Courtesy: CHARLES REX ARBOGAST/AP
Obama Casting Spell Over European Audience
Any regular reader of my political blog knows that I do not care for European socialists, and I am a Christian in the Roman Catholic tradition. We Christians tend to be tolerant of nonbelievers, at least in the sense we did not issue death threats when Andres Serrano in 1987 published a picture of a small crucifix submerged in the so-called artist's urine. After a Danish newspaper dared to publish cartoons which it knew would offend many Muslim readers, should we be that surprised when a Danish newspaper decides to provoke 2 billion Christians in the world as well?
We simply need to excerpt the English translation editorial:
The U.S. president - the practical saviour of our times...His greatest results have been created with words and speeches...He comes from humble beginnings and defends the weak and vulnerable...And no we are not thinking of Jesus Christ...but rather the President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama. The idea was naturally that [if] the comparison between Jesus and Obama were to be made, it would, of course, inevitably be to Obama’s advantage. [In contrast to Obama's accomplishments of health care reform, the stimulus package, disarmament and rehabilitation of America's image,] we have Jesus’ miracles, which only benefitted a few...Obama is, of course, greater than Jesus.
Is it really necessary to mention how profoundly ignorant the Danish author is about US politics and Christian dogma? Let's just take health reform; the point is made about addressing financial hardship for Americans for health care reform; he fails to note, of course, that Senator Dole offered to make a deal with Bill Clinton on catastrophic health insurance, and Clinton turned it down. We have Medicaid available to poor and other lower-income people and Medicare for the disabled and senior citizens; hospitals cannot refuse emergency care on one's ability to pay. Many states operate high risk pools where hard-to-insure people get subsidized coverage. Many people the Democrats claim to be addressing in fact can afford health care insurance but prefer to pay, as has traditionally been the case in American history, for medical services as needed, choosing not to pay the overhead of a middleman (the insurance company).
The editorial writer waxes enthusiasm over how Obama has been able to achieve something multiple predecessors have failed to do; well, let's see: first of all, the final bill will hardly look what Obama originally envisioned and articulated during the campaign: for example, it will not have a public option, and it will include mandates. Second, Obama has a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a lopsided majority in the House; almost no other President from either party has had as strong a hand to enact legislation. And while we're on the topic, if the author is correct about Obama's oratorical brilliance, why has he failed to make the case to the American public, which strongly opposes the framework of the bill likely to emerge, and why has his approval rating in multiple polls fallen below 50% in the biggest drop of any recent President during his first year of office?
The editorial writer waxes enthusiasm over how Obama has been able to achieve something multiple predecessors have failed to do; well, let's see: first of all, the final bill will hardly look what Obama originally envisioned and articulated during the campaign: for example, it will not have a public option, and it will include mandates. Second, Obama has a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a lopsided majority in the House; almost no other President from either party has had as strong a hand to enact legislation. And while we're on the topic, if the author is correct about Obama's oratorical brilliance, why has he failed to make the case to the American public, which strongly opposes the framework of the bill likely to emerge, and why has his approval rating in multiple polls fallen below 50% in the biggest drop of any recent President during his first year of office?
Second, for those of us who are believers, Jesus Christ brought salvation through sacrifice. The miracles attested to the authenticity of His mandate, but Jesus was not a sideshow magician, performing at the beck and call of crowds, religious adversaries or a Roman court. Is there a single speech from Obama which even begins to approach the moral significance, influence or originality of the Sermon on the Mount, His other teachings or His profound parables? In the speeches I've heard or read, Obama serves up leftover campaign soundbites, abstract, turgid rhetoric, vacuous insights and truisms, condescending, morally self-superior polemics, self-congratulatory exaggerated claims of credit, and divisive, counterproductive straw man attacks of the political opposition, and simplistic scapegoating of past administrations or other pointless criticisms of America's historic sins.
