Things aren’t coming up roses for Barack Hussein Obama these days.  Just the opposite.  There’s a lot of “bubbling crude” (thanks, Jed Clampett) in the president’s life, and only some of it is coming up from the Gulf.  The rest of the president’s headaches are largely of his own making.  Their cause?  Hubris, more than anything.

The oil spill is an undeniable disaster that will hurt the Gulf coast and those who live and work there. It also hurts Obama because he took so long to at least pretend he was concerned and ready to help.  Don’t believe Farrakhan and Oprah.  Just because they call Barry “The Messiah” and “the One,” the president shouldn’t be expected to single-handedly stop the leak.  On the other hand, Obama treated the Gulf oil disaster with his usual fecklessness.  He vacationed, he golfed, he shot hoops, and he partied.  Now his behavior has come back to haunt him.  (GW Bush would’ve been in the thick of the muck right away.  There’s no doubt that even Bill Clinton would’ve shown more genuine concern for those affected by the spill than has Obama.)

The Obama regime’s tendency to rewrite history doesn’t help the president, either.  The Gulf calamity is no exception.  To hear Obama’s staff talk about it, they were on it “from Day One.”  And yet, the truth – caught on audio and video at various times – is that Obama & Co. have vacillated from wanting to be divorced from the oil well crisis (it happened on BP’s watch; they have to clean it up) to being fully in control. Obama did finally go on TV to say that as president, the disaster is his fault, but that guilt appropriation came far too late. In fact, it rang as true as shots of a concerned Obama, wearing brand new work boots, squatting on the Gulf shores and picking gingerly at tar balls.

What rings more true is the regime’s attempt to cast BP as Satan. The company’s stock is falling. Yesterday (June 3), it was reported that BP is losing profits at the pumps.  Yes, Obama and his worker bees have been on the job “from Day One,” but a lot of what they’ve done involves spreading vitriol against BP, casting it as the Big Bad Oil Company. Hey, but what are friends for, right, especially when the company in question was one of the president’s top campaign contributors (Erika Lovley, "Obama biggest recipient of BP cash," POLITICO, May 5, 2010, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36783.html).

And let’s not forget the Arizona immigration law situation.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer had to all but beg Obama to see her before the president granted her an audience this week.  Obama has done nothing but bash Brewer’s brave attempts to right her state’s immigration wrongs.  He let visiting Mexican president Calderon bash the new immigration law and supported the dissent.  Is that any way for the leader of our country – which includes Arizona, whether Obama likes it or not – to behave?  It also appears to us that Obama's move to put troops on the border is designed not so much to help the situation but to trump each state's ability to secure its own borders.  In other words, he's working to remove each state's power.

Red Alert claxons must be blaring throughout the White House these days – and the Obama regime has only itself to thank for the meltdown. The administration's hubris is shining through with stark clarity.  Obama & friends got so bigheaded, they thought they could go on making Chicago backroom deals forever. Now their empire is teetering.

In fact, the regime is so desperate for a toehold that it’s suddenly become more supportive of Israel. This, from Obama, who disgraced Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during their last White House summit by ditching BB and going upstairs alone for dinner! (Of course, Round Two of the Gaza flotilla crisis is coming up. We suspect it won’t be long before Obama throws Israel back under the bus, as he’s done from Day One of his presidency.)

Will anything come of these combined crises?  Conservatives can cry foul all day, but in the end, how much the Obama presidency is hurt by this bad behavior rests on the shoulders of elected Republicans.  They have to be as tenacious as Dlck Morris has been in sounding the alarm on Bribegate.  They have to point out every indiscretion.  They cannot let up or it's over.  Obama's moves to dictate his agenda against the will of the people will surely continue until Republicans can take back both the Senate and House in November, but that’s no reason to let up on the pressure. In fact, the shenanigans we’re seeing on various fronts are all the more reasons to make sure that change is effected in November.

Those of us who are concerned and really want change will do what we can. We’ll keep informed; we’ll comment; we’ll rally – but if ever there were a time for elected conservatives to fight against Obama’s abuse of power, it’s now.  Republicans need to keep the pressure on the administration – or get out of the way and let We the People elect committed individuals who will.

It’s all over but the mopping up. President Obama got his wish and ObamaCare health care passed the House. The bill goes back to the Senate for tweaking, but the reality is that no matter what kind of stalling conservatives may do from now on, socialized medicine will soon be a reality in the United States of America. Still, we should all bear in mind that this is the end of a bloody battle, but not the end of the war of progressives vs. We the People.

There are very good reasons why conservatives must continue to fight. There are also some great ways to do it. First and foremost, we need to keep alive the memory of this indignity – the survival of the country is at stake.

Political junkies on both sides were absorbed by the ObamaCare fight from the start. The issue grew so volatile that even Americans who aren’t usually politically tune in started to pay attention. It’s that latter group – the many who said NO! to the bill as loudly and forcefully (and peacefully) as they could – who must not turn away and say why even bother next time.

It’s vital to keep reminding that particular group of the November 2010 and 2012 elections. As Mark Steyn pointed out recently (The Rush Limbaugh Radio Show, March 15, 2010), American cultural memory can be fleeting. If the Democrats had their way, they would now simply move to the next issue. Yet no one should forget the way this Democratic President and Congress ignored their cries against ObamaCare and worse, propagandized no’s into yeses. “We’re doing this for the American people” is a lie that was spouted again and again the past few months. If we believe Obama, House Queen Nancy Pelosi and “Dirty” Harry Reid, they pushed for socialized medicine for American citizens across the land.

Wrong. They did so to build one of the largest self-worship trophies in American history. This massive dung heap will be the biggest testament of Obama’s obsession with building a legacy to Obama. The same goes for Pelosi. ObamaCare is about control and has little to do with health care. It’s a massive power grab that absconds with our liberties. Obama and camp purport that their entitlement program will determine our medical care rather than our doctors.

Thus far, Obama’s record of accomplishment has been abysmal. This is the victory his presidency needed to sell to Americans, especially as he gets closer to running for a second term. And this is exactly the reason why everyone concerned must continue to tout the lies they sold us – so that people don’t forget; so that they’ll go to the polls and vote the Dems out of office.

The second reason for a continued fight is that the alternative means an entrenchment of the Dems in office for a stretch of time the likes of which this country has never experienced.

Now that ObamaCare is all but a done deal, the administration will surely turn its attention to the immigration issue. In fact, it already has: last week, we learned that Obama “gave a thumbs up to the framework of a plan to legalize illegal immigrants and create a flow of low-skilled foreign workers for the future” (Stephen Dinan, “Obama endorses immigration blueprint,” Washington Times, March 16, 2010, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/18/obama-endorses-immigration-blueprint/). We can thank Senators UpChuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-DC) for the drafted proposal. Imagine the selling point that ObamaCare will be for illegal aliens to race through legalization. OK doesn’t have a problem with legalizing those who go through proper channels that include citizenship tests, but blanket amnesty shouldn’t be considered. (We should also place higher priority on those with skills and trades that aren’t as readily available here in the states, but that’s an argument for another day.) Imagine the gratitude (read: votes) that legalizing America’s illegal immigrants will bring to Obama and the Democrats.

In the midst of the contentious health care battle, libs were not above accusing conservatives of being racist, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic, greedy, insensitive and worse. It was all smoke and mirrors designed to allow them to inch ever closer to their massive power grab. The Right must continue to ignore the Left’s taunts. They’ve always been abhorrent to patriots. Thankfully, conservatives fought passionately against ObamaCare and did so from an informed platform. And they fought with a civility that far outclassed the Left.  

