Let’s become conspiracy theorists. Next, let’s imagine the worst of Obama. What I am about to write is not fact, nor did it come from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or any other wing nut. It simply came from inside my paranoid, conspiracy-laden mind.
Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category
BEING FLIM FLAMMED BY THE BEST OF THEM
Monday, December 7th, 2009DITHERING HIS WAY TO NOWHERE
Friday, November 6th, 2009Most things political are a matter of perception over reality. Moreover, perception has an evil way of morphing into reality if it festers too long in the public’s mindset.
This is, I fear, what has become the Achille’s heal of the Obama administration. While the public has waited for him to take definitive positions on any number of critical situations (Afghanistan, Gitmo, medical legislation, stopping bailed out companies from awarding bonuses for their mismanagement, etc., etc.) Obama painfully dithers and ponders the options.
The public sees this as a weakness in his leadership abilities. Is he too careful for the voter’s temperament? I think so. We love decisive leadership. Americans can tolerate one or two action items in a tortuous state of indecision. But Obama seems to have too many balls in the air to please the public trust.
Americans loved his eloquence. But now want to see his actions match his words. He appears to ponder too much and let the opposition take the initiative. The American public is losing confidence … while Obama is losing control of the conversation. It’s the chatter that makes the difference between the perception of his leadership and the disappointment of a growing swath of disenchanted citizens.
Obama was swept into the White House by voters who were mad as hell with “politics as usual.” They were neither on the political left or right.
They didn’t care as long as they got “change they could believe in.” Instead many now believe they got words, but not actions to match them.
Folks, we now have that old familiar “credibility gap.” In Obama’s case, I personally believe he is a sincere guy who means well but is in way over his head. He is a latter day Woodrow Wilson … a scholar with lofty ideas but unable to convert them into political reality.
But there is a cure. It will take guts that he hasn’t shown and a rashness he dreadfully fears. Obama must take on some key issues and put the forcefulness of the presidency behind them. They must be bold and swift. And, most important, they must make him appear decisive and a no-fool- around guy when he has to be. It’s all a matter of picking the right issues and concluding them in a way that will reinvigorate America’s confidence in him.
Americans really, truly, want a leader they can put their trust in. We want to be led out of the wilderness of a poor economy, to put a stop to the waste of young lives in the Middle East … we want the impossible, like integrity in Washington and affordable quality medical care for our families. We are in trouble and we know it. We want to believe in our leadership because we need it more than ever. Beyond words, it’s now about deeds. Beyond intentions, it’s about fulfilling promises that were made, and those that were cleverly implied and now long overdue.
Let’s weigh some of the options that would make sense. It wouldn’t take that much to close Gitmo. I suspect a simple stroke of the pen would do the trick. Why is Obama pausing? He doesn’t need consensus. He doesn’t need anything but to make a decision as to where we dump the prisoners. I say send them into Cheney’s backyard — that is, somewhere in Wyoming. That’s the state that voted for the guy who created Gitmo, they deserve to live with the paranoia their native son created.
An additional action item is to pull out of Afghanistan. No good has ever come of a foreign power that has sent armies into that God forsaken country. Everything from head to toe in Afghanistan is duplicitous and corrupt. Leave them to their own crazy devices. Let the Taliban have it. It will never bear anything but bitter fruit. By leaving we will also send a message to every two-bit country that we are trying to prop up: Don’t count on us.
Now you may cite the fact that Afghanistan is a U.N. project. The beauty of this idea is precisely that it is. This will be a two-for-one gift of an idea! Let the U.N. carry the water and not us. It’s never been a proportional thing anyway. It’s 90% us and 10% divided between a dozen other countries. God knows what Bush traded to go in there with us. It will also pull several outspoken generals in line. You know the ones. They went to the press against the President’s orders. Afghanistan is a sham, and the President should tell the public that.
Now, if Obama wants to really upset things, he should publicly give Israel permission to take out Iran’s nuclear sites. He doesn’t have to do this himself. With a super-hawk like Netanyahu in power, that should scare the bejeezus out of Iran … maybe even shift the leadership’s relations with our country. They fear Israel more than us. We don’t have to lift a finger; just issue a statement that we can hardly blame Israel if they felt it was necessary to protect their citizens’ lives with a pre-emptive strike.
At home, Obama could influence the Democratic party by not being so hands-off about those southern blue-dog Democrats taking money from insurance companies. He can hold federal redevelopment money from the districts whose representatives don’t vote for the bill. That’s what I call “Lyndon Johnsoning” legislation. He has far more “bully pulpit” sway than he ever dreamed of. He needs to exercise it. He should also threaten to cut off Democratic Party state funding from anyone accepting money from insurance companies. This is a tough game and it’s the assholes that will win. The majority of the public wants an asshole. Let’s give them one!
How outrageous do I sound? I hope TOTALLY. The public is looking for outrageous solutions. They want a decisive leader. So what if he seems rash or commits a few transgressions? It’s a hell of a lot better then endlessly pondering over issues ad nauseum.
Right now Obama is dithering his way to nowhere. By employing my more radical ideas, he will stop dithering and start on the next phase of his administration, the one he was bound to end up doing anyway: DAMAGE CONTROL!
Most things political are a matter of perception over reality. Moreover, perception has an evil way of morphing into reality if it festers too long in the public’s mindset.
This is, I fear, what has become the Achille’s heal of the Obama administration. While the public has waited for him to take definitive positions on any number of critical situations (Afghanistan, Gitmo, medical legislation, stopping bailed out companies from awarding bonuses for their mismanagement, etc., etc.) Obama painfully dithers and ponders the options.
