A sign of an amatuer...or worse?

The President has a penchant for displaying his ignorance of the stature and class required of a head of state. I'm not convinced this one should be classified as one of those "gaffes":





I'm equally not convinced it is a sign of impending Muslim rule in the U.S. as I've heard on a few local talk radio stations (seriously, WBAL, you've had some issues with crossing the line into tinfoil had territory as of late). What I think is President Obama has done what we all do - reverted to the culture he was brought up in, and he is clearly schooled in how to respect leaders from the Muslim community.

Regardless of whether the reason is pure ignorance, or incredible familiarity with customs, it should never have happened. This was not mutual respect; this was bowing down to a leader of another country - a country that treats it's citizens horrifically. And yes, I know President Bush held this guy's hand. That upset me, too. Holding hands, however, does not indicate subservience as this display did. This sent a loud message to the Muslim world - intentionally or not.

Gaffe number....oh heck, I've lost count

Just a few short 5o something days ago, the Left was rejoicing in Crawford being reunited with their idiot. We were being blessed with the most eloquent of speakers and a true intellectual. That Man of Genius just insulted disabled people noting his poor bowling game was akin to "Special Olympics".

Thank goodness we don't have that Cowboy in office any more saying all those embarrassing things.

Obama considering plan for Vets to pay for health care with private insurance

Seriously? Jimmy Carter, please take off your "Asshat in Chief" crown and hand it over to President Obama. He has now proven worthy of wearing it. Far more worthy than Carter ever was.

The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

“It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan,” said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. “He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.”

We have an obligation to our wounded warriors. Just because President Obama doesn't contain the wherewithal to have served in the military himself, does not mean he gets to outsource their care like they are some sort of after thought. Oh wait. They are some sort of after thought to this President and the party that he leads. We can only hope the country is tiring of this man's stupidity which is trumped only by his arrogance.

Is Everyone Happy Now?

We all joked about worse than Carter. It's really not funny any more! President Obama's craptastic leadership abilities are bringing this economy to a screeching halt and he has no one to blame but himself. And perhaps Rahm Emanuel. From the Wall Street Journal:

As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem.

Americans have welcomed the Obama era in the same spirit of hope the President campaigned on. But after five weeks in office, it's become clear that Mr. Obama's policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery. From punishing business to squandering scarce national public resources, Team Obama is creating more uncertainty and less confidence -- and thus a longer period of recession or subpar growth.

The Democrats who now run Washington don't want to hear this, because they benefit from blaming all bad economic news on President Bush. And Mr. Obama has inherited an unusual recession deepened by credit problems, both of which will take time to climb out of. But it's also true that the economy has fallen far enough, and long enough, that much of the excess that led to recession is being worked off. Already 15 months old, the current recession will soon match the average length -- and average job loss -- of the last three postwar downturns. What goes down will come up -- unless destructive policies interfere with the sources of potential recovery.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Obama is concerned with Rush Limbaugh being mean to him. Oh, and all that schtick about President Obama making the rest of the world love us again due to his beyond words amazing ability to use "diplomacy"? Russia just gave us the middle finger. I think they may have taped a "kick me" sign on us, too.

Wake up and smell reality, Libs. This guy doesn't know his head from a hole in the ground.

Obama: You Know What The US Really Needs? A Market Intervention That Spectacularly Collapsed In Europe Last Week

From Mere Rhetoric:

These tools have been resentfully stewing for the last eight years, dreaming of the time when they'd get to correct all of the Bush administration's oh-so-ideological missteps. Their understanding of history begins in 2001. Their understanding of sophistication is "whatever's popular in Europe." And now that they're in power, the fact that they were always a little bit pathetic and silly about the whole thing is beside the point.

Seriously: how inadequate is your understanding of political economy when Vladamir Putin has to explain the dangers of statist centralization to you?

Go read the whole thing here.

Obama's lack of military understanding

There are many things that bother me about the way the left regards those who serve in the Military. Of late, I am most troubled by the view that those who have served in Iraq are victims. In fact, President Obama's speech at Camp Lejeune, where he announced our exodus from Iraq, was riddled with Victimized Soldier references:

You make up a fraction of the American population, but in an age when so many people and institutions have acted irresponsibly, you did the opposite – you volunteered to bear the heaviest burden. And for you and for your families, the war does not end when you come home. It lives on in memories of your fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who gave their lives. It endures in the wound that is slow to heal, the disability that isn’t going away, the dream that wakes you at night, or the stiffening in your spine when a car backfires down the street.