Obama won a major fight last night. It was a dirty fight and he broke every rule of bipartisanship, open doors and transparency he claimed he would abide by in the course of the battle – but he won nonetheless. Still, the fight must go on if we hope to restore some semblance of democracy to our great nation.

It sounded like the stuff of a seedy potboiler. The American president’s chief of staff approached a congressman in the House gym shower. There, both dripping wet and naked, the chief of staff bullied the congressman for not voting the president’s way on a major issue. Each recrimination was emphasized by a poke of the finger into the nude congressman’s chest.

That’s pretty the tale former Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY) has peddled for a couple of days. Massa railed against White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Obama and the rest of the DC swamp House Queen Nancy Pelosi promised to drain. According to Massa, his forthcoming nay vote on ObamaCare was the last straw. The White House decided he had to go. He did them a favor by stepping away from public office.

The chronicle was scandalous and potentially damning to the current administration, particularly if there was more to it. It got Massa on live television on one of the most watched TV shows in the land. Glenn Beck devoted his entire FOX News hour to the Massa affair.

Unfortunately, after those long 60 minutes, Massa didn’t offer anything we hadn’t heard before Beck interviewed him. The congressman’s parting shots as he leaves public life? Get Washington to fix Congressional fiscal acquisitions. Get involved. Vote.

Great. Instead of an explosive tell-all, Glenn Beck helped orchestrate a yawner. This was Rob Blaglojevich all over again, hoodwinking everyone on show after show.

But worse, Glenn Beck is at fault too. Sure, it’s tempting to blame Massa for the vacuous rhetoric that filled the hour, but Beck could have dug much deeper.

And it wasn’t as if the White House didn’t try to bury Massa deeper – and in the process, help Beck! 90 minutes before airtime, the proverbial “explosive new allegations” against Massa surfaced. It wasn’t just his behavior at the party that damned him. It wasn’t just tousling another guy’s hair and saying he should take him upstairs and BLEEP him – actions that Massa decided to sum up as “salty language.” According to the new charges, Massa groped an intern at a Washington apartment house. Incredibly, Massa confirmed the charges on Beck’s show. He also said he tickled the intern “until he couldn’t breathe;” that the incident was no more than horseplay. And then he revealed that for a time, he lived together with several men in the apartment. (No, Barney Frank’s name didn’t come up.)

This is not what we had in mind when we tuned into Glenn Beck’s show today. We wanted to hear more about Rahm Emanuel’s behavior; about whether Obama had conversed with Massa about the charges leveled at him; about whether Nancy Pelosi muscled Massa into resigning.

We wanted answers to the questions Glenn Beck didn’t ask. Questions like:

Congressman Massa, has Rahm Emanuel threatened you more overtly since the shower incident?

               Did anyone in the White House contact you and try to convince you to resign your Congressional seat?

Is the new “groping” bombshell the last skeleton the White House or anyone in Congress can pull out of your closet?

How well do you know the person you admit you groped? Would you have described it as “groping” before these allegations surfaced? Do you think the groped one was bought off? If so, by whom?

Since you claim that you’re leaving the public eye, how about some strong parting punches? Who among your colleagues of either party is the most corrupt politico and why? I know I asked you to “name names.” I do so again. Be specific.

Beck asked two pointed questions. In essence: why run if you want to change the system? And why run if you’re innocent? Otherwise, this would-be explosive hour was a whole lot of fizzle.

As his show was wrapping, Beck made the following admission: “America, I’m gonna shoot straight with you, I think I’ve wasted your time.” We respect him for that. After all, most networks use hyperbole to sell shows, but we expect FOX News to deliver the goods.  Beck knows you can cry wolf once or twice. After that, your credibility is shot.

Senator Evan Bayh’s (D-IN) surprise step-away from future office seeking is another positive signal that conservatism is on the rise in this country. It’s also more bad news for the Democrats, who are noticeably on the brink of losing both Congressional houses in November.

Bayh’s announcement also signals courage: it’s clear he doesn’t want to be associated with a lying Congress. There’s talk of Queen Nancy Pelosi and Prince Harry Reid backroom dealing on health care again (“Your World,” Fox News, Feb. 15) – before President Obama’s desired meeting with representatives of both parties on the subject. It may be that Bayh is tired of these shenanigans or, as one analyst on Fox posited, that he’s sick of the way Democrats have bloated our country’s deficit.

In the end, why Bayh is leaving is less important than that he is leaving. And it shows that the Democratic Party is in major trouble because of its members’ persistent fudging of facts. Either they live in a deluded state or they seek to rewrite history with an ongoing spewing of lies. Either they are guilty of Democratic History Fudging Syndrome (DHFS) or Democratic Delusional Syndrome (DDS). Both afflictions are dangerous to Americans. OK applauds Bayh and anyone else who runs away from such malarkey.

How far do you have to stretch your memory to find stark examples of DHFS or DDS? Why, no more than a few days. Yesterday on ABC’s “This Week,” former vice-president Dlck Cheney said he finds it strange that the Obama administration is taking credit for winning the Iraq war. If they do, Cheney said, “it ought to go with a healthy dose of ‘Thank you, George Bush’.”

On “Larry King Live” last week, Biden claimed that winning Iraq “could be one of the great achievements of this [Obama] administration” (CNN, February 10, 2010). And on his Sunday TV appearance yesterday, Biden said it’s Cheney who’s trying to rewrite history. “Let me choose my words carefully here,” Biden said. “Dlck Cheney’s a fine fellow. He’s entitled to his own opinion. He’s not entitled to rewrite history” (ABC, “Meet the Press,” February 14, 2010).

Those are pretty amazing Valentine’s Day arrows you flung, Cupid Joe. Let’s start with the very idea that anything Biden ever says is comprised of words he carefully chose. The “fine fellow” comment also rings false. This from a guy who during the last Vice-President debate called Dlck Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American in history” (“Transcript: the Vice Presidential Debate,” The New York Times, October 2, 2008, http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/vice-presidential-debate.html).

But most frightening is the fact that Biden apparently forgets that George W. Bush’s Iraq troop surge worked – so well, apparently, that Obama finally relented to try a similar move in Afghanistan.

Or perhaps Biden didn’t forget and it’s a clear case of Democratic History Fudging Syndrome. Or maybe Ann Coulter hits the mark with her own arrow, slung on Geraldo Rivera’s show last Saturday: “How long are we going to pretend that Joe Biden is not just some drunken Irishman embarrassing Obama?” (FOX TV, February 13, 2010). Take your pick. Any of these explanations is scary.

And almost as chilling is Mika Brzezinski’s claim that Jimmy Carter is “the best former president we’ve ever had” (“Morning Joe,” MSNBC, February 15, 2010). Even the most deluded lib talking head on MSNBC should have gone to commercial and called for an emergency cup inspection. Something must’ve been in Mika’s “morning joe,” right? After all, not every president was Lyndon Johnson and went home to die. What about the amazing job Richard Nixon did rebuilding his career by becoming one of this country’s greatest elder statesmen, particularly in matters of foreign policy (to say nothing of the knowledge he shared in a library of books he penned)? What about George H.W. Bush, who has lent his name to a variety of sound causes?

Hey, we could even beg to differ with Ms. Brzezinski with a Democrat example: at least Bill Clinton’s charities don’t produce houses that collapse (at least, not to OK’s knowledge).

