Obamassiah - site of the moment

Just thought you should know, extreme hero worship in full effect, is on display HERE. We talk about Obama being viewed as the Messiah in the abstract. For some people it seems to be a little more concrete. It's enough to give you a chill up your spine (in a creeped-out sort of way).

In some cases this is what we are up against in the war for public opinion. That slavish devotion, that cult of personality, that level of adoration, does not uncouple overnight if at all. This is simply unhinged from reality and it's beyond being salvageable.



A sample of the rapture, pictured below:






Wow. Truly people, get a grip! I understand political fervor, and political leaning not being the same as my own. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. But I don't think you could find one conservative who honestly thought Reagan was the "second coming". We just thought he had vision and great values and ideas.

There are more examples of Obama religiosity, like this one - For $17.95 you too can proclaim! Keep your eyes out for them. They should come with warning bells, so you don't get sucked in. But I suspect you know better anyway.

The obligatory Inauguration post

If I could describe this lib-fest in one word it would be: Yawn. But since this is an opinion blog that requires more than just one word let me try to detail for you the 'highlights' of what transpired. I started out watching MSNBC because I wanted to get the liberal viewpoint. Unfortunately it froze up before the Oath of Office, and mercifully, I was forced (allowed) to switch to Fox. Interestingly, the cleanest feed I could find was from a blogger in India.

There was a throng of "1,2,4 million" in attendance. The real number is of course not known, but certainly there were a lot in attendance. And almost as certainly the MSM will inflate those numbers so that by 2011, they will be talking about the 20 million in attendance at the day of America's re-birth. And of course what liberal love-fest would be complete without a raft of liberal politicians, liberal stars and poetry? The Inauguration of O, did not disappoint on any of those counts.

I believe the MSNBC broadcast was being done primarily by Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews. There were some other comments being made but they may not have been in the broadcast center, but rather field corespondents. The commentary was hyperbolic, it was to be expected. Matthews talked about his tingle. He talked about George Bush being an uninteresting President and someone he would not want to read about in the future, unlike other Presidents.

I believe it was Matthews who also chimed in with "This is not like any other inauguration - you can feel that sense of history." And this little gem; "People are in a democracy and they didn't feel like it a few years ago."  After the swearing in, where Roberts and Obama both misspoke slightly, the Inaugural speech itself was underwhelming. It was a mainly a re-hash of many elements from other speeches. Here is video, so you can hear it for yourself

and part 2;

Sure it had the requisite applause breaks, but there was no astoundingly profound statements from the President, and it seemed more politically tinged in parts than you'd expect from a speech meant to set the tone for a Presidency, especially considering the fact that Obama is supposed to be a uniter rather than a divider. At least according to those on the left, where it's okay to demonize Bush but now that it's there guy, we should all come together and rally around the false Messiah.

There was an additional point worth noting, one that was deliberately leaked to the press beforehand (likely so they could re-iterate the talking points) by the likes of David Axelrod and Colin Powell. the speech by the One, was meant to emphasize the importance of personal responsibility. The reason for that is deliberate. It lowers the impossibly high bar Obama has managed to set for himself through the election cycle. Now that he faces the reality of running something for real - besides a campaign, he cannot possibly live up to the expectations he's set. To be fair, he hasn't really set them - people have set them for him, by buying into the vagueness of his message and applying their own visions, hopes and needs onto them.

By emphasizing the responsibility for Americans to do for themselves, he can spread the blame when he doesn't achieve 100% bliss for every American as 'promised'. Yes We Can will ultimately end up being a disillusionment for many Americans when Obama makes choices that don't mesh with their image of his vision, which is really their own.

Another point in his speech meant to do the same thing was to talk up how terrible the situation is for America. He paints a dire picture of an America doomed. That serves two purposes (1) blame Bush in order to lower expectations about how long it will take to climb out of the mess he inherited and (2) allows him to take credit no matter what happens. If the unemployment rate goes to 10%, he can always say, without my plan to save 4 million jobs, it would have been 12%.

