2 Questions:
1. How important can the endorsement of Barack Obama by Colin Powell be, considering:
Colin Powell is the one, as Secretary of State, who delivered testimony about Iraq having the Weapons of Mass Destruction. If he’s so good, why didn’t he know that wasn’t true? If he DID know it wasn’t true, why didn’t he resign, rather than lie to us?
2. Why isn’t the media holding Obama to his promise to take federal campaign funds, thus limiting his ability to raise money himself. The answer is this: The media is profiting from a staggering $150 Million he raised last month. They get a huge windfall in tough economic times for television and radio and in return, they support Obama.
I’m no fan of John McCain, but what a mess we’re in for. The problem with an Obama Presidency is that the real issues will be overshadowed by the ones that don’t matter: Race, experience, the charge that will be leveled that Obama bought the office. It’s all going to take away from the real problem – that we’ve entered the most dangerous recession of our time, and will probably suffer a Greater Depression.
I predict the race issue will be a big problem. A big portion of the U.S. is simply not interested in a black President. Militant and vocal Black America will soon become disillusioned when things don’t change overnight to put them on top. Liberal White America, who (if it happens) will have elected Obama, will bear the brunt of the Militant Black community’s anger. After all, the Democrats are still basically white. With the “super-majority” in Congress they expect to get, the Democrats will be seen as blocking Black America’s triumph. The backlash could be devastating, and won’t help anyone.
I don’t envy Barack Obama if he becomes President. Black America will expect to see a White House and Administration filled with African-Americans. Liberals call fears of that “racist,” but only because they don’t believe it will happen. If it doesn’t happen, Obama has problems with Black America, who will believe they’ve elected him. If it does happen, it will scare a lot of non-black people who will have voted for Obama, and they will start to reconsider their previous assertion that “race doesn’t matter.”
Sadly, it does.
Posted in
Economy,
Politics,
US Tags:
Campaign,
Election,
McCain,
Obama,
Presidential Election
As we get within three weeks of the Presidential election, it’s easy to be cynical, easy to just shake your head and wonder how America got to this place. It’s a travesty.
While we follow the tale of “Joe the Plumber,” a voter the McCain campaign decided to shove into the spotlight and use as a device, the absurdity of it all just boggles the rational mind. Forget for a moment that the Republican’s new icon should probably be worried less about his taxes going up, and more worried about paying the back taxes he’s got a lien on his house for.
I know campaigning for President is hard, trying to reach all the different flavors of voters, but the Republicans have forgotten the lesson they learned from Bill Clinton. Remember “It’s the economy, stupid?”
I do.
Apparently, they don’t. Who cares about taxes right now? McCain had the perfect opportunity to present himself as the experienced statesman who can guide us through this potentially world-changing crash, but missed.
At this point, I’m sadly starting to prepare myself mentally for the disaster an Obama Presidency will be. If the Republicans win, it will only be through the sad racism that still exists in too great measure. I don’t think Obama is the right choice, and I disappointed that I have to vote against the first black Presidential candidate because of his politics and lack of experience. A couple years ago, I was hoping to have the opportunity to cast a vote for Colin Powell, but that didn’t play out. That being said, I wouldn’t vote FOR a candidate because he’s black anymore than I’d vote AGAINST one for the same reason. Unfortunately, in this election, a vote against Obama is going to be seen by a lot of people as a vote agains THE black man, rather than a vote against A black man.
We’ve got a long way to go.
Posted in
Politics Tags:
Election,
Joe the Plumber,
McCain,
Obama,
President,
Voting
One of the topics of the recent debate between John McCain and Barack Obama at Rick Warren’s church was “how much money do you have to make to be rich?” Predictably, the candidates differed dramatically in their answers. McCain said “$5 Million,” and Obama replied “If you’re making more than $250,000, you’re doing pretty well.”
Both answers were ridiculous. In a piece from NPR’s Day to Day, available via podcast here, Jared Bernstein points out that you can’t label someone as “rich” with just an income figure. Where they live makes all the difference. He’s exactly right.
At this point, our economy and culture is most certainly NOT in a position to start disincentiving high income earners from continuing to work. Let’s say a married couple is at the $350,000 income range, living in a city where it’s fairly expensive to live. They have children, and pay a LOT for after-school childcare, both in activities and nanny services to get the children to where they need to go. For the most part (after $5000/child, anyway) they have to pay for all that with after-tax dollars. Expensive.
At some point, as taxes for this “rich” couple go up, when taxes are raised, which an Obama White House and Congress will certainly make happen, the couple will reassess, and may decide that for economic and lifestyle reasons, it makes sense to give up one job and move somewhere less expensive. The end result will be one high-earning partner out of the workforce, and more importantly, one less Social Security contributor at a time when the Boomers are starting to retire in larger and larger numbers.
Good strategy, Barack. Straight out of the Clinton early 90s playbook. Thank goodness our economic situation in this country hasn’t changed at all in the past 16 years.
But then again, maybe the Democrats’ plan is to accelerate the bankruptcy of the entitlement programs the boomer generation have been counting on all along. Remember, big government politicians rely on a dependent population for their power. Congress has their own retirement programs and don’t participate in Social Security. They can bankrupt all the entitlements they want without ever worrying about missing a check themselves.
They’re immune from a lot of the damage Obama’s plan would cause.
But are you?
Posted in
Economy,
Politics Tags:
Campaign,
Debate,
Economy,
Entitlements,
McCain,
Obama,
Rick Warren,
Social Security
The #1 seller on Amazon right now is a book that will hopefully end the Obama campaign’s chances for winning the White House in November.
