A Year-End Wrap Up Of The Obama Presidency

It’s pretty amazing when you take a look at all that has taken place since Barack Obama has become President.

The man who promised America Hope and Change has really delivered on that promise.

Which may explain why his popularity numbers are dropping like a stone.

Victor Hanson at Pajamas Media sums it up for us:

The China Presidency

I have an heirloom china pitcher on my mantle that has dozens of glued cracks—so much so that it is now purely ornamental and will not hold water. When I was a boy I’d ask my mother when, and under what circumstances, did the china crack apart.

She would provide stories about each fissure and mend, many of the break narratives handed down to her from her own grandparents in the house. There wasn’t one single accident, but instead dozens that rendered a once useful pitcher into an non-functional art object.

Something of the same is happening with our President. He is experiencing the sharpest popularity decline in the history of first-year administrations. The problem is not just that he inherited a bad economy; Reagan did too. Or that the war in Afghanistan heats up, since it is not nearly as bad as the mess Nixon inherited in Vietnam.

Instead, after 11 months there has emerged a series of bothersome incidents that the public has come to associate with Obama, both the man and his philosophies. Some are major policy issues; others trivial acts of no cosmic importance. None in themselves matter all that much. Each gaffe or mistake was contextualized and mended, or attended to by Robert Gibbs. Some are Obama’s fault; others the work of associates. Sometimes mere chance is the culprit.

I know Bush had his own list of catastrophes; other Presidents did as well. Again, my point is not trying to adjudicate relative culpability, but rather just to remind us all how and why Obama dived over 20 points in the polls in just 11 months—and his speeches transformed from inspirational to caricatures.

In short,  taken together, after nearly a year, these fissures have nearly ruined the once pretty texture of the Obama administration, and almost rendered it incapable of effective governance.

Here is a random selection. I provide no chronology or theme. Nor do I judge the relative importance of any one incident. The point, again, is only that each was a fissure, some small, some major—all were glued over. The result is that now the public understands that its china presidency is fragile and held together by mere glue.

Here it goes:

Constant apologies abroad for everything from slavery to Hiroshima

Bows to Saudi royalty, the Japanese emperor, and Chinese autocrats

The on-again/off-again Guantanamo shut-down mess

The fight with the former CIA directors

The public show trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed

The reach out to Ahmadinejad Castro, Chavez, and assorted thugs

The Honduras fiasco

Czars everywhere

The serial “Bush did it”/reset whine abroad

The Queen of England/I-pod fiasco

Gordon Brown gets snookered in his gift-giving

Unceremoniously shipping back the Churchill bust

The end of the special relationship with the UK

The New York on-the-town presidential splurge

Anita Dunn and her Mao worship

Timothy Geithner/Tom Daschle/Hilda Solis and their taxes

What ever happened to Gov. Richardson?

“No lobbyists” = gads of them

The Podestas’ insider influence-peddling empire

Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” chauvinism

The Special Olympics silly quip

Trashing Nancy Reagan

The Skip Gates/police acting “stupidly” mess

Read the rest of this entry

Breaking News! White House Appoints An “Or Else” Czar

President Obama has appointed more Czars Than the Romanov Empire ever had.

Bigot Czar, Mad Scientist Czar, Animal Rights Czar, Communist Czar, along with a host of others.

One appointment that flew under the radar was the picking of an “Or Else” Czar, as in you will do what you are told, or otherwise be prepared to suffer the consequences.

The first name that probably comes to mind is Rahm Emanuel, but you may be surprised to learn that it’s not him.

In addition to his other duties, President Obama has decided that Vice-President Joe Biden should be the administration’s chief legbreaker.

With a line that could have come straight out of an episode of the Sopranos, Biden made it clear that members of Congress pledging loyalty to the President have nothing to fear, while for those opposing him there will be hell to pay.

After last weeks Senate vote on health care reform, here is what Biden had to say:

“Those who voted for reform will be rewarded and those who voted against it will be held accountable.”

To me, that sounds more like the ravings of a ticked-off Mafia godfather than a rational statement from a Vice-President of the United States.

I can just imagine the after the vote conversation between the President and the Vice-President:

“OK, we’ll give Gillibrand and Schumer all the construction and longshoreman contracts on the Lower East Side, but we better bring Hatch and Bennet in for a sit-down and let them know what it means to go against the family.”

Where the hell does Joe Biden get off telling members of the United States Senate that they will have their feet held to the fire for voting with their conscience?

Has the Obama adminisrtation become so power-mad that it plans to destroy anyone who dares to stand in it’s way?

Various pundits have compared the Obama way of doing things to Chicago-style politics.

Thanks to Joe Biden, we can rest assured that Al Capone would have been proud.

The White House Declares War On Both Fox News AND Congress

In it’s latest childlike maneuver, the White House attempted to exclude Fox News from a press pool interview of White House “Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg.

The Treasury Department attempted to make Feinberg available to all of that day’s participants in the pool except Fox News.

That scheme failed when the Washington bureau chiefs of the other five television networks taking part came to the conclusion that if Fox News was not included, none of them would conduct an interview with Feinberg.

