Obama Becoming Irrelevant ?

Seemingly, President Obama is becoming almost irrelevant. He still holds the office of President of the United States. He still wields a tremendous chunk of power. But he seems to be viewed less and less, even by Democrats and media, as leader of the Democratic party, not to mention leader of our country.

There’s a difference in ‘holding’ the office of POTUS and actually ‘being’ POTUS. Obama never made the transition from politician to POTUS. He still thinks he’s a politician. Rather than President of the United States, he views himself as President of constituent groups (and dictator of others?). He doesn’t see himself as the leader and representative of all of the citizens of the United States and fewer and fewer citizens view him this way.

Even foreign leaders have begun to dismiss him. The President of the United States has, for some time, been viewed by many as the most powerful person in the world and is often called ‘The Leader of the Free World’. At the recent G20 conference Obama was clearly not viewed that way. In fact, European leaders were lecturing him on budget deficits like he was a school child spending too much of his allowance.

In political speak, Obama is losing the conversation. And in a way perhaps unparalleled in the past century.

Mr President: Plug The Damn Hole !

Yesterday, referring to the oil spill President Obama said “Plug the damn hole!” I agree. And it sounds like they're getting there. The 'top kill' they've been planning for several weeks seems to be working.

Obama seems to get it when it comes to the oil pouring forth from the ocean floor. He gets that the most important priority is to plug the damn hole. Stop the leak. Once that’s done we can move our focus to what to do about all the oil that’s there. If we don’t plug the damn hole first we’ll be overwhelmed.

Obama doesn’t seem to get it when it comes to the illegal immigrants pouring forth from the border. He doesn’t get that the most important priority is to plug the damn hole. Stop the leak. Once that’s done we can move our focus to what to do about all the illegals who are already here. If we don’t plug the damn hole first we’ll be overwhelmed.

It’s only after we plug the damn hole that things differ. The illicit oil we don’t want. We’ll want to get rid of every last bit of it. The illicit immigrants we mostly want. A few bad apples we’ll want to throw in jail or send back from where they came. We need immigrants. Immigrants are important to our country. And we are obviously extremely important to them.

Impact of ObamaCare

A friend of mine runs a local company and made some comments yesterday regarding ObamaCare that I thought interesting.

They are taking an immediate write-off of about $90 million due to the loss of deductibility of retiree health benefits. This comes right off their bottom line and will impact their ability to hire new employees and increase the costs of their products.

They estimate that if they continue with their current level of health benefits that their annual costs will increase by a minimum of 11% or $25 million per year. One really big unknown, and that is not included in the $25 million, is how the elimination of lifetime limits will impact them. Genomics and other massively expensive new procedures and tests could bankrupt them without some form of cap on lifetime expenditures. A cap that under ObamaCare will now be illegal. According to ObamaCare, if you provide health benefits to your employees, it’s all or nothing. A completely open-ended, unlimited expense is impossible for any company.

Within the next year they will need to make a decision about any continued health benefits. Though he didn’t say it, the implied message is that it would be financially irresponsible to continue providing any health benefits after ObamaCare is implemented. Doing so would put the company itself at risk of bankruptcy. Their only choice will be to discontinue all healthcare benefits and have employees obtain healthcare from the government.


Government Healthcare – British Style

He grew up in Britain and provided some insight on the British system that the Democrats want to convert us to. Britain had no real medical system prior to the late 1940’s. Before then extremely few people in Britain, likely less than 5%, EVER saw or talked to a doctor or any other medical person. Without the free enterprise system that the U.S. has Britons tended to wait on the government to do something rather than do it themselves. For Brits the introduction of a government healthcare system in 1948 was a huge improvement over what they didn’t have prior and, without knowing a comparative system, still consider pretty good.

Contrast this with our current healthcare system in the U.S. that is the envy of the entire world. Many Brits come to the U.S. every year for healthcare. I don’t hear of any U.S. folk going to Britain for their better healthcare.

British doctors are paid £60,000 per year (about $100,000) by the NHS (National Health Service). This, they have found, is not enough to encourage people to go through medical school. Due to a shortage of medical students Britain has been importing doctors from India, Morocco, and other countries. The NHS is under serious financial strain and cannot afford to increase pay to doctors so the government are considering other options such as a much shortened medical school regimen that will produce something akin to a jr. doctor who would receive pay of about £50,000 per year.

For most Britons, if they want to see a doctor, they must call their local NHS first thing in the morning and hope to get an appointment that day. If they can’t get one that day then they wait and call again the next morning.

Obama: Anti-Semitic? Stupid? Immature?

