Free Republic

Our American CatharsisWill Obama-time be a transitory experience or an enduring tragedy?  For years conservatives have railed about the creeping welfare state. They have tried to tag liberals with being soft on national security, both for courting those who faulted America and for faulting others who courted it. The parameters of all these fights were well known, as talk radio, the blogs, and cable news hourly took up hammer and tongs against the creeping “liberal agenda.” But for all the furor, there were few unabashed leftist gladiators in the arena who openly fought under the banner of radically transforming the...

Medicare and Medicaid are to be headed by a new Obama appointee, and I smell trouble. Robert Pear of the New York Times reports: President Obama will soon name Dr. Donald M. Berwick, an iconoclastic scholar of health policy, to run Medicare and Medicaid, the programs that serve nearly one-third of all Americans, administration officials said Saturday. This is a crucial appointment: The law, signed Tuesday by Mr. Obama, will expand Medicaid to cover 16 million more people, squeeze nearly a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare in the next 10 years and establish many demonstration projects to test innovative ways...

Watch as Glenn Beck reveals the "real world" experience of past presidents' cabinets and compares them to Dear Leader's appointees.

A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report. It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy. It includes secretaries of State, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Energy, and Housing & Urban Development, and excludes Postmaster General, Navy, War, Health, Education & Welfare, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security—432 cabinet members in all. When one considers that public sector employment has ranged since the 1950s at between 15 percent and 19 percent of the population,...

So as Obama wants to turn the economy around, less than ten percent of the cabinet officials he would presumably turn to for advice have ever worked in the private sector. Not encouraging.

Barack Obama didn't have a lot of bread-and-butter accomplishments to point to, either. He had, in fact, less governing experience than Palin already has. So experience can be gotten around.

U.S. Muslim service members say they stand out in both their worlds. Among fellow troops, that can mean facing ethnic taunts, awkward questions about spiritual practices and a structure that is not set up to accommodate their worship. Among Muslims, the questions can be more profound: How can a Muslim participate in killing other Muslims in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan? Just 3,557 members of the 1.4 million-member U.S. armed forces describe themselves as Muslim, and followers of Islam said the military is just starting to accommodate them by recruiting Muslim chaplains, creating Muslim prayer spaces and educating other...

This is in response to questions and comments I have received pertaining to this announcement: Just like at the federal level, a state legislature can override a governor's veto. So, if Governor Palin had vetoed, yes it would have been overridden -- the legislature overwhelmingly wanted that money. Of course, since she is the one signing the bill, those who hate Governor Palin are accusing her of being a hypocrite -- this is why we need to be well-informed about this matter. It's complex, and quite frankly -- dry subject matter -- and easy to just "sloganeer". Had the legislature...

"I work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City and sadly, the situation is far from "under control". As a doctor, I realise that the media does not report the truth. Authorities distributed vaccines among all the medical personnel with no results, because two of my partners who worked in this hospital (interns) were killed by this new virus in less than six days even though they were vaccinated as all of us were. The official number of deaths is 20, nevertheless, the true number of victims are more than 200. I understand that...

Having some interesting bantering with an Obama supporter, who sent me this 'resume' of all that he has accomplished: • Obama has served 12 yrs at the federal and state level (4 yrs US Sen + 8 yrs IL Sen) • Obama sponsored 823 bills and cast over 4000 votes in the IL Senate • Obama co-sponsored 15 bills that became federal law and co-sponsored 570 bills. These bills and laws are an impressive accomplishment spanning foreign policy, public health, openness and accountability in government, national security Of the 570 bills Senator Obama introduced into the Senate during the 109th...

One of the main US banking regulators allowed banks to backdate transactions so as to maintain "well capitalised" status and avoid regulatory restrictions, the Treasury department's watchdog arm has said. The practice came to light as part of a routine federal investigation into the failure of IndyMac, one of five lenders regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision to be wound down this year. IndyMac suffered a run on its $19bn (€13.6bn, £12.8bn) in customer deposits in July after Senator Chuck Schumer, chairman of Congress's joint economic committee, made public a letter he had written to regulators questioning the lender's...

