Unmanned Presidency

President Obama's recent decision to delay making a decision about whether or not to allow construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to Louisiana is, I think, a good indication of what we can expect to see from the President between now and election day. The delay has been hailed by environmental groups, while also being put forth as evidence by some political analysts that the administration is fearful of losing support even from such hardcore elements of the Democratic party base as environmental activists.

This shows a political efficiency I can't say I've noticed before in this White House -- in other words, if your record in office is so bad that it can only bring disaster to run on it, why bother adding to it?  Just freeze as much as possible in place and then get on with the lying, distortion and vicious attacks against the opposition that is your only possible road to victory.  That the murky set of charges of sexual misconduct against Herman Cain are all somehow coming to smell of Chicago (as discussed by liberal hate object and sometime twit Ann Coulter) may be evidence that the White House's campaign attack machine is well in place and conducting preliminary operations.

The White House has announced that the President's coming trip to Asia is intended to assure Asian countries (aside from China) that the United States will remain an economic and military power broker in Asia, and a counterweight to China's growing prominence.  Sailing east like a Commodore Perry without cannons, Obama somehow thinks he can convince Asian leaders that an America with a weak, overregulated, indebted economy is going to protect them from the ambitions of their ruthless neighbor with the exploding economy.  Similarly, Obama has announced his intention of imposing more sanctions against Iran for their continuing attempts at developing nuclear weapons, a ringing endorsement from the President of an approach that has been an utter failure, at a time when an attack by Israel against Iran looks more and more inevitable, and sooner than later.  Is there any point to all this beyond letting Obama prance about as though he is some sort of foreign policy powerhouse, when it is clear whatever influence he may have had has by now evaporated?

With the distractions of the Occupy movement and the Herman Cain situation, we haven't heard much about the "American Jobs Act" or much of anything else that Obama is up to, save for his Olympian descent to save us all from the 15 cent Christmas tree tax.  I think what we'll be seeing from now until election day is a White House occasionally submitting unpassable bills to Congress as a way of providing ammunition for running against "uncompromising" Republicans, and treading water as much as possible in foreign policy, all the while escalating the campaign of catapulting political manure bags at whatever presidential hopefuls seem to them to be deserving, strategic targets.

Toto, I Have A Feeling We're Not In Woodstock Anymore

I'm not much inclined towards making statements like "it made my blood boil," but watching this video of Occupy DC thugs raising hell this weekend outside the Washington, D.C. Convention Center just about had me there.

The mob logic on display in the video is stunning--from the pig shouting "Ho! Ho! Ho!" at a mother defending her children and the crowd knocking a 78-year old woman to the ground, to the outrage of demonstrators on the street that someone in a car surrounded by marauding freaks might resort to running someone over to get to safety, the absolute lack of common decency shown by any of these "demonstrators" was sickening to me.

I don't know if the President is going to take any time out of whatever the hell it is he does after 4 o'clock in the afternoon to give a look at what his class warfare campaign is producing, and I don't really care.  As far as I'm concerned, every day that we hear no condemnation whatsoever from the White House of the crime, intolerance and deliberate violence that has been happening in the "Occupy" movement is more proof to me that this unrest is exactly what Obama wants.

The President's Mob vs. The Cold Winds of Autumn

With the "Occupy" protests now in their second month and already taking on Lord Of The Flies and Animal Farm aspects, questions about what exactly is being protested and why are still eliciting wide disagreement throughout the nation. Whether or not we ever figure that out, the Occupiers have suggested solutions to what they're protesting that range from abolishing money to running the Jews out of the country, the latter being a lovely addition to so many of the mass movements we've lately seen worldwide.

The days of the Occupation appear to be numbered, as residents and officials in occupied cities grow tired of the antics, noise, crime and sheer filth being generated by the new Utopians.  That and the simple fact that living outside is not so much fun in the cold rain and snow leads me to guess that most of the current phase of this movement will have passed by Thanksgiving.  Then again, who knows, maybe the Aleutian branch of Occupy will come to the rescue with helpful hints on outdoor living.

