"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,"

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," is probably the most famous quote by any President in our lifetime.  President Bush's praise of FEMA Director Michael Brown during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 illustrated to ALL the American public exactly how out of touch the President was concerning the unfolding disaster in New Orleans.  The public was watching the disaster unfold, live, on television.  President Bush, briefed badly by incompetent advisers simply had no idea what was happening.

Bush rallied and by all impartial accounts did a masterful job in directing the efforts in the aftermath of Katrina, making over a dozen grueling trips and personally overseeing every aspect of the recovery*, but he is always remembered for that one quote.

Because we are now so used to President Obama lying about absolutely everthing, his stating that he's “not interested in photo ops" in defending his decision to not visit the border even one time will never receive the legendary status of the Bush "Brownie" quote.  Never-the-less it does illustrate exactly how horribly out of touch he is concerning the current border immigration crisis.

Fortunately ABC NEWS is covering the situation in depth.  Their report Here's What Obama Would See If He Visited the Border is frightening.  Be certain to read and watch the entire story at the link above. Below is a tiny portion of the report.

Children, wrapped only in Red Cross blankets, sleep on cement floors. Hundreds of young children apprehended at the border are crowded into sanitary but impersonal detention cells, their faces pressed listlessly against the glass.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told ABC News that the president risks looking “detached,” calling the optics “horrible.”

“If you go down to the border, he has to see the kids that I’ve seen, young girls, young boys, you know, that have come through very difficult situations. It is a humanitarian crisis, and he can either do two things,” Cuellar said. “One, as a leader, he can be defiant and say I’m going to roll up my sleeves and see the humanitarian crisis. Or he can look detached, appear detached and say I’m doing everything long distance.”

Today it is certainly Barack Obama who is out of touch.  And, unlike President Bush during Katrina, Obama isn't doing a damned thing to alleviate the situation,  Instead he demonizes Republicans.  He makes speeches calling Republican's evil.  He doesn't even try to win over popular public support. He seems more interested in making enemies than allies. He has yet to appeal to the American Public, who would, most assuredly, rally to the cause.

Today it is Glenn Beck of all people who is doing the right thing for all the right reasons.  It is Beck who is illuminating the crisis and it is Beck who is appealing directly to the American People for support, tolerance and understanding.  

The President ought to ask Glenn Beck for a ride and join him on the border.  The President ought to appeal to the public for donation, support and a willingness to take in refugees in their local communities.  The President ought to pretend, for just a few hours to be a leader.  Frankly, Obama needs a photo-op.

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* See and read how President Bush handled the aftermath of the Katrina Crisis in Jonathan Tilove's New Orleans Times-Picayune article written in October 2009. 

A Nation Cries out for a Leader

For five and one half years we've had, as President, a man who loves the trappings of the office, but dislikes and avoids any of the real responsibilities of the job.  Barack Obama is a gifted orator, perhaps the greatest to even hold the office of President. He is a visionary and a man who, at least at one time, had a real feel for the pulse of the people.

He has vision, but lacks virtually any ability.  He is not a leader and he is not, most certainly, a politician.  He cannot negotiate and is completely unwilling to compromise.  He rails daily against Republicans for not bending to his will, but never works with them to achieve a mutual advantage.  Mutual being the operative word.

Slowly, but surely, the press and the public have turned against him. Today most people (a surprisingly large majority) wish they had elected Mitt Romney president. Add me to that column, because today we really need a President. And we don't have one.

Because he has no ability to manage the office, Barack Obama has checked out. Republican's claim Obama has chosen to become an "Imperial President," acting on his own as if he were a king.  Even that is not true, he simply has embarked on a two and a half year retirement tour doing the only thing he knows how to do, give speeches to dwindling and increasingly hostile crowds.

Have we ever had a President have complete breakdown in office?  Rumor has it that Woodrow Wilson did.  Wilson's wife managed much of the last years of his Presidency.