Is Mika delusional or fudging the truth? Again, it doesn’t matter. The lesson is to hear her out, see how wrong she is and run in the opposite direction.

It’s easy to see why Obama fits so well into the far left’s liberal mold. Most far-left liberals are essentially conniving, deluded and petulant. In essence, they are bad children who never got better and certainly never grew up. It’s also easy to understand why more sober Democrats are moving away from the radical left.

The next few Novembers can’t come quickly enough at this point.

By Kelly L. Goodridge and Oscar De Los Santos

Our country has never been more divided.  It’s the far left liberals against Middle America, Tea Party patriots and Independents.  Now, the left wants to steal our children’s innocence by sexualizing them – just more sick brainwashing from the loony left.

Fox News reported yesterday that International Planned Parenthood wants mandatory Sex Ed, condoms, and to teach 10 year-olds to become “sexual beings” (“International Planned Parenthood Wants Mandatory Sex Ed Taught to 10 Year-Olds,” gatewaypunditfirstthings.com, February 9, 2010).  Late last year we learned that the United Nations was promoting the idea of teaching masturbation to five year-olds.  Obama’s Safe School Czar and queering advocate, Kevin Jennings, founded Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in 1990. Jennings promotes homosexuality and texts in our public schools that detail fisting and how young kids can hookup with older members of the same gender at bars, parking lots and other places to have sex.

Jennings is one mixed up nut: he believes that many in society are guilty of “heterosexism” because “we’re all raised to see heterosexuality as kind of the norm” (“Teaching Respect for All” video). Kind of the norm?  Well, isn’t it?

It’s clear the far left have abandoned responsible parenting, if they ever gave any thought to it.  It’s also clear they wish to disseminate their ideas via pop culture.  To wit, Molly Cyrus’s young sister is launching a clothing line of trampy outfits for kids.  This problem isn’t exclusive to America – Consider the ongoing debacle resulting from Rio’s crowning its first seven-year-old samba queen – but the American left has long done its best to champion the sexualizing of children.  (Recall the JonBenet Ramsey tragedy and kids’ beauty contests.)

As if that isn’t bleak enough, now Michelle Obama wants to monitor the foods our kids eat and put their body mass index in their school records (more government discrimination and infiltration). This, even as Obama and his corrupt deep-pocketed special interests are bankrupting America and piling debt on our kids and grandchildren’s backs.  We also learned last week that children can now volunteer for Obama in public schools.

The left is pushing their agenda in films, commercials, comic books, texts, music and arts.  They’re helped by the sycophant progragandists known as the mainstream media (MSM), which lean left and have consistently covered for the under-accomplished Obama.  Not only does the liberal media slam Tea Party patriots – MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann called them the “Tea Klux Klan” last night (February 9) – but any citizen who dares criticize the President.

The MSM also demonstrate a double standard on a daily basis.  They sensationalize any news item they feel will denigrate the right and bury any report they feel will cast a shadow on the left.  Where are the cries for a thorough investigation and ousting of Kevin Jennings?  Surely if anyone in the George W. Bush administration came out with the sort of recommendations that Obama’s Safe School Czar is foisting at us, the liberal media would be hoarse by now, such would be their cries to remove the pervert.  But Jennings – like his boss – continues to get a silent (hall) pass.

Little wonder that more parents are choosing to homeschool their children (Lindsey Burke, “Homeschooling Sees Dramatic Rise in Popularity,” The Heritage Foundation, January 28, 2009, http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm2254.cfm).

A recent episode of “Law & Order” bashed the Tea Party movement.  Now we have Marvel Comics hero Captain America afraid of the Tea Party movement – the same Captain that took on the Nazis and communists during our childhood.  And his pal “The Amazing Spider-Man” pretty much told kids to "Vote Obama" in 2008. Sarah Palin called the Tea Party movement a “ground up call to action” this weekend at her speech in Nashville.  She believes the Tea Party movement, “is about the people . . . that believe that a government that governs least, governs best.”  Her speech was greeted with cheers from the audience and received praise from radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity as they played sound bites of her pro-American words.  Yet, we have the White House, Hollywood and the mainstream media bashing, demeaning and underreporting the Tea Party movement. They call Tea Party goers sexually derogatory terms.  And Nancy Pelosi called the Tea Party phenomenon an “AstroTurf” movement and Tea Party attendees neo-Nazis last April.

Tea Party bashing is a prime example of the socialism agenda and denigration of American patriotism imbedded in today’s American pop culture.  President Obama must be delighted. These bashings advance his socialist ideology.

Two stark examples are the Green Police Audi commercial that ran during the Super Bowl and Marvel Comics’ Captain America scoffing at Tea Party goers in a recent issue.  Unfortunately, neither message is new and is only the latest in a long trend that commenced shortly after 9/11. Thanks to Barack Obama, a man who seems embarrassed by American patriotism, that trend will likely continue.

Something else that’s very disturbing here: socialist liberals are playing fast and loose with racial politics to advance their agenda.  In so doing, they’re guilty of racism. Andrew Brietbart calls the left “a collective gang of bullies” (Tea Party, Nashville, TN, 2/5/10). True, and some are racist bullies.

The Audi commercial showcases a socialist dictatorial nightmare world that many will dismiss because of the ads’ eco-message.  As sellout rockers Cheap Trick prostitute their fine song “Dream Police” and turn it into “Green Police” for the ad’s background music, a gaggle of green storm troopers riding Segways arrest anyone who dares ask for plastic bags at the grocery store, or fails to recycle plastic water bottles or dares to run a hot tub. Those arrested on the home front are affluent or middle class Americans. One man is arrested for not using the right light bulbs. The “Green” cops play rough and act menacing. Perpetrators of the environment are handcuffed, chased and stopped in traffic.

Of course we see the satire behind the ad: the guy driving the Audi is let through the roadblock because he’s driving an eco-friendly vehicle.  And yes, the Green Police are over-the-top in their zealousness and played for fools.  At the same time, the message implicit in the ads is that you better conform to “green” standards and Al Gore’s passion project or else.  It’s creepy stuff, and the fact that the ad ran during the Super Bowl when a bunch of kids were watching is creepier still.

One other troubling element in the ad: the Green Police are not shown arresting any black man or woman.  One black Green Policeman is in the mix, but those they arrest in the ad are all Caucasian men and women.  Is this reality?  Hardly, but it isn’t accurate satire, either.

What’s more un-American than failure to conform to the will of the Green Police?  Why, attending Tea Parties, of course.  Warner Todd Huston reports that in Captain America #602, the title hero and his sidekick check out a protest rally.  The comic pages Huston provides with his article show the disgruntled holding up such signs as “STOP THE SOCIALISTS” and “Tea Bag The Libs Before They Tea Bag YOU!”

 It gets worse: 

“After this we find that the Captain’s plan is to send the black man into a redneck bar to pretend to be a black man working for the IRS and to get everyone all mad… because… well, you know that every white person is a racist that hates black civil servants, right?

“So, there you have it, America. Tea Party protesters just ‘hate the government,’ they are racists, they are all white folks, they are angry, and they associate with secretive white supremacist groups that want to over throw the U.S. government.” (“Marvel Comics:  Captain America Says Tea Parties Are Dangerous and Racist,” Publius Forum, http://www.publiusforum.com/2010/02/08/marvel-comics-captain-america-says-tea-parties-are-dangerous-and-racist/)

The move toward diluting American patriotism and principles has been around for a long time, but to reiterate, it’s grown stronger since the brief flash of patriotic spirit that unified the country in the aftermath of 9/11.

