Obama's Report Card

So ... how has the administration handled the first 100 days? Seems like it is time for a progress report. Let's see how the President has done on 5 key areas ... The areas are: Foreign Policy, Economics, Defense, Social Issues and Intangibles.


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A+ Intangibles ... The President has managed to convince the country that he can lead us out of the recession and restore our prominence in the world. Of course there are people who don't believe he can, but we they are in the minority, just as we they were in the last election. Don't discount the intangibles, we have often heard of educators that gave their students work that was many grade levels above what they were supposed to be studying and because the students thought that they were expected to learn it ... they did. He has given the majority of Americans HOPE.


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C- Foreign Policy ... I would give the President an A for his handling of the Somali Pirates (would have been an A+ if he had acted 3 days earlier). The rest of his foreign policy is a disaster. Bowing to the Saudi King would not have been that bad if he had just explained that it was an error. It might have actually played well for him. But trying to deny what everyone could actually see for themselves was very Clintonesque. Acting friendly with the rulers of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and China is an actual slap in the face of those people that are currently fighting, dead or imprisoned in those countries for trying to bring to their despotic homelands just a sliver of the freedoms that we enjoy in the United States. The USA should be helping those fighting against oppressive rule, not glad-handing their oppressors.
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D Economy ... Much as I hate even thinking about TARP, this has to be addressed here. Now this is a combined grade with the Bush administration having authorized and spent half of it. But it seems that having given 600 Billion to the Banks in order to loosen-up lending, shouldn't they be lending more? Kudos to Wells Fargo, which has actually increased lending from last year, but to the rest of the banks ... well, lucky you can't see the gesture that I am sending your way. Bank of America used the TARP money to buy other banks ... I guess that way they could get the TARP money from the banks they bought too. And now, when some banks want to give the money back, the government doesn't want to take it. Moving on to the "stimulus package" ... have you ever seen such a pork-filled political pay-back packed piece of s&*7 legislation? Guess the President didn't keep his word about vetoing bills with earmarks. And I don't have enough memory in this computer to go on about his 10 trillion dollar budget. I better stop now before I lower his grade.
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A+++Social Issues ... WTF??? you may be asking yourself, have the Blogway Boys gone completely crazy? This guy is a total disaster on social issues. But guess what folks, we all knew where he stood when we elected him, and boy has he delivered.
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F Defense ... The most important job of government is to keep us safe. As far as I'm concerned there is no debate on this, and all the other things that government does for us (post office, schools, roads etc) is just an added blessing (or curse). This administration is going to leave us weakened militarily and open to an attack that may make September 11th look like the good old days. Seems that all the other divisions of the government (commerce, agriculture etc) got bigger in the Obama budget, while defence was told to cut back. One of the things that the Army has been told to cut back is FCS (future combat systems). This includes things like robots for clearing minefields and disarming mines as well as things like the Predator drones that have been so effective in Iraq and Afghanistan and allow our troops to kill the enemy from miles away and have been directly responsible for saving lives and limbs. Mr. President ... just because you abolished the term "war on terror", doesn't mean that there aren't people out there that want to kill Americans ... and it is your responsibility to ensure that they don't succeed. And by the way, releasing memos on enhanced interrogation techniques and photos of abuse is not the way to safeguard America's security ... It's just a way to pander to your base.

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"PLEASE SAVE MY BABY-BOY"

Well, it didn't take very long did it? Some intrepid reporter tracked down the family of the lone-surviving Somali pirate. His mom is now pleading with the President to pardon her son because he was enticed into piracy by "gangsters with money". Newsflash mom, that's how most criminals turn to crime. The mom also wants the President to allow her to come to the United States to be with her boy (probably at taxpayer expense). She says her boy is only 16 ... though he says he is 19. On the off-chance that he is 16, she should be allowed a visa to visit her son and attend the trial ... but she needs to come up with the money to do so.

In yet another example of lawyer self-aggrandisement, prominent New York Civil Rights attorney, Ron Kuby is in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the young pirate. I never met a lawyer that didn't love press coverage, and Kuby is no exception.

In a welcome turn of events, several attempts to hi-jack other ships have been thwarted by NATO forces this past week. It just goes to show that when America steps up and shows strength, other nations follow. It's time for America to take the lead wherever evil people attempt to oppress others ... are you listening Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinijad and Kim Il Sung?

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Well Done Mr President ... BUT

I don't get to say this often but, "Kudos Mr President", your decision to let the Seals take out those Somali pirates was the correct one. Those 3 shots heard round the horn of Africa sent a simple and clear message ... you mess with our citizens ... you pay a steep price. This is the kind of message that I the world expected of a Ronald Reagan ... and it is very refreshing indeed to get it from a Barrack Obama.