You and your families have done your duty – now a grateful nation must do ours. That is why I am increasing the number of soldiers and Marines, so that we lessen the burden on those who are serving. And that is why I have committed to expanding our system of veterans health care to serve more patients, and to provide better care in more places. We will continue building new wounded warrior facilities across America, and invest in new ways of identifying and treating the signature wounds of this war: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, as well as other combat injuries.

We also know that service does not end with the person wearing the uniform. In her visits with military families across the country, my wife Michelle has learned firsthand about the unique burden that your families endure every day. I want you to know this: military families are a top priority for Michelle and me, and they will be a top priority for my administration. We’ll raise military pay, and continue providing quality child-care, job-training for spouses, and expanded counseling and outreach to families that have known the separation and stress of war. We will also heed the lesson of history – that those who fight in battle can form the backbone of our middle class – by implementing a 21st century GI Bill to help our veterans live their dreams.

A big mistake made by those on the left is assuming Soldiers think like civilians. They don't, and they won't. A Soldier sacrifices for a cause greater than themselves, and they do so willingly. It would be disingenuous to state Soldiers don't suffer. They do - mentally and physically. They miss their spouses, their children just like anyone. What they don't want is sympathy for this, they don't need sympathy. The appropriate response to what a Soldier does is to honor their service, honor their sacrifices.

Military members through the ages have been affected by war. For most, a victory celebration from their home country is what offers comfort. The best counseling comes in the form of conversations with other Soldiers, because other Soldiers get it. Soldiers speak in terms of Duty, Honor and Country, not "poor you, poor me".

Soldiers will honor the Commander in Chief out of unquestionable obligation. In return, the President has an obligation to understand he is addressing warriors, and as such, he must speak their language. The President must triumphantly praise the job our Military has done, and he must honor the sacrifices of those who serve. There is no place for sanctimonious pity when you are leading Soldiers.

Back from Vermont - MSM sees the future

Wow. This is impressive journalism. A whole piece on President Obama's address to the congress set to air...tonight. That's right, folks. The piece talks about a speech hours before it airs, to include describing the entire scene. Did they get an advance copy or something? Has Dear Leader managed to invent a time machine in his wondrous first month in office?

This is really over the top - even for the MSM. Pravda has nothing on us.

h/t LGF

The Press Conference that Refused to End

Tonight we were blessed with the complex oratory skills of our President. I watched the whole thing, beginning to end, and feel that I am deserving of some type of award for valor. I'm sure the rest of you who did the same feel the same.

The President has mastered the art of "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS" communication methods. Funny thing is, I think Obama was just as baffled with his answers as the rest of us. In the few coherent and understandable sentences spoken, Obama called out his dissenters and does all he can to shut them down a la Chicago politics. He tries to convince us FDR's policies were just groovy, historians got it all wrong, you see. He noted "people need to break out of their ideological rigidity". He means me, to which I say MY ideological rigidity will go with me to my grave, thank you kindly.

In one of his ramblings, he made overtures about Pakistan. Hold on to your hats, folks, that will be a ride like we've not seen with this guy at the helm.

Then there were the questions - Andrea Mitchell, professional reporter, asks the President's opinion on A-Rod's drug use. This is useful? Another professional journalist from CNN wanted to know when he could take pictures of Soldier's coffins. HuffPo (!) wants to know when we are going to throw the book at President Bush. Obama says no one is above the law, unless and of course you are a tax evading member of his cabinet.

I am stunned at how much this man doesn't know, doesn't get, and beyond that, how often he rambled on and on and on saying absolutely nothing. He contradicted himself repeatedly and displayed his incredible narcissism. That coupled with his complete lack of qualifications for the position he holds is a sight to behold. He blamed Bush as often as possible (but then blamed Fannie and Freddie, he forgot that was a Dem thing?). It was a pathetic display that ended quite bizarrely and abruptly - maybe he didn't want to miss 24, but he should still work on that a bit.

Obama: Mad Dash to the Bottom

I've been working on my Obama screw up list, but every time I get ready to post, a whole new debacle raises it's hand! So, I've been toying with some other ideas to track the list. While I sort through that, I'd like to offer a round up of headlines summarizing President Obama's less than stellar start.

From the New York Times (yes, I'm serious!): Slumdogs Unite!

From the NY Daily News: Stumbling out the gate: Barack Obama flubs his first big test

From The Boston Globe: Three weeks in, and no one has Obama's back

From the Washington Times - CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over the long haul

Change!

Mark Steyn - Right again!

Maybe it's time for President Obama to come out and give one of his big hopey-changey speeches. It's been a few weeks now, and I kinda miss them. You know – "We are the change we've been waiting for." "We have nothing to hope for but hope itself." "Ask not what your hope can change for you, ask what you can hope for your change." Etc.

