Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

The Real Message Hidden in Obama’s SOTU Address

I HAD to watch it. It was on, like, EVERY channel!

By Bob Wire, 1-28-10

Caught here in the whirlpool of spin after President Obama’s State of the Union speech, I’m seeing smoke coming out of my translation machine. What sounded like a typical halftime pep talk in the legislative locker room was thick with nuance and deeper meaning, and I have decided to share my half-cocked, front-loaded, emotionally weighted interpretation of what the President was really saying. I’ll break it down line by line, and try to give you an idea of what he was trying to get across, couched in candidate-speak. I have filtered the speech through a combination of cynicism and ignorance, and here’s what I heard:

President Obama: “I have never been more hopeful about America’s future than I am tonight. Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit. We do not allow fear or division to break our spirit. In this new decade, it’s time the American people get a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength.”

Translation: “You Republicans are providing all the cooperation and enthusiasm of a door stop. America made it clear that they’ve had it up to their bullet-proof vests with the politics of fear and paranoia. Besides, Nixon was so much better at it than Bush and Cheney. Now quit worrying about your polling numbers, and see if you can grow enough ethical cojones to help us get this mess cleaned up.”

Obama: “I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks. I know Wall Street isn’t keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.”

Translation: “Wall Street is nothing but Las Vegas in Brooks Brothers suit. We need to stop giving a shit about Wall Street. We already got duped into bailing out their buddies in the banking industry, which is nothing but Atlantic City with a thousand-dollar hooker on its arm. It’s like this: if your cousin Lester borrowed $2500 for some dental surgery and then blew it on roulette in Vegas, would you reward him with another $1000? Or would you take action that would result in Lester needing even more extensive dental surgery? Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Obama: “As we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who had become unemployed. That’s why we extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans; made health insurance 65% cheaper for families who get their coverage through COBRA; and passed 25 different tax cuts. Let me repeat: we cut taxes.”

Translation: “I know better than to cut taxes while we are conducting two different wars. But this country is full of stupid people who can’t see beyond their own paycheck on Friday. They’ll plaster their trucks with “Support the Troops” magnets, but if you tried to raise their taxes to help fund these ridiculous wars instead of having to cut education and numerous domestic programs, they’d choke on their Skoal. No, Americans want to have it both ways: ‘Oh, I support the troops. Just not with money.’”

Obama: “Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act.”

Translation: “Tampa’s bus system is a piece of shit.”

Obama: “We need to export more of our goods. Because the more products we make and sell to other countries, the more jobs we support right here in America. So tonight, we set a new goal: We will double our exports over the next five years, an increase that will support two million jobs in America.”

Translation: “I am legalizing the sale of marijuana.”

Obama: “I took on health care because of the stories I’ve heard from Americans with pre-existing conditions whose lives depend on getting coverage; patients who’ve been denied coverage; and families – even those with insurance – who are just one illness away from financial ruin.”

Translation: “I was naïve enough to think that Congress might still be somewhat interested in doing something that would benefit the people who ELECTED THEM. Silly me. Of course, most U.S. Senators are hand puppets of such powerful lobbies as the NRA, Big Pharmacy, and the insurance racket. I’ve never seen such corruption, and I’m from Chicago. These people make Boss Tweed look like Abe Lincoln.”

Obama: “I want to acknowledge our First Lady, Michelle Obama, who this year is creating a national movement to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity and make our kids healthier.”

Translation: “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

Obama: “At the beginning of the last decade, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. That was before I walked in the door.”

Translation: “Thanks to the previous Dolt-In-Chief and his frat-boy aversion to the consequences of pretty much everything, we’re in deep kimchi. Yeah, I added to the deficit. But don’t forget—Bush took a balanced budget and put us in a deep hole. All I did was take his huge deficit and make it ginormous.”

Obama: “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years.”

Translation: “If we want to start another war, it will have to be sponsored by Gatorade.”

Obama: “What frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about their opponent – a belief that if you lose, I win. Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can. The confirmation of well-qualified public servants should not be held hostage to the pet projects or grudges of a few individual Senators.”

