Note: You might want to start at the Barack
Obama Index Page, especially
if you arrived here by using a search engine. Mr. Obama won the election, but that doesn't
mean that he is now qualified for the job, or that his earlier scandals are now immaterial.
This page contains news and commentary from the period between Election Day and Obama's
inauguration. For commentary about the Obama administration beginning with Inauguration
Day, see this page.
Now
Govern. Democrats are itching to have their way after spending much of the last eight years
doing little much more than shoot spitballs at President Bush while the man fought two conventional wars,
as well as a couple monster hurricanes and the much thornier War on Terror. Well, now the Democratic
Party is for all practical purposes America's super-majority party. It has complete control of the
presidency and Congress. It's time to put away childish things and govern.
Global man of mystery.
The people of the world await Barack Obama and, on the basis of exhaustive polls, they do believe he is the
one. In Obama's own words, millions of people see his election as the moment the planet began to heal,
the oceans stopped rising. Can he meet all their expectations? Yes, he can, the masses believe.
Well, can he? ... Obama, for the moment at least, can embrace the world as a composite Mother Teresa, Princess
Diana and secular pope. He is all things to all men and all women.
A new
Obama: No we can't. During CNN's broadcast of Barack Obama's first press conference
yesterday [11/7/2008], a corner of the screen flickered with a live feed of the Dow Jones Industrial
Average. As Obama spoke, the Dow average lost more than 100 points. In his brief statement
and question session, the president elect of the United States said next to nothing about anything. There
were no signs of the Yes We Can positivism of the campaign in his low-key, even halting manner. What
little he did say may well signal the beginning of a new phase in Obamamania: No we can't.
Reuters:
Lowering Expectations for Obama. Reuters ran a little flak for Barack Obama trying to help dull the outrageous
expectations placed on The One by his irrationally exuberant adherents in theirs headlined "Congress faces historic
challenges" — As if no other Congress has faced "historic challenges" before? Reuters assures us, though, that times
are so bad that we should not expect Obama to live up to any of his outlandish promises.
A Checklist Of Obama's Many
Promises. Few presidential candidates have made more specific promises to American voters than
Barack Obama. They came so fast and furious in the latter part of the campaign, you'd be excused for not
keeping up. So as a public service, we've put together a handy checklist of some of the biggest Obama
promises — culled from his "Blueprint for Change," his campaign speeches and advertisements. Clip it.
Save it. And see how he did in four years.
He's literally a "limousine liberal." Barack
Obama's car could fuel more problems. President-elect Obama has stressed the need for energy
independence — but he'll be chauffeured around in a gas-guzzling Cadillac SUV limo that could pose
a symbolism problem similar to the car controversy that dogged his friend and ally, Gov. Deval Patrick.
Obama's presidential ride, dubbed "Cadillac One," will reportedly be a mammoth, custom-made Cadillac limo
built like a GMC truck that sits on 19-inch wheels.
Hope and Change
when choosing a car — not. Remember when Obama, played car mechanic — the
concerned everyman worrying about paying the high cost of fuel, and green candidate? Well, that was
before the election; this is now, the week after the election. Barack Obama has won, his followers are
in ecstasy, so no problem with violating campaign promises and themes. Let's start with the First Car.
Despite
Bells and Whistles, 'Office of President-Elect' Holds No Authority. Under the Constitution, there is no such
thing as the Office of the President-elect. Technically, Obama will not even become the president-elect until the
Electoral College convenes after the second Wednesday in December and elects him based on the results of the Nov. 4
general election, as stated in the Constitution. So what is Obama's executive authority in the weeks leading to
Jan. 20?
The
Teflon President-Elect. Candidate Obama maligned the Bush tax cuts for benefiting
the rich. But President-elect Obama now intends to retain all the tax cuts, keeping the
lower rates on the "rich" until they expire in 2011 — a far cry from his campaign
promises. What about Bush's "stupid" Iraq war? Obama now wants Bush's secretary
of defense, Robert Gates, to stay. Huh? Gates supported the successful surge and
the change in counterinsurgent strategy. Sen. Obama opposed the surge, attempted to
stop it, and predicted failure.
What the Obama
Cult Factor Portends. The cult mystique of Barack Obama continues while his fawning supporters blindly accept
every move he makes, provingtheir support for him in the general election was not based as much on policy as personality.
This could play right into Obama's hands if, as I believe, he does have major change on his mind.
The campaign promises begin to evaporate...
Obama
Ditches Oil Company Tax After Price Crash. President-elect Barack Obama is not planning to implement
a windfall profit tax on oil companies because prices have dropped below $80 a barrel, an aide said on Tuesday.
"President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," an aide on
Obama's transition team said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that." Oil prices
have fallen from a record $147 a barrel in July to under $50 this week.
Barack's Windfall Reversal. One of
Barack Obama's emerging political qualities is how casually he has been dumping the ballast of his campaign promises.
The latest lousy policy to go over the side is a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil companies. Throughout his run for
President, Mr. Obama argued the industry deserved special taxation on its "excess" earnings.
Will
Media Report Obama Going Back On Campaign Promises? When promises candidate Barack Obama made to
voters during the campaign get tossed aside like so much rubbish, will media hold his feet to the fire? Such
is an important question given how many pledges Democrats and their leaders made to garner the public's support in
2006 which ended up being completely irrelevant once the 110th Congress was sworn in. For the most part, as
each campaign commitment was tossed on the trash heep, (sic) Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, and all their
accomplices were given a pass by "journalists" from coast to coast.
Bursting Obama's Balloons. No one has come to Washington
draped in loftier expectations -- or facing a more challenging and ever-growing to-do list. Obama and his
aides are determined to send a jolt of electricity through the city, but the realities get more immobilizing
by the minute.
Remarks about the election itself
Shame on You! For
those who value private property, free speech, unfettered competition, limited government and the principle of
taxation with representation, Election Day 2008 was not only an historic event from the perspective of race
relations in America, but also a shocking affirmation that a new generation of power-hungry socialists have
surfaced from within that Trojan Horse called the The Democratic Party.
President-Elect Obama. Mr.
Obama becomes the first Democratic Presidential candidate since LBJ in 1964 to win more than 50.1% of the
vote. That was Jimmy Carter's share in 1976, and even Bill Clinton never matched that in his two
victories.
Is
America a racist nation after all? If it's racism when an American refuses to vote for Obama
because he is black, surely it is also racism when an American votes for Obama because he is black. And
can anyone deny that plenty of Americans did just that when they voted for him? Back in June I met some
of them in the US. They included black cab drivers and white upper-class educated professionals who
admitted they didn't care about Obama's policies, but would vote for him because he is black. It's
about time America had a black president, they said. Is that not racism?
A Mandate?
