it matters not,
What side he belongs.
If a fool, the king will be loved,
By all his same kind,
While proving a fool in power, showers,
Insanity all around.
The fool king proves wrong doctrines,
Creates death eventually,
Letting fools repent to great depths,
Of fool insanity.
A wise king is hated utterly,
By all foolish crowds,
His acts of wisdom provoke,
Fools to stand proud.
While the wise king brings life,
Through sagacious acts,
The death lovers will distort,
Great matters of fact.
The only way fools will change,
And love a wise king,
Is to first let a fool king,
Up end everything.
So let the fool king,
Up end all he can,
He’ll just prove what a fool believes,
Not a wise man.
The fool king’s subjects,
Will finally want truth,
Hard truths, brutal truths the crowds,
Earlier for soothed.
Give us sane doctrines!
They’ll cry in unison,
A fool king is deadly!
Forgive us, God’s Son.
And God will forgive,
Our foolish choices,
When hard truth is honored,
God rejoices.
God rejoices and lets us,
Choose wise kings,
First letting us suffer fools,
To learn great things.
How do I know this?
I’ve been king of my life,
Often fool, sometimes wise,
Mostly in-between strife.
So let a fool be a fool,
As good as it gets,
This a wise man allows,
How wisdom begets.
The Obama Presidency is sort of like Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, straight out of some chapter of Tom Wolfe’s classic “The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test”.
My Democratic friends believe two things: That the incumbent President is the greatest President in the history of the United States, if not the world. And if one suffers disappointment, or hardship, or the country goes to pieces, well, that only indicates we expect too much of our great President and we refuse to accept responsibility for our own failings. Success has one father, defeat is caused by us all.
How about a man welding great power cannot tell the truth. He has lied to the American public I will never know when he is telling the truth.
Our president and his cronies are coming off as amateurs. No sense of protocol and a bunch of snobbishness. Not only does he snub the Norweigan King (during his Nobel Pre-Peace Prize visit), but he’s stiff-arming the press by not having a receiving line for the holiday parties. I guess he didn’t want to be seen bowing before another one of his ‘betters’ again, but the press thing is basically biting the hands that put you up on a pedestal, LOL.
There are plenty of substantive reasons, it seems to me, for Obama’s flagging popularity. Certainly, his penchant for “big government” initiatives — driven by his statist, Marxist mentality — tops the list. See: Socialism (of a sort) http://bereapundit.com/socialism-of-a-sort
Then there is the nature of his personality. It can most charitably be called “self-directed.” No one ever need compliment Barack Obama; he and his toadies are at all times doing it themselves.
Obama is also thuggish, vindictive, and intolerant of dissent. (A number of essays at http://bereapundit.com/essays-politics address the various and sundry ways candidate Obama misrepresented himself as “transformational”; a new kind of politician, one above petty partisanship and so forth.)
But there is another, cultural, reason for Obama’s slide. His ascent was a meteoric one — driven by faddism. And we all know that, when it comes to crazes of all sorts, “what goes up must come down.”
Using the word ‘tiring’ is being kind.
How *dare* he compare himself to Martin Luther King.
And how *dare* she compare herself to Jacqueline Kennedy.
To the above list, I would somewhere insert the constant drip-drip-drip accusations of all-things racist. Obama has done more to hurt race relations in the United States than “Bull” Connor managed in Birmingham, Alabama.
Almost anything can be forgiven a president if the people sense a connection to him and a connection from him. This is missing in Obama’s case. Utterly missing.
Yes…the last time we had such a group of amateurs in the executive branch, Carter’s state department hired a Polish interpreter who proudly told the Poles on a presidential visit that Carter “lusted” for Poland.
The guy was part-time…to save money…so was Carter.
Obama=Carter…and then some.
How about the Air Force One photo-op over Manhanttan that scared the living you know what out of the people on the ground. Talk about being clueless!
And don’t forget the Inspector General “Fired for senility” deception.
Dr. Hanson’s list is proof that Obama is in over his head. But does he care? I think not. I think he and his wife are in it for the celebrity and perks. Yes, he’s a left-wing radical, but he’s content to let others like Reid and Pelosi implement their socialist agenda if they can. If not, oh well. His only concern is that he be re-elected so that the celebrity and perks continue. With the media, academia, and Hollywood carrying his water, and his Acorn and Union goons keeping voters in line, re-election shouldn’t be a problem. The welfare of the United States and its citizens? He could care less.
“He has lied to the American public I will never know when he is telling the truth.”
Barack Obama is just like Yale graduate Bill Clinton. He’s the guy who said he never had sex with Monica Lewinsky. Oral sex wasn’t real sex! Ivy league graduates—especially those who are trained lawyers—have learned how to squeeze the truth, bend it, and do all sorts of other yucky things to it. You must listen to them very carefully. The truth is too often buried in the fourth chapter, seventh paragraph, and twentieth sentence.
Another one:
Air Force One making a low flyover over the southern tip of manhattan, causing people outside to panic, and building managers to call for evacuations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJUcl8H5DM
Needless to say, Obama wasn’t a passenger. Nonetheless, the Chief Executive “owns” the activities of all the assets over which he has direct command.
@5
>>This reminds me of Orwell’s use
>>of “Goldman” as the scapegoat in “1984.”
Goldstein. You obviously haven’t been paying attention during the Two Minutes Hate. Off to Room 101 with you! :)
Insulting the Queen of England was rich: a country that has been our ally forever, whose Queen sang our national anthem after 9-11, whose soldiers are fighting with ours….. I’d contriubute to a fund for a big gift to erase the memory of that iPod.
“Why are we tiring of Obama?” eh? Remind me who it was around here who did not dislike him from the get-go. Is it sort of like the Sean Hannity, “he is our President.” reprieve which lasted ten seconds, until his next item?
Did you mention that New York flyby that sent Manhattan into a panic? In my book, that created a few cracks in the facade.
Like Aesop’s frogs, we will soon look back with regret at the way we treated old King Log, when compared to the new King Crane which eats up our sustenance at far too high a rate.
President Obama is a very convincing hologram given form; however, turn off the porjector, then Obama vanishes to reveal the small, angry, bitter Marxist who is too narcissistic for his own good. We are witnessing Obama’s meltdown. He’s a thinned-skinned upstart bully not ready for the real world. The real world keeps creeping in Obama’s Socialist dreams of a Utopia that never will exist. So begin the countdown…
How about Rev.Wright Bill Ayers Tony Rezco
Hey wait a second! I’m starting to smell a rat. What if, just maybe, Obama isn’t a commie at all? What if he’s a mole for the Republicans? Yeah that must be it! What if it’s part of the vast right wing conspiracy? What if it’s an attempt – GASP – to convince people, in one short year, never to elect a Democrat again? I think I’m on to something, here. Nothing else makes sense. They can’t really be that incompetent can they?
Fought with the *current*, hand picked CIA director, Panetta, too.
I have never heard such a narcissistic load of feces as what our blathering idiot-in-chief vomited out this morning when accepting his medal for doing nothing.
He doesnt seem to love this country..or even like it. But he really, really likes himself.
Don’t forget the classic “$30,000, $40,000, or $50,000 to amputate a foot.” Fast and loose with the facts.
there are 10 postings here and with MR. Hanson’s a total of 11.
Look there is a lot more to sex that just missionery position. you are all so frustrated! try something new and don’t be so stiff!!! it is ok!!
Professor, you missed Hilda Solis and the gutting of all government mechanisms for fighting union corruption.
The flyover New York city with Air Force One
Such a gentle metaphore, Professor. I would suggest a comparison to that lovely piece of pottery serving ware that the kids gave us for Christmas. It didn’t hold water, couldn’t stand the heat, was inordinately fragile from al the air bubbles in the matrix, and the glaze contains toxic compounds. After a few uses it sat on the shelf for three years and then was tossed after the kids left town, back to college. There now, how’s that?
You forgot the Walpin firing too… Not that there isn’t enough fuel on the fire.
Great recap of a truly crappy year in American history. The Obama administration really is historic… historically crappy.
One more item to add to your list: The Air Force One reenactment of 9/11 over Manhattan.
The good news is we really can’t go much lower, so it’s all upside from here, right?
1. pst314
Agreed.
I thought nobody could be worse than Janet Reno as AG, I was wrong.
Holder must go!
Something to add to the bothersome incidents, if you like, is President Obama’s unshakably high opinion of himself and his abilities, exemplified by a quote from early March 2009:
“I like being President. And it turns out I’m pretty good at it.”
That he could say such a thing, after less than two months in office, bespeaks hubris unimaginable.
Oh, and then there was that surprise visit to the White House press corps, when journalists had the audacity to actually ask questions.
This was not a big event, just as his “look, can’t I just eat my waffle?” moment was not all that important. But they each lowered my confidence in the man just a bit. Those bits have added up over time… and it seems that we’re nowhere near done yet.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
So, is there an objective person out there that still (if ever) considers Obama smart? If so, please provide some evidence. I have never been “taken in” by his words or appearance and the more he appears the less I think of him. Every time I listen to him I can only think of a puppet (Obama) and a puppet master (not sure).
So, anything?
VDH put together a pretty nice list but I am certain many more can be added by anyone who had been paying attention.
An apt metaphor…and an excellent compilation of the Obami messes. I have been wanting to put together just such a list, but dispaired over the depression it would engender in me. To your list I would add the decision to prosecute the CIA’s terrorist interrogators.
I intend to save this and add to it over time. Sad days indeed for the country.
Mr. Hanson you forgot the NYC Air Force One debacle!
I liked the Air Force One New York City photo op.
#5 Cornhead: Obama actually said “I” or “me” 48 times in his Westpoint speech.
Dr. Hanson: I usually always agree with everything you write, however, I think the tone of Obama’s Nobel speech was very different than his previous speeches.
He actually mentioned the word “evil” – something he hasn’t done when describing our self-declared enemy. He reminded the EU that it has been the blood and toil of American soldiers who have kept their countries free since WWII. I was surprised that he actually admitted that it takes war to bring peace and that some enemies are not going to sit down and end their hostilities diplomatically. Of course, he used a lot more words than I just did.
I think he must have had a different speech writer for this one. It had a lot of his usual rhetoric about Gitmo, etc., but for once it was nice to see that he didn’t apologize to the world for the country that he represents.
Now, whether he was sincerely flexing his muscles or merely metaphorically flexing them in order to pull the centrists back into his camp, given his lackluster ratings these days, remains to be seen. He’s very skilled at talking about this and that … let’s wait and see if he’ll back it up and keep America on top by NOT signing our national sovereignty over to the climate change zealots.
P.S. I would love to attend the Gates of Vienna tour. Are scholarships available? Hey, doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
While Obama bows and apologizes to our enemies, and ignores and humiliates our Allies overseas–just one small part of his overarching far Left agenda–Obama & Co. prosecutes a vigorous war against almost all Americans here at home. We live in extraordinarily perilous times, and the majority of us are–whether we realize it yet or not–in very great danger of losing our freedom and the America that we love.
Never in my life, and I am now 65, can I remember a time when our elected President and the majority of members of Congress (given crucial cover and aid by the MSM and Academia) have so deliberately, and in most cases contemptuously, ignored the wishes—quite obviously demonstrated through numerous polls, recent election results, and reactions to their policies, like the Tea party movement, the 9/12 march Washington, and the continuing barrage of protests by e-mail, phone, mail and personal visit–of the majority of the people—mostly the Center and the Right, and rushed ahead—not even reading their own legislation, and avoiding or stifling all real analysis, debate and deliberation–to ignore the Constitution, and put in place through the Czar system, administrative decisions, regulations and legislation such a broad, far Left Blitzkrieg on all fronts, deliberately designed–whatever they might say it’s intent is–to destroy our current democratic system, our traditional culture, our freedoms, and our capitalist economy; to overwhelm and “fundamentally change” them, and replace them with some form of Totalitarianism, whether technically Socialism, Fascism or Communism.
