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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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March 16th, 2009 IT'S TIME FOR BARACK OBAMA TO CHEW GUM It is fascinating how the movement of time can seem so rapid at one juncture and so painfully slow at others; for example, it was only 6 months ago that John McCain was poised to become the next President of the United States. As September began, all polls had McCain beating or tying Barack Obama, with the preponderance of “leaners,” (people undecided, but leaning in one direction) were falling for McCain. It had nothing to do with McCain; people simply didn’t trust Obama. They liked him a lot; but they kept saying they knew too little about him and he just wasn’t ready to be president. http://www.gallup.com/poll/110137/McCain-Now-Winning-Majority-Independents.aspx Then came late September and the financial crisis. In the penultimate moment of the entire campaign, McCain, trying to appear “presidential,” suspended his campaign and announced he was returning to Washington to steer the needed bailout bill through the arduous hallways of congress. The implication being that only a man of McCain’s stature and experience could so skillfully usher such important legislation to its ultimate and rightful resting place. He challenged Senator Obama to join him in rising above the political fray and suspend his campaign as well. Obama, in one of the greatest political parries to an opponent’s thrust, very calmly and presidentially announced that he would continue to campaign and work on the bailout simultaneously because a president, he said, should be able to “deal with more than one thing at once.” Checkmate. The logic was irrefutable. Americans expect any president at any time to be able to deal with a major labor strike, a stumbling economy and a threat to our national security all at once; both Reagan and Clinton did exactly that on their watches. Obama’s response was so obvious and true it’s hard to imagine that McCain allowed himself to be accused of not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Alas, as we hit the two month mark of the Obama presidency, it is clear that our most inexperienced chief executive is clearly overwhelmed; he is, without a doubt, facing enormous challenges, but guess what? That’s the job. He shouldn’t have applied if he wasn’t up to the task. Obama suddenly finds himself staring into the mirror and seeing a 21st century senatorial version of Shakespeare’s classic character, Hamlet; a man who talked himself into believing that he was capable of anything and that all he had to do was “decree something be done,” and it would be so. Obama is discovering, for the first time in his life, that he can’t just say what he would do, he must actually be the guy that does it; and he seems completely paralyzed by the very thought of it. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/213scmae.asp While Obama fiddles and America burns, the rest of the world watches a president seemingly incapable of handling one thing, let alone multiple challenges, and the pressing issues that he does attempt to confront go horribly wrong. There is, still to this day, no answer to the banking crisis, the mortgage bailout program has been panned as comically bad by almost everyone on both sides of the political aisle, and multiple high profile people who voted and campaigned for Obama, most notably Warren Buffet and Jim Cramer, are very publicly questioning his lack of economic policies. With every new announcement from the White House, less good gets done; Obama has announced he’s open to taxing you for your healthcare and has unveiled a small business bailout which will bail out and help no one. Think of how sick this is; Obama will be raising taxes on 75% of all small business owners by about 5%; his answer to that? Take out a loan from the government! Meanwhile, as Obama announces and unveils failed and bad policy after failed and bad policy, there is a world watching and snickering. Never before has a president alienated so many in such a short time, most notably our closest ally, Great Britain, which is spending it’s time across the pond launching a public relations campaign aimed at tearing down the United States in an unprecedented way all based on Obama’s handling of his recent meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Admittedly, under normal circumstances, a President would be allowed and expected to take some time to “get comfortable,” and even make some mistakes. As Obama himself reminds us daily, these are not normal times. On the job training is not tolerable in this environment and Obama’s seemingly endless line of support from the American public (based solely on his charm and the population’s desire for him to change things) will run out far sooner than anyone is willing to admit at this time.
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