A Landslide victory? Really? According to the US Census, there are 246 million
Americans who are above the status of suffrage in the USA. That means 246 million people are
eligible to vote (excludes convicted felons, children, illegals, etc). Of those 246 million people,
approximately 130 million people voted in this election. That means 116 million people
DID NOT vote. That translates to 53% voted and 47% did not. Of those that voted,
64.1 million voted for Barrack Obama, and 65.9 million voted for someone else, and
116 million didn't vote at all.
That huge voter turnout? Didn't happen.
Despite widespread predictions of record turnout in this year's presidential election, roughly the same portion of
eligible voters cast ballots in 2008 as in 2004. Between 60.7 percent and 61.7 percent of the
208.3 million eligible voters cast ballots this year, compared with 60.6 percent of those eligible in
2004, according to a voting analysis by American University political scientist Curtis Gans, an authority on
voter turnout. He estimated that between 126.5 million and 128.5 million eligible voters cast
ballots this year, versus 122.3 million four years ago.
The Road to
Serfdom. Obama promises: "We will change the world ... There is nothing we can't do,
nothing we can't accomplish if we are unified." Who is this "we" politicians always cite? We
can change the world for the better if "we" means hundreds of millions of free people pursuing their
interests, inventing, building, parenting, helping. But the politicians' "we" is different.
It means government. "We" will take your money by force and order you about. A democracy can
become the tyranny of the majority. That's no way to create prosperity.
This Election Has Not 'Realigned' the
Country. The 2008 election was an important election. But it can hardly be considered
realigning. Mr. Obama won by portraying the Bush presidency as a series of mistakes that need to be
avoided in the future — essentially encouraging voters to think about the short-term past, not
the long-term future.
Make a List: Lessons from the 2008
election. The electorate really doesn't care about "experience." Voting with a unpopular
incumbent president most of the time resonates, and a relationship with a cast of vile characters doesn't,
unless you can show why it matters. The petty back-and-forth squabbles, the gotcha web ads, and the
gaffe of the day are utterly lost on most voters.
Mourning In America.
The great Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution wrote a terrific piece after the election about how
President-elect Obama managed to tap into the stigma that many White Americans feel about race. He opined
that many people have been looking for something -- anything -- to relieve the burden felt by years of
being blamed for racism. What better solution than to elect a Black man president?
Church-Goers Did Not Support
Obama. On Tuesday, Obama defeated McCain in the nationwide popular vote, 52% to 46%. Among
voters who told the exit poll that they attend church once a week, however, McCain defeated Obama, 55% to 43%.
McCain also defeated Obama 55% to 43% among voters who said they attended church more than once a week.
5
Myths About an Election of Mythic Proportions: [Myth #1] The Republican Party suffered
a death blow. There's no question that losing six Senate seats and 24 House seats (not to mention the
White House) wasn't a step forward for the Grand Old Party. But there are two good reasons to believe
that Republicans will be back on their feet sooner than many people expect.
Where's Obama's
'mandate'? Now that the facts are in, it's clear that the pro-Obama mainstream media continued
to get it wrong right through election night. ... In fact, despite the pictures of four-hour lines at the
polls, American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate reports that voter turnout in
this year's election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago --- or at most had risen
by less than 1 percent.
A defeat -- and yet, all is
not lost. American conservatives can celebrate one historic triumph: The performance
of the New Media in this election. We can't lose sight of the fact that the New Media managed to
expose Obama and his lifelong network. We did the job of real journalism. Any American
who wanted to know the truth was able to find it out with a few clicks on a keyboard. That
is real journalism, not the phony imitation from the Old Media and its camp followers. There is
no secret any longer about the ideology of these people, or about their close alliances with Islamic
radicals, destructive Leftist billionaires and Saudi influence buyers. There is no doubt about
their deep and entrenched roots in the Chicago Machine. Chicago Mayor Daley is on the transition
team, and Chicago hardball pol Rahm Emanuel is the White House Chief of Staff. This is the dream
team of demagogues like J-Wright, Bill Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, and our sworn enemies abroad. About
half the voters know it, and they will not forget it.
Conservative
Nation. One question surfaces repeatedly as the pundits obsess over the exit polls. Have
Americans lurched to the Left in any meaningful way? If so, are they likely to sign long-term leases in
Hotel Obama, or are they simply on loan until they experience the consequences of modern-day liberalism?
Some insist it's the latter.
Planet Obama: Like it or not, the
election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States has done an immense amount to restore American
prestige in the world. Not since the destruction of the Twin Towers has there been dancing in the streets
anywhere on the planet to celebrate events in America. It is to be hoped, of course, that it is not the
same people doing the dancing.
How He Did It: A Diagrammatic
Analysis of the Obama Campaign. The audacity and speed with which Obama railroaded the stimulus bill through
Congress took Republicans by surprise. It shouldn't have; it was a logical extension of his campaign tactics.
Like the spear-carrying soldiers of Ethiopia, overwhelmed by Mussolini's tanks and poison gas in 1936, the Republicans
simply don't know what hit them in last year's election.
The unmitigated media favoritism continues
This section has moved to a new page, located
here.
Mr. Obama is surrounding himself with Washington insiders
If you voted for him because he promised "change", you have to wonder if this is what you
bargained for. It looks like a third term for the Clinton administration.
Two-thirds
of Obama staffers so far come from Clinton era. Come back, Clintons, all is forgiven. This
seems to be Barack Obama's message as he draws up appointments for his administration — two thirds
of which come from Bill Clinton's. In a development unimaginable at the height of the primary battle,
31 of the 47 people so far appointed to the President-elect's transition and White House teams have ties
to the Clinton administration.
Obama Stocks Economic Recovery
Board with Business Chiefs and Labor Leaders. President Barack Obama announced on Friday a new
economic advisory board, filled with business executives — many of whom contributed heavily to
Democratic campaigns in 2008 — and the two most politically active organized labor groups.
The president also insisted that Congress deliver an economic stimulus bill to his desk as quickly as
possible ... .
Bush III.
I don't doubt that hope and change rhetoric, from a non-traditional charismatic leader, won't do some good
abroad, but on key issues — Iraq, Afghanistan, probably the Middle East and Iran, NATO, missile defense,
China, India, North Korea, etc. — Sec. Clinton won't be doing much differently from Sec. Rice. Sec.
Gates won't be different from Sec. Gates.
Four Traps for Obama.
Two fiascos punctuated the first Clinton years. First, the Democrats' drive for openly practiced
homosexuality in the military. The voters didn't like the idea of US Marines openly sleeping together.
The second fiasco was HillaryCare, which looked like a massive power-grab, not a modest medical insurance
program. Barack Obama is preparing to step into those two hornets' nests even now.