This is just not “politics as usual,” but the Left’s audacious attempt at a true coup d’etat, and true Revolution–both foreign and domestic. They are going for broke, and don’t care what they break in the process.
As I peer into that future, it seems to me that we are likely in for some extraordinarily desperate and violent times, that such a deliberate, profoundly subversive and totalitarian challenge from the Left, such a conscious betrayal of our entire past history, the democratic political process, and the core ideals of the United States will–if it is to be thwarted—necessarily provoke an equally comprehensive and ruthless reaction from the Center and, especially, the Right.
If things get as bad as I suspect they can, but if this attempt at Revolution is eventually thwarted, and is to be crushed once and for all, I fear that there will be a call for those on the far Left—ideologues, academics, members of the MSM, and especially public officials–who are deeply involved in this Revolution, to “pay” for their crimes against each and every citizen and the United States, and for the damage they will have caused to the fabric of our nation, and, I suspect, there will be a significant number of voices calling for many of them to “retire,” or to be “purged”–perhaps unofficially, perhaps officially–from their positions and public life, and a call for the major political figures in this “Revolution” to be tried for Treason, as a way to discourage others who might try this again. Not our usual way or pretty, but that is what it may come down to in the end.
The far Left likes the idea of trials for their political opponents; if the far Left loses its gigantic gamble, it well may be they who will be in the dock.
#5. Cornhead
“Goldstein” was the object of the two-minutes’-hate in 1984.
Great post, Prof. Hanson. The deficit, the Climategate fraud, and the foot-kissing with chicken$h!t dictators are the spoilers in my book.
“…and a Tea Ba-ag on a Par-ty.”
(List looks like the 12 days of Obama.)
One to add that sticks with me still:
“Obama Fires AmeriCorps Inspector General Over Scandal”
I counted two humbles but no “let me be crystal clear.”
The modern speech is worked in sound bites so that only snippets and catchy phrases are to be used later on the MSM memes. They would edit out how those mostly white Norwegian faces were in full icy stiffness when the speech had gone too long.
Apparently the modern voter, or whoever the pollsters use to cast ratings are not up to speed on your aforementioned fissures. Wait until they see the tax bill in that wonderfully vague wonderful future of which we are both being warned and promised.
It should be obvious by now that Obama’s election is the horrible result of years of affirmitive action. People felt voting agaist him would be somehow racist (unless of course they were black). Electing a man in spite of his total lack of experience, because of his color, SHOULD result in chaos. Being black is not a requirement for office, nor is it a hinderance; but electing a man because of his color is insane, and the American public did so. Consider this-could any white man with Obama’s lack of qualifications have been elected President? Unfortunately incompetance is not an impeachable offense.
That was a great article and list VDH. I would have added his administration’s constant public scolding of Israel over the settlements issue [although this might apply mainly to US Jews tiring of Obama as shown thru the polls]
Thanks VDH!
Honduras
The cracked vase is a beautiful analogy. I hope you will follow up with a history-based analysis of which cracks are structural vs superficial crazing.
A few more:
—The Caterpillar fiasco, claimed CEO supported stimulus…he didn’t.
—Fort Hood and refusal to call it terrorism; increased incidents of domestic arrests of networks of terror suspects.
—To soldiers: “You guys make a great photo op”.
—Whining about media coverage (Wee wee’d up)
—Constant straw man arguments (as in, “Republicans want to do NOTHING on health care”).
and
—Ignoring/denying the loud & clear message voters tried to send him in the November elections. (File this with demeaning tea partiers).
Honduras’ constitutional process characterized as military coup, presumbaly to deny legitimacy to the US Congress should it find need to remove Obama for un- and extra-constitutional acts.
I’m not tired of Obama at all – like most Americans, I am tired of the constant Obama-bashing from the right, and the continual failure on the part of the GOP to offer any useful ideas whatsoever.
This laundry list of supposed “cracks” reads more like a list of accomplishments than failures. It’s a summary of all the sour grapes articles that have littered PJM over the last year.
Americans are tired of a government that too often fails to meet the real needs of the citizenry, whether through incompetence, willful malevolence, or partisan intransigence.
If you are tired of Obama, it’s not due to anything Obama himself has done. He has taken on perhaps the most difficult set of circumstances of any post-FDR president, and has moved at a deliberate and measured pace to resolve the greatest hazards our nation faces.
Given the abject failure of Bush and the GOP to accomplish anything useful for the citizens of the USA, and their penchant for abusing the constitution and the people, the critique here of Obama would appear to constitute a ringing endorsement.
Peace.
DS
+ the beer with the “white” policeman
VDH is the oracle of truth. Another enjoyable read about an otherwise cheerless subject. Mr. Hanson has Mr. Obama’s number to several decimal points and it is magnanimus of him to share it with us.
(1) On Belisarius: I thought that Robert Graves had written a novel about Belisarius.
(2) President Obama is so ignorant that he thought that there were 57 states in the United States and that Austrian is a separate language. He wouldn’t have graduated from elementary school in the days when I went to elementary school.
As for his claims – lies? – about the achievements of Mohammedans at the Cairo speech, that Mohammedans had invented the printing press (not the Chinese and Gutenberg!), that they had invented the magnetic compass (not the Chinese!), that they had founded the first universities (not the Italians!); that the American Revolution had been founded on Mohammedan principles and that Mohammedans had been soldiers in all of the wars in the United States. How odd that George Washington et al. did not notice this!
Dr. Hanson,
You forgot to mention the the unjustified, corruption-protecting firing of IG Gerald Walpin. That got my local ammo dealer another sale of 1K rounds. Bama may have screwed things up for the rest of us, but the local gun shop has been doing record business. Their shelves are darned near empty, whereas when Bush was President they were fully stocked. According to the proprietor, stuff just flies out the door to customers almost as soon as it arrives. That’s not counting the stuff that was sold even before it arrived. Yamamoto supposedly thought there would be a rifle behind every blade of U.S. grass; now there might be two of them…
As I wrote one of my Senators last night, this government is teetering on the edge of losing its legitimacy. If they pass Obamacare, cap and trade legislation or another stimulus, all bets are off. Any of those three becoming law will be proof positive that the Democrat Party intends to destroy America through national bankruptcy. Once that is clear beyond a doubt, we’re into a whole new paradigm. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that new paradigm is exactly where Obama and his accomplices intend to go. I don’t think this is going to end well.
I doubt that Obama ever has actually read a book, a real book, not Saul Alisky or Noam Chomsky, but a real book. Say something on US history, WWII, Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, not to mention any historical or political classics. He is the glib product of our now content-free education system. He has no appreciation for America’s unique role in world history. He is a product of our times.
Oi, Prof! May I put in a heartfelt plug for Robert Graves’ “Count Belisaurius”. I defer to you on any question of its historical accuracy, but will defer to no one in lauding its strange, almost stark beauty. The end of the book, treating Belisaurius in his retirement, required, and got, a major poet in his prime.
Loved it even more than “I, Claudius”, also by Graves.
Skipping the anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall?
VDH: Save some of your excellent ammunition for the period just before the November, 2010, elections. We might all need reminders of why the Obama’s Democrat pals, Marxists all, need to be voted out of office, strange as that might seem now.
OTOH: great essay as usual.
57. David S: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not least is the Obama embarrassment among African-Americans. I had some lively discussions with friends, and this is what I came up with: the election of Barack Obama was (rightly, IMO) a triumph and vindication for African-Americans, and that’s what they’ll say publicly. Privately, the majority expected what he promised: the post-racial president who would show everyone that African-Americans are as American as anyone else; the man who would govern wisely and bring peace and prosperity to the world; but that, on every account, Obama has failed. His presidency is yet another humiliation in a long list of humiliations African-Americans have had to endure.
I expect, when he’s out of office and history has time to judge, the line will be that he was never a ]real African-American president, because his father was Kenyan, and his mother was white, and so he didn’t have the true African-American experience. And, you know, some of that is probably true. But it doesn’t excuse decades in Chicago politics, Trinity Church religion, and a long marriage to Michelle.
Something tells me that “David S.” is really David A. as in Axelrod, speechwriter, creative Marxist strategist and all around presidential organizer. His brain does the tninking, Obama’s is sadly not capable.
Another Administration antic: giving Mark Penn and his firm $6 million in “stimulus” money. It is an example of the money grubbing blatant corruption of which we are so tired.
Your analogy of the China Picture is right on, Obama is all glue and no porcelain!
Having read several pundits today, I’m struck by their willingness, indeed, their eagerness to bend over backward in ascribing positive qualities to President Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech and to Obama himself. This despite the fact that Obama–and democrats generally–show no such altruism toward their political opponents or to anyone who might disagree with them in the smallest way.
Obama has said that evil exists and this is seen as a great breakthrough for which many pundits are grateful. Some even suggest that this slight admission somehow requires Obama to act upon his newfound acceptance of the existance of evil, for when one accepts that evil exists, how can one fail to act to combat it? This is, sadly, projection.
As your list–not in any way exhaustive– indicates, Obama is a doctrinaire statist, and a statist who might easily be legitimately classified as a communist. Surely he cannot be classified as a supporter of America, despite being POTUS. So why are so many so quick to project onto him qualities and beliefs all of his prior words and actions and background do not support? Is the need to hope that he is not as potentially amoral and destructive as he plainly is so great that we must, like too many Americans during the campaign, project our hopes onto an empty vessel?
It is one thing to deliver a political speech to try to reverse a slide in the polls or to con the rubes one more time. It is quite another to believe what one says or to act on it. Everything Obama has done and said to date would lead one to understand that the only evil he sees is in those who are not happily riding the Obamacare/Cap and Trade/Leftist wish list bus. Does Obama recognize Iran as evil? His actions and rhetoric surely don’t indicate that.
Perhaps our expectations–of an American president(?!)–have so dramatically lowered so quickly that when Obama actually acknowledges the existence of evil, or does not specifically spit on his nation during a speech in an international venue, we are reflexively moved to applaud it. Pathetic.
Calling the actions of Boston police stupid before having all the facts.
Then following a “beer summit” where as POUS no matter is too small to address as arbiter of all things post racial, being photographed stepping ahead toward the camera and microphones while Crowley assisted Gates down the steps in the background. Imagery is everything, after all.
Insisting sacrifices must be made, thermostats lowered while aides complain his own thermostat is set unbearably high to “tropical.”
The characterization of Fox Network as not news. Realizing the error in that, interviewing with Fox.
Spokesmen Gibbs saying he recalls no incident of references to Hitler or Nazism toward previous administrations.
Wee weeing.
Everything being historic. Health care. Historic! Cap and trade. Historic! A bill passes. Historic! The president wee weed. Historic!
Insisting nobody in the middle class will be taxed, “repeating what he’s already said” repeatedly changing what he said earlier, and “allowing himself to be perfectly clear” while obfuscating, then taxing anything and everything taxable while simultaneously debasing the currency and running up debt that is nothing short of “historic.”
These are a few additional things why we adore him so.
Now David, the polls the Dems love so much no longer lists “most” Americans as approving of President Obama.
The most damning thing I have ever seen you post here is calling that list of failures actual accomplishments. If you read each of those and still maintain that, well then I am afraid it is really useless to hold a conversation with you. Failures are failures and I don’t see any way to spin most of that list as good things. Oh wait, the ONE walks on water. That must be it.