The interview took place, with Fox participating, in spite of the fact that the White House did not want to invite them.

This is the sort of behavior one expects to see at a day-care center, not in our nation’s Capitol.

It appears that despite the White House urging the other major networks to boycott Fox News and not to treat them as a legitimate news organization, some members of the media still understand the meaning behind the words “a free and unfettered press.

Showing his usual disdain for a subject he does not want to be held accountable for, President Obama had this to say about his administration’s portrayal of Fox news as illegitimate:

“I think that what our advisers simply said is, is that we are going to take media as it comes,” 
“And if media is operating, basically, as a talk radio format, then that’s one thing. And if it’s operating as a news outlet, then that’s another. But it’s not something I’m losing a lot of sleep over.”

So rather than be kept awake at night by the questions raised by such Fox News commentators as Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, our President would rather be lulled to sleep by the praises of such unbiased reporters as Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.

Funny, but any time that I think of those three passing themselves off as legitimate journalists, it tends to keep me awake at night!

However, Fox News isn’t the only thing that President Obama is refusing to allow to interrupt his nap time.

Another is Congress.

The White House has told Congress it will reject calls for many of President Obama’s policy czars to testify before Congress.

The fact that Congress has a Constitutional mandate to investigate the actions of any Presidential administration is something else that the President is not loosing any sleep over.

In spite of the fact that not one of the multitude of “Czars” that President Obama has appointed has gone through any sort of Senate confirmation process, White House counsel Greg Craig told members of congress this week that none of the Czars would be made available.

Mr. Craig did explain that the White House is not attempting to circumvent Congress.

“We recognize that it is theoretically possible that a president could create new positions that inhibit transparency or undermine congressional oversight. That is simply not the case, however, in the current administration,”

In other words Congress, take our word for it.

Otherwise we may be forced to pull a Fox News on you.

When Is An Oath Of Office Not An Oath?

One of our subscribers has some serious (and well founded) concerns with the lack of a vetting process regarding President Obama’s “Czar” appointments.
She has written a sample letter to send to members of Congress in the hope of seeing some accountability.
After the recent Van Jones debacle, we urge all of our leaders to contact their Senators and ask them the following:

Dear…

When you were sworn into office you took an oath to”protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.

 

My question to you is;  did you believe it when you said it or was it just more of the pomp and ceremony that accompanies
such an event?

 

 Our Constitution is being assaulted daily with the intent to systematically destroy it and make it non-relevant.

 

Those calling themselves “progressives”, as if that covers up their statist intent, are using numerous strategies to attain their end.

 

The most dangerous of those strategies is the proliferation of special advisors appointed by the president.

 

These czars undergo no scrutiny by the senate and their true powers are undefined.

 

I am not writing to make accusations about the political and social beliefs of these people.

 

This strategy allows the president to gain significant power.

 

The balance of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches is critical to maintaining our republic as the founding fathers  had intended.

 

Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution states in part:

 

The President shall have power and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls.

 

WHERE IS OUR SENATE?

 

WHY ARE YOU ALLOWING THIS TRAVESTY TO CONTINUE?

The President Might Soon Have Chinese Style Control Over The Internet

It’s long been the practice of the Chinese Government to block or shut down any sites it deems a threat to their national security. Soon our government may have the power to do the same thing.

Senator Jay Rockefeller has introduced a bill in the Senate giving the President the power to, “may declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network,” and, “may order the disconnection of any Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information systems or networks in the interest of national security.” The bill also requires, “(The President) shall direct the periodic mapping of Federal Government and United States critical infrastructure information systems or networks, and shall develop metrics to measure the effectiveness of the mapping process.” Therefore any network that the President deems critical will be mapped by the federal government with no over site. Wouldn’t this be a violation of the Fourth Amendment, protections against unreasonable searchs and seizures? Guess who decides which information systems are critical, the President or his designee (The Cybersecurity Czar). Whats to stop this or any future President from limiting access to or shutting down a political opponent’s network, or “mapping” it to retrieve private information?

Senate Bill 773, also has some other interesting things in it, to be compliant with the law all major networks must now have a certified cybersecurity professional. Who must be trained and licensed by the government. The Government is go to offer scholarships for the cybersecurity certification, but, “shall require scholarship recipients, as a condition of receiving a scholarship under the program, to agree to serve in the Federal information technology workforce for a period equal to the length of the scholarship following graduation if offered employment in that field by a Federal agency.” With no mention of compensation of course. What to they call this indentured servitude, “Scholarship for Service.” What do you bet there a plenty of Organizing for America, automatons who would gladly map (spy on) private networks for Obama?

A panel will have to approve all domain contracts. There for this Presidentially appointed panel once again with no over site will decides who can purchase and keep there domain address.

1984 anyone? What is this country coming to?

I got all of my information directly from the text of the bill at:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s773/text

By Lou McBride

Obama’s Gangster Government Has Taken Over America

Our regular readers know that we have done a number of articles regarding Obama’s Czars.

