The Political Fish

In an open letter to the President, filmmaker Michael Moore recently wrote that the “worst possible thing” about the troop increase will be to “destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in [Obama]. With just one speech tomorrow [Obama] will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of [his] campaign into disillusioned cynics.” That’s the worst thing? Increased cynicism? A recognition of the reality that our most powerful politician is, well, a politician? What about all the troops who are going to die as a result of the continuation of this war? Isn’t that much worse than liberal disenchantment with their messiah? Do liberals really consider Obama-mania to be the highest morality?

Maybe it’s time liberals stop looking at Obama as something ethereal and finally see him for who he is: a unique hybrid of leftist academic and Chicago-style politician. In short, a human being, one who has come to believe in and revere his own myth, one who genuinely thinks that his words count more than his actions and results. Thus, he has become the master of misdirection. Consider:

He says he’s trying to fix the deficit, but he has increased spending exponentially.

He says he trying to save Medicare, but his health plan will cut half a trillion dollars from it.

He says he wants to reduce instances of AIDS in the United States, but he lifted the ban on travel for people with the disease, thus introducing more carriers into the country.

He says he’s trying to make inner cities safer, but he reduced the mandatory sentences for crack dealers, thus releasing more drug dealers back into black communities.

He says he wants to liberate minority kids from failing schools, but opposes school choice.

He said he had no interest in running the auto industry, but then he nationalized two auto companies and installed his own people at the top.

He said he would put an end to politics as usual, but has been more accessible to lobbyists than any of his predecessors.

He said he wants to make healthcare more affordable, but his health plan would increase demands and regulations on private insurers.

He said he wouldn’t increase taxes, but his health plan will penalize anyone who doesn’t purchase health coverage.

And now President Peace Prize says he wants to end the war in Afghanistan, but he is escalating it.

There is a word for this sort of thing, and it is not “hope” or “change.” It is “hypocrisy,” and this President has mastered it in an alarmingly short time.

The GOP has been in attack mode for the last few weeks. The attack machine of the so-called “conservative” party has been in overdrive. Unfortunately, they have been attacking all the wrong things. Most recently, you have the Republican hit machine taking swipes at the fact that President Obama took his wife out on a date this past weekend. The argument can be made (and its a good one) that this was an excessive abuse of his power. It was fiscally irresponsible, and could have even been poor judgement. All these things are probably true. At the end of the day, it will leave no lasting affect on the course of our country. It speaks only to the hypocrisy of our President as he calls on the nation to sacrifice and live within our means. This is obviously an issue for us to pay attention to. But is it really an issue that demands full blown attacks and statements and the “righteous anger” of the GOP? Follow me here for just a minute…

At the same time the GOP machine is taking major swings at the President for taking his wife on a lavish date, the same GOP who is outraged at this “heinous” lack of judgement have come out and basically admitted that Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed.  Senator John Cornyn has all but disavowed any criticism from “non-elected” officials and has withheld any statements against the Judge. Does it make sense to have such a strong backbone on something as inconsequential as a Friday night on the town, and then morph into a spineless blob on an issue that will directly effect the Constitution, the citizenry, and the Supreme Court for what is likely to be decades??

Confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is the politically expedient thing for the GOP to do.  To filibuster, or to give her a major fight could possibly anger a growing political demographic. However, it appears to have not harmed the Democrats when they put Miguel Estrada through the ringer. They seemed to have come out on top of that argument.  At some point, politics needs to be put aside to stand for something that you believe in. Why are Republicans willing to compromise on issues that fly in the face of the core values of our country?? The problem with the GOP is that they truly do not believe in anything at all. The Democrats have been successful because everyone knows what they stand for and what they are all about. Their core values fly in the face of everything that is conservatism. Yet the GOP wants to embrace them in the middle of the road on these issues to try and sway the moderates. Its poor strategy. At the end of the day, Dems are likely to continue voting for Dems. As long as the GOP continues to alienate their base, they will continue to be an irrelevant fixture in the 2-party political arena.

When the GOP decides to stand true to its core beliefs, you can rest assured that their will be another “Republican Revolution” like we saw during the Clinton years. The public is fed up with the corruption, hypocrisy, and duplicitous behavior of the Dem Congress. Eventually they will get fed up with the socialistic drive of this president. At this point there is no viable alternative…the GOP needs to become the alternative soon, and if they can’t, dissolve it all together and create a real conservative party.