You apparently do not hold the same values that I or my father or grandfather or those before them hold or held. Those are values that made this country what it has been. Your values seem to be the same that make Venezuela what it is today.
Incredible list. Thank you for the reminders. There are so many things.
No need to add to this, but the worst thing was learning that he and his wife have never celebrated Santa Claus gifting. Never mind that Christmas is a religious and national holiday, it is an American tradition. No Santa for the kids is about the worst thing I can think of. OMG.
62. Aristotle:
I’ve got a environmentalist ex-scientist lefty friend who had a shelf full of the ‘world’s greatest abridged classics’…He hasn’t read a single one.
He does however devour NPR.
I have to laugh to see VDH churn out another, “We’re all getting sick and tired of Obama” column. Especially when he takes Obama’s repetitive rhetoric to task.
Regardless, please add the, “Jobs for weatherization” thing to your list. I’m not changing sides, but it is annoying.
Nice analogy!
You hit that one out of the park Dr. Hanson.
57. David S
S for Soros, right?
Pretty short list, actually.
Surrounds himself with anti-Semites.
Revealed locations of nuclear sites in U.S.
Revealed airport security measures in U.S.
Elevates Muslims and Islam every chance he gets.
Suggests he has the power of God when speaking with a rabbi several months ago.
Is a self-centered, narcissitic hater of America whose primary goal is to stroke his ego while bring the country down.
Gotta run. I’m sure there’s a whole lot more….
RE #57/David S:
[...] If you are tired of Obama, it’s not due to anything Obama himself has done. He has taken on perhaps the most difficult set of circumstances of any post-FDR president, and has moved at a deliberate and measured pace to resolve the greatest hazards our nation faces. [...]
Dave, I asked you to give me the phone # of your peyote supplier, and nothin’ – you’re mean, you don’t want me reach your overenhanced state of mind-
Oops. Another one:
War on Terror = Overseas Contingency Operation
Terrorism = Man-caused disaster
God save us.
I can’t quit…there are sooooo many!
Dept of Homeland Security labeling “conservatives” as terrorist threats.
“4) straw men trope: some say this; others say that; but I uniquely say…;”
This one always makes me think that he is casting himself as Jesus – again.
Often in the sermon on the Mount Jesus says – “You have heard it said…but I say unto you.”
So he’s like Jesus the community organizer and preacher.
God help us.
The problem is not just that he inherited a bad economy; Reagan did too. Or that the war in Afghanistan heats up, since it is not nearly as bad as the mess Nixon inherited in Vietnam.
What’s your point here. Reagan is remembered for setting the deficit on an unstoppable rocket to the moon that we’re still paying off. Nixon was a criminal. Your list of catastrophes are silly wash-woman gossip. My god, but you’re retarded.
we are all desperately attempting to ascribe to this empty suit any sort of ideology. it isn’t about marxism, capitalism, socialism or fascism. it’s about an ignorant oily dolt and his equally stupid aides and appointees becoming the stars of just another stupifyingly dumb reality show. we have fallen that far. and this ignominious shmuck is our common denominator.
@ 7. quesnay: Tom Wolfe
More like Hunter Thompson. :(
@ 9. karlinsync: What is Truth ?
Kipling “Norman and Saxon”…
‘and never you tell them a lie’.
@ 11. Mike Murray: Obama’s slide
is due to his having feet of clay
@ 14. ricpic: Missing connection
……to the people who post here.
@ 18. Jim Rockford: Maximizing the
number of people _on_ Welfare is
his main political goal; He may
think it is possible, but his
handlers have got to know better:
What are their goals ?
67. RebeccaH: Afro-Am embarrassment
The most telling comment I have heard:
“That is one angry Brother, and we do
not need an angry man as President.”
Then there is Obama’s man Podesta
attacking the Koch brothers, and
what was that about keeping the
$200B of TARP money, just in case
the Fed falls off the tightrope ?
I blame the French:
“L’Etat, c’est moi, et apres moi,
Le Deluge.” i.e. Financial Flood.
P.S. Belisarius: Well done,
thou good and faithful servant !
Now, walk this way; The
executioner is waiting.
Republicans loose because they fail to capitalize on Democratic failure.
Obama has a huge advantage over most republicans: He’s not afraid to pick a fight. This is a hugely important attribute when we are talking campaigning and winning elections. Most republicans are way too polite. I haven’t heard a single one call Obama a communist. Even though that’s what he is. They say things like: “I will not use a label like that”. Well if you don’t wanna use a label, you will loose. Obama keeps saying that Bush crated the financial crises. This is false. The democratic congress created the financial crises by pushing risky mortgages through Fanny and Freddie. And Obama is getting away with it again and again. Bush didn’t defend himself nor does the current crop of Republicans. Obama and the Democrats successfully blamed Bush for Kathrina. This is also false. The Federal rescue efforts was delayed 5 days because the DEMOCRATIC Governor of Louisiana denied federal troops access to his State. Bush couldn’t do anything without violating the constitution. Yet they get away with that accusation too. Bush didn’t defend himself and neither did any other Republican. I could go on and on. In regards to attacking Democrats, the Republicans are p…..s all the way round. That’s why they loose. They fail completely to capitalize on the failure that is the Democratic Party. The fact is that liberals world wide have never had a success anywhere, anytime. There is not a single successful liberal city, state or country on this planet. It’s basically like this: Liberals fail leaving behind chaos and anarchy followed by conservatives cleaning up the mess. Yet the republican politicians does not capitalize on this huge advantage because of their totally inappropriate “politeness”. That’s why we are left with incompetents like Barack Obama as it is well documented on this list.
That is some litany of lunacy.
You’re right about Obama’s speech writers. His speeches are awful and when his sychophant media agents heap the praise on them there is nothing more absurd.
@73. Michael:
Now David, the polls the Dems love so much no longer lists “most” Americans as approving of President Obama.
Obama is still more than twice as popular as the GOP. If we as a nation are tired of Obama, we are absolutely disgusted and dismayed at the GOP.
The most damning thing I have ever seen you post here is calling that list of failures actual accomplishments.
Maybe you missed some of my previous efforts?
If you read each of those and still maintain that, well then I am afraid it is really useless to hold a conversation with you.
Failures are failures and I don’t see any way to spin most of that list as good things.
Constant apologies abroad for everything from slavery to Hiroshima long overdue
Bows to Saudi royalty, the Japanese emperor, and Chinese autocrats simple courtesy
The on-again/off-again Guantanamo shut-down mess fixing the mess Bush left behind
The fight with the former CIA directors fighting for American values
The public show trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed respecting the Constitution and the rule of law
The reach out to Ahmadinejad Castro, Chavez, and assorted thugs diplomacy, instead or isolationism
The Honduras fiasco defending Constitutional principles
Czars everywhere getting things done
The serial “Bush did it”/reset whine abroad acknowledging past failures, for the purpose of repairing the damage caused
The Queen of England/I-pod fiasco good gift, what’s the problem?
Gordon Brown gets snookered in his gift-giving is this really a big deal? seriously?
Unceremoniously shipping back the Churchill bust again – this is a big failure? according to whom?
The end of the special relationship with the UK it’s about time
The New York on-the-town presidential splurge nothing wrong with a trip to the Big Apple – economic stimulus to boot!
Anita Dunn and her Mao worship nothing wrong with her statements in context
Timothy Geithner/Tom Daschle/Hilda Solis and their taxes have now been paid in full
What ever happened to Gov. Richardson? how is this Obama’s problem?
“No lobbyists” = gads of them not compared to the last administration – in fact, the new rules are quite strict
The Podestas’ insider influence-peddling empire hardly
Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” chauvinism is nothing of the sort
The Special Olympics silly quip was not a big deal – seriously
Trashing Nancy Reagan she deserves it
The Skip Gates/police acting “stupidly” mess Obama was 100% correct – the officer did act stupidly
I suppose I could go on, but you get the point – these are all minor issues and petty complaints offered up by a political movement that has no direction, no ambition, and offers no positive contribution.
You apparently do not hold the same values that I or my father or grandfather or those before them hold or held. Those are values that made this country what it has been. Your values seem to be the same that make Venezuela what it is today.
I hold values that will make this country what it should be. You hold values that would take this country backwards. The USA cannot be great by looking backwards.
Our nation has been a slave-owning, misogynistic, xenophobic world power – those are the values that the GOP still supports. Obama represents a future of greater equality, greater justice, and international cooperation. I’ll take two terms, thanks.
Peace.
DS
RE VDH’s intriguing mention – a flleting thought -
[...] I’m rereading two great books on Belisarius [...] Belisaurius is Justinian’s fireman, sent to stop Persians, Goths, Vandals, etc. [...] in some hope that Romanism could hold back the tide in the crumbling 6th century. [...]
Isn’t Justinian’s situation eerily suggesting America’s position nowdays? Haven’t we moved away (like the Constantinopolis from Rome)) from the impotent half of empire (Europe)?
Aren’t we living the fading hope that our military and otherwise interventions still can maintain the Pax Americana and hold back the destructive atomization of the world?
A fleeing thought -
You forgot about Scare Force One incident, I think.
19. David Thomson:
The concept is “Mens Rea” in criminal law it means..”Intent to commit a crime”. Those lawyers/politicians/scam artist who so parse the word are intending to deceive.
this list is pure puffery and no one remembers any of these inconsequential things. Obama is doing a fine job. the reason he is dropped in polls, is because that is what happens when your numbers are extremely high to begin with, and also the economy that was bad when he came in is still bad, and the majority of people would like to see bigger changes than they have so far. now he is polling in the areas one would expect a president with not quite a year under his belt.
For some time now, I’ve tended to visualize Washington, DC politics as something akin to a Star Wars bar scene.
Now I’m convinced that it’s really something out of an H. P. Lovecraft novel.
All of tose work but the folks who put im in office, the independants are now realizing that this was from te beginning a bait and switch operation. Clinton came from a non eltist state with an elitist and ambitous wife. His problems were with his zipper and is wife refusing to release information that made her not him look lke a lightweight(she is). This guy on the other hand is the maufacutred product of left leaning elite minority. So what began in the marketing term as cognitive dissonance has now grown into to full blown buyers remorse, they relaize they were had. I think the hurry for the socialization of medicine and cap and trade is simply that the folks know the dance is about up. I don’t wish this but one good terrorist attack would make the Democrt party toast. People already know bi partisanship promised was never in the cards. Barack Obam will be made by his handlers into the Democrat Nixon.
David S (#57)
I’ve decided to attempt getting you on Saturday Night Live. You wouldn’t even need a script. All you would have to do is repeat what you say here, and the results would be hilarious.
A $1.7 trillion deficit is an accomplishment? And your economic degree is from what revered institution?
VDH:
“That was pretty much it—a pulpit exegesis that could have been cut to 500 words.”
Don’t you think that if Obama were pragmatic, the speech would have been shorter? Isn’t it beyond doubt that Obama views himself as an orator as opposed to a leader? We are already tired because leaders walk the walk, and politicians talk.
Obama has not learned lessons of leadership, because he believes that he has nothing to lose by pursuing his policies. He thinks that he is incapable of repeating the failed policies of his predecessors, and he repeatedly chooses the bliss of ignorance — straw men and shifting blame. While the length of his grandiose speeches guarantees that there is at least some degree of ‘wisdom’ contained therein, we know that wisdom is only Obama’s shadow, not his form.
Obama has failed to redefine politics, or to show that he is special, therefore we must view him as an ordinary politician. The appeal has not yet worn off for some, but mythology teaches us that mortals often secretly rue immortals.
