The Dem’s Toyota Legislation

Washington DC—Health care reform is again on the congressional docket. The president is on the HCR campaign trail. But this is not how it was supposed to happen.

Recently, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh postulated that after HCR is passed in the House and signed by Obama, the issue will be left alone as a stop-loss for the coming November election. Interesting point, but I believe Mr. Limbaugh has not taken the theory far enough.

Think back to Mr. Obama’s first act as president; he signed an order to close GITMO. That was it. Nothing more was really said about it. After which, the stimulus bill was passed, making key parts of the private sector dependent on the government. Next was the Iraq drawdown and new Afghanistan strategy. The latter played in the media as a front-page above-the-fold issue for months; meanwhile, HCR was being fashioned along with cap and trade. And now, there is news the administration is considering immigration reform and the take-over of Sallie Mae. Neither issue is getting much attention, but they are quietly being moved.

And here is where Mr. Limbaugh’s theory can be taken a step further. I submit the democrat majority and the White House embarked on a strategy since the inauguration. I would venture to call it Toyota legislation, that is, incremental legislation that is passed without much hullabaloo under the democrat majority, designed to accelerate wildly out of control of future congresses.

All of the above mentioned initiatives are part of the groundwork to put in place the transformation of America into a western European socialist democracy. And that is why HCR was supposed to pass last summer. Once the legislation is passed, like a Toyota accelerating without warning, the congress and administration could go full speed ahead and no one could stop them.


-- Owen E. Richason IV
Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick


Follow Owen…

Twitter
Facebook

Click here to subscribe
Click here to contact


Share

|

Reality versus academia, Cheney takes on hope with no change

Former Vice President Dick Cheney took a hard-line stance against the Obama administration for its unwillingness to face problems for what they are.

In a speech to Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C, Mr. Cheney lambasted the Obama administration for its public waffling on Afghanistan, “[sending] signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries…The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.”

Mr. Cheney also stated the President isn’t keeping the promise he made regarding in Afghanistan last March, “President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission”

So why is the former Vice President now being so critical of the Obama Administration? One would guess it was prompted by Rahm Emanuel when he stated on national television that, “…the Bush Administration hadn’t asked any tough questions about Afghanistan, and he complained that the Obama Administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.”

But Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration, while warranted, doesn’t address the deeper issue – and that is, Barack Obama is and always has approached issues from an academic standpoint. While Mr. Cheney has 40 years of public service as a congressman, Assistant to the President, a White House Chief of Staff, US House Minority Whip, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President, Mr. Obama has been a community organizer, a college professor, a state senator, and a US Senator (the former two lasted much longer than the latter or about 30 years less than Mr. Cheney.)

Candidate Obama and President Obama don’t seem to have much divergence, though reality is knocking, Mr. Obama prefers not to answer. In October 2007, Candidate Obama gave a speech to the Caucus for Priorities in which he stated, “As president, I will end misguided defense policies…” and continued, “I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat systems, and I will institute an independent defense priorities board to ensure that the Quadrennial Defense Review is not used to justify unnecessary spending…I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons; I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material, and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.”

Lofty promises indeed, but pre-2008 Candidate Obama and President Obama certainly don’t seem to differ; the only fly in the ointment of this agenda is a nuclear Iran and North Korea, a power-grabbing Russia, and those stubborn Islamic-fascists that populate Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, oh and FOX News.

Karl Rove and Dick Morris have both concluded the White House’s current course of action to war against a cable news network to be a political strategy to distract the American public from the administration’s failings, both foreign and domestic, but it might well be Mr. Cheney is right, that President Obama believes his words coupled with feel-good intentions and a cult of personality will cause the world to change; it isn’t – but here’s to hoping it will.

-- The Editors, Killswitch Politick

Click here to subscribe

Click here to contact

Too smart by half

Too smart by half

The President ran on a platform of hope and change, problem is, now he has to deliver. His camp set the bar high on reform and post partisanship but nine months into his presidency, the American people are loudly rejecting his centerpiece reform of health care and by all indications of his policy leanings, he is decidedly to the far left in a center-right country.