Obama and Capgrass
Syndrome. How could Obama, who promised Change, assemble an administration virtually
indistinguishable from that of Bill Clinton? How could he add insult to injury by asking Bob Gates,
George W. Bush's Secretary of Defense, to stay on? How could he pick Lawrence Summers as
his top economic advisor?
Is Obama recreating the Clinton
era? All in all, 31 of the 47 transition or staff posts that Mr Obama has filled so far have gone
to people with ties to the Clinton administration, Politico has reported. Eleven of the 12 members of his
Transition Advisory Board are Clinton veterans. And, according to officials quoted by a number of US media
outlets, Mr Obama is even considering picking the biggest Clinton insider of them all — Hillary
Clinton — as his Secretary of State.
What Went Wrong?
Someone like Jindal, Palin, and other fresh new faces will save the [Republican] party in 2012, especially as hope and
change soon proves neither hopeful nor different. Democrats, after all, just replaced their 91-year-old Sen.
Robert Byrd as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee with equally entrenched 84-year-old Sen. Daniel Inouye;
and are now talking about re-empowering the big unions that helped ruin Detroit, are hiring all the Clinton retreads
for a second try in the Obama administration, and seem to want to use the ancient Freddie/Fannie/postal service model
to expand the government.
Familiar Faces. Okay,
it is starting to be a little bit too much. Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, Rahm Emanuel, Eric Holder,
Mona Sutphen, and Greg Craig, to name just a few. What is this, a Clinton class reunion?
I get that the Obama team needs experience. I get that some of these
people are moderates and pragmatists, which is good if you want to keep the country from going over a
cliff. ... But isn't this all sort of a bait and switch?
Is
Obama Embarking On Bill Clinton's Third Term? Let's not be so naïve. The passionate
Obama partisans aren't. The polling data on these voters released last week by John Zogby may have
confirmed what many of us had suspected for months — that millions of Americans who supported the Obama
candidacy knew essentially nothing about him — but that doesn't dismiss the fact that Obama sold people
on the idea of "change." And based on the left-wing reaction to the Clinton re-emergence, "change"
was taken to mean not merely a reversal of the past eight years, but an un-doing of the past couple of decades.
Obama's White House, Clinton's Team. As President-elect Obama
forms his administration, he's including a lot of familiar faces. Many of Obama's picks — for his transition team,
his staff, and his Cabinet — are people who worked in the Clinton administration. Where else is a Democratic
president going to find people with executive branch experience?
The
Trouble With Obama's Energy Czar. Yet another Clintonite has been wheeled out of the political
morgue to serve in the Obama administration. Carol Browner, a neon-green radical who headed the
Environmental Protection Agency from 1993-2000, is widely rumored to be the president-elect's choice for
"energy czar." But an ethical cloud still hangs over Browner's EPA legacy. It doesn't take a team
of Ivy League lawyers to figure out that this is one more headache the Hope and Change crew doesn't need.
Merry Christmas,
Carol. Despite denials from her soon-to-be former employers, the Albright Group, former Clinton
EPA head and soon-to-be climate change czar Carol Browner served as a de facto lobbyist for Dubai Ports
World, owned by the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, which arranged to buy a company operating six major U.S.
ports, including New York and New Jersey. Browner told the Obama transition team that she never served
as a lobbyist in her time in Washington ... .
Obama climate
czar has socialist ties. Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's
pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a
Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their
economies to address climate change. By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed
from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in
Greece was still available.
Most
Networks Skip Story of Obama's Socialist Global Warming Czar. Fox News on Wednesday continued to
be one of the very few media outlets covering the fact that Barack Obama's new "global warming czar" has ties
to socialist groups. While all three network morning shows ignored the story, "Fox News Live" host Megyn
Kelly interviewed climate change skeptic Senator James Inhofe on the subject.
Barack Obama's aides believe he has made a mistake in hiring Hillary
Clinton. Mr Obama is expected to make a formal appointment after the coming week's Thanksgiving
celebrations, but the leaking and briefing and media obsession with every twist and turn has left many
wondering whether the Clinton psychodrama could overshadow Mr Obama's first term in office.
Hillary Nomination Would Be An Obama-Nation. It is still
hard to believe but, if Hillary Clinton's "confidantes" are to be trusted, Barack Obama is about to appoint
her secretary of state and she is about to accept. This appointment represents the capstone of betrayal
of Obama's promise to be the "change we can believe in."
Summers Said to Be Obama Pick for
Top Economic Post. President-elect Barack Obama will name Lawrence Summers to head the National Economic
Council, one of the three top economic jobs in the new administration, a Democratic aide said. ... Summers was
President Bill Clinton's Treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001, when he became president of Harvard University.
Former Lobbyist Named
Biden's Chief of Staff. President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Ronald A. Klain, a
former lobbyist and Clinton White House lawyer, as chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joseph R.
Biden Jr. His selection is one of several early appointments to Mr. Obama's White House and
transition staff that calls attention to the limits of Mr. Obama's sweeping self-imposed ethics rules,
laid out to fulfill a campaign pledge to "wrest the federal government out of the hands of lobbyists."
Obama appoints lobbyist to head FCC transition,
reports say. Telecom policy circles are a buzz with the news of Barack Obama's pick to head the
Federal Communications Commission transition team. Obama is reported to have chosen lawyer and DC insider
Henry Rivera, a former Democratic FCC commissioner, lobbyist, and currently a partner at communications law
firm Wiley Rein.
Obama Spokesman Says 'Obama Ready to RULE on Day 1'. The
co-chair of Barack Obama's Transition Team, Valerie Jarrett, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and used,
shall we say, an interesting word to described what she thinks Barack Obama will be doing in January when he's
officially sworn into office. She told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to "rule" on day one.
It's a word that reflects the worst fears that people have for Obama the "arrogant," the "messiah," that
imagines he's here to "rule" instead of govern.
Transition
Team Chock Full of Bundlers. Though they worked behind the scenes in Barack Obama's campaign for
president, bundlers who raised millions of dollars for his White House bid are starting to land significant
posts on his transition team.
'Office of
President Elect of the United States'. I nearly busted a gut. This is something straight
out of Saturday Night Live. The proud savior of the United States of America. The new voice of the
downtrodden minorities, the poor, and the oppressed. He is surrounded by a bunch of rich white folks.
Former Lobbyist Named
Biden's Chief of Staff. President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Ronald A. Klain, a
former lobbyist and Clinton White House lawyer, as chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joseph R.
Biden Jr. His selection is one of several early appointments to Mr. Obama's White House and
transition staff that calls attention to the limits of Mr. Obama's sweeping self-imposed ethics rules,
laid out to fulfill a campaign pledge to "wrest the federal government out of the hands of lobbyists."
Has
the Media Let Obama's Reversal Pass Unnoticed? Obama is starting to feel a bit of pressure from members
of the far left of his own party who are beginning to raise their eyebrows over the fact that he hasn't shown any desire
to institute any "change" thus far with his staff and cabinet picks even though they had "hope" that he would.
