The Obama Presidency, Year One

Note:  You might want to start at the Barack Obama Index Page, especially if you arrived here by using a search engine. During the seemingly endless 'transition" period between election day and Obama's inauguration, I composed another page called, What can we expect from the Obama administration? This page, on the other hand, is for commentary about the Obama presidency as it unfolds on and after January 20, 2009. On this page: Commentary on the inauguration itself         An inauguration is not an emergency         Reaction to Obama's inaugural address All this adulation is a bit much         President for life? Obama shows great potential — as a Marxist dictator!         The Homeland Security report on right wingers         Obama's stealthy moves toward gun control         Apparently Obama hates America.         He's no friend of Israel, either. Disillusionment sets in:  the wheels are already coming off. Obama and his team are incompetent. Obama is helpless without a teleprompter. This is "hope"? This is "change"? Obama's narcissism Smoke and mirrors         Lies         General disingenuousness         Flip-flops and broken promises         Bait and switch         The Obama team manipulates the news media         Outright hypocrisy The media favoritism continues Tampering with the Census President Obama is the stock market's worst nightmare Massive spending and the fast track to socialism Obamacare:  Mandatory socialized medicine. Bad ideas, bad decisions and poor judgment         Obama accepts the Nobel Prize         Here a czar, there a czar, everywhere a czar czar.         Obama spends our money on himself         The New York City Flyover         Weakening America's defenses         Obama and the Muslims         Abortion         Gun control         Rabid environmentalism         Socialized medicine         A rapidly expanding welfare state         Nationalizing the banks         Nationalizing General Motors and Chrysler         Cash for Clunkers         A Congressman for the District of Columbia Obama's Culture of Corruption The So-Called Stimulus Bill Obama the gas-guzzling limousine liberal Related topics: Who's really happy about Obama's presidency? Obama's cabinet, staff and other associates. Notre Dame sells out. Reaction to Obama's address to Congress on February 24, 2009. Reaction to Obama's speech in Cairo, June 4, 2009. Commentary on the inauguration itself Obama 'Whistle Stop' train ride:  The whistle stop tour ... is meant to consciously evoke images of the Lincoln inaugural. ... The entire inaugural has been one long ad campaign to try and get people to believe that the new president is some kind of Abraham Lincoln character. The Editor says... Obama's triumphal entry on the train also served as a publicity stunt for Amtrak. Classless to the last.  Obama's intent to remake American politics got a jolt of reality yesterday [1/20/2009] when thousands of his supporters booed and mocked George Bush as he stepped on to the platform ... The louts were disrespecting Obama as much as Bush, of course.  On such a solemn, civic occasion where a new president was promising a new era of bi-partisanship, the lefty loons couldn't grasp the fact that their despicable actions were giving a lie to what their hero was saying a short time later on that same platform. Bush Mocked As He Arrives on Inauguration Dais.  The crowd packed on the west side of the Capitol grounds serenaded President Bush in mocking fashion when he took to the inaugural stage alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.  "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye," a section of the crowd chanted.  The crowd packed immediately below the podium received Bush in stony silence when he took his seat on the stage surrounding the podium where Barack Obama was scheduled to take the oath office to become the 44th president of the United States. They're Poor Winners, Too.  If you aren't convinced of the left's nonpareil arrogance and nastiness from observing their behavior toward President Bush and Vice President Cheney for the past eight years, then contrast the behavior of Mr. Bush's staff leaving office and that of Mr. Clinton's, who literally trashed the White House like juvenile delinquents.  Fast-forwarding to this week, did you see Obama supporters booing President Bush at the inauguration, singing, "Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye"?  Pure class. The ugly side of the inauguration:  Ironic that on Inauguration Day, when President Barack Obama told Americans it was time to take personal responsibility and "grow up" as a country, some of his supporters behaved like spoiled children in booing George W. Bush.  And, sadly, neither Obama nor any leader in the public spotlight that day seized the moment to admonish the boorish behavior. ... This from a movement that fancies itself all about peace, love and global karma. Inaugurations Gone Wild.  In 1801, Thomas Jefferson strolled on foot from his Washington, DC, boarding house to the Capitol, where he was sworn in as president and offered a rousing address to his "friends and fellow-citizens" before returning home in time for dinner.  As inaugurations go, it was simplicity itself — and the sort of ceremony of which future presidents could only dream. Why Did UVa Cancel Classes Only This Time?  On Jan. 20, 2005, George Bush was sworn in as president of the United States.  On Jan. 20, 2009, Barack Obama [was] sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.  The University of Virginia decided to suspend classes on only one of these important days.  Can you guess which one? Sorry to be a party pooper, but I can't share this swooning Obama hysteria.  Has everyone lost their marbles?  The inauguration of President Obama is being treated like the Second Coming.  The coverage is so gushing we might all drown. ... There's no doubt that Obama is a highly charismatic and attractive personality.  But what's more than a wee bit troubling is that the swooning hysteria reflects the fact that people appear to believe that as of today the world will be saved. This Emperor has no clothes, it will all end in tears.  The burnt child, contrary to conventional wisdom, does not fear the fire.  After the Blair experience there is no excuse for anybody in Britain falling for Obama.  Yet today, in this country, even some of those who remained sane during the emotional spasm of the Diana aberration are pumping the air for Princess Barack.  At a time of gross economic and geopolitical instability throughout the Western world, this is beyond irresponsibility. Is This How the Post-Racial Obama Administration Begins?  [Scroll down]  However, it was another minister — Reverend Joseph Lowery — who used his benediction, to ask God for this:  "We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."  Is this how the post-racial Obama administration begins?  That someday the brown can stick around, the yellow can remain mellow, and the white will embrace what's right?  Even at the inauguration of a black president, we are being called racist. Hating Whitey.  Prejudice is much like the wind:  Its direction changes, and the sheltered and well-situated may not sense it, but it's always blowing on some people somewhere.  Put literally, every age has its fashionable biases — and unfashionable people.  This was obvious during the presidential inauguration benediction, given by the Reverend Joseph Lowery.  While making a supplication to the Lord, he made the following anachronistic plea:  "... help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right [emphasis mine]."  Well, I wonder if the reverend has ever asked the Lord why He scourged the world with white people in the first place. Gipper 1, Race-baiters 0.  After the cultural explosion in America that celebrated this week's presidential inauguration, could there be any doubt that this would have been the most-watched inaugural ceremony in history?  It wasn't. The musical interlude was a sham. The Fingers Were Live but the Music Wasn't.  It was not precisely lip-synching, but pretty close.  The somber, elegiac tones before President Obama's oath of office at the inauguration on Tuesday came from the instruments of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues.  But what the millions on the Mall and watching on television heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched tone for tone by the musicians playing along. Obama quartet admits faking performance at inauguration.  It's not exactly Watergate but Barack Obama's inauguration was back in the dock today after it emerged that the quartet of classical musicians who ushered him on to the steps of the Capitol were faking it. Obama's illegal alien aunt dances the night away.  One of the happy ladies dancing the inaugural night away at the Ohio ball was an illegal alien — President Barack Hussein Obama's (D) aunt. ... Despite ignoring a deportation order and illegally collecting welfare Ms. Onyango now has a lawyer fighting for her "rights." Why Can't 'Eco-Conscious' Liberals Clean Up After Themselves?  For decades, a consistent media theme has been that liberals are far more concerned about the environment than conservatives.  If such is the case, why did the folks attending Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday treat our nation's capital like a toilet? What Recession?  The $170 Million Inauguration.  The country is in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, which isn't stopping rich donors and the government from spending $170 million, or more, on the inauguration of Barack Obama. Missteps in a Majestic Week:  I tuned in to Wednesday's National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral, a historic event that marks the end of the president's inauguration.  Sitting in the front pew after a day of ceremonies and a night of partying was our new president, flanked by his wife, Michelle, and by Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.  But wait!  Also seated in the front pew was Hillary Clinton, who was still only Obama's secretary of state nominee.  How did she rate that, while the rest of Obama's team was seated among the 3,200 invited guests? Inaugural Missteps And Miscalculations.  This much is clear:  The Capitol Police and other officials underestimated the turnout among ticket holders.  They turned down advance offers of help from volunteers and the National Guard, officials say.  And police failed to respond adequately when trouble arose.  As a result, thousands of people with precious tickets to the swearing-in didn't get anywhere near it in time for the historic moment. Obama's first week:  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  The entire inaugural was a disaster area.  The program was marked by a poem that some consider to have been the worst in inaugural history.  A flat, strangely subdued (almost dirge-like) performance by some of the world's greatest musicians turned out to be taped.  A hugely inappropriate benediction was given by the Reverend Joseph Lowrey.  The huge crowd booed and mocked the outgoing president thus insulting not only Bush but Obama.  And, after a flubbed oath of office that forced him to take it over again, a strangely uninspiring and forgettable address by the President himself. It Isn't Easy Being a Saint.  I suppose Barack Obama made the nation giddy when he proclaimed there were no red and blue states, just Americans.  He promised to unite us across political, racial, and religious lines. ... So we overlooked the racialist sermonizing from Michelle Obama, Barack's occasional promises for reparations in deed not mere word, and the odd things that a Joseph Lowery said on Inauguration Day that were acceptable for a Civil Rights veteran but would have sent a white professor, journalist, or politician into the Don Imus stocks for a week or two. Purple Heart:  The inaugural-ticket victims who won't go quietly.  It was only a few hours after his swearing-in that the first great grassroots campaign of the Obama presidency commenced — only it turned out to be something slightly less exalted than originally predicted: getting justice for the Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom. Obama inauguration crowds overwhelmed police, panel told.  Members of Congress scolded federal law enforcement officials Wednesday [3/25/2009] over why thousands of their constituents didn't get to see Barack Obama sworn in as president in January despite holding coveted tickets to the ceremony. DC gets $43M in federal cash for inaugural costs.  D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty says the federal government has reimbursed the city for all costs related to President Barack Obama's inauguration, totaling nearly $43 million.  Fenty said Monday [6/8/2009] that the city was paid back for all costs related to the 240 inaugural-related events hosted by the city from Jan. 16 to Jan. 21.  He also released a report on the city's handling of the inauguration. An inauguration is not an emergency The word "emergency" is not in the Constitution, partly because the founders of this country intentionally designed a system that reacts slowly to passing fads.  Over the last several decades, the Constitution has become more of a technicality than anything else, and the result is the massive and ill-advised spending we see every day.  If the Obama inauguration is going to be costly, let Mr. Obama pay for it from his own very deep pockets. Inauguration declared 'emergency'.  President Bush on Tuesday declared the District a federal emergency area, clearing the way for the city to receive federal money to help cover the overwhelming cost of providing security for official inauguration events.  Officials said it was the first time the designation had ever been used for anything other than a national disaster, such as a hurricane or widespread flooding. Obama's inauguration set to be the most expensive in US history.  President Barack Obama's inauguration next week is set to be the most expensive ever, predicted to reach over $150m (£102m).  This dwarfs the $42.3m spent on George Bush's inauguration in 2005 and the $33m spent on Bill Clinton's in 1993.  Part of the spending includes emergency funding announced by the White House on Tuesday [1/13/2009] to help with the soaring costs.  Most of this new federal funding will be to deal with the huge influx of people, estimated 1.5 million to 2 million. Price Tag of Obama's Inauguration:  It is believed President-elect Obama's inauguration will be the costliest in history — around $50 million — despite the recession.  President Bush has declared a state of emergency to free up federal funds to help the district cope with the soaring cost of the event. Reaction to Obama's inaugural address Obama may be the 'no we can't' President.  [Scroll down]  Mr Obama's inaugural address, then, was a piece of expectation management.  Already he is warning his supporters to understand the limits of change and the constraints he is under.  It was a distinctly different tone from the campaign.  But then it is not hard to see why many election campaigns (Mr Obama's was routine in this respect) are relentlessly optimistic.  Optimism works at the ballot box.  "Yes we can" is the ideal slogan for the hustings. A New Era?  That's what they all say.  On the war on terror, Obama delivered the words that any incoming president would have to.  He was Churchillian — no, to be honest, it was faux Churchillian.  To terrorists, "we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken.  You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."  Good stuff, but what else could he have said? Gloomy inaugural lecture triggers Wall Street sell-off.  Well America, you asked for it!  Your precious Barry Obama is now the president, and the market has tanked, again, because he vowed in his inauguration speech to take all the rich people's money. The Festival Is Over.  The 19-minute address was filled with trite metaphors from "the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms" to "let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come."  At times, its somber tone recalled Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" talk rather than the sunny optimism of Ronald Reagan or Franklin D. Roosevelt. Obama gets it backwards.  You're listening to Barack Obama's inaugural, and yes, it is a splendid moment in American history, the adulation is very nearly palpable and it is impossible not to be affected.  One thought nevertheless keeps nagging at you.  On some of the most pressing issues of the day, this speech has things absolutely backwards. President Obama's First Message To The Nation.  The core message of President Obama's first address to the nation was this:  Americans must grow-up and become responsible.  That parent-to-child message was surrounded by an assortment of free-standing quips, crudely stitched together with non sequitur threads, all in an effort to etch memorable quotes into the granite of our collective memory. Promises Made, Promises to Fear.  In his inaugural speech, President Obama made one brief comment about the need to "roll back the specter of a warming planet."  The planet is cooling, not warming.  Spending a dime on "global warming" is a waste.  Instituting programs to reduce the generation of carbon dioxide based on the false assertion that it causes "global warming" will endanger our already damaged economy. The first untruth.  Barack Obama was not President of the United States for five minutes before he spoke his first untruth to the American people.  In the first sentence of the second paragraph of his inaugural address, Obama stated that "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath."  This is just not true.  And if Barack Obama is as smart as the mainstream media has proclaimed, he ought to have known better. How to Save $40 Billion:  President Obama said in his Inaugural Address yesterday that government must spend to rebuild roads and bridges, but that those "who manage the public's dollars" must also "spend wisely" and "reform bad habits."  With that ambition in mind, here's an idea to save tens of billions of taxpayer dollars in the months ahead:  Repeal Davis-Bacon superminimum wage requirements for construction projects. Maybe This Is a Small Point, But ...  In mentioning Muslims before Jews, Obama can only add fuel to the fire for those who believe he is soft on Islam or even a secret adherent.  It is unfathomable to think that he or his speech writer weren't aware of this ever-present issue.  Of course they were. The Camouflaged Treachery In Obama's Inaugural Speech:  The 20-minute speech was full of glittering generalities and rolling hyperbole ... words of nationalistic pride and words of defiance to our enemies ... words for the freedom lovers and words for the union members ... words for the believers in global warming and words for those who would devastate America by yanking, or over-taxing, the energy source that powers our economy, oil. It's Mourning in America.  If you listen to Barack Obama you hear his programs and policies described the way Ronald Reagan would have described them had they been his agenda.  The difference between the two men was that [Reagan] believed everything he said all the way to the core of his being, while Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats use speeches to mask what they really believe.  The bottom line is that the new president's widely anticipated inaugural address, which beforehand was widely touted to be another stunning example of exalted oratory, just plain fell flat. Obama's speech was a cliched dud.  Barack Obama could read a string of fortune cookie messages and some people would come away thinking they'd heard the Gettysburg address.  