Translation: “Hey, Congress. Cut the crap.”

Obama: “To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills.”

Translation: “Grow a pair, Democrats. You too, Pelosi. You guys have caved in more often than a Haitian bomb shelter.”

Obama: “As a candidate, I promised that I would end this war.”

Translation: “Yeah, THIS war. Not THAT war.”

Obama: “With all due deference to the separation of powers, the court last week reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit in our elections.”

Translation: “That’s right, Alito, I’m looking at you. Anyone with half a brain is not buying your ‘free speech’ cop-out. You are a chump. I think the great Jerry Reed said it best in his classic song, ‘When You’re Hot You’re Hot”—‘If you wasn’t wearin’ that black robe, I’d take you out back of this courthouse and try a little bit of your honor on!’”

Obama: “I campaigned on the promise of change – change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change – or at least, that I can deliver it.”

Translation: “The American public, by and large, has the attention span of a gnat, and the intellectual depth of a Labrador retriever. Why do you think people like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have jobs? A lot of people expected to wake up the morning after my election, and suddenly find themselves in a world where global warming was solved, gasoline was free, their farts smelled like candy, and their dicks were three inches longer. Well guess what, it took a long time to run this ship aground, and it’s going to take a long time to get it back afloat. Especially with a bunch of teabaggers constantly drilling holes in the hull. I don’t expect everyone to love every decision I make, or to have Will.i.am write a song about every little achievement. But I would hope that you could stop watching ‘Lost’ long enough to consider the magnitude of the job I’m trying to tackle here.”

Obama: “Let’s seize this moment—to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.”

Translation: “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the bar.”

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[End of article]
Comment By the real mike, 1-28-10

Bingo! Bob, you must be Michelle writing using a pen name.

Comment By Geoff, 1-28-10

I got two college degrees and my interpretation of the State of the Union Speech wasn't nearly this funny.

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-29-10

I hope that you can swing a spot on CNN as one of their regular political pundits.

Comment By Doug Johnston, 1-29-10

Thank you for fitting in a Animal House reference! Now I understand.

Comment By Clarence Worly, 1-29-10

“The American public, by and large, has the attention span of a gnat, and the intellectual depth of a Labrador retriever. Why do you think people like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have jobs?"

Truer words have never been written, it never ceases to amaze me at the incredible stupidity of the American voter, both left and right. Bob, do me a favor and bitch slap your fellow Democrats for pissing and moaning about how he's doing, the guy was handed a flaming bag of shit and so far the Republicans have given him a can out gas to put it out.

I have every confidence he is following the path that will cause the least harm and have faith he'll keep us afloat for the short term. I didn't even vote for the son of a bitch but he still gets the Clarence Worly seal of approval.

Comment By Bob Wire, 1-29-10

Clarence, that's what's so scary about the Supreme Court decision to allow limitless corporate spending on campaign ads. The electorate, by and large, is eager to be led by the nose in whatever direction the lobbying corporations want to take them. Advertising works. Somehow that decision has got to be quashed or circumvented, or our democracy will go the way of the pantyhose finger bang.

Comment By Glenn Marangelo, 1-29-10

Brilliant interpretation Bob. Although Mono (my lab) is going to bite you next time she sees you--if she remembers.

Comment By Clarence Worly, 1-29-10

Bob,
I'm still in shock...surely a voice of reason will prevail, if not we are destined to be ruled by big oil, foreign interest, and the industrial military complex all in the guise of a bible thumping Republican meat puppet.
I can't get my head around the fact the GOP is that evil and brazen, nor the fact Joe Plumber is that fucking stupid.

Comment By bearbait, 1-29-10

Memory haze. That is when you can't remember that all the Democrats did while in the minority was blast Republicans and try to derail any attempts at legislation. The tables were turned. Now the shoe is on the other foot. It is called "partisan politics."

