Burt Prelutsky – good column

Obama and the Jews

By Burt Prelutsky (Archive) · Monday, April 12, 2010

During the presidential campaign, a lot of people insisted that Obama was really a Muslim pretending to be a Christian. I wasn’t one of them. I did figure, though, that if my name was Barack Hussein Obama and I was going to run for president a mere seven years after 9/11, I wouldn’t admit I was a Muslim, either. On the other hand, I, personally, would have sooner trusted a Muslim who’d been attending a mosque in Dearborn for 20 years than a Christian who’d been attending a racist, anti-American church in Chicago for all that time.

Anybody, after all, can claim to be a Christian. The proof, in the words of that fabulous effing wordsmith, Joe Biden, is in the pudding, and when I learned that among Obama’s friends and mentors were such notorious anti-Semites as Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Rashid Khalidi and Father Pfleger, it certainly kick-started my suspicions about his religious convictions. Still, as I saw it, when in Chicago, you do as Chicagoans do. And, that being the case, I figured that in such swampland, even if a saint were to wade into Chicago politics, he would eventually be knee-deep in snakes and alligators named Tony Rezko, Richard Daley and Bill Ayers.

Wow! What you learn from the Brits perspective…

From the UK Telegraph via Drudge.

You’ve gotta read the whole article. I always like to read how the foreign press portray us. This is a really good article.

The end of the road for Barack Obama?

“Obama’s big problem,” a senior Democrat told me, “is that four times as many people watch Fox News as watch CNN.” The Fox network is a remarkable cultural phenomenon which almost shocks those of us from a country where a technical rule of impartiality is applied in the broadcast media. With little rest, it pours out rage 24 hours a day: its message is of the construction of the socialist state, the hijacking of America by “progressives” who now dominate institutions, the indoctrination of children, the undermining of religion and the expropriation of public money for these nefarious projects. The public loves it, and it is manifestly stirring up political activism against Mr Obama, and also against those in the Republican Party who are not deemed conservatives. However, it is arguable whether the now-reorganising Right is half as effective in its assault on the President as some of Mr Obama’s own party are.

….

The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can’t. That was more Mr Axelrod’s fault than Mr Emanuel’s. And, to be fair to Mr Emanuel, any advice he has been giving the President to impose his will on Congress is probably well founded. The $783 billion stimulus package of a year ago was used to further the re-election prospects of many congressmen, not to do good for the country. America’s politics remain corrupt, populated by nonentities whose main concern once elected is to stay elected; it seems to be the same the whole world over. Even this self-interested use of the stimulus package appears to have failed, however. Every day, it seems, another Democrat congressman announces that he will not be fighting the mid-term elections scheduled for November 2. The health care Bill, apparently so humane in intent, is being “scrubbed” (to use the terminology of one Republican) by its opponents, to the joy of millions of middle Americans who see it as a means to waste more public money and entrench socialism. For the moment, this is a country vibrant with anger.

It’s a SNAFU! Nothing more than that to this White House

Make no mistake about it, this is nothing short of damage control from the White House.  His image is taking a beating in the court of public opinion and on the op-ed pages of the thinking class of media. He’s coming out here “all fired up – ready to go!” – which is a stark contrast to his first appearance after the thwarted Christmas Day attack.

In his first televised remarks, Obama looked and sounded like a common, wooden D.A. announcing the capture of a wife killer. Los Angeles D.A. Gil Garcetti showed more fire when he announced that OJ was “now a fugitive from justice” a lifetime ago as prelude to the trial of the century – ah…  last century.

The trio of stoogie image handlers in the White House (Iranian born Jarrett – hey, did you know that? –  Axelrod and Emanual) have apparently figured out that they can no longer rest on their laurels and expect the “media” to glow, gush and gloss over (Man! I love alliteration!) every thing TheOne says or does. I guess they realized that the honeymoon is about over.  Even without the benefit of an unbiased media, polls indicate that Americans are starting to figure out that this administration is short on conviction, character and common sense (! yippeee,  there, I did it again!)

So he comes out in front of the cameras, looking all presidential, with fake disgust and anger and tells us that his administration finally bears responsibility for SOMEthing. The main SOMEthng is that he will still not smarten-up and keep Gitmo open.

Seriously, he can prostrate himself to a world full of dictators, but to the American people, he can only do it just so much…

2010 – It’s gonna be a good year!

An approval rating I love to see – one in the shitter!

Let’s don’t forget it was this White House that, in a very Rahm-esque move, “allegedly” threatened to close Offut AFB unless Ben Nelson got on board the health care express.

— A White House that was willing to put national security at risk in order to get this monstrous health care debacle passed through the Senate.

Yep. This is going to be a good year!

Rahm’s secret strategy

The Hegelian Dialectic. It’s a three step operation consisting of a Thesis/Anti-Thesis/Synthesis.

Step one is the problem or the thesis that party A presents.

Step two is the opposition to the thesis or reaction to the problem by Party B.

Step three is the solution to the problem by (artificial) synthesis of the problem.