Some more for the list:
– Declaring to a conference of Rabbis that, “we are partners with God on matters of life and death” in reference to the health care debate.
– Letting a European diplomat know that he (Obama) believed th U.S. nuclear arsenal to be ‘his.’
–Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Father Michael Pfleger
–Using his Grandmother time and again as a social commentary punching bag
–NOT going to Berlin
–GOING to Copenhagen for the Olympic city selection (and coming away empty-handed)
–Michelle (Antoinette) Obama
David S:
Still hitting the Hopium pipe, I see.
NPR: Numbing pablum radio.
RE #90/arthur:
[...] this list is pure puffery and no one remembers any of these inconsequential things. Obama is doing a fine job. the reason he is dropped in polls [...]
Arthur, poor soul – still afraid to use the Cap button?
Do it man, you won’t get electrocuted and people will read your stuff -
regards -
I love the comments from Davis S and his ilk. He is an awesome poster child for the type of people who still zealously support Berry. VDS produces a list of head scratchers that would embarrass any senior executive let alone the POTUS. Rather than ignore, deny or justify them – Davy-boy says they are a list of pride worthy achievements! Making fun of Special Olympic kids is an achievement! Popping over to Copenhagen to kill any chance Chicago had at the Olympics is an achievement according to Dave. Promising that he would have no lobbyists in his administration and then hiring them all is worthy of an ovation according to Dave and the rest of his tin foil hat crowd. I swear – the 1984 references are so appropriate. According to this bunch – everything Obama does is good – because this is the definition of good. Good= that which issues forth from their dear leader. It would be hysterical if it wasn’t so scary – there are lots of willfully blind worshipful zealots like our boy Davie.
“19. David Thomson:
The concept is “Mens Rea” in criminal law it means..”Intent to commit a crime”. Those lawyers/politicians/scam artist who so parse the word are intending to deceive.”
Oh my goodness, will we now have to indict most of the professors teaching at our Ivy League schools? Are our jails big enough to handle them all? Will there be enough remaining liberal arts instructors to keep these academic institutions open?
Not only are we tired of him, but we are tuning him out. His voice is grating. His words are full of lies and/or narcissistic vanities. His nose and chin stick way up in the air, giving us a birds-eye view of his nostrils. Those are just the visuals, for starters. Under the dictionary definition of “Pompous Ass”, there is a picture of Obama.
Remember the weekend when BHO went on ALL the Sunday talk shows to push his Obamacare bill? He actually did not even write any bill and I doubt that he has even read the 2000-page monstrosity. The entire thing was written by Pelosi and her Communist cadres.
…just thought of more.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Didn’t Obama go around with 25 or 32 or 71 SUV’s in his retinue at different times in different places?
And doesn’t his wife have 16 assistants and assistants to the assistants each making tons of money?
Can this be true? I don’t see it publicized but I’ve heard it.
Trolls are the exception to the rule that make the rule.
What a list you have made here!
The problem as I see it is that people will always see what they want to see. Desire determines perception. As to what determines desire…the WSJ’s recent article on the Psychology of the True Believer takes a shot at that….
My point is that I still don’t think we have reached the Tipping Point. But as you, Herr Professor, have so articulately documented, the scales are starting to lean hard…..
When I was about eight years old, we had a lake house in Stockholm, New Jersey with a big boulder in front of the house
where my friend and I would sit. One day we decided to build a cardboard bridge, and decided to see how many toy
cars could stand on it before the bridge couldn’t stand the weight anymore and would collapse.
Today, many years later, I think of the bridge as Obama’s overall inept way of running the country; the cars representing
each major Obama fumble or foible. Or, for that matter, his intentional wrongheaded decisions.
I didn’t read Dr. Hanson’s list to see if I could name an Obama doozy that he may have overlooked.
Time to start putting cars on my bridge. Not necessarily in chronologial order.
1. Naming Eric Holder, extreme left and ethically filthy, attorney general.
2. Begin executing a spread the wealth strategy right out of the communist manifesto with a huge helping of Saul Alinsky philosophy.
3. Failing to identify a practical, proper and efficient way to address the sub-par loan crisis, caused by Chris Dodd, and Barney Franks
legislation that insisted loans be given to extremely bad minority credit risks.
4. Losing track of the bank bailout money, and, as a result, letting billions of dollars fall into Obama donor hands, knowing full well the
main stream media wouldn’t consider it a news story.
5. Overestimating the amount of bailout money actually needed by 300 million dollars. (intentional act or simply an example of incompetence)
6. Beginning a policy to freeze non-democrats out of key bailout/Stimulus/ObamaCare meetings.
7. Calling himself a post racial president and then using the race card time after time.
8. Breaking the transparent policy Obama promised during the primaries.
9. Breaking the no earmarks promise he made during the primaries when Stimulus I became law, a law replete with 900 earmarks worth billions.
Then saying there were no earmarks in this law, a brazen boldfaced lie.
10.Without any facts, calling Sgt. Crowley impliedly a stupid racist for arresting Obama buddy, Hank Gates when gates fired racial slur
after slur at Crowley and resisted arrest.
11.Nominating an admitted bigot (“hispanic women are intellectually superior to white males”) to the supreme court after Solomayor also
refused to promote white Boston firefighters who outscored blacks on a firefighter’s proficiency test, which was a grossly racist act.
12.Agreed it was a good idea to hand the mastermind of 9/11 over to civil authority rather than military which lets terrorists make a circus
out of the trial, enables the CIA and Bush people to be called as witnesses, and forces U.S. military secrets to be outed during the
discovery process. Not to mention, targets NYC for another terrorist attack and forces New Yorkers to relive 9/ll mentally. This
represents an incredibly insensitive, strategically idiotic decision by Holder and Obama, and provides a huge amount of aid and comfort
to the enemy. The decision deserves the investigation by an independent prosecuter; the kind of case since the civil war was adjudicated
by a military tribunal. In a sidebar, Obama said the NYC case would end up trying and putting the defendants to death, which makes a
mockery of the presumption of innocence which is a touchstone of the U.S. code and the constitution.
13.Puts the fear of death in New Yorkers by failing to tell local authorities of an Air Force I flyover photo op that had many thinking
they were reliving another 9/11. Then Obama played the blame game saying no one told him about this. Another bald faced lie.
14.Decides to put CIA under Bush under investigation for wrongdoing relating to enhanced interrogation of terrorists. The blame Bush game
goes on and on.
15.Hires Czars, a policy started by progressive, Woodrow Wilson. Trouble is, Obama Czars are all academicians or government bureaucrats
with no clue that making profits is what creates jobs or that free enterprise and Democracy have stood us in good stead thus far, and
the American people like it so much they want it to continue. Communists/socialists/nambla worshiping Czars should be fired.
16.Groveling to every two bit tin horn tyrant he meets overseas. Apologizing for America to every tin horn two bit tyrant he meets
overseas.
17.Closing Gitmo. A purely political political stunt. Gitmo, run by people he’s never met and a place he’s never been.
18.Sitting for almost 4 months on the decision to reinforce our troops in Afghanistan. Saying he needed time to formulate a strategy then
gave the West Point speech without divulging the strategy. Sending 30,000 more troops isn’t a strategy.
19.Giving the Taliban a get out of Afghanistan turn tale date. Tactically, an ignorant, purely political move. Just may sabotage the entire
war effort.
20.Pulling the missile defense rug out on Poland and the Czech Republic.
21.Pledging to dismantle our missile defense system, defunding the F-22 attack plane, refusing to be shown with it, and refusing to
continue technological advancement of our military weapons systems.
22.Trying to start class warfare in the United States and trying to redistribute the wealth of hard working Americanas, right out of the
Saul Alinsky playbook.
23.Implementing Socialized Medicine and thereby, destroying the highest quality of medical care in the world.
24. Using taxpayers money to create 1,000 new millionaires of Obama donors under the guise of Stimulus One and ObamaCare.
25. Shattering the ideals of self reliance, independence, private enterprise and peace through strength upon which this nation was founded.
26. Helping to make a science of lies and deception with regard to global warming.
President Obama’s poll numbers have at this writing set a record low for an administration at this time and place. And the cardboard bridge I made as a kid is ready to collapse. With all the promises Obama’s broken, his administration promises to be the worst in the history of the United States. Which may be the only promise Obama doesn’t break.
Maybe a better analogy would have been a house of cards. Are you better off now or when Obama took over? Whatever your measuring stick, Obama sticks out like a car with square wheels. No other President has stuck it to this nation like Obama, the most liberal in the nation’s history. (and I use the word, liberal, conservatively).
Truth is, after 11 months, Barack Obama has just about worn out his tires, not to mention his welcome.
I reckon VDH is obligated by his position as essayist and pundit to follow the president’s every word, and to provide analysis and insight to his loyal readers. The good professor has my sympathy as he wades daily into the Augean stables of verbal excrement. As a confirmed mugwump and practicing semi-hermit, I have the luxury of simply turning off the noise machine.
Mr. Obama rates along side my new principal for his lack of gravitas. The boss showed up in a dress and heels for school cross-dressing day. Ahhhh, okay, got it. When Caesar crosses the Rubicon in drag, all bets are off. I have too much dignity to jump down the hole like the rest of the spooked hares I used to call my colleagues. It’s a liberating experience. I don’t answer emails and no longer attend faculty meetings.
Mr. Obama’s speeches have all the nourishment of cotton candy and the staying power of snowflakes on a hot griddle. But it’s not the ephemera that annoys me. Even if the president is blocked legislatively by 2010, and defeated politically in 2012, our republic is still under assault by leftism. The enemy still controls academia and the media, and other important pillars of our culture.
Quite frankly, I think the more dire the consequences, the more chaotic the outcome, the more drastic are the measures necessary to restore (small “r”) republican rule, then the better off we’ll be as a nation-state in the long run. We are fighting for the soul of our nation; make no mistake about it. Patriots recognize that the real fight is a culture war. If we lose our culture, the rest won’t matter.
Do I raise the flag of sedition? I do. Will my words put me on some government list? So be it. Am I a harbinger of dark times ahead? Yeah, I reckon, but I’m not the only one who sees it. Am I some sort of extremist? No, I’m a patriot. And if the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers are extreme, well, count me in. It’s time someone took a stand.
Don’t forget all of the talk show appearances, like an actor pushing his new movie.
Could he just show us a birth certificate, such a simple request.
David Thompson @ 4–
Absolutely!!! The only thing most Ivy degrees tell you is teh holder knew how to play the college admissions game really well, and/or had an “in” via race, gender, family, contacts, whatever.
No one ever fails to graduate once they’re accepted, barring personal tragedy, so someone having the diploma tells you nothing more than that they were admitted.
And with the requirements all watered down, that’s all you know. One can get a wonderful education at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc., their resources are top-line. But, one can also skate through and learn almost nothing.
Obama appears to be more in the latter category.
There was a speech President Obama gave about the failure of Detroit to improve the fuel efficiency of their product. He said that since the Ford Model T and the modern Ford Expedition both get 16 miles to the gallon, that was proof that Detroit had made no improvements to their fuel economy.
Typical glib statement that sounds good but is not supported by the facts.
One more for the list:
Saying that doctors neglect diabetics so the doctors can amputate their feet for larger fees.
This is particularly important. It is a vicious and gratuitous slur on the medical profession. It is factually false.
So, here we have a man of ill will toward medicine and with a deplorably demonstrable ignorance of the subject, who is using the power of government to ‘reform’ the field.