He gave a great performance Tuesday.  The speech itself, however, was a dud. Criticizing the Obama Messiah's Inaugural Address:  Obama's inaugural address continues his post-election pattern of being more moderate and rational than he was in campaigning for the election; however, his speech is also filled with ironies, arrogance, inconsistencies, and glaring grammatical errors. More Boos Than Balls.  Obama's inaugural address tracked much of Reagan's first inaugural address — minus the substance — the main difference being that Obama did not invoke God as stoutly or frequently, restricting his heavenly references to a few liberal focus-grouped phrases, such as "God-given" and "God's grace." Jon Stewart:  Obama's Inaugural Address Sounded Just Like Bush.  It appears the good folks at Comedy Central noticed the same thing that many on the right have been saying for many months:  Barack Obama's vision of hope and change when distilled down is actually nothing new. The Sermon on the Mall.  Obama was attempting to preach civil religion; such religion draws on biblical terms and imagery to interpret the American experience, and Obama has professed to be a student of it.  But this assurance of our confidence was not so assuring. Inaugural Address Failed to Inspire.  The dignitaries arrived to varying degrees of enthusiasm.  Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were warmly welcomed while the elder President Bush and Barbara received tepid applause.  Republican lawmakers were openly booed when announced, but this was to be expected.  I would imagine Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the crowd by about 5,000 to 1. Would the Founders Remake America?  "At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents... Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."  Barack Obama delivered these magnificently eloquent yet baneful and inaccurate statements during his first inaugural address.  They are pregnant with historical fallacies and present Americans with a clear question that must be answered in the next four years:  does America need to be "remade?" Many opinion writers commented on some of Mr. Obama's earlier speeches, and found that he talks a lot but says nothing. Obama's narcissism Hubris.  Ego.  Audacity.  Arrogance.  Stunning self-regard.  These are some of the traits observed in President Obama before the 2008 election.  For almost a year, I have been passing along warnings and ominous observations from many other columnists about Obama's ego problem.  With so much at stake, many others are starting to pay attention to Obama's massive character flaws.  Ask the people of Germany what it's like to be ruled by a man who is intoxicated with pride. Obama's Revenge:  Who writes two memoirs about himself before the age of 45?  My own speculation is that it could be no one but a narcissist. ... A lot of people have some degree of narcissism, which is characterized by grandiosity, an unquenchable need for admiration, unhealthy self-absorption, dependence on the affirmation of others, and also a lack of empathy, which is hidden by both personal charm and the kind of earnest language that pretends to "feel your pain."  Or he could be a malignant narcissist, which psychiatrist Dr. Otto Kernberg, a legendary leader in thought disorders, compares to a narcissist on steroids.  This variety involves paranoid traits (think of Obama's thin-skinned, quasi-hysterical reactions to Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin), and ego-syntonic aggression, which means the person is perfectly in-sync with people who have the courage he lacks to lash out. Narcissistic Obama and Cult of Personality.  Despite the fact that the record of his accomplishments is made up mostly of his empty or unfulfilled promises, Obama is praised, by most of those who control what the American public is allowed see on TV news, as the Savior and Messiah, and is granted unequivocal trust of his presumed righteousness and infallibility.  This bears striking similarity of the classic example of the cult of personality that Stalin commanded in the Soviet Union until his death in 1953. The Making of a Fuehrer:  [Obama] is not a genius.  In fact he is quite ignorant on most important subjects.  Barack Obama is a narcissist.  Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the Malignant Self Love, also believes, "Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist."  Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism.  He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person.  When he talks about narcissism everyone listens.  Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest and nearest suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Obama as God's Instrument:  I first endeavored to write this essay in order to validate for myself what I believed — from an inescapably finite vantage point — to be a most salient principle behind God's unsearchable providence.  The principle I speak of is embodied in the Almighty's own caveat that he aims to exalt those who humble themselves, and humble those who exalt themselves. Murphy's Law, the Peter Principle and Barack Obama.  Barack Obama was conceived out of wedlock to an eighteen year-old girl, who was herself the product of non-religious, rebellious parents, intent on unraveling the fabric of WASP America.  Stanley Ann Dunham met Barack Obama Sr., an already-married African Muslim man, in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii in her very first year there.  According to President Obama's memoir, his biological father married his mother about three months into the pregnancy, even though he already had a wife and children on his home continent.  Hence, very shortly, the father abandoned the new mother and her child to seek his own fortune and yet another wife-to-be at Harvard. Obama Misreads His Mandate.  President Barack Obama's honeymoon period seems to have ended quickly.  That's because Mr. Obama doesn't grasp the essentials of presidential leadership.  Rather than making a compelling case for his economic policies, he has resorted to curt rebuffs, such as telling House Republican whip Eric Cantor, "I won."  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the same thing the same day:  "We won the election; we wrote the [stimulus] bill."  This is the trope of a party that has lost its ability to make an argument. The Arrogance of Barack Obama.  The examples of President Obama's overweening sense of pride, hubris and superiority are, in fact, legion.  Certainly a man who writes his autobiography twice by the age of forty-three, who makes no secret of his intention to be the President of the United States while he is a neighborhood agitator in Chicago, and, later, as an Illinois state senator is not a model of modesty, humility and self-effacement.  Moreover, his short tenure in the U.S. Senate was marked by continued exaggerations of his experience and the supposed jurisprudential acumen he demonstrated as a lecturer at the University of Chicago School of Law. The Audacity of the Obamas:  Great leaders do not say after just two weeks on the job that they are tired of being in their office.  Great leaders do not complain and they certainly do not have wives that joke about being paroled from living in a mansion. ... Throughout the campaign, it was abundantly clear the Obamas were completely out of touch with Middle America.  Now that they "won," they continue to exhibit arrogance beyond comprehension. Barry Soetoro:  Profiles in Chaos.  It takes a bit of narcissism to wake up in the morning and think:  "Hey, I really ought to be leader of the free world".  Coming to such a conclusion in the fourth grade is, to say the least, ambitious.  Having some narcissistic traits does not a narcissist make.  However, according to the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders, grandiosity is the most important single trait in narcissism.  Could they mean something along the lines of creating the "Office of the President Elect" and grand speeches in Germany?  Obama's Messianic image of himself?  This is disturbingly common among cult leaders including David Koresh who had "messiah" printed on his business cards. Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language 1949 edition, page 829. Obama's Hubris Is Showing.  Hubris is the word that comes to mind as I listen to President Obama lay out his plan to rescue the economy, create 4 million jobs, halve the deficit in four years, and give quality health care to every American.  The man has big ambitions and an even bigger ego.  It has been one of the most troubling aspects of his character as it has emerged on the national scene in the last two years. ... No one — no matter how talented — could accomplish a fraction of what Obama has planned in a good economy, much less the weakened one we have right now.  Worse, he thinks he can do this simply by taxing the rich, a fantasy only someone who knows nothing about human behavior, much less the U.S. tax system, could possibly believe. Barack Obama — Narcissist or Merely Narcissistic?  Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist.  Granted, only a qualified mental health diagnostician can determine whether someone suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and this, following lengthy tests and personal interviews.  But, in the absence of access to Barack Obama, one has to rely on his overt performance and on testimonies by his closest, nearest and dearest. ... In general, the narcissist always prefers show-off to substance.  One of the most effective methods of exposing a narcissist is by trying to delve deeper.  The narcissist is shallow, a pond pretending to be an ocean.  He likes to think of himself as a Renaissance man, a Jack of all trades.  The narcissist never admits to ignorance in any field — yet, typically, he is ignorant of them all.  It is surprisingly easy to penetrate the gloss and the veneer of the narcissist's self-proclaimed omniscience. Barack Obama bets the farm in $4 trillion poker game.  One of the most seductive elements of Barack Obama's ascent to the White House was his unshakeable conviction that he was being called upon, at a time of epochal peril, to bend the arc of history America's way. ... Only a man who frequently compares himself to America's greatest President, Abraham Lincoln, would declare that when he was elected, "the rise of the oceans will begin to slow". Forcing Out Obama:  There will always be true believers for whom reality never intrudes, but it has not escaped anyone's attention that even the worshipful media is beginning to ask why things are going so badly, so fast, and beginning to blame Obama.  The answer for the swift decline is that Obama is a pathological narcissist and dedicated socialist who has surrounded himself for the most part with former Clinton operatives.  Obama is, plainly speaking, a liar.  Increasingly, the adoration heaped upon him by his supporters is beginning to resemble the same as that in the 1930s which led the Germans down the path to war, ruin, and the abomination of the Holocaust. Obama's Indelicate Exposure.  As comfortable as the president may look on the CBS show "60 Minutes," with Jay Leno or in a primetime press conference, he's spending valuable emotional and intellectual capital with the relentless exposure in the modern media.  Confident and cool, he's nevertheless beginning to look a lot like a man afflicted with the hubris of show biz. Obama the Great?  President Obama was compared favorably to Alexander the Great on Wednesday [3/25/2009] at a White House reception honoring Greek Independence Day.  The Greek Orthodox Church in America said the president should follow the example of the ancient military conqueror to help solve some of Greece's problems.  "I will tell Michelle that I've been compared to Alexander the Great," the president told 200 guests, many of them Greek-Americans from Chicago. Obama believes in his own exceptionalism.  All politicians have egos, and there have been rapid rises before (Franklin Pierce comes to mind), but Obama's iconoclastic approach belies more than just ambition.  Consider how he ran for president.  Political convention holds that a candidate must never repeat the rumors about himself.  Obama started a Web site that chronicled the most outrageous ones and provided his answers to some of the charges.  National politicians — especially black ones — aren't supposed to talk about race, but Obama talked at length about race and politics, including his America-damning pastor of 20 years. Obama's Narcissism:  After he sat listening to a 52-minute tirade about America the Fascist Imperialist tyranny, a droll Barack Obama told the media that the rant by Nicaragua's Daniel C. Ortega "wasn't about me."  No, it wasn't.  It was about America which evidently didn't concern the narcissistic U. S. president since it involved John F. Kennedy, not he.  And it did not occur to him to defend America since he himself wasn't named:  thus the narcissism.  Also the lack of patriotism. Obama's liberal arrogance will be his undoing.  The most remarkable, or certainly the least remarked on, aspect of Barack Obama's first 100 days has been the infectious arrogance of his presidency.  There's no denying that this is liberalism's greatest opportunity for wish fulfillment since at least 1964.  But to listen to Democrats, the only check on their ambition is the limits of their imaginations. Obamamania or overkill?  He is the most photographed man on the planet.  And, just in case we had forgotten that, the White House has issued a new series of photographs to commemorate Barack Obama's 100 days in office today.  One hundred photographs for 100 days would have been enough for anyone — but, just to drive the point home, the White House has decided to include three times that number in the set. No Class.  I've never thought much of Barack Obama's policies, and I'm starting not to think much of him as a human being. ... It would be interesting to know how much of his own money Barack Obama has given to veterans' charities over the years.  I'd hazard a guess:  zero. But Enough About Me.  Doesn't Obama's self-regard sometimes seem greater than his regard for the position he occupies?  Does he understand that the office of the presidency is bigger — much bigger — than he is?  Or does Obama think of the presidency primarily as a vessel through which to exercise his political gifts and pursue his personal achievements? Narcissus And Echo: Obama And The Mainstream Media.  It is troubling that our president is a pathological narcissist caught up in the thought patterns of Darwin, Marx, and Alinsky.  Even more troubling is the fact that the Mainstream Media, suffering from an Obama-inspired narcosis, shirks its duty, refusing to publish or even explore any aspect of Obama's dark side. Where's the Mockery of Joe 'Dubya' Biden?  Considering the money made by shows like The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and Saturday Night Live off of this punch line-providing caricature, one would think they'd leap at the opportunity to draw a similar one of Vice President Joe Biden, who is a gaffe factory just a few notches below Dan Quayle.  But, perhaps because Biden doesn't fit the stereotype of a dumb politician (i.e., he's not an intellectually backward social conservative Republican), he remains unscathed from his missteps.  A quick look at the most recent gaffe indicates comedians will have growing amounts of material delivered to the desk. An Unhealthy Infatuation With Obama.  [Scroll down slowly]  The infatuation matters because Obama's ambitions are so grand.  He wants to expand health care subsidies, tightly control energy use and overhaul immigration.  He envisions the greatest growth of government since Lyndon Johnson. ... Are his proposals practical, even if desirable?  Maybe they're neither.  What might be unintended consequences?  All "reforms" do not succeed; some cause more problems than they solve.  Johnson's economic policies, inherited from Kennedy, proved disastrous; they led to the 1970s' stagflation.  The "war on poverty" failed.  The press should not be hostile, but it ought to be skeptical.  Mostly, it isn't. Memo to Obama attack dog Robert Gibbs: stop pooping on our lawn.  Insulting the British print media.  Big mistake.  We know we're not angels.  We know we can go over the top sometimes.  But unfortunately that's a much bigger problem for you than it is for us.  You see, while a lot of your mainstream media will hold fire on stories which they think may reflect poorly on your wondrous Obamamessiah — what his half-brother has been up to, say — we have fewer qualms about telling it like it is.  So far, you've had a pretty easy ride.  The Obama Kool Aid has proved almost as popular beverage in Britain as it is in the US.  But just you wait till we start showing our teeth. Establishment press channels Team Obama.  [Scroll down]  NBC isn't exactly credible anymore.  It's hard to shoot straight with a parent company looking to milk the administration through favorable regulations and a news department that has gone hard Left to try to shore up poor ratings.  But across the television spectrum (except FOX News) and in the rivers of newsprint gushing forth from the old-guard papers, the same White House-approved story took shape. White House reporters laugh an average of ten times per briefing. Robert Gibbs gets a lot of laughs in his briefings.  The United States is facing its biggest financial crisis in ages.  North Korea is blowing up nukes.  Dick Cheney warns us of the "dangers that have not gone away."  And there are still wars raging in Afghanistan and Iraq.  But over in the White House press briefing room, it's a veritable laugh riot. Mega-egos.  [Obama's] inflated self-image has induced me and others to classify him as a narcissist.  But is he instead a Rooseveltian mega-ego?  I don't think it matters.  In either case, the self-idolizing overconfidence leads to a reckless irresponsibility that resembles a toddler in control of a bulldozer. The Prism of Obama.  There is one thing about Barack Obama's speech in Cairo that critics and supporters can agree on:  It was vintage Obama. ... It was fundamentally about him.  It's becoming a cliché to say that Obama is always campaigning — running for a job he already has.  But that may put the cart before the horse.  Just as plausibly, Obama is simply being Obama, a man hardwired to see the world as a stage built just for him, who can charm his way out of tight spots so well... The Narcissist in Chief.  Incredibly, there are Obamanutz among us who honestly don't realize that Barack Obama is a narcissist of the worst kind.  Most people erroneously presume that narcissism is something akin to egomania or an unusually high sense of self-esteem.  The truth is the reverse.  Narcissists suffer from self-loathing, not too much self-love.  It takes a bit of narcissism to wake up in the morning and think, "Hey, I really ought to be leader of the free world."  Coming to such a conclusion in the fourth grade is, to say the least, ambitious.  Having some narcissistic traits does not a narcissist make.  However, according to the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders, grandiosity is the most important single trait in narcissism.  Obama's grandiosity is striking. Do You Recognize Barack Obama in These Texts?  Narcissists (and, often, by contagion, their unfortunate victims) don't talk, or communicate.  They fend off.  They hide and evade and avoid and disguise.  In their planet of capricious and arbitrary unpredictability, of shifting semiotic and semantic dunes — they perfect the ability to say nothing in lengthy, Castro-like speeches. Obama's biggest character flaw:  They've got his number, all the political con artists around the world.  