On... Sipping Gas in the Faculty Lounge

Victor Davis Hanson presents some interesting points about Obama and his administration in regards to the high price of gas and their disconnect with middle-class reality. He doesn't include it, but I also think they've drunk from the Tom Friedman school of economics: only super high gas prices will force us off the teat of foreign oil. They never say this too strongly in public, but you only need to connect the dots.

Obama, Gas Prices & the Faculty Lounge

On...Backbencher in Chief

I love the continuous small insights from the Chicago journalists who knew President Obama best from his Illinois days. Their contempt for the Chicago Way is powerful, but I don't think it necessarily blinds them to the truth. Obama was a shadow rising in the ranks on image and hope and not substance. He was a backbencher. He learned the game to his credit and hit the jackpot. Unfortunately for us he's the leader of the free-world and his abilities are more and more rhetorical. The quotes in the article below truly are telling. He reminds me of the Godfather when Michael tells Tom Hagen that he's out of the major decision making because he's not a wartime Consiglierie. Obama is not a wartime president. Well, I'd rather have Tom Hagen than Obama. Hagen got a raw deal though he wasn't as ruthless as Michael or Sonny. Obama is becoming an egghead Fredo. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants a backbencher for POTUS.



While Obama searches for clarity, we're plunged into another war

The second article is Maureen Dowd's new one on the women who are giving Obama a spine.

Fight of the Valkyries (Obama's ladies of war)

On..Taking a Bogey

There does seem to be this nonchalant caste about the POTUS in terms of the major issues of his day. He's not Carter, because thankfully he's not as whiny. But I agree with Goldberg that he is certainly not Ike. The quote that really hits home in this article is "The real problem for Obama is not that he likes his exercise. It’s that he’s acting like an employee who thinks he’s too good for the job." I think this is a real astute observation. I've been that guy before and it isn't becoming. It's sad that Obama fits all the stereotypes of the left-wing intellectual, especially when things aren't rosey and he's not praised for being such an awesome human being from every spectrum of the globe. It's his demeanor, his attitude. Take the press conference when he announced we would support a no-fly zone in Libya. It was like he just had to get through this and do something else. I watched a few minutes of his NCAA women's bracket picks on ESPN and he seemed to be having the same issue. It wasn't as apparent but it was there; the college professor trying to act like he is having a few beers with the proles down at the local pub. If this pub isn't in Ann Arbor or Madison or Berkeley he's a dork.

He will go for second term because he has to, not because I think he really wants to.

The President Takes a Bogey - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

On...The Shovel Incompetent

Jonah Goldberg digs up the non-sense, flim-flam that was the Obama "shovel-ready" dream. He also lays out more evidence of what many of us already knew: he was woefully unready for President. Unfortunately the PR President's ego is so huge I don't even think the Nov. Mid-terms will wake him up.

A Shovel-Unready President

On...Political Tornadoes

Peggy Noonan examines the political winds and the internal struggle of the Democratic Party caught in stagnation and cynicism. The Twister of 2010

On...Blind Men ignoring the masses

Jonah Goldberg and Charles Krauthammer are very succinct in breaking down the real problems of our present administration. Sadly, the Left is blind to it. Again I hope the GOP shapes up and doesn't run the victory into the ground come next term.

Jonah Goldberg in the National Review
Dorsal Fins Surround White House

Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post
The Last Refuge of the Liberal

On...Tough Talk

Is Obama's Tough Talk Serious?

Jonah Goldberg enlightens us with the rhetoric of the POTUS and his growing lameness. Goldberg doesn't use that word, but I am. Obama is lame and on the verge of pathetic. Especially when he can't let Bush go. He's been the savior-in-chief for almost 18 months. When he's a one-termer and writes his memoirs I'm sure the overarching theme will be Bush screwed up so bad, James Buchanan bad, that even the audacity of hope himself couldn't fix it. He will tether himself to W for the rest of his life. Fun times.

On...Why Democrats Are Doomed if ObamaCare Passes

Just some insight from Dick Morris.