I use the word artificial because in step one the problem is often already solved or it doesn’t really exist. It’s just put out there to cause fear or panic so that Party A can provide the solution. Often Party A already has the solution because he created an artificial problem.

An example:

Present the problem (crisis) or create one: a national cyber attack.

Opposition/reaction to the crisis: mass panic, fear that could lead to hysteria.

Synthesis or solution: martial law, government shutdown of the internet.

See how easy this works? Instead of a cyber attack, it could be a flu pandemic that puts the scene in motion. And when the “crisis” is bad enough, big and scary enough, the people will give up their rights for government protection.

This is what Rahm means when he says “never let a crisis go to waste.”

Jobs Summit by people who’ve held NO jobs? Is that hysterical or what?

Once again, this little jobs soiree at the White House this month is all for show.

It’s the image, stupid.

Less than 10% of the Obama administration have held jobs in the private sector and they are part of a JOBS SUMMIT? I’m pretty sure that not one of these cabinet appointees even had paper routes as kids. Seriously, can you see Rahm throwing papers from his banana handle barred Schwinn?

There’s an image I’d almost pay to see!

If it weren’t so sad that over 10% of America is unemployed, this would be funny.

 

Also read more here at Moist Bits

Liz Peek: Who’s pulling Obama’s stings?

As the public starts to question how much time the president is spending on fund-raisers (26 events since taking office compared to only 6 for G.W. during the same term in office) or on his golf (24 rounds so far– tying G.W.’s entire presidency), they may also ponder who’s doing the real work when the president goes AWOL.

Obama fans are in a tight spot. As the White House turns ever harsher and more divisive, supporters are scrambling to explain why President Obama sounds so very different from Campaigner Obama. There are two possible explanations, neither of which is flattering. The first is that Obama was insincere on the campaign trail. The second is that his advisors – David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel — are in control. The latter view is bound to take hold and it will not boost the president’s flagging popularity ratings.

Many who voted for President Obama feel deceived. When he said in Florida last year “we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another,” people believed him. When he extolled “rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose,” people believed him. When he said on election night “I will listen to you, especially when we disagree,” people believed him.

Why has the president left those admirable promises behind? Why is his administration going after Fox News, the Chamber of Commerce, insurance executives, AIG management, the drug industry, the Chrysler bondholders and any and all who oppose his policies?

Many believe that Obama is being manipulated by his political adviser David Axelrod and his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. The aura of Chicago politics drifts over the capital like a smog. Ironically, the nasty assaults may be calculated to offset a growing view that the president is not tough enough to stand up to his detractors. He already looks weak as he “dithers” on Afghanistan, repeatedly blames George Bush for his problems and kow-tows to foreign leaders while apologizing for our nation’s past. Surely, though, it will not help Obama if the country begins to suspect the president is not his own man. Being seen as a follower in his own White House will surely magnify an unhealthy aura of inconsequence.

In other words, Obama risks inheriting yet another problem left behind by President George W. Bush. — For years, those on the left portrayed Bush as the willing puppet of political advisor Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney. The image of Rove and Cheney directing traffic for an inadequate president was one of the most enduring of Bush’s presidency. Their power undermined Bush’s authority and worse, made him look simple.

Nothing could be more damaging for Obama, who is assumed by his fans to be an intellectual giant when compared to George W. As the public starts to question how much time the president is spending on fund-raisers (26 events since taking office compared to only 6 for G.W. during the same term in office) or on his golf (24 rounds so far– tying G.W.’s entire presidency), they may also ponder who’s doing the real work when the president goes AWOL.

For a host of reasons, the narrative will build. A March piece in The New York Times described the Wednesday Night Meetings of the Obama varsity conducted by David Axelrod. The piece asserted that Axelrod “helps decide which fights to pick and which to avoid, making him a leading voice in setting the political tone in Washington.” The Times reported that Axelrod had “hoped to keep (the meetings) under wraps so he would not suddenly be overrun by requests from people hoping to dispense advice.” Perhaps his political antennae also anticipated that he would begin to emerge as Geppetto to Obama’s Pinocchio.

Similarly, The Times has described Emanuel as “more chief than staff” and the author of Obama’s “do-everything-at-once strategy”. With his Rottweiler reputation, he is thought especially responsible for the increasingly belligerent White House sound bites.

Those who see history repeating itself can draw parallels between Axelrod and Karl Rove. Like Rove, Axelrod worked on numerous political campaigns and dreamed of someday landing in the White House. He was involved in the campaigns of John Edwards, Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Rahm Emanuel and, like Rove, is well known on Capitol Hill. Both men are driven by ideology as well as the urge to win. Similarly, both Cheney and Emanuel served in Congress, occupied important positions in former White Houses and have sizeable rolodexes.

A 2001 Time magazine article described Rove as “the busiest man in the White House… It was Rove who shaped the agenda, message and strategy that got Bush – the least experienced presidential nominee of modern times – into the White House.” They might want to reprise that story; Obama’s credentials set new records.

Liz Peek is a financial columnist and frequent Fox Forum contributor.