Today the border and immigration problem has reached crisis proportions.  The administration is furtively hiding tens of thousands of illegal immigrants all over the country, many of them children.  Even Congressmen and Governors are being kept on the dark, not allowed to visit immigrants or encampments or even allowed to know the locations where illegal immigrants are held. Rumors are rampant.

Rich Lowrey (yes, I know he is a partisan Republican) has written a brilliant essay in The New York Post, The President's Man Caused Disaster. Below are some key points, rearranged and abbreviated by me. Be certain you follow the link above and read his original and complete essay.

The first rule in a crisis for any executive is put on his windbreaker and boots and get out on the ground. President George W. Bush didn’t do it soon enough after Hurricane Katrina and, politically, could never make up for it.

Obama’s bizarre resistance to visiting the border on his fundraising swing out West fueled talk of the influx as Obama’s “Katrina moment.”

The president didn’t have any depressing visits to frightened ranchers, overwhelmed border agents or desperate migrants on his itinerary.

Obama’s policies are responsible for the influx of immigrants from the border. It is, in the argot of his administration, a “man-caused disaster.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the number of immigrants younger than 18 who were deported or turned away from ports of entry declined from 8,143 in 2008 to 1,669 last year. There were 95 minors deported from the entire interior of the country last year.

At the same time, the number of unaccompanied alien children arriving from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras exploded from less than 4,000 several years ago to 40,000 since last October.

The White House brushes off criticism that Obama is avoiding the border as mere “optics,” in contrast to its highly substantive focus.

But it’s still not taking the crisis seriously. In a letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett downgraded the erstwhile “humanitarian crisis” on the border (the president’s words) to an “urgent humanitarian situation.”

When pressed on the shift in verbiage, ever-judicious White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained that it is both a crisis and a situation. Yes, it’s that bad.

The real question is can President Obama "Man Up" and accept the responsibilities of President?  We really need a leader.  Actually we really need several leaders.

In 1974 it was a trio of Republicans in Congress who grew to accept the challenge and face down another "Imperial President," Richard Nixon.  It would have been impossible for a Democrat, a member of the opposition, to carry the hard facts to President Nixon.  If the crisis in leadership in 1974 was to be solved, it had to be done by members of the President's own party.

It was Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, House Minority Leader John J. Rhodes and Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, who had both the integrity and courage to face President Nixon with the news that he must resign for the good of the country.

It is quite interesting that just a few days ago Barack Obama named Richard Nixon as one of the Republicans he most admires [LINK: Obama's speech in Austin Texas]. 

Let's hope President Obama does not have to resign. Let's hope he can become the President our country so desperately needs.

Why I HATE Political Parties and Partisan Bull

I've always been a big, big supporter and fan of Republican Representative Paul Ryan. Even though I'm a Democrat I cheered when Ryan was selected as Mitt Romney's running mate in the last election.  He is one of Washington's finest. He is certainly one of their brightest. He's honest and even handed, logical and fair, pragmatic yet principled.

Here's a great example from today's news.  Ryan is working hard, against his own political party, to help Immigration Reform happen.  From the Boston Globe:

Dem Pin Immigration Hopes on GOP's Ryan 

Democrats doggedly pursuing a far-reaching immigration bill are counting on help from Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate last year and an unlikely candidate for delivering the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda.

 Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman who is frequently mentioned in the GOP lineup of possible 2016 presidential candidates, stands apart from many fellow House Republicans in favoring a way out of the shadows for the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. in violation of the law. He casts sweeping overhaul as a necessity to ensure both economic and national security — a fitting argument for an acolyte of Jack Kemp, the late Republican congressman and 1996 vice presidential candidate who backed an ill-fated effort in 2006 to overhaul the immigration system. 

‘‘Paul Ryan says we cannot have a permanent underclass of Americans, that there needs to be a pathway to citizenship,’’ says Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who has been working relentlessly on immigration legislation. ‘‘He is my guiding light. I know I get him in trouble every time I say it.’’

