By Alan Caruba“Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed? In normal times, this would be a ludicrous question. But these are not normal times. They are times of great danger…The costs to the US and the world of another failed presidency do not bear contemplating.”
This was the view expressed on February 10 in the Financial Times.
It is nothing less than extraordinary that, less than a month into the presidency of Barack Obama, the warnings are flying that it has embarked on a course of actions that are a danger to the nation and to the world.
A day later, Kathleen Parker, a columnist for The Washington Post, was lamenting President Obama’s lack of experience and, more importantly, his lack of maturity. “Obama wants too much to be liked…but there’s a price in becoming president. Giving up being liked is the ultimate public sacrifice.” George W. Bush can confirm the truth of that.
“Obama’s lack of authority over the stimulus package has underscored the value of political experience and toughness,” wrote Parker of Obama’s ceding control to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Meanwhile, two weeks into his presidency, both Obama and wife Michelle were complaining that they were “tired of being in the White House” given the limitations on their former freedom to come and go as they wished.
“Sell the sizzle, not the steak” is an old advertizing maxim. Just over half the voters bought the sizzle surrounding the charismatic candidate, but the steak is proving hard to swallow.
In the first month of his four-year term, there were several cabinet appointments that turned out to be seriously flawed, but that was just the beginning of a number of odd decisions culminating in what may have been the most boring first press conference by a new President. He delivered a ten-minute opening statement followed by a ten-minute response to the first question.
Meanwhile, Obama has issued a flurry of executive orders including shutting down Gitmo, but not determining what we do with a bunch of fanatic, stone killers, some of whom have been released and went right back to al Qaeda. Not satisfied with that, he authorized the spending of $20.3 million in immigration assistance to Palestinian refugees—calling them victims—who want to leave Gaza and bring their hatred here.
His first call to a “head of state” was to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Fatah Party. Abbas is not a head of state and Fatah exists only at the pleasure of Israel who needs to appear to be negotiating something other than its own destruction. His first television interview was with Al Arabia. The Iranian response was to demand that he apologize for the “past crimes” of the U.S.
He has ordered all overseas CIA interrogation centers closed and then withdrew all charges against the mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole. Do you feel any safer now?
His administration is about to kill any possibility of exploration and drilling for offshore oil while at the same time talking endlessly about “energy independence.”
Finally (though not really) he has nomined David Ogden to be deputy Attorney-General. This is a man whose most notable accomplishments include representing pornographers, trying to defeat child protection legislation, and undermining family values. He once represented a group of library directors to argue against the Children's Internet Protection Act that requires libraries and schools receiving funding for the Internet to restrict access to obscene sites.
The barbarians aren’t at the gates, they are inside the gates.
This isn’t just a failed presidency at this point. It is a suicidal one that is threatening to take down the nation with it.
12 comments:
This presidency is like a surreal nightmare.
If one assumes that this president is actually interested in bettering this country than it is hard to see him as being successful.
Our country thrives on individual freedom.
This government is on the verge of having unprecedented restrictions placed on free speech. The president has on numerous occasions singled out voices of dissent for ridicule. Under the guise of "the public good" new license requirements will be implemented to suppress the conservative radio voices.
Meddling with the census is an extremely blatant grab for unconstitutional power to bypass the representative republic.
Powers being seized by the government in this stimulus bill are unbelievable.
So far, his measures to weaken our defenses against our enemies are only matched by the measures to weaken our individual freedoms.
Soon the government will take it upon themselves to have power to decide if a life is worth saving based on cost effectiveness.
I see no restraint on Obamas part to the hard left radical positions held by Obey or Pelosi in the writing of this bill.
Those that think that Obama is moderate, or will govern in a pragmatic manner are engaging in wishful thinking!
If his poll numbers dip far enough he might change for expediency but I won't hold my breath waiting for that!
I have not heard of one presidential action he has taken so far that I would commend him for.
No, I think Obama is succeeding in doing what he wants to do- and that is to tear down this country and change it's structure for ever.
I hope I am wrong for my children's sake!
If we want our liberty we need to push back before we are bowled over.
