American Exceptionalism

This new Gallup poll shows that a large majority of American's agree that "that the United States has a unique character because of its history and Constitution that sets it apart from other nations as the greatest in the world."  The same poll shows that just 58% believe that President Obama agrees with the sentiment.

In 2009, President Obama was asked if he believed in American exceptionalism. He replied, 

"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." 

In fairness, Obama does go on, in the same reply, to state that he is "proud of my country and its role and history in the world."  The quote continues with nuanced language about partnerships and compromise and how the other nations of the world are also wonderful, etc.  He doesn't seem to understand what American exceptionalism is actually referring to.

Many, mostly on the left, conflate American exceptionalism with nationalism.  American exceptionalism is not based on national pride, but rather refers to the opinion that America was uniquely founded upon an idea.  It was designed by the founding fathers as a nation of laws, based on liberty and individualism.

Obama's relativism regarding American exceptionalism can be summed up with a quote from the movie "The Incredibles":

Helen: Everyone's special, Dash.
Dash: Which is another way of saying no one is.

Does unemployment stimulate the economy?

Does unemployment stimulate the economy?  It seems, on it's face, like an absurd economic strategy.  But, upon further analysis - yes, it is absurd.

Keith Olbermann, Nancy Pelosi and other Keynesian Democrats would like to believe that is true. It's simply wrong (and dangerous).

Olbermann's claim:

"The unemployed, unlike the rich ... are, in fact, the job creators"

A panel on PJTV, including Yaron Brooks and Terry Jones, dissects Olbermann's theory here:

UPDATE:  Trickle-up economics via xtranormal.

Curtis Got Slapped ...

A child named Curtis Bowen © was allegedly slapped by his teacher at Martin Luther King Jr., Elementary School.  In response, his mother, Lisa Henry Bowen © wrote a racially charged 40-page letter of demands for reparations.

This site shows most of the 40-page letter.  

To start things off, Ms. Bowen © presents a bill, payable by money order or silver coinage, for $250,000.  She uses some basic math to arrive at that figure.

"Curtis Bowen © has a million dollar face, and I've always told him so.  Curtis Bowen © is my sovereign property and belongs to me, according to God's laws, the Common Law ... Curtis Bowen © demonstrated for me how Ms. Curry slapped him and it appears, by his demonstration, she slapped 1/4 of his face."

The 14 page list of demands that follows ranges from merely ridiculous ...

  - Annual trips to Disneyland

  - An audience with the President

  - A $15,000 per month consulting job for Ms. Bowen ©

... to entirely insane: 

  - No H.A.A.R.P. signals used to "... make us confused, crazy, stupid ... "

  - No "mind control tactics ... "

  - No "... "mysterious deaths" in an effort to avoid paying us"

You have to read the whole thing to fully appreciate the magnitude of the madness required to write this manifesto.

... Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happy Meals

San Francisco's board of supervisors has voted, by a veto-proof margin, to ban most of McDonald's Happy Meals as they are currently being served in the restaurants. The measure is intended to force fast-food chains to either make their children's meals healthier or stop selling them with toys. View the full story here.

The measure will make San Francisco the first major city in the country to forbid restaurants from offering a free toy with meals that contain more than set levels of calories, sugar and fat.


The ordinance would also require restaurants to provide fruits and vegetables with all meals for children that come with toys.

The money quote in the article is this:

"We're part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice," said Supervisor Eric Mar, who sponsored the measure.

Who needs to parent when there are nanny-state politicians ready to legislate parenthood instead?

The Victory Speeches of Barney Frank and Marco Rubio.

Compare and contrast the following victory speeches.

Barney Frank: arrogant, bitter, petty, angry.


Marco Rubio: humble, gracious, dignified, inspiring.

first blood in the arizona immigration fight

 is drawn by a clinton-appointed federal district judge.  one of the arguments she makes is that

"The number of requests that will emanate from Arizona as a result of determining the status of every arrestee is likely to impermissibly burden federal resources and redirect federal agencies away from the priorities they have established..." 

so, in essence, democrats find themselves cheering the proposition that we won't bother enforcing laws if enforcement would be onerous.

i wonder whether they would support the proposition in other contexts.  my guess is that no effort would be spared if they could legally jail, say, tea-partiers.

what the media doesn't cover

ought to embarrass any self-respecting journalist.  it should be interesting to see what coverage, if any, develops of this story about quotas in the financial bill.  Drudge could force the issue, and he's already got a link.  No siren, though.

scott johnson at powerline posted earlier about this phenomenon.

