Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Obama's List


American Thinker
April 06, 2010

By J.R. Dunn



Over the past year and a half, we've seen much in the way of speculation of what Obama is really up to, what his true agenda might be behind all the soothing and meretricious rhetoric. It was quite clear that "Obama" was a construct, a carefully manufactured image, as all politicians are to one extent or another. But Obama was an extreme example -- all image, most of it having little or no connection with any discernable substance. The gap between what he said and what he would then proceed to do was wide and glaring. This obvious and undeniable discontinuity is the major factor feeding all the conspiracy theories -- the ones featuring George Soros as puppet master, or the claims of adherence to Islam and so forth. If only it were that simple! The past few weeks have clearly revealed that Obama is something at the same time entirely more commonplace while also being more obnoxious.

Obama is an example of that peculiar American contribution to the long line of political deviancy, the romantic leftist, a combination of undergrad Marxism, New Deal activism, Great Society idealism, and late 60s dementia. In fulfillment of this role, he is going down the list of left-wing daydreams, wish-fulfillment fantasies, and unfinished business, and doing his damndest to see them made reality. No more than that, and certainly no less.

Take a look at his latest series of crimes. Start with health-care "reform." We all know about this -- or, at least as much as we can be expected to know about a bill that is incoherent, contradictory, longer than Remembrance of Things Past and not fully grasped by even its most fanatic adherents. (Oh, there is one thing we do know that they don't -- that things that go up also come down, either by way of the Supreme Court, Congressional repeal, or the streets of Washington opening up to swallow everyone who voted for the atrocious thing.)
As for the newly announced nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia, we know even less about that, apart from it being a "breakthrough." The single concrete point I've been able to gather is that the treaty terms will allow 800 launch systems, a provision that only indirectly involves nuclear weapons as such. If true, this has the feel of complete disarmament and not the nuclear variety at all. Does this mean 800 missiles? Or missiles, bombers, and submarines, and what have you? It doesn't sound at all good. We'll know more when Massa O comes down from the big house to explain it to us.
Third is the manned space program, now effectively kaput. Constellation was morphing into the standard gold-plated NASA make-work program, which does not mean that it wasn't worth pursuing anyway, as the only game in town. The idea of a major nation not possessing a manned program in the 21st century is an absurdity in and of itself. Particularly in light of the fact that such world powers as India, China, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos are all moving into manned spaceflight in a big way. Eventually somebody is going to stop ditzing around in low earth orbit and start exploiting the vast resources available on the moon and in the inner solar system. It would be nice if they spoke English.

All three of these have been on the leftie checklist for decades or longer. Health care since Harry Truman... or was it FDR? Or perhaps Aristides the Just? Government health care was the goal the left was aiming at with the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid a half-century ago. And we're still not there yet -- the left won't be satisfied until they have their completely centralized system on the model of the UK's National Health Service. That's why they don't really care what's in the current program -- it's designed to fail, and in short order, so that they can nationalize it in order to "save" it.

Nuclear disarmament was in large part of product of the KGB, the secret sponsors of every disarmament movement from the 1950s SANE to the to the 1980s Nuclear Freeze. But tainted origins don't matter. Anything is better than nukes, which must be banished forthwith.

The space program has been a left-wing target since it first began. The standard argument -- that it's a "waste of money" -- can be set aside. The left considers every dime outside its direct control to be "wasted". Rather, it's combination of elements, including lack of imagination and spirit, an inability to see what a new age of exploration would mean for America and the world at large, and a sense of bitterness at America's achievement -- the U.S. will always be the nation that first set foot on the moon, something that leftists find difficult to accept.

In the past two weeks, Obama has taken all three off the board. His other recent efforts: beating up on Wall Street, attempting to resuscitate the unions, groveling before third-world tyrants -- are also characteristic of the American left and nobody else. (When did you last see a Castro or a Chavez bowing to a sheikh?) Obama is a typical example of a particular type of left-winger, produced by the United States alone among all nations. He is doing exactly what would be expected from this type of leftist, out of absolute conviction. Not in the service of any third party. Not to destroy or cripple the country. With his college-sophomore grasp of the world, he seriously believes he's doing the right thing and will be vindicated before the end titles roll up. This in defiance of the clear failure of every last left-of-center domestic and international program of the past eighty years. This is ideological blindness at its deepest.

So what predictions can we derive from this? What else is on the list? The answer is -- what do the lefties want?

  • Cap & trade
  • Marijuana legalization (tied in with ending the drug war as a whole)
  • Amnesty for illegals
  • Cutting Israel loose (We saw the first step toward this last week)
  • Creation of an international legal system
  • Media "reform"
  • A new NRA (National Recovery Act here, playmates -- not the gun guys.)
  • A government-mandated green economy
  • An equal outcomes "multicultural" society

We will see attempted legislation on all these -- and likely more -- over the next few years, particularly in light of his recent "triumphs".

