The Prince (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

A recent letter to the ICO (May 6, 2011) dubbed President Obama “the prince of multi-tasking.” The writer pointed out that, for Democrats: “His timeline is not always ours.”  (How Biblical! “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9)

However, as a Republican I am quite pleased because his timeline seems to be ours. He has granted renewable waivers to any business with union or San Francisco affiliation that wants out of Obamacare, backed Sarah Palin’s call to drill for oil in ANWAR (and in vast offshore expanses), extended President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, kept Guantanamo open and will try terrorists there in military tribunals, surged the war in Afghanistan, set a record by deporting 387,790 illegal aliens in 2009, and adopted the Bush Doctrine for the Middle East. Not only adopted Bush’s call for a democratic transition of the region, but for over 60 days – while thumbing his nose at Congress and the War Powers Act – has gone one up on Bush by bombing Libya, while still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Prince also one-upped President Bush by clearly rejecting a Palestinian refugee “right of return” to Israel as part of a two-state peace settlement.

At this rate Republicans well may wonder why we would run against The Prince in 2012. I’m sure Obama realizes that Democrats won’t be able to get any tax increases through the Republican House; if he declared “No new taxes!” we Republicans might skip running anyone against him. But as Democrats have learned, he can’t be trusted, so he’ll be replaced with a good fiscal conservative; someone who will lead for the good of Americans, not just the unions.

Michael B. Combs

TIMING (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

“Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.”

This bit of folk wisdom arrived in my in-box at about the same time an ICO contributor suggested President Obama’s timeline “is not always ours.”  

The truth of both statements was evident as Americans watched Mr. Obama   bask in the attention he received for presiding over the killing of America’s Most Wanted Terrorist.  In a speech rife with references to “I,” “me” and “my,” our Narcissist-In-Chief triumphantly announced the success of a comprehensive mission put into motion nearly ten years ago by then-President Bush – and subsequently opposed by then-Senator Obama.  

With campaign season upon us, this administration’s timeline for exploiting another “gutsy, defining moment” could not be postponed.  Obama’s address, broadcast within three hours of bin Laden’s death, gave him an immediate bump in the polls – and may have compromised our ability to effectively utilize information seized in the raid.  

  

Had Obama stayed mum a bit longer, intelligence experts tell us we likely could have disrupted the entire al-Qaida organization in a very short time. Also, some administration officials are concerned that leaks of details best left secret jeopardize the safety of Special Forces involved in such operations. 

Last week a frustrated Defense Secretary Robert Gates remarked, “We all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden.”  As Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell summarized, “The more that’s in the public domain the less likely we’ll be able to pull these operations off in the future.”  

Which brings to mind another time-tested truism: “Loose lips sink ships.”

President Obama couldn’t wait to spill the beans, for the opportunity to campaign as a war hero.  I can’t wait for the opportunity to put a grown-up back in the Oval Office.

Linda Clyne

THOUSAND CUTS (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

Many Americans have come to believe that President Obama is in over his head. It’s not just the results of the November 2 Congressional election in which the President’s Party received a “shellacking.” The party in power often loses seats in a mid-term election. However, the scope and depth of the losses were of historical proportions and reflected a deep unease with the President’s leadership in a number of areas. These include his decision making (or lack thereof), his inability to match deeds with words, his arrogance in dealing with the opposition, and his increasingly shrill and un-presidential rhetoric directed at various individuals and organizations. Such self-inflicted wounds are a thousand cuts on his Presidency. When combined with one misstep after another on highly important matters, they have ripped apart the fabric of confidence required for an effective leader.

The President’s flamboyant signing of an Executive Order to close the Guantanamo detention facility within one year and his subsequent failure to do so was just the first of many errors brought on by his lack of experience and gravitas. Another was his light-hearted “shout out” to a conference attendee just before announcing the terrible tragedy of the Ft. Hood massacre; this faux pas was compounded by his reading details of the disaster in an emotionless monotone as if it were a weather forecast. A long list of poor decisions followed: the health care debacle, the failed stimulus package, the mishandling of the BP oil spill, and his more recent characterization of Republicans as “hostage takers,” to name a few.

It must be a sad spectacle for his supporters to watch their “Man of the Left” being forced now to tack to the middle on many issues, but that may be his only path to reelection in 2012.

Jim Littlejohn

PROGRESSIVISM OR REGRESSIVISM? (Letter to the Independent Coast Observer)

Many people see the upcoming election as a contest between parties and personalities; with unemployment and a sagging economy weighing heavily upon our national psyche, we struggle to determine which candidates can best address these issues and lead us to a brighter future.

Perhaps equally worthy of contemplation is the question of whether America’s great economic and social freedoms should continue to be eroded by progressive (a.k.a. liberal) policies.

Modern day progressivism is a social and political philosophy that places absolute faith in centralized planning and has a seemingly insatiable appetite for expanding government and redistributing income.  It seeks to replace individual responsibility and choice with unprecedented government control over the lives of all Americans. 

In the past two years, we’ve seen the Obama administration essentially take over major private sector entities; e.g., health care, banking, housing, student loans and the auto industry. Remember early on when bureaucrats decided which car dealerships would be closed regardless of their profitability?

This administration’s economic stimulus package of almost $1 trillion promised shovel-ready jobs and no more than 8% unemployment. Instead, we’ve seen unemployment figures climb from 4.6% (when the Democrats took over Congress in 2007) to 9.6% today—with no improvement in sight. 

Recently Los Angeles County audited its spending of $111 million of taxpayer stimulus money and found that only 55 jobs were created.  That’s over $2 million dollars per job! This is not atypical; hundreds of similar situations have been documented across the nation. In June, the government issued an all-time record 41.3 million food stamps. As one politician aptly pointed out, “Democrats have become the party of food stamps, not paychecks.”

Today’s progressives want an army of bureaucrats making decisions for us.  That’s not the way of a free people.  Let’s choose freedom in November.

Jim Littlejohn

VOTE FOR CHANGE (Letter to the Independent Coast Observer)

Twenty months into his Presidency, many folks still believe President Obama is a gentleman and a scholar but now question his ability to lead. This administration’s failure to show tangible results on jobs and the economy is a serious problem, for Americans in general and the Democrat Party in particular. With a huge House majority and a filibuster-proof Senate, Democrats have passed massive legislation that shifts unprecedented power into the hands of Federal bureaucrats. The majority of Americans are not comfortable with these policies and many Independents and Democrats are wondering who and what they voted for two years ago.

Good leadership involves far more than reading campaign-like speeches from teleprompters. It requires communicating a coherent vision to gain broad support for effective policies. Instead we’re getting a plethora of multi-thousand paged bills on topics like national health care, auto bailouts, and massive stimulus packages. The recent financial regulations inexplicably ignored the significant role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the housing crisis!  Deliberating on weighty issues has become passé. We were told these bills must be passed immediately with no time to even read them! 

The administration has adopted “Obama-Speak” to cover their ineffective programs, such as “jobs saved or created.” Remember the Obama mantras, “shovel ready jobs” or “Recovery Summer?” How did those work out? The President’s most consistent response to the economic crisis has been to blame his predecessor, or even the American people. This continued tone of denial doesn’t set well with most Americans. If you drive your car into a ditch, you pull it out, fix it, and keep on going. American ingenuity has done this time and again. But if you push it over the cliff, it’s lost!  We’re not off the cliff – yet. Why go there? Vote for a change in November.

Jim Littlejohn