For a little balloon-pumping flattery Obama will sell out American national security interests — not to mention those of our allies.  Obama's "historic" Epistle to the Muslims, delivered last month at Cairo's Al Azhar University (an international center for Islamist propaganda) was not really intended to make a billion Muslims fall down at his feet.  No, the main goal of all those grand gestures is to make Obama feel better about himself.  That's the key to his character. Our Sophist-in-Chief.  There are, I think, several things to say about all this.  The first is that what is most tired, old, and worn out is Obama's lazy rhetorical ploy.  He relies on a few stock, and by now hackneyed, phrases to substitute for a serious engagement with issues.  Second, President Obama's words reinforce the impression some of us have that his most dangerous personal characteristic is his other-worldly self-regard.  He seems to believe he is unlike, and better than, any others who have come before him.  He sees himself as a man of awe-inspiring intellectual honesty, a mind rinsed off of prejudice and bias.  While the rest of the country is engaged in petty and trivial fights in political sand-boxes, Obama is America's playground attendant, teaching the rest of us how to act right and think right.  It is all rather too much. Pot calls kettle black: Obama notes lack of humility among bankers.  President Barack Obama says he sees a lack of humility among leaders of the financial community.  While noting that some of the most powerful U.S. banks had repaid federal bailout money, Obama said:  "What you haven't seen (in the financial sector) is a change in culture, a certain humility where they kind of step back and say gosh, you know, we really messed things up." Obama's revealing body language.  I am stunned that the official White House Blog published this picture and that it is in the public domain. ... So who is compassionate?  And who is so self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious? First Brat:  It's All About Him.  [President Obama] has all the attributes of a brat.  He wants all the attention he can get.  He doesn't take criticism well.  He is full of bravado and false promises.  He keeps reminding everyone that he is the President as if the idea surprises even himself.  Or as a reminder that he does, indeed, hold a great deal of power, ceded to him by the American people.  There's no real sense of humility about him. An American Socrates and Other Myths.  What is most remarkable, and in some ways most unsettling, is that President Obama seems to believe all this.  Even as he has, in the span of eight months, lost more support than any president before him, he continues to view himself in almost mythical terms. Of Me I Sing.  In every one of the Emperor Hussein's speeches, not only does the song remain the same, so do the words.  I want you to do this.  I am going to force you to do that.  I will not allow you to do whatever.  Not since Thomas Friedman got his column at the New York Times has anyone so abused the first-person singular. Is Obama a Narcissist?  [Scroll down slowly]  As an adult, Obama sought out other people who reinforced and hardened this world view:  black nationalists, like Rev. Wright; 60's terrorists, such as Bill Ayers; wife Michelle, who never felt pride in this country, regardless of a Princeton education, cushy attorney jobs, and a million dollar mansion.  Chillingly, some of these people, like Rev. Wright, anointed Obama a messiah, which may have only magnified Obama's false pride and delusions of grandeur.  Obama could have gone down one of two roads.  One was to face the truth about his life, regardless of the shame, hurt, and grief this would evoke.  But Obama chose another path, the one that allowed him to save face; he made the personal political. Obama's Speeches — Obama Mentions Himself Nearly 1,200 Times!  Obama loves to hear himself talk — about himself.  In just 41 speeches so this year, not including this week's big speech at the United Nations, Obama has talked about himself nearly 1,200 times — 1,198 to be exact.  And that just includes 34 weekly addresses and his seven major speeches.  Count the hundreds of other public speeches and he'd be off the charts. Sympathy for the Devil.  What worries me the most about Obama is this:  the part of him that should want to shield us from harm seems chillingly absent.  The economy is tanking — Obama laughs.  We are accumulating crippling debt — he and the other Democrats go on a spending spree.  Millions take to the street for a peaceful 9/12 march.  He doesn't notice.  We oppose the government controlling our lives, especially health care, but he rams legislation down our throats anyway.  Our allies have started to realize that Obama doesn't care about them either. The Limits of Egomania.  Chicago is out of the Olympics bidding process — in the first round.  Why did Obama invest so much personal capital and time for this?  Well, he simply can't help himself. ... It's also another reminder that, apparently, there isn't anyone influential enough in the White House to keep the president from embarrassing himself.  No one to say, "Enough with the talk shows." Olympic-Sized Ego.  Obama's belief in international institutions is quite typical of liberalism, but what gives his approach a twist is the additional belief that the power of his sheer awesomeness alone will convince other nations to remake the world in accordance with his administration's goals. Olympic Gold for Narcissism.  In the Niagara of words spoken and written about the Obamas' trip to Copenhagen, too few have been devoted to the words they spoke there. ... Both Obamas gave heartfelt speeches about ... themselves.  Although the working of the committee's mind is murky, it could reasonably have rejected Chicago's bid for the 2016 games on aesthetic grounds — unless narcissism has suddenly become an Olympic sport. Half a president.  President Obama apparently wants to do only half of his job — the part that is the most fun. ... The Presidency of the United States to Mr. Obama is nothing more than a stage so he, pre-ordained by destiny, can act as head of state for the world. ... It appears President Obama also believes as the world head of state he can, by sheer force of his will, charm and persuasion convince the most brutal of global adversaries to live in peace. Obama the Player.  Like all players, Obama cares only for himself.  'It's not about me,' he says.  But when speaking before the UN, Obama asked, "those who question the character and cause of my nation" to merely, "look at the concrete actions that we have taken in just nine months."  As if the greatness of America is embodied in the Obama Administration?  Even if that's true, it still shows that Obama himself is his own proof. Compare and Contrast.  Obama seeks to place himself in the headlines of newspapers and to lead the television news broadcasts on a daily basis, achieving an omnipresence unprecedented in American politics. He has given scores of speeches, each heralded to be of great consequence to the nation and the world. He has staked much of his presidential power on the sheer force of his personality, giving little consideration to the sustainability of such a strategy or whether so much narcissistic pageantry is becoming to a national leader. His public pronouncements are astonishingly self-absorbed: to take one example, in their speeches to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, the First Couple used the first-person pronoun 70 times in 89 sentences. Obama's bootlicking NEA chairman.  Where are the checks and balances when you are surrounded by people who are enthralled with you and covered by a infatuated media?  America does not need an ego-driven Presdient who is considered — by himself, as well as others — to be infallible. Narcissistic Rage in the White House.  [Scroll down]  Obama is far and away the biggest and most naïve narcissist in living memory to occupy the White House. ... But even if Obama is defeated in 2012, he will just turn into an angrier version of Al Gore and Jimmy Carter.  He will haunt the political future of this country as long as he is alive, because that famished ego never gets enough.  Malignant narcissism often gets worse over time. An O-Care Victory Will Make Him More Narcissistic.  Narcissists have a problem with reality.  They are absolutists of a kind, and their absolute ideal is themselves.  So a defeat makes them feel utterly enraged because it strengthens their gnawing self-doubts... but victory supports their messianic self-image.  When Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize that in a way made him the laughingstock even of the international Left, he snapped it up without a second thought.  He just thinks he deserves it.  Just think about that for a second.  What kind of a man gets a Nobel Peace Prize on the strength of no accomplishments, and accepts it as his just due without a second thought?  Obama. Before the 2008 election, this topic was discussed under the title of the self-centered opportunist, his unjustified self-esteem and easily bruised ego. Smoke and mirrors:  An atmosphere of disingenuousness. This subsection is now on a page of its own, located here. The media favoritism continues This subsection is now on a new page, located here. Tampering with the Census This subsection is now on a page of its own, located here. Bad ideas, bad decisions and poor judgment Top Twenty Things Obama Doesn't Say: [#1]  Not everything is a federal issue; some things are for the states to decide. [#8]  I heard a great message Sunday morning at church. [#10]  I didn't realize a communist was part of my administration.  It won't happen again. He Needs to Be There.  President Obama has reportedly informed the German government that he will not travel to Berlin on November 9 to participate in the 20th-anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It is an unfortunate decision on multiple counts. Why Won't Obama Celebrate Freedom's Victory?  Next week, Germany will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall — recalling the peaceful events that sparked a new birth of freedom for a country that had been split in half, dividing family, friends and even the world since 1961.  The commemorations will go forward, however, without America's president.  Remarkably, President Obama, who could find time to fly to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago's Olympic bid, declined the invitation from German chancellor Angela Merkel to attend the festivities. Fall Of The Wall?  U.S. Sends Regrets.  The White House has announced our absence at ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Meanwhile, Russia has been practicing a nuclear invasion of an abandoned Poland. Skewed Priorities.  What are we to make of a White House visitors list that includes 22 swiftly scheduled appointments with a union boss at a time when Gen. Stanley McChrystal can't get face time with the commander in chief? Why is Obama going to Copenhagen?  I think I speak not only for myself but for the 295 million Americans who don't live in the Chicago area when I say that President Obama has about as much business going to Copenhagen to push the city's Olympic bid as he does taking up the violin. Obama's Olympic Spirit.  It would seem the Obama administration, which hasn't had time to hold conversations with senior military officials involved in such a critical national security issue as the war in Afghanistan, has been spending far more time assisting President Barack Obama's adopted hometown, Chicago, than the White House has previously divulged, using the President's and White House senior staff's presence at global policy meetings to lobby foreign ministers, diplomats and members of the International Olympic Committee. The President as Pitchman:  It Isn't Pretty.  Politically, economically and historically it makes no sense for the president to travel to Denmark to sell Chicago to the Olympic committee. Obama Snubs Nation's Heroes.  The newly sworn-in President opted not to appear at what should have been one of the most important Balls on his agenda that evening — The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball.  The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball was begun in 1953 for President Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration.  The event recognized recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. A Fast One On An Ally.  Should the U.S. scrap its special relationship with the U.K. to fulfill an ill-considered campaign vow?  That's the trade-off the Obama administration made by secretly foisting terrorists onto Bermuda.  It's wrong. Obama White House Calls for Repealing Defense of Marriage Act.  President Barack H. Obama is poised to be the most pro-homosexual chief executive in history.  Unveiling his agenda Tuesday on the newly refurbished version of the White House Web site, Obama called for the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), as well as the extension of more than 1,000 federal marriage benefits and of adoption rights to homosexual couples. The honeymoon ends promptly at noon.  So far [the Obama] administration looks more like a Clinton Restoration than anything anticipated by the embittered cult on the far fringes of the nutcake left.  That's better than some of us expected.  But Nancy Pelosi, the dowager queen of the San Francisco Democrats, and some of her congressional acolytes still dream of resurrecting Nuremberg and putting George W. and Dick Cheney in the dock, like Hermann Goering. Obama lifts Bush's veil of secrecy.  Moving quickly to undo the Bush administration's regime of secrecy, President Obama on Wednesday repealed a 2001 executive order granting former presidents, and even vice presidents, the ability to keep documents secret long past the 12 years allowed by law.  It was one of Mr. Obama's first official acts, and was hailed as a rebuke of the past eight years.  In announcing the order, Mr. Obama said it will even tie his own hands. Trial lawyers want a lawsuit czar.  One thing the Obama White House doesn't lack is czars.  So far, there are or soon will be an energy czar, an economy czar, a health care czar and an urban affairs czar.  There may yet be a White House car czar, and, if the class-action trial lawyers have their way — which they almost always do when the Democrats they bought and paid for are in power — there will soon be a lawsuit czar, too. Lawsuit Czar Proposed.  The Moonbat Messiah will bring change, all right.  As it stands, America's economy has been crushed beneath a thousand tons of regulation and litigation.  With Obama, it will be crushed beneath a million tons of regulation and litigation.  The next nugget of hopey change:  enshrining an official lawsuit czar, who will preside over the looting of the productive by the verminous locust swarm known as trial lawyers. Coming Soon:  Amnesty.  If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and thirteen other senators achieve what appears to be their goal — what amounts to amnesty is coming soon.  On January 6, the "Stronger Economy, Stronger Borders Act of 2009," S.9, was introduced as "among the legislative priorities for the new Congress."  But thus far, the content of this bill does not reflect what its bold, tough title implies.  Rather, using Vermont's Senator Patrick Leahy's introduction of S.9 as the barometer, the precise opposite will occur.  It is a bill which would weaken America's border with Mexico and legalize illegal aliens. Dangers of high-speed governing:  "The days of Washington dragging its heels are over," said President Barack Obama the other day as he hastened to destroy the auto industry, eliminate jobs, render Americans less safe when they drive and gouge more dollars out of them.  When you are president, such things can be easy, a virtual snap of the fingers, simply a matter of issuing a couple of executive orders, one of which says the following in so many words:  The administration is going to go through some motions with EPA and then let California and other states set their own tailpipe emission standards even though they are much tougher than national standards. Obama's lethal game of beggar-thy-neighbour:  when you are the newly elected US President and the money you are preparing to print runs into the trillions, the queue at the trough is bound to form pretty fast.  But the scale of the temptation is precisely what makes Congress's populist "Buy America" rider an irresponsible, innumerate, pernicious bit of political and economic folly.  If Mr Obama blocks this clause, he will anger the Left.  If he does not, retaliation is inevitable.  That will shut American workers out of "hundreds of billions of dollars of new business".  Caterpillar, to take just one example, is actively bidding for big infrastructure projects in China; it reckons that "Buy America" would kill its prospects there. The Card Check "Compromise".  Using words like "bipartisanship" and "compromise" President Obama may attempt a clever move to get controversial legislation passed to increase Big Labor's control over the U.S. workforce.  It's no secret the Orwellian-titled Employee Free Choice Act is one of the Democrats' top priority legislative items to tackle after work on the economic stimulus bill is completed. Obama:  Building a Monument to Tolerance on the Rubble of Religious Freedom.  No sooner had he finished speaking of his fellow Americans in his inaugural address as a people who "have chosen hope over fear [and] unity of purpose over conflict and discord" than his staff posted, on the White House Web site, a virtual declaration of war against those who oppose the demands for special rights and privileges by those who engage in homosexual behavior. Prepare now for huge battles.  I predict ... 2nd Amendment rights will continue to be attacked and legal contortionists will continue trying to position those rights as collective, militia rights, not individual rights.  Beware!  It will be precious!  We will see, adjusting, manipulating, regulating, taxing ... ok, simply taking the gun rights of gun store owners and gun shows; attacking, then seizing certain types of guns, voting into law certain "safety" features which would have to be put on guns to have them in homes, thus rendering them useless for protection. O Goes Unilateral.  President Obama spent his first week in office dismantling a number of Bush policies.  Demanding reports on a faster Iraq withdrawal or closing Gitmo amount to no more than political sleight of hand.  But Obama's actions on the Middle East may substantially alter US strategy. Alinski's Rules:  Must Reading In Obama Era.  [Saul Alinsky] wanted a radical change of America's social and economic structure, and he planned to achieve that through creating public discontent and moral confusion.  Alinsky developed strategies to achieve power through mass organization, and organizing was his word for revolution.  He wanted to move the U.S. from capitalism to socialism, where the means of production would be owned by all the people (i.e., the government).  A believer in economic determinism, he viewed unemployment, disease, crime and bigotry as byproducts of capitalism.  "Change" was Alinsky's favorite word, used on page after page. Informality Excess:  Obama Replacing 'Hail to the Chief'.  Veteran CBS Radio White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that President Obama is relaxing more than the dress code at the presidential mansion.  Pomp is giving way to piano-bar pop ... To many Americans, this excessive informality suggests a real distaste for "official" or "patriotic" music, not to mention the Marine band that plays it. Obama Handles First Natural Disaster from Afar.  