But I wonder if the old songs from last month's hit parade would play as well today. On Wednesday, Salon headlined a story on Obama: "The New Great Communicator … Isn't." Oh, dear. It's early days yet, but the gulf between the rhetoric and the reality, between the audacity of hope and the reality of pork, yawns ever wider. Right now, it's the Obama mythology that urgently needs some stimulus. Some of us never expected him to walk on water. But we didn't think he'd be all at sea taking on quite so much of it after a mere two weeks.

Read the whole thing, excerpts don't do it justice.

Hopefully everyone is contacting their Senators telling them a yes vote on this spending bill will not be met with a raucous applause, and no, I don't care that The One is screaming at the top of his lungs pass this NOW or WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! Republicans for reals, and Republican Lites - it's time for the big F word - filibuster! Democrats, you are so welcome in our tent of saying not only no, but heck no!

Stay tuned, I'm compiling a list of broken promises, mistakes, SNAFUs and other examples of how this administration is proving they are not up for the job later today.

2 Weeks and he's tired of being in the White House

Two weeks. TWO WEEKS!

With little notice, the president and first lady Michelle Obama bolted the gated compound of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in their tank of a limousine on Tuesday. They ended up at a Washington public school, greeted by children who could not care less about the collapse of a Cabinet secretary nomination.

"We were just tired of being in the White House," the president candidly told the gleeful second-graders at Capital City Public Charter School.

Frankly, we are tired of you being in the White House, too. This has been a mad dash to the bottom, what with the tax evading cabinet members and "Unclench your fist" being the sum total of our foreign policy. We don't even have to touch the "stimulus package" that is heading us right to Smoot-Hawley part deux. For the love of Pete, India told President Obama to pound sand!

Though part of me would love to acknowledge this as President Obama's two week notice, that leaves us with Biden in Charge. After that? Pelosi. After her? An ex-klan member. Good job, Dems, good job. This whole thing is FUBAR.

Change!

Communism - Coming to a house near you!

I am dumbfounded. President Obama sends out his first political email and guess what it's for? Organizing "House Meetings" to discuss the Porkapalooza plan. He isn't even TRYING to hide the communist overtures with this one!

For those that don't know, a "House Meeting" is a term used to describe organizational meetings and was the building block for the farmworker movement (UFW). They used house meetings to strong arm the union in, at to organize boycotts. This is a socialist term at the least, and to be honest, it's heavy on the communist innuendo.

Next up will be block captains. This is how governments get undermined - "grassroots" is one thing, having citizens rise up and declare policy over the elected officials is another.

I wish I had some quip comment to make here, but I just don't. I'm gobsmacked. We should not take this lightly, folks. Happy Monday.

Iran says Obama's offer to talk shows US failure

US President Barack Obama's offer to talk to Iran shows that America's policy of "domination" has failed, the government spokesman said on Saturday.

"This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed," Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

"Negotiation is secondary, the main issue is that there is no way but for (the United States) to change," he added.

After nearly three decades of severed ties, Obama said shortly after taking office this month that he is willing to extend a diplomatic hand to Tehran if the Islamic republic is ready to "unclench its fist".

Well that little bit of diplomacy was just as successful as we had predicted. What's next, Dear Leader? Send them our lunch money and see if they leave us alone?

All Republicans vote no on Porkapalooza

Wow! They all remembered they were Republicans! I'm proud of you!

PS - This is a stunning loss to the Dems, most especially when you consider Obama lost 11 of his own on this. So much for his incredible skills of bringing everything and everyone together!

What Obama is Really Saying to the World

President Obama has granted his first televised interview as President to al-Arabiya, the strongly anti-Semitic Arab television station. Had the purpose of the interview been to send a strong, clear and convincing message to the Arab community that terrorism will not be tolerated, and that the United States continues to support our strongest ally, Israel, I could potentially forgive the choice. Instead, however, the interview proves Obama's ego is trumped only by his naivete:




Obama seems to think he can just whisk away 61 years of history (and if we want to be more exact, we should go back to 1922) by simply showing up and talking about feelings rather than policy. Perhaps if Obama had a stronger grasp on what really did happen in the past, he would understand the issue lies squarely with Hamas. In fact, Obama seems to have no earthly idea that this has nothing to do with a Palestinian state, but the hamasholes never ending desire to eradicate Jews. From this interview, it's apparent Obama is unaware that problems such as rockets being lobbed into Israel don't exist in the West Bank as they do in Gaza - where Jewish settlements have been dismantled for years!

Obama addresses the issues in Iran, noting their support of terrorism "in the past" wasn't "helpful". In the past? Not helpful? Does he believe the hype that terrorism ceased to exist January 21, 2009? I wonder if the Muslim leaders of the world are feeling badly that their behavior "isn't helpful". Moreover, Obama equated Islamic terrorism (also occurring in the past) with nebulous other acts of terrorism in the name of religion. What is he referencing here? Perhaps he means all those Amish drive-by shootings.

