You may have thought that I was not going to comment on the State of the Union Address by President Obama. Not the case at all. His address to the people and the Congress last Wednesday was in my opinion quite predicable. I purposely waited until all the political pundits in the media had their opportunity to evaluate and I was waiting a few days to evaluate the meeting on Friday between the President and the representatives of the Republican party. My evaluation of the Presidents first year in office was offered in my commentary last Friday, entitled "A Year of Broken Promises". I want to focus only on the reaction to his address and on areas where he had little or nothing to say.
To begin with, he stated "I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values." Are you kidding? This president gave during his first year 411 speeches or remarks on various topics, including 29 speeches on the Health Care reform still pending in Congress. And yet, he suggested the public didn't understand the
health care bill. The outcomes of Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts clearly rejected the health care legislation and other actions of this Presidency. During his speech he mentioned that "People are angry and they are frustrated...Not just because of what's happened in the past year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years." In other words, "I'll blame Bush. That always works!" Sorry Mr. President, it is time to take ownership of your Presidency.
I found his remarks un-presidential when he chided the Supreme Court for their recent decision in defense of the 1st Amendment. There in front of him sat the members of the Court while he castigated them to the extent that the liberal side of the aisle stood and applauded. He accused the Court of opening the door for foreign corporations' campaign contributions when in fact all legal rulings expressively forbid this.
The President tried very hard to defend his Jobs Stimulus by pointing out that 300,000 Americans are working as teachers and other education workers, tens of thousands are police officers, firefighters, correctional officers and first responders. In reality, these jobs are either government (federal, state and local) or connected in such a way that they would not exist but for government.
Meanwhile, barely a paragraph was given to the war in Afghanistan and no recognition to the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies. The global war against Al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned and the top issue of voters in the United States -Terrorism received little attention. I found it rather convenient for him to fail to mention the mistakes at Fort Hood and most recently, the prosecution of the Christmas Day bomber in which we now have come to find out was only questioned for 50 minutes and then given his Miranda rights.
The President met with Republican leaders on Friday which was televised. I think it was a good start but served only as an opportunity for each side to point out failures. I believe the President did act somewhat like a stern father admonishing his children as he spoke to them in his well known arrogant and condescending fashion. Today on the Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the political guests of two democrats and two republicans continued to blame each other in very partisan manner for the failures of the present administration. The Republicans continued to hammer broken promises and lack of transparency while the democrats wanted to call the Republicans the "party of no" and blame Bush for the economic condition of the country, including the Medicare Prescription Program under Bush. As to transparency, I believe the public is beginning to see right through President Obama.
There has been much speculation this week over the results of the three state elections and whether President Obama would move at least to center left. Last Friday night after the address, the Fox panel did an early evaluation of the speech. What stuck out for me was the opinion of Charles Krauthammer, himself an MD in Psychiatry and degrees in Economics and Political Science. He stated that he believed that President Obama was in a state of "Clinical Denial". This afternoon on Fox News Sunday the regular panel evaluated again and three of the four where optimistic that President Obama would start to adjust his strategy towards the center. Dr. Krauthammer maintained his position in saying that the President would continue his left wing agenda. I agree with him but for the sake of our nation, I sincerely hope that I am wrong.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Year of Broken Promises
President Obama completed his first year in office this week and certainly the celebration was totally muted by a resounding roar from the voters in Massachusetts, the most liberal state, who unequivocally said "no more" to the socialist leanings of this administration. Just over a month ago, President Obama was eager to give himself a B+ for his first year. He even went so far as to leave the door open for an "A" if he got ObamaCare signed into law.
As we look back at his first year, there is an overwhelming feeling of broken promises and in my opinion an abandonment of common sense. The most obvious reflection is that he campaigned on the promise of total transparency, an end to entitlements and back room politics. Instead, we were deluged with czars like the radical socialist Sunstein and the pedophile loving Kevin Jennings. The appointment of a Treasury Secretary who admittedly failed to pay his taxes and a President who went on an apology tour of Europe telling of American arrogance.
When we look at the Obama Doctrine in dealing with terrorism we come away with the feeling that the President wanted to completely disarm our strategy by denying that terrorists are even at war with us and treating them like criminals. We were appalled by the idea that CIA agents would be open to prosecution by his attack dog, Attorney General Eric Holder. Amazingly, this week in testimony before Congress, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of Homeland Security both testified they had no idea that the so called "Underwear Bomber" would be turned over to civil authorities.