President Barack Obama is handling the first natural disaster of his presidency from the White House — an ice storm that has claimed the lives of at least 59 people — and so far has not visited the affected region. How Obama Stimulates Feminists.  Obama's other acts are even more troubling.  Our president appears to believe every lie that feminists utter.  Nine days after the inauguration he signed the Lilly Ledbetter bill as "a simple fix to ensure fundamental fairness for American workers."  His description of it was totally fallacious.  The bill makes a mockery out of the original statute of limitations and could result in employees suing over supposed discrimination emanating from supervisors who, in the case of Ledbetter, are long dead.  The law is a disgrace and allows women, via phantom evidence, to break companies. Obama turns WH site into Gay Clearinghouse.  As thousands waited along the parade route, the official White House website became the Obama Gay Rights Channel.  Within an hour of his swearing-in, the following was posted on the official White House website, as Obama's immediate "civil rights" goals.  Protect cross-dressing and transgenderism in workplace (including schools) through federal law:  Pass "Employment non-discrimination Act" [EDNA] to prohibit "discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression". Putting the mice in charge of the cheese: Pornography Advocate at DOJ?  It's been a taxing two weeks for President Obama and his nominees.  And there's another nominee with bigger disqualifiers than unpaid taxes.  Imagine.  A veteran pornography defense attorney takes a top spot at the agency charged with enforcing the nation's child pornography and obscenity laws. Obama's porn king at Justice.  Under President Obama, it was expected that porn pushers might find a sympathetic ear, given the smut industry's generous support of liberal politicians and causes.  But the fox is no longer circling the henhouse.  He's made it inside. So far, it's been Obamateur Hour.  The hideous drooling blob of toxic pustules dignified as the "stimulus" bill is something the incoming Obama had months to prepare for and oodles of bipartisan goodwill and fawning press coverage to waft him along on.  Instead, he chose to outsource it to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank and the rest of the congressional pork barons.  So that, too, is not an "event" but merely, like his Cabinet picks, a matter of judgment and executive competence. Get Ready for the Robert Reich Workfare State.  We're going to pay poor people to inflate our tires and tell us how to save energy.  Yes, really. Obama plots huge railroad expansion.  Railroads made Chicago, and now a Chicago-rich White House wants to return the favor:  remaking rail with a huge new federal investment in high-speed passenger trains.  The $787.2 billion economic recovery bill — to be signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday — dedicates $8 billion to high-speed rail, most of which was added in the final closed-door bargaining at the instigation of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. The Editor's advice to Mr. Emanuel: Passenger trains were really big back in the 1930s, along with newpapers and AM radio.  Today they are all archaic, un-economical and passé.  Obviously the only reason to invest in high speed rail is to give the rapidly expanding federal government something to do.  We can see right through you. Barack Obama sends bust of Winston Churchill on its way back to Britain.  A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.  The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.  But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said:  "Thanks, but no thanks." Has Obama killed nuclear power?  It looks like Obama's budget intends to give up on implementing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.  (Congratulations, Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV).  So, nuclear waste would continue to sit around nuclear power plants.  Which means nobody is going to build anymore nuclear power plants in the U.S. ever. Second Liens Forgiven:  Are You Kidding Me?  Amid the dozens of pages of details of the Obama mortgage modification plan, one new element will likely not make it into the headlines because it's something of an afterthought.  It has to do with second liens, that is piggy back loans or home equity lines of credit. ... Why stop there?  What about car loans?  Student loans??  The second liens, in general, were used by borrowers to either buy more home than they could really afford or to use their homes as ATM machines.  Yes, some people use home equity lines of credit to pay college tuition. Scrimpers and Savers Being Played for Suckers.  President Obama's mortgage "rescue" initia tive gets only four things wrong.  But those flaws are so major, they negate any good that the plan would do.  Here's what's wrong:  The plan requires homeowners who have scrimped and sacrificed to pay their mortgages to bail out their less responsible neighbors. Citizen-Defendants of the World.  The global citizenship "burdens" the President has in mind are significant and numerous, judging by the nature of the various treaties he and his representatives are seeking to advance.  For instance, the Law of the Sea Treaty would severely constrain America's ability to protect its security and economic interests by establishing a new global bureaucracy to oversee territorial disputes, free passage, and exploitation of seabed resources.  The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty would effectively cripple our nuclear deterrent capability by prohibiting any explosive nuclear testing.  And the yet-to-be-named post-Kyoto agreement on climate change would likely hinder our economic development through regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Report calls for new food safety oversight.  The food safety system 'is plagued with problems,' an advocacy group says.  It favors naming an FDA official to oversee the food supply and eventually creating a Food Safety Administration. The Editor says... This is a particularly bad idea, since there is already a Food and Drug Administration, and if the FDA is ineffective, expanding it won't help. Obama Soaks the Rich:  Churches, Day Care, Homeless Shelters, Soup Kitchens.  President Obama's glib assertion that his reduction in tax deductions will not reduce donations is absurd.  His pathetic defense at his press conference — that he would still give a $100 dollar check even if he got $11 less of tax deduction from it was both disingenuous and beside the point.  And his comment that his reduced deduction would only affect 1 percent or 2 percent of the nation misses the point that it is these folks who are doing almost half of the donating. Unseen Enemy.  Besides sending more troops to Afghanistan, President Obama plans to send billions more in aid to Pakistan, despite evidence that our money is used to kill troops in Afghanistan. Obama's Unholy War Against Christianity, Not Islam.  As Obama gears up to abolish the conscience rights of Christian pro-lifers at American hospitals, as he uses executive orders to force Christians to finance abortions at home and abroad, as he places Christian opponents of gay marriage in the moral category of racists, he tells Turkey that "America is not and never will be at war with Islam" and accepts the moderation of Muslims without question. Obama Administration Wants to Be Your Conscience.  The "conscience clause" was put in place by President Bush in his final days in office.  According to LifeNews.com under this rule "workers in health-care settings — from doctors to janitors — can refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it." White House Invites Gay Families to Easter Event.  The White House is allocating tickets for the upcoming Easter Egg Roll to gay and lesbian families as part of the Obama administration's outreach to diverse communities. All the News That's Fit to Ridicule.  It is my belief that by a huge margin independents and moderates go along with Obama's plan to eliminate charitable deductions from the tax code.  It isn't that these people are necessarily opposed to charities, they are merely opposed to individuals, particularly those of a religious bent, deciding for themselves which ones to support.  They prefer that the decisions be made by left-wing politicians.  So, while they would be happy to see hundreds of millions of dollars going to ACORN, abortion clinics, the National Endowment of the Arts, National Public Radio and AmeriCorps, they hate to see a dime go to churches, the Boy Scouts or the Salvation Army. His invitation to indict Bush officials will haunt Obama's Presidency. Presidential Poison.  Mark down the date.  Tuesday, April 21, 2009, is the moment that any chance of a new era of bipartisan respect in Washington ended.  By inviting the prosecution of Bush officials for their antiterror legal advice, President Obama has injected a poison into our politics that he and the country will live to regret. Steady descent into third world.  No president before has sought to punish his predecessor for policy decisions, no matter how wrong or wrong-headed.  Lyndon B. Johnson's management of the Vietnam War was often ham-handed, as anyone who was there could tell you, and his policy makers sometimes verged on criminal incompetence.  But Richard Nixon was never tempted to send LBJ or any of those presidential acolytes to prison. 'Green' Obama wants us to pay.  For all Barack Obama's talk about rejecting new trade barriers, there is an increasing awareness around the world that the United States is planning to introduce climate-change legislation that amounts to little more than green protectionism. 100 Days, 100 Mistakes.  [For example]  59.  Firing Rick Wagoner as president of GM.  60. Threatening to fire Vikram Pandit as CEO of Citigroup.  61. Threatening to fire anyone the administration doesn't like from any company. Deserting Dissidents:  Obama's Dangerous Silence.  One of the world's most courageous women is locked away in a miserable rat-hole in Rangoon.  Her "crime"? Demanding freedom for her people. ... Voices from Congress to the European Union have demanded Suu Kyi's release.  And the Leader of the Free World?  Silence. The Obama-Wanda Sykes Chilling Laugh Fest.  Last Saturday [5/9/2009], at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, she wished an American citizen to die because this citizen disagrees with the politics of the American president.  Wanda Sykes isn't of any interest to me.  The fact that the American president was five feet away from her and had to laugh about her joke was of interest.  A comedian wishes a citizen dead and the president laughs? Criminally useful idiocy.  On Friday [6/12/2009], President Obama had this to say about the election in Iran:  "We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran.  Whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact there has been a robust debate hopefully will advance our ability to engage them in new ways."  This was an extremely foolish comment for at least two reasons. A most unusual Fourth of July.  While we, the American people, were celebrating the passage of the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July, 1776, our only nationally-elected leaders, the President and Vice-President, seem to have forgotten its meaning. ... With both the federal deficit and domestic unemployment rates soaring, the President of the United States was headed to Moscow where he was ready to announce billions of dollars of investments — in Russia. Spread Freedom?  Not So Much.  In July of 2007, Obama said that he would order U.S. forces out of Iraq as quickly as possible, even if he knew it would lead to an Iraqi genocide.  This makes Obama the first president in modern memory to have suggested that causing a genocide would be in America's national interest. 'Male' and 'Female' won't suffice in a perverse world. Health Care Bill Directs HHS Secretary to Develop 'Standards for Measuring Gender'.  The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's health care legislation will give the Health and Human Services secretary the authority to develop "standards of measuring gender" — as opposed to using the traditional "male" and "female" categories — in a database of all who apply or participate in government-run or government-supported health care plans. How Obama and Henry "Yo Mama" Gates Can Woo Back the "White Devils":  The generational wounds of discrimination will not heal with Obama calling one of our nation's best and brightest fair-skinned cops "stupid."  FYI to BHO:  That kind of talk, thoughtlessly slurring one of our finer whiteys' intelligence, will leave a negative mark on our Caucasian consciousness.  You can say we can't jump, or we can't dance, but you cannot call one of our tribe stupid when, in reality, the guy was just doing his job in an excellent manner while apprehending one of your belligerent, bigoted buddies... Honoring an America-Hater.  The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor.  Past recipients include John Wayne, Norman Rockwell and Vaclav Havel.  This year, one of the 16 recipients President Obama selected is former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.  Bad choice. Obama 'Impervious to Empirical Evidence'.  Throughout the campaign and continuing into his presidency Obama has decried George W. Bush as an "ideologue," a man blinded by preexisting conceptions and inured to evidence which contradicted his worldview.  But it is the Obama team which in just seven months has perfected the art of denying or evading facts.  It doesn't matter if the subject is small or large.  It can be a domestic or foreign policy issue.  The modus operandi is the same:  don't give them the facts; they've made up their minds. The Strange Case of the Obama Meltdown.  Who made the following decisions? [1] to propose a 1,000 page bill that no one had read, much less could explain?;  [2] to ram down the greatest change in the US economy in fifty years by the August recess?;  [3] to talk loosely of the "uninsured" without knowing why they were not insured, how much it would cost to insure them, or whether they currently in fact find some sort of care?;  [4] to reference Rahm Emanuel's doctor brother as a source of wisdom?  [5] to demonize the health-care industry as greedy? Who's Responsible for 75 Dead and 310 Injured?  Barack Hussein Obama.  Determined to keep some form of his arbitrary Iraq troop withdrawal plan intact, just to keep his Code Pinko constituents back home appeased while he fumbles every political football on earth, Barack Obama left the Iraqi people at the mercy of Islamic terrorists still anxious to kill and this morning's [8/19/2009] headlines read — 75 killed, 310 injured in Baghdad attacks. Where's The Thanks?  The same 'coup-government' the Obama administration reviles is one of the very few helping us fight terror. Obama proving incapable of terror fight.  [Scroll down]  First came the sick spectacle of the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison.  As families of his 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 mass murder recoiled in shock — along with most of the civilized world — Obama, a supposed master of word choice, found the whole thing "disturbing."  "Disturbing."  Really.  A dip in the housing market is disturbing.  The Scottish decision to release the only man convicted of blowing up 270 people is an unmitigated outrage, compounded by the hero's homecoming he received in Libya. Obama jilts Poland and the Czech Republic.  The United States is poised to dump a critical missile-defense agreement with two of its most dependable NATO allies.  The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported yesterday that the Obama administration is going to scrap the "third site" anti-missile system scheduled to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic.  Missile interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic were scheduled to be deployed by 2013.  Now the plan appears to have been shot down. Obama spends our money on himself The Most Expensive Date Night in History.  I lived in Washington, D.C. for 7 years and can tell you that there is lots to do in that city; great restaurants, live theater at the Kennedy Center, great clubs, and more museums than you can shake a stick at.  Why then did our president and his wife feel it necessary to jet off to New York City at taxpayer expense, forcing the NY city cops to throw the usual presidential security cordon around his motorcade, eat at a tony restaurant in the Village, catch a Broadway play, and then jet back so that the Secret Service could tuck them in for the night in their own beds? Obama unhappy with criticism of his NYC date night.  President Barack Obama says only once since Jan. 20 has White House life annoyed him. White House declines to say what NY trip cost.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is declining to say what it cost for President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to eat dinner and take in a play in New York over the weekend. Michelle Obama's $1m date in New York.  Barack Obama escorts First Lady Michelle across the White House lawn to his private helicopter for a night at the theatre.  During his victorious election campaign, the President had promised to take his wife on a date as soon as he could get an evening off. Taxpayers foot bill for Barack and Michelle Obama's cosy date.  The White House declined to say how much the trip cost but the Republican National Committee fired off a press release faster than the Gulfstream 500 jet that flew the Obamas from Washington to Kennedy International airport, New York.  Entitled "Putting on a Show" it said that the outing was inappropriate given the recession and General Motors' impending bankruptcy. Republicans Grumble as Obamas Jet to New York and Taxpayers Pick Up Tab.  It seemed like a harmless moment in Barack Obama's presidency — a night on the town for the first couple in New York.  But the episode Saturday night is taking on a life of its own in the media, and much of the reaction is turning critical. White House Won't Reveal How Much Michelle Obama's European Vacation Cost Taxpayers.  America may be in the midst of a deep recession, and the nation may be facing unprecedented deficit spending and debt, but the White House will not reveal the cost to taxpayers of the European vacation that first lady Michelle Obama and the president's two daughters, Malia and Sasha, took last month. Obama Takes Michelle Out For a Date and Us For a Ride.  The White House is trying to convince us that the recent date night that took him and the missus to New York, along with his usual entourage, cost the taxpayers a mere $24,000.  That's supposed to be the total amount of the roundtrip flight, the two helicopter rides, the limo, dinner and the show.  Fat chance.  My brother-in-law in Michigan had a heart attack last year.  His heart must be working just fine now because it didn't stop when he got the bill for the 50-mile helicopter ride to the hospital.  It was $12,000, and that was one-way, and without a squad of Secret Service agents riding shotgun. Obama appears to be paying off voters with stimulus dollars. Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08.  Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows.  That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.  The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average.  The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34. Obama Mixes Business With Family Pleasure During Trip Out West.  