Mr. Obama’s present troubles largely come from what he promised during his campaign. The now infamous Fred Armisen/Saturday Night Live spoof hits the nail directly on the head – Candidate Obama over-promised for 20+ months but President Obama has not delivered though he has a democrat majority in both the House and Senate:

• Candidate Obama promised to close Gitmo; President Obama did so yet it remains open
• Candidate Obama promised to withdraw from Iraq; President Obama has not order a withdrawal
• Candidate Obama promised to focus on the war in Afghanistan; President Obama is waffling on his commitment
• Candidate Obama promised transparency; President Obama has largely been stealthy
• Candidate Obama promised to reduce the deficit and reign in spending; President Obama signed a budget busting “stimulus”
• Candidate Obama promised to bring back jobs; President Obama presides over 9.8% unemployment figure that continues to rise
• Candidate Obama promised to go through the federal budget line-by-line and make cuts; President Obama doesn’t have line-item veto power

In my last post I outlined what the President should be doing. Instead of pushing health care reform, he ought to be engaged on three fronts: the economy and jobs, the war in Afghanistan and Iran. Should he take decisive action on these issues, the poll numbers would swing his way.

The problem for the President is he can’t do any of those things without alienating his base: giving corporations tax breaks and other incentives to up productivity and begin hiring won’t go over well with democrats and most independents. Taking a tough stance on Iran will make the left apoplectic and sending more troops to Afghanistan will cause the anti-war crowd to go insane. By contrast, republicans and center-right independents would support such policies, but at the cost of his base.

Candidate Obama ran on a slogan of change we can believe in and his supporters believed him. With such lofty promises, Candidate Obama has made President Obama’s job near impossible.

Turn Strategy (Part II)

McCain/Palin are up in Florida, they're up in Ohio, they're within the margin of error in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Intrade Market Odds have McCain over Obama 52.6 to 46.1. Rasmussen, Gallup, Hotline/FD tracking, Ipsos all have McCain up in their national tracking. Moreover, Intertrade has Biden's potential withdrawal from the democrat ticket skyrocketing.

So here's the rub: Obama is remains in serious trouble and Biden is weighing him down. Make no mistake about it, among the newest Joe Biden gaffes was a deliberate trial-balloon regarding his higher qualification of Hillary Clinton to be Vice President. What makes it appear to be a gaffe is that the Delaware democrat is gaffe-o-matic.

Since being tapped as Obama's running mate, I have been unable to offer one serious compelling reason to add Biden to the ticket. Joe is gaffe-o-matic, he was run-out of the 1988 race for plagiarism, he didn't garner any substantial support in the primaries, he doesn't bring any identity politicking (other than white males).

The turn strategy I just wrote about is needed this instant, if Obama wants to regain control of the polls, the race, and momentum perception. With desparation clearly setting-in on the left and what the interals are identifying, Obama is self-imploding. Desparte times call for drastic measures and he needs to do the following:

1) Dump Biden (give him a graceful exit and then leak vetting governors Bill Richardson and Kathleen Sebelius; let the press have a feeding frenzy for a few days, then yank the rug and name Hillary Clinton).

2) Stop running against Bush, it is not working. If it were, the latest polling wouldn't show that voters are even less confident in democrat's on national security.

3) Drop the ad-libbing, drop the ad-hominem attacks, and drop the pessimism. Get optimistic about the future under an Obama administration.

4) Stick to the stump issues and talk-up tax cuts for middle-class America, energy independence with new technologies requiring the oil companies to lead the way, turn education around from the ground-up, a better health care system with doctor's in charge and let the Iraqi's take the lead, while the US begins an incremental draw-down.

McCain and Palin are leading because they're looking forward and have divorced themselves from Bush, while Obama is looking backward, and you can't lead by looking back. Dump the hope and change and the more-of-the-same messages and get voters to look at a better America four years from now.