Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on September 27, 2009

President Obama with the NEA’s communications director Yosi Sergant, before he resigned this past week in the midst of the NEA scandal | Photo credit BigGovernment.com

Today was a dizzying research day. I explored a number of online essays written about Barack Obama. Essays that attempt to understand him, attempt to define him. Attempt to make some sense out of the cacophony of nonsense and distraction coming from members of the Left in their frantic efforts to deflect criticism or analysis of him or his vague socialist policies, attempt to ignore new scandals and his whorish, grating obsession of being on television.

Andrew Breitbart’s efforts at Big Government, with the mounting number of troubling exposés (to date, Patrick Courrielche’s damning National Endowment of the Arts conference call audio tapes and James O’Keefe’s undercover ACORN corruption videos) have unbalanced and unsettled the left-wing zealots. The dutiful Left’s standard “attack the messenger” instead of the message tactic is now being scorned or discredited as ACORN’s audaciously corrupt empire has more layers peeled away with each passing day. To which millions exclaim, “Keep ‘em comin’, Andrew!”

Pres. Obama’s approval numbers continue to drop. Attendance by average, normally peaceful people at town hall meetings and tea party events to protest continues to rise. Why is Obama hell-bent to charge down this road of socialism that most of America clearly does not want?

Here are portions of three intriguing essays that I thought presented unique insight and opinions about our Commander in Chief Barack Hussein Obama. Take from them what you will. Links are provided at the bottom of each to continue reading them at their host sites.

Will any of these essays help in understanding what makes our POTUS tick? Maybe, maybe not. I hope they do. Most thinking adults desire facts, need logic, are compelled to wrap their heads around the “why’s and wherefore’s” to draw their own conclusions and to try to restore order from chaos.

This has not been the “hope and change” many American voters thought they were getting at the polls last November. But maybe this will help clarify WHY.

With Pres. Obama being the undisputed overexposed “Mr. Media Hound” of any president in our nation’s history, this first essay at American Thinker explores the very question that’s been on my mind for months: Who in the heck is running our country?

Who is doing the governing?
By Robert A. Bonelli | September 27, 2009

I don’t want to sound petty, but I think considering how much time Mr. Obama is still spending campaigning, it is appropriate for the American people to question who is actually governing our nation?

Mr. Obama is constantly on television; frequently on the road appearing at rallies and delivering prepared speeches; submitting to interviews (he has been on 60 Minutes three times in the past six months!); and generally continuing to campaign. Yes, Ronald Reagan did go before the American people to get around an opposition Congress — but the last I looked it is Mr. Obama’s party that controls both the House and the Senate. The other striking difference between the new “constant communicator” Obama, and Mr. Reagan the “great communicator,” was that Mr. Reagan always came to the American people with substance and clarity. All we hear from Mr. Obama is platitudes and rally-speak!

So, who is governing our nation? Could it be the Cabinet? There are 15 members of the president’s cabinet, but we hear little if anything about what — if anything — they are doing. Could it be our country is run by the 37 (and counting) Czars Mr. Obama appointed who are accountable to only him? — we do hear a great deal about their ideas for ‘re-making’ America. Some notables in the new media have referred to this band of 37 as a shadow government that is free to operate without any scrutiny. The old media certainly is not asking about what the czars are actually doing.

In effect, the president is back to his old Illinois State Senate habit of voting “present” when it comes to issue after issue. He has dithered on Afghanistan and avoided a hard decision. On health care, he has outsourced political leadership to Senate and House pols. There is still no written health care plan from the White House. Sometimes it looks like nobody is in charge.

Is Mr. Obama only a figurehead who is paraded out in front of the people to call for their support of … what? Well it can’t be his ideas because he is not clear on what those specific plans may be, and he certainly never provides any serious detail…

Click here to read the rest of Bonelli’s essay.

From Andrew B. Wilson at The American Spectator, Polonius POTUS:

The President who speaks (and speaks and speaks).

On the seventh day, God rested. But not Barack. Knowing the great work of mismanaging health care, bankrupting the economy and giving aid and succor to the nation’s enemies was not yet done, the president appeared on no fewer than five television programs on Sunday, Sept. 20 — lecturing the American people on the need for immediate action on thousands of pages of health care legislation that neither he nor anyone else has even read.

This is good for us. We need to know the error of our ways. Barack will do that for us, and then some! No president has ever talked so much, or dished out so much free and unsolicited advice.

Appearing on television before millions of American school children earlier in the month, he served up one platitude after another of stunning banality. “This above all,” he said, “to thine own self be true.” No, wait, it was Shakespeare’s Polonius who said that. But Barack said something strikingly similar. That was just one of dozens of recent speaking engagements for this most front-and-center of presidents.

Like Polonius, who proudly announces in Hamlet that he “played once i’th’ university…I did enact Julius Caesar,” Mr. Obama is something of a thespian.

Speaking on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, he played the part of an angry Moses come down from the mountaintop — warning bankers what would happen if they failed to mend their ways in accordance with his commandments. He told them that he would not intervene a second time to save them from themselves. No, he would let them fall straight to hell. “I want them (i.e. the evil bankers) to hear my words,” said he, nodding his head at the gravity of his own words. “Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for the consequences and expect that the next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.”