Regarding: “This is just not “politics as usual,” but the Left’s audacious attempt at a true coup d’etat, and true Revolution–both foreign and domestic. They are going for broke, and don’t care what they break in the process.
As I peer into that future, it seems to me that we are likely in for some extraordinarily desperate and violent times, that such a deliberate, profoundly subversive and totalitarian challenge from the Left, such a conscious betrayal of our entire past history, the democratic political process, and the core ideals of the United States will–if it is to be thwarted—necessarily provoke an equally comprehensive and ruthless reaction from the Center and, especially, the Right.”
I am 60, a teacher of media literacy, and a patriot. I’ve spent all my free time the past 48 hours at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/08/AR2009120803402.html
where Sarah Palin wrote an Op Ed and the Washington Post printed it!
I am not a Sarah Palin fan, simply because I am a Bible-believing Christian who can recognize that America is finished with that religion and has moved on to “Do Not Offend.” (except Christians – go ahead, offend them.)
My point is, I saw so much hatred and bitterness, bad manners, and name-calling in the past 48 hours that I am not sure we can recover. Your login I expect refers to the quote:
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
For the traitor appears not traitor, he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.”
- Cicero, 42 B.C
I believe that is where we are at. I have no hope that the next election will bring relief. A nation Cannot Survive this hate.
@40. Craig W:
“Every time I listen to him I can only think of a puppet (Obama) and a puppet master (not sure).”
Obama’s master is George Soros, but then again he is a slave to alot of others both personally and through chaptered organizations.
When I check the Der Spiegel website, I see that Europeans appear to be less than dazzled by the Obama Brilliance characterized by the glowing reportage of the American MSM. It’s best illustrated by the photos of him they run with their editorials. Check out a few of these and see if you agree. The one of his return from Asia, standing in the doorway of Air Force One reminds me of MAD Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman. What do you think? There’s certainly nothing iconic in their view of the American President and Leader of the Free World.
Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662822,00.html
Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,664753,00.html
Our nation has been a slave-owning, misogynistic, xenophobic world power – those are the values that the GOP still supports. Obama represents a future of greater equality, greater justice, and international cooperation. I’ll take two terms, thanks.
Peace.
DS
==========================
I’m afraid to say that this is exactly what he learned in the public school system. It is going strong, as we speak.
I think someone has planted a virus here. My AVG software just alerted me
wow quite an accurate list.
I can help you on one of them, Bill Richardson was too close to the muni-bond disaster and neither exonerated or charged:
http://46in08.blogspot.com/2009/08/richardson-neither-exonerated-or.html
I think most people have added the relevant items left out in VDH’s excellent list.
Just a few comments. David S, your ignorance and bias is astonishing.
Don’t you realize that the Honduran fiasco of Obama was his support for Zelaya who was openly violating the Honduran Constitution? Sheesh.
And if you support Obama’s bows to various royals (and his Japanese one was an insul) then why do you say nothing about his not bowing or even nodding his head, to the Queen of England? Hmm?
Oh, and a gift of an ipod with his speeches on it to the Queen? You consider that suitable and not just a tad arrogant? I didn’t notice that Churchill, one of the greatest speech writers ..and unlike Obama he wrote his own..gave Roosevelt or Eisenhower a gift of his speeches.
All of your other comments are equally nonsensical and empty.
Rachel Peepers – nice list. Others have added items left out by VDH.
MikeMcDaniel – exactly right. Nice post. Obama’s Nobel speech had one agenda; to try to regain his poll numbers. The BackRoom Gang (BRG) of radical socialists who run Obama The Salesman have noted his rapid slip in the polls. America is a centre-right country and they are trying to regain their poll numbers. They certainly still intend to put in their radical socialist infrastructure..but by stealth rather than by Obama as Salesman.
‘
The Obama as Salesman for their radical socialism hasn’t been working. The Democrat BRG are worried about losing Congress in 2010. So, they’ve retracted from their original ‘shock and awe’ strategy of ramming through their socialist infrastructure in the first year before Americans knew what had hit them….They were stymied by the internet, by FOX, etc…and were shocked by the Tea Parties and Town Halls and Obama’s low polls…and the loss of the Independents.
So, they’ve slowed down their agenda. This speech and the Afghan speech were geared to centrist Americans so they can retain Congress. They’ll slip their socialist infrastucture in by bits and amendments rather than as a whole.
Obama? I’m speculating that even if the Democrats retain Congress, that Obama won’t go for second term. Obama is not interested in America; he’s not interested in policies and programs for the well-being of Americans. His role has been only to Sell the Radical Socialist Agenda, which ‘thrills’ him because it makes him feel he is controlling everyone and making them do what He wants.
If the Democrats get their strucure in, then, Obama is no longer interested in the daily work of running a country. He’ll want to go on to be Ruler of the World..the UN or EU..
If the Democrats lose their agenda, then, they’ll ditch Obama anyway.
“Why Are We Tiring of Obama?”
Clowns bore me.
What is interesting is the administration’s failure to understand how transparent it is. As Sulla points out, a certain percentage (the ‘usefull idiot’s’ was Stalin’s term I beliieve) will adulate Obama no matter what he does. For them he is a messiah whose very incarnation as POTUS is redemptive. But for the rest of us, the harder he tries to sound genuine and sincere (Nobel charade / speech) the more obvious his bald money and power grab becomes. It’s a strange phenomomenon, this failure to grasp one’s own greatest flaw. It must stem from a combination of malignant narcissism, lack of intellectual curiosity (failure to truly grasp your opponents’ positions, and thus the inability to truly understand , and more imporantly, empathize with your opponent) and the inability to recognize that most of us measure someone through their deeds, not their words. At any rate I hope they keep it up. 40% is not too far off.
PS – Good stuff RW Burke
Well, there was one thing Obama didn’t lie about and that was “change”, and boy, have things EVER changed for the worse!
Piss on Peace — Obama today…
Don’t forget the completely classless habit of scratching his ear while givig opponents the middle finger. This is the mosy powerful man in the world?
Victor you nailed it again! Fantastic analogy with the heirloom vase and “a thousand cracks”. He’s given himself the double wammy – a thousand cracks and some major wacks with a sledgehammer, such as healthcare, cap and trade, and dithering on the war.
DS said, in part:
Constant apologies abroad for everything from slavery to Hiroshima long overdue
Bows to Saudi royalty, the Japanese emperor, and Chinese autocrats simple courtesy
The on-again/off-again Guantanamo shut-down mess fixing the mess Bush left behind
The fight with the former CIA directors fighting for American values
The public show trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed respecting the Constitution and the rule of law
The reach out to Ahmadinejad Castro, Chavez, and assorted thugs diplomacy, instead or isolationism
The Honduras fiasco defending Constitutional principles
Czars everywhere getting things done
The serial “Bush did it”/reset whine abroad acknowledging past failures, for the purpose of repairing the damage caused
The Queen of England/I-pod fiasco good gift, what’s the problem?
Gordon Brown gets snookered in his gift-giving is this really a big deal? seriously?
Unceremoniously shipping back the Churchill bust again – this is a big failure? according to whom?
The end of the special relationship with the UK it’s about time
The New York on-the-town presidential splurge nothing wrong with a trip to the Big Apple – economic stimulus to boot!
Anita Dunn and her Mao worship nothing wrong with her statements in context
Timothy Geithner/Tom Daschle/Hilda Solis and their taxes have now been paid in full
What ever happened to Gov. Richardson? how is this Obama’s problem?
“No lobbyists” = gads of them not compared to the last administration – in fact, the new rules are quite strict
The Podestas’ insider influence-peddling empire hardly
Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” chauvinism is nothing of the sort
The Special Olympics silly quip was not a big deal – seriously
Trashing Nancy Reagan she deserves it
The Skip Gates/police acting “stupidly” mess Obama was 100% correct – the officer did act stupidly
Dave…Really? lulz…I tried really hard to take your list of rebuttals seriously. Alas, I cannot. Good Lord, man!
‘Cos he is a BLATANT BAREFACED LIAR
‘Cos he is a BARELY IN THE CLOSET MOHAMMEDAN
‘Cos he is SOCIALIST
‘Cos he is a LIAR
‘Cos he is a RACIST
‘Cos he is a COMMUNIST
‘Cos he is a LIAR
‘Cos he is just a TELEPROMPTER KID
‘Cos he is a LAUGHING JACKASS
‘Cos he is a DOCUMENT HIDER (Where’s the BC Obambi)
‘Cos he is the BOGUS POTUS USURPER
Did I mention he’s a LIAR too.
# 89 Davis S. Absolutely HILARIOUS where do you perform your Stand Up routine if this is a small sample of it I want more.
This is difficult to say in the PC world. The Libs have created a permanent victim class who are incapable of discerning truth from fiction. Obama sees the world as members of that class.
Barry, I am not an ignorant, helpless, oppressed, robot incapable of seeing through your bullshit. You, sir, are worse than Carter and you need to resign in shame and embarrassment. You have set the Black cause back 50 years through your incompetence.
Ditto #108.Paules. It is coming.
I’ve come about 90 degrees on Barack since the election. Not 180 degrees because I was ready to be pleasantly surprised despite his being such a novice — his campaign rhetoric pretty much got me to “neutral” in spite of his political (legislative) track record
The comparison that MATTERS is not Bush vs Obama, for relatively few of us were wild about George. The data that matters is not Obama vs Republican Party, for most of us are not aligned with either the Democrats or Republicans; we are independents for the most part, waiting endlessly for someone who seems to know what he is doing in terms of national leadership. The popularity (nosedive) comparison with Reagan is hardly impressive either. Reagan, you see, was a turnaround type guy who offered a “new way” and took positions he believed in and he spoke his mind clearly and concisely. Obama. by comparison, has no overarching principles (unless it would be “screw economics”) from which to govern. What HAS come through is an amazing flash of self-absorption. The comparison that matters to me is Barack (the candidate) vs Barack (the POTUS). There’s an astonishing gap in that comparison.
People like David S (upthread) are proof positive that you CAN fool some of the people all of the time, and most importantly they prove that once a person or cause gets far/deep enough inside your head you will overlook or excuse virtually anything. David is entitled to his opinions, and I will not belittle him for those opinions, but I have been a voter for 49 years now, and I was responsible for hiring and firing a lot of people before I retired several years ago. I’m reasonably good at sizing people up. The man is not up to it. Period. He might get better but I wouldn’t count on it.
My advice to our leader: “Turn on the GPS system because you are heading toward the cliff carrying a whole bunch of precious cargo.” And then, “Put your own hands on the steering wheel instead of letting those friends of yours in the back seat reach over and head us this way and that.”
Being President of the United States is not a prize, it is a huge responsibility —arguably the biggest one there is. I really do not think when the campaign began that Obama expected to be elected in 2008. In the end, he was in the right place at the right time and was too good a campaigner for his own good. And we were too eager for some kind of nebulous “change” for our own good. It’s not his fault that he didn’t realize what the job would be like and how hard it would be to be a leader; he was not front and center in the workings of the federal government, or any other heavy area of responsibility for long enough to have that soak in before he was put in the Oval Office by the voters.
The one hope that remains is that the continued decline in Obama’s polling numbers and the rising din of opposition against his positions and world view will, because of his self-absorption, cause him to step back and realize he is dooming himself to an ignominious end.
All trivial incidents compared to the acts of the war criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and Rove. You should be talking about Bush and not wasting your time on Obama nitpicking. Bush is the real issue here, and all of the problems we have are because of Bush. How about talking about that instead of ignoring it?
