An American Tragedy

I've often pondered and occasionally stated in this blog that Barack Obama was not ready to be President. He lacked the experience, especially the Washington experience to handle the complexities and the political maneuvering of the job.

Sadly, I have once again been proved right. But much, much worse, he lacks the temperament and intelligence to handle the job. What we are watching this past few weeks is simply heartbreaking.

Now I must stop this essay for a moment and say that we all must support President Obama to the very best of our abilities. He is OUR PRESIDENT. And we all need him to succeed. Our success as a country is tied directly to his success as a President.

But that doesn't mean for even a millisecond that we should not criticize his mistakes, and point out his failings. We also should compliment his successes and, most important, we should give him our advice and council.

But now Barack Obama has made a potentially tragic error. Although he has already broken almost every single campaign promise he made in 2008, he is now breaking his most important promise and violating his trust with the American people. He has decided he will not be President of all the people, but only of the people who agree wholeheartedly with his every mood and policy swing.

So Barack Obama has decided to make enemies of FOX News, The Chamber of Commerce, and various media pundits. More importantly, he has made enemies of everyone who watches FOX, runs a small business or occasionally even rarely agrees with a Limbaugh, Hannity or Beck.

Why is this happening?

Timothy P. Carney writes today in The Washington Examiner, "Chamber lobbyist Bruce Josten told me that White House is picking a high-profile fight with his group because, given Democratic supermajorities, Obama "needs an enemy" to blame for the difficulty he's having in getting his policies approved."

"But there's another reason Obama is running low on enemies: He's already bought off many of the most powerful industries and businesses."

"Look at health care, where Obama has brought the name-brand drug makers on board to his reform with promises of subsidies and pledges not to attack the industry's special favors. Look at cigarettes, where Obama signed a tobacco regulation bill with the firm backing of Philip Morris."

"And of course, look at climate-change legislation, where Obama has on his side coal giants like American Electric Power, manufacturing giants like Nike, agribusiness giant Monsanto, and lobbying giant General Electric, to name a few. The Democrats have bought off these special interests by rigging the legislation so that taxpayer and ratepayer money is funneled into corporate coffers."

Indeed, much of what is happening here is done to distract Obama's critics and especially his supporters. And it's working. The Press is eating this up. Virtually every newscast is covering Obama's fight with FOX News and The Chamber.

But, We the People are the losers. In creating a class warfare between Americans, Obama is dividing the country as it has never been divided before.

Wesley Pruden writes today in his essay Obama's Third World Press Rant. "Mr. Obama and his White House can't seem to get their brains around the fact that the election of '08 is over, and he won. A candidate feeds on red meat, but a president is the president of everyone, and must set a different table."

"Mr. Obama campaigned with promises of a post-racial, post-partisan, post-rancor administration, and millions of Americans responded with enthusiasm. The candidate who said he took inspiration from Abraham Lincoln of Illinois now acts as if he takes inspiration from the distinguished statesmen of the Third World, where press opposition to the leader is usually a bloody no-no. The remarkable White House attempt to define which news organization is legitimate and which is not began in August, as Mr. Obama's poll numbers began a dramatic slide."

The press from the other networks are beginning to see the light and many are questioning the Presidents actions and motives.

And the public is appalled. Obama's poll numbers are sinking at an alarming rate. Frankly they should be sinking faster because this level of betrayal of the American people is tragic.

The British newspaper The Telegraph writes, "The decline in Barack Obama's popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years."

Peggy Noonan, a liberal leaning Republican in name only, who has generally been supportive of the President writes in The Wall Street Journal, "At a New York fund-raiser this week, Obama said to the Democratic audience, are "an opinionated bunch." They always have a lot of thoughts and views. Republicans, on the other hand—"the other side"—aren't really big on independent thinking. "They just kinda sometimes do what they're told. Democrats, y'all thinkin' for yourselves."

"It is never a good sign when the president gets folksy, dropping his g's, because he is by nature not a folksy g-dropper but a coolly calibrating intellectual who is always trying to guess, as most politicians do, what normal people think. When Mr. Obama gets folksy he isn't narrowing his distance from his audience but underlining it. He shouldn't do this."

"But the statement that Republicans just do what they're told was like his famous description of unhappy voters as people who "cling to guns or religion." (What comes over him at fund-raisers?) Both statements speak of a political misjudgment of his opponents and his situation.They show a misdiagnosis of the opposition that is politically tin-eared. Politicians looking to win don't patronize those they're trying to win over."

Sadly, Peggy Noonan has misread the President's intent. He has absolutely no desire to win over the other side. He really wants to simply destroy them. Failing that, he wants to ignore them or bully them into compliance. He is a Blue State Only President. We can support the President best by simply turning a majority of states back to red.