While President Obama is pressing hard to rally support for his health care reform plan at different stops across the country, he hasn't allowed that to interfere with a weekend family trip to the rustic West and its national parks.  The Obama family — the president, the first lady and daughters Malia and Sasha, and other relatives — had a busy sightseeing weekend planned:  visiting Yellowstone National Park on Saturday and touring Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on Sunday [8/16/2009]. The Obamas:  Stopping Traffic in Yellowstone.  For a brief, clattering moment on Saturday morning, Bald Eagles nesting along Yellowstone National Park's Firehole River Saturday [8/15/2009] had to share their sky with three Marine helicopters ferrying the First Family down to Old Faithful. What Went Wrong:  [Scroll down]  Democratic populism turned out to be largely aristocratic elitism.  Obama spends more money on himself than did Bush.  The liberal Congress has a strange fondness for pricy private jets. ... Offering left-wing populist sermonizing for others while enjoying the high life oneself is never a winning combination. Our imperial presidency.  [Do you recall] the minor criticism that surfaced when, shortly after he moved into the White House, the president used public funds to take his wife to the Big Apple for dinner and a Broadway show?  It then appeared to me the man, who had filled a naïve, emotion-driven nation with hope, was off to a start that suggested he was going to milk the highest office in the land for as much as much as it could produce.  It seemed that lavish lifestyles were going to be the order of the day, with growing personal use of burgeoning staffs, along with frequent and unnecessary use of expensive assets, such as military aircraft and personnel. The Cost of Obama's Copenhagen Trip.  A reader adds a few points to my back-of-the-envelope math on the cost of President Obama's trip to Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee and (probably?) witness the announcement that Chicago will host the 2016 games.  "The cost of Obama's trip will not be close to $1 mil.  It is well over $10 mil if it is a dime.  The figures you quoted (accurately) are for flying a VC-25 (Presidential 747).  Presidential trips require both 747s, as one is a backup." The cost of the Obamalympic$ folly.  A 2006 congressional study pegged the cost of flying Air Force One at $56,518 an hour.  The Pentagon recently said it cost $100,219 an hour to fly the huge, reconfigured Boeing 747 without Obama aboard.  The Pentagon estimate included more costs for support needs, such as maintenance.  At those rates, the president's 14-hour trip to Copenhagen and back cost about $790,000 to $1.4 million. Hi-Ho, the Derry-O.  Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale.  What to do?  Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon [9/17/2009]:  The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. ... Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens. The New York City Flyover Buzzing New York City in Air Force One is not only a waste of fuel, it's completely unnecessary.  The ostensible purpose of this flight was to take pictures of Air Force One with the city in the background.  The same end product could have been produced through the use of Adobe Photoshop.  There must have been more to it than mere picture taking.  I suspect this flight was just a joy ride for a large group of influential Democrats. Will anyone lose their job over this incident?  Don't count on it. They Knew!  The FAA knew letting a presidential jumbo jet and an F-16 fighter fly ominously near Ground Zero Monday might cause panic in the streets — but the White House still insisted the photo-op be kept classified, sources said yesterday.  A cryptic, classified alert — obtained by The [New York] Post yesterday [4/28/2009] — written by James Johnston, a high-ranking Federal Aviation Administration official in Washington, predicted the fear and confusion. White House will probe presidential plane PR stunt.  The taxpayer bill for Monday's presidential plane flight over Manhattan was $328,835. Create-your-own NYC Air Force One flyover photo ... we did.  Memo to the White House:  Not only was flying a Presidential jet for a photo-op Monday over downtown Manhattan in bad taste -- it was unnecessary.  Anyone in the White House ever hear of Photoshop? White House Calls New York City Flyover 'Stupid'.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday a photo-op featuring the presidential jet flying over the Manhattan skyline was as "stupid a thing to do as one could dream up."  During an interview on Air Force One, Gibbs said if President Obama had had "any knowledge of the stupid idea to go take pictures of the plane in New York, I can assure you that wouldn't have happened." FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic.  A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty.  [WCBS-TV] has discovered the feds will have plenty to question.  Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and a 747 from the presidential fleet to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public. The Editor says... Whoever ordered this flight was at a high enough level in the government that neither the Air Force nor the FAA could veto the idea.  That's pretty high up.  There aren't many people at that level in the White House, and they all talk to each other, and yet the President claims that he knew nothing about it. Plane stupid. Mayor Bloomberg outraged over military photo-op involving low-flying presidential jet.  The White House apologized late Monday after the U.S. military — without public warning — buzzed New York City with one of the presidential planes trailed by an F-16 fighter jet.  Not even Mayor Bloomberg knew they were coming. Real Cost of 'Stupid' New York Flyover Far More Than Air Force's Total.  Flying the presidential jet over lower Manhattan for a photo op, sending panicked New Yorkers running into the streets, was as "stupid a thing to do as one could dream up," the White House said Wednesday [4/29/2009].  And it cost far more than the $328,835 the Air Force says it spent.  New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's office said it doesn't have hard numbers yet on how much the city had to spend to deal with the panic caused when a backup jet to Air Force One, accompanied by two F-16 fighter jets, flew around for approximately 30 minutes for a photo shoot commissioned by the White House Military Office. Flyover Launcher.  This morning, at least one news organization and one citizen advocacy group was mulling filing a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the release of the manifest for the Air Force One New York flyover to determine if any Obama donors or other interested parties were on board the flight.  The suspicion that civilians — or a high-ranking White House official — may have been on the flight is the result, in part, of the involvement of Louis Caldera, the Obama Administration's director of the White House Military Office, who authorized the New York City flyover, and who was brought into the administration, say Obama donors and transition team members, for his understanding of the Pentagon's inner-workings, his relationship with high-powered donors with backgrounds in the defense industry, and his ties to both Bill and Hillary Clinton and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. So Why Does Air Force One Need Publicity, Anyway?  Sometimes, even the most straightforward question can create a havoc of evasion and denial in Washington's corridors of power — a question such as "Why does Air Force One need publicity photos?"  It's a legitimate question, following the official explanation that Monday's flight over lower Manhattan by one of the President's fleet of 747s (shadowed by a fighter plane) that evoked ghosts of 9/11 and spread panic, was simply an ill-conceived photo opportunity. 100 Days of Reckless Photo-Op Hubris.  Come on, who's surprised? The White House-engineered photo-op of low-flying Air Force aircraft that caused terror in New York City this week epitomizes the Age of Obama.  What better way to mark 100 days in office than with an appalling exercise in pointless taxpayer-funded stagecraft?  The superficiality, the unseriousness, the hubris, the obliviousness to post-9/11 realities:  They were trademarks of the Obama campaign, and they are the tattoos on his governance.  He never leaves home without his teleprompter.  All the Obama world's a stage. Fly By Farce Theory.  [Scroll down]  "Apparently there was also a similar strafing scheduled for Washington DC which has been scrapped." Feds "demanded total secrecy" in NYC flyover — We demand answers.  Having personally experienced the loss of law enforcement officers I knew rather well and knowing others in law enforcement who were forever affected on the morning of 9/11, I am mad as [heck] over the ill-conceived low-altitude flyover of the skies of lower Manhattan by an Air Force One lookalike and its F-16 military escorts that took place early Monday morning.  Not only am I outraged, I want answers, if not for me, for every American and especially those who were forced to relive the fear felt on 9/11. Yeah, right. President Obama "Furious" to Hear of Plane Incident.  A White House official tells ABC News that President Obama was "furious" to hear about the incident this morning when Air Force One and Air Force fighter jets appeared to be flying into the Manhattan skyline, scaring many New Yorkers into thinking they were about to face another terrorist attack.  Many buildings in lower Manhattan evacuated.  Angry New York politicians lashed out at whoever was responsible for the incident — which turned out to have been for a photo op. A 'Classified' Photo Op Turns Into a Soaring Blunder for the White House.  As secret missions go, this one was a flop.  On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the U.S. president was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by a fighter jet.  Assignment:  Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.  The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor's office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark. President Obama calls Air Force One flyover a 'mistake'.  President Barack Obama admitted Tuesday it was "a mistake" to send a Boeing 747 and an F-16 fighter jet buzzing over lower Manhattan.  Speaking before a meeting at FBI headquarters in Washington, Obama said he was as in the dark as everyone else about the photo op fly-by, but made no secret of his disapproval.  "It was a mistake, as was stated," Obama said.  "And it will not happen again." To Seem, Rather Than To Be.  New Yorkers, from the mayor on down, are livid -- and justifiably so.  Certain officials were notified about the stunt, but they were told to keep it secret.  So people like the mayor and the general public had no idea what was going on when the jumbo jet roared overhead, low enough to rattle windows, with the F-16 right on its tail. ... And in a week or two, they'll do something else even more thoughtless and tone-deaf. Air Heads in DC Terrorize City.  It turned out that the backup Air Force One jet and the fighter that appeared to be pursuing it only 1,000 feet above Ground Zero were staging the spectacle to get publicity shots of the presidential plane with a New York backdrop.  President Obama called the incident a "mistake" today and said it would not happen again. The Editor says... That probably means that it won't happen again in New York City.  On a weekday.  During daylight hours. Obama orders review of NYC plane scare.  President Barack Obama has ordered an internal review to determine how the decision was made to send of one of his official airplanes on a low-flying photo op past the New York City skyline.  White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday [4/26/2009] that deputy chief of staff Jim Messina will lead the review. Air Force One, Flaps Up!  The White House announced that it was unaware of the plan to scare the pants off of half of one of America's busiest cities and had "just found out about it."  Really, is someone out joyriding in the president's plane around New York without permission?  What if there had been a national emergency and he had to rush out to Edwards AFB.  "Hey, where is my ride?"  "We're not sure, Mr. President" but we are looking into it and should have a reasonable idea within three weeks." Bloomberg Questions Air Force Dumb & Dumber.  Scaring the holy heck out of the city by allowing a low-flying Air Force One clone and an F-16 to buzz lower Manhattan for photo op.  Dumb.  Deeming those photos classified.  Even dumber.  Mayor Bloomberg took a little shot at Team Obama today, questioning the public relations-savvy of the administration's decision to keep the publicity photos of low-flying plane under wraps. The Selective Transparency of Barack Obama.  Sunlight is for suckers.  The New York Post reported on Tuesday that the White House will not release the $328,835 snapshots taken of the president's Boeing VC-25A that buzzed lower Manhattan.  The entire world has seen news and amateur photos and videos of the incident, but if President Obama has his way, taxpayers won't be able to see the flyover photos they paid for with their own money. White House Declines to Release Photos of New York City Flyover.  The White House is refusing to release the controversial photos of Air Force One flying over the Manhattan skyline last week that triggered panic among New Yorkers and an internal review in the Obama administration.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that there was no need to release them. White House won't release Air Force One photos.  Here it is, more than a week after the $328,000 photo op, and still it's hard to understand how someone could think it was a good idea.  White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was wearing his tap dance shoes today when asked about a report in the New York Post that the White House wasn't going to release photos from the much-maligned mission. Phantom Air Farce Pictures.  The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White House said yesterday [5/4/2009].  "We have no plans to release them," an aide to President Obama told The Post, refusing to comment further. The Editor says... What if there were no pictures?  That would explain the administration's reluctance to release them.  I suspect it was all just an expensive joyride for the Democrat elite. Update: Wait -- The White House, at long last, has released the picture that was taken on the Air Force One barnstorming flight over New York.  And it looks like my earlier assumption was incorrect -- one person lost his White House job over this incident. ONE picture?  That's all they took? $328,000 Photo:  WH Will Release Pic from Air Force One NYC Fiasco.  The White House has apparently had a change of heart, and will release "a photo" from the pricey, fright-inducing Manhattan flyover photo-op involving an Air Force fighter jet and a Boeing 747 which is sometimes used as the president's plane. White House aide Louis Caldera loses job over Manhattan flyover fiasco involving Air Force One.  The White House aide who authorized the controversial Air Force One photo-op flight last week around the Statue of Liberty is out of a job.  President Obama has accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office, the [New York] Daily News learned Friday [5/8/2009]. After Flyover of Air Force One Backup, Military Office Director Resigns.  The director of the White House Military Office submitted his resignation on Friday, less than two weeks after he authorized a flyover by an Air Force One backup of the Statue of Liberty that terrified thousands of people in New York City. 'Air Force One' photo-flop costly: One job.  The White House hasn't only released a photo from the $357,000 "photo op" of the Air Force jumbo jet that serves as Air Force One flying over New York and scaring half the city still traumatized by the airliner attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers.  The White House also has released the White House military affairs director who authorized the flyover. Secretary Gates Concerned About Violation of Protocols for Air Force One Flyover.  On the same day the White House is scheduled to issue a report as to what went wrong when White House military office director Louis Caldera signed off on an Air Force One flyover that frightened so many New Yorkers on April 27, a letter was made public indicating that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is concerned about the lack of military supervision of the plan. Series of gaffes led to Air Force One flyover.  The Air Force One photo shoot over New York City last month, with the presidential aircraft buzzing lower Manhattan at 1,000 feet as terrified workers were fleeing office buildings, was a convergence of gaffes missed e-mails and phone calls, doses of pain pills, early departures from the office, and hallway "asides" that went nowhere. Air Farce Ejector Seat.  The bumbling head of President Obama's military office resigned yesterday after an embarrassing internal report revealed his failure to give a heads-up to the White House and the public or to anticipate the panic triggered by a photo op of Air Force One cruising low over New York City. The Visual Subtext of the Statue of Liberty Fly-by Photo.  One image alone was released from the expensive photo op that terrified New Yorkers last month.  Out of [untold] images taken during the mission, only one was chosen.  It speaks powerfully to the American public — in symbolic language.  The ominous and imposing aircraft dominates the scene in such a way that, in gestalt parlance, no one could mistake the figure for the ground.  The figure is an aircraft that serves as Air Force One, representing the Messianic omnipotence of the Obama presidency. Bam's Scare Force One Scapegoat.  On Friday [5/8/2009], the White House released the results of a bizarre "inquiry" into Scare Force One that strangely looked only at the military office.  Little surprise, then, that the designated fall guy was the military office director, Louis Caldera. Aide Responsible For AF1 Flight Over NYC Lands Safely.  Louis Caldera, the head of the White House military office forced out over the controversial Air Force One photo-op over the Statue of Liberty, has become a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, The Mouth learned Wednesday [6/10/2009].  CAP, a center-left think thank founded by the well-connected John Podesta, is a repository of well-known Democratic operatives and policy wonks. The latest:  The old Friday night media dump. Defense Department Releases Flurry of Photos of Botched Plane Flyover.  The Department of Defense released a flurry of additional photos Friday [7/31/2009] of Air Force One's controversial Manhattan flyover in April.  A total of 146 photos were released of the April 27 incident, which panicked many local citizens and prompted officials in the New York metropolitan area to question why the White House Military Office did not make the mission more broadly known. Doc dump details Air Force Ones' New York City mishap.  The documents show that the Air Force carefully tracked the explosion of negative press that ensued after panicked New Yorkers feared the low-flying, circling planes were part of a 9/11-like attack.  The e-mails also show various components of the bureaucracy trying to steer clear of the fallout.  Of those who knew about the planned flight, only an Air Force reserve Major General, Brian Keenan, seems to have foresight into the response the photo op inspired. Official e-mails reveal boondoggle over Air Force One's Manhattan flyover.  