After the brutality of the market following the signing of the less than stellar debt limit bill, which allowed for the raising of our national debt by $2.4 trillion, and a first ever downgrade of America’s credit, President Obama was eerily silent. The weekend passed with no word from the President, even after the loss of 21 US Navy Seals in a helicopter “crash” in Afghanistan.
When Monday came, the market dropped at the opening bell, and hovered down 400 points for the next few hours, with slight, but insignificant movement. President Obama, who was set to speak at 1pm EST, didn’t go in front of the cameras for another 55 minutes. The market was down 430 when he started speaking. After he spoke, the market reacted to his statement. The Dow closed down 634 points. President Obama’s speech cost the market another 200 points.
His speech reminded me of a quote attributed to Gandhi, which I first used at a Tea Party rally in Van Nuys, California in April of 2009, and have recently been talking about on radio:
First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win.
Obama had already sent out his attack dogs over the weekend, with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and professional liar David Axelrod making appearances on the Sunday shows, pushing the latest Progressive narrative that the downgrade from Standard and Poor’s was a “Tea Party downgrade.” This came on the heels of a week of elected officials, politicos and other assorted hacks referring to the Tea Party as “terrorists.”
Obama’s Monday speech set things off differently. With a down market, and a downgraded nation, President Obama didn’t try to inspire. He didn’t make the case for the American spirit, and our ability to beat any challenge. He said the words, like this statement: “Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and will always be a Triple A country.” But the words fell flat; they were not, for him, honest. His weak platitudes were not the theme of his talk….not the point of his statement.
From ridicule, to fight.
Obama proved that the battle against the Tea Party is now on the move. His speech on Monday did nothing to calm the markets, as it was not designed to. Its intent was not to show strength to investors or credit agencies. It was another in a string of politically partisan campaign speeches. It was a full scale engagement in the blame game. The target was, and is, the Tea Party.
It is important for the Tea Party to recognize that the fight against them has ramped up. Yes, for those not blinded by rigid ideology, it will seem odd that the president – who swore to uphold, defend and protect the Constitution – is so objectionable of those who believe in the following of the Constitution. (As I have discussed in other articles, the president not only objects to those who believe in the Constitution, but the Constitution itself.)
But the president, his party and the main stream media, object to the Tea Party. They ignored the first rallies, calling them astroturf, and claiming the movement would go away. They have followed the words of their savior – Janeane Garofalo – and focused strongly on the concept of ridicule; calling members racist, and making crude sexual innuendo around name calling members of the Tea Party. There has been some physical violence, with the Kenneth Gladney assault in Missouri (shockingly, a court found the SEIU perpetrators not guilty) and a man in Southern California who had his finger bitten off.
The fight has ramped up into a full on psychological war. With the debt ceiling debate and the downgrade, Progressives have moved to make this personal for America (something they could not accomplish with just Racer talk.) They are moving to make the downgrade personal to everyone, and push blame not to themselves for their radical spending, but rather to the Tea Party – which opposes radical spending from both parties!
Obama’s Monday speech proves the point. A speech that should have eased creditors and brought a sense of “can do” spirit to Americans gave way to blame and fanatical politics. No plan from the president, other than his canned, illogical proposition that “Tax the Rich” is the answer. Obama can not run for re-election on his record. He can not, even with the full force of the MSM, sell America on the empty, flowery rhetoric of Hope and Change. He has not cut the deficit, as he has promised. Guantanamo Bay remains open. We now have more wars than when Obama took office. Obama can not campaign on the economy, jobs, or foreign policy. His only chance at re-election is to make the false case that the Tea Party has been the impediment to his success, and supposedly America’s success.
The Tea Party must be prepared, and willing, to take on this fight – for themselves, their posterity and the future of America. We are no longer involved in the hypothetical of what we think Obama, and this administration (and his elected and appointed political lackies) will say or do. We know what their vision is for America, and it is awful – a big government wasteland that diminishes personal liberty and removes the reality of American Exceptionalism; a country that believes in the Bizzaro-Kennedy. “Ask not what you can do for your country; ask demand what your country can must do for you!”
Simply, we can not fail. The Tea Party must remain vigilant in the face of the onslaught. It’s members – millions of Americans strong – must respond to the lies of the Progressives with forceful truth. We must take the opportunities available to us – blogs, video, radio, television, books, art, music – to share our view of America; one that engages in free markets, free people, private charity and individual responsibility. An America that recognizes that its strength comes from its citizens, not its sprawling centralized government. We must promote and defend the Four Basics of the Tea Party – The Constitution, Capitalism, Fiscal Responsibility and Smaller Government. When we hear a lie, we must point it out. We must do it with humor, with passion, with strength. And we must do it again tomorrow.
The Tea Party can no longer be ignored, as we control the political and cultural debate in America. We have weathered (and will continue to weather) the ridicule and the lies. President Obama has made the move into the third phase. We are in the fight, and there is no knowing whether it will last one week, one month, one year or longer. What matters is that it is a fight that holds the future of our nation in the balance. The fight can not be lost. Gandhi was right, and so is the Tea Party.
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