Barack Obama’s actions towards Israel since becoming POTUS have been quite amazing. What I’m not sure about is if they come from his being Anti-Semitic, Immature, or just plain Stupid. It doesn’t take too much research of the Israeli-Palestinian-Muslim conflict to see that Israel is not the aggressor, that Israel’s actions are defensive in nature.

Is Obama really so stupid as to not understand the nature and history of this conflict? I don’t think so. It is impossible for any one person to have a very good understanding of the many conflicts and issues around the world. And that is why our presidents have advisors and the U.S. State Department. Rationality is extremely in Israel’s favor, Obama has numerous intelligent advisors, it’s his job to understand issues before taking any action, he’s not that stupid.

Immature? Maybe. His administration was embarrassed by Israel’s announcement of building more apartments in East Jerusalem during Biden’s visit to Israel. Obama’s administration over-reacted which caused further embarrassment. Perhaps an argument can be made that Obama’s walking out on and cutting short a meeting, and then a planned dinner, with Israel’s head of State was a momentary spat of immaturity. Obama has shown before that he can be very thin-skinned. But he’s also always overcome it and persevered through. At least when he wants to. His recent actions towards Israel were pre-meditated and he’d thought through them. These were not simply spats of immaturity.

Could Obama believe that treating Israel like dirt and sideling up to Islamic states will lead to peace in the Middle-East? Possibly. Peace could also have been achieved prior to WWII by giving Hitler everything he wanted as well. We could have ignored his transgressions and the world he would have created and sought peace at any cost.

Well before Biden’s embarrassing trip we’d seen tips of Obama’s hat. Statements here and there, delaying of signing off on selling planes to Israel, something that until now was routine for any POTUS. Israel has been too good of a friend to the U.S. for too long to attribute Obama’s actions to anything other than Stupidity, Immaturity, or Anti-Semitism. If we’ve ruled out the first two, what’s left?

Henry Lewis Gates: Service or Disservice to the Black community?

Perhaps not as easy a determination as some might think. At least it’s not for me.

Officer Crowley, in uniform and responding to a report of a burglary at Gates house, asked Gates for ID. Rather than provide ID Gates screamed “NO I WILL NOT”, “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA.” At this point the cop has no proof of any sort that Gates is the homeowner and not the reported burglar and Gates screaming certainly isn’t helping any. (Note, when I accidentally set off the alarm at our home and the cops come to check on things the first thing they always do is ask for my ID to prove that I’m the homeowner and not a burglar. It’s not a big deal.)

Gates continued with insults against the officer and comments about the officers mother. Gates stepped outside and began screaming “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA” to passerby who were beginning to congregate. From all available evidence, including from all witnesses both black and white, this was not even in the realm of racial profiling. It was either immature over-reaction on the part of Henry Lewis Gates Jr. or intentional actions on Gates part to provoke a racial response from the officer.

Service or disservice?

Service: Some Blacks are quick, just like Gates and Obama, to claim the race/victim card. It has become a convenient excuse for anything and everything. Obama thought this was the case to show how Blacks are mistreated and victimized by police. Instead it is showing just the opposite - how some Blacks over-react and claim to have been racially profiled or victimized when nothing of the sort happened.

Disservice: Unwarranted racial profiling is real, though fortunately declining. Abuse of power by police is real, and unfortunately increasing. Now racial profiling will be treated more like the boy who cried wolf. Even real instances of it will be met with skepticism. Rather than someone being viewed as unfairly victimized they’re just over-reacting as Henry Lewis Gates Jr. and President Obama did.

We might not know which for months or years. Lets look at three other recent events for some more perspective.

First is of a white state trooper, Daniel Martin, in Oklahoma pulling over black ambulance driver Maurice White as White was taking an elderly woman to the hospital.

I won’t rehash everything, but this clearly appears to be a case of abusive behavior by the trooper. This cop should be fired and never hired in a position of authority again - he was instead given a 5-day suspension. I have no idea if race played any part in this incident and there is no proof or indication that it did. I suspect it may have though, but that’s just my opinion. Racially motivated or not State Trooper Daniel Martin is not someone any of us should trust.

Second is an incident last week in MN. A white undercover cop, Le Sueur County Sheriff's investigator Todd Waldron, followed a pickup truck driven by a 24-year-old man suspected of robbery. When the pickup pulled in to a parking space at the man’s apartment the cop pulled in behind and ordered the two men out of the truck. Witnesses said that at no point did he identify himself as a cop. According to witnesses the two men got out of the pickup, both wearing nothing but bathing suits, a scuffle ensued between the driver and the undercover cop, when the driver noticed the cops badge on his belt he jumped up with his hands in the air. The cop pulled his gun and shot the unarmed driver 3 or 4 times, killing him.