After the November election, there will be the swearing in of all the House. And then they vote for leadership. The history is that the party with a majority prevails and their candidate for Speaker is elected. The Speaker appoints all the House committee chairmen/women, including the Rule Committee. And the Speaker appoints all the members of the various committees. Rest assured, the Speaker will appoint more members from his or her party, a working majority, to each and every committee. The result of all this is that no bill, ever, from the minority will ever get a hearing. For a minority bill to get a hearing, some horse trading for votes on an unpopular bill will have to have occurred. The minority has no ability to advance legislation. It is more than disingenuous to declare that the minority Republicans have not advanced any solutions to any of the problems facing Obama and his Democrat majority. It is the infighting in his party that is the problem. The Republicans are shut out of the process by design. That accomplished, chiding them for not being a part of the solution is telling the American voter he or she is stupid. That is how the Republican got elected in Mass. "Stupid" voters voted stupid. The beauty of that is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, all the minority can do is monitor the majority, and bollox any bill they might. Slow the process down. Drag it on. They are "back benchers." And that is what back benchers do, no matter which party they are from. As one past Democrat Speaker, Joe Cannon, once said "The minority's job is make a quorum." Obama should learn from history. His party, before he was born, stepped on the Republicans each and every and any time they could or had the opportunity to do so. Pay backs were a bitch. And nobody, ever, squealed more than Nancy Pelosi. Nobody has ever been as partisan, strident, flat assed nasty, as has Queen Nancy. And now she is getting some of her invective on the back slop. Live with it.

The Health Reform got caught up in chicanery, and pork, and died of over eating. The majority just couldn't help themselves, and Lighthorse Harry Reid had to stuff the pork to keep his working majority and then old Ted "the swimmer" Kennedy had the misfortune to die, which made poor Senator Byrd cry and the arrogant Boston pols forgot to wage a campaign to replace Teddy, and an electable nude male model Republican won the election. Evidently, Mass. has good health care, and the Health Reform Bill was poised to make people with present health care pay more for less health care and even though they were loyal Blue State Bombers, they voted their pocket books and against Health Care Reform because it penalized their existing coverage. That was a "no brainer." Mass. has better health care than the Health Care Reform bill.

The State of the Onion is that our dollar is worth less money now in the rest of the world, and some oil exporting countries are now demanding Euros instead of dollars for their oil. So it takes more dollars, which are in surplus due to Obama borrowing, to buy Euros, and thus more dollars to buy a gallon of US gas. Soon, that will bleed over into all our economy, and then Obama has to again address the Congress, and tell them he needs to raise taxes to take away the excess money that fuels inflation (often described as too much money chasing too few of goods). That will not bode well for increased employment.

The jobless recovery has a very specific outcome in an election year. Being jobless no longer disqualifies you from voting. Two years of not producing jobs but making banks whole, and the rich whole, will not produce a voting majority in swing districts and states for marginal Democrat candidates. Off year election. They sort of work that way. Ask Bill Clinton.

I live in Oregon. We just voted to raise taxes on the rich, which was adroitly defined at the pay grade of a school superintendent or a non-union agency management team member or better. By the teachers unions, of course, who put 50% more money into the campaign to pass the tax than the private sector. Probably has something to do with the 10,000 more public sector jobs in Oregon today, each one paying mandatory union dues, than in Sept of 2008. Those 200,000 plus private sector jobs that disappeared into the ether will be voting for people, not the dole check, come November. Hard not to nail "rich" on a sitting Senator who is worth several million dollars and who has never had a private sector job. I do wonder if the SEIU nationwide has enough money to prevail in every state.

Obama has to put union workers back into jobs to have a hope of holding the House in November. They put all their money into his election and have yet to get squat for the investment. Evidently, GoldmanSachs put in more than the unions. Milo Minderbinder would do that. And it is Milo Minderbinder who will help or hurt Obama come November. That was what his State of the Onion speech was about. He is right now smoothing rough spots for the November elections. He can tell you anything, but what he needs more than anything is not to lose another net seat in the Senate, or to lose the House. And that could happen. Those stupid peasants in the streets without jobs still vote. He can get every "smart" vote, but he still needs the stupid vote to prevail. Once again.

