A year ago, I wrote about George W. Bush destroying the Republican brand. He did his best. His war, his spending, his babbling communication style, and the attacks by the mainstream media put a big hurt on the Republican Party. The choice Republicans made to run against Obama was the last straw. An old, white, pseudo democrat, just drove the final nail. It looked like it might be years, if ever, before the Republicans got back on their feet. But, look what Obama has done in just six months.
Obama took a small victory and concluded it was a broad mandate to bring rampant socialism to America. He misread the numbers. There are only 20% of the public who endorse his politics. He is now making sure the the other 80% turn against him and the democrats. Tea Parties and Town Hall meetings are not about just health care reform. They are all about Obama going too fast and too far to suit 80% of the voters. If he doesn’t tune it down, he will insure the democrats lose their majority in congress.
Obama is a smart man. Why can’t he tune it down? Why try to cram everything through at once? Why initiate the investigation of the CIA when Cheney cost him 5% approval points when he did it the first time? None of this makes sense.
A prudent man would say, I’m going down in flames. Let’s slow this whole train down and pull into the station and regroup. That’s what a lot of democrats facing elections in 2010 are saying. They are refusing to go down in flames with him. But, Obama just steps on the gas while the train is buring. Why?
There seem to be a few possible answers.
First, his massive ego won’t let him back off. He has never faced a situation where he had to back off before, and he refuses to deal with the reality of it this time. That’s pretty scary. A leader who puts his ego and agenda before what is good for the country and his party is a man who will make costly mistakes. A leader who had no experience being a leader, since most leaders learn early on, it’s better to back off and lick your wounds than face humiliation.
Or, the people who put him in office refuse to let him back off. Maybe they realize this is a one-shot opportunity to make America a socialist nation. If this fails, they may have to wait another 80 years. They are unwilling to do that and will risk losing Obama’s next term and a majority in congress to do it now. The cornerstones of that movement are health care reform and cap and trade. They are willing to throw Obama under the bus to take the risk.
Who are these people? It’s a long list. It includes George Soros, Jeffery Immelt, the labor unions, the mainstream media, Hollywood, the ACLU, ACORN, SEIU, and the rest of the 20% hardcore liberals who want America to become a state-controlled socialist nation. The key question, never answered, does it include Obama himself? Is he willing to risk being a one-term president to reach these same goals?
Moderate Republicans, Conservative Republicans, Independents, Moderate Democrats, and the rest of the voters who comprise the 80% not in the radical left-wing, are in shock over what’s happening in Washington. Harry Reid is seeing that in spades in his polls for reelection. So is Chris Dodd. A Freshman Democratic Congressman said this week he will not vote for Pelosi as Speaker of the House. He further said if she doesn’t like it, he will buy her a gift certificate for a mental health facility. Tough words.
Glen Beck spent last week disclosing the people Obama has in his inner circle that are full-blown radicals. So radical, that the charges should merit some response or rebuttal to Beck and the people who watched his shows. Many are avowed radicals who espouse the use of force, if necessary, to take control of America. Some have served time. And, Beck questioned an Obama speech where he evoked a need to have a civilian army as strong as our military. No answers from the White House. Even though Beck’s show has record viewership that picked up as the week went on. Shadow government using the czar approach to have a group of radicals who influence everything behind the scenes. That was Beck’s challenge to Obama. As of Friday, no response from the White House.
It would seem others will ask some of these same questions over time. And, it would seem like answers will have to be given at some point. Maybe the CIA will need to investigate all this before the CIA is disbanded.
I know a lot of good Democrats. None of them support the kind of radical actions the current president and his leaders are endorsing. Again, maybe 20% of the country does.
If this doesn’t change, there will be Democrats becoming Independents and Republicans just as we saw when Bush failed to read the tea leaves. The Democratic party had better help their president find the brake petal since he doesn’t seem to know where the brakes are located.