Consider that during other times of war, patriotism burned brighter, not dimmer.  During World War II, Superman radio shows announced that the hero from Krypton fought “for truth, justice and the American way.”  That slogan was used in the famous 1950s Superman TV show too.  Not surprisingly, New York Times guest columnist and MSNBC.com contributor Erik Lundegaard points out that the “American way” phrase vanished from the radio opening after 1944 and that “It took the paranoia and patriotism of The Cold War era to bring back ‘the American way’” on the TV show. Lundegaard also notes that the phrase was missing from 2006’s “Superman Returns” but “There’s no reason to be upset,” he reassures us.  “Superman is right back where he began: fighting for truth and justice.  That should be enough to occupy any man” (“Truth, Justice and (Fill in the Blank),” The New York Times, June 30, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/opinion/30lundegaard.html).

Well, apparently not.  “Superman Returns” tanked at the box office. It was a travesty of a picture that lacked, among other things, a solid story, a strong hero and any kind of conviction in “truth, justice and the American way.”

One half of OK was a silver age comic buff.  He preferred Marvel Comics to the rest.  He had a “Make Mine Marvel!” poster on his bedroom door. There was a time he read (and owned) almost every issue of “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Captain America.”  Now he’s glad he stopped reading comics years ago.  Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby must be spinning in his grave over the way his hero is being used.  It’s truly ironic, really, given Captain America’s name, origin (a superhero created to fight the Nazi menace during WWII) and previous exploits to keep America safe.  O remembers with great fondness Cap's battles with archetypical anti-American villain, the Red Skull.  He remembers Cap's bid to stop the USA from falling under Red Skull's terrorist traps in a long multi-issue story leading up to the Bicentennial.  He remembers Cap's oversized Marvel Treasury Edition, “Captain America's Bicentennial Battles” that touted a true conservative America-loving spirit. (He sees the poster-sized issue's spine on his bookshelf, even as he types.)

Now some have traded in patriotism for socialism in the comics and beyond. This is more alarming than Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent comic book fears because it’s real.  It’s stark.  It’s traceable.

Well, what should we expect from Marvel Comics, a company that touted Obama propaganda in its Spider-Man issues during the last prez election?  If you want to turn your kids onto some great comic book reading, share the golden and silver age issues or reprints with them, not the current liberal sludge that's being churned out.  And no longer “Make Mine Marvel!”

Sadly, it’s also come to this: we even have to be aware of the commercials that run on the tube and be ready to explain their subtext to kids.  That’s how aggressively the liberal socialist agenda is being pushed.

Sarah Palin and Barack Hussein Obama have something in common: they both spoke before groups of their respective supporters today.  There end the similarities.  Obama sang the same old songs we’ve been hearing about fighting for us and not giving up on health care reform.  Sarah Palin sounded more presidential than our nation’s president when she addressed a packed house at the first National Tea Party Convention tonight. She showed us why there’s real hope and change in America.  Obama used those words to win the White House. Unfortunately, hope and change a la Obama are as valuable as confetti blowing through a wind machine. Palin delivers the real goods.

Palin said all that was expected tonight.  In true Palin style, she wasn’t afraid to sound patriotic or religious. She said she was proud to be an American. She thanked God for the Tea Party folks. She slammed Washington for its lack of transparency and bloated government.  She gave kudos to Ronald Reagan on what would’ve been his 99^th birthday. She welcomed C-SPAN to the proceedings, reminding everyone that the network was blocked from covering most of Obama and the Dem’s health care reform meetings.

Significantly, Sarah gave heartfelt thanks to our military – the veterans in the audience and those fighting overseas, including her son.

Then things got really interesting: a good chunk of Palin’s speech focused on foreign policy.  If anyone doubts this woman isn’t acting like a 2012 presidential candidate in the making, they need to watch her speech again.  Palin chided Obama for trying to make friends with dictators the past year; for an endless string of apologies to those who hate America; for his administration’s handling Islamic terrorists with kid gloves and reading them their Miranda rights; for fudging language when we refer to acts of terrorism and claiming “the system worked” on Christmas day, even though one of our airliners was almost blown out of the sky.

Palin called for unity in the conservative party and the Tea Party movement.  She channeled Ronald Reagan and reminded the packed Nashville house and the TV viewing audience that contra whatever we’ve heard from Obama, America’s best days aren’t over; our country is still “that shining city on a hill” that Reagan spoke of.

Country music has always been about down-home folks: their loves and troubles, tragedies and triumphs.  Sarah Palin is a one-woman political tornado that swept through the heart of American country music tonight.  She gave it to the Dems with the kind of snark that earned her the nickname Saracuda and few in the GOP camp have dared showcase. (Surely, “Don’t mess with Joe” Biden felt his ears burning as she was speaking.)

It would be a mistake to split her away from the GOP. To do so would split conservatives in half.  OK suspects Palin knows that, which is why she called for unity of spirit and ideas for those who believe in America, the Constitution and true conservatism.

In the past week, President Barack Hussein Obama has underscored the obvious: that he’s hardly the visionary president so many who voted for him believed he would be.  Instead, three major decisions coming out of the Obama administration in recent days emphasize that he is a backwards president – a man determined to take the United States out of Constitutionally chartered waters so he can “take care of his own” (Rush Limbaugh Show, February 2, 2010). Limbaugh asserts that if Obama gets his budget, with health care and Cap and Trade, it will cost America growth and prosperity and lead to its death and destruction. That’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect from our regressive socialist leader.

1. THE NATIONAL BUDGET:  Obama is determined to push our national deficit into the stratosphere.  Let’s face it: the budget is already in deep space, but Obama wants to escalate it to unprecedented heights. Today’s Wall Street Journal notes, “One rule of budget reporting is to watch what the politicians are spending this year, not the frugality they promise down the road. By that measure, the budget that President Obama released yesterday for fiscal 2011 is one of the greatest spend-while-you-can documents in American history” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204575039671922399114.html#articleTabs=article).

Obama’s $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 is cataclysmic. It repeals the Bush tax cuts.  It relies on some $870-plus billion Cap and Trade revenues, as if everyone and the Climategate scientists doesn’t know by now that you can’t rely on such monies because Cap and Trade is mercifully dying before our eyes. Moreover, Obama’s budget pretends to freeze spending for three years, but it does so at rates for certain expenditures that Obama jacked up last year.  Even the Obama-loving AP fact checked Obama’s State of the Union speech last week and found that the “spending freeze” equals less than 1% of the deficit. It’s a sham money pit that further imperils the country and places us in deeper crisis.

CNN’s Jack Cafferty also had harsh words concerning Obama’s budget. “The White House claims the President's budget will reduce the national debt by $1.2 trillion dollars over the next 10 years . . . and they say all these things with a straight face as though we're morons. Maybe we are. We keep electing the same people to Congress who are bankrupting our country . . . the mightiest economy the world has ever known is going down the toilet because these clowns in Washington D.C. refuse to rein in spending” (video, HotAir, http://hotairpundit.blogspot.com/, February 2, 2010). Cafferty’s right. This behavior just emphasizes the need to stop Obama and the far left’s socialist vision at the ballot box.