Why Democrats Are Doomed if ObamaCare Passes

On...Trials, Greg Craig, & Third Parties

Three Articles on Three Different Topics of Note

First Charles Krauthammer disagrees with Attorney General Eric Holder's decision on the KSM trial in New York City. He makes some damn good points that need answering, especially about how these are looking like show trials. We all know he's not walking free.

Second, Politico looks at the Chicago-style hit Obama has made on his consul Greg Craig that has a number of his supporters taking another look at their Man of Hope.

Third, Mort Kondracke looks at the deficit and how that brings out the rumblings of a third party. I think this will be avoided if one party actually starts to be fiscally responsible. Hmm. maybe it will happen.

PS: Just wanted to add on VDH's quote on the KSM trial as well.
"Punishing KSM" means giving the liberal community a world platform for legal gymnastics designed to repudiate the past administration and demonstrate that community's "tolerance" — without much worry about justice for KSM or the adverse effects of giving such a monster a public megaphone.

PSS: Mickey Kaus (see to the right) makes comments on both the Health Care Bill and the Greg Craig controversy. HERE

On...Wading into a Bog

That Bog Would be Health Insurance Reform

I've avoided this topic for a while and I really don't want to get too far into it because I'm not a medical/insurance expert in any way shape or form and too many people with too little information are wading into this mess. Unfortunately I don't think those opposed to Obamacare or whatever you call it can't stop it. This debate should have been happening back in September and October of 08 not now. These Americans (and they are Americans, we all are Americans no matter how obnoxious) should have thought this over and actually listened to the debates and voted for McCain, but I digress. The votes are in. The Dems run the show with big numbers. They just need to tame the herd.

However, I do think we can force a watering down of the great leap to socialized medicine but that's about it--another step, maybe two, but not a sprint. Team Obama botched that reality all on their own. He does seem a little out of step with Congress--meaning he lets Pelosi and Reid run the show, which is a disaster always in the making. Thankfully. He should have been more direct and said "I want this and this and this, you can debate this and this only. Give me the bill the way I want it." But alas...

Supporters of Health Insurance Reform (which is almost everyone, but how the reform should go is the great difference) should read these two articles below just so they understand a little more about aspects of the debate they may have ignored: Preventive Care and Life Expectancy

Jonah Goldberg has a very solid point about cost and life expectancy in his New York Post article

Charles Krauthammer illuminates how preventive care actually increases costs in the long run.

On...No More Czars!!!!

STOP USING THAT PHRASE!

I have been meaning to write about this topic for a loooooooong time, but I have never got around to it. The topic is Czars. Not the Romanovs or any other of their ilk, but the neo-czars appointed by presidents for the last 25 years. The Drug Czars of the Reagan era were the first (at least to my memory) and that was about it until now. I could handle this one slip. But no more. President Obama or should I say Czar-in-Chief Obama is utterly obsessed with this term. (or someone on his staff--car czar, insurance czar, etc) It is ridiculous and insulting to all democratic Americans to have czar anything. We have elected leaders not autocratic tyrants. Why does anybody think giving someone unlimited power (albeit in a small context) is a good idea? It can only make such abuse seem normal and commonplace to the masses. We never want them getting used to such an reality. Humanity has spent hundreds of years trying to rid the world of despots and this administration has taken an annoyance to a whole new level. They are encouraging the underminding of republican institutions. Enough already.

Lurita Doen in USA Today finally had a piece on this same topic, HERE, which sparked my thoughts this morning.

PS
LA TIMES had a similar piece back in March. Guess it hasn't slowed the movement.

On...The Moon (Ever Again?)

Space: Reality vs. Fantasy

Charles Krauthammer dedicated his latest editorial to the 4oth Moon Anniversary that is rapidly coming up and he got me to thinkin'. I have to agree with him. It is sad that so many Americans have become ho-hum regarding space travel and the potential glories that exist beyond our own planet. I can't tell you how many students (a least six a year) who insist the US government faked the moon-landings. It is pretty frustrating. I imagine there is a small (and annoying) minority in this country who believe the same thing. Thanks a lot Fox!

