Mass SNAFU

Pomp and circumstance

 

Last November, Barack Obama built himself a nice Greek shrine as a backdrop for his acceptance speech. It was all show and no substance. A year later, not much has changed. Howard Portnoy shares a similar analogy in a post today in Hot Air's Green Room:

I frankly can't remember at this point whether this ever happened to me personally, but one of the supposed quintessential moments of an American childhood education is having a report due at school and creating a terrific cover to compensate for the absence of serious content. […]

Obama's abiding concern with the covers of his reports, rather than the information contained within them, is one of the reasons he continues to fail as a leader. He is never content to speak to the American people one-on-one, sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office. He always needs to be before a crowd (a joint session of Congress will generally do nicely) and with plenty of atmosphere to show he is for real.

But the simple fact is that he is not for real. If he were, he wouldn't need the pomp and circumstance, the artifice to sell his ideas. The plain truth is he has no ideas. He does what he does — everything he does — for precisely two reasons: (1) to get people to like him (to be the most popular kid in class); (2) to get reelected (to be promoted to the next grade).

Ask any C student, and they'll tell you that this is a recipe for failure. The only way for Obama to get ahead at this point is to start doing his homework. I just don't think he has it in him.

Nice cover. No content. Barack Obama in a nutshell. Get ready for more of it Tuesday night as Obama shares his Afghanistan plan, with West Point as the back drop, of course.

Another "endangered" species due to climate change...

 

7 stories Obama doesn't want told...

Here's a hint: he's a profligate spender, emotionally detached, practices Chicago thug politics, a international pushover, weakening America's strong standing globally, allowing Pelosi to be president, and a bit on the vain side.

And this is coming from Politico, not exactly a conservative media outlet...

Read the entire article.  I can't say I disagree with any of the analysis.  It's good to finally see some objectivity in our journalists these days.

ObamaCare to cost over $6 trillion

Michael F. Cannon from Cato looks a little deeper into the true cost of ObamaCare and notes that after all the accounting gimmicks are broken down and set aside, the real cost of the government's takeover of our health care system is much, much higher than anyone is reporting:

When we correct for both gimmicks, counting both on- and off-budget costs over the first 10 years of implementation, the total cost of ObamaCare reaches — I'm so sorry about this — $6.25 trillion. That's not a precise estimate. It's just far closer to the truth than President Obama and congressional Democrats want the debate to be.

That's half of our current national debt and a price tag that will absolutely paralyze our economy. Granted, most of those involved in passing this obscene legislation will be long since removed from office when the costs kick in and more than likely will deny any culpability for this self-inflicted disaster. But the fact remains that our elected officials have purposely tried to hide the reality of this bill from all of us with numerous gimmicks and deceptive practices, all the while fully aware of the end result: economic ruin.

The health care reform rip off

Here's the true cost of the Senate's health care reform plan over the next 15 years: 

Let's just say...it's crazy scary:

The Senate Republicans' chart demonstrates that the total for all of these costs -- based on CBO projections for the bill's true first 10 years -- is $2.5 trillion. And costs would only skyrocket from there, as the chart's trajectory suggests. In the 5 years to follow (2024-28), spending on"expansions in insurance coverage" alone would be $1.7 trillion, making the bill's total costs in its real first 15 years well over $4 trillion -- based on CBO projections.

This is a complete scam. Call your reps and senators…immediately.

The Democratic plague of unemployment

The darker this gets, the higher the unemployment:

For Democrats, this is the equivalent of a non-reelection plague spreading wildly across the country. Unfortunately for them, they're too busy making everyone sicker instead of finding a cure, and those who vote are starting to notice:

Republican candidates have extended their lead over Democrats to seven points, their biggest lead since early September, in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. And the news gets even worse for Obama among independents:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 37% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

And just for good measure, Rasmussen also notes in their survey that 61% of independents disapprove of the job Obama is doing.

Obama leaves WH with GQ magazine with himself on cover

More amusing that anything else, I suppose.  Pic via Drudge:

 

If it were you on that cover, wouldn't you at least hide the magazine in public view to avoid any controversy or embarrassment, especially if you were developing a reputation of being full of yourself?  

Regardless, the important thing here is to always remember, this isn't about him.  It's about you. 

Navy SEAL’s face court-martial for giving terrorist a fat lip

Boy, Obama sure has delivered on that change he promised. Three Navy SEAL's who captured a terrorist responsible for the 2004 murder and mutilation of four American civilian contactors in Fallujah are being charged with allegedly giving the scumbag a fat lip. Michael Goldfarb puts the new Obama approach in perspective:

A fat lip? That's enough to get you rough military justice from the Obama administration, but blow up the World Trade Center and you get all the due process rights of the civilian criminal justice system. Sounds fair, right?