And enough with bashing Bush for the budget crisis. We must remember that Democrats controlled Congress the last couple of years of the Bush presidency – and they spent money at obscene rates. We should recall that Bush had 9/11 with which to contend and that certainly began to eat away at our fiscal reserves. Nevertheless, Obama has managed to top Bush in spending. In fact, “No president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has consumed such a large a share of the nation’s wealth through federal spending -- and FDR did it in the midst of World War II . . . . In the first two Obama budgets, spending has averaged 25.25 percent of GDP.  In the first two Bush budgets, spending averaged 19.4 percent of GDP.  That means that Obama, so far, is spending 30 percent more of GDP per year than Bush” (Terrence P. Jeffrey, “‘We have made historic strides . . . to Cut Wasteful Spending,’ Obama Says, While Presiding Over Two Biggest Federal Budgets in 65 Years,’” CNS News, February 2, 2010, http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/60807).

One last problem with our fiscal crisis: another stimulus bill – or jobs bill or whatever Obama wishes to call it – is not going to help matters. You can’t keep doling out money you don’t have on hand, Mr. President. This is the worst kind of pill to swallow because it cures nothing and makes us sicker in the long run. Enough is enough.

2. THE SPACE PROGRAM:  Even as Obama prepares to shoot the national debt into the heavens, he’s ready to launch NASA in the opposite direction. Yes, incredibly, Obama wants to toss NASA to the scrap heap.  Oh, the space program will still exist, but the distinctly American visionary thrust of the program will be mothballed.  Instead of planning future space exploration and making it reality, scientists will become glorified climate watchers. Well, those that still have a job, anyway. Today’s Miami Herald reports that Obama’s cutback for NASA will result in 7,000 jobs lost. It’s a move that “leaves the Space Coast with a sense of betrayal by President Barack Obama” (Kris Hundley and Alex Leary, “Florida feels heat of NASA cutbacks,” Miami Herald, February 2, 2010, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1458052.html). OK isn’t certain that another trip to the moon was really needed – but at least America was moving the space program and humanity forward: i.e., off the planet.  We may still do so, but by hitching rides – expensive ones, at that – with the Russians and other intrepid countries who will continue to forge humans into space. If that turns out to be the case, we may as well rename NASA “LAME.” What does the new acronym stand for? It’s no acronym, just a word.

3. GAYS IN THE MILITARY:  Desperate to appease growing descent from the left, Obama has decided to push forward and repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military.  He’s appointed a special group to get it done.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates, sounding more and more like an Obama company man and nothing more, said that the military will repeal the law that prevents gays from openly serving: “‘I fully support the president's decision,’ Gates said. ‘The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we ... best prepare for it. We have received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly.’” (“Gates Backs Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’” February 2, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/02/gates-backs-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell/). Some may argue that this is a step in the right direction – a bold move on Obama’s part – but don’t we have enough on our plate, militarily and otherwise, right now, without revisiting this volatile issue at this time? What’s transparent is that Obama wishes to do so in order to regain some of the disgruntled left’s support. By tackling this issue right now, Obama is once again putting concern for his own political future in front of the country’s best interests. Senator John McCain is right in siding with those who would like to see this issue addressed some other time: “‘At this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the “don't ask, don't tell” policy,’ McCain said bluntly, before describing it as ‘imperfect but effective’” (Michael D. Shear, “McCain shifting stance on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy?” Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020202588.html) .

Obama is a flawed leader with a socialist view of the future. With each day, he shows America that he’s a backwards president.  In some ways, at this point – if we can weather the storm – that’s a good thing.  He’s just insuring his tenure as a one-term commander-in-chief.

The most truthful line in President Barack Hussein Obama’s first State of the Union address referred to Washington’s current politicians. “We face a deficit of trust,” said the president. Unfortunately, Obama refuses to acknowledge that he also faces a deficit of accountability. Until he does, his presidency seems destined to remain broken.

Unification was definitely the theme of Obama’s first State of the Union address. A slightly more humble and substantially less angry Obama showed up to deliver the speech, which was itself comprised of many promises – some new, some old and all hard to deliver. Indeed, except for adding a few new promises to the list, Obama’s address sounded more like a recycled campaign speech, complete with many of the talking points that helped get him elected.

In the end, what stands out most about the speech, however, is that Obama refuses to own up to being America’s leader. It seems that this president will never stop his George W. Bush blame game. As a result, he still comes off like an adolescent trying to do the work of Commander-in-Chief.

Obama walked in battered and on the ropes. It’s not just the Republicans delivering the punches. His own party is furious with him for not being liberal enough and following through on reckless promises such as health care. Tonight, Obama sought to unify the parties and called for more genuine bipartisan work from Congress.

Unfortunately, he also raised specters that have helped to cripple his own administration and cast a cloud over the Democratic Party. Obama wants to fix the economy and create more jobs. He called for tax cuts for small businesses to get them to hire more people and raise their wages. But he also called for banks to pay “A modest fee . . . to payback the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.” Yet many banks have paid their debts. Some tried to pay off their loans early and were turned away by the government.

One of the scariest aspects of the Obama administration has been its massive government expansion, which includes the substantial shadow government he’s erected (think czars here). During the speech, Obama called for establishing several new government sectors – a National Export Initiative and a Fiscal Commission. This move begs the question: Do we really need to fund more government bureaucracies during our economic crisis?

In spite of some new goals, there were a lot of re-runs in the speech. We heard more about giving those who educate themselves big tax and loan cuts. We heard about 1.5 million jobs either saved or created and another million to be saved or created in the coming year. We heard about the need to continue to push for health care reform. We heard about the need for transparency and earmark exposure. Sound familiar? It does to OK too.

The health care re-run was especially disturbing. Obama made it clear that he's not backing off on health care.  He plans to move it forward despite the fact that most Americans want health care left alone.

What's more, Obama dared to talk about “peace and harmony” with regard to the right and left working together.  But what about those closed-door meetings on health care? Republicans weren’t allowed in, yet Obama targeted “the right” for not working together with Democrats.

There were a lot of straw men and straw women mentioned in the speech. Obama used these references as representative types that are supposed to stand for We the People and help us believe that the president has our best interests at heart. Unfortunately, given the track record of alienating, ignoring and even occasionally denigrating America’s middle class, Obama’s vow to fight for us rings false.

Obama was out to call everyone on the carpet tonight. He targeted special interests and the Supreme Court’s recent decision “to spend without limit in our elections.”  With regard to campaign funds, President Obama, you should recall that you broke your own campaign promises and violated the Constitution by taking foreign funding during your presidential campaign. (Isn't GE/NBC a corporation?)

And unfortunately, we heard too much Bush-bashing. Again. Obama reminded the country that a decade ago, America had a $200 billion budget surplus that was depleted before he was sworn in. “All this was before I walked in the door.” Yawn. How many times are we going to hear Bush blamed for every single setback that our country has suffered under Obama’s watch and before he took over? (It was great – and all too easy – to lip-read John McCain’s disappointed “Blame Bush” mouthing after Obama delivered the “walked in the door” line.)

Obama mentioned that “over the past few years” – in other words, while W was still president – seven million jobs were lost. But President Obama, four million jobs have been lost this past year alone. It hasn't been this bad since the early 1940s.

Adolescents pretend that problems will go away if they’re ignored. With that in mind, what about your vow to close Gitmo, Mr. President, and the fact that a special panel has now determined it’s best to leave a substantial portion of the detainees incarcerated? What about the 9/11 New York City trials that both Republicans and Democrats believe should be cancelled in favor of military trials (how’s THAT for bipartisanship)? What about reading Miranda rights to airplane terrorists and in essence giving them free passes to clam up?

