ADVICE FROM THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA?

The mainstream media is subtly or not so subtly giving President Barack Obama advice following the Republican Party’s massive 60 seat gain in the House of Representatives. When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asks, Will Obama follow Clinton's 1994 playbook? He’s giving unsolicited advice to the administration. It’s no secret that the media actively cheerleads for President Obama. Now in the aftermath of Obama’s election disaster, he desperately needs help.  

WOLF BLITZER:  So the issue for Obama is what he does next. Does he follow Clinton's playbook and move toward the center -- what was called "triangulation"? Will Obama separate himself from the liberal base of the Democratic Party -- as Clinton did?

It’s no secret the mainstream media loved William Jefferson Clinton, from the moment the smooth southerner emerged on the national scene the media has been pushing him, protecting him and propagandizing for him.  Now with the Obama Administration on the ropes, the media elites would love for Obama to take a page out of Bill Clinton’s book. He was re-elected after all.  After the 1994 midterm elections that elevated Newt Gingrich to Speaker of the House, the media helped push the Clinton narrative that the Congressional Republicans were too extreme.  Media elites like Joe Conason are recounting tails of Bill Clinton fighting the good fight against Republican obstruction.     

JOE CONASON: Yet the most important political events in the first year following the ’94 midterm were not compromises over policy, but confrontations that swiftly became disruptive, angry, polarizing -- and that Clinton won. When the Gingrich Republicans twice shut down the government at the end of 1995 in order to win their way on the budget, the president faced them down and portrayed them as right-wing extremists whose ideology portended chaos. He kept that message alive not only as he confronted the Republicans in Washington, but in a series of stealthy political commercials heralding his reelection bid that started airing in the summer of 1995, nearly a year and a half before the 1996 election.

The mainstream media’s mission is to turn 2011 into 1995, all over again.  Next year will be filled with stories of Republican obstruction and evil proposed conservative budget cuts that will undoubtedly hurt government employees, poor children and senior citizens. Those horror stories will leave the middle of the field open for President Obama to seem reasonable as he defends those government employees, poor children and senior citizens. Then in 2012, he cruises to re-election. There will be a major difference between 2011 and 1995, back then we didn’t have a conservative media, we didn’t have Fox News (which started in October 1996), we didn’t have amazing conservative bloggers online. This time the media elites won’t control the narrative.

OBAMA AND THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

On August 13, 2010, President Obama addressed a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan, the holy month in the Islamic religion. During the dinner he made a brief statement on proposed controversial Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan.

“Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities -- particularly New York. Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of Lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. And the pain and the experience of suffering by those who lost loved ones is just unimaginable. So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. And Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground. 

But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.”

After that statement every major news organization in the world reported that President Obama strongly supported the construction of the Islamic center. Confronted with his words, the next day in Florida, Obama back peddled. 

“I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there … I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about."

I’m not sure what’s more repulsive. Obama pandering to Muslims during a Ramadan dinner or denying that his heavy pandering amounted to support for the Ground Zero mosque. I’d have more respect for him if he just clearly admits that he supports the Islamic community center.

We know Barack Hussein Obama is a citizen of the world, he lived in Indonesia, his father was a Muslim before becoming an atheist, he denounces American arrogance at every opportunity, we know his heart is behind the mosque. He should have the political courage to stand on his beliefs. His statement at the Ramadan dinner was a carefully crafted legal statement. It gave the impression to everyone in the room that he supported the Lower Manhattan mosque. When confronted with his words the next day he had plausible deniability to say he didn’t address the issue, he was speaking merely to the right of religious freedom.

On September 11, 2001, Islamic militants murdered more than 3,000 Americans several yards away from the proposed mega mosque. Muslims around the world would view the construction of this mosque as a victory for Islam against the west. What Obama doesn’t understand about the Ground Zero mosque is that not ‘officially’ opposing the construction means he supports it. He can’t have it both ways.

HOW OBAMA EXPLOITS ICONOGRAPHY

I’ve always been intrigued and fascinated by how Barack Obama has used imagery to create his dangerous cult of personality. Without question the major thing that separates Barack Obama from the placid, pedestrian progressive Democrats of the recent past is his cult of personality. Democratic standard bearers like George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Mike Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry couldn’t convince progressives to idealize them, they simply carried the progressive banner without holding the bleeding hearts of liberals. Barack Obama holds the hearts and carries the aspirations of liberals. Why?