Meanwhile, the White House and Democratic establishment have been making noises of support for the movement while still keeping enough distance to make a clean break if things go wrong, like someone attending to a drunken friend who's likely going to puke all over himself.  The President and some of his fellow travelers have made a point that they understand the frustrations of the Occupied group, and have been eager in attempting to link the motives of the Occupied with those of Tea Party types, a notion I haven't heard echoed by anyone who could seriously be described as part of the Tea Party movement (Newt Gingrich and Eric Cantor don't count, if you're wondering).

It seems to me that since their massive defeat in the elections of 2010, Democrats and the left in general have been in search of something that would allow them to revive their failing political prospects.  From the attempt to silence conservatives with cries for "civility" after the Tucson massacre, to the failed mob action in Madison, to the simply ridiculous "Coffee Party," nothing has worked.  Finally, for whatever reasons, "Occupy Wall Street" has caught fire, in spite of all its contradictions and frequent ugliness.  The Democratic establishment has of course been eager to exploit this sudden appearance of political manna, while also recognizing the danger in being too closely associated with a phenomenon that has attracted more than its share of cranks and nutballs.  Revelations about direct or indirect funding from Soros-linked organizations, the involvement in unions in organizing some events, and evidence that The Organizations Formerly Known As ACORN have been involved in drumming up support and paying demonstrators show that even if the President and official Democrats aren't directly involved in planning and funding this movement, groups that have provided the President support during and since the election sure as hell are.  It seems to me that if the President had publicly expressed displeasure with what was happening the Occupy movement would have wilted away within a matter of weeks, if not days.

So assuming I'm correct that the coming of winter and eventual eviction by local governments will end this phase of the Occupy movement, where will it go?  Does it have a future?

My feeling is that things will slow down for winter and the holidays, but that once spring has arrived there will be attempts to get this all going again, especially if there is a clear winner emerging in the Republican presidential field, which would supply a very convenient and specific target for invective.  I think that if Obama's approach to the economy continues to fail, he's going to need any help he can get, including mobs on the street, with all the opportunities for distraction and polarization they provide.

Mic Check! MIC CHECK!

The seemingly chaotic protest movement begun as "Occupy Wall Street" and now coming to a public park near you has met with a variety of reactions, mostly depending on what one's political and economic views are, coherent or not.  The conduct and appearance of the protestors have been a source of amusement for those who find the "demands" of the protestors to be ridiculous at best, while for many who are sympathetic, this is one of those "someone finally said it" moments.

Democrats and liberals in general have been suffering a large amount of distress over the rise of the Tea Party.  Pelosi and others at first tried to kill it by denying it existed, but once that failed the general approach to bringing the movement down has been slander and libel, mixed in with halting attempts to come up with an analogous movement from the left.  That the left feels a need for their very own special movement during the term of the most left-leaning President ever probably doesn't speak well for Obama's prospects for re-election.  In any case, with "Occupy Wall Street" leftists seem to have at last found a forum that allows them to unpack their grab bag of anger and discontent for all the world to see.

Though I think "grab bag" might be an inadequate description for the breadth of expression heard and seen from the protestors so far.  Just about every leftist and anarchist complaint since the Haymarket riot has been trotted out, seasoned with dashes of obscenity, defecation and creepiness that have come to characterize leftist demonstrations since the 1990s.  The sheer incoherence of it all has been both an attraction and a problem for the protests.  The conceit that OWS is a place where the "99 percent" can finally be heard has given rise to all sorts of complaints and demands, many of which are simply ridiculous, if not pathetic.  I have a Master's degree in (insert useless field here) and I can't find a job!  End capitalism! or Repeal all debt and mortgages!  Free college for everyone!  No property allowed! are arguments that just aren't going to gain much traction outside the coffeehouse scene, much less in the voting booths.  The lack of focus displayed in these protests so far makes me doubt we'll get from this crowd anything like the effectiveness the Tea Party movement has displayed, but that remains to be seen.

