In tough economic times, nothing is more important than presidential leadership, intelligence, and decisive policy-making. Unfortunately, as Barack Obama continues to demonstrate, we're currently stuck getting "none of the above."
The alleged president is currently meeting with world economic leaders, who are hugely steamed that Mr. Obama is deliberately devaluing our nation's currency to try to increase the sale of goods to foreign countries and reduce the real value of money owed to lender nations like China. And, oh yeah, it also reduces the value of every dollar bill that Americans have tucked into savings accounts, retirement accounts, or (since 2008) mattresses.
This follows hard on the heels of Mr. Obama's botched trade mission to South Korea, in which he made certain demands which the South Koreans were unprepared to meet because they hadn't been informed ahead of time, and so couldn't study the repercussions of the proposed U.S. policy. Oops!
Meanwhile, there seems to be a meaningful communications gap between the president (in Seoul) and his Whitehouse staff. David Axelrod announced that Mr. Obama would drop his demand to raise taxes on small businesses and the wealthy...but now, the president is denying this and saying that the matter must still be debated. But, um, not now...because he's out of the country.
Which means that in an economy which is begging for any kind of direction or certainty, the president has assured that not a single American knows what his tax rate will be just 7 weeks from now. Nor does any business...which is why they're afraid to hire, afraid to buy equipment, and afraid of this president.
There is, however, an upside to Barack Obama's indecisiveness. Because when he does make a firm decision...it's predictably wrong. -
The liberal mainstream media thought it had struck gold earlier this week, when they reported that President George W. Bush's pro-life beliefs had been formed, in part, when his mother showed him her own miscarried fetus in a jar.
Yikes!
Media outlets were largely divided on the matter, with some portraying the incident as if the Bush's were some sort of gothic carnies, traveling from town to town and charging people 25¢ to see something gruesome...while other media outlets simply suggested that a whacked-out Barbara Bush kept the jarred fetus on a shelf between the pickled okra and the homemade preserves.
The truth is simpler, sadder, and more significant.
When George W. Bush was a teen, his mother suffered a tragic miscarriage. As was (and frequently is) considered the medically appropriate thing to do, she placed the fetus in a clean container (actually tupperware) to take with her as she was rushed to the hospital. It was on that drive that the young George Bush briefly saw the fetus, and was struck by the fact that it was a real person and a real loss of life.
President Bush bravely shares that story in his book "Decision Points" (with the equally-brave permission of his remarkable mother, Barbara Bush) to show that his decisions and convictions stem from real experience and real life.
And perhaps to instruct those with cavalier attitudes about abortion that there can be no informed "pro-choice" without first acknowledging the significance of death. -
In today's politically divisive, media-oversaturated environment, it would be easy to think that the important battles for freedom are being fought by politicians and pundits. But that wouldn't be true, and it never has been.
Today we celebrate and honor the men and women of America's armed forces, who gave birth to this country...have nurtured and protected it...and have advanced the cause of freedom around the world.
Their sacrifices, and those of their families, should humble everyone who enjoys the magnificent blessings of their service...and should also, at least for one day, silence the strident voices shouting from the safety of the sidelines.
Fly your flag today...and thank as many veterans as possible for your right and ability to do so.
They say "you can't go home again," but "Little Barry" Soetoro has proven that you really can...at least, if you've become president of the United States and can travel with a huge, taxpayer-funded entourage.
After receiving an election-day drubbing in his alleged home country, Little Barry is enjoying his return to his Indonesian boyhood home...and as usual, is taking the opportunity to say things overseas that he hopes won't be widely repeated within earshot of American voters.
For instance, the president told an audience that the United States has got "a lot more work to do" on Muslim ties...not exactly an unpopular thing to say in the most populous Muslim nation on Earth. He additionally took the opportunity to disparage Israel, saying that their apartment-building is "never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations."
And he praised his hosts for figuring out "how to create a genuine democracy" with a hugely diverse population...suggesting that ignorant voters in the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Indonesians. Not that he's claiming to be one. Technically.
But lest we judge Little Barry's words too harshly, we should remember that he's been traveling a lot lately and that the return to Jakarta has been, in the president's ever-eloquent words, "disorientating."
So enjoy your trip down memory lane, Mr. Soetoro. And please - don't hurry back.
Prior to last Tuesday's election, Barack Obama insisted on implementing a job-killing $700 billion tax increase on small businesses during a recession...and was perfectly willing to have the Democrat party enact it unilaterally.
But now, with Republicans controlling the House, the president is showing a new spirit of compromise, saying that he's willing to accept a bipartisan job-killing $700 billion tax increase on small businesses during a recession.
Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, the Republicans aren't really buying his definition of "compromise," and are instead insisting that they will adamantly fight any tax increases for any Americans in this brutal economy.
The peevish president is insisting that if he can't squeeze another $700 billion out of the small business owners who would like to be hiring others, he'll be forced to borrow it from China (gasp!)...and he's quickly running out of daughters to use as collateral.
In mythology, "Ouroboros" was a snake or dragon who eats his own tail...and keeps eating until he vanishes completely. And this will be the path of the American economy as long as politicians increase unemployment by raising taxes on businesses in order to cope with rising expenses which come from unemployment.
That ugly cycle has got to come to an end. And thankfully, that's what the new wave of Republicans is giving Obama to chew on. -
Although badly wounded in last Tuesday's elections, Liberalism is not dead. At least, not in Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco, where city officials have just voted to ban children's "Happy Meal" toys at McDonalds (and similar toy programs at other restaurants).
The logic, and we use the term loosely, is that the toys are used as "bait" to attract children to food that doesn't meet the lofty nutritional standards of San Francisco's ruling class, and that over time "happy" children will become fat children.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco school system continues to give away free condoms to students, with at least one school saying their condom availability program is "held during lunch on Wednesdays, with a question and answer session during lunch on Fridays."
Not only does this associate the "free prize" with a meal, but it raises the question of what the heck the kids are doing with those condoms on Thursdays while waiting for Friday's "question and answer" session? We would suggest that they've got their schedule ass-backward but, being San Francisco, "ass-backward" is probably a part of their question and answer session.
Once again, liberal politicians have essentially proclaimed that parents can't be trusted with parenting. And that in San Francisco, you can ban Ronald McDonald's toys...but you can neverget rid of the clowns.
Olbermann, best known for borderline-psychotic spit-flinging vein-bulging diatribes against conservatives, contributed the money to candidates he was "impartially" interviewing on his own show - which MSNBC president Phil Griffin said was an unacceptable breach of journalistic independence.
This is the same journalistic independence, by the way, that positions Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, and Ed "I'm going to torch this f*cking place" Schultz as impartial, center-of-the-road newscasters.
While it would be nice to think that Mr. Olbermann has made his last appearance on television, we fully expect him to be sullying the airwaves again soon. It's the only way MSNBC can stop him from posting rabid tweets saying that his former boss is "The Worst Person In The World."
