Today, Barack Obama kicks off his 3-day "Listening Tour" of the Midwest, apparently laboring under the misconception that the hayseeds in flyover country can't send him messages by mail, telephone, the Internet, Twitter, or their elected representatives in Washington.
Whitehouse staffers have declared that the president's bus tour is entirely non-political and unrelated to his re-election campaign, which is their way of saying that taxpayers will be picking up all the expenses, and putting thousands of dollars into the pockets of evil corporate bus owners.
But at least traveling by bus and offering to listen to banjo-picking Deliverance extras shows a little newfound humility on the president's part - right?
Wrong.
Because at yet another huge liberal fundraiser in New York (where he sneered about the people who live "West of here"), Barack Obama actually likened himself to Martin Luther King, Jr, saying that the civil rights leader was also vilified, controversial, and even despairing at times.
But it's all okay, because what the president claims to have learned from Dr. King (perhaps after ingesting some unusual combination of pharmaceuticals) is that "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. But it doesn't bend on its own. It bends because all of us are putting our hand on the arc and we are bending it in that direction...and America's arc is going to be bending in the direction of justice and prosperity and opportunity."
Which makes Hope n' Change think that maybe the president's tour bus should be christened "Obama's Arc," which only the president's wealthiest donors can board, two by two.
While the rest of us are left to drown in his debt...and his BS.
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Obama prepares to spread his "I Had A Dream" speech from "Darth One."
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18 comments:
Sweet - I found my nemesis.
Obama's stop here in DBQland Tuesday is a campaign stop pure & simple. It is being funded by our tax dollars under the guise of a "Forum" to listen to small business owners etc. This is all to make it look like he is actually doing something about the economy after all this time of doing nothing at all to save it. I predict much of what he says will be to blame the Repblicans &/or Tea Party for the problems.
According to Campaign fiance laws isn't it illegal for the President, or for that matter, any elected official to use taxpayer money for campaign related expenses? This is just another example of the Dumbass-in-Chief flouting US law. I think it is high time to call him out on all his illegal activities. If he was a Republican he would have been impeached already and probably serving prison time.
As usual, with Democrats, talking about something is the same as doing it and full credit must be given for the intention even without the result, or even if the result is the opposite of the intention. The forgiving nature of Americans also gives Turdboy hope that, if he can make it appear that he's done something positive during the last year of his quadrennium, our hearts will be moved to grant him another. Well, he's found a way to move an internal organ in me, but it's a little south of my heart and I always think of him when it "moves".
Also, the only thing Obaka has in common with MLK is 50% of MLK's melanin content. That's pretty weak broth to call "stew". Any other comparison falls apart without effort.
I think we should make up a Bingo game with all kinds of demographics in the squares. Every time he offends one of them on his "Listen to Me" tour with his gross arrogance, you get a dot. The prize is... Well, sadly, there IS no prize. Everyone loses in this game.
The primary difference in PBO and MLK is that MLK was an honorable man with class, dignity, and a genuine love for the people of America - all of them.
"Barack Obama actually likened himself to Martin Luther King, Jr, saying that the civil rights leader was also vilified, controversial, and even despairing at times." Yea, by Democrats and by-the-way, MLK was a Republican. Fancy that Mr. O.
Stilt, (you know me): Speaking of Bus Tours -- and Obama's is absurd, I agree, and I will amplify anything said against him -- what of the several Republicans going with Tony "let's get rid of the homosexuals" Perkins of the ironically named Family Research Council on their own bus tour of Iowa? With Tony declaring that gays are the "greatest threat to the nation;" "domestic terrorists" even! And Rick 'Let's outlaw sissy smooching!' Santorum along for the ride, not that he stands a chance. And Rick Perry comporting with Bryan "gays are the biggest threat to the American family" Fischer of the ill-named American Family Association, in America's fourth largest city, and it with a Lesbian mayor "married" longer than Newt ever was to any of his wives. And Michelle Bachmann all buddy buddy with Bradlee "execute the gays" Dean, on this "values" tour too (I did not know killing citizens was a "value".)
Well, I hate to break it to people, but there's a $15 trillion dollar debt, $1.5 Trillion deficits as far as the eyes can see, and something like $100 Trillion in unfunded liabilities, and the taxes are way too high -- plus 10% to 20% unemployment, and bizarre and onerous rules and regulations spewing forth from Washington, and nearly every state is broke.
Call me silly, but somehow, I don't think that sissy smooching is the issue; nor a threat to anyone. But that's what the current crop, except for Gary Johnson, (who, alas, might not stand a chance either,) are all campaigning on. Do you listen to these people? Are they serious? Really, are they serious? And they want my vote? Or just to chase me and my 60 member family away?
I fret for my country, because my choice is between an idiot who's "evolving" on my existence while destroying the nation, and morons who are afraid to face reality and want me gone. Egad, and people wonder why I'm cranky?
@TerraCarb- Congratulations!
@Al- The Whitehouse has already outlined that the president expects to hear from people who, like him, are fed up with the political dysfunction in Washington. In other words, he wants to get out of Washington just long enough to point backwards and say "it's them, not me" who are responsible for the current mess.
@Dave- But...but...Obama says this whistlestop tour isn't campaign related! Actually everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to concede that this is just a campaign event - but no one will do anything about it. I doubt there's a politician in Washington (on either side) who really wants campaign financing and activities too closely scrutinized.
@Angry Hoosier Dad- Comparing himself to MLK doesn't raise Obama...it just lowers MLK. Which is the point of the Rosa Parks reference in today's cartoon. Obama demeans the civil rights struggles of the past by trying to equate them to his own petty political agenda.
@Stephanie- An Obama bingo game card would certainly make his speeches more tolerable. But as you point out, everyone still loses.