He has affectively used imagery and iconography. His campaign posters and logos will be remembered for decades. Older traditional politicians of both parties pale in comparison. This is another reason why Barack Obama is a threat to freedom. He has the power to rally millions of useful idiots to his socialist agenda, while Democrats like Mike Dukakis couldn’t draw a crowd if they set themselves on fire. We have seen the power of imagery in the past, leaders exploited powerful symbols to burn their message into the brains of their followers. This is a fine primer from our friends at PJTV on Obama’s use of iconography.

HONEST AND REFRESHING

New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie has only been in office a few months but he’s already leaving his mark on politics. During the Obama Era, Americans have come to expect their political leaders to be constantly moderating their positions, always apologizing, frequently flip-flopping, persistently pandering and constantly cultivating the ever elusive consensus position. So when Governor Christie addressed a reporter’s question about his supposed combative and confrontational tone, the governor responded with a classic comeback. After watching this honest and refreshing video, I thought about President Obama campaigning enthusiastically for Christie’s opponent former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, last November.

Since taking office, Governor Christie has attacked his state’s massive deficit with spending cuts instead of tax increases and he has declared war on over-paid, under-performing teachers. The teachers' unions have picketed, protested and disparaged the governor but he’s standing his ground. His approval ratings have taken a hit, conservative principles of less government and lower taxes don’t always lead to immediate popularity. They always lead to lasting growth and prosperity. I’ve always believed that conservatism isn’t an ideology for the weak willed and faint of heart, conservatism demands toughness, strength and boldness. Those are qualities that Chris Christie is using to turn New Jersey around.

WHAT IF THE TEA PARTY WAS BLACK?

HBO’s Real Time host and comedian Bill Maher invoked some powerful imagery on ABC’s This Week on May 2, 2010. Maher said, “Can you -- can you imagine if some of the -- what's going on with the Tea Party rallies, if they were a group of black people, …” How would the American people react to a group of black people, peacefully assembling, demanding Constitutional protections and denouncing violence from their political opponents?

Most of the protest violence in this country has come from left wing anti-war groups like the ones that committed felonies and fought with police officers in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2008. Certainly some people would reject black tea partiers because of their race, but the majority of Americans would ultimately embrace them the same way they embraced the black freedom marchers from the 1960’s. I’m not sure Bill Maher knows any tea party patriots, he should talk to them before he tries to immune their motives.

THE RISE AND FALL OF BARACK OBAMA

Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, more than one year ago. In his soaring inaugural address, he proclaimed “we have chosen hope over fear”. Translating Obama to English, he's the “hope” & the politics of George W. Bush is what we “fear”. Then he put his election on a grand transformational pedestal. Voting for him over his Republican opponent put an end to, “the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.” With that kind of sweeping inaugural address there's only one way to go. That's down. During 2008, he assured the moderate voters in Republican states like Indiana, Montana, North Carolina & Virgina that he's not some left wing radical. He assured them, he's not palling around with terrorists, he's not a typical tax and spend Democratic presidential nominee like previous losers John Kerry, Al Gore and Michael Dukakis. He projected a post-racial, post-partisan, post-ideological image that was hard to resist. The problem is, that image was a mirage, a carefully constructed facade designed to fool the electorate.


By February, less than a month into his presidency, he signed a massive fiscally irresponsible budget busting $ 787 billion spending bill. Obama sold the bill as an economic stimulus to boost the sagging economy. In reality, it was a Democratic wish list of mix and match spending programs that had little or nothing to do with job creation. As unemployment soared, Obama's attention moved from the pesky jobs situation to health care reform. As Americans started to learn details of the health care reform legislation, Obama's allies in Congress got bombarded with questions at town hall meetings. Did Obama respond to anger expressed at those town hall meetings? No, he pressed on and continued to push the Democrats unprecedented health care takeover. He made promise after promise. Health care reform would be deficit neutral, health care reform would cover the uninsured, health care reform would eliminate the term “pre-existing condition” & health care reform would put a chicken in every pot. Well, maybe he didn't say the last one.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid & President Obama pushed forward on health care reform. Then in the November elections, voters pushed back electing Republican governors in New Jersey & Virginia, both states President Obama won against John McCain. Then Republicans gained another U.S. Senate seat when Scott Brown won a special election in Massachusetts to fill Ted Kennedy's senate seat. Did this make Obama and his liberal allies in Congress stop pushing their massive health care reform bill? Of course not, after the Democrats lost in Massachusetts, Speaker Pelosi dramatically stated her intention to pass health care reform, “You go through the gate. If the gate's closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we'll pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we'll parachute in. But we're going to get health care reform passed.” Apparently Democrats are slow learners. When a Republican candidate in one of the most Democratic states, campaigns as the final vote to kill health care reform and wins, you should know there's a problem.