Buyer's Remorse on the
Left. Clearly, Obama intends to be more than a one-term president; even before his Inauguration, he is
already starting his next campaign. He is putting his chief competition, Senator Hillary Clinton, safely inside
his camp and working to dispel any evidence that he is an extremist. Rather than come in and clean house, the
President-elect seems to be embracing politics as usual.
Liberals Angry Over
Obama Keeping Gates as Pentagon Chief. More than a month before he takes the oath of office,
President-elect Barack Obama already is testing the loyalty of his liberal base. On Monday,
he is expected to announce his national security team, which will include Robert Gates as his defense secretary, a
carry-over from the Bush administration, and retired Gen. Jim Jones, who supported John McCain for president,
as his national security adviser.
Change is Changing.
A funny thing happened on his way to the White House: that old, left-wing community organizer Barack Obama has
suddenly veered toward the center, and his incoming administration is looking more and more like the Daley Machine
in Chicago than Hugo Chavez's administration down in Venezuela. ... Watching him announce key appointments to
cabinet and subcabinet posts makes one think that this is Bill Clinton redux. Mr. Obama has dug deep
into the 1990s and resurrected much of the Clinton cast of characters, even to naming Hillary Clinton to be
secretary of state.
Al Qaeda to
Obama: 'Welcome aboard'. One theme that has become noticeably absent from Barack Obama's recent press
announcements, his weekly internet broadcasts, or his discussion of public policy from his imaginary "Office of the
President Elect" (complete with its own seal) has been the discussion of immediately bringing the troops home.
The signs of Barack Obama going back on his biggest direct campaign promise are numerous.
The Obama
Jolt: So the scoreboard looks like this: Three of the four cabinet posts that matter most
are going to those with views acceptable to the center-right of the Democratic party. That's
Geithner, Clinton, and Gates. The fourth, attorney general, will provoke a confirmation fight
if Obama chooses his buddy Eric Holder, famous as President Clinton's deputy attorney general for
facilitating the pardon of Marc Rich. Three out of four isn't bad. Conservatives aren't
jumping for joy. But imagine how the left wing of the Democratic party -- the dominant
wing, after all -- feels. Let down would be an understatement.
Bush Through the
Obama Prism: I've collated the dozens of articles from liberal thinkers that explain why so far
Obama -- the candidate of hope and change, and cleaning out the entrenched status quo that so warps our D.C.
politics and ensures stasis in our policies -- has surrounded himself either with Clintonites, outright Bush
people or those who worked closely with them, and centrists of ambiguous politics. The explanations are
quite creative and run the gamut ... Note that the most obvious and embarrassing explanation is taboo and
blasphemous: That Obama is a masterful politician who never has had any real ideology or persona other
than his own diversity story and history, youth, and charisma that together allow him to be whatever is
politically expedient at the time.
Brace for the
change you do not believe in. There is something degrading about serious, prominent political people of
the left or right (to say nothing of the broader public) being forced to play policy hide and seek with the president-elect
of the United States. And there is something presumptive about a president elect who is very satisfied to keep the
public guessing about what he stands for and what he plans to do. It is redolent of the most cynical of 19th century
European politics.
They're
Ba-a-ack. Is there any doubt we'll again be getting "two for the price of one?" Billary is back.
The decision infuriates many Obama supporters. Pulling the lever for Obama was supposed to usher out the Clinton era
of baby-boomer entitlement and drama. Shades of "The Godfather": Just when you think they're out, someone
pulls them back in.
Recent Musings:
Many people are questioning why Obama, the alleged agent of change, is filling his administration with a lot of Clinton
re-treads. I am reminded of what took place in Germany after World War II. Suddenly, it seemed like all
the mayors and bureaucrats were former Nazis. The explanation was that after a dozen years of Hitler, only the Nazis
had the necessary leadership experience. Well, when you realize that since 1980, the only Democratic president was
Bill Clinton, it figures that Obama would be forced to furnish his White House with second-hand goods from the Clinton
thrift shop.
Hillary's Global Village.
Hillary Clinton has long made it clear that she considers [American] values passé, preferring the Brave New World
ideology of the internationalist elite to the philosophy of America's founding. If anything, the State Department
gives her a powerful perch to advance UN-style propaganda at the expense of American values. The striped-pants
Strobe Talbotts she will select to work there find those values tiresome.
Left behind. You almost have to feel
sorry for the left. President-elect Barack Obama was supposed to be their guy. That woman, Hillary Clinton,
was the centrist, reach-across-the-aisle type. They picked Obama because he was going to be the "transformative"
leader who didn't need to compromise with the right or even with reality. Heck, Obama the Wise would magically
change reality itself, right around the same moment he'd force those pesky oceans to recede.
Obama, steady there. Mr.
Obama is too savvy a marketer to have tried to make a campaign slogan out of practicality. But who would have guessed
that when he lit up the crowd at Iowa's 2007 Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner with his signature speech denouncing the ways of
Washington and Democrats who accommodated Bush foreign policy, he harbored a secret desire to draw on experienced
Republicans to manage his national-security policy?
This
Wasn't Quite the Change We Pictured. It's no surprise that many progressives are — depending on
whom you ask — disappointed, irritated or fit to be tied. Sure, Obama's appointments do represent
change — that is, change from the widely unpopular Bush-Cheney status quo. But do these appointments
amount to the kind of change that progressives, who were an essential part of Obama's political base
during the campaign, can really believe in?
Robber baron facilitators won't pull US economy
out of recession. President-elect Barack Obama is dreaming in technicolour in thinking former
federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker can pull the U.S. economy out of recession. Mainstream media
comment was all but non-existent when Obama appointed big-name Volcker to his economic recovery team.
The last time Volcker was appointed to a high profile investigation into economic malaise, he blew it.
Change we need looks a lot like change we had. Oh, there'll be change
all right. I predict that by the end of 2009, Barack Obama will have changed so much, you'll hardly recognize him.
Remember Obama 2008? The guy who railed against our Iraq policy and wanted all our troops home by last March?
In 2009, that's all going to change. ... President-elect Obama's critics may snicker, but I think, in an odd way, he's
keeping his fundamental promise of change. He's changing everything he can. Which isn't much.
Obama carries the Clintons' baggage
Exclusive: Gregory Craig to be White House
counsel. Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill
Clinton's impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect Barack Obama, according
to Democratic officials.
Pardoning
Terror. During Barack Obama's presidential run, Eric Holder, Bill Clinton's Deputy Attorney General from
1997 to 2001, campaigned heavily for the then-Illinois senator. This past summer, Obama tapped Holder to serve on
the vice presidential selection team that ultimately chose Joe Biden to be Obama's running mate. Now Holder may
receive his own position in the Obama administration, for which he has been nominated to serve as Attorney General.