Ryan is being himself.  He hasn't changed and he doesn't change to suit the political party line.  He is a man of principle and substance.

Here's why I hate Political Party's and the mindless partisan hacks who simply echo the party line without a single intelligent thought of their own.  Many of my fellow Democrats and especially the so-called "Progressives" who now praise Rep. Ryan were lambasting him as the worst human being alive (or dead) during the last election.  He was called every name in the book and accused of hating old people, women and minorities.  None of that was true.  None of that was necessary.  And any reasonable person with moderate intelligence knew it.

The Difference Between Republicans and Democrats

I've written this before.  Probably a lot.  It is one of the greatest oddities of our democracy.


The difference between Republicans and Democrats:


Democrats LOVE laws, they love to write and pass them at the drop of a hat, but they HATE enforcing them.


Republicans HATE laws and want as few on the books as possible but, once they are passed, DEMAND that the be enforced to the letter of the law.


This classic dilemma is being played out today with President Obama's new "guidelines" to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  He has basically done what most Democrats always do, ask law enforcement officers or the courts to ignore and not enforce the law.


First it's important to point out that I like and support the DREAM ACT and feel we need a reasonable way to deal with immigration in this country.  Certainly we should not punish children who were forced to come to the United States by their parents when they were children or even infants.


President Obama feels it would be impossible to pass such a law through Congress, so his answer is..... just don't enforce existing laws.


This is a double dilemma because the President is charged with the enforcement of this law.  At a different time there might be calls for his Impeachment over this gross failure to fulfill his duties,  However, the election is just days away and the public will get the ultimate decision on Obama's actions.


But the second of the double dilemma's is more serious.  His directives are so lax and so unclear it is causing a major, extremely negative, reaction among ICE agents.  They are being forbidden from doing their job, even when their lives are in danger.  


Basically, all illegals who are not wanted for serious crimes as simply being set free, regardless of age or situation.  ICE agents are being fined, suspended ofr doing what was, until a few weeks ago, their jobs.


Here is a snippet from a longer report from Todd Starnes: ICE Agents: Morale is in the Toilet

Morale among Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is at an all-time low more than a month after the Obama administration announced major changes to the nation’s immigration enforcement policy, according to the head of a national agency representing thousands of agents. 

“Morale is in the toilet right now,” said Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council. “Most of the guys out in the field are just in an uproar.” President Obama’s policy allows the federal government to use “prosecutorial discretion” to allow younger illegal immigrants to stay in the country and get work permits. 

Critics called it backdoor amnesty, but the administration said it stops short of granting illegals citizenship. 

“They call it discretion but it’s not our discretion,” Crane told Fox News. “We have no discretion.” Crane said a case involving a veteran ICE agent is a perfect illustration. The agent arrested an illegal who was not a “primary target.” The agent’s superior officers ordered the illegal released – even though he did not meet the criteria listed by the Dept. of Homeland Security. The officer refused to follow orders and is now facing a three day suspension. 

The 35-year-old illegal immigrant with ten traffic violations was released.

The problem is that we have a President who is legislatively incompetent and lacks basic leadership skills.  The back door is always the President's favorite door. He can't work with Congress.  He has no idea how our Government works, even after four rather horrific years.


I'm concerned his second term will not be any better.


We need fair laws and clear, strong, impartial enforcement.  We need the best of both Republicans and Democrats.


UPDATE 8/4/2012: John Nolte is married to a legal immigrant from Mexico and supports The Dream Act and also supports an improved and streamlined path to legal immigration.  


But John joins me in condemning President Obama for his failure to enforce the law and Obama's failure to seek  a legislative solution to this problem, in spite of overwhelming public support.  Read his passionate essay here: $465 FOR AMNESTY: OBAMA TO MAKE ILLEGALS LEGAL BEFORE ELECTION DAY