I also wish President Obama would embrace a new interest in space travel and all its possibilities. I would think it a tragedy if we abandoned the lead to China or India. Many wags lament the decline of American engineering and innovation (though this is certainly over-exageraged). What better way than the rigor and challenge of space? of a moon base? of the exploration of Mars? I would love to live long enough to see humans on Mars. And for it to be an American crew would be better yet. I'm just not sure that's going to happen at this pace.

So as our youth and country are obsessed with fantasy and science-fiction (see TV, Comic books, Summer Movies) they are barely turned on about the science-reality staring them in the face. I don't know where the fault lies but hopefully we can come up with a solution.

Suggestions?

On...The Only Question That Needs to be Answered (Especially by Obama Voters)

Robert Samuelson at Newsweek has been writing some of the most profound short-length essays about the economy the last nine months or so. I have posted many of them. I think what makes them strong is his total lack of agenda beyond a sound economy. He has acted like one of the few level two thinkers out there. He poses questions without getting partisan or angry. He's not a Paul Krugman who clearly has an agenda and blathers it out to everyone who will hear. And he's not a Republican hammering away at the President and Congress for purely politically reasons. Instead he gathers the data, looks towards the future, and asks the hard questions Americans of all stripes wish to avoid.

His latest essay poses the one question every American must answer and I hope everyone who voted for Obama will seriously ask themselves and then answer the tough follow up questions.

That question is How big a government do we want?

On the surface this is clearly a level one question, but it really is a reflective one when you take the time to break it down. This was really the question people should have been asking themselves going into the voter's booth last November. And then the second question is how do we pay for an expanded government flush with even more entitlements. USA Today had a series of polls regarding Health Care and low and behold it found the majority of Americans want better health care but don't want to pay for it.

Right there is a big problem that has been plaguing the Republic for some time. Too many people believe they are entitled to stuff on someone elses dime. As Samuelson states, "We face an unprecedented collision between Americans' desire for more government services and their almost-equal unwillingness to be taxed." Something has to give. Our president, the Democrats, and too many Republicans in Congress seem to want it all. This isn't practical or realistic. Though it is how many get elected. Unfortunately someone always has to pay and the Democrats' old song and dance about the rich paying only works for so long. The middle-class will have to pay as well down the road. And then free people will find ways around tyranny. They will even move with their feet if they have to.

So I ask merely for all the Obama voters out there to read Samuelson's article and reflect on the only question and then for them to formulate a real answer--not merely a level one response but also on the consequences of an expanding Federal Government today and in the future. Unfortunately I don't think anyone will step up to the plate.

Big decisions need to be made. I only hope they are the right ones.

On...Grab Bag of Monday Stuff

Before we go camping I will just leave you with a few Monday morning articles that jumped to my attention.

Canada's National Post jumps in between Obama and Sarkosy and the Burka

Former Ford President and Secretary of Defense Robert "Quagmire" McNamara has died at 93

Left of Center Washington Post Columnist Fred Hiatt questions Obama's "Stuff the Beast" strategy.

Newsweek's David Ignatius speaks to Obama's Russian Reset Utopia

and last but not least
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat had a really good piece on the lesson of Sarah Palin.

From...Peggy Noonan and a Sentence for Obama

I think this article was pretty on point regarding our young president and the jumble of things he is trying to do all at the same time. Peggy Noonan argues that presidents ultimately come down to one sentence, not a paragraph. She fears Obama and his staff haven't figured this out yet.

ARTICLE FROM WALL STREET JOURNAL

On...The Chicago Way

Less than Six Months

That's all it took for our POTUS to start being the realist hypocrite. He is having a tougher and tougher time keeping the mask on. Sure he will fool lots of the mob for the duration but the rest of us are starting to see the image we had an inkling about for some time. The glorious leader is welding power in all sort of "Bush-Ways" with a Chicago flavor.

The Chicago Tribune looks at his firing of an inspector general and the Chicago threats on others.

Newsweek looks at how the Obama Administration is not as transparent as it said it was going to be. Big surprise.

