On Living in the Age of Obama

One of my favorite things in the world is PBS’s NewsHour. And something I both anticipate and dread is their Honor Roll of U.S. military personnel who’ve died in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do it just about every week. I don’t know of any other news show which so regularly honors the fallen. It’s one reason I love the show. The show doesn’t let me forget.

Tonight, the fallen ranged from a 19 year old PFC to a 45 year old Staff SGT. That’s typical, that age range. It’s not necessarily a young man’s war. Nor is it necessarily a man’s war. Quietly and steadily, women are being integrated into combat rolls. The situation in Iraq forced that, as Iraq had no front lines or rear areas prior to the withdrawal of U.S. troops to bases in 2009. Afghanistan seems to be slightly more traditional in terms of hot zones and cool zones. However, so many of the dead in Iraq were killed as part of supply convoys. Rear-eschelon people. That includes women. Thus, the military seems to have eased the restiriction against women in combat. Women can serve as medics in combat zones, for instance. And women have been flying combat missions for a while now – not that anyone remembers the pilots.

But this is not what I wanted to write about when I signed on. I wanted to write about Barack Obama.

That I lived in the age of Barack Obama will probably be the most significant thing history remembers about me. I couldn’t be happier for it. I voted for him. I was thrilled when my long-time red state turned blue on election night. And I remain happy with his personal performance and more happy than not with his administration’s performance. (But when are they going to be at full staff levels?!?!)

Months after the election, I still got goosebumps when I saw him walk to the podium to give an address. That’s our president, I would think with great pride. That’s our representative. My representative.

This pride stems partly from my age. This is the first time my candidate has won since I’ve been old enough to vote. I’m in part of the core constituency which elected Obama. I remain proud.

I’m also a centrist and a pragmatist on most days, and I admire Obama’s instinct to facilitate discussion and compromise because it mirrors my own instinct. My understanding of U.S. political history is that it’s always been this polarized – that we tend to wax nostalgic for times that were little different from our own. Compromise is the way to get things done. It just takes longer and no one is entirely happy about it. But governing isn’t easy. Nor should it be.

So my commonplace book should include plenty about this transformative public figure, my president, Barack Obama. We’ll see how that turns out.

-LW

[Via http://goosethecat.wordpress.com]

La hegemonía de los violentos

Bismilah al rahmán y rahim

Esa falta de educación de los dirigentes de los principales países desarrollados en el agua maldita del capitalismo, esa falta de escrúpulos cuando democráticamente deciden la muerte de los civiles de los países en desarrollo de su pobreza, esa falta de misericordia, sí, misericordia, cuando los votantes europeos y americanos votan a la derecha, que es siempre extrema derecha, extrema violencia, extrema intransigencia, extrema indigencia cultural. Qué más pueden robar los países ricos en África, qué más pueden ensuciar las industrias contaminantes, qué más debemos malvender a los hegemónicos que envenenan la tierra, el agua y el cielo en nombre de la libertad, nada más, esa es la respuesta, no hay mayor crisis que la cortina de dinero que protege el rostro de las majestades del asesinato inteligente.  Negra historia de los bancos más grandes para las democracias más pequeñas.

[Via http://abenyusuf.wordpress.com]

My mother always said never go to bed angry

But I doubt she ever thought I’d feel this way about the government.

First, read this: Democrats hoping to “ping-pong” Republicans right out of final health care reform negotiations. 

Michelle Malkin is right: it’s not “ping pong,” it’s dodgeball. 

Is this what the framers intended? 

Remember Pelosi:

Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan

And Reid:

We are going to do, if there’s any way humanly possible, a bipartisan bill.   We don’t want a partisan bill.  We will continue to work with them as long as we have to. The American people want health care reform and we’re going to do it

Oh really?  We want health care reform? Not so much. Not the sort you’re peddling, anyway.

And what happened to hope-n-change-n-transparency?  Oh, I forgot.  They hoped we were too stupid to see what change they wanted to bring us: from a superpower to a banana republic.

This, however, makes me smile.   Must be the very Braveheart-esque music.  I’d really like to see William Wallace in a room alone with Nancy and Harry. 

Hat tip to Hillbuzz on the video.

[Via http://politicaljunkiemom.wordpress.com]

Obama promises justice for Christmas terror plotters - CNN.com

President Obama on Saturday linked the man accused in a botched Christmas Day airline bombing to an al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen.

The president pledged that everyone involved in the attack would be held accountable. He also highlighted his administration’s attempts to crack down on extremist enclaves in Yemen, and reiterated his longstanding promise to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al Qaeda.

Obama has been criticized by some political opponents for not responding more aggressively to a botched December 25 attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan.

via Obama promises justice for Christmas terror plotters – CNN.com.

[Via http://davidedebernardin.wordpress.com]

Iran has played Obama for a Fool

By Kevin C. Donnelly

This is one of those things that you never wanted to see happen.  As much as I disagree with Obama on many, many issues, we needed to be strong on Iran, we needed to stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons, for both our security and the security of the Middle East and Israel’s security as well.  Unfortunately, as much as I had hoped that Obama would at least take this threat seriously enough to do something, anything, outside of issuing ever lengthening “deadlines”, he has done nothing.  Worse, Iran is mocking him, America, and the world, and Obama does not have the resolve to even appear to be effective. 