There is no question that the President inherited an economy in distress. However, his policy has been a complete failure. His $787 billion stimulus bill promised to keep unemployment below 8% and create tens of thousands of jobs in the private sector. In contrast, basically no jobs were created and unemployment rates have gone to over 10%. Through bank bailouts, and the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler coupled with "Cash for Clunkers" the national debt has skyrocketed to catastrophic heights placing our children and grandchildren in debt for decades. It has also placed the economy of the United States near collapse as we watch China begin to replace us as the largest economy in the world, the rest of the world holds our debt, and the dollar is in jeopardy of being replaced on the world market.
Until this past week in Massachusetts, President Obama was ready to ram ObamaCare down the throats of a nation which clearly was against the policy and would force people to buy health insurance backed by fines for individuals and penalties for businesses. His liberal led Congress enticed representatives to vote yes by offering "sweetheart" deals in places like Louisiana and Nebraska and all this done behind closed doors without input from the right side of the aisle. Now, President Obama says he has heard the people speak. His State of the Union address will be filled with more promises that jobs will be created and the national debt will be brought under control. Will these be more broken promises? He failed the people in the first year and deserves an D.
I offer this thought and my opinion. President Obama is a Progressive, an anti-capitalist to his core. I do not believe he has ever liked free enterprise. I believe he wants to take down our free market economy...to be replaced by a government-controlled economy. We have an opportunity that started in Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts. The future lies in the hands of the voters and the people of this great nation. At the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 a woman of Philadelphia came up to Benjamin Franklin and asked, "well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "a republic, if you can keep it."
As we look back at his first year, there is an overwhelming feeling of broken promises and in my opinion an abandonment of common sense. The most obvious reflection is that he campaigned on the promise of total transparency, an end to entitlements and back room politics. Instead, we were deluged with czars like the radical socialist Sunstein and the pedophile loving Kevin Jennings. The appointment of a Treasury Secretary who admittedly failed to pay his taxes and a President who went on an apology tour of Europe telling of American arrogance.
When we look at the Obama Doctrine in dealing with terrorism we come away with the feeling that the President wanted to completely disarm our strategy by denying that terrorists are even at war with us and treating them like criminals. We were appalled by the idea that CIA agents would be open to prosecution by his attack dog, Attorney General Eric Holder. Amazingly, this week in testimony before Congress, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of Homeland Security both testified they had no idea that the so called "Underwear Bomber" would be turned over to civil authorities.
There is no question that the President inherited an economy in distress. However, his policy has been a complete failure. His $787 billion stimulus bill promised to keep unemployment below 8% and create tens of thousands of jobs in the private sector. In contrast, basically no jobs were created and unemployment rates have gone to over 10%. Through bank bailouts, and the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler coupled with "Cash for Clunkers" the national debt has skyrocketed to catastrophic heights placing our children and grandchildren in debt for decades. It has also placed the economy of the United States near collapse as we watch China begin to replace us as the largest economy in the world, the rest of the world holds our debt, and the dollar is in jeopardy of being replaced on the world market.
Until this past week in Massachusetts, President Obama was ready to ram ObamaCare down the throats of a nation which clearly was against the policy and would force people to buy health insurance backed by fines for individuals and penalties for businesses. His liberal led Congress enticed representatives to vote yes by offering "sweetheart" deals in places like Louisiana and Nebraska and all this done behind closed doors without input from the right side of the aisle. Now, President Obama says he has heard the people speak. His State of the Union address will be filled with more promises that jobs will be created and the national debt will be brought under control. Will these be more broken promises? He failed the people in the first year and deserves an D.
I offer this thought and my opinion. President Obama is a Progressive, an anti-capitalist to his core. I do not believe he has ever liked free enterprise. I believe he wants to take down our free market economy...to be replaced by a government-controlled economy. We have an opportunity that started in Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts. The future lies in the hands of the voters and the people of this great nation. At the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 a woman of Philadelphia came up to Benjamin Franklin and asked, "well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "a republic, if you can keep it."
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
BOHICA - Scammed Again!