I’ve made no secret about the fact that this blog supported Ron Paul for President. He was the only candidate who truly understands the nature of the crisis our nation is entering. At best, it will be difficult. At worst, it could end the dominance of the United States on the international stage, possibly forever. There is the very real chance that within a few short years, countless areas of our country will resemble the poverty-ridden third world villages you see in television infomercials asking for money to help feed their children.
But the media decided Dr. Paul was a crank unworthy of serious coverage. They love Obama. They tolerate McCain. A Presidency of the latter will not do a thing to move the United States in the direction it needs to go to address these problems. If the former wins in November, the Republic is in serious danger. Here’s why.
Barack Hussein Obama is an empty suit who is only a serious contender for the Presidency because of his race. He has 143 days experience in the Senate, and has not put forth a single idea or even the tiniest scrap of a note of what he believes should be done to put this country back on the right track. He will in no way have the support of the majority of the American people because he is the son of a African Muslim and an American woman who clearly had problems with mainstream American life and culture. Is he intelligent? Sure seems so to me. Is he a good man? I haven’t seen anything (other than the normal political dishonesty that seems to be almost a prerequisite for staying in the Senate) that suggests he is anything but an honorable American. Do I believe he is a danger to our country?
No.
But his Presidency would be. I think our country is a tinderbox of civil trouble waiting for ignition. The mainstream middle to upper-middle class American is besieged with a host of people who want what they have without having to work for it. From illegal Mexican immigrants who demand that we educate their children and give them public assistance and all the rights and privileges of American citizenship, to a thuggish, prison-life inspired class that prefers to take, rather than work for what they need to the middle-class youth culture who, because of the trash the commercial media produces, enjoys emulating that thuggish prison-inspired rap culture, we feel besieged. This is not the America of my childhood, and I feel sad that my son won’t be able to experience that America. Furthermore, I refuse to feel embarrassed that I wanted that same America to last, and I object to any who call me “racist” because I mourn the America of the 50s and 60s.
Because it’s not about not wanting a black President. I don’t care if the President’s black or white. I care that he’s capable, honest, has ideas and beliefs he is willing and able to articulate, even if I disagree with him. I DO care that there are those who want Obama to be the President BECAUSE he is black.
In my opinion, THAT makes someone a racist.
I think there’s a very good chance that the Obamas will move into the White House next January, and I dread that, because I believe it will get very, very ugly. And right now, America doesn’t need that.
Posted in
Politics,
US Tags:
2008,
Corsi,
Election,
Obama,
President,
The Obama Nation
I’ve made it no secret that WhatComesNext.net supports Ron Paul for President. Note that I still say “supports,” because even though Dr. Paul has left the race, I will still write in his name as my choice for the office. I believe that he is/was the only candidate who has even the simplest grasp on our economic problems and how to address. Notice I didn’t say “fix” them – that’s impossible at this point. We need a government that has the ability to successfully lead us through the next several years without allowing the nation to succumb to our economic “illness.”
But the two political parties that divide us, do so because we and our money are spoils to be divided. The organizations called the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, are, in reality, one party with two faces that both look upon what we have as something to control, confiscate, and steal. For the good of our nation, they need to slink off to oblivion in shame and humiliation.
There’s a saying: “A people gets the kind of government it deserves,” and that’s true. We have allowed these two parties to flourish and marginalize all others, so we deserve them. We have allowed an elitist political class to develop, rewarding the ability to get elected above any talent for governance. We have stood by and in most cases, participated in the construction of a system where C-student charlatans walk the halls of power in every branch of our government, enjoy enormous political and personal successes while brilliant and plain-spoken men and women like Ron Paul are treated like “whack-jobs,” not even worthy of consideration in the process.
The good people of Texas’ 14th district know something most of the rest of us are apparently unaware of, that Ron Paul has answers. As an economist, I know that he has MANY good answers. Sadly, the two major party candidates vying for the White House are empty suits, bereft of even the barest minimum of ability to address our problems. The news of the past week clearly shows this. McCain spent part of it talking to the Dalai Lama. WHAT? I have nothing respect for the Dalai Lama, but what in the world was McCain thinking?
Even worse, Obama spent the week doing a “victory lap” in Europe, gathering adulation from Europeans. If he wanted to speak to non-Americans, he could have done that easily enough. Just go to Los Angeles, New York or one of a hundred other American cities, where immigration control has failed miserably. But, he decided to go to Europe, to wink at these people across the Atlantic, distancing himself from us “ugly Americans,” and in effect, saying “when I’m elected, I’ll shape these barbarians into polite savages you won’t mind having visit you.” The best thing Obama could do for “his” country, is more of this kind of thing. Keep showing poor judgement like that, and even the most dense Americans will realize he’s not in the race for them and will dump him from not only his White House bid, but also from his Senate seat when the time comes. Anyone who votes for Obama this fall will get precisely the government they deserve.
But sadly, we’ll be right there with them.
Posted in
Politics,
US Tags:
Economy,
Election,
McCain,
Obama,
Ron Paul
I read with much head-nodding this morning, Jim Kunstler’s “Clusterf**k Nation Chronicle” posting “Slip of the Tongue,” about Barack Obama’s comments in Pennsylvania. Listening to news reports about Obama’s comments, I couldn’t help but agree with him. What about small-town Pennsylvanians who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” isn’t true? The only thing I could add to guns, religion and antipathy to people not like them, is Nascar. Kunstler agrees with that as well, and he’s right.
Read more »
Posted in
Economy,
Politics,
Society Tags:
Depression,
Economy,
Hillary Clinton,
Nascar,
Obama,
Politics