After one year of Barack Obama as the Commander-in-Chief of America's armed forces, there's one indelible moment that sums up his attitude about this country. In April, the President spoke in Strasbourg, France and he notoriously said, America has “shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive”. From then on, it was clear the President disdains America's role as the preeminent super power in the world. Obama criticizes America more than he criticizes any of her enemies.

One year into Barack Obama's historic presidency. Mythical proclamations of change have given way to the hard reality of governing. With falling approval ratings and high unemployment, Obama's prestige has taken a major hit. Will Obama get the economy turned around in time for the mid-term elections? Will Obama stop pushing health care reform against the will of the people? Will Obama change his tone and stop apologizing for America? Great questions. From what we've seen so far in his presidency, the answer is definitely 'no'. If the president continues on his radical left wing path he will eventually stop falling and finally hit rock bottom.

REALITY BITES BARACK

During the powder puff interview portion of Christmas at the White House on Sunday, December 13th, Chicago friend and 2008 campaign supporter Oprah Winfrey asked the president to grade his first year performance. This was a moment the president could have brilliantly exploited to portray himself as a humble statesman diligently working to fix America's problems, instead he once again revealed himself to be as detached from reality as possible. “A good solid B-plus ...If I get health care signed, we tip into A-minus,” Obama said. This quick almost off handed statement is frighting in it's disconnection with reality.

With disappointment and doubt growing among progressives over Afghanistan. With liberal advocates of universal health care disaffected over compromises stripping the “public option” from health care reform. With unemployment rising to 10% and climate change legislation taking a back seat, even ultra-liberal Democrats would be hard pressed to give Obama “A good solid B-plus”. It goes without saying conservatives and libertarians think he's failing big time. So how can he give himself a passing grade? Extreme narcissism and stunning detachment. Every president lives in the Victorian bubble of the White House, the aristocratic George H.W. Bush was famously detached from average Americans. During a Florida campaign stop in 1992, he marveled at the technology of a supermarket checkout scanner. George Bush was a man from a wealthy family that spent most of his adult life in public service. Barack Obama was a community organizer on the poverty filled streets of Chicago, how could he be detached from everyday life? Class and privilege don't separate Obama, in his case it's intellectual liberal arrogance. Former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic Presidential Nominee Mike Dukakis had it despite being from a working class immigrant family. Intellectually superior liberal elitists don't inhabit the same reality as their persevered enemies.

During a closed door meeting on Capitol Hill, President Obama asked a group of Democratic lawmakers, “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care?” Hardworking, patriotic Americans from across the nation gather to protest unconstitutional spending and massive deficits and the president dismisses them as “teabag, anti-government people”. In August, Obama dismissed his Republican critics in Congress in much the same way, “But -- but I don't want the folks who created the mess -- I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to just get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. ... I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking” If you don't support his radical agenda, sit down and shut up. The work of government should be performed by intellectual liberal elites like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

The isolated intellectual liberal world of academia, which Barack Obama inhabited with ease is far different for the daily reality of governing. Theories about economic justice are just that theories. Radical college professors like infamous Obama friend William Ayers can be wrong every day and never face the reality of their ideology. Anti-establishment anarchists like Van Jones can theoretically advocate wealth redistribution without having to face the citizens that had their wealth redistributed. Given his record it makes sense for Barack Obama to give himself, “A good solid B-plus” , his grade is a result of ivory tower isolation. His liberal pals and progressive advisors tell him he's doing great, the mainstream media praises him non-stop, in his world everything is fine. Except for the stuff George Bush messed up. With sinking poll numbers and high unemployment, it's very likely that 2010 will be a reality check for the ivory tower president.