The reaction of the liberal political establishment has been a mixture of hopefulness and caution.  Democratic politicians up to and including the President have expressed their sympathies for, at the very least, the "frustrations" the protestors are expressing.  The extent to which these protests are in fact part of any liberal political strategy is something that is being hashed out in the background, with allegations being made that the originators of Occupy Wall Street somehow received funding from George Soros or that the protests are part of a broader labor union strategy for the coming election year.  That liberal politicians are hopeful this protest movement will help them in some way is clear, but I think they have been very cautious in their embrace, fearful of being closely linked with the protests if the more far-out elements begin to dominate and the whole thing gets too messy.  Mayor Bloomberg's soft touch in regard to the protesters clearly shows a fear of antagonizing the OWS crowd, but the news today that the city intends to clear the park this weekend for cleaning means to me that he's getting heat from his more natural constituency, meaning Manhattanites and ordinary New Yorkers, some of whom no doubt are invested in Wall Street.

I think the big questions at this moment about the future of these protests are: Will they survive the winter?  And will they become violent?  I think that if we do see serious violence coming out of this movement, Democrats will someday look back and wish all this had never happened.

This Was The Moment

The Age of Calamity that 52.9% of American voters signed us up for in 2008 continues to get worse, with no safely predictable end in sight.

Our President has spent the past few weeks fundraising and barnstorming for public support for his "American Jobs Act" and gigantic tax raise, slipping into whatever persona he seems to feel suits the moment.  First we had Obama, Greatest Salesman Ever doing his best to get his foot in the door, giving us the slogan I suppose he hoped millions would take up yelling from the rooftops, "Pass This Bill!"  Not having any luck with that, he then tried to shore up his political base, adopting his Obama, Greatest Badass Black Preacher Ever personality before the Congressional Black Caucus, complete with a fake southern drawl and an angry admonition to his audience to put on their "marching boots" and stop all that whining, again to a less than enthusiastic welcome from the likes of Maxine Waters, whose response was basically You talking to me, fool?

While the President has been throwing heart and soul into getting his legislation passed, the economy has continued tanking in nearly all aspects, nationally and worldwide.  The 300 point stock market drop has become an almost commonplace event.  The Federal Reserve is clearly steering through uncharted waters and has just about dissipated any faith among financial markets that it will be able to lead a solution to the mess.  Prospects for any improvement in employment numbers in the U.S. are nowhere on the horizon, and the housing markets are continuing to stagnate, or worse.  The European Union is attempting to stave off yet more disaster from the bankruptcy of a growing number of its members, and for their efforts its leaders received a stern lecture on financial management from our own President Thrifty, which went down about as well as a nice drink of motor oil. There are even growing cries from economic soothsayers of signs of impending collapse in China, which can't possibly be good, unless you happen to be a fan of food riots and other such chaos.

Elsewhere, the administration that is doing its best to kill our domestic oil and coal industries has just decided to give another billion dollars to "green energy" firms, merely days after the corporate officers of the failed solar panel firm Solyndra pleaded the fifth before a Congressional committee.  That Solyndra seems to have become a criminal enterprise somewhere along the way hasn't kept the administration from pouring more taxpayer money down the green rathole, but what the hell, it's only government money, there's always more where that came from.  Just ask Warren Buffet.

Yes, there's more...

The Fast & Furious fiasco is continuing on its logical path, with more guns showing up in both on American and Mexican soil, and more deaths in which the ATF-sponsored weapons were involved coming to light. Whether or not the investigative trail in this scandal will finally point to the upper reaches of the White House is an open question.  I wonder myself if there will be enough time to get to the bottom of the barrel in this affair before the voters boot Obama and his crew out of office.  How much effect it will have on the election itself is another important question, I think.

Is there more?  Well, why not?