But what about the exceptions? Guns in the national parks? Clearance for new nuclear reactors in Georgia? The new offshore drilling program? Each case involves triangulation of the most transparent and inadequate type. Bill Clinton was at least taking concrete action with NAFTA and welfare reform. Obama is doing no such thing. Loosening gun restrictions is a bone thrown to the despised "clingers." The reactor projects must still clear the standard regulatory barriers, an unlikely event. The drilling program is almost completely bogus. More exploration fields off of Alaska were closed than opened, along with the entire Pacific Coast and much of the Atlantic.

Obama's problem is that romantic leftism is consistently disastrous. A brief examination of FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society, the models for Obama's efforts, will reveal that clearly. More to the point, the prototypes for his recent triumphs have also failed wherever they have been put into effect. Concerning health care, we're told that we've joined the rest of the civilized world. So here's what civilization looks like:

In 2008, the Australian health-care system came near to meltdown after the New South Wales hospital network collapsed. The money was all spent, vendors stopped supplying medical materials, patients just out of surgery lay screaming on their beds after the morphine and sedatives ran out, and hundreds of specialists and personnel jumped ship for jobs in private medical centers. How did it happen? Nobody knows. Last year, Dr. Anne Doig, the incoming head of Canadian Medicare, stated publicly that the system was nearing implosion. She promised to try to fix it. She did not sound enthusiastic. In the UK, mother of all national health services, not a week goes by without another series of stories in British papers detailing corruption, incompetence, and sheer cruelty within the NHS. Recent news includes reports that dozens of local hospitals will be closed down as a money-saving measure, leaving many communities with no medical facilities whatsoever. Tens of thousands have died in the hands of the NHS in recent years, and tens if not hundreds of thousands more will die before any meaningful reform occurs. These countries, compromising the core of the Anglosphere, are on their way to Third-World status as far as their health-care systems are concerned. We just joined them on that slide. As for me, I liked barbarism better.

There is an argument to be made for maintaining a small but useful number of nuclear weapons, but you won't hear it from the left. Their contention is that nukes are no good and must be gotten rid of in toto. Forget the fact that they ended World War II decisively and quickly, that they helped win the Cold War (Could the West have kept the USSR contained without them? The simple answer is "no".), and have played a large part in keeping the peace since. No matter -- they're Bad Things, and must be eradicated, along with DDT, alar, fast foods, and Toyota. So Obama has heroically tackled the job -- just as Iran is obtaining its own nuclear arsenal. Great timing.

The first manned space program, which culminated in the Apollo lunar missions, was cancelled by Richard Nixon while he was playing his "I'm a liberal too" game during the run-up to Watergate. The ensuing economic shock caused by the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs (Where did the liberals think those paychecks were going to? Somebody living on the surface of Pluto?), helping to kick off the 1970s recession that hung on like a bad flu until Reagan took office. Obama simply repeated Nixon's error, with a recession already in place. What will the results be? What would you guess?

Any one of these programs, in place or planned, would be problematic at best -- creating serious and intractable problems during a period where resources and finances are stretched thin. But going into effect all at once -- along with lesser examples I haven't mentioned -- is the political equivalent of opening the seven seals. Like all other leftists before him, Obama knows he's right and that once these gimmicks are passed the problems will simply solve themselves. It's the same attitude as afflicted FDR's brain trusters, LBJ's best and brightest, and all the little manipulators and systemizers in between. They change not all. They might as well be wearing baggy suits, two-tone shoes, and straw boaters.

It's tempting to simply stand aside and watch him crash and burn. But not enough, because innocents -- such as the people who have already canceled their health insurance and are awaiting their personal notification from Obama -- will crash and burn with him. We must rather make the effort to limit the damage as much as we can with whatever resources we possess.

All the same, the prospect is no longer frightening or foreboding. It's exhilarating. Thanks to O, the third millennium is getting interesting. We're off on swift ride down hell's highway, with a man at the wheel who thinks the truck steers itself. When we at last reach a turnoff, things are going to be very different.

Obama, quite contrary to his intentions, is set on ramming us into a brick wall before we complete the ride. Fortunately the truck is very large and very sturdy, while the wall is shoddy and poorly made, the bricks ancient, cracked, and deteriorating.
When it's all over, there will be one thing left standing amidst the wreckage. It will be either that perverse little political philosophy called romantic leftism, or the United States. I'm betting it'll be the old US of A.
One thing I know -- it won't be Obama's reputation.