Troubling as well is Obama's desire to return to a "partnership" with the Muslim world as we had "20 or 30 years ago". I'd love to understand if President Obama was referencing Ronald Reagan's administration, or Jimmy Carter's. To that end, if Obama meant to reference Carter, one could surmise Obama isn't clear when the Carter Administration exactly happened. If we return to Carter's policies, does that really constitute change? I suppose it would, as normal "change" means Clinton policy.

Rush Responds To Obama

Obama announced that if the Republicans wanted to get along and get things done, they would stop listening to Rush, in what the press referred to as a "zing":

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

Are you kidding me? You are telling the opposition who they can and can't listen too? Is this the beginnings of your Fairness Doctrine Redux? Has anyone let President Obama know that Rush is an entertainment personality, not a representative of the GOP?

In any event, Rush responds at NRO:

Snip

There are two things going on here. One prong of the Great Unifier's plan is to isolate elected Republicans from their voters and supporters by making the argument about me and not about his plan. He is hoping that these Republicans will also publicly denounce me and thus marginalize me. And who knows? Are ideological and philosophical ties enough to keep the GOP loyal to their voters? Meanwhile, the effort to foist all blame for this mess on the private sector continues unabated when most of the blame for this current debacle can be laid at the feet of the Congress and a couple of former presidents. And there is a strategic reason for this.

Snip

One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama's ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy's Rules for Radicals:

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

Snip.

That is a real zing, friends and neighbors.

Obama to close terrorist 'black sites'

Just great.

President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's [sic] architecture for the war on terror, according to four individuals familiar with a draft executive order.

Mr. Obama will shutter "all permanant [sic] detention facilities overseas," the draft said, according to the individuals who asked not to be named because the orders have not yet been signed. There are at least eight such prisons, according to published reports. The Bush administration never revealed the number or location of the facilities, although several were said to be in Eastern Europe.

Way to go, Barry. This should help keep our country safe! For all those suggesting The One would govern from the center, I believe this says "I am lib, get over it". I really hope The One reads a book that he didn't write for a change so he begins to grasp these guys want us dead. DEAD. There are not enough rainbows to fix it.

The 22nd Amendment - Who Needs It?

Is THIS the change we've heard so much about? Rep. Jose Serrano (D-stupid) has introduced HJ Res 5 to appeal the 22nd amendment - the one that provides for term limits for the President.

The New York representative thought this would be a great idea once before - when Bill Clinton was in office. Oddly enough, the thought wasn't as enticing to Rep. Sorrano during the Bush administration. Which brings up a point: remember when the libs where all fashioning their tin foil hats because (OMG!) President Bush was going to declare Marshall Law during some Rovian constructed Natural Disaster, resulting in President Bush renaming himself Dictator Forevah Bush? The great Mechanism to End Democracy? A bit ironic, if you ask me.

Elections have consequences, people. The One promised change, and change we shall have.

h/t Ed Morrisey of Hot Air

This is Timely! Jackie and Dunlap On Rick Warren and Disapointment

As they note, liberals are just bound for disappointment when The One won't be able to come close to delivering all they promised!

h/t LGF

Did Obama *GASP* Lie?

Well, well, well. Not even in the guest house yet and scandal of great proportions has erupted. It is being reported that Rahm Emanual DID speak to Blagojevich, and it looks like Camp Obama has some dirt on their hands. Chicago politics, welcome to DC.

Obama didn't admit to the obvious because the President Elect is a lying liar. He was during the campaign and he is now - 20 years and never heard an off word from Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger, Tony Rezco, Willams Ayers was just a guy in the neighborhood, need I go on? The press ignored this and may other red flags during the elections as they were so desperate to end the Republican reign. We are now left holding the very full bag.

Obama's hubris led him to believe no one in the press would question his denial, and certainly they wouldn't really investigate the connection. After all, he stated that an internal investigation had commenced, shouldn't that have been enough to appease the unwashed? Will Obama go with the tried and true "That was not the Rahm Emanuel I knew" and toss him under the bus? There is some room in there now that he has pulled dear Susan Power out.

Camp Obama must do something dramatic. Barry O is slimy, but he isn't stupid and he must know singing is so much easier than prison. In this case, we have the potential for an out and out chorus with Rezko and Blago; it looks like there is a chance for a Rahm solo now, too. This is not a good scene for our Dear Leader.

I hope y'all headed my warning and stocked up on the popcorn. We haven't had this much scandal since the Clintons!