Both men in the pickup truck were white. I can assure you that if the driver had been black this would have made national news as racially motivated - true or not. In partial defense of the cop the driver had a history of 19 arrests, 3 for felony assault. This cop, in my opinion, should be tried for murder. I’d think the exact same thing if the driver had been black.

Third is the recent decision by the US Supreme Court that caused the promotion of several White and Hispanic firefighters and explicitly did not promote Black firefighters.

Many successful Blacks in the US are in a continuous war to prove that they deserve the position they’re in. They’re constantly fighting the perception that they are where they are only because of Affirmative Action and the color of their skin and that if they didn’t get their way they’d scream that they were victims of racism.

Affirmative Action programs have indeed given Blacks and other minorities a sometimes preferential leg up, and this was needed. For a time. It helped numerous Blacks get in to high schools, universities, careers, and career positions that they otherwise might not have; because of racial and gender discrimination or a family who did not believe in the benefits of education.

Note: We all need the assistance of others. I cannot list the number of people who have helped me in my life. People who overlooked a mistake and gave me a second chance. People who have stood by me through struggles and who have given of their own time and resources. People who have given me a promotion when I’m not sure I was ready or deserving of it.

One result of Affirmative Action though is that it casts a pale over nearly every successful Black. If a University was admitting 100 students to a program and there were only 2 Blacks in the top 100 they’d go down the list to find others. Companies would do the same in hiring and promotions. In trying to achieve a certain mix of minorities they’d sometimes, or often, promote less qualified candidates who met minority criteria.

And to a limited extent this is OK. Universities creating a class with diversity of backgrounds or companies doing the same isn’t a bad idea. At least as long as the minority candidates still fully meet the criteria.

Problem number one though is when every Black in a university is suspected of being there, not on their own merit, but because they are Black. Had they really earned the right to be there? And worse, they are suspected of having taken the place of someone who had earned the right to be there by their own merit and hard work rather than via minority preferences. This carried over in to the business world where many Blacks and Women were, and sometimes still are today, viewed as having attained their position not by their own merit and hard work but by gender or the color of their skin, true or not.

Many Blacks who’ve achieved a lot are truly deserving. They have the ability and have worked hard to get where they are. Yet they’re still unfairly saddled with a perception of being there only through racial preferences.

Others? Well, here’s where we encounter problem number two. When someone is promoted in to a position for which they do not possess the proper ability they often don’t do very well. When this happens to a lot of people in a very identifiable group, Blacks for instance, it makes it appear that Blacks in general are less capable. They’re not. It’s just that, to meet quotas, so many were promoted in to positions beyond their ability that it sometimes appears that way.

And this has been wholly unfair to Blacks, both as a community and individually. For far more important than actual position or power or income is the respect of others – how well someone is regarded by those around them and how well they regard themselves.

A person who is highly successful as an individual contributor is much more highly regarded than someone who is unsuccessful as a manager or executive.

Let’s look at a flip side of this. During the tech boom many people from India came to the US to work. When I was reviewing resumes, someone with an Indian name nearly always made the cut, almost by default. My experience, and that of others, was that folks from India were extremely bright (and of good character, integrity, work ethic, etc). I became an expert in the H1B visa process. In the late 90’s reality started arriving. It wasn’t that people from India in general were so bright, but that we’d been seeing only the very best and brightest, the top 1%. During the 90’s we worked our way through the best and brightest and started seeing the above average and then started seeing the mediocre and then occasionally the below average. But extremely few were ever in positions beyond their ability. Most were in positions below their ability and they shined. The result is that folks from India are today still viewed as being well above average.

Likely, all of these instances will eventually work out to the benefit of the Black community in the US.

With the SCOTUS decision we may eventually begin to know that a Black person in a lecture hall at Harvard or Alabama or Whittier Community College earned the right to be there. They aren’t there because of the color of their skin but because they deserve to be there. And they’ll be regarded by others as deserving of being there. And perhaps most important, they’ll regard themselves as deserving of being there. They’ll know that they truly earned the right, equally, with everyone else.

Thanks to Oklahoma State Trooper Daniel Martin and Le Sueur County Sheriff's investigator Todd Waldron in MN maybe we can put law enforcement on further notice that unfair treatment really will not be tolerated. That Driving While Black or Terrell While Black are not crimes. And maybe we can start to realize that cops grossly abuse their power with Whites and Blacks (and Hispanics, and Asians, and …) somewhat equally. That just because a cop is white and the victim of their abuse is black doesn’t mean that there was any racial motivation.