Holder brings a resume rich with titles to the job. He also brings a history of aiding terrorists, foreign and
domestic.
Obama's choice of
Xavier Becerra revives 2001 clemency case. President-elect Barack Obama's offer to make Rep. Xavier Becerra
(D-Los Angeles) the next U.S. trade representative makes him the second Cabinet-level candidate to have been involved in
President Clinton's controversial 2001 commutation of a Los Angeles cocaine dealer's prison sentence. The other is
Eric H. Holder Jr., whom Obama has nominated to be attorney general.
Becerra's got some baggage. Remember
Carlos Vignali? The dealer, Carlos Vignali, was convicted in 1994 for his role in a drug ring that delivered
more than 800 pounds of cocaine — worth about $5 million at the time — from Los Angeles to
Minneapolis. He was released after serving less than half of his 14½-year sentence. Becerra was one of a
number of Southern California political leaders who urged Clinton to consider commuting Vignali's prison term in response to
a campaign by Vignali's father, Horacio, a Los Angeles businessman and developer who contributed to Becerra's political
campaigns. The senior Vignali also paid Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham, $204,000 to lobby for his
son's release.
Becerra's a bad
choice for trade post. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) could become the administration's point person
on international trade. He's a terrible choice, and not just because of a history of unsavory behavior —
such as his successful efforts to win a pardon from President Clinton for convicted cocaine kingpin Carlos Vignali, or the
screamingly unethical robo-calls his campaign engineered during his run for Los Angeles mayor in 2001.
Trade him in. While
President-elect Barack Obama's choices for key leadership positions in the new administration have been mostly solid
to date, his reported selection of U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra as U.S. trade representative is a step backward.
Obama Team Has Forged
Another Link With Clintons. It's official. The old Clinton gang really is back together
again. Answering the phones these days for the co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama's transition,
John D. Podesta, is none other than Betty Currie. Emerging from retirement in southern Maryland to
volunteer at Obama headquarters, Ms. Currie was the personal secretary to President Bill Clinton, who became
caught up in an independent counsel investigation into his trysts with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Hillary Clinton's Credibility Problems Will
Hurt America. With Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearings set to
begin today, and the Obama-Biden Administration emerging as the third Hillary Clinton co-presidency, one
warning that Linda Tripp of Lewinsky-Clinton fame told me continually was this: "If you believe nothing
else, believe this. If the Clintons can do it to me they can do it to you," referring to the Clinton's
alleged ability to pressure and influence people to lie for them -- under oath, in the media, on the steps of
Congress, anywhere or face personal destruction.
Obama's
New Commerce Secretary Nominee: Not So "Squeaky Clean". The glowing profiles of [Gary] Locke have
largely glossed over his troubling ties to the Clinton-era Chinagate scandal. As the nation's first Chinese-American
governor, Locke aggressively raised cash from ethnic constituencies around the country. Convicted campaign finance
money-launderer John Huang helped grease the wheels and open doors. ... Huang also made personal contributions to
Locke — as did another Clinton-Gore funny-money figure, Indonesian business mogul Ted Sioeng and his family
and political operatives. Sioeng, whom Justice Department and intelligence officials suspected of acting on behalf
of the Chinese government, illegally donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to both Democratic and Republican coffers.
Unprecedented and Secretive.
Lost amid all of the jubilation of the Obama victory was the announcement by the Obama transition team that it
had set up a separate transition program beyond the one that is paid for by the American taxpayer. Called
the "Obama/Biden Transition Project," it is a 501(c)4 tax-exempt organization, with no limits on the contributions
it can receive and no requirements to divulge the names of individuals or organizations that give it
money. ... No one is certain that any political organization has ever set up a tax-exempt entity that would be
shrouded in such secrecy, particularly when Obama claimed he would be more transparent about the way things were
done.
Saving America from Obama's Socialism.
He descended in an airplane pompously decked out with his very own logo to the next stopover where throngs asked
no questions as they cried out his name. But like a movie star's makeup and hairdo, Obama's rockstar
image will start to lose its luster when the clock strikes midnight. For up close with no groupies and
adulating media, Barack Obama is only another crass politician.
Saul Alinsky Takes
the White House. Too many conservatives think we've seen all this before — in 1964 and 1974
and 1992 — and that we know how to handle it. Fly, meet ointment: We're not dealing with the
same sorts of opponents. These New Alinskyites who are taking over the White House, combined with the
most leftist congressional leadership in memory, will not let us play by the same rules under which
conservatives recovered from those earlier debacles. They will try to drastically tilt the playing
field, seed our side of the field with land mines and, in short, rig the process to make it next to
impossible for the political right, or Republicans, to recover. And they are likely to succeed
in at least some of these designs.
Buyer's Remorse Already?
The fact that people are so nervously watching and waiting to see if Barack Obama intends to stay true to his
campaign rhetoric tells you two disturbing things. 1), No one is quite sure who our President-elect
is. And 2), few are sure they even want him to be who he said he was.
False pride and the liberal
imagination: Is the election of Barack Obama a victory for racial tolerance and equality? Or is Obama
just a clever politician surfing the fathomless supply of white guilt, like the three famous Revs --- Jesse, Al
and J-Rite? Is Obama the bearer of post-racial forgiveness, or is he just good at the ole' slice and dice?
In a way it doesn't matter. To liberals a black president equals goodness and virtue.
Obama serves
Reid taste of Chicago Way. So the Chicago Way hauled off and slapped the U.S. Senate in the
face — one of those backhands with the knuckles to unsuspecting lips — and guess
who blinked? It wasn't Chicago. It was the Senate. Get used to it, America. And it
won't be the last time either. ... So much for transcending the old politics.
Obama opposes school choice for you -- but not for him
Send
Your Children to D.C. Public Schools, Mr. President-Elect. Barack and Michelle Obama are poised
to commit a classic act of limousine-liberal hypocrisy — in this case, turning their backs on tens of
thousands of inner-city kids in Washington, D.C. Public schools, it seems, are good enough for poor and
middle-class families, but not for rich families like the Obamas.
Vanity School Fair. The
Obama era may be less than a week old, but denizens of the city's toniest neighborhoods have already fixated
on the objects of greatest cachet: for status-conscious parents and elite private-school headmasters,
nothing is more coveted than the Obamas' young daughters. ... Indeed, the race to land Malia, 10, and
Sasha, 7, is already well underway and is one of the most closely watched contests in Washington.
Obama's School Choice: Forget
the Treasury shortlist or Inauguration Day plans. What many Washingtonians are dying to know is where will
Sasha and Malia enroll in school? The choice made for and by the Obama girls, 10 and 7, will be personal — and
political. As public servant No. 1, Barack Obama may feel the heat to send his kids to public schools.
