On the Ballot

President Obama said last week that all of his policies are on the ballot this coming November … see: Rollcall Story . To refresh things for you potential voters, below is a list of his policy successes:

      -  Can't seem to bring any of them to mind …

For the record, former presidential political adviser, David Axlerod, said today that this Obama challenge might have been a bad idea ... see: Politico Story.

Robin Hood Remake

Produced by George Soros
Directed by  David Axelrod

The Cast
Prince John -- Barack Obama
The Tax Collector -- Douglas Shulman
The Sheriff of Nottingham -- Eric Holder
Robin Hood -- Darrell Issa
Maid Marian -- Sarah Palin
Friar Tuck -- Chris Christie
Little John -- Lindsey Graham
Sir Guy of Gisbourne -- John Kerry

In a twist to this remake, Prince John is the one who robs from the rich and gives to the poor ... abetted by his Tax Collector and The Sheriff of Nottingham.  Robin Hood, on the other hand, tries to lead his Merry Men in a fight against Prince John's corruption and incompetence. Friar Tuck tucks it to the Merry Men by calling for a special election in Sherwood Forest.  Little John spends most of the movie vamping for the cameras.  Maid Marian gives her silk scarf to Robin Hood in hopes that he will win the archery contest on Capitol Hill.  Sir Guy of Gisbourne spends the entire movie trying to emulate Basil Rathbone.

The Chicago Way

Al Capone

Today on talk radio Mark Styne used the term “The Chicago Way” to describe the tactic that David Plouffe, a “political adviser” of President Obama, is using to smear the Republican head of the House Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa (see: Huffington Post Story).  Plouffe zinged Issa on Twitter as “Mr. Grand Theft” and “Insurance Swindler,” referring to 30 and 40 year old possible blots on Issa’s record.  No matter that these charges were not legally pursued in either case, clearly these libels are meant to blunt Issa’s attempt to get to the bottom of the numerous Obama scandals … shades of Bill Clinton’s response to his many dishonors (particularly his vicious and press-abetted smears on the Special Prosecutor, Ken Starr.)

We see the Windy City Way repeated over and over again in the career of the President … often spearheaded by his consigliore, David Axelrod.  First, when Obama ran for the Illinois Senate and then later for the U.S. Senate … for the sordid details in both cases see: US Politics Story.  Even, lily-pure Mitt Romney was besmirched last year as best as could be done … in that he “murdered” the wife of one of his employees … and he tortured his dog on the top of his car.  Now, under the aegis of our President, the Obama administration has been exposed for more Al Capone-type thuggery, but on a far far grander scale … in the IRS’s targeted suppression of conservative groups and the sordid and far-ranging Justice Department wire-tapping of AP and Fox News reporters.  Representative Issa now has the unenviable task of getting to the bottom of these political outrages.

How could anyone be surprised by these Chi-Town methods ... really?

Afterward: See also: Breitbart Story for a more complete explanation of the charges against Issa.

Empty Cabinet

There is a very distressing undertone that has emerged from revelations surrounding the three scandals that are currently percolating in the Obama administration … the Benghazi scandal, the IRS profiling scandal, and the Associated Press wiretapping scandal.  It seems that, in all three instances, President Obama is a bystander to these events.  He either is seen handing things off to subordinates and then disappearing into the shadows … or he first reads about these scandals in the national media.  Distressing … Does he not have a process in place where these things are brought forward for his management attention?  And then attended to before they hit the national media?

I recently heard a Pontius Pilate analogy used for our President … in that he always has that basin of water handy with which he can wash his hands of any responsibility.  President Truman famously said, “The buck stops here.”  President Obama seems to say, “The buck stops I know not where.”  The upcoming implementation of Obamacare has been described as a train wreck.  Does this not concern our President?  Is he holding cabinet meetings to try to avert this disaster?  Or is he shooting hoops … or playing golf … or holding a fund raiser … or planning his next vacation?  Is he just another empty suit?

I recognize that Obama has been often criticized for his lack of leadership skills (much more so of late).  And it is not that he doesn’t have a plethora of advisers and Czars.  But his handling (or lack thereof) of these recent scandals leads me to concur that he is sorely lacking in critical management skills.  When was the last time he held a cabinet meeting?  Or held a meeting of any type that was not a photo op … or which resulted in anything substantive or beneficial for our country’s governance?  President Andrew Jackson had his Kitchen Cabinet.  President Obama has his Empty Cabinet.

Afterward:  And that Chicago thug and Obama consigliere, David Axelrod, has an explanation for President Obama's management incompetence ... see: National Review Story.

After Afterward: Even Chris Mathews agrees with me ... see: Politico Story

Cowed

I have been threatened with excommunication from the Church of Conventional Wisdom unless I stop my incessant attacks against Barack Obama on this blog.  So I am duely cowed and will herein provide some selected kudos to the White House and its apparatchiks for their successes over the last three years.  As well as I can remember I now offer these paeans to our President for:

1) The Navy Seals' 2009 sniper killing of those Somali pirates after they had captured a U.S. merchant vessel (see: ABC News Account)
2) The increased tempo of U.S. drone attacks in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan which have killed many al Qaeda and Taliban higher-ups.
3) The Navy Seals' bold 2011 attack inside Pakistan and the resultant killing of Osama Bin Laden (see: ABC News Account )
4) The Navy-Seal recent rescue of two Americans aid workers in Somali (see: ABC News Account)
5) The Navy Seals' early 2011 killing of two Somali pirates after they had killed four Americans in their yacht off the Somali coast (see: NY Times Account)
6) Last year, the U.S.'s. seccessful backseat overthrow and snuffing of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya (see: Reuters Account)

Other than Obama's examplar family life, this is all I can immediately bring to mind without contacting David Axelrod for help.

Actually, come this fall, I might be tempted to write in a vote for the head of the Navy Seals for President ...