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-30-10

I voted for the son of a bitch and I plan to vote for him in 2012 without hesitation. The more "flaming bags of shit" the Repulsicans throw at him the more intransigent I become.

Comment By bearbait, 1-30-10

Weren't those the French anarchists who brought the bags of shit to their trial as "evidence?" It has been a long time since "Europe since 1879", HST 201, 202, 203.......

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-30-10

The French aren't doing too bad. They're net energy exporters because about 80% of their energy is supplied by nuclear power. They have a simple and less costly universal health care system where every citizen has a wallet size health care card with his health history on it. And they are in the process of outlawing people completely covering their faces in public places.

Comment By Dave Goodfellow, 1-30-10

@Worly and Garcia Flaming bag of shit hmm. Obama increased the deficit in his first year by Bush’s entire war spending. The dow drops most times he speaks. Massachusetts was lost over his health care tunnel vision. And to top it off my tax practice is shifting into overdrive because even democrats minimize their tax burden (Obama included). Now he is going to drop both the Ares and Orion NASA missions and is seriously considering diverting manpower to global warming. He just stepped on that back and tracked it though the white house.

Comment By bearbait, 1-30-10

Should we all send a bag of shit to Congress? If that is what you get for it, I'm in. Buffett will fight you on nuclear energy if only because the single most profitable rail freight item is coal from Thunder Basin, Wy., to the rest of the US. Low sulfur coal to meet enviro demands. And, the French will tell you that terrorism in France is about muslims. May we see your face, Madame?

I read yesterday that wind turbines in Minnesota have self shut down because their hydraulic oil gelled in the cold. Dependable energy, that wind. Water out West is governed not by power demand but fish demand. Or perceived fish demand. We really don't know. But we need a lot of additional power sources to replace the hyrdo we lose dumping water for salmon. And maybe that is a good decision. At the least, the water does flow to the ocean, and becomes are part of ocean nutrition on the continental shelf where life is most abundant. On the other hand, all the snow melt from the Sierras in California now flows to sand in the desert to grow gritty lettuce and federally subsidized corn and cotton. There is no "plume" of terrestrial runoff in the ocean to feed the ecosystem, so the pelicans are chosing to starve on the Oregon coast this winter as the southern seaside is barren as well. And the sea lions left SF Bay, looking for food. They found it off the central Oregon coast. The reports from the lower Columbia that the river is loaded with habor seals and sea gulls, indicating that there is a smelt run in the river. Sea lions will be along shortly. However, concentrating all of the marine mammals on the West Coast in one estuary is a losing cause for their prey, and ultimately their own survival. Saving Cal-Ag by using all the water in a drought is wrong headed thinking. Once the salmon are gone, so is the food for orcas, sea lions, harbor seals, pelicans, sharks (look at telemetry tagged salmon sharks and where they go on the TOPP---tracking of pacific pelagics--the web site NOAA has), and a host of other Pacific ocean species.

I would have had Obama saving critters rather than investment banks. Besides, as an Oregon resident, the Wall Street Collapse has cost my state tens of billions. The "conservative" State run, tax forgiven, college savings fund, managed by Oppenheimer Financial Interests, has been closed (this was a fund for people with three years or less until they had to pay for college)and is making a payout to the investors of twelve and one half cents on the dollar. Yes. They lost 87.5% of their investment. WITH THE FRIGGING STATE!!!! THE STATE LOST THEIR MONEY. WHAT IN THE TRUCK IS A STATE DOING IN THE INVESTMENT BUSINESS??? A STATE WITH DEMOCRATS HOLDING EVERY STATEWIDE OFFICE BUT ONE. A STATE WITH A LEGISLATURE WITH A DEMOCRAT SUPER MAJORITY. and then blame Bush? Bush did it? A third of the public employee retirement fund was also lost, which means on July 1, we now have to double the public input to that system, which will be essentially an instant 6% addition to the budgets of all state and local governments, including schools. An 18% total over ride on gross wages and salaries. (The wage and benefits part of the local school budget is 88%---the 12% pays for sports, computers, field trips, IED help, lights, heat, water, maintenance supplies and contracted services). We find out three days after the tax raise election that most of the new taxes will go to public employee retirement. No wonder SEIU and AFSME national unions put $6 million into support of the tax raise. Put up 50% more money than the private side could raise in a recession. Who'd a thunk? All that money is now going into making the pension fund whole. And here we thought it was all about kids and education, and public safety. Stupid me. Meanwhile, the banks that GoldmanSachs CEO, the Nature Conservancy CEO, and former Treasury Sec. Paulson favored were saved and are now whole. There is a $20 billion dollar hole in Oregon public finances, that is not being filled or made whole. We are not talking about people, companies, corporations, trusts, foundations. We are talking about State investments of collected tax monies and trusts for retirement and schools, endowments for universities. They are gone and the banks are whole? Banks and fund managers lost that money and they are whole now?? Kiss my ass!!! Obama, et al, have "some 'splainin' to do." The State of the Onion was not sufficient. and he did say "I" over 100 times. This old fat guy wants a better explanation from President Obama.