In the end, Obama came off a little less angry, yes, but unfortunately, just as immature and two-faced. His joke attempts (“That's how budget's work”) had a condescending tone.  In one sentence he promised bipartisan work and in the next he targeted “some on the right” and followed up with an it’s-not-my-fault reminder: “That's what we did for the last eight years.”

Tonight, the president hardly owned up to much that’s wrong with the country. Maybe a more mature Obama will deliver next year’s State of the Union address, but we don’t think so. His track record is well established. That’s why it’s almost certain that he will deliver the 2011 speech to a more conservative Congress.

Is it raining and snowing in Massachusetts tonight or are the Democrats crying over Scott Brown’s Senate seat upset over Martha Coakley?  No matter.  Rain, snow or shine, Brown's victory is sweet.  That this Republican strongman came from behind to take Teddy Kennedy’s seat from under the Democratic hopeful is historic.  Brown stated during last week's Massachusetts Senatorial debate, "With all due respect, it's not the Kennedy seat and it's not the Democrats' seat, it's the people's seat" (January 11, 2010). Many have called it “Ted’s Seat” for years now - since the 1970s – but tonight, Scott Brown and Massachusetts voters have helped the people take it back. 

Brown’s victory also signals President Barack Hussein Obama’s decline and road to defeat.  Despite the nasty turn in campaigning by Coakley this past week, Obama’s stumping in Massachusetts on Sunday, the meanstream media's all out Brown attack and The Boston Globe’s posting a map showing Coakley the winner 10 hours before polls closed today (Jim Hoft, January 19, 2010, gatewaypundit.com), Brown still won.

• Health care reform bill
• Aggressive move to reduce our military by 25%
• Ongoing downscaling of America’s nuclear weapons defense
• Weak paper tiger threats for Iran to downscale its nuclear fuel production
• Virtual non-support of Israel
• Push for the green movement, EPA regulations, global warming
• Failed stimulus plans
• Government expansion
• High unemployment 

And what of coddling terrorists who have toppled Twin Towers and railed against America? Scott Brown sends a clear message on the subject in his concession speech: “Our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them, and not lawyers to defend them” (Greta, FOX News, January 19, 2010). It’s a message that runs counter to every message we’ve heard on the subject from Barack Hussein Obama.

This is probably the first time OK quotes Juan Williams, but moments ago on HANNITY, he said of Scott Brown and his resounding defeat of Martha Coakley: “He’s a symbol of something much larger.” Williams is 100% right.

Conservatism is on the rise. The American people are tired of extortionist policies. We will not be intimidated or symbolically horsewhipped into capitulation. The citizens who voted for Scott Brown in Massachusetts did so for more than themselves. The eyes of every conscientious American were on Massachusetts tonight and the message was as stark as Paul Revere’s lantern.

Enough is enough. We refuse to be ignored. Contra socialist bullies like Barack Obama, CONSERVATISM IS ON THE RISE!

Scott Brown’s vote kills the Senate’s supermajority. Its filibuster is history for now. Conservatives across America have Massachusetts’s voters to thank for this great glimmer of hope after a year of depressing news.

Obama is preparing his State of the Union address, to be delivered in the coming days. WE DON’T NEED IT.  The State of the Union is clear and it can be summed up in two words: DISAPPOINTED and DISGRUNTLED.

Of the Scott Brown trump, Karl Rove says, “I’ve never seen an election like this” (Greta, FOX News, January 19, 2010). Neither have we. Perhaps not since the original Boston Tea Party have Americans cried out as loudly, “We’re mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” as they did tonight.

With Scott Brown’s victory, Barack Hussein Obama’s presidency can be synthesized as, SO FAR, SO BAD. As Scott Brown stated in his victory speech, “Our Constitution and laws exist to protect THIS nation.” Everyone sees the “emperor” for what he is now: a naked socialist charlatan. Let’s hope that also translates to a one-term president.

By Kelly L. Goodridge and Oscar De Los Santos

. . . you were called patriotic instead of a “murderer” or “baby-killer” for your loyalty and duty to Flag and Country?  Remember when reminding our elected officials of our Constitution and to do the job they were elected to do was a right and considered patriotic instead of a derogatory sexual term?  Today, the far left and inside-the-beltway-liberals believe being anti-American is patriotic.  Too bad they can’t go live on Planet Utopio together.

It was a year ago that the nightmare ObamaWorld began.  Now, we’re stuck with an anti-American president who spent his first year on an apology tour and offering a blemished and seriously flawed version of U.S. history.  Former VP Dlck Cheney spoke on Hannity last month (Dec. 8, 2009) and said it best: “Barack Obama does not share that belief of American exceptionalism that most of us believe in” (<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/12/dlck-cheney-obama-does-not-share-that-belief-in-american-exceptionalism-video/>).

He boasted that he “pulled” America’s economy “back from the brink” (September 9, 2009, “Obama’s Health Care Speech to Congress,” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.text.html) – yet unemployment remains at 10% and inflation is soaring. Even as it hit 2.7%, “Workers saw their inflation-adjusted weekly wages fall 1.6 percent last year – the sharpest drop since 1990” (Martin Crutsinger, “Consumers are squeezed as inflation outpaces wages,” The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011501165.html).

As if that weren’t insult enough, Obama has divided our country by letting his camp and state-run media play the race card.  We’re a country divided.

Remember when  . . . teachers weren’t writing f**ck on chalkboards or teaching fisting and homosexual literature?  Obama’s “safe school czar,” avowed homosexual, Kevin Jennings, personally pushed books that promote rape and encouraged children to meet adults at gay bars for sex (<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/?s=obama%27s+safe+school+czar>).  The far left is in control of education.  Jennings is one of thirty plus Obama czars who are illegal and in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Michael Savage calls Obama’s czars the “equivalent to the KGB in the ex-Soviet Union.”  Savage adds that Obama and the current administration are taking a wrecking ball to the Constitution and that Obama needs “his czars so they can help him push his party’s manifesto and dictums” (The Savage Nation, 960 WELI, September 25, 2009).  They comprise a shadow government that answers only to Obama.  It’s despotic.

Remember when we didn’t have big media cheerleading a nontransparent thug government?  Now the bulk of the news tellers go gangsta on those who oppose Obama.  Thugs of a feather, they refuse to report accurately on the TEA Party events and town hall meetings that took place last year.  Few tell the truth about Obama’s lack of transparency and backroom health care deals.  Instead, they divert public attention with gossip-driven coverage intended to smear any conservative who dares to challenge Obama & Co.

Obama didn’t honor the National Day of Prayer, but spent more time in mosques than in church this past year.  In fact, he declared that “we don't consider ourselves a Christian nation” (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYL7gboYogo#t=0m08s >).

So what’s the new religion?  We don’t dare name it, but Oprah did.  She called it/him “The One.”  The far left is in control and worshipping Obama and socialist heroes like Marx, Mao and Alinsky.  Obama was elected to serve even those who didn’t vote for him, but his agenda seems to be about power and maintaining his power – thus the loose-investigations of ACORN; the intentional bankrupting of our country; the high unemployment rates; the tax increases; and the aggressive move to take over health care, in spite of overwhelming opposition to such a move from We the People.

Michael Savage calls this current administration a nightmare that he wakes up to everyday.  He’s not alone.