And setting aside for a moment that among the people he has appointed to these high-level government positions are Socialists, Communists, ex-health care industry lawyers, a “Science Czar” who won’t even speak to anyone who disputes his theories, and on and on.

So how does tie into our claim of a gangster government taking over America?
Well, think about it.

In the following video, Representative Michele Bachmann points out how, for all intents and purposes, the Federal Government changed General Motors into Government Motors.

Besides the government having a direct hand in forcing car dealerships out of business, these dealerships were compelled to turn over the records containing the names of their sales and service customers.

Sounds like a maneuver you would see in a movie about organized crime.

As far as we have been able to determine, the salaries of Obama’s Czars  are not a matter of public record.

They were not subjected to Senate confirmation hearings before being appointed, and they are not subject to any Congressional oversight, in fact senior Democrat Senator Robert Byrd had this to say regarding czars:

“As Presidential assistants and advisors, these White House staffers are not accountable for their actions to the Congress, to cabinet officials, and to virtually anyone but the President. In too many instances, White House staff have been allowed to inhibit openness and transparency, and reduce accountability.”

That’s Democrat icon Robert Byrd making that statement ladies and gentlemen, not a member of some vast right-wing conspiracy.

So let’s see if we have this right.

Obama has a crew that he did not need the approval of anyone else to hire, a crew that has no one looking over their shoulders, that is answerable only to him, and take orders from no one else.

Who exactly did we elect as President?

Barack Obama?

Or Tony Saprano?

Obama’s Corrupt And Incompetent Czars

A few day ago we presented a list of the “Czars”  President Obama has appointed to various positions in his adminsistration.

At the time, we promised that at a later date we would report as to why we feel that many of these folks should not be holding a position at any level of government service, and in keeping with that pledge, we present the following:

(When time allows, we will dig into the backgrounds of some of the others, but the ones presented here stand out from the crowd)

Energy Czar Carol Browner
Until late last year, when she was first being considered for a position in the Obama administration,Carol Browner was listed as one of 14 leaders of the Socialist International, as well as their Commission for a Sustainable World Society. Just a few of the things this group advocates are:

Global Governance (Meaning UN control)
International taxes to go towards reducing global warming.
A redesign of the international rules on intellectual property
Imposing restrictions on energy use by developed countries
And so on

Socialist International makes no secret of the fact that they support world socialism, and they are highly critical of U.S. policies on just about any position you would care to name.

Of course, being well aware that the average American citizen may not look kindly upon Obama appointing an avowed socialist to a high level government position, you will no longer see Ms. Browner’s name mention in association with this radical leftist group.
As is typical with most liberals, Carol Browner has no problem showcasing her Socialist principles, until such time as those convictions might prove to be an impediment to their political ambitions.

Health Czar Nancy Ann DeParle 
OK class, can ayone spell possible conflict of interest?

Just as was the case with Carol Browner, Ms. DeParle moved quickly to distance herself from anyting that may be seen in an unfavorable light. and until recently, a few of them were:

Sitting on the Board of Directors of six health firms who she may be making rulings on.
Being paid over 2 million dollars over the past three years by those very same firms.
Raking in another 3.5 million in director’s fees and stock sales from these and various other firms.

So in the past 3 years she has lined her pockets with almost six million dollars taken from the very firms that she will now be charged with overseeing the operations of.

That couldn’t cause her to turn a blind eye to any wrongdoing if need be.
Could it?

I can’t help but wonder what kind of deal she struck with President Obama to walk away from that kind of money.
And please, before you defenders of all things liberal try and tell me that she is giving up that sort of income simply out of a sense of public duty, have her give you a mental health  check-up first.

Bailout Czar Herb Allison
Mr. Allison’s primary duty is overseeing the proper allocation of TARP funds.
Mr Allison’s previous position was the CEO of Fannie May.
I don’t think I need to say anymore.

Science Czar John Holdren
Anyone remember the PBS show Bill Nye The Science Guy?
Holdren couldn’t polish Bill Nye’s test tubes.

Our investigation into Holdren’s background produced some troubling results, this guy shouldn’t allowed to play with matches, let alone head an agency of the Federal Government.
Take a look at some of his past actions:

In 1969, he claimed that “If population control measures are not initiated immediately and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come.”
In 1971, he stated that “Some form of ecocatastrophe, if not theromonuclear war, seems almost certain to overtake us before the end of the century.
In 1973, he claimed that the U.S. population (then at 210 million) was “too many”, and that were it to reach 280 million by 2040 America would be suffering from severe  food shortages.
(America’s population is now over 300 million, I just came back from the grocery store, and there was plenty of stuff on the shelves)

Holdren also takes none-too-kindly with anyone who disagrees with his gloom and doom predictions regarding global warming, stating that opposing views are dangerous, and that anyone who doesn’t believe that the planet is doomed due to human activity is a menace.

Oh yeah, just the qualifications I want to see in our nation’s top scientist.
A guy that for over 40 years has been yelling “The sky is falling!”, and makes anyone who presents an alternate theory to his apocalyptic predictions put on a dunce cap and go sit in the corner.