We waste our resources, our citizens money, our good faith and respect of the citizenry, and it is the Republican's fault? Baucus didn't get a special $172 million dollar one time tax break for Weyerhaeuser? Obama needs some metaphorical bags of shit. More than he has gotten to this point in time. And he can hit his Congressional majority over the head with them. Get their attention. The whole of Congress is a shit bag deal, and the "blame it on Bush" paradigm does not solve one slice of the problem. Obama sold himself as the answer, and if he isn't getting the job done, to blame it on anyone else is a classic cop out. Raise kids and you will hear that excuse until your demand that you never hear it again is met. We need to demand results or make incumbents pay in the November election, across the partisan board. I get real tired of some gas bag in the senate pontificating to the cameras that we faced this problem in 1988 or '74...they have been there too long. They didn't solve the problem then, and why should we tolerate their being around another year to accomplish nothing? Old, tottering, forgetful wind bags are now the foundation of a democracy? Our country was founded by young, hot headed, aggressive thinkers. And everyone across the political landscape was able to be heard. Not that way now. Telling me the Republicans " have not contributed to the process" is because they are denied participation by the Rule Committee. The Majority committee chairs will not let one bill advance out of committee written by the minority. That is how it works. Blaming the back benchers is like blaming Casper the Ghost. They aren't a part of it. They are the loyal opposition whose purpose in life is to make a quorum. And if they won't, there can't be a vote. Obama needs to be a little more truthful about how much a Republican can do except object, demean, ridicule, and generally throw fits like a three year old, because that is all they are ALLOWED to do. They are the minority. They can't advance a thing, and only stop some things. It has been that way for decades.

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-30-10

Come on Bearbite, you're not that dumb. Clinton handed over a surplus to Bush and the Repulsicans who handed over 2 wars and a recession that was damn near a depression to Obama and the Democraps. A pretty large bag of shit to clean up in only 1 year. Bearbait in mind that it took 10 years plus WWII to pull the U.S. out of the last depression.

Comment By bearbait, 1-30-10

Mickey: Bush was handed no viable Clinton response to al Qaeda but a missile strike on an aspirin factory, and two planes into the World Trade Center, one to ground in Pennsylvania, and one into the Pentagon. My next door neighbor had two kids by her first husband. The younger one, female, was in our Dar Es Salaam embassy working, her pickup truck parked next to the water tanker filling the cistern at our "hardened" embassy we had bought from Israel. No part of her pickup would not fit in a hand bag. She was not hurt. But she was bombed by al Qaeda. And then her older brother, recently retired from the USAF, was working in the Pentagon when the highjacked airliner was flown into that building. He spent almost two hours finding and getting people out of that building. I live next door to where two individuals grew up, each of whom has been bombed but not killed by al Qaeda. Clinton blew the chance to kill that in the bud. Bush inherited that mistake, which escalated into the two wars, and the end of the surplus. Clinton's asleep at the wheel foreign policy was a bag of shit gift to Bush.

