Obama's jobs plan: We'll have to pass it to see what's in it.

Monumental...something.

Can't you just hear Nancy Pelosi's familiar Health Care refrain when you think about Obama's latest jobs plan? We'll have to pass it to see what's in it.  She was talking about a 2000 page piece of...legislation. But this is not even a plan -  at least so far.  It was just a speech. How do you pass a speech?  And it was a dull, redundant and no the least bit innovative speech at that.  

What, you were expecting something better?  I'll admit it was a possibility but had to be a long shot at best.  From what has happened so far the Obama speech was a re-hash and a small re-run of the ARRA stimulus scenario of 2009. You have to wonder if Rahm Emmanuel didn't call the White House with a stern lecture for the president.

Liberals Cut and Run, Again

This is more an observation than anything else. Rumors are circulating (Politico) that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs may be headed to the role of Chairman of the DNC. This after Rahm Emmanuel and Others have resigned their positions.

Is this a pre-mid-term cabinet shuffle or is an abandon ship movement? With the Democrats expected to be anything from beaten to resoundingly crushed, it makes sense that liberals might want to get out when the getting is good. Why do I think that? With everything from Iraq to figuring out how to deal with Social Security financing the liberal strategy can be generously called one of avoidance. A better way of putting it is cut and run. Liberals can't do the tough work and that's why you are seeing departures. Sure they talk a good game, but when it comes to rolling up their sleeves and battling, only a few like Emmanuel have the fortitude to fight. The rest either hide or have to have their arms twisted (see: Health Care vote).

With Rahm gone it's easier for others to leave. And why stick around when the going gets rough and you have to deal with a Republican Congress whose arms you can't twist? Gibbs departure is no surprise in that light. In fact, I'd expect more.

Politics: Sestak and White House Agree Its No Big Deal

According to the New York Times report, there's nothing to see here;

"President Obama's chief of staff used former President Bill Clinton as an intermediary to see if Representative Joe Sestak would drop out of Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary if given a prominent, but unpaid, advisory position, the White House said on Friday.

Caption Contest: 3 dudes in D.C.

I don't have a financial prize to offer for the best caption for the photo below, but I can give your blog or twitter account a mention. I realize that a mention from me is worth about the equivalent of a stick of gum - okay half a stick of gum - but still. You could do it for fun and/or bragging rights, couldn't you? C'mon.


Please post a caption in the comments section below the picture, which is...below.

Your thoughts on an Obama cabinet shuffle?

Based on absolutely no factual evidence, not even gossip or innuendo, I've started speculating about who might be the first to get axed out of the Obama administration (not including lower level names, and not including Walpin - who isn't a cabinet member nor able to be fired by the President...wait, what?).

Why? Mainly because it's fun.

Here's some preliminary thoughts I had on the possibilities:

-Based on the primary battles with Clinton and perhaps Obama's feeling that he had to hire her, maybe she's a contender to get let go. She seems stressed about Bill, but underneath there could still be Obama stress

-Holder continues to say all the right wrong things so he's probably safe.

-Robert Gibbs, I'm surprised doesn't just give up and quit on his own. Seeing him makes me want to yell at my TV screen "It's over Johnny!"

-Biden you can't really fire but at least they're keeping him better hidden for now.

-Emmanuel - no chance, he's the hatchet man not the victim. Where's his off switch?

-Axelrod? Maybe if there's some stickiness to the scandal.

-Sebelius? Nope - too partisan to let go. Perhaps shuffled to the Department of Used Rags.

What are your thoughts? Anyone care to handicap the favorites? And how about the timing?

How to change the mind of a liberal

Do you ever get the feeling that President Obama has got this hyper-triangulation thing going on? He's shifting the country drastically leftward, yet talking to middle class as if he were a centrist. He's taking over banks and car companies but saying he doesn't want to be in those businesses. He's after cap and trade or something similar and CAFE standards but claiming to be on the side of American business and wanting GM to recover. He's beholden to the UAW but cap and trade and CAFE will prevent the automakers from recovering properly. He was against military tribunals for Gitmo detainees before he was for them. He talks fiscal sanity but is fiscally insane. Listening to him speak, who would know where he stands on abortion?