Government officials knew the Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty would scare the bejabbers out of New Yorkers, but went ahead with it anyway and quickly realized their bigtime blunder.  A barrage of e-mails between officials right after the flight made public Friday showed a flurry of second guessing, finger-pointing, attempts at damage control... Three million New Yorkers did not have a need to know.  On page 11 of the 533 page Friday afternoon document drop from the White House, a quote from an e-mail referring to the disastrous Air Force One flyby of lower Manhattan:  "3 million New Yorkers did not have a need to know."  Page 22:  "Will probably receive some local press, but WH (White House) shouldn't catch any questions about it." Air Force used Twitter to track NY flyover fallout.  As the Pentagon warns of the security risks posed by social networking sites, newly released government documents show the military also uses these Internet tools to monitor and react to coverage of high-profile events. Obama and the Muslims This subsection is now on a page of its own, located here. Abortion As shown on another nearby page, abortion is a vital component of the Democratic Party platform.  It is the one issue the Democratic Party can't exist without.  But Mr. Obama, judging by his voting record, is way off to the left of everyone else.  He is truly an extremist who approves of fetal homicide at any stage of pregnancy... or slightly beyond. Taxpayer Funds for International Abortion, Obama Priority One?  One of many Bush Administration policies being immediately overturned by the new Obama cabal is the existing ban on the use of federal tax dollars to promote and fund abortions here and abroad.  Obama planned to sign an executive order pouring US taxpayer funds into abortion practices all over the world on his first day in office.  But as the March for Life on Washington DC was scheduled for January 21st, he decided to delay the signing of this peculiar executive order for a couple of days. Obama's abortion war.  No sooner had President Obama taken the oath of office than he betrayed two of his campaign promises.  In pledging to unite us, not divide us, he promised to find common ground on cultural issues, especially to search for ways to reduce the number of abortions. ... Only three days into a new administration, the president of "hope" and "change" revealed that, in this enormous matter at least, he will not be a new leader who will work towards a kinder, gentler, more unified America.  Instead he is immediately exacerbating old wounds in the body politic:  He is simply a wolf in sheep's clothing. Sources:  Obama may quickly reverse abortion policy.  Obama's second full day as president falls on the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States.  The sources said Obama may use the occasion to reverse the "Mexico City policy" reinstated in 2001 by Bush that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family planning groups that promote abortion or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion services. Obama to Lift Ban on Funding for Groups Providing Abortions Overseas.  President Obama will issue an executive order on Thursday reversing the Bush administration policy that bans the use of federal dollars by non-govermental organizations that discuss or provide abortions outside of the United States.  Obama will sign the executive order on the 36th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in all 50 states. Pelosi's Abortion Stimulus Package.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) will bring her "Kill the Children" economic stimulus plan to the floor of the House this week for a likely vote on Thursday [1/29/2009].  On ABC's "This Week" last Sunday, Pelosi justified the inclusion of expanded federal funding for abortions as part of an economic stimulus plan on the grounds that reducing the number of children being born would help stimulate the economy. Nancy Pelosi's neo-eugenics.  Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is no economist, judging by her comments made to ABC's George Stephanopoulus, in asserting population growth in the US would be a drag on economic growth.  Population growth usually is an economic stimulant, especially in developed countries.  It always is a stimulant in developed democracies with private property rights and free markets.  Otherwise we wouldn't have a consumer society. Freedom of Choice Act: Facts & Myths.  The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is the most radical piece of abortion legislation in United States history.  Obama has stated that this is one piece of legislation he wants to get pushed through the 111th Congress.  FOCA would literally do an end run on all existing controls concerning abortion in this country. ... FOCA goes far beyond even Roe in allowing and promoting abortion. Obama's Promise May Doom Conservative Dems.  [Scroll down slowly]  Obama stuck his neck out even further regarding abortion and his support of FOCA (Freedom Of Choice Act).  Some might say, FOCA is the big enchilada which has the potential to put many socially conservative Democrats on the hot seat.  FOCA is a radical bill that would have an impact on health care providers, pharmacies, pharmacists and legislation which is widely popular with the American people, including laws like parental notification (for minors seeking abortions) and bans on horrific procedures, such as partial-birth abortion. Academics To Hold Obama Supporters Accountable.  Called The Moral Accountability Project, the site features President Barack Obama's complete record on the life issues.  It also documents his promises to fund embryonic stem cell research, enact the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would overturn every existing abortion restriction in the country and to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which protects states against being forced to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states.  The Web site will also feature news updates and articles about the president's decisions on these issues. The Legal Consequences of the Freedom of Choice Act:  By banning state laws that in any way "interfere with" the choice of abortion before viability — a more abortion-protective standard than exists under present law and a central feature of the bill — FOCA would materially expand abortion rights in several ways.  It would invalidate state laws that attempt to persuade women to choose not to have abortions by providing them with information about alternatives to abortion, about the ability of pregnant women to receive state assistance for support of their child, and about the condition and stage of development of the child at the point in pregnancy at which the abortion is sought. Gallup:  Majority of Americans Disapprove of the Reversal of Mexico City Policy.  58% of Americans disapprove of President Obama's executive order lifting the ban on funding of overseas family planning groups that provide abortions, while only 35% of Americans approve. Cloaking Extremism:  Obama and Same-Sex Marriage.  In the 2008 campaign and now that he is in the White House, President Barack Obama has made no bones about his support for the most extreme pro-abortion policies ever espoused by a U.S. president.  While certain individuals have attempted to make the case that Obama will actually be "pro-life" or will work to reduce the incidence of abortion, he has already begun to make appointments, fashion policies, and pledge himself to commitments for more such actions that give the lie to this cover story. HHS Leader Sebelius Brings A Radical Abortion Record.  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is being reported as the front-runner as President Barack Obama's appointment for Health And Human Services Secretary.  Although Ms. Sebelius was touted by The New York Times as a bipartisan politician, she comes with a strong pro-abortion record.  Not only has Ms. Sebelius — governor in a battleground state on the abortion issue — repeatedly vetoed any measures that would limit or regulate abortion that came across her desk, she also has ties to an abortionist with a history of performing risky abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy. Abortion foes vow to fight a Sebelius nomination.  National anti-abortion groups promise a vigorous fight if President Barack Obama nominates Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as U.S. health and human services secretary.  Abortion foes said Friday [2/27/2009] an important issue is a reception Sebelius once had with a late-term abortion provider who's now facing criminal charges.  They also said Sebelius' abortion-rights views are "radical." More about Governor Sebelius and the abortion issue. Poll:  Americans Oppose Obama's First Two Executive Orders.  President Obama has garnered widespread support for his early actions in office, but Americans strongly oppose the commander-in-chief's first two executive orders — allowing federal funding for overseas abortions and closing Guantanamo — according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. Obama's Decision on Overseas Abortion Funding Rated Least Popular.  A new poll shows a majority of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama's decision to repeal a ban on federal funding for groups that promote or provide abortions overseas. Obama as Hitler.  This week President Obama exercised for the first time a policy decision that shares a trait held in common with Adolf Hitler.  The headline was leaked late in the Friday afternoon news cycle so that as few people as possible would pay attention, but here's the crux of a very real problem:  President Obama is moving policy on public health into the direction of doctors being forced to act against their conscience.  (For liberals educated in public schools, a conscience is that little voice inside you that used to inform you as to what was right or wrong.)  President Obama wants them performing abortions, whether they believe it to be an immoral thing or not. Obama to rescind Bush abortion rule, official says.  President Barack Obama plans to repeal a Bush administration rule that has become a flash point in the debate over a doctor's right not to participate in abortions.  The regulation, instituted in the last days of the Bush administration, strengthened job protections for doctors and nurses who refuse to provide a medical service because of moral qualms. Obama's Choice of Sebelius Heats Up the Pro-life Battle.  President Barack Obama has selected a pro-abortion Catholic governor, who has been told by her bishop not to present herself for communion, to head the Department of Health and Human Services.  Writing last year in his diocesan newspaper, Bishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, discussed a meeting with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius where he told her "that someday she's going to have to stand before God and account for her public service." Sebelius' Abortion Camouflage.  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the nation's most pro-abortion governor, is President Obama's new choice to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the largest of the government agencies and the one handling most of the nation's social conservative policy issues.  Like President Obama, Mrs. Sebelius has embraced pro-life rhetoric in an attempt to camouflage her radical record on the abortion issue. Sebelius to face questions over abortion.  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama's choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has touched off criticism over her association with a Kansas abortion provider.  Sebelius vetoed a late-term aborition law in 2008, and in 2007 she held a reception at the Kansas governor's mansion that included Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita doctor whose clinic provided late-term abortions.  Tiller was under investigation for violating that state's restrictions on some forms of abortion. The Abortion Administration.  In his first week in office, President Obama issued an executive order overturning the Reagan-era Mexico City regulations, which had prohibited American foreign aid from going to organizations that finance overseas abortions.  Just a few weeks later, the Gallup organization revealed that the executive order was the single most unpopular action taken by the president during his honeymoon period. More about Obama and abortion here and here and here. More about the subject of abortion in general here. Rabid environmentalism This subsection has moved to a new page. A rapidly expanding welfare state Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation.  A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960's, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.  A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation.  Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"  Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems.  The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others. Ending Welfare Reform as We Knew It.  Pres. Barack Obama vowed to correct the mistakes of the Bush administration but instead is determined to undo one of the great successes of the Clinton years:  welfare reform. Democrats have inserted provisions into the catch-all stimulus bill that will reverse Clinton-era welfare reform, re-establishing the wasteful, incentivekilling system whose transformation was the bipartisan pride of the 1990s.  Prior to reform, the federal government simply gave the states more money for every family they added to the welfare rolls.  The predictable result was that the states worked hard to maximize their welfare caseloads in order to maximize the amount of federal funding they could therefore claim.  The system had zero incentive to help people make the transition from welfare to work and independence ... . The Hapless Have Their Hands Out.  I have seen the future of the American economy, and it's waiting for a handout in Fort Myers, Fla.  On Tuesday [2/10/2009], America got to watch as proud members of the new Obama Nation lined up at a town hall microphone to ask not what they could do for our country, but what our new president was going to do for them. Get Ready for the Robert Reich Workfare State.  We're going to pay poor people to inflate our tires and tell us how to save energy.  Yes, really. Obama warned over 'welfare spendathon'.  Robert Rector, a prominent welfare researcher who was one of the architects of Clinton's 1996 reform bill, warned last week that Obama's stimulus plan was a "welfare spendathon" that would amount to the largest one-year increase in government handouts in American history.  Douglas Besharov, author of a big study on welfare reform, said the stimulus bill passed by Congress and the Senate in separate votes on Friday [2/13/2009] would "unravel" most of the 1996 reforms that led to a 65% reduction in welfare caseloads and prompted the British and several other governments to consider similar measures. Obama's Job-Creation Program Flunks Basic Math.  There are currently about 10 million unemployed workers in the U.S.  "If we write a check for $75,000 to each of the unemployed, we won't have anyone 'unemployed,'" said former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.  The recipients may not be working in the traditional sense of going to the office each day, but the government can provide for their needs without anyone having to lift a finger. Peggy the Moocher.  Who is Peggy the Moocher?  She's Peggy Joseph, a voter in Sarasota, Fla., who exulted earlier this week at a Barack Obama rally that this was "the most memorable time of my life."  Why?  As she told a Florida reporter on a YouTube video that has been viewed by hundreds of thousands:  "Because I never thought this day would ever happen.  I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car.  I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage.  You know.  If I help [Obama], he's gonna help me." Video: Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!  (Already viewed over 1.6 million times.) Back to the welfare state, as we knew it.  If the recently enacted $787. billion economic "stimulus" package is intended to save or create jobs, why does it encourage states to move people from work back to welfare?.  Yes, you read that correctly..  With virtually no debate on the issue, Congress approved the new law with provisions that effectively reverse the historic welfare reform law of 1996. Obama's Stimulus:  By setting limits on government handouts, the 1996 welfare reform encouraged welfare recipients to get jobs or job training, to make themselves self-sufficient and to end their long-term dependency on government.  The Obama stimulus plan increases the taxpayers' money that the federal government gives to the states for welfare, and reverses incentives by giving bonuses to states that put more people on welfare. Exploding Debt Load for a Bunch of Freeloaders.  Emblazoned on every page of President Obama's budget are the words:  "A New Era of Responsibility."  That would be a responsibility for you to fork over more taxes.  That would be a responsibility for your company to pay even higher taxes.  That would be a responsibility for you to foot the bill for one of the largest expansions of government welfare in history. Secretly ending welfare reform.  Welfare reform in the mid-1990s was a major public policy success, leading to a dramatic reduction in welfare dependency and child poverty.  Little-noted provisions in the just-passed stimulus bill will actually abolish this historic reform. 'Change' we can't afford.  Buried in President Obama's new economic stimulus law is a reversal of the very successful welfare reform legislation of 1996.  President Clinton signed it into law with bipartisan support.  In the House, 98 Democrats and 230 Republicans voted for the bill while 25 Democrats and 53 Republicans supported it in the Senate.  The welfare-reform legislation, which was known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, was designed to do three things ...  More about Poverty and Dependency in America. A Congressman for the District of Columbia First the District of Columbia got a non-voting representative.  Now there's a plan to give the District full representation in the House; that is, a genuine Congressman.  Full statehood can't be far behind, and that would mean two permanently Democratic votes in the Senate as well. DC optimistic about getting the vote.  District of Columbia voting rights advocates say they are poised to win a crucial vote Tuesday in the Senate, following a day of last-minute lobbying for a bill that would provide the federal city with its first full seat in the House.  "We're closer than we've ever been," Ilir Zherka, executive director of the advocacy group DC Vote, said ahead of a preliminary vote on legislation that would expand the 435-member House by two seats. D.C. and the Constitution:  The House of Representatives seems set to grow by two Members, to 437, after next year's election.  Yesterday [2/24/2009] the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act passed a key procedural vote in the Senate, making passage of the legislation, which President Obama supports, all but certain.  The only thing standing in the way may be the Constitution. Misstating the Constitution.  Legend has it that Abraham Lincoln once posed a riddle:  How many legs does a dog have if you count his tail as a leg?  Came the answer, "Five."  Replied Lincoln, "No, four.  Counting a tail as a leg doesn't make it a leg."  Tell it to the sponsors of a bill to give the District of Columbia a full-fledged member of the House of Representatives.  They resolutely dismiss the hurdle presented by the Constitution, which says, "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states."  