What’s *really* tiring are right wing numbnuts collectively doing their impression of a deranged homeless man by constantly reciting random nonsense with conviction and then fooling themselves that it’s actually real. No, sorry, Bush was a terrible, *terrible* President and person, and Obama was laughably the better choice in the last election, and apparently will be so in 2012 as well.
Just to add a few items to the list that I don’t believe have been mentioned yet:
1. He ordered the DOJ to release classified CIA interrogation methods
2. The TSA Screening leak
3. He gave the PM of Britain a box set of DVD’s – that don’t work in Europe
4. He gave the QoE an iPod – with his speeches on it!
5. He curtailed the F-22 program after only half had been delivered – and insisted on being photographed in front of a 30 yr old F-15 at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska
6. “BOH, mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm”
…feel free to add more
Obama has mentioned the Bush administration so much that a recent poll now has 44 percent of Americans wishing President Bush was back in office.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Bush_closes_the_gap.html
In another 3 years,
if Dick Cheney doesn’t shoot anyone else in the face he should have an 80 percent approval rating when he takes back the Presidency.
I’d like to see a list of all his broken campaign promises against the Dems and McCain.
I’m getting a tingle up my leg.
-Tells the United States Military that they need to go find their own health care as America cant afford it anymore. The ships $200 million to palestine to bring -how many?- palestinians to America, presumably giving them full citizenship.
Prof. Hanson,
As always, great post. I understand the list is not meant to be comprehensive, but I would add:
- Everything and anything to do with AG Holder and the DOJ
- Firing of IG Walpin
- The constant need for legions to go out to explain/interpret what the great orator meant in his policy decalrations.
- The increasing irritation that comes from cold arrogance – Clinton at least was an entertaining rogue.
- The twilight zone/alternate universe historical references.
- the annoyance and instant rejection coming from the continual cascade of lies.
#46
As you say, “they are going for broke.” As I’ve been saying to my friends and family they are ALL IN.
Rest assured they will lose and lose badly. Their arrogance fortunately exceeds their competence. The payback will be a swift and massive defunding of their cleptocratic power structure, followed by a thorough Denazification of our academia, media and educational systems. This will not come from the hapless Republicans but powerful grassroots forces who will dedicate themselves to purging the monster.
No university transcripts for the unwashed masses to see.
+ Sending over a shamefully self-absorbed video to the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, instead of attending himself.
+ American exceptionalism same as British exceptionalism, Greek exceptionalism, etc.
+ Promise of transparency (internet posting of bills, etc.) broken every time
Obama hasn’t accomplished much yet, but, my God, the ODS just gets wackier and wackier. Imagine what you could howl about if Obama had NOT defended America’s wars, America’s exceptionalism, etc.
I know that you folks think that the country has caught the Obama disease and is in recovery, but you are blinded to how much of a centrist pragmatist the guy is turning out to be. He sent 30,000 troops, he picked Hillary as Sec of State, retained Gates. How many more guns would you be buying if he had taken a truely LEFTIST response in all the areas mentioned above.
Hopefully, it is therapeutic for you folks to babble on blindly. Just as bashing GWB became a cottage industry of boilerplate blather for the left, the same is happening with Obama. The worst part is that it does NOT show thought or analysis, it shows instinctive, reflexive regurgitation.
My God, imagine a truely LEFTIST President. Reagan was the closest thing we have had to a rightest President, but he was still center rightist (not that the lefties didn’t howl, because they did.) Obama is proving to be centrist lefty. You folks don’t have, or refuse to take te time to have enough historical perspective to analyze Obama, but instead go with all this inane drivel. Well, maybe it does show the state of education in America, especially if you don’t pay attention in class and go with your gut prejudices, politically.
Think, reason, analyze. I know that it will be draining and exhausting, but it will help build up your brains.
107 rachel peepers:
“Are you better off now or when Obama took over?”
That’s easy . . . I’m better off now. And so are you. And so are my kids. And so are my great-great-great-great grandchildren (not that I would selfishly pimp out an unknown generation from the future to make cheap political points).
The few trolls here who claim that these facts are really “accomplishments” prove the point now where up is down, black is white and hot is cold (as in global warming baloney).
Couple that with he is “making government work for the people” siren and you have a poll worker for the New Party.
Congrats Comrades—you got your man. Too bad he is such a miserable failure to 75% of the country (Based on 25% Strong Approval Rating in Rasmussen).
Enjoy it while it lasts. Before he resigns in disgrace Nixon-style.
110. Whistling Dixie:
“Could he just show us a birth certificate, such a simple request.”
He has. Now, can Palin just show us Trig’s birth certificate? A simple request. But, as you know, when she learned of a possible demand through the court’s for her to produce said paper, she chose to resign instead.
Now why would she do that?
82. jeanneb:
“Dept of Homeland Security labeling “conservatives” as terrorist threats.”
You realize, of course, being an astute follower of political science, that the report you refer to was actually released under the Bush administration. Unless, of course, you’re an astute follower of Steve Doocy, in which case you don’t realize that or anything else.
Hail Rush. Go Sarah!
Shelving the F22.
As the previously invincible F15s and F16s are now inferior to several of their potential opponents, as they are litterally falling apart from old age, as terrorists and rogue nations get more capable SAMs I fear that sooner or later America will pay a high price in blood (the direct one and the indirect one from not having air superiority) in order to save what is chump change compared to the stimulus.
143. Mattled:
“Too bad he is such a miserable failure to 75% of the country. (Based on 25% Strong Approval Rating in Rasmussen)”
August 2005 Rasmussen: Bush strongly approve 23%.
But you didn’t care about that then, just like we don’t care about that now.
And, I see the Left is resorting to its old meme of, “It’s all Bush’s fault!”
When all else fails, just resort to the old Alinsky tactics of screaming abuse, and pounding on the table, right guys?
It takes a Phd to write an article of WHY WE’RE TIRING OF OBAMA?
He’s been in the news every damn day for more than three years. And he hasn’t accomplished ANYTHING yet, except proven himself as incompetent and as large a liar as I thought he was from way back then.
Now and Then – could you explain why you require that Palin’s son, Trig, who was not running for President of the USA, should show you a birth certificate?
Obama requires proof of is having been a natural American because that is a constitutional requirement for the office of President. The copy that was made public was not a birth certificate.
Could you provide proof that the reason for Palin’s governorship resignation was a request for Trig’s birth certificate.
Oh, and by the way, what is the evidence that makes you declare that others (eg, RP) are better off now than Before Obama? That’s quite the assertion.
Dwight – have you no comments on the lists provided by VDH and others? Is your only comment about the 30,000 troops Obama HAD to send, or risk losing all Democrat seats in the 2010 election? Are you unaware of Obama’s enormous drop in the polls and his loss of the Independents by his actions and, with regard to Afghanistan, his dithering? The Democrats were desperate to stop the bleeding…and thus, he HAD to send those troops, while placating the left with the ‘but they’ll be leaving in 18 months’.
The Dept of Homeland Security report -not its content but a report – was requested during the Bush administration. Its content, rather than being read and rejected by the Obama administation, was accepted and made public by Obama.
Conclusions:
After quickly wading through the hate, bitterness and jealousy in this thread, this remains true:
Obama is President of the USA and the world continues revolving around its axis.
Peace on Earth.
I can only sit in amazement at the blindness of the trolls-or is it desperation? The “o” is in a spiral towards the ground and they are committed to him- true to the bitter end.Now and again- are you sure it isn’t your great janet n that made that declaration?You don’t think Ruby Ridge happened under Bush, do you? Many of you lefters seem to think so.Seems like the troll coments come in surges- maybe they all got their georgie soros payout money today. I will be glad to see the “o” fade into the sunset, but until then, we must be alert. . . I await the squeals and vituperations of the trolls, sheltered deep in their mommies basements. . .
No one can argue that Obama doesn’t have his share of bedazzled David S’s, willing to salute the Dear Leader on whatever he does. Why not? He’s making the tides recede. He’s the change they’ve been waiting for. Tomorrow belongs to us! Take me now!
While they were experiencing tingles up their legs, for the rest of us, it was pretty much, “Meh!” from the gitgo.
David S. I applaud you. You made me laugh, you made me cry, it was quite a performance!
I can only take it that a large number of your rebuttals were for comic affected. No one could be serious about most of that.
The sad part is that you hate all that America has been. Have there been bad things in our 200 + years? Yes indeed but there have been more good, more amazing things that have left the world a far better place than if it hadn’t existed. Now you want that America to not exist.
Obama’s America is one of exclusion, preferences, closed door deals, usurpations of constitutional powers and hypocrisy. You are welcome to your wish for the future but don’t think you will take me there.
We are on the end of the destruction of the American economy with a debt no one would have even dreamed of a year ago and Obama can’t wait to keep on piling it on until America is left prostrate. He is either ignorant or purposefully gutting this country and along the way strangling the rest of the world. If he gets his way he may become architect of the greatest loss of life in history. Starvation will roam the world when America can’t feed it anymore and the wealth of the world is concentrated in the hands of those like Gore and their ilk in the new aristocracy.
Now, can Palin just show us Trig’s birth certificate? A simple request. But, as you know, when she learned of a possible demand through the court’s for her to produce said paper, she chose to resign instead.
Since Trigg is not running for POTUS the request was pointless and you nad the people making it have only shown how repugnant you are.
89. David S.
Is there a contradiction here?
“The USA cannot be great by looking backwards.”
“Our nation has been a slave-owning, misogynistic, xenophobic world power …”
How about his reprimand to Republicans that people in this country wouldn’t be so upset if the Republicans just stopped their fear-mongering? As if a take-over of the health care system, a failing economy, and all of the rest of his failed agenda isn’t enough to scare the living daylights out of most of us.
The tingle up the leg Obama supposedly cause, turned out to be a puddle at our feet.
Our country was founded on Christian values, not Muslim misconceptions about life.
Same ole trolls are stil here, too bad. Same troll comments, sniveling etc.
Just to put things in perspective, here’s a small list of Bush’s disasters:
9/11
Katrina
The collapse of the US economy
96% of the current budget deficit
So, yeah.
One of the most bothersome things for me is the fact that ANY ONE of the multitude of pre-election issues would have doomed a Republican candidate. But, for Obama, the media and his supporters were willing to gloss over ALL of them!
146. Now and Then:
“110. Whistling Dixie:
“Could he just show us a birth certificate, such a simple request.”
He has…”
No, he hasn’t. While I don’t believe it’s any real issue one way or the other, he has not produced one and he can obtain the official copy with proof of identification and a small fee.
“Now, can Palin just show us Trig’s birth certificate?”
This is about as asinine an equivalence as I’ve seen.
“The embarrassing Nobel Peace Prize nomination”
That’s one thing you can’t really blame on Obama. It’s not his fault that the people who hand out Nobel Prizes are nitwits.
Obama has proven it this case you can not spell POTUS without the P.O.S.
#117 “greater equality, greater justice”?? Obama has done more to divide the melting pot of this country than any other single person. Can you give us some examples to show us what he has done in a positive way?
Dave Thomson – you have often said you believe Obama is not wrapped too tight. I was inclined to believe that and now fully agree with you. Keep up your posts – very interesting.
Terry Ott – Spot on.
Dwight – Maybe he isn’t a extreme LEFTIST, but he sure isn’t much of a leader. As Terry Ott pointed out, he’s allowing Pelosi & Reid to do all the driving. And his choices for his cabinet don’t necessarily point to being centrist. Hillary – I thought she was a democrat? And she’s really been shut out for the most part. Gates – I guess no self-respecting leftist didn’t want any part of the Company. His other conservative appointee, Gregg, decided he couldn’t be the front man for an agenda he didn’t agree with. The 30,000 troops? The general wanted more, sooner, and then he puts a unrealistic deadline. Did FDR or Truman set deadlines?