No, Jesus Christ doesn't need me to defend His memory. Yes, I have been a persistent critic of Obama, but in large part, it's because he misleadingly sold himself during the general campaign as being a post-partisan moderate. Since the election, he has attempted to roll over the opposition on a radical progressive agenda (in a country where only 1 voter in 4 is progressive), particularly on major new policy initiatives where traditionally there has been an attempt at bipartisan consensus; for example, even Medicare decades ago attracted a significant percentage of Republican votes.
The Constitutionality of the Cornhusker Kickback Deal?
Nebraska US Senator Ben Nelson is responding to South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, the leader of 13 state attorney generals, threatening to file suit over the constitutionality of the deal which would exempt Nebraska from the state share of expanded Medicaid costs during the life of the 10-year bill under the corrupt deal between Harry Reid and Ben Nelson. Nelson, no doubt nervous over recent polls showing even Nebraskans oppose the deal and showing the incumbent GOP governor with a huge lead in Nelson's prospective 2012 reelection battle, defensively insists he did not ask for the deal and said that the same deal would be extended to all other states in the final bill.
It is true that you can't file a lawsuit until Obama signs the Democratic Party Health Care Bill, Trojan Horse edition (I'm still waiting for the GAO to stamp the bill with an explicit warning: "This bill may be hazardous to your financial future") into law. As for Ben Nelson's transparent attempt to distance himself from the political quid pro quo, this is little more than a ploy for political survival. If you offer a similar deal for all other states, where is the Congress going to come up with the money, and why didn't they offer the same deal from the get-go? Harry Reid himself admitted he had no respect for someone whom didn't ask for a political deal . Where were Nelson's principles in accepting the corrupt bargain, knowing other states hadn't been offered the same deal? Say, states without Democratic senators?
Political Cartoon
Gary McCoy doesn't show it here, but if you look behind the CIA scapegoat, you'll find a picture of George W. Bush.... Will Obama ever accept responsibility for anything he does (or doesn't do) as President? (Yeah, I know, I know: he banned "torture" and announced the closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facility... And he won the Nobel Door Prize for not being George W. Bush. Exactly how high were these items on the voters' agenda last fall, considering McCain also opposed "torture", wanted Gitmo closed, and would have also won a door prize for not being George W. Bush.)
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Hit
"A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)"
One of the greatest, if not the best, American rock songs of all time. I bought the album Hard Promises just to get a copy of this song. For any guy who ever lost his girl to a jerk, this song speaks to him. Rock does not get better than this--outstanding guitar work, great percussion, and spot-on vocal performance--you hear the despair, the resignation, the disgust, and the soaring guitar riff at the end--I can almost see him throwing down his mike in anger at the end of the song.
LYRICS:
She laughed in my face, told me good-bye
Said "don't think about it, you can go crazy
Any thing can happen, anything can end
Don't try to fight it, don't try to save me"
She's a woman in love
She's A Woman in love
And he's gonna break her heart to pieces
She don't want to see
She's a woman in love, but it's not me
Well all rig ht, do what you want
Don't try to talk, don't say nothin'
She used to be the kind of woman
You have and you hold, she could understand the problem
She let the little things go
She's a woman in love
She's a woman in love
And he's gonna break her hea rt to pieces
But she don't wanna know
She's a woman in love, she can't let go
Time after time, night after night
She would look up at me and say she was lonely
I don't understand what she needed
I gave her everything, she threw it all away on nothin'
She's a woman in love
She laughed in my face, told me good-bye
Said "don't think about it, you can go crazy
Any thing can happen, anything can end
Don't try to fight it, don't try to save me"
She's a woman in love
She's A Woman in love
And he's gonna break her heart to pieces
She don't want to see
She's a woman in love, but it's not me
Well all rig ht, do what you want
Don't try to talk, don't say nothin'
She used to be the kind of woman
You have and you hold, she could understand the problem
She let the little things go
She's a woman in love
She's a woman in love
And he's gonna break her hea rt to pieces
But she don't wanna know
She's a woman in love, she can't let go
Time after time, night after night
She would look up at me and say she was lonely
I don't understand what she needed
I gave her everything, she threw it all away on nothin'
She's a woman in love