His speech is a clever ploy. because it gives him a lot of wiggle room to go back on any promises and ways to deflect blame for failure. Some people will see through it but his core constituencies who are blinded by their passion of the O, will not, particularly the youth who are clearly gullible enough to have voted for him in the first place.

A couple of other points to consider about the day. Firstly, there were an endless number of balls, and dances between the President and First Lady. While it's the other team, I do not begrudge them their moments. They won, let them enjoy it for a day. There's no need to have ill will on a day that was indeed historic in a superficial way. Superficial because as many are quick to point out, skin color is indeed a superficial thing. The character of a man is how he should be judged, not skin color. I agree. So why the historic importance of black President, besides being the first one? Will it diminish cries of racism? Until now was a black President secretly forbidden? The answers to both of those questions is a firm NO. So superficially, it erases arguments that a black man could never be President.

Having given them their moment their is another point to ponder. Fox was gushing along with the other networks. Many conservatives find that curious. Isn't Fox supposed to be at least Fair and Balanced, if not our voice? David Limbaugh warns against conservatives falling prey to the hysteria. It's a good warning, and there seems to be plenty of conservatives drinking the Kool Aid.

But I think I see the Fox and others' rationale behind not dumping on his parade. If they were to do so, it would give the cards to the Democrats to say that conservatives were never on board from the beginning and there was a preconceived plan to derail Obama from the start. that conservatives are going to disagree with the administration on policy is inevitable. So why allow them more ammunition to blame any failure on post-Bush conservatives as well as Bush? It' going to be a steep uphill battle opposing the agenda of the left, we need to not provide them with any ammunition at all to hammer us back with.

Franken campaign's absurd statement

In Minnesota, Mark Elias - Al Franken's campaign attorney is claiming they will win by 35-50 votes when the Senate recount is complete. The fact that the statement has been been is absurd.

1) If they know that is the case, then to paraphrase Corporal Hudin the movie Aliens, why don't we just put him in charge? Did his team count faster than the official recount?




2) The comments mean nothing, since the recount is NOT FINISHED. On top of that it's inappropriate to claim victory during a recount. What happened to every vote must be counted? Is that only true when you're behind, Democrats?

3) How can they possibly know the outcome before it happens unless they know something others don't know? Which they shouldn't know by the way. If that's the case, then the fix is in - so why advertise it?

The real question is whether this election is being stolen. It sure seems like the recount will continue until the outcome Franken is looking for is accomplished. Sort of reminds me of 2000, when Democrats tried to steal the election from Bush. If indeed the election is being stolen, Americans have a right to know. This should be a more open process - as the rug is being pulled out from underneath Senator Coleman there needs to be brought into the light of day the underhanded tactics in play from the Franken camp.

Secondarily where is Coleman on these questions? I would be all over every comment out of the Franken camp. Decorum has no place in this situation. Every comment, no matter how inane has to be challenged and requests for tangible proof must be forthcoming. If I were part of the Coleman team, every day I would be talking to the media, explaining the latest Franken tactic and why each questionable one is being allowed and what it means for Democracy. This is a knock-down drag out fight being fought on one side and the Coleman camp has no reason to remain above the fray - they're in it whether they want to be or not. The votes are in, public image doesn't matter for these guys until 2014. So fight for every vote, procedurally and publicly. Make your case publicly because whether you want to admit it or not, public opinion can cause a bias on anyone, including election officials.

Lastly, the US Senate does not need another blowhard demagogue right now, and Franken fits that bill to a T. And if he's corrupt to boot, it compounds the image of the Blagojevich/Rahm scandal. Surely the electorate, particularly the Democrat electorate, is not so cynical as to say "who cares if he's a crook, he's on our side' he's the guy we want". And surely, if that's the case, the effort should be started right now, if evidence is there, use it to make the point about political corruption. This is not change, unless change for the worse counts as change. I guess technically it does, but I'm pretty sure it's not the change the Obamabots were voting to get. Then again, maybe it's not the type of change they are prone to want to notice.