Libertyforusa, I'm sorry to say that I think the time to "push back" has long since passed. We, as Republicans, sat idly by while the previous administration turned the majority of our voting population against them with their uncontrolled spending and half-assed conservatism. We sat idly by while liberal influences invaded our schools and brainwashed our children. We sat idly by while leftists in our media brainwashed us. The damage that has been done during those years is going to be VERY hard to correct. Of course, like you, I still advocate "pushing back" at every opportunity, but it's going to be a lot like trying to push a car uphill through 12" of snow ....
We'll be lucky if the car doesn't roll backwards, run us over, and leave us lying in the snow....
Guy,
Our forefathers warned us to be vigilant.
Too many people are ignorant to history or to what is happening.
The ignorance of the masses are the big weakness we have in capitalism and maintaining liberty freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.
You are right to wear the pessimists hat, and the realists hat.
We need to wear all the problem solving hats, to effectively fight for our rights conveyed as unalienable and spelled out by our constitution.
The politicians(including Republicans) are importing ignorance by the millions to this country.
The attempt to silence dissent is the attempt to add to the ignorance.
When the left gets enough ignorant people they will have permanent power.
Soros has this plan to end Americas dominance, to end our sovereignty and globalize socialism.
Allegedly, someone caused a $550 billion dollar electronic run on the banks on 11 September, 2008.
We knew nothing about it, but the Feds and Congress did. Had they not closed the markets early they estimated 3-5 trillion would have been withdrawn completely collapsing the economy!
It was obviously orchestrated by someone to benefit a certain candidate!
The peoples level of ignorance will decide whether he wins, or we do!
Guy, it is never too late to push back. If that was the case the allies would never have fought WWII.
That September electronic run on our banks was timed to provide Obama with a financial crisis to play off of as the campaign drew near a close and to use to ram through this abomination of a "stimulus" bill.
I am kind of curious as to what everyone thinks about the eligibility issue that has been raised regarding his birth. When this first broke I thought it was a bit whacky.... I couldn’t imagine that anyone could be so stupid as to try and pull something like that. And the guy who first started it seemed a bit whacky too, so I gave this whole thing short shrift.
Then as the whole thing progressed I kept asking myself; why they just don't show the certificate? Apparently the one shown is a duplicate and has been questioned. I don't know if the duplicate is bogus or not...others claim that the duplicate is valid. I keep asking; why they don’t show the original?
This morning this article appeared.
"Sanctions' sought in eligibility case. President's attorneys file motion demanding birth, college records be withheld from public."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88746
I am curious as to what everyone else thinks...
This will become an increasingly urgent issue, Rich.
Those pursuing this have been labeled as tinfoil hat wearers by no less than David Horowitz and Michelle Malkin.
No rational person can believe scores of lawsuits brought in the states and federal courts are being fought by Obama on a principle.
Personally I think he is hiding a lot, because he has much to hide that does not at all align with his media created image.
One fact seems apparent though, nobody has the power to enforce the constitution on this matter except the supreme court, and they so far refuse to do so or order anyone else to do so.
The turmoil of finding out he is actually a poser or an usurper now would be devastating, though it would void all his horrendous decisions to date.
This issue will never go away, and I think Obama and his supporters will spend any amount to continue to fend it off.
Rich, here's my understanding of this whole birth certificate thing, and I've done a lot of research on the matter....
The Obama birth certificate that is available for viewing all over the internet is actually a "certificate of birth", issued by the state of Hawaii. It is not to be confused with a true "birth certificate" which is the ACTUAL form that is filled out by the ACTUAL hospital and signed by the ACTUAL attending physician when someone is born. The original copies of these birth certificates are forwarded to the state and archived somewhere, supposedly in a safe, secure location. Personally, I have a certified photo copy of my ACTUAL birth certificate, which my mother gave to me when I moved away from home. My mom was a stickler for record keeping. She also gave me my original Social Security cards. Many people never get a copy of their actual birth certificate, or if they do, they wind up losing track of it somehow. When they need it later in life, to get their passport or otherwise prove where they were born, they contact the state where they are born, and receive a state issued "certificate of birth". A certificate of birth is nothing more than an official government generated document, stating where and when you were born. It is NOT a copy of your actual birth certificate. Someone in the state records department simply retrieves the information from the archives, enters the information taken off your birth certificate into a computer, and it spits out the new "certificate of birth". These certificates are accepted by pretty much everyone as an official record of your birth, ironclad, and indisputable proof of where and when you were born. We all know that anything that comes from a government office must be accurate and couldn't possibly be a forgery because it was prepared by a government official, and all government officials are held to the highest standards of honesty and integrity aren't they? Especially in the largely Democratic offices of the State of Hawaii....