Which
School Will Pass the Obamas' Test? If the Obamas choose any of these three schools, they
can expect a stiff price hike. They currently send their girls to the private University of Chicago
Laboratory Schools, where tuition goes up by grade — $18,492 a year for second-graders like Sasha
and $20,286 for fifth-graders like Malia. Meanwhile, merely enrolling one's child in pre-kindergarten
at Sidwell, long the choice of many of Washington's most elite families, costs $28,442 a year.
The Sidwell Choice. The
Obamas are fortunate to have the means to send their daughters to private school, and no one begrudges them
that choice given that Washington's public schools are among the worst in America. Most D.C. parents
would also love to be able to choose a better school for their child, but they lack the financial means to
do so. The Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program each year offers up to $7,500 to some 1,900 kids
to attend private schools, but Democrats in Congress want to kill it.
The true school
scandal. The Obamas will send their two daughters to the expensive private school, Sidwell Friends.
Yes, that makes him something of a hypocrite because he is a vocal opponent of giving poor kids anything like the same
option. But you know what? Who cares? Personally, I would think less of the Obamas if they sent
their kids to bad schools out of some ideological principle. Parents' first obligation is to do right by their
own kids. ... Most Washington public schools are hellholes. So parents here — including the first
family — find hypocrisy a small price to pay for fulfilling their parental obligations.
Washington's elite abuzz as
Obamas settle on a school. In a city where social status is conferred by proximity to political power,
the Obamas' decision on where to educate their two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven, had assumed outsize
importance — in no small part because of the potential social opportunities it offers to Washington's elite and
wealthy parents.
Obamas
Pick Sidwell Friends For Kids' School. "A number of great schools were considered. In the
end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now," said
Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama. ... Lelyveld said that while public schools
were considered, the Obamas felt that a private school was in the best interest of their children.
The Editor says...
No kidding. That's a polite way of saying that the kids would not get an education at a public
school in Washington, DC.
Eventually he came right out and said it. Obama:
D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school. President Obama said Monday [9/27/2010]
that his daughters could not get the same level of education from D.C. public schools that they receive at the
elite private school they attend.
Obama
Hearts Private School — For Himself and Family. Barack Obama, for his own education,
never set foot in a public school. [...] What about the Obama's own children? Surely the children of a
pro-public school politician would attend public schools as a seal of approval. On the contrary, the
children of then-Sen. Obama attended a private school operated by the University of Chicago, where Obama had
taught as an instructor in the law school. This job enabled the Obama girls to go at little or no cost
to Obama. After Obama was elected president and preparing to move to Washington, D.C., Michelle Obama
engaged in a public search for an appropriate school for their children. Michelle considered public
schools in D.C. "There are some terrific individual schools in the D.C. system," her husband said later.
But, come time for enrollment, the Obamas chose Sidwell Friends, a private Quaker school whose most famous
recent grad is Chelsea Clinton. Annual tuition? Almost $40,000 a year, and this excludes books
and other material.
Who's really happy about Obama's presidency?
Another Obama Comrade. Suffice to say,
Beatrice Lumpkin is still with us, an old communist (literally) at age 94 — and today in the tank for Barack Obama. Her
life and relationship with our president is illuminating. [...] A clenched fist, raised high in the air, for comrade Barack
Obama — that is, President Barack Obama. Beatrice Lumpkin's final words, the end of the narrative of her communist
life and sojourn, end with that image. For Beatrice Lumpkin, Barack Obama's long-awaited presidency and fundamental
transformation of America is something she has yearned for her entire life.
Hugo Chavez says he'd vote for
Obama. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has weighed in on the U.S. presidential race, saying he prefers President
Barack Obama.
Barack Obama Gets The Highly Coveted Hugo
Chavez Endorsement. Barack Obama has snagged the endorsement of Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chavez thereby locking up that key petty Third
World totalitarian demographic so eagerly sought after by all Democrats since Jimmy Carter.
Trinity church
rejoices: 'Yes, we did!' Hundreds of worshipers packed into the sanctuary for a joyous service
that celebrated the church's role in the spiritual awakening of a future president. Trinity's pastor,
Rev. Otis Moss III, said history would note that Trinity was the holy place where "God stirred a young man's
soul and put him on the path to the presidency."
Farrakhan:
Obama is 'America's blessing'. Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Sunday [11/23/2008] called
President-elect Barack Obama "America's blessing," and said he believes Obama's election came about by intervention
from God. But Farrakhan, speaking on the last day of the State of the Black World conference in New Orleans,
said it would be a disservice to place unreal expectations on Obama and shirk personal responsibilities.
Farrakhan
says Obama 'new beginning'. Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said God's divine plan
for the world is why President-elect Barack Obama won the election, and that God will make sure Obama has
the vision needed to guide the country through current economic and social woes.
Call to action issued to
Farrakhan followers. From a three-hour keynote address by Minister Louis Farrakhan
to $10 T-shirts, mentions of President Obama were everywhere at the Nation of Islam's annual convention
Sunday [3/1/2009] in this Chicago suburb. The enthusiasm for Obama within the Chicago-based
movement — which has embraced black nationalism since its founding in the 1930s — was
used as a launching point for celebration, intellectual discussion and a call to action. ... In a speech
days after the election, Farrakhan acknowledged that he then purposely laid low, keeping his praise quiet,
so as not to affect Obama's chances at winning the presidency.
Farrakhan: Don't let Obama energy die.
Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said President Barack Obama has ignited an unprecedented energy
among people, and he urged followers to not let it die. ... References to the Obamas were everywhere at
the two-day convention, from Farrakhan's keynote address to a session called the "Michelle Obama Effect"
to a bazaar selling Obama T-shirts.
Communist Party
Celebrates Democrat Wins. The Communist Party USA is just ecstatic about the election of Barack
Obama and the strengthening of Democrat majorities in Congress. According to the People's Weekly World,
"Communist Party USA leaders meeting here Nov. 15-16 celebrated the election of Barack Obama, the nation's first
African American president, and of stronger Democratic majorities in Congress..."
Almost 90 Percent of Muslims Voted for
Obama. Nearly 90 percent of American Muslims supported Democrat Barack Obama on Election
Day — and did so on the basis of economic and foreign policy concerns, top Muslim groups
said in Washington, D.C., Friday [11/7/2008].
Jihadi
Leader Says Radicals Share Obama Victory . The leader of a jihadi group in Iraq argued
Friday [11/7/2008] that the election of Barack Obama as president represented a victory for radical
Islamic groups that had battled American forces since the invasion of Iraq.
