NO MORE

(Published in the Independent Coast Observer)

President Obama has failed to put forth any plausible rationale as to why he should receive a second term. His two signature "achievements" - - ObamaCare and the almost $1 trillion dollar stimulus  - - are so out of favor with the American people they can’t be discussed in polite company, much less stand as a basis for his reelection.

Oh, he has tried very hard; that is, he has tried very hard to place the blame for his failures on former President Bush and myriad other “non-Obama” reasons for this almost unprecedented period of continuing economic stagnation. 

The hard fact is that President Obama’s poorly-conceived policies of overspending and over-regulation, and the resulting uncertainty, continue to stifle the entrepreneurial initiative of the American people. No matter how clever his excuses, this anemic economy hangs about Mr. Obama's neck like a limp albatross.

It’s amusing to hear local liberals attempt to make the case for returning Obama to the Oval Office with reasons such as, “He’s killed a lot of terrorist with drone attacks," or,  "He’s (now) more experienced than Romney because he’s held the office for three plus years, yada, yada, yada.”

Seriously, if President Bush had sat in a room picking out bad guys to kill from the air, these same liberals would have screamed for his impeachment.  And as to President Obama’s newly-minted "experience," too bad voters (and most of the media) didn’t seriously consider that issue in 2008. 

Instead, we elected a woefully inexperienced individual who, with rhetorical charm, promised almost everything to everyone and then proceeded to break almost every one of those promises. He didn’t just break them, he completely forgot them.

The question voters should ask is:  “Will four more years of an Obama regime yield different results?” We believe not.

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA

HORRIFYING

(Published in the Independent Coast Observer)


Editor:

For nearly thirty years I've spent a large portion of my professional life working in Europe with European client companies, colleagues and good friends.  For at least the last twenty of those years I've told friends around the world (some of whom, until recently, were really tired of hearing it) that Europe's socialist system was in an accelerating spiral of collapse, with eventual catastrophic results.

When an American – at least one with eyes open – spends this much time abroad it's impossible to avoid being a witness to the specter of incentive dying, as Europeans become increasingly reliant on the state for essentially everything.  One can almost watch citizens on the street grow progressively more accepting as paralyzed governments seem unable to reverse these trends.

Daily media accounts vividly describe what the economic meltdown of European socialism  – using Greece as the example du jour – looks like.

Germany may yet postpone the inevitable for Greece, but that's the pathetic best that can be hoped.  Eurozone national banks are the largest bank holders of Greek sovereign debt.  And as was learned dramatically here in America during the mortgage securities crisis, the Obama government is only too ready to vector billions of US dollars to bail out European banks.  Once German money runs out – as it will long before Spain, Portugal and France face certain Greek-style meltdowns – all of our futures can only be imagined.

A careful read of today’s European economic situation should scare the living bleep out of every thinking American.  What should be most alarming is that under the Obama government literally every root cause of the looming economic and social catastrophe in Europe has a horrifying American parallel.  No Presidential election in our country's history has been more important than 2012.  The survival of our society is literally at stake.

Gary A Curtis

Concerned Coastal Voters

The Sea Ranch

LEFTIST CLOWNS

 (Published in the Independent Coast Observer)

To some of us the Obama 2012 Campaign is one big circus. In Ring One, you have the President himself, the Great Distractor, who, unable to discuss his highly unpopular and meager accomplishments, focuses on things such as class warfare, more taxes on the rich, evil Republicans, and himself, himself, himself . . . .

In Ring Two, a motley assortment of the President’s political, celebrity, and media surrogates dressed in clown suits, run about carrying his water in large containers with holes drilled in the bottom. Supporters drinking free beer laugh hysterically, whereas the “likely voters” quietly point to the water pouring out on to the sawdust floor of the Democrat’s “big tent.” The well-heeled clowns pretend they’re watering a garden of flowers (e.g., huge federal expansion, chronic unemployment, no national budget in three years, gargantuan deficit), but the savvy voters see only a sisyphean folly and the barren landscape of failed economic policies.

In Ring Three of Cirque d’Obama, you have well-meaning local Obamacons channelling credentialed (but misguided) hucksters like Robert Reich and Paul Krugman. These “experts” eternally proclaim their reactionary creed that no government program can ever be abandoned or modified in any substantive way no matter how much it has failed, or how much it will cost to maintain.  All the clowns throw fists full of money to the crowd and shout in shrill slogans, “Obama Cares, “Republicans are Evil,” and “Kill the Rich” (except for the Democratic rich, of course).

The increasingly skeptical audience of voters are mildly entertained by these leftist clowns, but then they remember the economy is still in the tank and the President has steadfastly ignored the coming entitlement program meltdown. In the final analysis, clowns parading distractive baubles will not prevail. The majority of voters will demand results, not a circus.

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA  95445