Of course, we aren't allowed to see the ACTUAL birth certificate from the ACTUAL hospital Obama was born in, signed by the ACTUAL doctor that delivered him, because that would be a horrible violation of the confidentiality of his medical records. It sure would be nice if we could see it though. All this controversy would be over then wouldn't it? I guess I can understand why it cannot be released to the general public. However, I'm at a loss to understand why it can't simply be reviewed by an impartial supreme court justice or whoever else would be appropriate to put an end to this controversy. Could it be that there is something on that actual certificate that Obama doesn't want us to see? I guess we'll never know ...
Now, in a few short months, after the Obama administration launches their new health care plan, OUR medical records will be available for all to see because of course, that will be in all of our best interests ....
Sorry if I'm ranting a bit here ... my tin foil hat is a bit too tight, and it's making me cranky.
He denied us the Cole Families a trial. All of our sons killers are free right now in yemen. And now Obama drops the charges on al-Nashiri. And closes Gitmo.
Whats next? Send the terrorists to Jihad Rehab and then they can kill more innocent people.
Remember the Cole!
Eh, the birth certificate is a red herring used by the opposition to make us look bad. There's no "there" there. As long as we bang that drum, we're going to look stupid. Nobody wants to hear it.
Stick with the substantive stuff - his failure to support Colombian Free Trade, his lies at the Catepillar plant, his lies about how he'd run a lobbyist-free Washington, his lies on bipartisanship, his lies in general,which are growing by the day.
This is a guy who can say one thing and do another because the press and his zombie supporters won't question him. Even we questioned Bush from time to time and sometimes more often than time to time...
But not one question was raised by the press about the efficacy of an $800bb "stimulus" package. Not one question was raised about how he pushed the Republicans to the side and ignored them, not one question is being raised about the Census.
THEY (the worse of them) claimed Bush was overthrowing the Constitution! Well, this guy is engaging in a usurpation of power - a virtual economic coup d'etat that will ensure Democrats a majority for a generation.
Supposedly Republicans "rigged" two elections. Funny how when the Democrats won nothing was "rigged". If the Republicans were capable of rigging anything, wouldn't they have rigged the last election, which was close enough to pull something off in?
The Democrats lie about Republicans and everyone with a torch and pitchfork is out for Republican blood. The Republicans make small peep about Obama, and they're "traitors". Funny...isn't that what they complained about the reaction to the reactionary Left under Bush? How he would label people who opposed him "traitors"?
The hypocrisy and lies are massive and mounting.
"Eh, the birth certificate is a red herring used by the opposition to make us look bad. There's no "there" there. As long as we bang that drum, we're going to look stupid. Nobody wants to hear it."
Without proof one way or another that is the position of the professionals.
However the circumstantial evidence is very compelling on many questions; not the least of which is the amount of money on attorneys fees being spent when the records being sought could be shown to the courts and still remain hidden from public view.
The polls on this question show people across the political spectrum are wondering why all the secrecy?
Bobster-
Indeed Remember the Cole-
Never Forget!
It seems a month into this presidency,is like watching the entire fabric of our society being unraveled. Pure unadulterated destruction, of who we are, and how we prosper as a nation.
Obama is undoing America!
So far we see anti-security,
anti-defense,
anti-business,
anti-energy,
& anti-sovereignty moves
the anti-constitutional moves are promised.
The press, they are tripping on Obama as if he's the new cocaine!
If George Soros isn't running the show, he sure is getting everything he wants!
Chuck Schumer seems to have a key role on the demolition team and may be telegraphing what comes next!
If there remains any beacon of light at all, it is that the Congressional Republicans, with notable exceptions, at least have signaled their unwillingness to cave in to Soetoro's cult of personality... but who will notice?
The major media outlets will never arise from their accepted role as manservant to the king. Congress libs next move will be to silence their critics on the radio. Any popular discontent will therefore need to be a "grassroots" type of movement. The taxpayers are hypnotized and ignorant, the line for government cheese is getting longer by the day (extended by the ridiculous policies of the leftists), and freedom loving Americans are becoming an endangered species. We need to put a stop to bad government. Vote the incumbents out in 2010!
May God save the Republic.
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