The Recession of 2008 came as a result of social engineering by Democrats, to end "red lining" and to make it possible for people who had no way or intention of making house payments to buy homes, and by doing so, inflate housing prices, create a bubble, and it diminished the whole of that industry by creating an artificial demand for housing which in turn drove an economy that had lost its ability to compete in the world market due to a set of working labor, environmental, and banking rules that drove costs above the world market price of production. US industry fled offshore to produce those goods, and then imported them for sale here. Again, social engineering and propping up weak governments with jobs that produced goods with a ready market in the US was the driving force. You don't have to avail yourself to draconian economic strangulation in the US when all you have to do is import the goods, and re-sell them. Banks had been reduced to selling each other financial inventions and highly leveraged bets, all created by bored and brilliant minds to justify their bonus money. That blew up like a bag of farts. Taxpayers were drained to pay for it, and banks were made whole to keep the economy for further collapse. That rat bastards had to be paid not to infect more with their financial typhus. Sorry damned state of affairs. And the people in charge are part of the Obama Cabinet. And the same people were in charge in the Bush cabinet. Think about it. And don't get pissed.

The US no longer has anything to sell but intellectual property. There is an environmental reason not to grow, mine, pump, manufacture, process anything that might have a value in a market. There is a humanitarian reason to not. There is an ethical reason to not, like in meat for slaughter (unless, of course, it is halal or kosher slaughter--"diversity" gets a pass) to not raise livestock. There is no end to the road blocks and traps to capitalism in the US. Have you ever noticed that immigrants want a business that sells food, in part or whole, and has a "cash" register? You can always feed yourself off the business deduction for theft, and pocket a twenty here and there. Even buy about anything you might want at the wholesale store at a discount and before taxes. Those folks are here to exploit "diversity" and to not understand anything they don't want to reveal. Muslims don't pay interest on borrowed money. The rest borrow from family. Banks are not involved. And they keep the tax man at bay with their humble life styles..not the American way.

And then, Bush had a partisan and angry Congress with a Demoncrap majority his last two years. All that invective and railing of the prior 12 years had to transition to action as the responsible majority and they did not. It was still revenge time. Pelosi was the embodiment of "asleep at the wheel", driving down the road yelling into a cell phone and missing her exits, and Reid was right there with her. The wheels came of their wagon on their watch. Blaming Bush is disingenuous. All he could do was sign bills. He did not have the ability to ride out a veto on most stuff. All budgets were a compromise with the Demoncraps, and any deficit is not wholly a Republican driven process. That Bush was stupid also will not wash. That he was indebted to the right wing is correct. That he was a war monger is correct. That his government was not forceful enough in dealing with the Demoncraps, and using its majority in Congress wisely is correct. That Bush was isolated in office is most likely correct, and not the first to be so. That is a danger that Obama must be vigilant against. That a president gets worn out quickly by the new crisis every 15 minutes is correct. And that there is a partisan and disruptive opposition at all times is correct. No matter who serves. I was a grade school kid during Truman. "Whistle while you work. Truman is a jerk. Mussolini pulled his weenie, now it doesn't work." And yet history has looked backward at Truman and found him to be personally petty and wanting, in a terrible marriage, but to be a strong and sensible President. That is not the answer you would have gotten in 1952.
And in 1953, it was all about blaming Truman for any problem Eisenhower had. And the Demoncraps demeaned Ike over vicuna coats for Cabinet members, and the country elected the kid, Kennedy. A young orator of note. In retrospect, not much of a President. We could be on a similar track now, but God help us, prayerfully not the same result. A young, with a young family, photogenic and personable Presidency long on rhetoric and short on accomplishment. We shall see. Nancy Pelosi is no Sam Rayburn. I hope Obama is not a John Kennedy.

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-30-10

Sorry Bearbait, you're interpreting history to conform to your own substantial prejudices. 9/11 happened 8 months into Bushes watch and you blame that on Clinton. So 1 year into Obama's watch, you're blaming everything on him.