Not "states and any other entities under federal control," but states, period. DC on Verge of Getting a Vote in the US House.  They live in the shadow of the Capitol dome, but District of Columbia residents have never had what Americans in all 50 states do:  A voting member of Congress.  Resentment over their long exclusion could soon fade as Congress moves closer to giving D.C. its first full seat in the House. The Editor interjects... A question for D.C. residents: If you find the current situation so objectionable, why do you continue to live there? Senate votes to give DC citizens vote in Congress.  The people of District of Columbia would get the vote in Congress the Founding Fathers denied them under legislation the Senate has approved.  The Senate legislation would give the district a vote in the House of Representatives. Senate Panel O.K.'s Bill to Give Washington a Voting Representative.  This could be the year that Washington gets a voting member of Congress.  "There is finally a light at the end of what has been a really long tunnel," said the city's nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton.  On Wednesday [2/11/2009], a Senate committee approved a bill to give the city a voting member of the House of Representatives, clearing the way for the full chamber to take up the matter in the coming weeks. Los Angeles Times, November 22, 2006: Plan would give D.C. a House vote.  For decades, efforts to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in Congress have run into a brick wall.  Constitutional amendments failed to win the states' support.  Ad campaigns about "taxation without representation" did not help the cause.  Now, unexpected political forces are aligning behind a plan to give the district a House vote — along with a new seat in Congress for Utah — when lawmakers return for their lame-duck session in early December. Washington Post, February 11, 2007: Statehood for D.C.?  The District [of Columbia] was allotted a delegate in 1970 precisely because the Constitution doesn't permit it to be given a representative.  In 1978, Congress passed a constitutional amendment to grant the District a representative and senators because a statute couldn't grant the representation.  The amendment failed when only 16 states ratified it within seven years. Holder Politicizes Legal Decisions.  The campaign for District of Columbia voting rights took an unexpected twist yesterday when it was revealed that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. brushed aside the opinion of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which had concluded that defending the District's right to vote was unrealistic.  The Washington Post reports that Holder instead turned to the office of the solicitor general, which told him the legislation would be defensible. More information about statehood for D.C. can be found here. Obama's Culture of Corruption Years ago, the Democrats tried to assert that the Republican party was mired in a "culture of corruption," and only the Democrats could be trusted to obey the law.  Almost since the day they introduced that slogan, exactly the opposite has been shown to be true.  I've been pointing out the Democrats' ethical shortcomings for several years on this page, and now it seems the Obama administration is supplying a ton of new material every week, by hiring, defending and (in some cases) retaining a whole series of people who cheat on their taxes. This should come as no surprise, because as some of us have been saying for about a year, Mr. Obama has never competently managed any business or organization in his life.  All this was pointed out on this page, in case you missed it. Daschle Goes, Geithner Stays?  High-profile tax-scofflaw Tom Daschle has been shamed out of an appointment as secretary of health and human services. ... But the most outrageous offender, Timothy Geithner, was confirmed as Treasury secretary, borne aloft on an air of indispensability. When Crimes Become Mistakes.  For a president who said he was going to preside over the most ethical administration in history, Barack Obama has shown an astounding talent of being able to find appointees who mistakenly manage to forget to pay their taxes.  Just look at Timothy Geithner, for example.  The new Treasury secretary — the man who oversees the IRS — forgot to pay $34,000 in taxes. Schumer, Durbin and Barney Frank See No Problem with Treasury Nominee's Tax Problems.  House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told CNSNews.com that Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner is qualified to serve despite his failure to properly pay at least $34,000 in taxes.  Other members of Congress, including Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) agreed, but some Republicans questioned the nomination. Surely this isn't what Obama meant when he vowed change.  Three of his top nominees have been caught with tax problems, two them departing abruptly Tuesday.  Two more were former lobbyists named to high positions despite Obama's ban on lobbyists in his administration.  Yet another, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, had to withdraw weeks earlier because of an investigation into alleged "pay-to-play" politics at home. Victims of the Tax Code?  Not So Fast.  The tax system is complicated.  It is, according to many lawyers and tax preparers, in need of sweeping reform.  But the tax code can hardly be blamed for the recent problems of Obama administration appointees who came up short in what they owed the government, several tax experts said yesterday. Culture of Corruption II.  When in the last election Democrats spoke of a "culture of corruption" in Washington, few realized they were making a promise.  The Obama Administration is not yet three weeks old but already features a growing collection of ethically challenged officials. The Neediest Cases.  Tom Daschle is not the Tom Daschle Barack Obama thought he knew.  Today, as the Washington Post reports, Daschle withdrew his nomination as secretary of health and human services, "citing the distractions that followed his failure to pay all of his taxes in recent years."  Hey, how come when "distractions" were raised about Obama during the campaign, the candidate told us to shut up and talk about the real issues, whereas when the "distractions" concern Obama's nominees, he throws them under the bus? Welcome to the major leagues, President Obama.  There are multiple lessons to be gleaned by President Barack Obama from the withdrawal Tuesday of former Sen. Tom Daschle as the White House nominee for secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.  [For example] Having made strong public defenses of two of your three major nominees with tax problems, you have become a defender of Washington's business-as-usual culture and given up the opportunity to portray yourself as the man who was going to bring change to the Potomac.  It was a huge mistake to condone conduct by your Treasury and HHS secretary nominees that would have ruined the reputation of most people. Daschle dashed, and some promises, too.  It wasn't so long ago that Barack Obama was on the campaign trail, talking about hope and change, about the purity he would bring to Washington. ... Now comes reality, governing, and two cabinet nominees who evaded taxes, one nominee faced with corruption allegations and another nominee who was going to keep an eye on government performance but who apparently neglected to keep an eye on her own. Standing Behind Daschle.  When Barack Obama was asked last Monday if he still supported Tom Daschle, his embattled Health and Human Services nominee, the president gave a firm one-word response:  "Absolutely." Oh, the ethics of it all.  Mr. Daschle proved to be a true limousine liberal; he failed to pay taxes on the limousine he used while earning $5.2 million advising — among other industries — insurers and hospitals (two of the industries he would be overseeing). ... After Mr. Daschle removed his name from nomination, the president said the withdrawal filled him with "sadness and regret."  Why would it if he is serious about upholding ethics in Washington? Obama Needs to Give Tax Dodging Nominees a Rest.  The form contained 63 questions for those seeking high posts in the Obama administration.  The questionnaire asked for writings, speeches, financial statements, tax returns, e-mail, brokerage statements, mortgage papers, some documents going back 10 years or more. ... Perhaps the Obama team should have added a 64th question.  "Have you ever cheated on your taxes?" A touch of Chicago.  You can't say this new administration isn't changing Washington.  Because politically, the nation's capital is starting to look a lot like Chicago on the Potomac, complete with the sleazy deals and subsequent embarrassment.  We're supposed to believe that any resemblance between the goings-on in the Windy City, whose civic culture is legendary for its, uh, ethical flexibility, and the current process of picking a Cabinet is purely coincidental. Obama Needs To Fire Someone.  The first revelations were Tim Geithner and Bill Richardson.  Now Daschle and Killifer are gone because of unpaid taxes.  Next Hilda Solis comes along letting us know she was not only pimping for a labor group against Congressional rules, but her husband had tax liens for 16 years.  She wants us to believe that she has no knowledge of the tax matter.  It is possible that her husband did not know that she was in the California Legislature or a member of Congress, but now realizes that he should do the right thing and be a model citizen.  It certainly possible he hid it from her until Obama came calling and he had a "Honey, we need to talk" conversation.  However that scenario seems a little farfetched to me. Here We Go Again.  Let's see... a Democratic representative gets free housing from a pollster who enjoys some very lucrative contracts from both that representative and a very influential group said representative heads up?  Why, I'd never even suggest some kind of a quid pro quo arrangement.  All through his campaign, Obama and his surrogates touted his great judgment and his commitment to change and transparency.  Yet more and more of his nominees keep getting exposed for their ethical lapses ... . 'The Most Sweeping Ethics Reform in History'?  Barack Obama promised during his campaign to "clean up both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue" with "the most sweeping ethics reform in history."  He declared that his administration would "have the toughest ethics laws of any administration in history."  But shouldn't that moral commitment extend to all of those he appoints, too?  Recently, many people were nominated by Obama for high-ranking positions in his administration.  Six of them were involved in tax evasion or other shady deals. Above the Law.  These are the times that tax men's souls.  Unless, that is, you're an Obama administration appointee and opt out — or try to. Democrats self-destructing over ethics.  The Obama administration and the new Congress are quickly handing over to Republicans the same "culture of corruption" issue that Democrats used so effectively against the GOP before coming to power. Democrats hit ethics pothole early in Obama administration.  The Obama administration and the new Congress are rapidly giving Republicans the same "culture of corruption" issue that Democrats used so effectively against the GOP before coming to power.  Democrats' ethical issues are popping up at a dizzying pace, after less than two months of party control of both the White House and Congress.  Freshman Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill. is only the latest embarrassment. The People Who Can Make or Break Obama.  [#5] Roland Burris: ... The Illinois GOP is calling for him to resign and the Democratic Senate is nervously eying the contradictory transcripts.  The dilemma for the Senate and the White House is once again how to deal with the ooze of corruption from Illinois.  Will they put a halt to the budding storyline — which includes figures such as Rep. Charlie Rangel, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Reps. James Moran and Jack Murtha?  It is getting hard to deny that the Democratic Party is rife with corruption. More personnel trouble for Obama?  It looks like 3 times will not be a charm when it comes to getting someone — anyone — honest enough and subservient enough to run the Department of Commerce for President Obama.  First, it was Bill Richardson who somehow slipped under the radar of Obama's super sharp vetters, having problems with cronies back in New Mexico.  Then it was Judd Gregg who withdrew his name after Obama blindsided him by politicizing the census.  Now it's Gary Locke — former Governor of Washington and now lobbyist for a firm that does a lot of business in China — who may have to be thrown under the bus.  Why?  The old Clinton-Gore connection to the Buddhists.  And a close association with former Clinton era fundraiser and convicted felon John Huang who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Locke. Barack Obama surrounding himself with spivs and chancers.  So for those impressed more by words and racial symbols than performance, the most unqualified president since before even John F. Kennedy remains above the kind of vicious media criticism routinely heaped on Bush.  But how loudly would the people who cheer Obama have screamed if Bush had, for instance, surrounded himself with this extraordinarily long list of spivs and chiselers? Rep. Grace Napolitano Pays Herself $200,000 In Interest On 1998 Loan.  The Democrats campaigned to take over the reins of the majority in Congress by promising to "drain the swamp" of a "culture of corruption" by the Republican Party.  Examples of Democratic corruption or self-dealing go largely unnoticed.  For two weeks now, the national media has ignored a Los Angeles Times report that Rep. Grace Napolitano has paid herself more than $150,000 in interest on $150,000 she loaned herself in her initial 1998 House campaign. Another day, another scandal from Team Obama.  From pocketing $100,000 for a cattle futures trade made in her name by a lobbyist, to White water, to Filegate, to Travelgate, to Monicagate, to the Mark Rich pardon, to Norman Hsu, to hubby investing overseas, to hubby collecting $50 million in speeches, to hubby pocketing money from the Saudis... (Have I left anything out?  Probably.)  Mrs. Clinton is the most corrupt official ever appointed to a Cabinet post. U.S. charges Obama fund-raiser in $290 million fraud.  Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday [9/21/2009]. Another Obama pick owes back taxes, but it's OK because, now caught, he'll pay up.  Word today that yet another Barack Obama appointee has a little problem with taxes — a $10,000 problem.  Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas who would be the White House chief trade representative if confirmed, didn't pay taxes on some speaking fees he donated to his alma mater and he tried to write off the full $17,000 costs of his Dallas Mavericks season tickets.  Not sure if we have room here to list every other would-be Obama appointee who turns out to have some tax problems. The Editor says... Season tickets (or lifetime tickets) to the Mavericks games can't possibly be worth $17,000.  And I would think that any former Dallas mayor could get in to see the Mavericks at no charge, but I guess not. Another Obama Nominee, Another Tax Problem.  It appears you have to be a tax cheat to get an appointment in this administration.  The latest case of tax delinquency is Ron Kirk, Obama's pick for U.S. trade representative.  It seems Mr. Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, owes some $10,000 in back taxes for speaking fees he received which he failed to report as income.  And oh yeah, for those season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks! President Obama suffers a trust deficit.  For sheer chutzpah, it would be hard to top the scene on Capitol Hill yesterday.  As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner vowed to go after wealthy Americans who shield money in tax havens, the man wielding the chairman's gavel in the House Ways and Means hearing was Democrat Charlie Rangel.  Perfect together.  Geithner and Rangel are two peas in a pod when it comes to dodging their own taxes, and neither is embarrassed about demanding others pay up. Geithner Touts Tackling Tax Evaders After Failing to Pay His Own Taxes.  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that the Obama administration, which has been riddled with tax problems, is mounting plans to go after tax evaders. Cabinet picks throw wrench into message.  In the short time Obama has been in office, his administration has faced a number of questions about statements made by Cabinet officials that seemed to contradict his policies or put the White House in an awkward position.  One of the more recent examples happened last week when Attorney General Eric Holder said that the president would seek to reinstate the assault-weapons ban, an assertion that surely sent chills up the spines of Blue Dog Democrats and checks pouring in to the National Rifle Association. Conflict-of-interest issues grow for urban czar Adolfo Carrion.  President Obama's new urban czar, Adolfo Carrión, admitted Tuesday he has not paid an architect who designed a renovation of his Bronx home two years ago.  That presents conflict-of-interest issues because at the time the architect was a key player in a Bronx development that needed approval from Carrión, then the Bronx borough president.  In a statement to the Daily News, Carrión admitted he hadn't paid architect Hugo Subotovsky to design a porch and balcony for his City Island home. What's Obama smiling about?  The Obama presidency is becoming a reverse fairy tale:  The prince is turning into a frog. ... What about integrity in government?  Judging by his gutter-ball series of appointments and attempted appointments, I am beginning to think that either his vetting process was actually looking for crooks or the president is moving in the wrong circles.  Obama put a tax-cheat in the U.S. Treasury, tried to put an even bigger tax-cheat in Health, and only reluctantly dropped an accused influence peddler as commerce secretary. Exclusive:  Democratic donors rewarded with W.H. perks.  During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings. More commentary about Obama's cabinet and staff. Socialism is just around the corner This subsection was all about the so-called "stimulus" bill (H.R. 1) and has moved to a page of its own, located here. Obama the gas-guzzling limousine liberal Yes, I know that security concerns go with every president, but President Obama is a man who wants all of us to drive tiny little cars and keep our tires inflated properly so we won't waste a drop of gasoline, while he rides around in a "land yacht."  Of course there are a number of other celebrities who engage in the same two-faced environmentalism. Barack Obama's car could fuel more problems.  President-elect Obama has stressed the need for energy independence — but he'll be chauffeured around in a gas-guzzling Cadillac SUV limo that could pose a symbolism problem similar to the car controversy that dogged his friend and ally, Gov. Deval Patrick.  Obama's presidential ride, dubbed "Cadillac One," will reportedly be a mammoth, custom-made Cadillac limo built like a GMC truck that sits on 19-inch wheels. Green Obama's official limo is a gas guzzler.  On the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to get a million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015.  His own new presidential limousine will be far from green, however.  