Spitting In the Wind

As POTUS struggles politically, his biggest enemy is rewind. There is now plenty of video of POTUS’ previous speeches and pronouncements. Polls indicate that the ‘hope and change’ thing no longer connects. We’ve heard it all before and the past two and a half years have done nothing to bolster Obama’s credibility for the broad range of American voters.

We’ve also heard the loyal opposition. It too has been discredited to the point imparting a general sense of hopeless acceptance of its inability to make even so much as a dent in the now widespread notion that things will get worse (‘before they get better’ is at this point not even on the horizon).

The notion that gasoline prices will determine the fate of POTUS in 2012 is absurd. It is now apparent that the media will not make it an issue that can be tied to the president. If not an issue, it will have no effect except dragging down the economy still further - which too will not be an issue by virtue of the media basically ignoring the metrics. In fact, there is now the widespread perception that Obama actually wants $5 to $7 dollar gas - and that this would be a good thing - that it would suit his ideological objectives with regard to greenhouse emissions, depopulating the suburbs (and thereby revitalizing urban centers), achieving energy independence, and redistributing what‘s left of America‘s wealth. Add to this the overall perception that Obama is pursuing a course that is essentially anti-American.

This last point can be argued depending on where one stands. The 13% of committed socialists that now seem to have exclusive rights to the president’s ear would submit that things are going just swimmingly, while the rest of us are still hedging our bets.

Obama is playing to both camps. He is hoping to placate the majority with vague ‘hope and change’ rhetoric while reinforcing his credibility with his left-wing base. It’s a tricky maneuver to be sure, but made very much easier given the way major media slants things to favor the Left.

Does Obama have a chance in 2012? I think so. As I wrote in my brief entitled, “In Quest of the Prize Pig”, I feel he has a better than even chance of even winning the political battle.

Where does that leave us? For one thing, we’ll be left to battle the historical tide as random pieces of flotsam in an ocean as big as the world. And, as the use of mirrors will likely be banned, we’ll be unable to see the likely result of spitting in the wind.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Definition of 'Crazy'

It’s always easy and entertaining to make fun of history in a Monty Python kind of way; to say what if, as if ‘if’ were some kind of Frankonian monster ripe for resurrecting at the snap of a finger. Much more difficult to see the lunacy of current policy. If Reagan had killed Kaddafi, who is to say that would have been the end of it?

Fact: For several years after we sent a package bomb into Kaddafi’s tent (killing his daughter among others) we never heard from Kaddafi again. Fact: He behaved himself for a time like a kid after a spanking. And then, we seemed to have lost the concept altogether and the likes of Kim Yong-Il, Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez were able to make their mischief unimpeded, turning the whole class into an uproar.

Now, nobody is learning. The teachers have fled the premises. The school is has become wildly dysfunctional and you have some version of William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” going on everywhere you look.

Enter the 12th Imam to put a stop to it. I expect he’ll have enough buckets lined up to put out the fires that are raging; to snuff out the fuses that are burning toward setting off a nuclear holocaust. If not, it doesn’t really matter what any of us do.

For a brief while, we thought it was Obama who would fill the bill. We gave him every chance. We even called him ‘savior’. We were convinced that he was the one who would bring us together. He made quite a convincing start of it, giving speeches all around the world and drawing adoring crowds everywhere he went.

Now we know it was all just so much hot air, effectively causing the polar icecaps to melt and the bears to seek shelter inside an ever shrinking population of whales. Curiously the oceans didn’t rise as predicted and the island of Manhattan still stands (although we did our best to bring her down by other means).

As much as we make fun of Kaddafi, we still shy away from looking in the mirror to examine ourselves. The definition of ‘crazy’ is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. What we are doing in almost every aspect of our public policy is the same thing over and over again. And all it’s done is accelerate our fall from grace.

Spring is just around the corner and all of us here in the northern latitudes can put our snow shovels away and breathe a sigh of relief. Soon time to put some of the old stuff out on the curb for yard sales or for sanitation to pick up. Don’t plan on going anywhere though. Gas will likely be around $5 a gallon.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

CPAC blah, blah, blah...

McCotter has it exactly right. He gets it. Unfortunately, nobody is listening. Or, those who are listening have nothing to say about what our government is presently doing. Actually, there’s now a consensus in this country on a wide range of issues. The problem is that the tail continues to wag the dog.

You mean to say that passing Obamacare was a good idea? No. I do believe hardly anyone agrees with it - especially the people in the health care field. Yet, it was shoved through in a nasty, unconstitutional way, and now we’re apparently stuck with it. There’s virtually no chance of repeal. Republicans will try, but will run into so much static; it almost won’t be worth the effort. Same with every other bill that has become law during the Obama administration’s first two years in office.

Even after it came out that ‘global warming’ was a hoax, Obama and Democrats are still pushing their ‘green’ agenda. Gas is now well above $3.00 a gallon. (I believe they want it to go up to around five.) Food prices are rising. U.S. debt is rising. Internationally, dominos are falling… It’s all going to hell in a hand basket, much of which, despite what anybody says, is the direct result of our current administration‘s policies. It would now take but a feather to knock us down and out for good.

What is our government’s response? More of the same. Everything is fine. Prosperity is just around the corner. Voices, like McCotter’s are routinely ignored, discredited and marginalized by our own media. Any attempt to fix things is continually upstaged by events, sidetracked amid the din of ever escalating crisis.

There’s little chance of making headway now and for at least the next two years. By that time, it could well be over for us.

This winter alone, we’ve had to dig our cars out of snow banks no less than three times already. This was even before we could make it out into the street. Each time took longer to set things right. It wasn’t impossible. But each time the city plows passed by, they managed to throw even more snow into our driveway.

So too it is with a government seemingly determined to diminish our once great nation. We ought to be doing more than just make speeches. ‘Organizing For America’ (emphasis on ‘organizing’) still seems to be the only game in town. The rest is just endless talk about polls, put-downs, and ratings. Truly, I don’t see how we can last another two years, much less six.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/