Politics as usual, multiplied.

Barack Obama campaigned for the Presidency on post-partisanship and real change.  From poor vetting of tax cheats to grandiose deficit spending to the multiple apparent kick-backs related to pushing an unpopular health care bill in the Congress and Senate, it's been politics as usual, just bigger, more expensive and dirtier than usual.

It started with voter fraud. Even before the election there was the ACORN problem. And the SEIU problem. Dirty campaigning. Dirty politics. The President has been tarnished so many times with the guilt-by-association label that it's amazing the glimmer has taken so long to come off his angelic aura. Ayers and Wright apparently weren't enough last year to show the President for what he is - not an agent of change but an agent of dirty politics, as usual, but bigger.

Next in the politics-as-usual parade was the emergency stimulus bill that was so desperately needed to combat the unemployment rate from climbing over 8% (or to as high as 10%, where it is now).  The bill was laden with ridiculous pork projects.  It hasn't been reported properly, includes made up statistics and it certainly wasn't post-partisan. Beyond which, it plays on the usual Democrat parlor tricks of class warfare.

Obama is trying to destroy our free enterprise system and “change” America into a failed socialist nation with growth-killing tax increases, the take over of private businesses through bailouts and trillions of dollars in irresponsible deficit spending on wasteful social programs. Millions of jobs have been lost since the passage of Obama’s Stimulus Bill that includes over 8,000 wasteful pork projects. That pork-laden bill will stimulate only the Democratic Party – not the economy, nor black communities. Incredibly, Obama turned a $450 billion deficit into a $9 trillion deficit, and he is promising to spend even more, including $1.5 trillion on a disastrous government-controlled health care scheme. All of this uncontrolled, budget-busting deficit spending will send our nation careening over an economic Clift [sic] into oblivion.

The tens of thousands of Americans participating in Tea Parties across this country – peacefully protesting Obama’s socialist actions and policies – are being mocked by President Obama and derided as “racist” by his fellow Democrats and liberal media allies, all in an effort to silence average Americans. Complaints are not allowed about the fact that under Obama’s America, all Americans will be dependent on the government for their well-being, just as are poor blacks.

It continued with the omnibus bill, another $410 billion worth of garbage;

A stopgap measure was voted in last Thursday to keep the federal government up and running until the vote. In case you do not know about this bill, it is essentially the short term federal budget for the next six months. It is an astounding $410, 000, 000, 000 spending bill that is essentially a catch all for over 8,000 pork projects. Over $7.7 billion dollars of this bill is attributed earmarks (aka pork projects and pet projects.)

Let's not forget the agenda-driven Cap and Trade Tax bill, which the Heritage Foundation pointed out, prior to Obama's signing it, the drafted legislation would:

• Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $662billion in 2035;

• Destroy 1,105,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs;

• Reduce an average household’s disposable income by $879 in 2030;

• Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation;

• Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 58 percent;

• Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent;

• Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,241;and

• Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by $114,915 per family of four by 2035.

But was it at least free from pork and backroom dealings?  Apparently not.

And then there's health care. Kick backs galore.  Including some big players.

And some arm twisting.  Out in the open no less.

In a Nov. 16, 2008, Health Care Watch column, Emanuel explained how business should be done: "Every favor to a constituency should be linked to support for the health-care reform agenda. If the automakers want a bailout, then they and their suppliers have to agree to support and lobby for the administration's health-reform effort."

It's a recipe for old school politics of coorruption, with Obama and Emmanuel at the center of the storm.  No wonder the Tea Parties were a big thing this year.  No wonder the American people are sick of it.  And come to think of it, no wonder those who can benefit by it are doing so as fast as they can - they know the clock is ticking. Either it's an election shot clock, or it's the timer on a fiscal time bomb.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has two great summaries on the health care kickbacks, here and here.