REMOVING THE FISHWRAP, SMELLING THE STENCH

Thanks to DisEnfranchised Voterfor this entry posted over at the Confluence, a high octane PUMA site whose energetic post-election dialogue nearly matches the buoyancy of those frothy days in early September when I first discovered this most kinetic of political creatures.

I AGREE WITH Joseph Cannon that I expected a few Republicans to sound more “progressive” than Obama. But I also agree with blogger Falstaff that Obama isn’t a conservative in liberal’s clothing. He’s just what many of us predicted him to be: a blank sheet of paper, an empty suit, a person who has no idea who he is or where he stands. He’s only cared about doing whatever he could to get to the top without even thinking about anyone else. It is why he can sound like a conservative because he seriously doesn’t understand the difference. He goes with whatever the status quo is until an adviser tells him differently.

Here is what Falstaff said:

I don’t think this can be understood in conscious terms or in the sphere of political judgment. Contra some PUMAs, I don’t think he’s some kind of clever right-winger in liberal’s clothing. I think we’re seeing someone with a deep need not to be seen—including (indeed, most importantly) by himself. In stark contrast to Hillary, he doesn’t have the first idea who’s actually in there. He’s even hiding in his autobiography, where he becomes more opaque as one reads.

Thing is, this job does not permit invisibility. As I’ve also posted elsewhere, he’s walked out onto the biggest stage of all, and he won’t get off it without us and him knowing who, in fact, he is. That’s the case in palmy times, and it’s certainly the case in a tempest.

Having said all that, my point here was somewhat simpler. It was about preparation. I did credit him with skill at that. He was better prepared for some aspects of the primaries than was Hillary—he had what turned out to be an intelligent game plan. It was all he had, of course—his ability to run plays was really limited, all float-like-a-butterfly, no sting-like-a-bee. But figuring out about the Net, about the generational emotions of Millenials, and about how to game the caucuses was smart tactically. But it turns out that his ability to prepare seems to be limited to campaigning. He and his team don’t seem to have been able to prepare for actual governing.

And the question he faces, and that we all face, is whether he can become a person in real time, in the midst of the tempest. Or, more accurately, what person it’ll turn out is in there, what person he has been so terrified of his entire life and that he’s pervasively and energetically kept in the box. And, then, whether than person is up to the demands of the moment.

It should be obvious by now that our new President is a puppet on a string and we now have a Puppet Government run by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Rahm Emmanuel. And what nonsense is this—rumors that what may be coming down the pike is an election to remove presidential term limits? God forbid. Our State Department just congratulated Venzuela on it's successful election to eliminate term limits—pure unadulterated penis envy!

Totalitarianism all across the chessboard, what a concept! To paraphrase the prophet from Hibbing, oooooh Mama, is this REALLY the end—to be stuck inside Big Government with no liberty to choose again? Should patriotic Americans (and we know what we mean) act as if all this para-democratic nonsense is just for silly kicks or is this just the set-up for the global tribulation next in line to render a few licks across the neck for the menacing tribes of Arab supremacy, and what about China, Russia? Has anybody thick in the business of running this once great nation read to the end of the friggin' manual, yet?

Okay, abort panic mode. Cooler heads must prevail. Steve Lingus of Anderson, SC puts our dilemma into ample clear terms:

The demise of the USA began when we decided to be the guardians of freedom for the peoples of the world and were willing to give our manufacturing to other countries to foster democracy in those lands. Now we pay the price. We are now dependent on foreign labor to make the goods we need. Gone are the slogans that said "Crafted with pride in the USA". Our clothes and shoes come from other lands as does some of our food. Corporate CEOs share this blame as well as to increase the bottom line it was more profitable to make goods overseas where wages were cheaper and there was less regulation. The current economic situation does not help much either as people cut back on all but the necessities which are made in China. The road to recovery will be difficult but as a strong people we will survive that is unless President Obama decides to put us under UN jurisdiction.

Let me add these finishing touches to the discussion. First, you cannot have "free trade" with non-capitalist market sectors. A free market system cannot compete fairly with slave/prison/child labor. Second, China refuses to float its currency on the world market, but instead props up its currency by fixing it to an unreasonable sub-value. This protection in turn guarantees its exports low prices in relation to other countries, and is just another way to dump products in other markets at below cost. The US must set trade policy to reflect reasonable currency values and impose tariffs that reflect those imposed on our products by the trading partner. If Chinese products were valued at their true cost, they would be priced competitively with goods made in the US and other "free" economies.