U.N. looks for better times when
Obama takes over. Standing in the line of those hoping for a better deal from U.S. President-elect
Barack Obama than they got from outgoing President George W. Bush is a body representing the entire world:
the United Nations. Despite public protestations of neutrality in the November 4 presidential election,
there has been thinly disguised glee at U.N. headquarters that Democrat Obama defeated Republican John McCain.
Putin
sees promise in Obama presidency. Putin told reporters there were "positive signals" coming from
Obama on the sore subject of a planned U.S. missile defense shield in Eastern Europe as well as on efforts by
Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO, which Russia opposes.
Months later... Moscow's Blizzard / New York's
Blizzard. [Russia's prime minister Vladimir] Putin now hires and fires governors and mayors at
will. He owns and operates all the national television broadcasters, he executes journalists who do not
toe his line, and he jails anyone, like Khodorkovsky, who stands even the slightest chance of challenging him
politically. Slowly but surely, he is abolishing civil rights throughout the criminal justice system,
and using any sign of disorder as an excuse for further and more draconian crackdowns. Yet for all that,
Putin is vulnerable just as were his Soviet ancestors, because his misguided policies undermine economic and
political stability. Yet Putin has found himself with the great good fortune of Barack Obama's election
as president.
The feeling is mutual, I'm sure. Castro Says
He Has No Doubts About Obama's Honesty. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, in his first
editorial in five weeks, said he has no doubt that U.S. President Barack Obama is honest and has "noble
intentions."
The Editor says...
If Mr. Castro is so familiar with the American Dream, and seems to approve of it, why does
he prevent Cuban citizens from experiencing it?
Communist
Groups Support Card Check. The labor policies of the Obama administration and the Democratic
Party controlled Congress are being praised in certain quarters. Some see this praise as an indication
of the Democrats' true agenda. The appointment of Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary was noted with
accolades on the Web site of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). ... The CPUSA has also been a longtime
supporter for the Employee Free Choice Act — also known as card check.
"Comrade" Obama Makes His Marx At
G20. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may have confirmed that which conservatives, libertarians, and
insightful independents have been shouting for over two years: Barack Obama is a dedicated Marxist.
According to Medvedev, Barack Obama is his "new comrade," as the Russian president was apparently pleased with
Obama's willingness to waffle on the US missile shield program, which Medvedev described as a "mistake" on the
part of the Bush administration.
Pagans and Wiccans for
Obama and Biden. Apparently this artwork was designed for a web site somewhere, but I haven't
located that site. Nor do I want to.
Congressional Black Caucus
Smitten With Castro. Not since Ann Margaret's reaction to Conrad Birdie's kiss has anything been recorded
to match these U.S. legislators' reaction to these meetings. "He looked directly into my eyes!" gasped Rep. Laura
Richardson (D-Ca.) "and then he asked: how can we help President Obama? Fidel Castro really wants President
Obama to succeed." (no doubt!)
Bam's New BFF Hugo.
It's springtime — and Hugo Chavez says love is in the air between himself and President Obama. Left-wing
wacko Chavez gave Obama his personal stamp of approval yesterday [4/18/2009], along with one of his favorite
reads — a detailed look at Latin American politics through 500 years of what it says was US
exploitation. Chavez, a strident critic of George W. Bush's administration, said his meeting with Obama
yesterday at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago was "extraordinary." "I feel great optimism
and the best of good will to advance. We have started off on the right foot," Chavez said in a statement.
Hugo Chavez Says Venezuelan
Socialism Has Begun to Reach U.S. under Obama. Inspired by his meeting with U.S. President
Barack Obama at the Americas Summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared on Sunday [4/19/2009] that
Venezuelan socialism has begun to reach the United States under the Obama administration.
President's Nontaxpaying Base Is
Intact. During the 2008 presidential campaign, for the first time, Zogby International and "The
O'Leary Report" probed the differences of opinion between the 70% of the American electorate that pay federal
income taxes and the 30% that have no federal income tax liability. We found that nontaxpayers, as a
voting bloc, were some of Obama's most enthusiastic supporters, whereas taxpayers generally disagreed with
his economic vision and his craving for centralization and wealth redistribution.
Environmentalists happy with Obama; industry less
so. In the nearly four months since taking office, the Obama administration has moved quickly,
relentlessly and without apology to roll back the natural resource and public lands policies of its predecessor.
Though they have yet to lay out their own vision in detail, Salazar and other administration officials have left no doubt
that they consider the Bush approach misguided and unfairly weighted toward timber, mining, oil and other interests.
Venezuela Chavez says "Comrade" Obama
more left-wing. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday [6/2/2009] that he and Cuban ally Fidel
Castro risk being more conservative than U.S. President Barack Obama as Washington prepares to take control of General
Motors Corp. During one of Chavez's customary lectures on the "curse" of capitalism and the bonanzas of socialism,
the Venezuelan leader made reference to GM's bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government a
60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.
Obama's
Cairo Speech Through the Lens of Islamists. Only after the despotic governments of Egypt and Saudi
Arabia, who are blind and intransigent to political and religious reform, expressed pleasure and approval of
our president have our local domestic Islamist groups become jubilant. Are the reformers in Egypt or the
oppressed minorities of the "Muslim world" jubilant? No one knows because their voices cannot be heard.
Obama's Red Chorus.
Rest assured, Venezuela's self-described Communist commandante does not wish us well. But Obama's
administration has managed to awe him with its takeover of General Motors. "Hey, Obama has just
nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama!" Chavez cheered on
Venezuelan TV Tuesday [6/2/2009]. He gushingly added that he and Cuba's Fidel Castro would now have to
work harder just to keep up. It underlines two things: just how closely the Venezuelan strongman
watches what's happening in the U.S and just how badly it resembles his own war on private property.
Obama's ties to the Nation of Islam:
Jeremiah Wright, Obama's esteemed pastor for 20 years, came out of a Nation background. Recently he
accepted protection from an NOI security detail, and has praised Louis Farrakhan, the NOI's leader, as one of
the "giants of the African American religious experience." Wright's church celebrated Farrakhan for his
having "truly epitomized greatness." Farrakhan himself endorsed Obama, calling him "the hope of the
entire world," "one who can lift America from her fall," and even "the Messiah."
Obama and the Happy Dictator.
One thing to be said about Barack Obama's efforts at outreach in the Muslim world: there's at least one
dictator who is just delighted. ... We're talking about a potentate who imprisoned his only rival during the
last election and locks up democracy activists and those who question the viability of a Mubarak dynasty.
Fidel Castro praises Obama on climate
change. Barack Obama's call for action on climate change and his admission that rich nations have
a particular responsibility to lead has received strong praise from an unusual source — U.S. nemesis
Fidel Castro.