Comment By Clarence Worly, 1-30-10

Since Obama took office I have been flush with funding to do nonproliferation research and just bought nearly $1 million in new equipment to get it done. He also dumped $436 million for accelerated clean up at the lab so SE Idaho hasn't even felt the recession. My 401k has gone up 92% since he took office. And as I said, I didn't vote for him...but I will next time. You guys can mentally masturbate on here all you want, I'm taking my wife out to dinner tonight, going skiing tomorrow, and on Monday I'll be back to putting my taxpayer windfall to good use. Yes, I am selfish asshole, but better me than you. O-BA-MA...O-BA-MA...O-BA-MA, come on everybody say it with me!

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-30-10

O-BA-MA...O-BA-MA...O-BA-MA...O-BA-MA

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-31-10

So the upshot of our National Gridlock is that the rest of the world is beginning to wonder if the U.S. is an unstable loser nation not a good model to follow. Our National Debt almost equals our annual GDP and China, a hybrid of Totalitarian Government and Capitalist economic system is kicking our ass in most economic sectors because it doesn't become destabilized by daily opinion polls. What does it matter if we get off foreign oil if we are forced to buy all of our electric vehicles, our wind generators, our solar panels, our nuclear reactors from China?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/opinion/31friedman.html

Comment By Nate Schweber, 1-31-10

Man, that was an awesome column by Bearbait. And I really enjoyed the comment by Bob Wire!

Comment By bearbait, 1-31-10

Mickey: In case you haven't noticed before, ALL history is the gleanings in one hostorians sieve, the facts that have been chosen to be that book, that paper, one paper, one book, at a time. All history is stilted, slanted, leaning, pointed to, a particular point of view. Publishers and editors chose and remove and shorten, all changing history just a bit every time.

History is the written record. The ledger of the Charleston slave market, the diary of an immigrant's ride across America by train, stage, wagon, boat and foot. A ship's log. A journal written by a school boy. Newspaper archives. The Federal Register. And the Library of Congress. Each and every word written by a person, in that person's hand and vocabulary and style. From it, we all get a unique and personal sense of history. Arguing about who is right and who is wrong is the American way. In a sense, history is no more than the result of an election of thoughts, impressions, idea, facts, and first person accounts, and the consensus that gets more than half the votes wins. Or at least a plurality. Or not. All too much is what viewpoint gets told the most, with veracity reached by volume of believers. Religion comes to mind. And politics right behind. Maybe that is why the purity of physics is so appealing to some.

I head this story about Abe Lincoln. Lincoln is a young lawyer defending a river boat skipper whose barge had hit a rail road bridge, with damages to both the barge and the bridge. The rail road was in the courtroom with several young, sharp attorneys and there was just Abe for the defendant. The plaintiffs gave their case to the jury of peers, and when finished, the judge declared he was hungry and thirsty, and the whole of the court adjourned to the tavern nearby, where Lincoln was seen laughing it up with some of the jury.

So court was again in session, and it was Lincoln's turn to present his case. He told the jury that these young attorneys for the rail road had great educations, know the law, and have presented the facts as they have interpreted them for you to ponder. But you do have to know, that even if you are presented with eye witness evidence, and these good young attorneys have done that, you must know that what they said they saw and their conclusions are wrong, just as my client has testified. Thank you.

The jury was excused and soon was back with a verdict of "not guilty" and the judge declared the case closed. As they walked down the steps of the courthouse, one of the railroad attorneys approached Lincoln and asked what he had told the jurors at lunch. Lincoln said nothing about the case, sir, and I never would. I was just telling a story I had heard about a farmer from out in the county. His son came running up to him in the field and said "Father, Father. Sis is up in the haymow with the hired boy, and they've dropped their pants and are about to pee on all our good hay." And father told the son he was going to the barn and when we get to the house, "I want you to go in while I take care of business. I do appreciate your telling me the facts as you have seen them. You are a good son. But I don't think that you have drawn the correct conclusion. Now go see your Ma."

History is lot like that. You are not wrong, just maybe wrong headed. And in my mind, I am right because that is how I see it. You might say that I am wrong headed.