This was to be expected, I suppose, and now that Russia has laughed at Obama’s “reset button” and began a push for a new types of nuclear weapons, Iran followed the Russian government’s lead and has laughed off Obama…again.  In fact, they mockingly issued Obama and other world leaders and ultimatum of their own.  Once again we can see the effectiveness not only of Obama’s “smart power” but also of the UN’s ineffectiveness.  The response from the Obama administration thus far has been the foreign policy equivalent of Einstein’s definition of insanity:

Iran dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline imposed by the Obama administration and its international partners to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The deal would reduce Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, limiting — at least for the moment — its capability to make nuclear weapons.

The U.S. and its allies have demanded Iran accept the terms of the U.N.-brokered plan without changes.

Instead, Tehran came up with a counterproposal: to have the West either sell nuclear fuel to Iran, or swap its nuclear fuel for Iran’s enriched uranium in smaller batches instead of at once as the U.N. plan requires.

This is unacceptable to the West because it would leave Tehran with enough enriched material to make nuclear arms.

Every time that Obama gives Iran a new “deadline,” Iran simply laughs him off and continues their pursuit of nuclear weapons.   Obama half heartedly denounced the violence against the Iranian people by their barbaric leaders after the rigged election in June.  Meanwhile, Iranian opposition leader, Mir Hossain Mousavi continues to lead the opposition movement in Iran amid even more threats from the regime.  Even as the violence is on the uptick once more, Obama has remained conspicuously silent.  Perhaps this is one of the election promises he actually intended to keep, to reach out to dictators, which, judging by his governing thus far, means to give them free reign to do whatever they like.  My point here is not to cast Mousavi as an angel or anything of the sort, but it was very clear that the election was a fraud, that the brutal violence against the Iranian people was and is very real, as is Ahmadinejad and the Iranian hardliner’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, and in none of these situations has Obama expressed leadership or resolve.  It is a giant failure, in fact. 

Actions speak louder than words, and it is quite clear to me that Obama will never get involved in anything that involves something he perceives to be a sizeable political risk to his chances of re-election, and if that means not taking the tough measures that need to be taken in international affairs, he will not do it.  I believe this to also be the reason why he did not provide the troops requested for the Afghanistan effort by Gen. McChrystal, why he foolishly poked our friends in the Czech Republic and Poland in the eye on missile defense, has continually criticized Israel, and snubbed allies such as Great Britain and Norway.  He would rather upset our allies than take tough stances against hostile and despotic governments.  Though our media and liberal friends certainly will not acknowledge this, other world leaders certainly have taken notice and are capitalizing on Obama’s weakness.  You have only to follow international affairs closely to recognize this pattern.

[Via http://toourrepublic.com]

Conservatives Call To Action - Stop Communist Style Tactics.

Some good news for Conservatives. Rush Limbaugh is out of the hospital and his doctors found no evidence of heart attack or heart disease. He stated he’ll be back on his regularly scheduled broadcasts later this week. Rush’s audience tops FOURTEEN MILLION listeners per week. That’s more than just about all the lame stream media combined.

What’s incredible is that Rush’s audiences continue to grow on a daily basis, despite the worst the left can throw at him. It says something about the LANGUAGE of truth. It has an irresistible appeal to those who seek it, and Americans were and are thirsty indeed after decades of being deceived and lied to by the left and their willing accomplices and lapdogs of the so-called ‘main stream media’. Happy New Year, Rush!

Rush Limbaugh

The New Year begins a mid-term election cycle that has no few incumbents wondering whether they will be around at this time next year, and with good reason. There has never in the history of this magnificent nation been a cabal sponsoring a criminal enterprise such as we have been confronted with in the Obama administration and the DeMarxist controlled Congress. Faced by a maelstrom of resistance by the FINALLY unified Republican minority and the overwhelming majority of the American people, Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the Marxist THUGOCRACY are pulling out all the stops in order to force through their ILLEGAL and PATENTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL takeover of ONE SIXTH of our total economy.

What has them rattled though is that they are realizing that WE know that it’s not at all about health care. It’s about the COMMUNIST takeover of this country. It’s about the acquisition of raw power and the exercise thereof. Let’s call it what it is. Recognizing what it is will let us march to defeat it on every front.

This last year has shown us the worst political and economic management in living memory, possibly in the entire history of this Republic. It has also shown us the coalescence of Conservative and Independent PATRIOTS by the MILLIONS and the TENS of MILLIONS of taxpaying, VOTING Americans who have vowed to sweep them out of office. AND WE SHALL.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

[Via http://skipmaclure.wordpress.com]

A humpty-dumpty view of the world

I’m a Victor Davis Hanson fan.  He is grounded in history like none other and a thoughtful writer.  Today’s column spurred my frenzy in finally creating this blog.  Unfortunately, “humpty-dumpty view of the world” was already taken as a domain name. ; )

He writes:

What might explain the inexplicable like the following?

A president comes into office facing a $500 billion deficit and grows it to $2 trillion.

A president comes into office facing a threat of radical Islamic terrorism, and at home changes the very name of the struggle from war on terror to a variety of wishy-washy euphemisms.

A president comes into office facing a variety of Middle East thugs, from al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas to Syria and Iran, and employs the ancient kowtow, the postmodern apology, and the Carteresque reach-out to allay the threat?

A president comes into office after record high energy prices have nearly crippled the American economy, and he ignores new drilling and brushes off nuclear power — only to wax about wind and solar that provide less than 5% of our energy needs, and crushing cap and trade taxation to come.

He explains that our illustrious leader has had a difficult time reconciling candidate-self with President-self.  Leading is tough work, especially if you’ve never done it before.   Read the rest:

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/a-humpty-dumpty-view-of-the-world/

[Via http://politicaljunkiemom.wordpress.com]