The list goes on and on. He's all over the map, but with a steady drift leftwards. Why is that? He wants the leftward drift and he's getting it. So is he some sort of political mad genius? An idiot-savant? Or is he just flailing around from problem to problem without real solutions and grasping for whatever life preservers are handy?

I think the answer is both. He doesn't know what he's doing as far as running the country goes, but he's politically astute enough to try to take every opportunity and turn it into a shift leftward. It's not so much hyper-triangulation as Dick Morris suggests, but rather hyper Rahm-Emmanuel-ism; never letting any issue, crisis or otherwise, go to waste.

The problem with that is that ideology ends up governing every solution and common sense gets elbowed out of the equation and the results will just get weirder and weirder. If you think Government Motors is surprising, by 2012 it might be the tamest thing to come out of the Obama administration. The beauty of conservatism is that common sense is the basis of every solution.

Revisiting what Rush said - 'I hope he fails', I do too. It is separate and distinct from I hope the country fails. I hope he fails to foist his neo-socialist policies on the country. Maybe enough Democrats will show some spine on health care to prevent it from happening, maybe not. But the real measure of his failure or success will not be determined by President Obama in the next four years.

Ultimately Obama will fail to execute his radical agenda. Enough conservative grassroots momentum will trigger changes in 2010. That momentum will carry through to 2012 and Obama will be a one term President. Then, any radical thing he's implemented will have the chance to be reversed. Any damage he does during his tenure need not be permanent if conservatives and enough moderates realize the implications of how he's jeopardizing the nation's future and act.

How can I be so sure he will fail? Honestly I can't. But the evidence, while painfully slowly, is beginning to mount that people are getting nervous about his agenda. His popularity will inevitably decline.

HOW TO CHANGE THE MIND OF A LIBERAL

But you can ensure that Obama's damage is contained. You have to become involved. You can't wait for the GOP or conservative pundits to do this for you - there's no time. Not everyone can attend a Tea Party, but if you can do so. More importantly, if every conservative were to convert a non conservative voter, we'd own the electoral map. Of course that's easier said than done, so I've included a recipe for you to follow. Don't worry, there's no Kool Aid involved.

1) Find a moderate or non-radical Democrat friend.

2) Determine what issue matters most to them.

3) School yourself on that issue and the details of both the liberal and conservative position.

4) Discuss, in a friendly, non-confrontational but convincing manner the advantages of the conservative position and the disadvantages of the liberal position.

5) Be prepared to back up your points with facts and ready to require them to cite their sources. You aren't looking to humiliate them though just enlighten them. If they can't cite a source, ask them why they believe it. If they can, ask them to question the source by checking out some other sources.

6) Be patient. The acceptance does not come overnight in most cases.

Remember unlike the left that wants to badger and ridicule people into agreement, we want them to come willingly and enlightened into the fold. You are here to persuade them that they can come to a clearer world view. You want them to come to you for more detail, or with questions. When that happens, you have opened a door for them to walk through.

I know that seems like a lot of effort, but the country's future is worth it. And compared to the effort of radical liberals/progressives/socialists/Alinsky-ites it's nothing. You don't need to paint your face, wear a pink wig - unless you really, really want to do that. You don't need to shout silly pre-programmed slogans or assault anyone. DON'T.

Once you've completed that effort, come back and share your comments here on your successes and failures. This can be a learning experience for all of us on how to best change the mind of a liberal. I'd also like to keep 'score' on the success rate of people who try it.

The Creep Factor - Democrats

When it comes to politics, there's something that describes one possible way that things change called the creep factor. You might have thought, based on the title that this post was going to be about Rahm Emmanuel. In a way you would be right. The creep factor I'm referring to, is the idea that the unhealthy specter of socialism in America can be advanced in many way, one of which involves the slow creep of incremental progress.