Sometimes, Barack cannot hide his impatience with those who doubt his omnipotence. One time, rolling up his sleeves at the entrance to the Augean stables, he said, “I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them but don’t do a lot of talking.”

Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack’s Indonesian-born half sister, relates that “There was this joke in our childhood that he was going to be the first African-American president.” It was based, she says, “on the fact that he was so bossy and he was always winning arguments. You know, he was always trying to tell people what to do so we were like, ‘Oh, yes, Mr. President!’”

Where does this unwavering certainty and wonderful belief in one’s self come from?

It comes from his vision…

Click here to read the rest of Wilson’s essay.

A portion of another thought-provoking essay from American Thinker:

American Thinker: The History Lesson Obama Missed
By Lauri B. Regan
September 27, 2009

…Much has been written about what motivates Barack Obama. Some suggest he is simply naïve; others suggest he is pure evil. Some look to his socialist upbringing and his narcissistic personality. Still others believe him to be a “Manchurian Candidate,” placed here by a foreign enemy determined to bring our country down.

The one obvious and consistent feature self-evident in speech after speech comprising his world apology tour is Obama’s disdain for America. Obama stands with the world’s evil-doers in rejecting American exceptionalism. If there was a question about Obama’s love of his country, the disparaging remarks on Wednesday about the country he was elected to lead confirm his scorn. There was no mention of the good that American men and women have done for the people of the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. There was no mention of the soldiers that have fought, been maimed, and died on battlefields across the globe so that people could be free of dictators the likes of which sat in the General Assembly and applauded for Obama. There was no mention of the financial support, the humanitarian aid, or the work of various American not-for-profits that exist solely to help individuals less fortunate the world over. And of course, there was no mention of the international AIDS-fighting campaign launched under George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor who received the biggest bashing in his speech.

But notwithstanding Obama’s motives for reaching out to the dictators of the world, Americans must take note of the fact that the lessons of history and basic understanding of human nature teach that irrational megalomaniacs cannot be reasoned with. No matter how articulate America’s president, his Messiah-like aura will not turn evil into good, the devil into an angel.

I remember the days of being a free-spirited hippie, hanging out at concerts and singing Bob Dylan, CSNY, and John Lennon songs. Those were the days, for I had not a care in the world. I am happy to say that I have since grown up. I have read books, watched films, and looked at horrific pictures, travelled to third world countries, and studied history. I no longer have an idealistic view of the world as I raise three Jewish children in a country now run by an apparent Arab-loving, tyrant-loving President. These are scary times and when a psychopath dictator the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces to the world that he intends to blow up Israel, I believe him…

Click here to read the rest of Regan’s essay.

Additional reading:
Philip Klein, American Spectator: Obama’s Media Blitz Doesn’t Help Approval Rating
Gateway Pundit: Oops!… Obama Forgets to Do Something Again and London Times on Barack and Michelle Obama: Mr&Mrs show irks voters
Publius, Big Government: Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society – Talking Sense to Obama’s Cabinet Like Telling the Mafia to Go Straight
Noel Sheppard, NewsBusters: Howard Fineman: Enough TV, Mr. President. How About Governing?
Hot Air: Recovery alert: Durable goods orders, housing sales plunged in August
Diary of a Mad Conservative: The Roots of Obama’s Contempt
John Stossel, Real Clear Politics: Success No Matter What
Politico: Paterson blames weak Obama record for friction
Dr. Paul Moreno, Big Government: Obama’s Paper Chase
Hot Air: Finally: Senators shouting at each over other ObamaCare now
Steven Crowder, Big Hollywood: Lonewolf Diaries: The Obama Era is Over
Rusty Humphries, Big Government: Alert the Media: Ayers’ Claim He Wrote Obama’s ‘Dreams of My Father’ Is A Blockbuster Story
The Patriot’s Mind: Is Obama playing Godfather with the CBO?
The American Prospect: The Three Audiences Obama Has to Please
Scared Monkeys: Why Isn’t President Barack Obama Interested in Child Sex Slaves and Human Trafficking or Find it Important?
Moonbat Patrol: Obama’s Plan, Sell The Smile, Detract, Confuse, Media Blitz A Ploy To Kill Momentum Against Health Care Plan
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Dragnet’s Sgt. Friday to Obama: “Don’t Try to Build a New Country, Make the Old One Work” (video) and Exposed: Laws Broken, White House Used NEA to Ramrod Obama’s Agenda, ACORN Offshoot “United We Serve” Org Involved, and More and Teetering POTUS See-Saw: Minus 13, Obama’s Lowest Approval to Date

Categories: Government, Media & Communication, Social and Political Climate
Tags: America's greatness, Andrew Breitbart, Barack Obama, Congress, conservative, Democrat, dictators, George W. Bush, Israel, James O'Keefe, media bias, National Endowment of the Arts, NEA, Obama essays, Obama overexposed, political, politics, Shakespeare, socialism, socialist, Yosi Sergant