SamSaid!

     Long before the Obama tsunami washed over John McCain in the fall of  ‘o8, his political skills and talents were well recognized.  But while conceding youth and verbal skills there remained serious reservations about his experience (or lack thereof) in  foreign affairs, economics, military matters and government spending  — and if anything, those reservations have been heightened over the past year. It seems as though anything he touches turns to mud.  His track record in both the Illinois legislature and the US Senate is very revealing. In both arenas, he has disdained Yes/No decisions and has opted to vote “present” . It seems to me that voting “present” is just one step short of “form a committee” or” hire a consultant.”  For sure it does not qualify as making a decision.   In thinking back to my academic years, there was an old adage that  said “never trust a politician who ducks tough issues by voting “present”.

      Come to think of  it, I don’t know whether it qualifies as an old political adage or not. But if it doesn’t, it should.  We don’t have to look far for proof.

Make no mistake, Prez Obama is formidable political figure –   he is youthful, energetic, well spoken, television talented, knowledgeable, and has PR savvy.  But if you put all of his considerable talents together they fall well short of quality experience, leadership, and common sense. Certainly his efforts at personal command of foreign policy has fallen flat. With all of the hoopla over Hillary as SecState, we might ask, “What does she do?” while Obama globe trots.

With all of that, he clearly does have one great talent  –  Spending huge amounts of money  –  someone else’s money  –  with scant attention paid to mere details like paying for his grandiose programs. At the base level of his schemes is a thorough knowledge of how to get his hands on lots of money. Three main ways. 1) Printing money  2) borrowing money 3) taxing citizens

Printing money …….   see US Mint

Borrowing  …….    see China

Taxes  …….  see Citizens of USA

The ABCs of  the Obama Administration.  No secrets here.  Most of us dislike 4 letter words like….”debt”, but not Obama. “Spending” is his priority. His flowery speeches are taking us down a very worrisome path. And are we safer under his military policies?  Not as far as I can see!!

At 8:40 PST on 3/28/10 Obama and his henchmen committed this country to a long one way road to socialized medicine. If you like bigger government, higher taxes,  higher insurance premiums, and higher medical bills, you will love it. He got it done via legislative chicanery, arm twisting, political bribery, and just plain threats. Now we will get a full treatment of flowery rhetoric.  And the word “socialism” will not appear. but that is what it is.  The last step was a couple of Executive Orders which amount to nothing.  Rep. Bart Stupak took the bait on the abortion issue and now we’ll have to wait and see how Obama weasels out of that commitment. Moral of the story  …  tomorrow means nothing. Only today counts.

     Stupak might think about that.    Obama has the votes and Stupak might wind up with a n empty bag. Next comes jobs, jobs and jobs. Despite all the fancy words, there is no such thing as a “job” until someone hires someone to perform a given task.  I wonder if it ever occurs to Obama et al, that the best way to get someone hired is to create an employment  environment favorable to  employers.  The answer certainly is not more regulations and heavier taxes from the heavy hand of government. Most people understand that, but Washington???

In  1954 a hit movie starring actress Judy Garland was “A star is born”. I don’t recall much about the movie, but the title registered with me and I have recalled it on occasion over the years. The most recent occasion was the appearance of Sarah Palin at the 2007 Republican Convention . She appeared as a relative stranger and over night became a household name.  She reinvigorated the Republicans and presented an unexpected force (challenge) to Obama and the Democrats who quickly undertook the task of trying to destroy her. That effort continues today via the hostile left wing press and media. However, her messages resonate among a healthy segment of the political population and her visibility remains high (see book sales).  In the 2012 elections she will be a force. Her star has been born and is thriving.

Now a new star has been born.  Scott Brown.  His huge win in Massachusetts  has catapulted him onto the front pages of newspapers and magazines all over the country. He has all of the attributes of  a successful candidate and a well spoken leader. Good looking, good vocabulary, good presence of mind, good sense of humor, and well versed on the issues of the day. For sure, a star has been born in Massachusetts. I wonder if Ted Kennedy is turning over in his grave.

Want to take any bets that both Sarah and Scott will be on the podium at the 2012 Republican convention?? The only thing better than a new star is two new stars.

As the unemployment level rose beyond 7% back in 2008, the Obama administration identified it as a major priority for strong Federal action. Nobody looked upon high unemployment as being acceptable  — even on a short term basis. Hence, the Stimulus Bill  –  almost  a $800 Billion  — aimed at creating private sector jobs on projects dubbed “shovel ready”.  But instead of dropping, unemployment rose to more than 10% and has stayed there. By any math model, the Stimulus program has been a colossal failure  –  a total flop. In order to buttress their contentions of success, the numerical scorekeeping by Democrats has been downright laughable. Now the Prez wants to take the unspent money and spend it on do-gooder government projects.  No more discussions about shovel ready.

Virtually all economists agree that the real engine of job creation is in the small business private sector of the economy –  not the  public sector. All the private sector gets is more burdensome regulations and higher taxes.  We might ask Mr Obama, “Exactly what are you trying to fix??”

This assumes that he has some kind of plan. Not very clear to me.

Back in the days of the cold war there was a favorite term used to describe politicians who equivocated or vacillated on key issues in dealing with the USSR.  These are the folks who talked tough and then hid from the hard facts that could not be ignored. They said all of the right things and were very “hawk-like” until it came to decision time. Then they “chickened out”.  Hence came the term “chicken hawks “.

In watching our Prez and listening to his rhetoric, I think it is time to dust off the chicken hawk nomenclature and pin a badge of feathers on his lapel. When the first duty of  the President is to secure the welfare of the country and its citizens it is not too comforting to have a chicken hawk sitting in the White House.