This is something that involves taking control of the media over time so that you have the biggest and most megaphones to blast your message over top of, and eventually to the exclusion of a conservative counterpart. It involves taking over the educational institutions so that you can teach the young your doctrines. It involves implementing things like Card Check, and the Fairness Doctrine and naturalizing illegal immigrants. These are big things but they are developed and achieved over time, in small incremental steps. For example, the current spate of everything on the table - Fairness, Card Check, Health Care, etc. represents an all topics approach to the achieving of a socialist agenda. But is it really, what the Obama administration is going after?

First Rahm's take on how to advance the 'cause';



and Obama's take;



Do they expect to win every battle because of the crisis situation? Probably not, but if they put 7 agenda items on the table and 6 of them fail, they still get one victory. It's a creep further down the path towards socialism. Republicans can claim 6 of 7 victories in defeating the other ideas, but at the end of the score sheet, there's 0 steps towards free market capitalism and individual liberty and 1 step towards something more socialist. I'm not sure how you keep score, but in my books those 6 victories amount to a loss.

Many conservatives, especially when it comes to voting, tend to swing for the fences. If it's not a home run, then I'm not interested. You saw that in a depressed turnout for John McCain in 2008. Yes, he didn't hold enough conservative values to energize conservatives, consequently he had no chance of winning. Granted at best he would have been a mediocre President from a conservative viewpoint, but did anyone really want the alternative they got?

The point is the return towards conservatism in the United States will be a slow road. The gains made between 1994 and 2004 were unfortunately wasted. President Bush swung for the fences on Social Security reform, and struck out. Conservatives abandoned their principles in favor of pork and re-election. Things, just went awry.

People on the right though often expect that instant success when in reality, smaller gains are probably the better way to go. That is not to suggest abandoning our principles to achieve power. Far from it. Abandoning the principles is the last thing conservatives need to do. They represent the ideals we need to work towards.

However, we need to look at making gains where we can, and take the long view. The goal is conservatism, but the path there is made up of base hit singles, not home runs. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito were singles. As conservatives we should be aware that pitching and fundamentals win ball games, not flash, not long balls.

There are things working in favor of conservatives in this regard, we do tend to play well on defense. If we can prevent 6 of the 7 (that's a made up number by the way, it's probably 67 items on the Obama wish list) things from happening, we can always make up that deficit in our half of the inning (come 2012).

And an even bigger factor in our favor is that, despite the potential slow march approach socialist often take, President Obama may in fact be swinging for the fences himself (instead of taking the slow creep approach), and in that case, the possibility of a strikeout is very, very real. And even if he's trying to propose 6 things so he can get 1 through, we can still work towards winning things back starting in 2010. I for one am not one to believe that once a program is put in place it irrefutably cannot be undone. True, it ain't easy, but let's just look at it in terms of baby steps.

Finally, I apologize for mixing in a baseball metaphor with a creeping doom of socialism metaphor. That's what happens when you blog in stream-of-consciousness mode.

Liberal Captions

Below are some movie quotes that you could associate with various liberals. Please add your own in the comments section. I don't get too many comments, but any feedback is appreciated, especially when it pokes fun at Democrats.

Added bonus, I can't recall which website I read this on, but it might have been Protein Wisdom. [Sorry, let me know and I'll update the link]. "The Secret To Being A Liberal Hysteric? No secret: just treat adults like children, and treat children like adults."

My precious.

Say hello to my little friend. (Okay, little kid)

You don't understand! I coulda had class. I
coulda been a contender. I could've been
somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.

You talking to me?

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his
liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

You can't handle the truth!

Mama always said life was like a box of
chocolates.

I'll be back.

I see dead people.

We rob banks.

I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.

E.T. phone home.

"I just want to say one word to you - just one word.... 'plastics.'"

"Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" (That's just wrong)

"Surely you can't be serious."

"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

Show me the money!

What we've got here is failure to communicate.