J.R. Dunn is consulting editor of American Thinker, and will edit the forthcoming Military Thinker.


14 Comments on "Obama's List ..... AMERICAN THINKER

Posted by: VHG
Apr 06, 12:41 AM

Mr. Dunn, you wrote, " With his college-sophomore grasp of the world, he seriously believes he's doing the right thing and will be vindicated before the end titles roll up..." I offer that Obama doesn't have the grasp of a junior high class president, but that of a brainwashed middle aged unaccomplished drifter who managed to get into he White House after being tutored by "America's Most Disgruntled"!

Posted by: Pragmatist
Apr 06, 01:02 AM

The reaction to this from the far left Obamamites is 'So far so good lets us continue"

And the fact that they CAN and WILL is the seed of America's DESTRUCTION.

Posted by: 83 champ
Apr 06, 01:22 AM

Great article. Well written. I've heard so much buyer's remorse, and from people who should've known better, that I'm convinced of the opportunity for a serious and deep conservative revival. I'm doing my best to push it along one mind-numbed liberal at a time. If you're reading this, please do the same, for this is what it's going to take. It's up to us, individual citizens working on people who don't know any better.

Posted by: Pragmatist
Apr 06, 01:37 AM

By insulting and attacking Israel Obama, the Mohammedan, is just doing as he was taught in school in Indonesia. Where, as a registered Muslim, he studied the Koran and also took Mengagi, the study of correctly spoken Koranic ARABIC , a vital study for and only taken by DEVOUT Muslims but a very strange CHOICE for an avowed life long CHRISTIAN you must admit.

All his Paternal and adoptive step family is Muslim even his Kenyan Grandmother who prior to the election, we were assured by the Obama campaign, was a Christian but who has recently returned from the HAJ.

He was also brought up by antisemitic, anti American, Black and White Communists and he associated with American Terrorist TRAITORS like Ayers ( interestingly Ayers is almost certainly the ghost writer of Obama's much acclaimed book "Dreams") and also with Pakistani Muslim Terrorists, one of whom visited Pakistan with him in the 1980's, and also Criminals.

He was further schooled in hatred for 20 years in the Rev Wrights antisemitic, anti American, Anti WHITEY, Black Supremacist Church (but Obambi we are told heard NOTHING which makes him either STUPID or a LIAR . I go for LIAR ) . Wright of course is a previous member of the Nation of Islam and a STILL a close friend of Farrakhand.

Posted by: AdinaF,Israel
Apr 06, 02:29 AM

In order to understand, to 'get into' Obama's head, one has to first explore Obama's heretofore inexplicable sojourn to Pakistan in 1981, his non-existent records, and the non-existent sightings of him at Columbia U. Once this issue is fully explored Americans will understand what makes Obama tick, and also who his handlers are.
There is compelling evidence being presented at Atlas Shrugged, as well as by Dr Manning from Altah Ministries in Harlem, NY that Obama's strings are being pulled by foreign entities. In fact, on May 14 there will be a public 'trial' of Obama at the headquarters of Altah Ministries which will reveal documentary evidence of Obama's sedition, and his connection as a CIA agent, having been recruited while a student at Occidental College. Exactly why and how he became involved in aiding the Taliban against the Soviets, his subsequent connections to the Russians, and most importantly, why a high level Saudi Prince 'sponsored' his Harvard education, remain open questions. Yet, those courageous enough to explore these ties will be unraveling many of the mysteries surrounding what Obama's plans are for the US.
A COMPLETE investigation into the 'mysterious' death of Lt Harris, who scrubbed Obama's records at the State Dept, will surely turn out to have been a hit job, in service of making sure that the direct link to Obama's background was eliminated.
ADDING to the mystery surrounding Obama's true origins comes straight out of Michele's mouth when she spoke in Aug 2008 before an audience of LGBT supporters. She waxed poetic about her hubbie's understanding of their community, and through the slip of a tongue mentioned that she and Obama decided to take an AIDS test while on a trip to Africa-to his HOME country! Now, I lived all my life in the US, having moved to Israel 2 years ago. When I speak about my HOME country-my BIRTH country-I refer to the US, NOT to Israel. I don't refer to my HOME country either as the places where my father or mother were born, nor does anyone else I know.Therefore, Michele surely wasn't ... (350 word limit)

Posted by: AdinaF,Israel
Apr 06, 02:58 AM

While Obama is a 'true believer' this does NOT preclude him from having deep pocketed, truly anti-American handlers who are prodding him along to the destruction of the US as we all know it.