THE NOBEL SURPRIZE
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009I was glad to see Obama win the Nobel Prize, but not for reasons you may assume. You see, I delighted hearing the right-wing pundits squeal like mean-spirited pigs being run over by a slow-moving semi squeezing their guts all over the asphalt. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck more than deserve a hideous end. I want to hear it loud and clear, and as juicy as you can imagine as their voices hit every high octave left in their larynx. Indeed, they did squeal but lived to enjoy another day in radioland.
Even though I loved it, I too believed the award was not justified. Obama received the Nobel Prize for trying, not accomplishing. When you think about it, that’s a pretty desperate reason to give out an award. It won’t be the first time. Woodrow Wilson also received one for trying. That was after World War One. Wilson’s high-minded attempt to create a permanent peace also failed, a failure that resulted in the second World War. In Obama’s case he received the award for peace while engaged in two separate wars which he promised to immediately end if he were elected.
If it wasn’t for George Bush’s absolute idiocy, Obama would not be the President. Obama is truly a lucky guy who, somehow, happens to be in the right place at the right time. But is it deserved? I say it is un-American.
Generally Americans don’t give awards out for trying. The team that makes the playoffs for the Superbowl, simply gets a chance to win. They are good contenders, but they aren’t the winners until they actually win. Obama isn’t even near the end zone..
Coming in second in World War Two was not acceptable. Unconditional surrender was the only acceptable outcome that was clearly understood by the Nazis and Japanese. Why do you think we used the A-Bomb on Japan? Frankly, I don’t like the precedent that is being set here.
The Nobel Prize committee is obviously making a political statement. I believe this is a mistake for the Nobel Prize Committee to do. Remember, they are Europeans and long ago Europeans have given up the art of clear thinking and realistic decisions.
I believe they were fed up with Bush’s bullying. They wanted to reward good behavior. They lowered their standards and by doing so they set a different criteria than they use for chemistry, literature and other disciplines. The operative word here should be: Accomplishment. At least Arafat and Begin signed an agreement when they got their Nobels. It was an “A” For Effort.
Examine Obama’s accomplishments and you will find the jury is still out on concrete matters and fulfilling promises. Whether implied or not, none of Obama’s key campaign action items are in the accomplished column. One could contend that he hasn’t had enough time to show progress. I voted for him and wanted to see us get a national medical plan that competes with insurance companies. That ain’t in the cards.
I wanted Gitmo closed, which he promised. It’s still open. I wanted greedy financial houses to be better regulated. They used the rescue dollars to give themselves raises. Credit card abuses still continue, but it’s the card companies that are the abusers, not the consumers. It goes on and on. Most of all, I did not want more of the same. We got a lot more of the same. It just comes in a more palatable, more articulate package. This one looks like a statesman and acts more like an amateur wimp.
It’s true that Obama alone has not created the problems. We also need to reform the lawmakers and the process that permits such egregious behavior. Our government needs a brain transplant. The right wing wants to go back to the original intent by the constitutionalists. By representing the special interests over the public good, they couldn’t be more hypocritical. The left wing are simply too chaotic to band together for the common good. And the reasonable people in between are powerless.
Have you seen our lawmakers in action? They do not represent us. For the most part they are bought and paid for. Pathetically, we know this to be true. What they do is criminal. But it is legal criminality. And, there is an unwritten rule between law makers to let the minor crimes slide. Every once in a while something slips out or the crimes get so outrageous that they cannot be ignored. Small infractions lead to bigger ones. I say prosecute all of them, The minute we do this, and I mean really have zero-tolerance, will be the minute we start taking our country back.
We don’t control the system — money and power does. Yet we benignly accept the chicanery. Obama may have won a prize. But he’s losing the battle. The war we are fighting is overseas. But the real battleground is right here at home. It’s on the Washington beltway where there are over 25 lobbyists for every elected and appointed official. We will all lose if we let them win. They are winning and we are losing.
I was glad to see Obama win the Nobel Prize, but not for reasons you may assume. You see, I delighted hearing the right-wing pundits squeal like mean-spirited pigs being run over by a slow-moving semi squeezing their guts all over the asphalt. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck more than deserve a hideous end. I want to hear it loud and clear, and as juicy as you can imagine as their voices hit every high octave left in their larynx. Indeed, they did squeal but lived to enjoy another day in radioland.
WHERE’S THE S.O.B WHEN WE NEED HIM?
Friday, October 9th, 2009Will the real Obama please stand up and be counted? That’s the guy I really want to see … and that’s the guy we need and, most important, that’s who I voted for.
I don’t need that smiling, confident, politically proper person who acts more like a Washington insider than the outside critic. I need the S.O.B. I suspected lurked beneath his “white bread” veneer. Not only do I need him, he needs him! We need him! I want what I believed I voted for: CHANGE!!!
OBAMA’S MISTAKE
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Here I go again. In the recent past I was authoring a monthly article for several magazines. That’s when I thought I had something original to say about the state of politics, or society … or just the chaotic thinking that permeates the country.
Then two of the magazines went out of business, Obama became President and I started to watch Keith Olbermann. I thought that Keith had more to say and could say it better than I. Being a flaming liberal, I liked Rachel Maddow when she started, but I soon tired of her cutesy delivery. Bill Maher has held up better, but still, he’s not delivering my particular point of view. I have a different perspective, including the fact that I am not part of the drug culture nor do I practice eating wholesome food.