By Kelly L. Goodridge and Oscar De Los Santos

5. Ditch ObamaCare, PelosiCare and ReidCare:  It’s not that we’re against health care reform but the current plans and shady backroom deals in the works are despotic.  The proposed health care bills are clearly designed to pay back insurance companies, big pharmaceutical companies and others who have been overly generous to Obama and the Democratic Party.  Tort reform and addressing litigation and damages aren’t on the table.  Also missing: giving individuals the ability to opt out of “mandated benefits” and shop around for health care coverage.  Polls show a lack of public support for the monopoly system. They show America’s anger at the Dems for ignoring those who elected them and for absconding with everyone’s Constitutional rights. Nevertheless, Obama and camp forge forward with holiday and late night voting and with backroom deals. (So much for transparency and the eight-times Obama-promised C-SPAN process broadcasts.) Far from the American ideal, the proposed health care plan enforces jail time for not buying health insurance. It rations health care where government officials instead of doctors will decide on the type and number of treatments that will be made available. Ditto for the kinds of drugs that will be prescribed. Estimates for the bill are as high as $1.2 trillion.

4. Fix Immigration:  Isn’t it time we became a little tougher about those that we let into our country?  There used to be rigorous standards for letting immigrants become US citizens.  There used to be health, skills and other tests involved.  Immigrants had to prove they had something to offer in the way of knowledge, a skill, a trade.  Thanks to Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Kennedy and other Dems, that changed.  The result: an ever-increasing fiscal burden on America’s economy.  If we tighten immigration, we’ll save billions. Yes, it’ll take big money to do so, but it still won’t add up to the amount flowing out of the financial spigot that helps anyone who wants to come into this country, whether they have something to offer it or not.

3. Ditch the Green Movement, Global Warming Establishment and Planet Gore:  Cap and Trade?  Global Warming?  Going green?  Obama’s job summit to create green jobs?  Enough already.  How can we trust any move in this direction when scientists have been caught fudging coding and data?  Besides, if you live just about any place in America, you’d be hard pressed to step out your front door today and declare with a straight face, “That’s some global warming we’re experiencing.”  The very concept is a sham designed to line the pockets of green supporters with green – at taxpayers’ expense.  The December 2009 United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen is a good example of the hubris and waste by government officials.  CNN’s Jack Cafferty called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “horrible woman” (January 12, 2010) in his report on her December Copenhagen trip.  The waste disgusted Cafferty: twenty Congressmen accompanied Pelosi, along with their spouses and children.  He reported that three military jets were used to fly them over to Copenhagen, and that taxpayers footed the bill to put them up during their stay.  Pelosi has refused to answer any questions regarding the trip’s cost (<http://www.outloudopinion.com/2010/01/13/jack-cafferty-on-nancy-pelosi-shes-a-horrible-woman/>, January 13, 2010).  Instead, carbon conscious Pelosi offered the statement that they were all there to investigate and help create “millions of clean energy jobs and new technologies to keep America number one" (“Hypocrisy Brigade Jets Into Copenhagen.”  Hannity, Fox News, <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580581,00.html>, December 17, 2009).  New York Daily News columnist S.E. Cupp, who appeared on Sean Hannity’s December 17, 2009 show, called Pelosi and the left out on their actions: “Well, I mean, you know, again, this is part of this dog and pony show. It's about ideology. This is not about climate change.” And let’s not dwell on the cost of flying Obama over there with his two Air Force One jets.

2. Drill, Baby, Drill:  Yes, that old ditty again – but it’s better than that other oldie, “Hope and Change.”  Why are we continuing to pay people who hate us big money for fuel that we have in our own territories?  We need to expand our land oil exploration and offshore drilling.  We need to continue to pursue shale oil refineries and other domestic fuel solutions.  We need to drill more extensively in the Alaskan Wildlife Reserve.  Contra the liberals, we can do so carefully and reap massive benefits – as in, billions of barrels of oil.

1. Keep Club Gitmo Open, and Abide by the Law of War for Terrorists:  Estimates for bringing the avowed mastermind of 9/11 and other terrorists to New York City for a sham trial are anywhere from $200-500 million.  Obama and Eric Holder need to seriously rethink their decision to try terrorists – people who have committed acts of war – in civilian court rather than by the Law of War. The 9/11 planners should not be given the rights and privileges granted U.S. citizens. It’s insanity to do so. Once the civilian trials begin, there’s a strong possibility that these cold-blooded murderers will be released. Some will argue that keeping open the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will be more costly – but not when you consider the money we’ll spend trying these terrorists and others as civilians. Also, if we keep Gitmo open and try all terrorists in military courts, we won’t have to pay other countries to take them off our hands (as we did with the Uighurs from China).

If we commit ourselves to working on these five issues, we’ll help the economy, cut our taxes and keep more of the money we earn. It's time for politicians to stop worrying about their legacies and personal wealth and to start doing the job they were elected to do – represent the American people. We have a voice and we’re using it. We also have votes. As election days creep closer, those in office would do well to remember that, no matter how enamored they are of liberal “progressive” agendas.

Don’t be fooled by the tougher talk coming out of the mouth of our president the past few days. In Obamaland, the rhetoric may be laced with a little more acid – a little more, mind you – but it’s still the same pacifist president running the show. Obama needs to learn that what he does will impress us more than what he says.

Consider the way Obama danced around calling would-be plane bomber Abdul Mutallab a terrorist. The first time he spoke about the incident – three days after it happened – the president kept using careful wordage (“alleged suspect”) throughout his speech. It was only after his second discussion of the near-mishap that the president stopped trying to convince us that the bombing attempt was instigated by yet another “isolated extremist” and in effect admitted the perpetrator was a terrorist with ties to al-Qaeda. (Such words are so rare in an Obama speech that one can’t help but wonder if perhaps a speechwriter in training snuck in the tougher language and lost his job afterward.)

Yet regardless of whether Obama is convinced that Abdul Mutallab is a terrorist, he’s still shortsighted when it comes to dealing with those who hate America most. Rather than treat Abdul Mutallab as a terrorist and subject him to military interrogation and trial, the administration read him his rights, assigned him a lawyer and promised him a civilian trail.

Such behavior boggles the mind. It’s another ridiculous move on the part of the Obama administration – quite frankly, one of its dumbest. As FOX News anchor Chris Wallace noted, as soon as Abdul Mutallab was “lawyered up” he stopped talking. Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan tried to defend the administration’s decision and said they decide on a case-by-case basis how best to handle each incident – but anyone can see the grotesque illogic here (FOX News Sunday, January 4, 2010).

Equally irrational was the administration’s decision to continue its shipment of Gitmo detainees back to Yemen. The Times of London and others have reported that Yemeni Gitmo goons return to al-Qaeda when they are released (Tom Coghlan, “Freed Guantanamo Inmates are heading for Yemen to join al-Qaeda fight,” January 5, 2010, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6975971.ece) – yet when he spoke on FOX News Sunday, John Brennan insisted there was no plan to close that spigot.

Thankfully, the president backpedaled on that position today. There seems to be a lot of backpedaling by this administration lately – but it’s still not enough. To wit: although Obama will not be able to close the Guantanamo prison facility by the proposed January 22 deadline, he is still determined to shutter it – even as terrorism is on the rise.

If you’re still not convinced that Obama behaves like the most irresponsible 1960s Vietnam War protestors – namely, those who believed in Communism and wanted America smeared by the North Vietnamese – remember that he’s the president who waited over three months to make a troop escalation decision in Afghanistan. Moreover, recall that when he finally announced one, it was after he told us of his commitment to bring our troops home by a certain deadline.