And, thanks to Henry Lewis Gates Jr. and Barack Obama (and Jeremiah Wright, and…), and their combined over-the-top over-reaction, the race card and victim card can die. Blacks won’t play the card, successfully anyway, and eventually they’ll loose the boy-who-cried-wolf element and when someone does claim to have been the victim of racism they’ll be taken seriously instead of shoved to the side as just another Gates/Obama over-reaction.

And this will filter in to the workplace over the coming decades. If a Black is promoted to commander or chief in a fire department everyone will know that they truly deserve the position and have the abilities necessary to do well. They didn’t need a preferential leg up because of their ethnicity. They didn’t utilize a preferential leg up to get where they are. They didn’t claim racism when there was none. They earned their position. They’ll have the respect of those around them and those they’re commanding. Eventually Blacks will no longer have to fight a war of everyone wondering if they’re in a position purely because they’re Black.

And better yet, this will filter down to succeeding generations. Someone who is highly regarded by those in the community and who respects themselves for what they themselves have accomplished will pass this down to their kids and grandkids and nieces and nephews and others in the community. In the end this will do far more to strengthen the Black community and add to it’s success than any preferences or screaming racial bias ever will.

Obama endorses Bill Ayers book on CPS

Oops, according to this on Foxnews there is yet one more previously unknown element to Obama's relationship to William Ayers. This book BTW, endorses some of the same government agencies and tactics as were involved in the raid on the YFZ ranch. If I remember correctly, Rozita Swinton, who made the false claims against the FLDS (and who has still not been charged for filing a false report) was an Obama delegate from Colorado Springs. I'm not in to conspiracy theories, but this is interesting.

Update: Not a bad deal for Ayers. In the past 6 hours this book has jumped from #51,021 on Amazon to #6,710.

Media: This ACORN Too Hot to Handle

Everyone in the Media has some political bias. Even if not a favorite candidate, at least strong preferences on some issues. It’s part of being human. Even the most unbiased reporter will be biased to some extent on some issues. It’s going to happen. The question is how much and to what extent it will be admitted.

During this election we’ve seen what is perhaps an unprecedented level bias and of kid gloves treatment of a candidate - Barack Obama. From an overtly racist, hate-filled, and conspiracy theory worshiping pastor to a close friend who to this day has no qualms about bombing innocent judges homes or even the Pentagon. From questions about his citizenship to an unusually very high number of illegal and questionable campaign contributions, many in the liberal side of the media have soldiered on. They’ve ignored or soft-pedaled issues and helped cover flip-flops on everything from accepting public financing to meeting with terrorists with no pre-conditions.

ACORN is apparently proving too much. Whether too much in itself or just the straw that broke the camels back, some in the normally liberal leaning media are backing off on their preferential treatment of Obama. The cost has risen too high. Individually each of the other issues could be explained away. Obama didn’t know Bill Ayers had been a terrorist and still harbored terrorist views. Obama only heard good sermons from Rev. Wright, never any of the hate filled racist diatribes he was so well-known for. Obama had no idea the church’s mission statement was racist. Questions about Obama’s having been born in Kenya and receiving Kenyan citizenship or having later become an Indonesian citizen are just the rantings of a crazed lunatic (and they may well be), nothing for serious media folks to be concerned with or investigate.

ACORN can’t be explained away so easily. Questions of voter fraud have trailed them for several years and across several states. They’ve had a reputation. Obama was an attorney for them. His campaign gave their associated organization nearly a million dollars this spring for get out the vote efforts. There is no way Obama couldn’t have known their history. No plausible deniability here. At a minimum they were a known very questionable organization for a presidential candidate to be involved with and give so much money to. The very best that can come out of this one is some extremely poor decisions on Obama’s part. Decisions that question both his decision-making and integrity. But this time, the best case is unlikely.

Expect a lot less soft-pedaling on this one after today.

Palin vs Obama

There is much that is very interesting about McCain's selection of Sarah Palin. She hunts moose, runs marathons. and takes on corrupt politicians in her own party. If she were a man she'd be a man's man. When it comes to macho she outmans both Obama and Biden.

What I'm finding perhaps the most interesting though is that she is most often being compared, not to her VP rival Joe Biden, but to the leader of the Democratic ticket - Barack Obama. Everyone is talking about who between Obama and Palin has the most pertinent experience. Which one of these two is most prepared to be Commander-In-Chief? Does Obama or Palin have the best understanding of our economy? Does Palin or Obama have the better grasp of our energy situation? If we face another terror incident do we want Obama or Palin calling the shots?

Sarah Palin isn't being compared to Joe Biden and Obama supporters don't want to compare Obama to John McCain. Everyone wants to compare Obama to Palin. What does this say about the two tickets?