I've been listening to the pundits for the last day or so, and there seems to be a consensus that the President's actions were to appease the conservative and pro national defense moderates in the country, but I say ... "So What???" A right decision reached for the wrong reasons is still a right decision.

Now be careful Mr. President, there will be a gnawing feeling in your gut to apologize to the families of these maritime terrorists ... DON'T DO IT! Your actions showed strength, and we absolutely do not want to be viewed as weak by the world. If this was your international "test", you passed with flying colors. Any "extra-credit work" will only lower your grade.

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What Did You Expect?

Congratulations America ... What 40+ years of the Cold War couldn't accomplish, President Obama did within the first 100 days of his Reign. We have now socialized a good portion of our economy. First our financial institutions, and now a major portion of our manufacturing sector. Next on the list ... Health Care.

Now, the President was well within his rights to fire the CEO of General Motors. Think of this as a "de-facto" bankruptcy, and our new Car-Dealer-N-Chief as the Bankruptcy judge. He is simply ordering the restructuring of the company. He got that "right" when GM got tax-payer money.

The President has given Government Motors 60 days to wring concessions from the UAW (United Auto Workers Union) to ensure the company's viability. I guess a "worker's paradise" will have to be put on hold for a while. At the end of the 60 days, I guess GM will have to go into bankruptcy so that they can void their contracts with the unions, suppliers and dealers. Because, does anyone think the union will actually voluntarily give up anything?

It is my opinion, that this has put the President in a bad position. He has staked so much political capital on GM succeeding, he is going to have to continue to pour billions of dollars into the company. If GM goes down, it will be seen as a failure by the President.

The big question is ... How much pressure is the President going to put on the Unions, they are the ones that brought him to the dance after all.

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Can Hillary Drink Her Way To The White House?

Whoever said that President Bush was a party animal, never hung out with Senator Clinton. Pictures found on Hillary's my space page show that she is the original "Party Girl". Whether it is shots and beer in Indiana or a bottle of Presidente beer in Puerto Rico ... This chick knows how to party down.

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Can you imagine the election party if she gets elected? I hear special beer funnels have been ordered in anticipation of her election. Both the funnels and beer kegs will have the Presidential seal emblazoned boldly upon them.

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But seriously, what in the world is she thinking? Does she think that by swilling beer and shots she will be able to win the vote of the typical hard-working middle class American? I actually think this is insulting to your average American. We want someone who is better than us in the White House ... I wouldn't trust the average American with their finger on the button.

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Lest I forget to pile on to Obama, the presumptive nominee flew into El Paso yesterday and hopped in his motorcade for Las Cruces, NM without stopping at all. Who cares if El Paso has a population of over 600,000 and Las Cruces has a population of only 86,000. Obama and his wife don't seem to want the votes of this heavily Democratic city. Neither Michelle or Barrack have deigned to visit our fair city, but both have been to Las Cruces. Former President Clinton has been here twice, Chelsea once and Hillary kicked off her Texas campaign here. Is it any wonder that Clinton got 70% of the vote here in the primary and 90% of the caucus delegates. To add insult to injury ... Barrack decided to send a surrogate to El Paso. Now, El Paso has a population that is 76.2% Hispanic ... so who did he choose to send??? George Lopez!!! Hispanics I have asked about this were very insulted, they love George Lopez as a comedian ... but felt that maybe Bill Richardson would have been a better choice.

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To take a line from CFS ... Isn't Politics Fun?

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Hilary Bosnia Lie TRUE! New Footage

See ... and everyone thought she was mispeaking.

This video was proudly stolen from barelypolitical.com

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Racism In America

Judging from this picture, racism starts early in America.

Wow, this is a pretty serious title for a blog post, as well as a very serious subject. I hope I can write something worthy. Senator Obama attempted to address this issue in a speech this week ... and while it did make people sit up and notice, I don't think it went far enough. At least one statement from the speech has started a discourse into the subject that may bear fruit ... though I doubt the Senator was attempting to broach the subject when he said it.

During his speech, Obama referenced his own grandmother (who is white), and some of the racist feelings and prejudices she had. A couple of days later, after probably getting an ear-full from granny, the Senator tried for some damage control on a Philly sports radio show. During that interview, Obama stated that his grandmother was a "typical white person", and if she sees someone on the street that she doesn't know (black) .... there is a reaction.

Now, the use of the word "typical" is of course prejudicial (regardless of how true it may be). The right-wing pundits are having a "field-day" with this ... and the Clinton camp is just sitting back and enjoying the show. This is the peril that we all face while walking through the mine-field that has become race relations in the United States. The problem seems to be that we are incapable of having an "adult" discussion of race without one group or another taking offense. Until we can "grow-up" as a nation, we will be mired exactly where we are now. As for that discussion, as a "typical white person", I think we need it.

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