'All of the Above'

Bill Whittle on Obama.

"Is Barack Obama:

A. A Muslim-sympathizing, neo-marxist true-believer, who sees America and capitalism as the principal barrier to fairness and world peace, or;

B.  Is he merely an empty suit, an unwitting pawn of much larger hidden forces, or:

C.  Simply a self-obsessed, incompetent, narcicist who happened to be at the right place at the right time.

... I've given this a lot of careful thought, and I think the real answer is ... 'Yes'."

Here is the link to the whole thing.

Media Says 'Jump'; Obama Asks, 'How High?'

Obama, relying on daily polls and media advice, is clearly in reaction mode and constantly finding himself one step behind where he ought to be.

Barack Obama, political weathervane.

via Byron York.

DeMint's South Carolina Senate Seat Appears Safe.

Incumbent S.C. Senator Jim DeMint is facing the winner of the Democratic party primary, Alvin Greene.  Greene is such a terrible candidate that Dems are claiming he's a Republican plant.  That seems unlikely, as presumably the Republicans wouldn't have planted a candidate this bad.  Firstly, they didn't need to, as DeMint is expected to trounce whoever the Dems put up against him.  Secondly, they wouldn't have expected this character to make it through the primary.

Republicans, when planting candidates in a Democratic primary, usually don't go for an unemployed, barely literate candidate who is facing felony obscenity charges.

Greene has given several completely bizarre interviews, including this one with Keith Olbermann:

Obama's blame game

CHRIS STIREWALT: Obama Falls Headfirst Into The Hypocrisy Trap.

(via Instapundit) 

Why Won’t Obama Meet With the CEO of BP?

via Michelle Malkin:

Presidential candidate Obama, would you be willing to meet with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and and Kim Jong Il?

“I would.”

*****
President Obama, have you spoken with the CEO of BP to discuss the oil spill in the Gulf?

“No… when you talk to a guy like the BP CEO, he’s going to say all the right things to me. I’m not interested in words. I’m interested in actions.”

           *****

Helen Thomas apologizes for having said it out loud.

Helen Thomas issued a non-apology apology for her remarks about the need for Jews to "get the hell out of Palestine" and return to Poland and Germany.

The "apology" is paraphrased below:

“I deeply regret [that the] comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians [were spoken out loud]. They do not  [accurately] reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties [Israel] recognize[s] the need for mutual respect and tolerance [Hezbollah]. May that day come [Israel be destroyed] soon.”

Update: Thomas has resigned.  I'm not sure she could do worse than she has already, but apparently there is more Thomas video on the way.

Study finds increased gov’t spending results in unemployment.

Not exactly man bites dog stuff, but the results surprised the researchers anyway...

via HotAir:  Study finds increased gov’t spending results in unemployment.

 "Our findings suggest that they [policy makers] should revisit their belief that federal spending can stimulate private economic development. It is important to note that our research ignores all costs associated with paying for the spending such as higher taxes or increased borrowing. From the perspective of the target state, the funds are essentially free, but clearly at the national level someone has to pay for stimulus spending. And in the absence of a positive private-sector response, it seems even more difficult to justify federal spending than otherwise."

Pelosi's prolific absurdity

Pelosi recently referred to the health care bill as "entrepreneurial"...

"...We see it as an entrepreneurial bill, a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care."

Question:  In what alternate universe does quitting your job translate to entrepreneurial?

Answer: California’s 8^th District 

Here is the clip ...

B+ Obama unable to help Specter

Does Obama ever back the winning horse?  Specter loses, despite Obama's best efforts.

Following his party switch last spring, Specter was seen as a strong favorite in his primary fight against Sestak. President Barack Obama did quite a bit for Specter -- appearing at a rally with the incumbent and appearing in radio and television ads for him in the Philadelphia area in the final weeks of the campaign. 

These results are very familiar for "B+" Obama.  You'd think that even a blind squirrel would find a nut now and then.

Krauthammer on Obama's defense of stimulus spending

Obama defends his economic agenda, touting the April unemployment report as evidence of the effect his policies have had on job growth and the economy.

Krauthammer's reaction: 

"Look, I don't blame the president for not lowering unemployment. A president doesn't have the power to do that.  

But I do blame him for spending $1 trillion and giving the appearance of doing it [lowering unemployment] and pretending it's had any effect. It hasn't. All it has done is saddle us with $1 trillion worth of extra debt, which will be a drag on the economy in the future.  