@Anonymous (two above)- When Dr. King was killed, many people wanted him to have the honor of lying in state at the Georgia state capitol. But virulent segregationist (and, oh yeah, Democratic Governor) Lester Maddox forbid it. In his latter years, Maddox raised money by selling autographed ax handles (for beating black people) to appreciative Democrats.
@Jim Hlavac- You've got a nasty quandry going there and I sympathize. It seems like you get a bad deal either way, and I wish that wasn't the case. One way or another, it seems like there's a political bus with your name on it - one that wants to hit you head on, and one for you to be thrown under.
"Just hop on the bus, Gus.... There must be 50 ways to fleece your voter." Isn't that he name of the song?
Oh, and I have this wonderful mental image of the Pharoah desperately trying to flag down someone to help him change a flat on the magic bus.
AND, it makes me gag when this guy tries to strike a comparison between him and Dr. King. I don't know if MLK was a Republican or not, but he sure as HELL wasn't a self righteous, self-absorbed, Chicago thug with a socialist agenda.
Before we get too carried away reciting the officially approved virtues of the late Dr. King and genuflecting, let's remember MLK was not the living Saint that the Left made of him after he was safely and marketably deceased.
Yes, his popular books include some very polished quotes attributed to him, many of which were already in widespread circulation long before he was born. But he was, alas, an academic fraud, a plagiarizer whose PHD thesis was later found to have been a verbatim theft of a previous graduate's thesis from 17 years before. A shameless adulterer who constantly humiliated Coretta by grabbing a slice of his helper's wives whenever their backs were turned. A shakedown artist who used the threat of race riots against corporations and municipalities alike (he could avert the violence, of course, if certain conditions and honorariums were met). A career professional 'organizer', he never ran a business or dipped a toe into the private-sector world. His public career was relatively brief, cut short in midlife by an assassination which turned him into a 'brand name' that could be spun, reinvented, monetized and exported around the world. He is beloved, even worshipped, by people who love an attractively packaged Myth with little resemblance to the actual man.
So in a sense, Obama and MLK have more in common than some might think. Not in the way that Obama's self aggrandizing intends... because for all his many character flaws MLK was the product of a far more civilized era and would I hope be almost as appalled at BO as the rest of us.
I hope.
You are so BUSted
By the way, by Listening Tour, he means he talks, you listen
If MLK Jr. (or anyone, for that matter) really believed his "content of their character" speech, he'd be outraged that Barack Hussein was elected and even more outraged about the Demo_rats' blatant lying about the recent debt business. Lies all the way across America from the politician-in-chief!
I know that I am WAY OUT there on this one, but, since the 2008 Pres. Campaign, my stance is that you should not be allowed to run for office WHILE you are in office.
How can you be a Senator for AZ, NY or IL & spend almost 2 years in other states? They were not actually in the Senate debating, reading and passing bills? You just cannot do the job that your constituency elected you to do if you are off campaigning in other states. And especially during the primary, when, they are all in basically 3 states: IA, NH & SC. Hey……are the other 54 states (LOL) chopped liver?
I know that this would create a whole slew of new problems with replacing these folks, but to me it’s impossible for them to do both effectively.
This is one of the reasons I have respect for Sarah Palin. I know everybody criticized her for stepping out of the Goverorship in AK, to pursue what she is doing now (whatever you call it) but I salute her for recognizing that she could not do both. Oh course, her critics would have crucified her if she tried to remain the Gov & spent too much time in the lower 48; so there ya go.
The same is true now. How can the President campaign and have so many fund-raisers & do the job that he was elected to do? (We are probably better-off that he’s not in Washington). And I am not letting the 3 or 4 House members and sitting Gov of Texas off the hook either. They cannot do their job & run for a new one at the same time.
'Magical Misery Tour'? Good one! Have you heard Barry stutter and stammer whenever he's off 'prompter? I prefer "Sure Hope Obama Remembers Teleprompter Bus tour".
S.H.O.R.T. Bus Tour, for short.
@Colby- I was really tempted to do a relyric of "Magical Mystery Tour" or "Magic Bus" today, but was too honked off to do anything so playful. Hopefully others have versions playing on Youtube by now!
@Andrew- Dr. King definitely had flaws and feet of clay. But fairly or not, his stature today in part reflects the very real depth of the problem with race relations at the time, and how far we've come. Until lately. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is creating the problems (or resisting solutions) rather than fighting to correct them.
@DonSurber- Not only is he doing all the talking, it's exactly the same talking points we've been hearing from him for months. So how this could be considered anything other than campaigning is beyond me.
@JustAJeepGuy- Obama definitely wasn't elected for the content of his character. As a Wall Street Journal editorial pointed out a few days ago, any white candidate who had no real political record of accomplishment, a long history with an America-hating church, and close ties to an unrepentant terrorist would have been eliminated from the race immediately. The color of his skin gave Obama a free pass; no one dared question his associations or actual political beliefs for (entirely justifiable) fear of being called racist.
@SC- Running for office is Obama's job. At least, the only one he's good at. He served very little time as an Illinois state senator (voting "present") before he began his run for the Whitehouse. He's never truly served any constituency, nor demonstrated any ability to lead.
@Proof- The SHORT Bus. I like it!
Stilton... more lyrics! I like the "Tragical Mystery Tour!"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Moses_the_Raven/obama-economy-jobs_n_927189_103022557.html
Just saw the pics of The Bus. Crikey, it's Darth Vader's DeathStar Tour.
@Anonymous- I'd prepped a little "Darth Vader Bus" picture for another site I like to visit (Sondrakistan.com) and just added it to the end of the commentary above. It really is an ominous vehicle.
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