At this time, I have absolutely NO faith that Congress can do the "right thing" even if that is their desire (which I would also doubt.) Way too many of them have been there too long, and now believe they do know what they are doing. They might know what the parliamentary procedure is, but they have no idea of what the constituents are thinking. We want better government and the bills paid. We want an end to the overseas fighting. And you can't reform health care by diminishing the care that 85% now have to provide health care for another 15%. That cost Democrats a Senate seat in Massachusetts. Or taxing private cadillac health insurance owners but not taxing union workers with the same cadillac level of insurance. Quit the horse trading and the Nebraska pork deals. Right now, Medicaid reimburses NY doctors more for the same procedure than they do the one doctor in my town of 10,000 (NYC has ten times the doctors per 1000 population than my town--No wonder. They get paid more!)

But, that is just my view of the immediate past history.

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 1-31-10

There is no such thing as reality only differing perspectives. If enough people believe something is true and real then than makes it true and real. You can't build a bridge that won't fall down or a plane that won't fall out of the sky or grow the economy with that kind of logic.

Comment By lfehl, 2-01-10

Right off the bat, let me admit to being neither a republican nor democrat...but the independant voter who votes both sides depending upon the value system of the person running. So don't take my comments as I'm one thing or another.
Yes, the country wants healthcare reform, but the public poles are overwhelming: we don't want 2000 pages of pork and special deals for something that isn't good enough for it's authors to want to participate in. Give me healthcare reform that both Congress and the president have to live with, does not depend upon buying votes to get passed and then I'll support it.

A super majority of either party is a dangerous thing and therefore I was thrilled it was broken by Massachusettes.
Bearbait is right...congress is not about reaching across the aisle, unless of course the cameras are rolling. The committes should be made up of a mix of parties not hand-picked obstructionists.
Voting as many out as possible in Novemeber is the only way to get a message to Congress, assuming they are listening at all...

Comment By Mick Russom, 2-02-10

I consider all the Democrats (demoncats) politicians (save Kucinich) traitors that, if we can manage to restore the constitution and the republic, belong in jail for the rest of their lives if they went along with Odrama.

The Demoncats have continued bankrupting this country, you are using Cloward Piven and this garbage health care, cap and trade and other centralized controls based on falsehoods and identity politics and committing deliberate malfeasance to destroy America. The demoncats are profligate spenders and liars, the demoncats have many wars open, the demoncats spend when the USA is broke and the demoncats are traitors. The demoncats will be put into jail one day for their high crimes against America.

This is the worst more cynical bunch of traitor liar criminals I have ever seen in Washington, and I can't even begin to imagine what demoncat scum think their children and grand children will inherit. By the actions of the Demoncats, they will inherit a weak, broke in debt authoritarian police state with foreign and oligarchical interests controlling our lives from cradle to grave.

The demoncats are against freedom, liberty and the constitution and they are all tyrants yet they can't even see themselves for the tyrants they are because they all have a mental disorder, liberalism is a mental disorder, that much becomes clear since Obama and the demoncats have been Cloward Pivening America to construct it claiming a utopian ideal as a model but instead are managing to implement INGSOC.

It is WE THE PEOPLE that will end up having the demoncat corrupt profligate bankrupting counterfeiting currency defacing traitors in jail.

Charles Schumer. Chris Dodd. Barney Frank. Harry Reid. Nancy Pelosi. Barak Obama, Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Goldman Sachs, Ben Bernanke - all of these scum traitors and companies will be held to account.

This criminal Obama and all the demoncat thugs in Washington are using stimulus money to vastly expand government payrolls and using the stimulus as war chest of political money to manipulate politics and the electorate.

The corruption going on now is inconceivable, and Russia, India and China are going to devour what's left of America because of the demoncat arrogant traitors, THE DEMONCATS are the enemy within and must be stopped. The price is FREEDOM.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money

Comment By mickrussom, 2-02-10

Time to tea party and Ron Paul all these scum out in 2010. FREEDOM AND LIBERTY! I'm done with this scum traitor Obama, Barry Soetero usurping traitor currency defacer liar!

Comment By Mickey Garcia, 2-02-10

Hummmm. I was feeling the same way about the Repulsicans.

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