Presidents could possibly make an effect on unemployment by one thing. If you want to use shock and awe and throw in $1 trillion, what he might have done is do a radical lowering of the payroll tax, because if you want to encourage something, you either subsidize it or lower the tax on it, and the payroll tax is a tax on employment and a tax on work. It might have helped.  

Nonetheless, it's always an exaggeration. If the Clinton administration says we created eight million jobs, that's rubbish. It was Steve Jobs who did that, it was Bill Gates, it was the Internet, a lot of other stuff. A president presides over the economy; he doesn't drive it."

'Los Suns' Protest Arizona Law

On Wednesday (Cinco de Mayo), The Phoenix Suns basketball team wore their "Los Suns" jerseys during Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals to show solidarity with Latinos protesting Arizona's new immigration law. 

Suns General Manager Steve Kerr went so far as to play the Nazi card ...

“It’s hard to imagine in this country that we have to produce papers, It rings up images of Nazi Germany.” 

Presumably, "Los Suns" allowed fans to attend the game without tickets.  After all, it would have been insensitive to request to see the tickets of any fans.  So, these "undocumented ticket-holders" must have been allowed into the game, provided with free drink, food and seats, paid for by the "documented ticket-holders".

Vacationing is a human right, EU chief says

It reads like a headline from the Onion.  Alas, it's real.

"The European Union has declared travelling a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidize vacations with taxpayers' dollars for those too poor to afford their own trips. "

Fortunately, such European-style social policies would never happen in America ... er, wait.

Victor Davis Hanson: "How Could We Be So Stupid?..."

"... Let us count the ways."

VDH presents "seven alternative reasons ... why the present government is hell-bent on doubling the national debt in eight years."

Obama Bans terms Islam, Jihad From National Security Strategy Document

Obama is cleansing national strategy documents of any reference to terms that might offend terrorists.  Does he think that by not uttering the term Jihad, then it will cease to exist?  He's like a small child who covers his eyes and assumes he is invisible.

From dictionary.com:

Main Entry: willful blind·ness
Function: noun: deliberate failure to make a reasonable inquiry of wrongdoing ... despite suspicion or an awareness of the high probability of its existence

Bill Whittle on PJTV provides a compelling illustration of how dramatically Obama's 'willful blindness' has already impacted America's counter-terrorism strategy.

Ronald Reagan on Socialized Medicine

Ronald Reagan, circa 1961, speaks about socialized medicine.  His words, unfortunately, ring as true today as when they were spoken.

"Back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program..."

Listen to the whole thing. 

The United States of Greece?

The "health care" bill passed by the house yesterday was in fact, not a health care bill after all.  It was, instead, the largest redistricting bill in recorded history.  I present you with, the United States of America Greece.

Update: After some backroom dealing, Nebraska negotiated itself some prime waterfront in the new plan.

Thanks Obama!

US Rep. Paul Ryan on the role of government.

US Rep. Paul Ryan reacts to the health care abomination just passed by the House, and more specifically about the role of government in the lives of the American people.  At least someone is asking the right questions.

"Do we believe that the goal of government is to promote equal opportunity for all Americans to make the most of their lives; or do we now believe that government's role is to equalize the results of people's lives?"

Paul Ryan 2012.

"... from the consent of the governed"?

March 21, 2010 - Black Sunday.

The health care bill passed.  The only question remaining is, 'Can this be undone?'...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

"... from the consent of the governed?"  November, 2010 and subsequently 2012, will answer that question definitively.

"... wait until you see what it costs when it's free."

"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free." - P.J. O'Rourke

While it appears that Obama's health care monstrosity could be on the verge of passing, it's worth looking at where America's health care system may be headed.

Dr. Paul Hsieh describes describes what the Canadian health care system really is like in this 2007 article.  Read the whole thing.

"To guarantee "free" health care, a government must force the individual to pay for everyone else's medical care and limit his freedom to pay voluntarily for his own. With bureaucrats deciding who receives what, the individual is therefore forbidden from spending his money according to his own rational judgment (and the advice of his doctors) as to what's best for his health. When a government forces people to act against their own interests, it's no surprise that the results are misery and death."

And (to borrow a phrase) ... Let me be clear, the Democrats ultimate goal is a Canada-like, government-run, single payer health care system.  Don't take my word for it, take Obama's ...

Pelosi: "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

This video was linked on Drudge. 

Out of context?  Apparently not ... Here is a link to the full speech.  Below are the remarks from the speech before and after that comment. 

"You've heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don't know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention -- it's about diet, not diabetes. It's going to be very, very exciting.

