Monday, November 10, 2008

Obama Bullshit Chronicle II: Obama the Centrist

It's hard to say whether the Cult of Barack actually knew why they voted for Obama, but many of those with whom I spoke seemed to believe he was the best choice to unite the Left and Right sides of the country. Obama was the new post-modern candidate: post-racial, post-political and, most of all, post-partisan. Indeed, to listen to an Obama supporter, Barry's bipartisanship is legendary.

And indeed it is, if by "legendary," you mean, "doesn't actually exist."

In his victory speech, Obama declared:
Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends... though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

That sounds wonderful. Too bad none of it is turning out to be true. The Obama Presidency hasn't even begun yet, and already, the sounds of liberal partisanship are ringing from the Halls of Government. Democrat leadership in the legislature has always been hyper-partisan. But one would think that, given his promises to put it aside, Obama would take extra effort to include those not within his own party in planning for his administration. However, his selection of Chief of Staff -- the first major decision of his Presidency -- is setting a tone that screams otherwise. Rahm Emanuel is noted for his extremely liberal positions, his attempts to shout down or otherwise silence opposition, and his attack-dog style.

In defending the selection of the hyper-partisan Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, who co-chairs the Obama transition team, said, "tone starts at the top." Indeed it does. As with everything else about Obama's bid for presidency, however, what Barry says and what Barry does are two different things. "Tone," according to the Obama team, is to be taken as what Obama has said, while what Obama actually does is called "distraction." We'll get into other examples of Obama NewSpeak later. But let us look at the fine example of bipartisanship Obama has been so far.

Beyond his choice for Chief of Staff, we also have his selection of an economic advisory board. Surely, with all the problems happening, and given the reasons for Obama's election, not to mention that this problem is, as Emanuel himself has said, "big enough that there's going to be an ability for people of both parties, as well as independents, to contribute ideas..." -- surely, Obama chose members of both parties to advise him on this crisis, right? As it turns out, not so much. Instead, Barry has chosen people like Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has run that state straight into the ground, and Penny Pritzker, who did the same thing to the Superior Bank of Chicago. People, by the way, who gave him money. Also on the board, hyper-partisan Warren Buffett, Google chair Eric Schmidt (Google employees donated over $700,000 to Obama) and Democrat William Daly. About the closest Obama comes to bipartisanship with this board is the selection of Time Warner Chair Richard Parsons, who has in fact given money to both Democrats and (moderate) Republicans.

In short, people who will with no hesitation nod enthusiastically to whatever Dem plan Obama comes up with.

You're right, Valerie. Tone starts at the top. But tone is not just what is said, but what is done. Obama can say "bipartisan" all he wants -- but his actions are starting to speak too loudly for me to hear him.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Obama Stormtroopers Work to Silence Anti-Obama Bloggers

As it turns out, the True Believers in "hope and change" don't much like people saying negative things about their boy Barry. These Obamatons have been abusing Blogger's anti-spam features in an attempt to silence several bloggers, most recently, members of the anti-Obama "Just Say No Deal" coalition.

The Deep Thinkers of the Obama Zombie Army have also been going after myspace users and others -- in fact, very recently a Republican friend had his Myspace account hacked, and his main photo changed to a picture of Obama. Harmful? Not really. Juvenile? Of course -- but what can you really expect from a bunch of people committed to voting for a guy on nothing more than empty platitudes about "hope and change?"

Empty platitudes are, I suppose, like Milk and Honey to empty heads. I mean, sure, the Obamessiah may not know anything about economics, national security, or the Constitution -- but he sure makes one hell of a catchy bumper sticker.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Obama Bullshit Chronicle I: It all seemed so clear in '04

If we're going to start a chronicle of Obama's demonstrated lies and broken promises, it's best to start at the beginning. In this case, the beginning's a very good place to start, as the Obamessiah Himself calls the idea of him running for President ridiculous -- for the same reasons Republicans do now:
"I was elected yesterday. I have never set foot in the U.S. Senate. I've never
worked in Washington. And the notion that somehow I'm immediately going to start
running for higher office just doesn't make sense."
Barack said this in 2004 (as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times), after being elected to the Senate. Well, Senator, I for one am glad you agree. Can we end this charade now?

(h/t Politicalwire)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

CNN on Obama's Pennsylvania Remarks

Some people say CNN is "in the tank" for Obama. That, perhaps, Ted Turner Himself worships at the feet of the Obamessiah. This so obviously isn't the case, though.

As you may recall, for example, Obama said this:

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we
can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives.
You go
into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of
small towns in
the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and
nothing's replaced
them. And they fell through the Clinton administration,
and the Bush
administration, and each successive administration has said
that somehow these
communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So
it's not surprising then
that they get bitter, they cling to guns or
religion or antipathy to people who
aren't like them or anti-immigrant
sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to
explain their frustrations.



CNN, as you may recall, offered much criticism of Obama's gaffe:


See? Totally unbiased reporting. One commenter even mentioned that Obama's remarks were "inartful." ZING!

They ended the session by facing Chicago and chanting "Yes We Can."