Our entire world is in the process of being turned upside down by this president and this is just another glaring example of the dislike the man has for our military. It also shows the complete disconnect he has with the reality that there are terrorists out there that want to kill us all and that maybe they need to be handled without the kid gloves.

Afghanistan: where doing nothing IS an option for our president

Remember when "doing nothing" was "not an option?" At least that was the rhetoric when it came to the stimulus package and health care reform.

Ah, but what about Afghanistan? By Obama's own actions, doing nothing is perfectly OK, apparently. It has been almost three months since General McChrystal informed President Obama that they had 12 months to win this war and needed 40,000 troops to make it happen. Obama has done absolutely nothing during that time and the result has been more dead soldiers and a war effort that is slipping away. Our brave men and women in Afghanistan are being hung out to dry by this president. In a piece accurately titled "Obama's Killing Time" over at Red State, Haystack details the cost of Obama's indecisiveness:

Four more US Soldiers died in Afghanistan yesterday as we continued to wait anxiously for Obama to make up his mind about how to respond to General McChrystal's report. During the pre-surge days in Iraq, 4 dead soldiers was enough for every major news outlet to scream from the rooftops about the costs of war. Now? Hardly a whisper.

Why is it so hard, Mr. President, to DO something about Afghanistan-even if you have to adjust your strategy again later-given that doing NOTHING has only gained you more fallen heroes? Since taking office, YOUR casualty count is nearly DOUBLE that of George Bush's worst year as Commander in Chief. Why? Since receiving McChrystal's assessment back in late August, your casualty count is rapidly approaching half of the entire year's total. Again, Mr. President, WHY?

The president's response to criticism on his lack of a decision has been that he's taking his time to "get it right" and won't rush the process. Funny how that wasn't the case with the dash to pass the stimulus and health care reform, where getting "it right" wasn't all that important, I guess. Anyway, there is more to this than meets the eye and Haystack shares his own theory:

It's becoming increasingly obvious that Obama is taking all this time because he's still muddling through just exactly HOW to lose and leave and make it Bush's fault. Changing the words, and re-defining the purpose, and downsizing the goal from victory to success to withdrawal takes time. The loss of Soldiers along the way, sadly, appears to be just the collateral damage of bad politics and bad policy and poor leadership.

The bottom line? Obama has never been into winning wars and has looked at Iraq and Afghanistan as distractions to his never ending campaign presidency and expansive domestic agenda. The man is simply not focused on, or even mildly concerned about, our military, the threat of terror or the defense of this nation. He is Jimmy Carter in an empty suit and all that stuff needs to take a backseat to his big government master plan.

Just imagine if we did achieve victory in Afghanistan – Obama would, no doubt, find it necessary to go there and give a speech to the Taliban apologizing for America's actions. God forbid we offend some Muslims that want to kill us after all.

A new record low

This...

...is the lowest Obama has been in the Rasmussen "passion Index" which subtracts the percentage of those who strongly disapprove from those who strongly approve of the president's performance.

Obama has also reached new lows in overall approval ratings at Gallup (49%) and Rasmussen (45%).  Gallup samples adults and Rasmussen likely voters, meaning that the Gallup poll tends to lean toward the left.  

For Obama to be below 50% in the Gallup poll suggests many supporters are jumping ship.

UPDATE: Byron York from the Washington Examiner has the breakdown of the Gallup numbers and there's been a mass exodus in the majority of the demographics:

Among age groups: For the first time in the White House, Obama is below 50 percent with every age group of Americans except those between 18 and 29. He's at 48 percent with people in the 30-49 range; 46 percent with people in the 50-64 range; and 42 percent with people 65 and over. Among those 18-29, he's at 61 percent.

Among racial groups: For the first time in the White House, Obama support among white Americans has fallen below 40 percent. He's at 39 percent among whites; 91 percent among blacks, and 70 percent among Hispanics.

Among income groups: For the first time in the White House, Obama is below 50 percent with every income group except those making less than $2,000 a month. He's at 49 percent among those making $2,000 to $4,999 a month; 44 percent among those making $5,000 to $7,499 a month; and 48 percent among those making $7,500 and more a month. Among the bottom income group, those making less than $2,000 a month, Obama's approval rating is 59 percent.

Religious practice: For the first time in the White House, Obama is below 50 percent with everyone who goes to church. He at 41 percent among those who attend weekly and 49 percent among those who attend nearly weekly or monthly. Among those who seldom or never go to church, he is at 55 percent.