Back in the 60s and 70s the chicken hawks were confident that we could negotiate our way around, through, or over any international issue.  Sound familiar?? All we need is a good microphone and sound batteries. Obama might think that the verbal skills of Churchill and FDR made all the difference in winning WWII.  Sure,  —that plus the willingness to commit an Army, Navy and Air Force  —  and the decision  to use them.

Do you really think that we can pursuade the Iranians, Koreans, etc.,  to give up their nukes??  Why should they believe Obama?  Based on events to date, would you?? If we eventually have some kind of showdown, who will be the first to blink?  Maybe the Prez should check the oddsmakers in Las Vegas.

Sarah Palin arrived on the national political scene at the 2008 Republican Convention last fall and made an immediate impact on the political scene  –  particularly among women.The Obama camp was caught flat-footedand had an immediate strategy council meeting to decide what to do about Sarah. Almost immediately the game plan was to destroy Sarah.  With no holds barred, the targets were Sarah, her spouse, her family, her kids, her role as Governor of Alaska, her education, etc etc.  Anything and everything. The attack dogs of the major media were turned loose.  Simple objective  –  Destroy Sarah.

As a part-time stay at home political junkie, I have followed with interest the skirmishes between Sarah and the major media gurus over the past year, including the past 3 months in which she has re-emerged as a major voice on the national scene, to say nothing of her new book recently published with great success. While I understand the strategy of the Democrats,  the harshness and viciousness of the media assaults are hard to accept. She is attractive, well spoken, knowledgeable, and a far cry from the political destructiveness of the left wingers. Clearly, her messages have  resonated strongly with voters of all persuasions on the major issues of the day. Will she seek high office next year?  Probably not. Will she speak out to endorse candidates of her preferences?  Undoubtedly, yes.  Does she have political ambitions?  Yes, no doubt. Can she win the Presidency?  Doubtful. But she will be a powerful force in any national election, and the Democrats know it.

Would I vote for her?  Yes, if I have a chance. If experience is a pre-requisite, what about Obama??

The primary yardstick used to gauge the depth of the current recession is the unemployment  rate.  A year or so ago it hovered between 7 and 7.5 %. Responding to that urgent problem, Obama and his advisory team came up with a Stimulus package priced at about $800,ooo,ooo,000. That’s right  –  $800 Billion. During the past year, the unemployment rate has surged to 10.2 %.  Obviously the Stimulus package has been a disastrous flop. Whatever became of the “shovel ready” projects?? Now, some of his Democratic  supporters are talking about a Stimulus II  —  you know, when in doubt, throw more money at it. In trying to justify the 2008 Stimulus package, the reports of job creation (and/or job saving) have been downright laughable, including job creation in phantom non-existent  Congressional districts. Yoo-hoo, anyone driving this train??

Even left wing economists concede that real job creation rests with small businesses. The economy doesn’t await the IBMs and Chevrons to hire thousands of new employes. Rather, the prime mover is thousands of small businesses hiring 5-10-20 people or so apiece.  Doesn’t it make senses to help small business owners instead of imposing more and more burdensome taxes on them? Instead of impressive rhetoric, a few pro business measures might be the real stimulus that is needed.

Are you listening, Mr Prez??

In some form, competition exists in all phases of our society and culture for all organizations and individuals. It is the fuel that drives our engines of accomplishment. And it figures that with measurements of success there will be records. That leads us to the Holy Grails of accomplishment  –  all time records.

In the world politics and government, all- time records are revered in some circles and new records are being set every day.  Take Prez Obama for example. First, he is setting and all time record for TV appearances.  Not a day goes by without spending time in front of the TV cameras, and at last count, none of his predecessors (even Bill Clinton) qualifies for second place.  One question is whether or not he is wearing out his welcome. Either that or else he suffers from self intoxication.

Second, he has set all time records for spending. There are 3 main  sources for money  —  printing more currency, borrowing, and higher taxes. The Treasury printing presses are in overdrive, China is our main source of borrowed funds and he has raised taxes on all of us with more to come.  All of this without much regard for paying back all of the huge commitments.

All- time records. Obama’s legacy to the next generation.

Not too long ago we were introduced to the term “Billions”. Now it is Trillions which is a number followed by twelve zeroes. Does he really care about the burden of “payback?”

TV time and spending. All- time records with more to come.

Shortly after invoking the Islamic prayer “Allah Akbhar” (God is Great) Major Hasan drew two hand guns and killed 13 people and wounded 29 others. All in the name of Allah. The do-gooders and others of the persuasion of Political Corrrectness say that the shooter suffered from lack of counseling. War related trauma. Try that on the families of the dead or dying victims. Here is a guy who thinks that suicide bombers are OK and places loyalty to Islam over loyalty to the USA or the Army. And he has tried to contact Al Queda leaders and recruiters. He bought hand guns and ammunition well in advance —- which he used at Ft Hood where he fired close to 100 shots. Not exactly a spur of the momen action. If he “snapped”, when did he snap? When he bought the guns?? Personally, I wish he had been killed by the four shots he received. And think about the hundreds and thousands of taxpayer dollars that will be spent for medical and legal expenses of his trial. In the end, he won’t be executed. It might make the Muslim leaders mad. But he will be remembered — while the 38 dead and wounded will be largely forgotten. For the Murderous Major it will be reduced to a long sentence that will at some point be commuted since the real defense will be inadequate counseling. That is the PC defense. And for the dead soldiers, Just another case of “Sorry buddy, wrong place, wrong time”.
The real culprits in this sad scenario are at Walter Reed Hospital. They Knew he was big trouble, but passed him off to Ft. Hood. That’s all a part of the PC solution.