The Christmas/New Years holidays are over with and certainly it can be said that the Congress is back in Washington and it is again, "politics as usual". I could never speak for everyone but I am fed up with a federal government that is hell bent on their liberal agenda and the public be damned. I know it sounds like a broken record but I have never seen leadership so willing to throw transparency out the window along with Robert's Rules of Order. I am talking about the determination of the liberal Congress to pass Health Care Reform at any cost, and believe me it is going to cost.
Back in August of 2008 Candidate Barack Obama spoke to a town hall meeting in Chester, Virginia about the desire to reform health care. He stated "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies...what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-Span, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents...And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."
Yesterday, after meeting behind closed doors, democratic representatives were asked about the transparency of the reconciliation meetings and the fact that Candidate Obama had promised transparency in his administration. Speaker of the House Pelosi replied "well the President made a lot of promises on the campaign trail." The public was advised in a news release two days ago that the compromise between the House and Senate versions of the health care bill would be a three-way negotiation involving top Democrats in the House and Senate and the White House. It was announced there would be no plans to appoint a formal House-Senate conference committee, the method Congress most often uses to reconcile differing bills. The conservative side of the aisle has been totally shut out of the process. So the plan is to reach a quick agreement and on the desk of the President for signing.
It has become quite obvious of the administrations plans on this bill. Obama broke his promise on transparency many months ago with backroom deals cut with drug companies, hospitals and the AARP. I previously reported this in my commentary "Scamming Our Citizens" on November 10, 2008. The old scout motto of "Be Prepared" could not ring more true than in this situation. The American people will see more federal debt, their health care costs will increase, their taxes will go up and their quality of care will go down. There is absolutely no way on this earth that you can provide coverage to 15 million more people and cut the Medicare costs by a half billion dollars with out the resulting costs to taxpayers. Just one question left...have you removed that Obama for President sticker from your car yet?
Back in August of 2008 Candidate Barack Obama spoke to a town hall meeting in Chester, Virginia about the desire to reform health care. He stated "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies...what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-Span, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents...And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."
Yesterday, after meeting behind closed doors, democratic representatives were asked about the transparency of the reconciliation meetings and the fact that Candidate Obama had promised transparency in his administration. Speaker of the House Pelosi replied "well the President made a lot of promises on the campaign trail." The public was advised in a news release two days ago that the compromise between the House and Senate versions of the health care bill would be a three-way negotiation involving top Democrats in the House and Senate and the White House. It was announced there would be no plans to appoint a formal House-Senate conference committee, the method Congress most often uses to reconcile differing bills. The conservative side of the aisle has been totally shut out of the process. So the plan is to reach a quick agreement and on the desk of the President for signing.
It has become quite obvious of the administrations plans on this bill. Obama broke his promise on transparency many months ago with backroom deals cut with drug companies, hospitals and the AARP. I previously reported this in my commentary "Scamming Our Citizens" on November 10, 2008. The old scout motto of "Be Prepared" could not ring more true than in this situation. The American people will see more federal debt, their health care costs will increase, their taxes will go up and their quality of care will go down. There is absolutely no way on this earth that you can provide coverage to 15 million more people and cut the Medicare costs by a half billion dollars with out the resulting costs to taxpayers. Just one question left...have you removed that Obama for President sticker from your car yet?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Airport Security - Knee Jerk Reactions
After the news release of the Christmas terrorist attack on the Northwest Airlines flight into Detroit, the brain trust of the Airport Security and the Transportation Security Authority when into high gear with idiotic actions. We immediately were informed that effective immediately that all flights coming into the United States from overseas would initiate rules that would not
allow passengers to use the bathroom during the last hour of flight before arrival. Furthermore, there would be no issue of blankets or pillows during the last hour of flight.
There have already been several incidents of airport closures because of unusual or unexplained incidents. One comes to mind yesterday of the airport that was closed, passengers who had already boarded flights waiting to take off were required to go thru the security screening for the second time. All because an alert went out stating that someone had entered and exited a baggage screening area by the wrong direction.
