President Obama was urged by the few White House insiders from whom he still takes advice to leave the country on his ten-day Asian trip, his longest trip abroad since becoming president, in order to not inflict any more damage to the Democratic Party in the wake of one of the worst electoral defeats for the party of an incumbent president in recent history. According to sources close to the White House, who put themselves in great danger by even talking to members of the media, the plans to have Obama leave for a visit to India, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan are an attempt to get Obama out of the country while top Democrats can sort through the political disaster created for the party by Obama's increasingly detached-from-reality presidency.
Virtual political guerrilla warfare has broken out between Obama's inner circle on one hand and senior Democratic officials, including outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Party strategist James Carville, former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, and, behind-the-scenes, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton, on the other.
Top Democrats are still reeling from Obama's bizarre behavior at a $7500-a-plate fundraiser at a stately mansion at Brown University in Rhode Island on October 25. The fundraiser, organized by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was supposed to highlight Democratic Party unity. However, while Obama endorsed Democratic House candidate David Cicilline for outgoing Representative Patrick Kennedy's seat, the president failed to endorse Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio over Republican-turned-independent former Senator Lincoln Chafee. Obama's lack of an endorsement for a Democrat over a former Republican prompted Caprio to tell a radio show host that Obama "could take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I’m concerned."
Later that day, Obama briefly appeared at the fundraiser at Brown University, where Democratic loyalists paid $7500 to hear Obama speak, but departed after only twenty minutes, telling the assembled guests that he had to go back to the White House to "tuck in my daughters, walk the dog, and 'scoop the poop.'" The Democratic faithful were appalled and shocked at Obama's quick departure and one of the three reasons he gave for it: to scoop up dog turds as if the President of the United States actually performs such tasks with a phalanx of White House staff and Secret Service agents at his disposal.
Vice President Biden knows too well about Obama's lack of attention to his daily tasks of being president. The details of the fiasco at Brown soon were conveyed to Biden by his two old Democratic Senate colleagues from Rhode Island: Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse. Biden was not amused about Obama's dissing of the Democrats in Rhode Island. A week later, Chafee defeated Caprio for the Rhode Island governorship, thanks largely to Obama's less-than-neutral stance in cutting a secret deal to support Chafee against Caprio.
White House leaks about the ineffectiveness of Obama's presidency are expandng beyond the revelations attributed to a former high-level Obama administration insider and which have been reported by a blogger named "Ulsterman." Some White House staffers have described a "reign of terror" in the White House over continued leaks and a troika of leadership that is making decisions without any input from the president. The troika reportedly consists of First Lady Michelle Obama, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, and the president's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, who resides in the White House.
Not to be deterred, some White House staffers have sought out journalists and have arranged to meet them at nearby Starbuck's cafes to discretely convey to them inside information about the current disarray within the Obama administration. Some staffers have personally borne the brunt of Obama's temper and witnessed his extreme narcissistic behavior. WMR has also learned from White House sources that Obama is taking prescription anxiety medication.
Vice President Biden, under intense pressure from some Democratic Party officials and Cabinet members to invoke Article 25, Section 4 of the Constitution and have Obama temporarily or permanently removed as president because of his mental incapacity to fulfill his constitutional oath as president is reluctant to take such drastic action. Biden feels that the country would "become unglued" after such action and he doesn't want to be the one who would be responsible for "picking up the pieces," according to a source who works within Biden's office.
Some staffers have said on deep background that the revelations by the ex-White House official to "Ulsterman" are not even half of the story about what is actually occurring in the White House.
However, Biden and other Democratic and administration do believe that if Obama were to display some of the same reckless behavior publicly as many White House personnel have witnessed privately, there may be wide support for enactment of the provisions of the 25th Amendment.
Such a public display by Obama that could trigger succession action might involve a public outburst, including the use of foul language or a statement that Obama believes there is a conspiracy against him.
On October 5, Obama was addressing Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” summit in Washington, DC. During the middle of Obama's speech, the presidential seal fell off the podium. Publicly, Obama took the incident as a joke, but WMR has learned from White House insiders that Obama went on a tirade after the incident, accusing White House staffers of purposely not anchoring the seal to the podium. The White House supplies all the podiums and seals at all presidential addresses and the seal is usually well-anchored with four screws affixed to the podium. Obama reportedly "freaked out" and accused White House staffers of engaging in a conspiracy against him. The presidential tirade over such a trivial matter was not lost on senior administration officials who have witnessed Obama's lackadaisical behavior during the consideration of much weightier issues, for example, the war in Afghanistan.
Although some observers believe African-Americans would react negatively to the invocation of the 25th Amendment, WMR has learned that members of the Congressional Black Caucus would reluctantly go along with such a move. Many in their ranks, including outgoing House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI) were outraged over Obama's lack of interest in Haiti after that nation's devastating earthquake. For many black caucus members, it was their first indication that there was something very wrong with Obama and his grasp of reality.
With Obama intent on running for re-election and seriously considering sending White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to replace former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the potential Democratic challengers to Obama in 2012 are beginning to stir. WMR has learned that former DNC chairman Howard Dean is seriously considering a challenge to Obama as is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will reportedly depart Foggy Bottom after Defense Secretary Robert Gates leaves his position, possibly in January.
Several top Democrats consider Obama's chances to keep the White House in 2012 as slim and they find it fanciful that White House policy adviser David Axelrod is moving back to Chicago to work on Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, an effort many Democratic officials find a "fool's errand."
Obama also is disengaged from the plight of his former Senate Democratic colleagues in the wake of their near loss of the Senate with a much-reduced majority. There is pressure on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to step down as Majority Leader. However, Charles Schumer (D-NY), who has been mentioned as a replacement, reportedly has let it be known that he will not carry Obama's water as Majority Leader and may not want the job after all. The Majority Whip is Dick Durbin (D-IL) but he is seen as part of the Obama Chicago Mafia and almost every Democratic senator agrees on one thing: they do not want Durbin as their Majority Leader. Obama, the titular head of the Democratic Party, has refused to weigh in with any effective leadership as congressional Democrats pick up the pieces and lick their wounds.
Meanwhile, a team of ex-CIA officers are traveling the globe assembling a dossier of documents on Obama's past, including his education, passport, travel, and residency records. The team has scoured Kenya, Indonesia, Pakistan, and other countries collecting documents that are not already maintained in the CIA's own files on Obama's past. There is a possibility, according to WMR's sources, that any "smoking gun" documents may be released while Obama is in Asia in order to elicit a public and, perhaps, irrational enough response from the president to prompt the public to begin raising questions about Obama's suitability for office. Such an incident would make it easier for Biden to begin the succession process that was previously considered when President Richard Nixon was drinking heavily and taking prescription medication during the final days of his administration, twice during the Ronald Reagan administration -- after the attempted assassination and in 1987 when he demonstrated early stages of Alzheimer's Disease, and during the Bill Clinton administration, when Clinton's self-destructive sexual antics had Vice President Al Gore considering taking similar steps. |
During Obama's Asian trip, I had posted a two-part article from "Ulsterman" (News Flavor). It was Ulsterman's interview with a White House "insider". However, in order to follow along, as more of this story is revealed, I will now give you the links to Ulsterman's interviews, including his most recent, dated November 17, 2010.
Published by Ulsterman on November 17, 2010 in USA & Canada
