I Told You So: My Two Cents on My Own Two Cents

Spare Change | 31 December 2009 | David J. Aland

[SpareChange]

I Told You So: My Two Cents On My Own Two Cents

By David J. Aland 31 December 2009

Last November, disappointed by the election of an inexperienced liberal as President, I wrote that I would “reserve the right” to judge the merit of Obama’s performance. As I wrote then, “we generally expect that the job of President is, in itself, transformational…” but has the job actually transformed the man? As the last year of what Charles Krauthammer has called “The Year of Living Fecklessly” has shown, the answers to the questions I raised a year ago are not promising.

“Is Obama the post-partisan leader that he claims to be?” Clearly not. The last twelve months have been an orgy of partisan games, with the White House throwing gasoline on the bonfire through aspersions, and petty vendettas against opponents. No significant legislation has been passed this year with anything even laughably approaching bi-partisan support. This is not just the failure of the parties to play nice, but the failure of a President who assured us he could make them play nice to deliver on his promises. That requires experience and savvy in something other than campaigning, and this President does not appear equal to the task, and the unending fumbles by his staff and Cabinet inspire little expectation of improvement.

“Will the centrist rhetoric of the campaign give way to the more leftist political record …?” Without a doubt it has. Forget Rev. Wright and bomber Ayers – the President’s advisors are a catalog of pedophiles (Kevin Jennings), truthers (Van Jones), and Mao-admirers (Anita Dunn). The White House has granted Constitutional rights to foreign terrorists while exempting foreign police from Constitutional restraints, and embraced a leftist canon on energy, climate change, economics, and foreign policy. The President behaves like a reluctant Commander in Chief, insults allies and flinches for adversaries. To what end? Iran thumbs their nose at the US while building nukes, Korea does the same. Russia and China see the U. S. as toothless and our European allies are distancing themselves even farther. “American will” has become synonymous with “cognitive dissonance.” Even the French are telling us to “man up.”

“…will this President have the courage to oppose his own Party when the inevitable rash of retaliatory legislation begins?” He hasn’t even tried. In fact, he has stepped back to allow Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi histrionically execute a leftist agenda with all the zeal of the Inquisition. The national debt has been tripled in only a year, while the Democrats have rammed through bill after porked-up bill to deepen the debt, even voting in legislation that was never published when it was approved. The health-care “Cash for Cloture” deals, while rancid, are merely the tip of the landfill of an Administration and Congress for whom legislative transparency is an oxymoron and name-calling a bad habit.

“…will some of the more troubling issues – such as voter fraud, questions about campaign finances, and the loss of objectivity in the press – be honestly addressed…?” Move along citizens, nothing to see here. The White House and its proxies call critics Nazis, racists, and worse. In the meantime, Democrats like Rangel, Murtha, and Dodd go unchallenged on their glaring ethical lapses. The Attorney General hand-waved voter intimidation by the Black Panthers, and voter fraud by ACORN. The President tells dissenters that “we are keeping score,” and attempts to manipulate the press and even the arts communities. The only thing now transparent about this Administration is its contempt for the American taxpayer.

The President’s approval numbers have fallen in the polls to a historic low, and Congress’s numbers continue to fall. Almost sixty percent of Americans oppose the health-care bills that sixty percent of the Congress voted to approve. But this President remains cool and aloof, above the fray – or does he? In a year’s time, the American economy has hit extremis, and American reputation in the world has become a punchline. Can this President really be that inept, or does he think he’s actually accomplishing something of value? From where I stand, “dubious” would be a generous description of those accomplishments.

“My hope is that, a year from now, I do not have to publish a column entitled ‘I Told You So’…” So much for hope and change.

So here it is: I told you so. A year from now, I hope I don’t have to do it again. The way things are going, I may not get the chance.

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David J. Aland is a retired Naval Officer with a graduate degree in National Security Affairs from the U. S. Naval War College.

[ColdOne]

the only thing now transparent about this Administration is its contempt for the American taxpayer”

I enjoyed the read, this line struck me the most. How true.

[Nitro]

Thank you, Sir!

I am a former enlisted man in the US Navy!

Two reasons I won’t put my name...

1 - I need my job...

2 - ID theft...

3 - I do not trust the government anymore!!

[beaversmom]

You need to pay three cents now.

[Arthur McGowan]

Obama’s mind is closed. He is incapable of listening or learning. He doesn’t pretend to be open-minded, except when he is talking to audiences of the proletariat. His mental rigidity is so extreme it amounts to a mental illness.

He is the perfect puppet for his handlers—he never thinks or says anything unexpected.

[TigersEye]

This is a nice encapsulation of “the first year of 0bummer.” Lots more could be said and many more specifics could be cited but they’re not necessary. This covers most of it with a quick but accurate sketch. We are clearly in the middle of the most bizarre presidency the Republic has seen.

[Candor7]

700,000 to 1 million protesters who marched to Washington over labor day was not mentioned in this article. Obama has spawned an awakening of conseratives. It was not mentioned. I wonder why.

[TigersEye]

I don't know. I suppose an exhaustive recounting of 0bummer's accomplishments would have been a tome. I anticipate that awakening becoming so loud in the next few months that no one will ignore it or forget about it.

[Texas Jack]

This is an excellent, well-reasoned post.

However, I feel that things will be much clearer if I make one small change to it:

Last November, disappointed by the election of an inexperienced liberal a determined Marxist ideologue as President...

I know the change does not add anything to your post, but I feel better after having made it.