Maybe there is ODS, but most haven’t compared him to Hitler or attribute similar 9/11 conspiracy theories to him.
Here is my bulletized list…
•unemployment reaching 10%, when nothing above 8% was promised,
•health care reform shoved down our throats when “it’s the economy, stupid” (to coin a phrase),
•decline of the dollar worldwide,
•socialized medicine..fix just what is broke, not destroy the entire system,
•the huge tax increases associated with Cap and Trade,
•ever increasing attacks on free market capitalism,
•trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, and the transfer of this mountain of debt onto our children and grand children,
•bowing to Saudia, Chinese and Japanese leaders,
•hundreds of billions of dollars worth of stimulus packages that don’t work,
•sustained abuse of the Constitution, e.g., government attacks on free speech (Fox News),
•government agencies owning and running private companies and dictating pay scales,
•tax cheaters like Geithner, Sebelius, and Rangle (to only name a few) in high government positions,
•Presidential advisors that praise Mao Tse Tung as their politica1 inspiration,
•appointing a “wise Latina” to the supreme court
•2,000+ page bills that politicians never read but still voted on,
•tax payer funding for corrupt organizations such as ACORN,
•30+ Czars, some of who are extreme left wing / Marxist, that were not properly vetted by the Senate,
•political indoctrination of our children (Hmm, Hmm Hmm),
•the “fundamental transformation” of America,
•vicious attacks on political dissenters, e.g., if you disagree with the President’s goal of socializing this country you are obviously a racist, tea-bagging, Nazi, astro-turf, red neck, Tim McVey wanna-be who wants America to fail,
•Presidential apology tours,
•the government asking neighbor to spy on neighbor (flag@whitehouse.gov),
•throwing allies in Europe under the bus with changes to missile defense,
•pathetic attempts to buy off seniors with a $250 government check in lieu of social security raises for the next two years (even tough Medicare costs will still continue to rise),
•redistribution of wealth to those who don’t work for it,
•the concept that some corporations are “too big to fail” and need bail outs,
•Presidential advisors that want to grant legal rights to animals so they can sue in court,
•a President who won’t make a firm stand and continues to vote “present” when it comes to making a decision on troop levels in Afghanistan and dissenters in the streets of Tehran,
•failed government programs such as “cash for clunkers” and delivery of swine flu medication in the middle of a “medical emergency”,
•promised government transparency that obviously isn’t..where was C-SPAN coverage of the health care debates,
•reports posted on government web site claiming jobs created in congressional districts that don’t exist (e.g., Arizona 15th district, Connecticut 42nd District, 99th district in the Virgin Islands),
•career EPA lawyers in San Francisco told to keep their opinions to themselves when they criticized the government’s proposed cap and trade policies
•terrorists show trials in New York to embarrass the Bush administration while at the same time stonewalling investigation of Muslim Army doctor that committed the Ft Hood Massacre.
•sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and in the same sentence saying they will come out in Jul 2011 (nothing like telling the enemy when they are going to win!)
•a TYRANNICAL Obama Administration that (thru the EPA) THREATENS CONGRESS that if they don’t act to curb CO2 emissions, the EPA will. And it will not be in a business friendly way, but rather through a “command and control” philosophy, control the emissions themselves,
•continued support of global warming claims in spite of hundreds of e-mails showing the data on which the environment crisis was based was manipulated and in some cases destroyed
•makes speeches that contradict themselves in the same sentence, when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize he called for “international standards for the use of force” but in the same sentence cancelled that out with a “unilateral right for a country to defend itself”,
•the tireless, unending mantra of “it’s Bush’s fault”,
•where are the millions of “green jobs” we were promised,
•labor union leaders (SEIU) with direct access to the white house,
•Nobel Peace Prize awarded after being in office only 12 days,
Amazing comments section for this article;
1. First VDH lists a VERY long list of BHO missteps, mispresentations and failures
2….and many posters were able to ADD to that list.
3. Then we have our resident trolls:
David S. = You beclown yourself again David living in your bizarro world.
N & T = you really better off now? By what objective measure, pray tell?
Mary Steiner = welcome Mary – your off to a hell of a start w/ your non-sequiters and ad homs. Just what we’ve come to expect from the “rational, compassionate” left.
As Maximus shouted; “Are you not entertained!?!?”
Hell yea I am!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha; Bush is responsible for the bad economy? 9/11? Katrina?
Man; You got some bad crack.
Obama’s disasters will live a lot longer than Bushes. And we haven’t even seen the worst one yet!
But, I’m sure you can help him accomplish it.
#147
Now an Then say: “You realize, of course, being an astute follower of political science, that the report you refer to was actually released under the Bush administration. Unless, of course, you’re an astute follower of Steve Doocy, in which case you don’t realize that or anything else.”
Doocy is right and you, NAT, are stone wrong on this, as on so many other things. The report is dated April 7, 2009. At this date Obama had already begun his clownish revolution with useful idiots such as you.
You are forgeting the stupid policy about America’s most reliable ally, Israel. Hussein Obama and his aides did something no other POTUS did,that is jews AND arabs dont trust him.
How about the separate jets to Europe?
How about Michelle’s “couture”?
How about closing DC’s voucher project while sending the girls to private school?
EDS – just to put things in perspective.
Bush didn’t cause 9/11 but he sure prevented any such reoccurrence during his tenure.
Bush didn’t cause Katrina, and the federal agency wasn’t allowed, by law, to go in as long as the Democratic Governor of the State, and the Democratic Mayor, refused permission. Oh, and it was the mayor and governor’s responsiblity to ensure safety.
Bush didn’t collapse the US economy; are you unaware of Clinton’s mortgage schemes and the fact that the Democrats controlled Congress during the last two years of Bush’s term?
And no, it’s Obama who is the cause of the greatest increase in the US deficit since its 1776 origin.
Try again.
AlEdwards wrote:
As disturbing as Palin’s grotesque misrepresentation of both the “Climate-gate” emails and global warming are is The Post’s publication of a piece that’s obviously not primarily authored by Palin herself.
Regarding my previous post describing the hatred and wrath we are up against: Here’s an example from the Sarah Palin Op Ed at WashingtonPost online.
******Giving “equal time” to climate change “skeptics” is tantamount to publishing an op-ed that says African Americans are genetically inferior (as “evidenced” by Tiger Woods’ bevavior) or that the world is flat (the “proof” being that it looks that way to the naked eye).
SHAME on The Post!
12/11/2009 1:58:49 PM***********
EDS,
Bush’s disaters?
9/11 – In the same vein as Pearl Harbor was FDR’s disaster.
Katrina – Yep, Bush controled the weather. The real disaster was the city and state non reaction in Louisiana. Both Demcrats. Mississipi took the direct hit and recovered nicely.
The collapse of the US economy – caused by Democrat Senators who blackmailed mortgage companies to make unqualified loans and then those senators blocked investigation into those practices a year before the fall. Senators all Democrats.
96% of the current budget deficit – there is that pesky 9/11 again and Bush’s silly attempt at bipartisanship that allowed the Democrats in Congress to spend like drunken sailors. I will give you partial points on the bailout he signed. On the other side Bush’s deficit will by less than 10% of total in 10 years.
Now there is the perspective.
Hmm I guess not everyone is getting tired of the president, we have thumbs up for Obamas Noble prize speech from conservatives Gingrich, John Boehner, Sarah Palin, Erick Erickson, and Rory Cooper, the director of strategic communications for the Heritage Foundation, said: “It was a speech that defended America’s pursuit of liberty and freedom, and defended our global leadership and military might.”
correction:
Regarding my previous post describing the hatred and wrath we are up against: Here’s an sample post from a fellow American at the Sarah Palin Op Ed at WashingtonPost online. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/08/AR2009120803402_Comments.html
***********AlEdwards wrote:
As disturbing as Palin’s grotesque misrepresentation of both the “Climate-gate” emails and global warming are is The Post’s publication of a piece that’s obviously not primarily authored by Palin herself. Giving “equal time” to climate change “skeptics” is tantamount to publishing an op-ed that says African Americans are genetically inferior (as “evidenced” by Tiger Woods’ bevavior) or that the world is flat (the “proof” being that it looks that way to the naked eye).
SHAME on The Post!
12/11/2009 1:58:49 PM***********
There used to be some cartoon hero character on Saturday-morning TV about whom everyone sang, “He’s Here – He’s There – He’s Everywhere – So Beware.” I suppose that’s what is happening with Obama. He’s literally EVERYWHERE. With his never-ending photo ops, fawning press coverage, and round the clock politicking you can’t get away from the guy. You go to the store and all the checkout mags feature cover stories on how wonderful the Obamas are. Vanity Fair seems to have run over a hundred cover spreads on the Big O and his lovely wife. Sometimes you begin to feel that there simply isn’t anyone else in public life anymore. And all of it is accompanied the by-now-hackneyed images of the Prez with his head tilted upward, looking thoughtfully into the middle distance.
The more his rhetoric gets compared to his actions, the more his flowing speeches get exposed as empty sophism. As time goes by, he will no longer be able to get by on BS and fairy tales. He attempted to stop the bleeding in Oslo by running to the right on national defense. It won’t be enough and the dishonest MSM won’t be able to prop him up for ever.
Simply put OBOZO is a corporal aspiring to be a general…
The trolls are just village idiots.
VDH’s always able to cut to the chase!
Two more:
Gerald Walpin and recovery.gov.
Commenting on the Hasan massacre but prefacing his remarks with inane political “shout out” babble at a conference of Native Americans.
Oops, one more:
Aborting the DC voucher program.
The shine went off Obama long before he got the the White House. The first time I heard him speak two years or more ago, I turned to my wife and said, this man is a complete failure.
How right I have been proved, the man couldn’t even sweep streets even after two years on the job training.
As for C.I.C? Sorry if you have never been in the Military you can’t be that!
May Allah protect us for his last 3 years. Surely Incompetence is a ‘fire-able’ offence?
Dr Hanson-Im not convinced we are “tiring” of Obamao. We are DISCOVERING just what a phony and a fraud he is. The warning signs we all there from the day he first announced his candidacy. Wright, Ayers, the Annenberg Challenge fiasco, even his first race against far left Alice Palmer were there , but a complicit anti american, far left worshipping press covered up everything about him. I never believed the media was covering for Obamao because of the “first black” crud. It was his communist extremism they admired. The same type they had for Bubba Clinton. Dont forget, many in the media admired Bubba for being a “great liar”. Until the media is truly defeated and purged of the communist ideology many of them adhere to, we will ALWAYS have an Obamao or a Clinton type. Look just in my lifetime-McGovern, Carter, Mondale,Dukaksis, Clinton, Alwhore, Kerry,Obamao-every one of them an extreme leftist, every one of them anti-american . Only Reagan amongst national politicians even came remotely close to being a real leader. Only Palin amongst current national political figures even comes close to Reagan. Obamao will NOT be a two term president-americans have found him lacking and the more aware amongst us deep down knows hes a marxist. Truthfully, if America had real guts, this guy would be arrested and tried for treason, along with the leaders of the party like Pelosi and Reid. Im sure the Nevada voters will deal with disgusting Harry. Maybe its time for the alert amongst us to deal with the rest of this anti-american cabal.