Say what you will about President Richard Nixon, the man could be a tenacious war strategist in ways that Obama doesn’t even begin to comprehend. Nixon took great heat for invading parts of allegedly neutral Cambodia (a ludicrous belief held by some, even after the North Vietnamese bases around Cambodia’s perimeters were exposed), but his move to push back the North Vietnamese actually helped shorten the war. Troops came home in increasing numbers after Cambodia.

But more important is the marked difference between the way Obama handled his decision to bring our soldiers home from Afghanistan and Nixon’s decision to bring our troops home from Vietnam:

“Many of my congressional supporters had urged me to announce a complete withdrawal schedule in 1969 so the American people would know our involvement in Vietnam was coming to an end. I discussed this idea in a conversation with Dean Acheson . . . In his usual blunt and incisive manner, he said, ‘That would be a stupid move, both on the battlefront and on the home front. If you tell the North Vietnamese in advance that you are going to withdraw all our forces on a certain date in the future regardless of what they do, you lose all negotiating leverage. They will just continue the war until we get out and take over when we leave’” (No More Vietnams, 124-125).

What did Obama accomplish by announcing an Afghan withdrawal timetable except hamstring our efforts to overthrow al-Qaeda? In effect, the president’s words sent a signal to those fighting us to just hunker down and play a waiting game.

Finally, remember what the Obama administration has done after the passing of its Iran nuke site inspection deadline: namely, nothing. Sure, there’s a lot going on, but that shouldn’t have stopped Team Obama from having stern measures ready to implement. Even the Democrat-heavy Congress wanted tougher resolutions than Obama & Co: Capitol Hill called for gasoline embargo. That’s better than sending John Kerry over for one more pleading session to get Iran to cooperate or the “targeted sanctions” the administration has decided to implement (Benny Avni, “Bam’s Iran Blunder,” New York Post, January 4, 2010, p. 23).

Obama is trying to sound tougher, but actions really do speak louder than words. This afternoon, he admitted there were signals aplenty that the attempted Detroit jet bombing was in the works. As Obama put it, “I will accept that intelligence by its nature is imperfect, but it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged. That’s not acceptable and I will not tolerate it” (Frank James, “Obama Chides U.S. Intel Officials For Not Linking Airliner Bomber-Plot Dots,” January 5, 2010, NPR, http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/01/obama_chides_us_intel_for_not.html).

Thanks for the update, Mr. President, but will anyone lose a job as a result of the latest mess? Is Janet “the system worked” Napolitano squirming? What about Leon Panetta? Probably not, given the votes of confidence heaped their way by Obama team members.

So we’re back to business as usual in Obamaland, with tougher talk mixed in to deflect the usual modus operandi, which is to do everything but hand the enemy victory on a platter, rather than behave like a tough commander in chief committed to protecting the American people and defending liberty.

Remember the fuss over Y2K as the world prepared to usher in the new millennium (depending on how you read the calendar)? Some folks spent big bucks gearing up for a computer crisis. Nothing happened.

10 years later, as we prepare to usher in a new decade, too much is happening and we have a lot more than computer viruses to fret over. This is the post-9/11 age. Forget about futuristic technology and the fact that computers and cell phones are now as common as pens and pencils. Everything is seemingly heightened these days, including our national insecurity and vulnerability, thanks to a diffident, slow moving president and clueless administration.

How safe should we feel when:

• Gitmo goons continue to be released to fight another day and open restaurants in swanky beach locales?

• The remaining Gitmo terrorists will soon be housed on American soil?

• The 9/11 masterminds will soon be tried in a Manhattan kangaroo court near Ground Zero and a building that will soon house a mosque?

• Our soldiers continue to be hamstrung by rules of engagement seemingly designed to give the enemy the edge?

• President Obama meets with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman after the Bush administration avoided meeting with the Hezbollah-accepting country’s reps?

• Iran’s response to the US’s weak “let us inspect your nuclear facilities” request is petulance, silence and stalling? Obama & Co. should have delivered sterner ultimatums. Instead, with the deadline for cooperation fast approaching, there’s no sign that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is going to accede to our demands. In fact, the only response we’ve received is Iran’s vow to build 10 more nuke facilities in the coming years. Oh and then there’s that missile test Iran delivered as an early Christmas gift. Instead of good faith efforts to quell international tensions, Iran continues to take advantage of a too-nice America.

• Obama’s administration leaves Israel to fend for itself, as has no other American administration?

• A Nigerian Muslim terrorist with ties to al-Qaeda nearly blows up a Detroit-bound plane, in spite of the thug’s being on a terrorist no-fly list?

• Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano claims “the system worked” in the wake of the Detroit incident? (Apparently, Napolitano’s knee-jerk delusional instinct was to defend Homeland Security procedures in spite of the evidence before her.)

• President Obama waits several days before interrupting his Hawaiian vacation to deliver a tepid statement on the Detroit terror incident?

• The Obama administration scraps plans for a Poland and Czech Republic nuclear defense system in favor of a floating operation conjured up by “Don’t mess with Joe” Biden?

• The administration and our military worry more about political correctness and racism accusations than about securing our country and empowering our soldiers?

• Obama sends a personal letter to Kim Jong-il, all but begging American-hating North Korea to engage in nuke talks?

• Our pacifist president – in spite of any tough talk delivered in his Nobel Peace address – wants to give away the nuke farm and radically downscale our weaponry, simply to court Russia, a fragile country all too willing to see America grow weaker if it means giving little in return?

Have we missed anything? Of course – a lot, really – and that may be the scariest point of all. As we wrap 2009 and prepare to launch 2010, America – ostensibly the world’s greatest super-power – seems to be a very weak, confused and vulnerable place these days.

Happy New Year.

Credit Obama & Crew for thumbing their nose at Israel, as has no other American presidential administration. This president has done everything but embrace Hamas openly (and that’s been close, since he’s funneled money to Palestinian organizations that are ultimately siphoned off and put to use by Hamas).

We’ve seen Iran’s growing tyranny against angry citizens who want a more democratic way of life. We’ve seen its antiquated administration rig elections that left in place toxic leaders who were in turn acknowledged by Obama, even though other major powers steered clear of such affirmations.

And how has President Ahmadinejad rewarded the world? By stalling the UN’s nuclear inspection tours; by finally letting them in and agreeing to ship its enriched nuclear material out of Iran, then reneging on that promise; by responding to UN sanctions not with a diminishment of its nuclear program but to expand it and build 10 more nuclear plants in the coming years; and according to British intelligence, by finally perfecting a nuclear trigger that will substantially advance its ability to fire its nuclear weaponry.

But perhaps Iran’s most flagrant mockery of the sanctions America and others have threatened them with is its firing of a new missile powered by solid fuel that will increase the country’s distance and precision ability to strike others (“Iran Test-Fires Its Longest Range Missile,” FOX News, December 16, 2009, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580341,00.html).

Where does this leave Israel? In increasingly dire straights. It’s clear that Ahmadinejad will continue to steer Iran as he and his religious backers see fit. It’s also clear that Iran’s ultimate goal, once it has the power to do it, is to destroy Israel with a nuclear blast.

And unfortunately, it’s also clear that Israel will not get much help from America under the current US president, who’s clueless about a lot of matters, including foreign policy. What has Obama really done for Israel except to send delegates like Defense Secretary Robert Gates over there to implore the country to practice patience? And what has such patience yielded? Months of increasingly truculent behavior by Iran.