You remember the Orwell novel 1984? There was a vivid description of a "Ministry of Truth" that served the function of rewriting history via rewriting the news in order to make the past jibe with whatever Big Brothers current program happened to be. Well, it turns out that Barack Obama needs a Ministry of Truth of his own. Hillary Clinton - who repeatedly described having come under sniper fire in order to bolster her flimsy foreign policy credentials until it was revealed that no such event occurred - is about to become the Obama administration's Secretary of State. And if...

Obama Recorded "Off The Record" on his Washington Experience!Explosive: Tells the Media to "Stop your complaining!" > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_43SJ-KJ4 You Tube Video: "Barack Obama Questions Washington Experience" At the conclusion of his meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board, Barack Obama challenges the value of Washington experience and explains how to reduce the influence of special interests. (more) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_43SJ-KJ4

I am truly astonished by the ignorance Obama supporters have displayed in their quest to get someone - anyone - into the White House. Now, wait a minute. I can well understand your dislike or even hatred of George W. Bush, but he is not the root cause of all of our problems. Our Congress is. And a change there would be welcomed by all. You ain't gonna get it done with Obama. You gotta fire the whole damnable crooked Congress. Perhaps I'm looking at all of this from a different perspective than you because my life experiences have been...

National Security: Biden's warning that Obama's lack of experience will prompt tyrants and terrorists to "test" him within the first six months can only be seen one way — as a confirmation of our worst fears."We're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," Biden said. "He's gonna need help. We're gonna need you to stand with him." In other words, Americans are supposed to be patient and supportive while an obviously unqualified president learns on the job. He's so inexperienced in military and world affairs, in fact, that his presidency is guaranteed...

Let's pretend that you are a shareholder (e.g. a registered voter) in the largest most powerful corporation in the world (e.g. the United States) and your company needs a new CEO (e.g. the president). Do you want your board of directors (e.g. the electoral college) to select a person with 3 years experience (e.g. the esteemed senator from Illinois)? For those of you playing at home, the answer is no. In these tough economic times, if the esteemed senator from Illinois gets elected, raises taxes, and implements his $800+ billion social welfare programs the only "change" you will have will...

While most of us focus on national polls or battleground state polls, Karl Rove always raises one additional poll question. Is Barack Obama qualified to be president? On that question, Obama consistently does poorly, and he is not improving. This week also brought a reminder that Sen. Obama hasn't closed the sale. The Washington Post/ABC poll found 45% of voters still don't think he's qualified to be president, about the same number who doubted his qualifications in March. This is seven points more than George W. Bush's highest reading in 2000 and the worst since Michael Dukakis's 56% unqualified rating...

The campaign this year is eerily reminiscent of the election a few years back. Then, too, we had a Republican president who was unpopular and the media was favoring a relatively unknown Democrat. He was a very smart, articulate man who was a good campaigner. He sounded good and persuasive. He was friendly, likeable and really a decent man. He was a liberal with kind of a naive world view. He had no experience in Washington. The press did everything they could to promote his election. But once he was elected, it wasn’t too long until the country was sorry...

Pick your "new" thingBy Leslie J. SacksBarack Obama is perfectly suited in the running for president. He has the ability to both energize and grow the grassroots base, to motivate voters with his superb eloquence and confidence. As a result, he has broken for all time the racial glass ceiling on viable presidential candidates, an accomplishment for which America should be grateful. Based on many current polls, he might very well succeed in his quest for the presidency. On the other hand, Obama, according to a good portion of the country, is not yet experienced enough, and does not...

In the 2008 election, one of these ruling myths is "Sarah Palin does not have the experience to be vice-president." Well, let's stomp that one flat right away: out of all four candidates, Sarah Palin is the only one with any of the requisite executive experience required for office. She is the sole candidate who has ever run anything larger than a college debating society. If she is not qualified, none of them are, and we'd better dump ‘em all and start over.