We've seen evidence during the Obama administration that the President and many of his supporters have a bit of a problem with all the trouble the democratic process is causing them in their quest to bring us kicking and screaming to that beautiful place they know is best for us.  We have the President's remark that it would be easier to be president of China; his confession before La Raza that he's tempted to "do things on my own;" his use of "Czars" as a way of avoiding Congressional oversight.  In just the past two weeks or so we've seen a Democrat governor propose the suspension of Congressional elections, and Obama's former budget director publish an article in the New Republic calling for "less democracy" and a diminution of Congressional influence in governing the country.  This paired with the increased threats of violence from unions and the left is causing some to consider what would normally be dismissed as paranoid-type thoughts:  is it possible that the Administration wants there to be a crisis of civil disorder, which would give the President an opportunity to declare an emergency and stop next year's election?

I can't say that I've ever seriously entertained such an idea about any president in my lifetime, and I doubt that there's any such thing in the cards at this point, but that's because I have trouble believing even this president would be willing to commit such a crime against his own people.  But who knows?  The President cut his teeth on Alinskyite, "ends justify the means" political morality, and I think it's an open question as to how far his administration and the left are willing to go before they admit defeat and give up power.

Of course, the President could put all these fears to rest anytime, if he would just resign...

Meth

We finally have an explanation about what they've been smoking in the White House that's helped them dream up their (as yet nonexistent) "American Jobs Act" and $1.5 trillion tax hike, part of which is inspired by Warren Buffet's knuckleheaded complaint about his secretary's tax rate.

Said the President about the "Buffet rule":  This is not class warfare--it's meth.

Well, at least they've finally admitted it.  This is a big step for the administration, and I think we can all lend our prayers and support to everyone in the White House as they struggle to overcome this terrible addiction.

Update:  I'm told that I misquoted the President.  He didn't say "meth," he said "math."  Given what we've seen of Obama's spending habits, I'm wondering if that's an improvement.

All You Need Is Love

"I love you Barack!" one voice cried out in the crowd.

"I love you back," the president replied. "But if you love me, you've got to help me pass this bill!"  (CBS News)

Barack Obama's campaign to degrade the presidency while also annoying the hell out of more Americans every day continues unabated.  The looney tunes president who's been running around the country since his trip to Martha's Vineyard has me wondering what the hell he's been huffing that makes him so happy while so much is going wrong.

Almost no one who hasn't actually hugged Debbie Wasserman Schultz believes Obama's latest "American Jobs Act" is in any way a serious attempt to deal with our deteriorating economic situation, and it's been clear from the beginning that this latest "jobs" scheme was never meant to be anything more than a weapon to be used against Republicans in the coming election, once the bill has failed to pass.  The President's speech before the Congress sounded like a pitch from an obnoxious motivational speaker, made weirder by the fact that he was selling a bill that was at that point unseen and in fact unwritten. That the bill turned out to be nothing more than a half-sized version of Stimulus One has helped convince almost no one but the already faithful, and few enough of them.

Speaking of Stimulus One, the easily predicted corruption resulting from throwing billions of dollars around without any serious purpose is beginning to come to light in the growing scandal over bad investments the government made in "green energy" firms, the most glaring example being $535 million poured down a rat hole called Solyndra.  Other similar failures are emerging, showing an administration that rushed out to invest in companies in spite of evidence the prospects for success were poor.  That this sort of approach is in character with the administration's usual lack of common sense doesn't make it any less outrageous, unfortunately.

In addition to the collapse of the administration's economic and fiscal policies, the Fast & Furious gunrunning scandal continues to pick up steam with the discovery of yet more weapons and murders that can be traced to the ATF's bastard program.  I have trouble imagining that this won't eventually take down Eric Holder and wash up onto the gates of the White House, but the administration at this point is stonewalling in the old tradition, and it looks to me like this will all come to head sometime next year, not a good time for a President up for reelection.

And finally in this week we saw the re-emergence of the Stalinist inclinations of Obamaland with the administration establishing its "AttackWatch.com" website, whereby citizens can report attacks and misinformation about the Obama Administration and receive The Truth.  If you're unaware, AttackWatch.com was paired with a Twitter account (#AttackWatch) that has turned into a playground for dissenting citizens leaving generally humorous messages mocking the administration, at a pace that's become hard to keep up with.  It took less than two days for this new propaganda initiative by the administration to get shoved right back in its face, in a spontaneous and uncoordinated way that doesn't bode well for whatever new campaign strategies the White House has yet to dream up.