100 minutes in the life of Muammar
Gaddafi. [Scroll down] "Terrorism is not just al-Qaida, it takes many forms." In case
the point was lost on anyone, he tore up his copy of the UN rule book. Having thus abused and alienated
99.99% of the world's top diplomats, he suddenly changed tack, heaping praise and devotion on the one man he
appears to respect. "Now the black man doesn't have to sit in the back of the bus, the American people
made him president and we are proud of that. We would be happy if Obama stayed president of America
forever."
Gadhafi
calls Obama his "son," hopes that he will remain president for life. Libyan leader Muammar
Qaddafi, declaring that "we'd be content and happy if Obama can stay president forever," launched into a
rambling assault against the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday ... Referencing Obama as "my son,"
Qaddafi said: "We are happy that a young African Kenyan was voted for and made president."
Obama Adored by Despots and Dictators Everywhere.
During his long, rambling, and largely incoherent diatribe Wednesday [9/23/2009] in front of the United Nations General
Assembly Muammar Gadaffi made one point starkly clear. He loves President Obama. Thrown in between referrals
to the Security Council as a "Terror Council" and demands of renewed investigations into the assassination of JFK, Gaddafi
found time in the 95 minute rant to call Obama "our son," and "our Obama."
Dictators: In Love with Obama. Does
anyone find it odd that so many evil dictators are head-over-heels in love with President Obama? Take Cuba's
Fidel Castro, for instance.
The
Theological Virtue of Obama. What struck me wasn't so much what Obama said at the UN as what
others said about him. I cannot recall any time, in the entire history of the United Nations, where
nearly every single one of the world's worst rogue dictators came out of the woodwork to shower heaping
praise on the president of the United States.
Marxism Goes
Mainstream. [Thorbjørn] Jagland loves Karl Marx. And he loves Barack Obama. In
addition to heading the Nobel committee and the European Council, Jagland is a long-time leader of Socialist
International, a worldwide organization of radical left groups and the occasional terrorist organization
dedicated to establishing a world government that will rule through Marxist, collectivist principles.
ObamaCare a Huge Hit — With
Fidel Castro!. Those who doubt that ObamaCare is an evil Communist scheme that will
destroy our way of life: Listen up to the words of the second most dedicated Marxist in our
Hemisphere. That would be Fidel Castro, the dried-up old Commie prune from Cuba, the only man
outside of Moscow more smitten with Marxism than our very own Barack Obama.
Communist
Party Statement on "Health Care Victory". The Communist Party USA has issued a statement
on Obama's "Health care victory". It's a classic piece of communist double-speak, but there is
some truth and some very clear warnings buried in the propaganda.
Medvedev
says he wants to see Obama re-elected. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday [6/20/2011]
he wanted his US counterpart Barack Obama to win re-election next year, fearing that the two men's efforts to
improve ties may lose steam under a new administration.
Former Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev Says He Supports President Obama. During a speech to Advanced Placement students at Von Steuben High School, former Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev made a strong statement of approval for President Obama. "Of course, there are many people who don't like what
President Obama is doing. But, my opinion of him is very [favorable]. I will support him," Gorbachev said, according to a Russian translator,
the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
"I would vote for Obama!", Squeals Castro's daughter.
"If I were a U.S. citizen I'd vote for Obama for president," boasted Mariela Castro during her San Francisco conference this week.
"I think he is sincere, I think he speaks from the heart." To cheers and applause from the San Franciscan crowd Raul Castro's daughter also
proclaimed that, "what we want is the power of emancipation through socialism."
Obama wins coveted Castro endorsement.
Everyone else seems to be bailing on Barack Obama these days, but not the Castro regime. In a move that enraged Florida's Cuban expatriate
community, the Administration granted Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela Castro, a visa to spread Cuban Communist propaganda in the United States... because
she's supposedly an expert in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights.
Obama's Communist Party Endorsement.
This is not the first time the CPUSA has officially supported Obama, of course. Alternative media voices have been trying to break
through the MSM soundproofing on this matter for some time. The wording of this year's endorsement is particularly full-throated,
however, which in itself ought to be disturbing to anyone still on the fence about the nature of the man, his party, and his policies.
Communist Party Endorses Obama. Actually, no, this
is not a tongue-in-cheek headline. The Communist Party of the United States endorsed Barack Obama. [...] The little commies that
commented disagree with this endorsement, asserting that Obama is too far to the right. Really.
Obama: The Dictator's
Choice For U.S. President. From Moscow to Caracas to Havana, something disturbing is happening: Dictators with long records of enmity
toward the U.S. are endorsing Obama for president. What does that say about the Obama presidency?
Kremlin Cheers Obama Election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory note to President Obama after his re-election Tuesday, his spokesman said.
The Kremlin says it will make the text public after the Americans have received it. Putin is also expected to call Obama personally "in
the near future."
"Progressive"
Action List — Destroy the Military, Defeat the "Right". In a speechÊdelivered last Saturday [4/27/2013] to a members conference of the
Communist Party USA, Sam Webb, the party's Chairman, acknowledged that "it is easy to become frustrated with the pace and scale of change in recent years," but
laid out an approach he believes has the "potential to shape a bright future for the majority of Americans." Webb noted that the election of President
Barack Obama in 2008, which gave people the hope that things would change for the better, but has left them with that hope not fully realized.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."
This subsection has moved to a page of its own,
located here.
An inauguration is not an emergency
The word "emergency" is not in the Constitution, partly because the founders of this country intentionally
designed a system that reacts slowly to passing fads. Over the last several decades, the Constitution
has become more of a technicality than anything else, and the result is the massive and ill-advised spending
we see every day. If the Obama inauguration is going to be costly, let Mr. Obama pay for it from his own
very deep pockets.
Inauguration
declared 'emergency'. President Bush on Tuesday declared the District a federal emergency area,
clearing the way for the city to receive federal money to help cover the overwhelming cost of providing
security for official inauguration events. Officials said it was the first time the designation had
ever been used for anything other than a national disaster, such as a hurricane or widespread flooding.
Obama's inauguration
set to be the most expensive in US history. President Barack Obama's inauguration next week is
set to be the most expensive ever, predicted to reach over $150m (£102m). This dwarfs the $42.3m
spent on George Bush's inauguration in 2005 and the $33m spent on Bill Clinton's in 1993. Part of the
spending includes emergency funding announced by the White House on Tuesday [1/13/2009] to help with the
soaring costs. Most of this new federal funding will be to deal with the huge influx of people,
estimated 1.5 million to 2 million.
Price Tag of Obama's Inauguration:
It is believed President-elect Obama's inauguration will be the costliest in history — around
$50 million — despite the recession. President Bush has declared a state of emergency
to free up federal funds to help the district cope with the soaring cost of the event.
What Recession? The
$170 Million Inauguration. The country is in the middle of the worst economic downturn since
the Great Depression, which isn't stopping rich donors and the government from spending $170 million, or
more, on the inauguration of Barack Obama.