"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. Furthermore, we believe that health care reform, again I said at the beginning of my remarks, that we sent the three pillars that the President's economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation -- innovation begins in the classroom -- clean energy and climate, addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology, and the third, first among equals I may say, is health care, health insurance reform"

Pelosi wasn't taken out of context, she is just out of touch.

Michael Moore as White House Chief of Staff?

In an open letter to President Obama, filmmaker Michael Moore blamed Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for the dismal outlook Democrats are facing in the 2010 elections.  Moore offered to replace Emanuel for just $1 a year.  He promised that he and Obama would be ...:

"... up at 5 in the morning, 7 days a week ... Each morning you and I will do 100 jumping jacks and you will repeat after me: : THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED ME, NOT THE REPUBLICANS, TO RUN THE COUNTRY!..."

Michael Moore? 100 jumping jacks?   I'll take the under.

Ace of Spades on Obama

In response to Obama's apparent flip-flop on the use of military tribunals to try KSM, Ace of Spades presents an itemized list of Obama failures, adding:

"Let's just stipulate that Obama is the greatest Democratic failure on the national stage since Carter. He will go down in history as a placeholder between the Bush 9/11 years and the transformative economic and foreign policies of the 45th president, a Republican."

"A good, solid B+" indeed.

Regarding KSM though, you can be sure that  Obama's change in position is a political maneuver, and does not represent any genuine policy shift.

On the constitutionality of Chicago's gun ban ...

The US Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case that challenges Chicago's handgun ban as unconstitutional.  Mayor Daley and other Illinois politicians are positioned  firmly against the 2nd amendment.  U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) on the gun problem in Chicago ...

"Many of my friends talk about the fact that they hunt in their state and I will tell them that many of the people who are hunting in Chicago are not hunting wild game -- they are hunting each other."

It's mind-boggling that Daley, Davis, et. al, actually believe that criminals who are willing to commit murder would be dissuaded by a gun ban.  Exactly who in Chicago benefits from the repeal of the 2nd amendment?

Some statistics on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of hand gun bans in Chicago and elsewhere here ...

"What the crime data show is that gun laws primarily disarm law-abiding citizens, they do not make them safer.

Lockerbie bomber keeps on ticking.

Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, convicted of murdering 270 people by blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, was released last August on "compassionate grounds".  It was claimed that he had just 3 months to live.  Unsurprising to some, 6 months later he's alive and well, living in the lap of luxury.

American media on Climategate

After Climategate, Glaciergate, Africagate, Amazongate, Hurricanegate, the mainstream media in America finally weigh in on the matter:

am crickets 01 hpx sound bite  natural sound bites

democrats in Disarray

Wow.

Obama, the "post-pettiness" president?

Obama, while calling for bipartisanship and political cooperation, had this to say:

"...At this critical time in our country, the people who sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics."

Ironically, on the very same day, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs illustrated 'first-hand' how the Obama administration is transcending 'petty politics' by mocking Sarah Palin's note-taking with notes scribbled on his own hand.   If that doesn't qualify as petty, I'm not sure what does.  The President of the United States should be above such behavior.  It's embarrassing and unpresidential. 

See here or here for other examples of Obama's ability to 'transcend' petty politics.

Obama, done in by greed

Obama and his fellow democrats are bemoaning Republican 'obstruction', and are suddenly calling for bipartisanship.

"When a sitting president calls for bipartisanship by the opposition – he really means surrender. And if they block his proposals, its "obstinacy" and not political views they hold as strongly as he holds his. "

For the first year of Obama's presidency he enjoyed a supermajority in the Senate and a majority in the House.  For an entire year, the Democrats had no need for, or interest in, bipartisanship.  They could have passed virtually anything they pleased without a single Republican vote, and without risk of a filibuster. 

While accomplishing very little of his agenda in his first year, I expect Obama himself wonders:
- How much time was wasted negotiating the 'Cornhusker kickback'?
- How much time was wated negotiating the 'Louisiana Purchase II'?
- How much time was wasted on back-room deals with the unions?

The Democrats had every opportunity to pass some version of their horrendous health care bill before Christmas -- again, with no need for a single Republican vote.  So, not only did the grotesque back-room deals and pork-barrel politicking contribute directly to the loss of their supermajority, they also served to delay the legislative process to the point where the Massachusetts election result actually mattered.  

Obama was done in by the greed of his own party members.

Deficit of Trust

Just three words from Obama's State of the Union sum up all one needs to know about the ambitions of the current administration.  Obama's complaint about the 'deficit of trust' clearly illustrate his worldview in which people should trust a government that clearly does not trust them.  