The Obamobile being prepared for the president-elect is said to be a monster gas-guzzler made by General Motors, the troubled car giant.  It will look like a black Cadillac but is built like a tank. Obama's Presidential Limo.  The inauguration of Barack Obama will not only bring about a wholesale turnover in the political leadership of the country but it will also unveil the newest in a long line of Presidential limos.  According to Presidential vehicle experts, the new limo is a beast-like General Motors truck-based Cadillac that is so tough it's like a 'rolling tank with windows.' Obama's new 'Beast' unleashed.  Nicknamed "the Beast", Barack Obama's new drive is a hulking, snazzed-up upgrade from previous presidential limousines, and will give him a better view of his inaugural parade than his predecessor.  Photos of the unfinished Cadillac leaked on the internet showed a hefty customised behemoth, reportedly tough enough to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade — and some joked, even an asteroid. New limo reflects a president's priorities.  For most of the 20th century, presidential automobiles had to reconcile competing imperatives, the first for safety and the second for symbolism.  It's a testament to a free and stable democracy that its leader can move with relative ease and visibility among its people.  For the president to be transported in an obviously armored car suggests an unquiet nation, a place of putsches and lurking coups.  Even at the height of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt frequently traveled in his open touring car, a 1939 Lincoln V12 tellingly nicknamed the "Sunshine Special." Hi-Ho, the Derry-O.  Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale.  What to do?  Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon [9/17/2009]:  The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. ... Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens. Obama accepts the Nobel Prize The Nobel Prize Curse.  [Scroll down]  The global warming thesis received several body blows this year not yet adequately aired by the legacy media.  The first is the NASA data glitch, a software failure that kicked all temperature records up several tenths of a degree.  The second is the investigation of automated weather stations by meteorologist Anthony Watts, who discovered that a large fraction of the nation's 1,200 stations have been mis-sited ... Taken alone, either of these developments is damning.  Taken together, they demolish the very basis of the warming argument.  Warming was postulated from long-term changes in basic temperature data.  What happens when that data has to be thrown out? The Prophylactic Peace Prize.  The Nobel Peace Prize has now become, like the American literary Pulitzer, a certification of political correctness.  The Nobel nominating process closed a mere two weeks after Barak Obama took office.  With less than a year in office, Obama's prize can not be based on anything except campaign rhetoric and dubious liberal expectations. What did Obama do to win the Nobel Peace Prize?.  [Scroll down]  But while it is OK to give school children prizes for "effort" — my kids get them all the time — I think international statesmen should probably be held to a higher standard.  It is also very odd timing.  In the next couple of weeks, Obama is likely to yield to the wishes of his generals and to send many thousands more troops to Afghanistan. A Nobel for a Good Two Weeks?  This is ridiculous — embarrassing, even.  I admire President Obama.  I like President Obama.  I voted for President Obama.  But the peace prize?  This is supposed to be for doing, not being — and it's no disrespect to the president to suggest he hasn't done much yet.  Certainly not enough to justify the peace prize. Obama's Nobel Farce:  I had always thought the way these things worked was that you helped bring peace or democracy to some corner of the globe first, and then you won the Nobel Prize.  But this year, the Nobel Committee has turned that logic around:  It clearly likes what Obama is trying to do:  on nuclear disarmament, climate change and Middle East peace — and so, in a "preemptive" strike, it's giving him the award now, in hopes that doing so will boost his chances of success later. Inhofe:  Obama received Nobel Peace Prize for "de-emphasizing defense".  Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said Friday [10/9/2009] that he thinks President Barack Obama got the prize for "de-emphasizing defense in favor of multi-national cooperation," an approach with which Inhofe disagrees.  The senator cited the Obama administration's cancellation or cutbacks in weapons systems like the F-22 and the Army's Future Combat System and the cancellation of a missile defense program in Poland. ABC's Charles Gibson:  'Humble' Obama Won Nobel Prize Because He 'Inspires'.  Anchoring live coverage on Friday [10/9/2009] of Barack Obama's speech about receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, ABC's Charles Gibson enthused that the President won the award because he inspires. Kenyans celebrate as Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.  Kenyan radio shows interrupted their programming Friday [10/9/2009] and bus conductors shouted the news from the windows:  President Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. For whom Nobel tolls.  President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize is quickly turning from a singular honor into a gold-medal headache, as even supporters call it premature and critics say it proves he's a darling of the international elite. Absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize.  The award of this year's Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself.  Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. Can a sitting president receive a Nobel Peace Prize?.  There's a problem for President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize victory and it's not his inexperience.  From Article I, Section 9 of "that neglected curio," the U.S. Constitution:  "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States:  And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." The Michael Moore of Oslo.  The Nobel Committee chose him wisely because he does, in fact, represent the organization's highest ideals.  He is an American president queasy about the projection of American power.  He is an American president who rejects the notion of American exceptionalism.  He is an American president eagerly in pursuit of legitimacy to be granted him not by those who voted for him but by those who do not cast a vote and who chafe at American leadership. Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize simply because he's not George Bush.  Today the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced they have awarded this year's £1.1m Peace Prize to Barack Obama.  They say it is in recognition for his achievements in — well, it's hard to figure just what they say his achievements have been.  All they talk about are his 'efforts,' not his achievements, and those efforts have all been aimed at reversing the Bush foreign policy. Limbaugh:  'Greater embarrassment' than losing Olympics.  Conservatives pounced on the the Nobel Prize committee's decision to award President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, with talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh calling it a "greater embarrassment" than losing the Olympics. How the Nobel Peace Prize Is Awarded .  The Norwegian Nobel Committee's deadline for nominations was February 1, just 11 days after Obama's inauguration.  Up to 200 nominations are received annually by the committee, a number that has risen steadily as the award has become increasingly global. Liberals astonished by Obama Nobel.  The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama is astonishing.  The best grade even the most sympathetic grader could give him in this, his ninth month in office, is "Incomplete."  Predictably, many conservative commentators have reacted negatively to the Nobel committee's decision.  But, more interestingly, so have many liberals. State Department Lauds Obama's Nobel Peace Prize by Making Jab at Bush.  In a clear dig at former president George W. Bush, the State Department lauded President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize award by saying it's better for the U.S. to have "accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes." A Wicked and Ignorant Award.  It is absurd and it is embarrassing.  It would even be infuriating if it were not such a declaration of emptiness.  The Norwegian Nobel Committee has embarrassed itself and cheapened a great award that had real meaning. Critics Smell Politics in Decision to Honor Obama.  From a boardroom in Oslo, five Norwegians handpicked by their nation's parliament are kingmakers of the highest sort, each year honoring at least one individual or group for landmark achievements worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Their decision to honor President Obama less than nine months into his term, however, has critics questioning whether one of the globe's most prestigious awards has become largely a European political seal of approval. The Nobel Peace Prize Jumps the Shark.  Part of the fun of living under the Obama Administration is having your news headlines keep turning into April Fool's Day.  This belated April Fool's Day, a bunch of aging left wing Norwegians decided to give away the Nobel Peace Prize to one Barack Obama... for just being himself. Nobel Committee Pulls Oil Plug on Democracy.  The real message of the prize's grantors is deeper than what it shyly states:  You will be honored if you keep your hands off our regimes and ideologies.  Thus this recognition is not really about abstract notions or about climate change.  It is a message from the authoritarians in the greater Middle East, via their economic partners in the West, to the United States, to quit pushing for democracy and intervening for human rights; as the previous administration said it would, but in fact failed to deliver. Nobel Prize Joke.  There was a time when the Nobel Peace Prize meant something.  It went to men and women who earned their stature with lives of courage such as Andrei Sakharov who openly opposed the oppression of the former Soviet Union and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave his life for the cause of equality in which he believed.  Giving the prize to Barack Hussein Obama has rendered it a joke. Most Embarrassing Moment.  Yasser Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize, too.  In a way, though, this comparison is unfair to Arafat, who, by signing the Oslo Accords, had at least accomplished something on paper.  What has Barack Obama, in office less than nine months, actually done to promote peace? Pointless Nobel prize reveals how President Obama is lost in his own mystique.  Scrap the Nobel Peace Prize.  It's an embarrassment and even an impediment to peace.  President Obama, in letting the Committee award it to him, has made himself look vain, a fool and dangerously lost in his own mystique. President Obama could win the Kentucky Derby, too.  Is Barack still trying to quit smoking?  Let's give him the Nobel Prize for Medicine.  I heard he's finally learned the phrase "p/e" stands for price-to-earnings ratio.  Surely that merits the Nobel Prize for Economics.  The head of the IRS, Tim Geithner, is an admitted serial tax cheat.  Ditto, the head of the House tax-writing committee, Charles Rangel.  Do they have a Nobel Prize yet for irony?  Or hypocrisy? Hooray, It Is a Three-Day Weekend (Controversy).  Friday, President Obama told the story of how, just after he received the news about his Nobel Peace Prize selection, his daughters entered his room.  Malia declared, "Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize — and it is Bo's birthday."  Then his younger daughter Sasha chimed in, "Plus we have a three-day weekend coming up!"  If President Obama was not so self absorbed, this could have been a teachable moment for his youngest daughter. Is Obama Another Carter?  By accepting the Norwegian Nobel Committee's Peace Prize President Obama merges even more forcefully now in Americans' minds with Jimmy Carter.  That is a fate that Obama should avoid at all costs. Obama's Nobel is an act of ring-kissing, not reward for achievement.  You don't have to dislike [Obama] ... to acknowledge that nominating him for the planet's most prestigious peace award after he'd been on the job for only one month is like naming Derek Jeter MVP after spring training.  It's an act of pre-emptive encouragement, even ring-kissing — not a reward for achievement. O's albatross.  Instead of preening itself on the wonderfulness of honoring Obama, the Nobel Committee should have worried more that it was actually hanging an albatross around his neck. Obama Receives Nobel for Being Marxist President.  The Nobel "peace" prize continues to be awarded to those who bring iron-fisted control over their societies — not peace.  But that's what the ruling elite want — stable suppressed peoples so that these elite can do what they will without fear of reprisal. Heckuva Job, Barack.  This was Barack Obama's chance.  Here was an opportunity to cut himself free, in a stroke, from the baggage that's weighed his presidency down — the implausible expectations, the utopian dreams, the messianic hoo-ha.  Here was a place to draw a clean line between himself and all the overzealous Obamaphiles, at home and abroad, who poured their post-Christian, post-Marxist yearnings into the vessel of his 2008 campaign. An Unconstitutional Nobel.  People can, and undoubtedly will, argue for some time about whether President Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.  Meanwhile, though, there's a simpler and more immediate question:  Does the Constitution allow him to accept the award? The Affirmative Action Nobel.  In awarding the Nobel Prize for Peace to Barack Obama, the Nobel committee has just made itself look ridiculous.  Consider.  Though they had lead roles in ending a Cold War lasting half a century, between a nuclear-armed Soviet Empire and the West, neither Ronald Reagan nor John Paul II ever got a Nobel Prize. PC Prize for PC Prez.  Last week Saturday Night Life [sic] finally found the courage to laugh at the obvious fact that Obama has achieved nothing.  He was elected with that understanding.  Every liberal pundit knew it.  Every American who bothered to search the web could find out the extent of Obama's inexperience, his huge Leftist blind spots, and his general incompetence.  Obama was elected because he is the earthly incarnation of PC, and that's why the Nobel Committee did what it did. Nobel Dynamite.  The unambiguous message of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee of the Storting, Norway's parliament, is candidly stated in the public announcement of the Prize.  It is the dream of a world in which the role of the United States of America in all respects is vastly diminished. Honored, Humbled but Unsure?  President Barack Obama, upon hearing that he had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, responded by saying he was both "honored and humbled."  He then went on to tell reporters in the White House Rose Garden that he, "...wasn't sure he had done enough to earn the award, or deserved to be in the company of the transformative figures who had won it before him."  Barack Obama's uncertainty as to whether he earned the prize indicated that in his own mind, there was a possibility he might have. Obama's ignoble prize.  Pity Barack Obama.  The last thing he needs is another comparison to Jimmy Carter. ... He's got enough with Jimmy Carter already.  Mr. Jimmy called the president's prize "a positive development."  But celebrating weakness in the face of a challenge and bowing to bullies in an abject hope that the bully will go easy will always turn a real man's stomach.  It's the celebration of weakness that's so infuriating.  The anger is not about Mr. Obama.  Not yet.  He hasn't done anything. Vatican Backs Obama's Global Agenda.  Some pro-life Catholics are acting shocked that the Vatican warmly greeted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who is pro-abortion.  They don't seem to understand that the Vatican and Obama agree on most major international issues.  This is the untold story — how Obama and the Vatican accept major ingredients of what has been called a New World Order. I Agree With Obama.  This week the world was shocked — no, dumfounded — when the Nobel Committee announced that they had awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Barrack Hussein Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."  BO's response?  "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize."  I never thought I would agree with the man on anything, but I have to say I'm with him all the way on this one. Debacle in Moscow.  About the only thing more comical than Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was the reaction of those who deemed the award "premature," as if the brilliance of Obama's foreign policy is so self-evident and its success so assured that if only the Norway Five had waited a few years, his Nobel worthiness would have been universally acknowledged. Obama's Nobel Peace Prize becoming a political lead weight.  President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize is looking less and less like a shiny trophy for his mantel and more like a political lead anchor.  Far from fading from public discussion, Obama's surprise Nobel win just keeps generating comment, derision, and gratuitous advice about what he can do with it. The Ogling Obama Award.  [Scroll down slowly]  For his part, Obama came out to the Rose Garden and pretended to be embarrassed that he was being associated with "transformational" figures that have won the Nobel Prize.  But this is a man who routinely compared himself with Abraham Lincoln on the campaign trail.  He has about as much humility as Madonna has dignity, and as President Carter has tact. Marxism Goes Mainstream.  [Thorbjørn] Jagland loves Karl Marx.  And he loves Barack Obama.  In addition to heading the Nobel committee and the European Council, Jagland is a long-time leader of Socialist International, a worldwide organization of radical left groups and the occasional terrorist organization dedicated to establishing a world government that will rule through Marxist, collectivist principles. Obama wins world chess championship.  The World Chess Federation today [10/24/2009] announced that Barack Obama had become the world chess champion, nudging aside former undisputed champion Viswanathan Anand of India.  The news surprised some in the chess world, because Obama has never participated in tournament play.  But FIDE officials said they felt certain Obama could become world champion if he ever decided to try. Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.  President Obama could rise several notches in my book if he refused the Nobel Peace Prize, with a nice letter to the Nobel Committee that might read:  Since you did not see fit to award Ronald Reagan, the U.S. president who did the most for world peace in this century, by peaceably shutting down the Soviet Union, I respectfully decline your offer. An O-Care Victory Will Make Him More Narcissistic.  When Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize that in a way made him the laughingstock even of the international Left, he snapped it up without a second thought.  He just thinks he deserves it.  Just think about that for a second.  What kind of a man gets a Nobel Peace Prize on the strength of no accomplishments, and accepts it as his just due without a second thought?  Obama. 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