Recent Commentary

The current debate over health care reminds me of that scene in the movie Outlaw Josey Wales where the snake oil peddling carpetbagger tries to sell a bottle of his tonic to an Indian, only to be asked about what was in it.  After saying he didn’t know, the Indian said, “You drink it”.

Obama and the Democrats are selling snake oil.  And the American people aren’t buying.

But after a full year of debate, speeches, emails and town halls promoting his health care agenda it has come down to this: an all out, last ditch effort to ram a bill through Congress that a majority Americans don’t want.  Public opinion be damned.  “Change” is coming.

Over the course of 2009 conservatives and Republicans have done a far better job than anyone would have thought possible when it came to blocking ObamaCare from becoming law.  Everyone thought it was a fait accompli, but it ran into the brick wall of public opinion.

In light of the recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as his own falling poll numbers, Obama wants Republicans to come together with Democrats for a grand health care “summit” to search for a bipartisan compromise.  In other words, he wants some cover.

Just how serious is our new President about dealing with terrorism?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks to Barack Obama, we now live in a country where you can do almost as much time in prison for brandishing a knife in a failed robbery as for attempting to murder three-hundred innocent men, women and children.

Don’t believe me?  This past Christmas, a man in Sandy Creek, NY used a knife in an attempted robbery of a Chinese restaurant and, if convicted, he could face up to twenty-five years in the grey bar motel.  On that same day, the now infamous underwear bomber, after failing to go boom, was mirandized and will likely face anywhere from twenty years to life in prison, (if convicted on all counts as opposed to getting off on an insane fashion defense).

Back in December, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Barack Obama and asked him what kind of grade he would give himself on his job performance.  “A good, solid B-plus”, he answered.

Really?  Talk about grading on a curve.

Let’s review some of the highlights and lowlights of Mr. Obama’s freshman year.

Soon after taking office he managed to push his big stimulus program through Congress.  Then there were the bank bailouts (and the continuation of the Bush bailouts), and the TARP, and then the bailouts of automakers (and their unions).  He was on a roll.

Election Day finally arrived in Massachusetts and the results are nothing short of a miracle.

In one of the bluest of the blue states, (where Obama won by 61%), an unknown Republican managed to win "Ted Kennedy's seat" in the United States Senate.

Thank you, Barack Obama.

Even before the campaign was over, the blame game began and Democrats pronounced it all Martha Coakley's fault.  The long knives came out.

Recent national polls showing a larger percentage of Americans expressing support for a non-existing “Tea Party” candidate rather than a Republican candidate is a temptation for conservatives to waste their time and increase the odds of feeling even more disenfranchised in the future.

I understand the frustration, especially the white hot frustration of those who have only recently become energized and involved, most likely as a result of our current President.

The energy, enthusiasm and commitment to core principles is great. It’s beyond great. It’s exactly what this country (and more specifically the GOP) needs. But what we don’t need is for that energy and enthusiasm to be wasted where it will do absolutely no good whatsoever to the principles it represents.

It’s been said that when life gives you lemons you make lemonade.  So it is with politics.

The GOP’s 2008 election defeat planted and watered the seeds of what the party has been in need of for a long time – a real conservative revolution.

The good news is that Barack Obama is making it all possible.  He and the Democrat leadership are providing Americans with a vivid reminder of everything they don’t like about liberalism.

As White House Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel was credited with saying after Obama took office, ”a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”.  Well, just ten months in to his term, Americans are sensing a crisis.  Specifically, the crisis represented by Obama’s brand of liberalism, and they’re in the mood for a revolt.

There are two groups of people that have reason to be scared over Tuesday's election results: moderate Democrats and Republican leadership.

Why any Democrat should be concerned is obvious.  They're the current majority party and they're in control of Congress and the White House.  Off year elections are normally bad for the party in the White House, but Tuesday's election results point to something big next year.

In Virginia, a state Obama carried by five percent, the Republican candidate for Governor wins by eighteen percent - a twenty-three point swing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

When political times get tough for liberal Democrats in Washington, conservative conspiracies are the bogeymen of choice.

Back in 1998 when things got tough for Bill Clinton, Hillary declared that there was a “vast right-wing conspiracy” looking to bring her husband down.  Other Democrats where quick to pick up the mantra and do anything they could to discredit those who criticized Clinton.

Now here we are eleven years later and, (although there are no chubby interns involved), we have another liberal President facing hard times.  So out pop the conspiracy theories like some worn out jack-in-the-box.  The only difference is that now we have two former Democrat Presidents cranking the handle.

As the most recent scandal surrounding ACORN grows, it begs the question of “will they or won’t they?” As in, will Barack Obama and the mainstream media decide that it’s in their best interest to “throw ACORN under the bus”?

Things haven’t been going so well for either of them lately, and the ACORN scandal presents them with an opportunity to try and gain a little credibility.

The “mainstream” media continues to take a beating with steadily declining readers and viewers, and many media companies are in (or on the verge of) bankruptcy all over the country.