Fear, Anxiety, and Anticipation

By Alan Caruba

I will watch the next and last presidential debate, but only reluctantly. It is the job of pundits to keep informed, but I have been suffering from an overload of information about Barack Obama since before he was elected and all of it suggested he would do a lot of damage before he left office.

The fact is we are all stuck with him through January 20, 2013 when—and if—Mitt Romney takes the oath of office. One can only ponder how much more damage Obama could do between November 7, the day after the election and then?

And, of course, one hopes the election results will not end up with the kind of situation that occurred when Bush defeated Gore, but not until the Supreme Court ruled. I keep seeing signs and indications that it may not be a close election insofar that significant numbers of Democrats—many of whom may be out of work or know someone who is—will vote for Romney.

It’s the waiting that is weighing on my mind and spirit. The first debate lifted my spirit and that of many others, but the second has been deemed a tie of sorts. For me it was just a cascade of more lies from Obama who is so crazy he actually believes what he is saying or so sly he doesn’t care.

There is a school of thought that Obama really doesn’t want a second term and the more I watch him, I am leaning toward that theory. I know he is raising money, appearing on late night talk shows, giving speeches in key swing states, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t just doing it to avoid the stigma of throwing the presidency away in favor of a life less rigorous.

One former White House aide to both Clinton and Obama has said Obama “doesn’t like people.” That is an odd trait for a politician, but not odd when you consider that he rather absently referred to the killings of our Benghazi diplomats as “bumps in the road.” It astounds me that liberals keep saying he loves the common people, but he surely does not comport himself like one of them.

It is, of course, the waiting that is beginning to wear on my nerves. Just about the only thing my fellow pundit-friends are writing about these days are analyses and jeremiads concerning Obama’s lies and lack of qualifications, failed policies, and such. Listening to the chattering class on Fox and other news channels is an endless dissection of polling data, most of which seems to be dubious at best, wrong at worst.

I confess that, having voted since the age of 21, starting with John F. Kennedy in 1960, I have never feared so much for the future of the nation, dependent on the election of a candidate. And I was a Democrat right up to Reagan’s campaign and have voted Republican ever since. My late Mother, a Democrat her entire life, changed her registration status after Clinton’s first term in office. She was in her 90s by then, but better late than never.

Put simply, another Obama presidency for four years terrifies me. He doesn’t like America.

That may sound simplistic, but no other President heaped so much publi debt on the books. From Washington through Bush43, Obama has managed to add more debt than all of his predecessors combined.

Beyond our shores, an America that stood strong against the former Soviet Union for over 45 years until it collapsed has a President who reassures the present leaders in the Kremlin that he can be “more flexible” if and when he’s reelected. I don’t like the sound of that, do you?

All positions of power attract a legion of sycophants and, in our system of government, supporters who seek access to that power—often through “bundling” campaign funds—or who have just concluded they like him.

It remains a mystery to me that the polls show how closely divided the nation is between Obama’s supporters and detractors. I doubt it has ever been this divided since just before the Civil War.

And that is what worries me the most. It’s those people who just don’t hear his lies or even know he’s lying.

It’s the mainstream media that has always been liberal, but which now sees its job as protecting Obama against the truth that everyone can see on countless outlets for information, including of course Fox News that often seems fair and unbalanced given the liberal puppets that spout more lies.

I am compelled to do what every republic expects. I am compelled to wait on the will of the people as expressed through the electoral system. It makes me anxious. It makes me fearful.

© Alan Caruba, 2012