Eight years ago the Shoe Bomber, Richard Reid attempted to blow up a plane. For the past eight years we as passengers have been required to remove our shoes when going through Airport Security. Now we have the Nigerian terrorist who has quickly been labeled by the media as the Underwear Bomber. Whats next? Will we be required to remove our.....oh wait a minute. I don't want to go there! I am just asking that common sense prevail.
allow passengers to use the bathroom during the last hour of flight before arrival. Furthermore, there would be no issue of blankets or pillows during the last hour of flight.
There have already been several incidents of airport closures because of unusual or unexplained incidents. One comes to mind yesterday of the airport that was closed, passengers who had already boarded flights waiting to take off were required to go thru the security screening for the second time. All because an alert went out stating that someone had entered and exited a baggage screening area by the wrong direction.
Eight years ago the Shoe Bomber, Richard Reid attempted to blow up a plane. For the past eight years we as passengers have been required to remove our shoes when going through Airport Security. Now we have the Nigerian terrorist who has quickly been labeled by the media as the Underwear Bomber. Whats next? Will we be required to remove our.....oh wait a minute. I don't want to go there! I am just asking that common sense prevail.
War on Terrorism - Struggling for Committment
I was listening to President Obama addressing the nation last evening after meeting with his top security advisors over the Christmas Day terrorist attack. I should have know better than to expect something different. He was for sure in his usual polished speaker mode. He told you what he had learned and told the American people how important this was to him and how he promised that he would do everything in his power to protect us in the future. Gosh, I feel so much better now. Fact is, the Community Organizer did not tell you anything that I had not told you in my commentary on December 30th. In fact, he told you less and only acknowledged that the CIA had been following the trail of a person who came to be known as Farouk Abdulmutallab - the Nigerian.
He went through the usual discussion of "how we failed to connect the dots". Excuse me Mr. President but I believe the same discussion took place after 9-11. I will give him credit for not faulting the Bush Administration this time, and he confirmed that the transfer of Yemini detainees from Guantanamo Bay back to their homeland would be delayed. After a year in office it is time to stop the nonsense and take responsibility.
On March 8, 2008, Candidate Obama told an audience of military officers that "....because I believe that any candidate for President must present the American people with a clear vision of how we will lead. There are real differences between the candidates, and important issues to debate - from ending the war in Iraq, to combating terrorism, to devising hew strategies and new capabilities to confront 21st century threats". In my opinion, he has failed to express a clear vision on how to lead in the battle against terrorism. This past year alone there has been terrorist activities in Little Rock, Arkansas when a Yemen terrorist gunned down army recruiters. In July an Afghan-American was arrested after going into a Denver, Colorado beauty supply store to purchase supplies for building a bomb. In Fort Hood, Texas, Major Hassan gunned down his fellow soldiers, and now the attempted blowing up of a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit.
I would like to think that finally something will be done. We need to quit treating citizens as terrorists and quit treating terrorists as citizens. I said before that if we had the resolve to combat Al Qaeda jihadists as much as they have the resolve to destroy America, we could get the job done. The resolve must come from leadership and sadly, it has been absent to this point.
He went through the usual discussion of "how we failed to connect the dots". Excuse me Mr. President but I believe the same discussion took place after 9-11. I will give him credit for not faulting the Bush Administration this time, and he confirmed that the transfer of Yemini detainees from Guantanamo Bay back to their homeland would be delayed. After a year in office it is time to stop the nonsense and take responsibility.
On March 8, 2008, Candidate Obama told an audience of military officers that "....because I believe that any candidate for President must present the American people with a clear vision of how we will lead. There are real differences between the candidates, and important issues to debate - from ending the war in Iraq, to combating terrorism, to devising hew strategies and new capabilities to confront 21st century threats". In my opinion, he has failed to express a clear vision on how to lead in the battle against terrorism. This past year alone there has been terrorist activities in Little Rock, Arkansas when a Yemen terrorist gunned down army recruiters. In July an Afghan-American was arrested after going into a Denver, Colorado beauty supply store to purchase supplies for building a bomb. In Fort Hood, Texas, Major Hassan gunned down his fellow soldiers, and now the attempted blowing up of a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit.
I would like to think that finally something will be done. We need to quit treating citizens as terrorists and quit treating terrorists as citizens. I said before that if we had the resolve to combat Al Qaeda jihadists as much as they have the resolve to destroy America, we could get the job done. The resolve must come from leadership and sadly, it has been absent to this point.
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