Obama Can’t Win For Lying...Er, Uh, Losing
Posted: Sunday, January 31, 2010
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
President Obama, since the Democratic losses in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, has determined to be what he calls a populist. The true meaning of populist is "a supporter of the rights and power of the people". His philosophy has no such idea in mind.
In his state of the union address, he ridiculed everyone from George Bush to the Supreme Court, the Republican obstructionists, and lobbyists whom he and the Democratic congress woos constantly. "The Hill", newspaper reported that the administration had already made plans for private briefings for the K Street Lobbyists for the next day! Plus, the Treasury Department had invited lobbyists to a series of conference calls to discuss portions of the speech.
He agreed to an interview by Dianne Sawyer of the ABC News and she asked him about the "shady" deals he had made in an effort to get the health care reform bill passed. He replied: "Let's hold on a second, Dianne...I didn't make a bunch of deals. Right, there is a legislative process that is taking place in congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed congress and how it operates the way I would have liked."
Now stop and analyze that answer. To his credit, he didn't just say flatly that he made no deals. But to make deals the way congress does, inferring that he wishes they would change, is simply a crock.
His deals included a humongous deal with the pharmaceutical companies, by accepting their own offer of cutting their overall profits while forsaking his promise to the people to allow Canadian importation of drugs. The deal he made with the unions that their members would not have to pay for their health insurance as the non-union populace would. A $60 billion free gift. Then the Senators from Louisiana and Nebraska (Cao and Nelson) who sold their vote to him. That, apparently is his meaning of how congress operates and he has not changed yet.
All in all, the period commencing with his state of the union message has been a time of learning for the public, an opportunity missed by the President, and a continued popularity drop for the Democratic party. He has had to cover certain lies with more of the same.
The results for all of this is that you will see more Republicans take the empty seats of the Senate and the House. And, unless the Republicans follow their old path taken last election by nominating another of what the conservative right calls a "Rhino", they will be able to retake the White House after one term.
The outcome of the presidential election may well be determined by the Tea Partiers. If they insist in running their own hand picked candidate, it will likely prove to be the same as Ross Perot's efforts were, the defeat of the Republican Party candidate by siphoning of great deal of the conservative votes.
This Article has been viewed 222 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)I heard both the State of the Union Address, and his meeting with the Republicans you mention. In the first, he didn't lambaste everyone, as you claim, but he did lambaste a deserving few. In the second meeting, Obama showed great restraint as Republicans took great pains to paint scenarios with long winded talking points obviously designed as thinly veiled campaign speeches. It may have sounded different to you, but to me I heard Obama handle the situation with exemplary aplomb and intelligence.As for the select Republican wins, I think the Republicans can talk themselves into any number of reasons for the wins, and tend to accept the analyses that give a more feel good spin. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, where you have people voting their discontent, but you also have people who don't vote on issues that don't matter to them. The result is that the Republicans convince themselves that it carries twice as much meaning as is really the case.Highly intellectual an unprejudiced remarks, thanks for the comment. We will see what happens from here on out.
You sound as if you are from Alabama. An Alabaman christianAn Alabama Christian, yes. I have lived in Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia...But Alabama is my first and now my last residence.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.