So here's where we are now, as I see it:  things are going to hell and the President and his people have no clue whatsoever of what to do.  Instead we see our President in endless campaign mode flitting about like he's been hitting the laughing gas, trying to convince us that his way is still the right way, and never mind that giant asteroid hurling towards the planet at 3,000 miles a second...

Staying The Course

President Obama's speech and unwritten "American Jobs Act" have met with little favorable reaction.  His blend of die-hard amateur Keynesianism, finger-pointing and class warfare just doesn't inspire much confidence at this point, even with two or three actual sensible ideas buried within the mess.  The more realistic reaction as I see it is fear of what the President can yet do in his time left in office, and a resolve to hunker down and defeat him and his minions at the first opportunity.  But the President seems to understand this in his own way, as he said in his speech last night:

The next election is 14 months away. And the people who sent us here — the people who hired us to work for them — they don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months.

No, we don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months, but since we don't live under a Parliamentary system, it's just going to take that long to throw the President and his gang out on their ears.

Insane

I'm listening to Obama giving his "jobs" speech before the Congress.  Boy, he sure is excited. Apparently he's going to end all our economic difficulties by repairing schools and bridges and giving tax credits to business to hire unemployed people and he's going to make changes to Medicare and he's going to reveal some more details about some more details on Monday and he's going to...

It's all the same failed crap he's ever tried, except now he's piling it together in one speech.  Enough.

President Obama, it's time for you to resign.

Strategy

The White House and its allies in the Congress and labor union leadership are in complete panic about Obama's prospects for reelection, if comments from the past few weeks by members of that coalition are any guide.

The big bomb comes from a sputtering Teamsters President James Hoffa at a Labor Day union rally in Detroit, in which he seems to be advocating something more aggressive than get-out-the-vote drives in support of Obama:

We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war...President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.

President Obama cheefully appeared on the same stage just a few minutes after this goony rant from Hoffa, and as of this writing the White House has refused to express any disapproval of Hoffa's remarks.  The Teamster Union's history of ties to organized crime of course is what makes all this sound more ominous than normal political tough talk, a history which Democratic apologists will ignore as they insist that Hoffa simply means "vote out" when he says "take these son of bitches out."

Over on the racism beat, some members of the House of Representatives have been tossing red meat to the faithful.  The always reliable Maxine Waters vowed that the "Tea Party can go straight to hell...and I'm going to help it get there" and later threatened to tax banks out of existence, an interesting idea considering the back-burner scandal going on about her own family's ownership of failed bank.  A lesser known Congressman, Indiana's Andre Carson, opined that the Tea Party wants a return of Jim Crow and that “some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree.”  Obviously, if someone wants to see you hanging on a tree, you're justified in using any means necessary to stop that from happening...

Also at a Labor Day rally, Vice President Biden gave an unconvincing try at sounding righteously indignant, though he managed to come up with this gem:

This is a different kind of fight. This is a fight for the existence of organized labor. You are the only folks keeping the barbarians at the gate. That’s why they want you so bad.

Again, the villain spoken of here is the Tea Party and any others who object to bankrupting cities, states, and the nation in order to feather the nest of our supposed public servants.  Why he thinks that describing a likely majority of voters as "barbarians" is going to help his cause is beyond me, but when you're Joe Biden, you opens your mouth and you takes your chances.

Pointing out the hypocrisy of this sort of Democrat/leftist martial talk in light of President Obama's call in Tucson for a "new era of civility" is at this point almost too easy, true as it might be.  Maxine Waters and Joe Biden aren't physically going to lead any charge against their adversaries, but I have to wonder how aware these people are that this language is sounding more and more like an incitement of violence, and if this trend isn't actually a part of the White House's increasingly desperate campaign strategy. Given the rioting we've seen in Europe over the collapse of their welfare states, I think there's a justifiable worry here that the American left may turn from mere violent rhetoric to actual violence as it sees its influence and ideals falling like so many statues of Lenin after the tanks have rolled out of town.