This point is articulated very well here.  

"It’s madness to entertain complaints about your lack of trust from someone who believes the citizens of America have too much control over their lives and fortunes.  A just government respects the deficit of trust between free men and the politicians they grudgingly empower to maintain order."

Conservatives should be picking up on this theme and using it to shine a light on Obama's view of the proper role of government in the lives of people.  I expect (or at least hope) that the 'deficit of trust' becomes a major theme of the 2010 election season.

The phrase is reminiscent of Obama's 'spread the wealth around' comments to Joe the plumber during the 2008 campaign.  In both cases, Obama unwittingly reveals his 'true self'.  He's not the centrist that the mainstream media pretend him to be.

 

Flashback: The Pelosi Blink Count

Watching Nancy Pelosi clap like a seal throughout the State of the Union last night reminded me of this:

Cheney v. Pelosi: The Blink Count

White House on American Anger and Frustration ...

Gibbs: Obama to explain in his SOTU address why "... the American people are angry and frustrated." (video)

I'm quite certain that Americans don't need Gibbs or Obama to tell them why they are "angry and frustrated".  The spin from the White House is summed up succinctly by Obama's comments last week after the stunning Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts ...

"People are angry and they're frustrated.  Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."

Translation, of course, "Blame Bush".

From the White House spin, to Howard Dean's polling data, to Obama's remarkable ego, they really don't get it.  Obama and his team actually believe that they are the solution to the aforementioned "anger and frustration" rather than the cause of it.

VDH: Obama in Free Fall

Victor Davis Hanson on "B+" Obama:

"On every issue — more bailouts, more stimuli, more deficits, higher taxes, statist health care, cap and trade, diplomatic apologetics, the shunning of natural gas, oil, and nuclear in favor of "millions of green jobs" subsidized by billions in federal "stimulus" — the Obama position polls 5-15 points below 50 percent."

Semper Fidelis

US Marine Corps completes mission in Iraq:

"The few thousand who remain — except for U.S. Embassy guards and advisers in Baghdad — are expected to ship out in a matter of weeks."

But the war in Iraq must be ending in defeat, right Harry Reid?

... no, not exactly.  

But the surge in Iraq couldn't have succeeded, right Obama?

... no, not exactly.

But surely, the evil, imperialist Americans plundered Iraq's oil, right? 
... no, not exactly.

Dow loses 500+ in 3 Day Span

Thanks Obama!

... and on a related note.

Air America Off the Air

If a radio station falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Not anymore ...

Is Obama Already a Political Liability?

Again and again, Obama has presumed that he could accomplish his goals on the power of pure charisma.  Eh, not so much...

- Copenhagen, supporting Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid (fail)

- New Jersey, supporting gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine (fail)

- Virginia, supporting gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds (fail)

- Massachusetts, supporting Senate candidate Martha Coakley (epic fail)

My, how quickly "B+" Obama's glow has faded.

Marthaquiddick

Martha "Marcia" Coakley is drowning and Ted Kennedy has left the scene ...

Here are the latest polls.

VDH on Unspoken Truths

Victor David Hanson covers a range of topics in 'Truths We Dare Not Speak', including "five propositions that simply have become taboo"...

Massachussetts Senate Race

It would be deliciously ironic if, after calls to name this health care bill after Ted Kennedy, the Democrats lost their super-majority by losing Kennedy's former Senate seat.  The seat is apparently (and quite remarkably) up for grabs in the special election to be held January 19.  Losing that seat could potentially cost the Democrats their bill.


Republican Scott Brown, who trailed Democrat Coakley by over 30 points as recently as November, has steadily cut into that number.  One recent poll showed Brown up by 1 point last week, though that poll seems to be the outlier.  Brown still has to be considered a long shot. 


There should be little doubt though, that even if Brown wins, the Democrats will tie up his confirmation with recounts and other legal delays to give them time to ram through the health care bill with the current majority.

Update: Seating Mass. Senate winner could be delayed.  Secretary of State William Galvin in the past made a very specific exception to accelerate the seating of a Democrat in time to override a Bush veto.  That isn't going to happen this time around - assuming, of course, that the outcome of the election is unfavorable to the Democrats.

"Massachusetts's top election official [Galvin] says it could take weeks to certify the results of the upcoming U.S. Senate special election."

Stossel on Rand

John Stossel discusses Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" in the context of the current political environment:

Stossel - Atlas Shrugged (part 1 of 6)