PS: Slate.com sums up the weeks dialogue on how Obama remains personally popular while the popularity of his ideas sink and sink.

On...Infatuation

Gettin' Away with the Goods

Robert Samuelson has written a great number of fine articles and I have posted a bunch in the past, but his latest needs to be blessed with a greater audience. The Obama Infatuation is a very non-partisan examination of the dangerous (or perhaps dangerous) love-fest the media has on our current president. The Crush they carried throughout the election (See SNL's awesome early take on it) has carried well past the honeymoon. As Samuelson suggests, we need a skeptical media. We need tough questions asked on our behalf. No government regardless of party can just skip around and do what it wills with no questions asked. That's a dictatorship or worse yet a banana republic.

I'm afraid that no good will come of this. For either the nation or Obama. He needs to avoid flying too high. The last step can be a doozy. We can't be blind. Honest people and courageous people need to debate his agenda and his view of the future. And we need it now.

On...Worry

Plenty of stuff to pick from but...

Shouldn't we all be a tad worried about this number?

$68.3 TRILLION

I mean, wow. We are amazingly nonchalant about all this debt.

AND we want to add to this pile.

As much as people lambasted Bush for a spending spree (and rightly so) we elected a guy and a Congress who are going to make Bush look like a small time crook compared to the heist that's coming.

On...I'm A Believer

Seeing the Light

Has David Brooks finally seen the light? Or has he merely opened the curtains a smudge? Now the light I speak of is not *THOCATCOH. I think he started to spray a bit of that on himself last November, but I think the bottle is now used up. I can't believe he's really abandoned his Centrist Eden, but I do believe he knows no matter how he talks it up Obama is not a centrist outside of teleprompter speeches. He's a Chicago-style socialist with a smile. That or he's a man who believes in the hope of fairytales. [See North Korea/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iran/Israel for deeping Foreign Policy ogres.]

Brooks realizes that if all these programs go through and they areonly half as disastrous as they appear to be, he will never see the centrist changes he longs for be a reality.

At least now he can hammer away like Krauthammer. Too bad they don't reach more of the silent (or deaf) majority.

* The Hope Of Change And The Change of Hope

ON...What Do California and Iceland Have in Common?

Well, we're about to find out.

Probably. Maybe. Unless Superman, I mean our POTUS, comes to save the day. But not even Bill Maher believes Superman can help. And by save the day I mean takes over California just like he's annexed (Or Sudentenland-ed) the auto industry, the banks, and anything else he must own, possess, or fix under his rules. I still find it hard to believe this is the change people wanted. Close Guantanamo! Close Guantanamo! But the Senate votes 90-6 to keep it open. I know Bush was growing like mold on everything, but really, this is all becoming a joke.

California and its multi-decade lunancy is finally paying off. Call me a Mid-Westerner but they got what's coming. To Quote HL Mencken "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." That's California 2009.

Here are a few fun articles floating around out there. Hopefully, you have the time this Memorial Day Weekend to read a few and spread the debate. And find time to enjoy friends and family and remember all those Americans who paid the ultimate price for our Golden Age.

ATLANTIC BLOG Megan MacArdle On...Is California Too big to Fail.
Real funny piece and I think pretty realistic.

GEORGE WILL On...The Coming California Bailout
Will disagrees with MacArdle on California actually getting bailed out.

DAVID HARSAYNI On...Coming to Your Garage: Le Car
A really hilarious farce on what our auto-unindustry has becoming, racketeering and all.

And on a further note, I usually can't stand Bill Maher. I can't listen to him. But his article post above was actually really good and I think on target.

Final Note on my 33rd Birthday:
I'm not even mad anymore about the election and all the ensuing nonsense. It's all turned into a wonderful dystopian comedy--think Terry Gilliam's Brazil or Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. You can't write all this stuff. Not even Tom Wolfe could. This is so amazing and so many people don't even know it's happening. I'll do my best to keep you informed on the theater (or farce) that is our America.

I feel like HL Mencken was never more right when he wrote, "Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right."