I don’t think that we have to look for specific instances. Obama’s tumbling numbers, I think, are indicative of — similar to a Christmas letdown, or a case of post partum depression. The build-up of Obama was immense, and now that the excitement is over, we see he’s just a mere mortal (or less). Combine him with a Democrat-controlled congress gone nuts and…..
addenda:
- the EPA czar Browner and the CO2 protection act ! LOL
- the cancellation of F22 Raptor
- having the F22 planned as backdrop for O’s speech at an Alaskan air base be dragged out in the rain and replaced by an F15 – the plane which first flew in Vietnam. Great stuff for troops morale. Talk about retention in the USAF ! :D
I shall rise to the challenge to defend our President. Albert Gore was off by a factor of 1000 (at least) on the temperature of the earth’s core whereas Barack Obama only overstated the number of states in the United States by a mere 20%. Therefore, our President is a veritable genius compared to the man that might have been president if only he could have excluded a few more military ballots in Florida.
Q.E.D.
152. ETAB:
157. JFM:
163. Commuter:
Palin claimed she showed Trig’s birth certificate. She didn’t. All I’m asking for is her to do what she said she did. Why in the world would you have a problem with her living up to her claims. Oh, wait, you don’t have a problem with that.
I don’t care if Obama does everything right from here on in, which of course he won’t. If the man does not address and publicly repent, in whatever appropriate way, from not protecting infants born alive from botched abortions – the old born alive infant protection act which he alone as Illinois senator stopped from enactment, he is a failure as an American leader.
vivo #153 – you are sicko. Barack Hussein Obama is president through voter fraud, press fraud and campaign finance fraud. The earth is on it’s axis because of G-d, not fraud.
If we were to list Obama’s pre-presidential positions, we would see a more ghoulish rot in him. For examples:
in mid-2007, accepting a probable genocidal civil war(twixt Sunni & Shia)in Iraq, upon premature withdrawal of American troops, which at the time, he favored.
as Illinois senator, promoting the infanticide of infants initially surviving botched abortions
And currently, his continuing support for cap & trade leading obviously to higher food prices worldwide with resulting increased starvation deaths of the poorest, and his support for premature-death sentences for the infirm elderly via massive reduction in Medicare funding (“savings”,so-called)availability per person.
essential vdh.
The older I get the more I enjoy books that I read as a boy and many times again. Lois L’Amour: western, action and the tough guy who never quits. Self reliant, the devil takes the hindmost. No sex all character. No lies, saying what you mean and meaning what you say. A promise is not broken so not easily given. No triangulations. men who had “sand” as Pepe (grand dad) used to say. He had sand, my dad had sand. I am not so sure about myself–the time is coming when it will be needed.
I wonder what that means? Would L’Amour’s characters provide a good template for the Hope and Change needed in people that America needs now more than ever.
What kind of “sand” will we need to survive in the America being taken over by the BHO “victims” and formulated class war fare to maintain their power.
The BHO’s Czars overseeing their own welfare and pushing the transfer of wealth from the workers to the non workers. The exact opposite of L’Amour’s characters.
What does that mean America. Will people still want to be American. I don’t think so.
Look to the options because over the last 50 years America has been manufacturing as many or more weaklings due to liberal fascist subversion of AA and PC than the people who have “sand”.
Sebastian Shaw @ 26:
He’s a thinned-skinned upstart bully not ready for the real world.
Don’t you just wonder what the rest of the Senate must think of His Highness? Most of the other Senators have been working hard, paying their dues for years….then along comes this kid from Chicago who never introduces any legislation, is given the chairmanship of an important subcommittee but never convenes a single hearing, nothing, zip, nada, zilch–warms a seat for barely two years before he starts running for president. The next two years of his term, he barely even shows up for work because he’s out on the campaign trail…. And now this idiot is IN CHARGE?!
If I were a decent Senator, I’d be spittin’ mad.
#153 VIVO wrote
Conclusions:
“After quickly wading through the hate, bitterness and jealousy in this thread, this remains true:
Obama is President of the USA and the world continues revolving around its axis.
Peace on Earth.”
How can that be VIVO I thought all you Green NAZI moonbats were telling us that if we dont act drastically NOW and stop all that evil CO2 that the Planet would be engulfed in an irreversible series of floods, storms and disasters. Hardly the peaceful world you seem to be talking about above. Come on man make up your mind ‘Eve of Destruction’ or ‘Joy to the World’ it can’t be both. Oh wait you are a left wing PC MC Islamophile Obambi loving moonbat HYPOCRISY and contradiction come as second nature to you don’t they.
Craig W. @ 40:
Every time I listen to him I can only think of a puppet (Obama) and a puppet master (not sure).
George Soros definitely one of them.
VDH, you can add to the list:
Bizarre response to the Ft. Hood massacre
Giving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a civilian trial in New York
Allowing our brave Navy SEALS to be court-martialed for giving a major terrorist a bloody lip when they captured him
No-show for National Day of Prayer, but gave a long, obsequious speech to commemorate the end of Ramadan
“America is no longer a Christian country”
“America is one of the largest Muslim countries”
Dissing Netanyahu
Dissing the Dalai Lama
Parties and concerts at the White House every Wednesday night, at a time when many Americans can’t even afford a movie matinee
DEMONIZING health insurers, oil companies, doctors, and many other industries/sectors employing tens of millions of Americans
Oh, yeah, and endless GOLFING for months while keeping General McChrystal (and the nation) waiting re: Afghanistan
Americans voted for Barry because he’s a black.
They would have voted for any black even if he had only one eye and smelled like a greyhound station mens’ toilet.
That is because of Americans’ racial hysteria.
Barry is an affirmative action president and ironically is not only not an african american but being of Luo and Arab ancestry, from East Africa, not West Africa, is as close to an African American as a Mongolian is to an Irishman.
With all the fuel in these responses, it’s going to be one hell of a bonfire on the White House lawn in January 2013!
The flames will get a lot higher and hotter when they toss Barry’s throne on the pile!
Required reading for every presidential candidate: Churchill’s own “The Second World War, The Gathering Storm” and David Meir-Levi’s “Historty Upside Down, The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression”. It is obvious Pres. Obama has read neither. Appeasing jihadis that seek a world wide caliphate where all must “submit” (their word) to Islam, including the Palestinians who condsider the destruction of Israel their necessary contribution in the Muslim war against the West. Instead of a Roosevelt/Churchill or Reagan/Thatcher in the White House, we have Carter/Chamberlain. Let’s make certain it does not happen again.
It’s a good list, Mr Hanson, and it could be 10, perhaps 100 times as long.
But the real issue for America is much simpler.
The man is a liar. For a while, he seemed like a gifted one, but as we have heard now thousands upon thousands of lies, every sentient American has woken up to the fact that if he says it, it’s a lie.
Many people can be fooled by the policies. The handler are very good at the shell game with policies, but Americans hate a liar can spot a liar and we hate them.
And there has never been one like this moron. Even Clinton couldn’t hold a candle to this thug. And Clinton could be charming in a wierd way.
Obama was “groomed” for the WH and placed there for a reason. He appears to be a buffoon, actually he is, but also because he is just a figurehead, a mouthpiece.
One gaffe not mentioned in the list is Obama’s “speaking Austrian” comment. Supporters of Obama et. al. are quick to dismiss it as a blunder, but it’s a dim-witted “blunder” of historical significance.
Anybody with just a modicum of literacy in 20th century history, let alone the POTUS, will remember that Adolf Hitler was a Germanic-Austrian who was aggrieved by the collapse of the Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Empires at the end of WWI.
German nationalism in the 1920s and 30s was born out of the defeat of Prussia and Austria – i.e. all German speaking people – in WWI.
If president Obama does not know that Austrians speak German, then he knows nothing about WWII… and worryingly, the appeasement that led to it.
Excellent as usual. In addition to the NYC “Date-Night”, I might add the NYC “Fly-By”.
Dont forget that bcause you are a returned vet or a 2nd amendment supporter,Ron Paul suporter etc you are considered a terrorist threat !
To #132 Terry Ott: Really, you are too kind. Those who have eyes saw through His Transparency the first time he opened his mouth. But I did try to be fair, tried to give him an honest chance. I watched. I listened. And on January 20, 2009, for the first time in my entire life I was really and truly physically afraid. For while I was no fan of GWB, I knew he loved this country and would do everything necessary to keep us safe. I had faith that our Constitution would allow for the rectification of any mistakes put in place while he was in office.
But Barack Hussein Obama would sell this country to the highest bidder if they only agreed to worship at his feet. He is narcissistic, he is incompetent and, I dare say, he is not really very bright. He inspires no confidence and those he has brought with him have raped the meaning of freedom.
To read this piece make clear yet again that it is the voice of treason that rings through the corridors in Washington, more loudly with every passing month.
I would ask that God bless America, but I fear she needs His mercy far, far more.
With respect to Obama’s “my Muslim faith” gaffe on tv, and reframing issues with language (“undocumented workers” versus the accurate description of these individuals “illegal aliens”) as Dr. Hanson points out in a recent NRO article, issues cannot begin to be solved if they are inaccurately referenced.
As Jacques Lacan said, “language speaks you” – gaffe or belief? undocumented / legal or illegal?
This link http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnPlayer.swf?aid=11991 expresses more fully one such disconnect evidenced at Fort Hood – disenfranchised lost soul or a terrorist. Political correctness is deadly, and this retired 3 star General who was an original Delta Force member, and lead the mission in Mogadishu that was the source of the film Black Hawk Down, puts the clear and present danger into unvarnished, plain and accurate terms.
I didn’t read through all the comments, so someone might have already caught this. But I didn’t see any mention of the Inspector General firing scandal.
While the rest were standing at attention during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, each with a hand over the heart, Obama stood at ease, arms at his sides, with his hands cupping his balls.
Snotty, arrogant, name-calling, hate-filled lefty thugs have broken in here, covering their moral disfigurement with the relatively pleasing appearance of trolls. Would we could take a stick and scrape them off our shoes.
Now & Then and David S.,
Please read (with an open mind) the recent Rolling Stone article by one of the only remaining lefty journalists with any professionalism Matt Taibbi. Your main man is an absolute fraud who is using your sycophantic useful idiocy against you. At some point, does common sense prevail with you two? Put the Dem vs Repub kool-aid down and realize we are being robbed and defrauded by the biggest pack of rats since the LBJ admin. 2010 will be the ultimate “Common Sense” flip of Congress since 1994. Bank on it. Now, you may put your heads back in the sand. Thank you.
When Whoopi said ‘it wasn’t rape-rape’ that was all I needed to ever know about her from then on.
When Obama called Tea Party people ‘teabaggers’ that was when I really knew all I ever needed to know about him.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them – Oprah.
Hey Now and Then, if Palin showed Trig’s birth certificate and she wasn’t the birth parent, that would still qualify her for being President of the United States of America.
Please, let us not forget the White House attempt to collect information about people “spreading disinformation” on ObamaCare.
Or Obama’s firing of the inspector general who was investigating misuse of AmeriCorps money.
The list goes on forever, I think.
I cannot believe at all the attacks on Sarah Palin. She is the most popular woman Republican ever. She almost made it to the White House (OK, the VP house), but now all she is trying to do is put food on the table, you think her husband can keep up with the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed.
And so what if she took two different planes back to Alaska from Dallas, Texas when she was in labor with Trig, instead of going to a local hospital (who wants to born in Texas, yikes). I mean so what if Alaska Airlines spokesman said that they were not aware that she was in labor.
She is not a quitter, she is reloading, so watch out she will be your President, like it or not. I mean come on we had “W”, right?
Wow. Apparently he had to redefine the word “truth” before writing part of this article.
I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise. Rhetoric generates more web hits than scholarly debate.
Add Obama’s mispronuciation of corpsman (corpse-man) during the National Prayer Breakfast to the list.