It is NO conspiracy theory to suggest that Soros is behind much of Obama's hard left turns, mainly through his tentacle based 527's coursing throughout most of the States. The hard left, in ideological bed with Marxists, Communists, Socialists AND Islamists are now running US policy-domestic and foreign. Anyone who thinks otherwise has not been paying attention, hasn't read Paul Sperry's explosive book, INFILTRATION, and has not read Dave Gaubatz's and Sperry's recently released, Muslim Mafia. BOTH books showcase the anti-American forces in Washington, currently being ramped up (as if on steroids) by the Obama cabal.
Read them and weep......then take back the country!!

Posted by: Jer
Apr 06, 03:37 AM

I agree with everything but the part about the Kenyon having innocent good intentions. I believe his is evil and the result of a whole life born and bred with evil. I think this evil thug knows exactly what he is doing. I can't hardly wait for something to happen to rid us of him and all his evil minions.

Posted by: RickG
Apr 06, 05:25 AM

Excellent article!

A necessary condition for the sustenance of American Leftism is overall national prosperity, wherein the undergrad Marxists can deplore the state of the world while living off the fruits of the productive society around them.

What Obama is doing is destroying productive society. So it's only a matter of time before these spoiled communists see their dreams of Utopia turn to nightmares.

Posted by: StormRider
Apr 06, 05:55 AM

" such as the people who have already canceled their health insurance and are awaiting their personal notification from Obama -- will crash and burn with him."

As someone said "You can't fix stupid" If they crash and burn with him that is their choice, all the warning signs were there, to point out who he was and what he was going to do. I really am encouraged because the Democrats own all of this by themselves. Actions have consequences, punishment is coming in a big way. Your false messiah led you into the desert, unlike Israel all of the Democratic party will cease to exist. Thank You Little Barry, your arrogance has killed your party.

Posted by: John Adams
Apr 06, 06:03 AM

Obama is an evil, angry man and he is doing his best to take it out on all of us. He has limited time and he knows he must accomplish all of the rotten things leftists have been dreaming up for decades. He is America's first despot.

It's like he's pushing his finger into our chest day in and day out and reminding us who's in running the show now.

I don't know if we can last until November.

I don't know about everyone else but the little over 14 months he's been in office has been longest 14 months I can ever remember.

God bless us.

Posted by: Easttexasrancher
Apr 06, 06:11 AM

Forgive me, Mr. Dunn, but everyone, including you are missing the real point. Mr. O has, without firing a shot, conducted the most bloodless coup (up til now), ever designed in history. Between getting saps to vote him in and Congress to give him full and exclusive power, so full they are now irrelevant, this man is fully in control.

Oh, you say there are elections in the Fall and the Democrats will pay. No, there won't be elections in the fall, instead between now and then there will be an event in which, the President says, he is so distraught over, but must for our own good, declare martial law, and seal his rule forever. He knows he can get away with everything, because he is in the driver's seat, and can, if he desires, order our own military to be used against us. And he can.

We were trussed, skinned, and cleaned and mounted on a spit to cook, in far shorter time than it took to write this. We think Obama and the Dems have been stupid and ill advised because there will be Fall elections. Well, when one team acts this way during a game, one can only assume they know something we don't. That being, his secret weapon will be martial law with suspended elections (after all he will deem it is too dangerous for the time being). And like all dictators before him, he will make sure to have all his election grabbers finally in place, BEFORE he allows an election.

This man isn't stupid. He is dangerous. And we are about to find out just how dangerous. I guarantee.

Posted by: Al
Apr 06, 06:12 AM

I agree that the intentionally destructive policies of Obama will and already are giving us the chance to expose the true goals of the Left and allow us to change the direction the nation has been heading in. But it is a heavy lift. And it requires daily individual discussions. There is definitely hope. If my dyed in the wool Democrat in-laws can speak ill of a Democrat President, we can turn this around. Still have to work on the Bush derangement syndrome.

Posted by: conservativemama
Apr 06, 06:52 AM

Fabulous article. But to be fair to some college sophomores, I was never so gullible or ignorant to believe the nonsense that Obama and his type believe.

Ultimately, I believe that good triumphs and because I believe this, I think this nightmare will end. But I'm still a bit scared, because I need to believe that most Americans understand just how frightening this administration is. Do they understand that we need to vote out all remants of this destructive leftism? It has to go, it is a poison to our system. Too many people in this country have been asleep at the wheel for a few decades and it's time to wake up. We have no other choice.

We need conservatives, real conservatives in power.

Posted by: maryk88
Apr 06, 06:52 AM

I have had the same thought, East Texas, and I pray it doesn't happen that way. I wondered as well why they didn't care what we said about the Health Care bill......but can they possibly ALL be that corrupt? We have been apathetic for too long, I'm afraid, they slipped up on us and quickly entrenched. We must do what we can and pray to God, I believe he still oversees the welfare of our country.


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