Unforced Errors

Liberals are always facile with language. A while ago there used to be something called a "Demolition Derby" where an olio of old cars careened around a large arena slamming into each other (usually backwards to save their radiators and engines from crippling damage.) The last one capable of moving was the winner. This brings us to Hellary Clinton ... who appears to be the last old auto running after a career of careening around leaving smoking scandals in her wake. (We know most of them by heart.)

Now I'm convinced that pretty much all of her eluded scandals were conscious ... she knew exactly what she was doing ... accidentally on purpose if you will.

So back to liberal word smithing. What is the new phrase that libs have come up with to describe all these Hellary scandals? Right from the Wimbledon center court ... they call them "unforced errors." In other words, this erudite tennis semantic absolves Hellary from evil intent in one fell swoop. Whitewater, travelgate, Benghazi, filegate, the e-mail server, etc., etc., etc. were all caused by some exogenous event well beyond her control ... like slipping on a wet spot on the tennis court while trying to return a serve.

You, dear reader, now understand the purpose of this new excuse phrasing. You will likely hear it frequently this coming week at the Democrat Philadelphia convention. The talking point memo has gone out.

And I guess I've mixed enough metaphors for this blog post, so I'll stop and not commit any more unforced errors..

Old News

There must be a half life to scandals … and so, the Clinton's just released, this past Friday night, a dump of many documents from the Clinton Library relating to their numerous sordid scandals … Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, the pardoning of Mark Rich, Vince Foster, etc. … see: UK Telegraph Story and News10 Story. (The bigger the scandal, the longer must be the half-life ...) Many of these documents were heavily redacted and some were held back altogether. To use a tired old chestnut, this document dump was clearly and cynically meant to inoculate the Clinton's against further use of this information. In any future discussions they can, with a dismissive wave of the hand, offer the pusillanimous slight, “That’s old news!”

I find it very curious that good (or I might say evil) politicians seem to sense the exact timing of the aging process of scandalous stories in which they are involved. Thus, Hillary Clinton can put off any testimony about Benghazi until the American people (and the media) will dismiss any damaging revelations as “old news.” (Somehow Nixon never found the exact timing of this half-life process … although he surely tried.) I, on the other hand, react entirely the opposite way. Seeing politicians play this game of rope-a-dope just incites my outrage even more ... at this politician … and at the American people for allowing themselves to be so easily manipulated.

I guess I am forever cursed with my out-of-step mind.

And even more curious, after a sufficiently long delay (using some mysterious formula), the public may again have an appetite for the details of a particular scandal … the Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson affair comes to mind. How do I respond to such ancient revelations? My normal reaction is, “That’s old news!”

Angst Redux

Change produces anxiety.  Radical change produces angst.  Not that change necessarily is bad.  It’s just that its results are not necessarily predictable.  Take Obamacare for instance.  This is a radical remake of the United States’s health-care system … not just the way the insurance process works within it.  Therefore the American people (at least those who are paying attention) are suffering a bout of dyspepsia over this transformation … particularly since much of its consequences clearly have not been well thought through.  

It’s always been a puzzle to me that the Obama-ites are so good at the political processes … planning, polling, message construction, computer systems building, funding, communications, etc. … yet so inept at the policy processes.

Our current administration is fumbling so many fundamental policy issues that those who are watching things justifiably have great concerns.  Viz:

-        Our current handling of the nuclear threat from Iran is gone squishy.  Six months ago we seem to be putting the squeeze on Iran.  Now we are pulling a u-turn much to Israel’s consternation … see: Weekly Standard Story.

-        The United States military is undergoing a radical transmogrification under Obama.  In the last five years 197 top military officers have been summarily removed from their posts … including General Petraeus and General Ham.  For the disturbing details see:  Investors Business Daily Item.

-        President Obama has dramatically expanded the U.S. welfare state … despite his timid talk of entitlement reform.  Obamaphones, EBT cards, Medicaid expansion, etc. are costing tens of billions of dollars more than when he took office … see: National Review Article.

-        The many scandals that the Obama administration is playing Whack-a-Mole to keep off the front pages – Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS suppression of the Tea Party, NSA snooping, his extra-Constitutional executive orders involving immigration, global warming, gun control, etc.

-        [Add three or four more here of your own choosing.]

Barack Obama promised “hope and change” in his first Presidential campaign.  In fact he often added the word “fundamental” before the word “change” ... read this rather as "radical"… and he is surely living up to this pledge … a simple recipe for our current national angst.

Out of Africa

One might call it "fiddling while Rome is burning" … or an early case of “senioritis” … or, to use the silly White House term, “leading from behind” … but clearly President Obama is detaching himself from governing (if he ever was attached.)   His extravagant trip (family vacation?) to Africa (see: Breitbart Story) seems to this commentator to be a series of vacuous photo ops and frivolous distractions from important national and world issues.  The many domestic scandals and problems plaguing his administration desperately need his attention … as do the volatile events in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, the European Union, Russia, world-wide central banking systems, etc.  Yet he seems distracted and somehow disinterested … e.g., “I’m not going to scramble jets to capture Snowden.”

Yes Obama is suave … someone who can read a teleprompter as though he knows what it all means.  But he is also the President of the most powerful country in the world (at least in title if not in form) and there are a large number of things that need his attention and leadership: domestic job growth, tax reform, entitlement reform, management of our transition to Obamacare, reduction of our crushing deficits, foreign-policy fibrillation, the threat of growing Islamic extremism, the dramatic increase in student-loan interest rates, our decaying national infrastructure, the scandals plaguing many in his Cabinet, and maybe even immigration reform.  Yet he has really acted on none of these issues.  Yes, he has talked about most of them and made rhetorical promises, but there is a chasm between his talk and his actions.

I am not a historian, but I have a suspicion that Obama is in real danger of becoming the Calvin Coolidge of our time … only as opposed to being labeled Silent Cal (detached and no action), he might be better tagged Blathering Barry (all talk and no action).

Creeping Corruption

The Obama administration and its legions of acolytes are causing me to experience creeping corruption fatigue.  Maybe it was that I just wasn’t paying enough attention, but I used to believe and trust that those in government had the best interests of the United States at heart.  But now I am not so sure … as I hear an insidious drumbeat of government scandals (any one of which might have brought down previous administrations) ... and instance after instance of those we elect or appoint to manage our affairs subverting the best interests of our country in order to advance their own agendas and rewards.  Here are three such instances (I could provide twenty more out of the current news cycle):

- Benghazi Musical Chairs

- Patriot Act Corruption

- Border Security Non-enforcement

And, unfortunately, at the top of the list of these subverters is our President.  Does he not care what kind of country he is creating for his daughters?  Does he not respect the legacy of achievement that the 43 Presidents who preceded him had constructed?  He can charm the world with his effacing smiles and his teleprompter eloquence, but behind the scenes he and his minions are subverting our Constitution and even destroying our way of life.  To get elected Barack Obama had promised "change" and, it seems, his regime is spending all their waking hours pursuing this agenda ... primarily through creeping corruption.

I am rapidly losing that thing called hope.

Afterward: Even Ralph Nader agrees with me (at least in concept, but not in detail) ... see: Newsbusters Story