Skymusings

“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation” -James Madison

Sunday, January 25, 2009

POTUS vs. Rush -- not exactly Godzilla vs. Mothra

It appears that the Dali Obama has succumbed to some fairly straightforward baiting by the Godfather. It took exactly 2 days of Limbaugh's programming to spur The One to respond. The central issue is that Rush quite correctly says that he doesn't want Obama to succeed in his socialist goals. Predictably, the Left and the Dali take this as not wanting him to succeed as President, and are in standard hypocritical shrieking harpy mode.

Although it is highly entertaining and my conservative friends and I get a huge laugh out of it, the situation is actually quite serious and very troubling on several fronts.

To begin with, what would Obama expect? He's the President and is 100% fair game for Rush's attention. Being diametrically opposites, it is absolutely a given that Rush is going to hit him as hard as possible and in as many entertaining and attention-getting ways possible. Rush is, after all, an entertainer, NOT a conservative think-tank leader and policy maker. For Obama to be hurt enough to fire back at all shows a thin-skinnedness and pettiness that is revealing.

Next is the idea that the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, especially given such serious issues that he faces, even has time to think about what a single commentator has to say, let alone craft and issue any sort of response. Does this man really have nothing better to do than this? Whether I voted for the guy or not, I want my President focused on issues and the business of the country, and this petty nonsense shows arrogance and self-centeredness.

Now we come to basic political savvy. "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." It is obvious to anyone paying attention that the Republicans DON'T listen to Rush Limbaugh; if they did, McCain wouldn't have been the nominee and Dali wouldn't be POTUS today. This guy has absolutely no sense of who he is dealing with, elected and unelected. Basically Obama was saying that he doesn't want conservatives to be conservative; Rush is the convenient bugaboo because he is the biggest conservative name. The elephants aren't taking Rush any more seriously than they ever have, and they are obviously far more interested in laying down for the new Overlord than in standing firm to principled conservatism. His Eminence doesn't see this?

Finally there is matter of the hypocrites in the press. Can you imagine how they would have howled if W had taken public notice of the ranting of Keith Olberman or Chris Matthews? How about the NY Times? Like him or not, W was presidential and he knew that people are going to say bad things about him and that his position necessitated that he let it happen without interference. Not only does it look bad for the president's personality and strength, but it also calls into question where true Free Speech is. If the President is going to get into catfights with media figures, there is a real danger of that bad judgment leading to bad policy decisions -- think Fairness Doctrine.

These basic facets of The One' personality and acumen are not surprising, but the fact that neither he nor his advisors (mostly Clintonoids who are used to dealing with the press and hiding what they need to) thought this out is incredibly troubling for the reasons stated below.

You see, it's not bad enough that our President is a petty little bitch. It is far worse. I am a free citizen of the United States who is not especially brilliant or politically savvy, yet I am able to see these things clearly. It just takes paying a little attention.

Now imagine what is going on in Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan, and any number of other countries that are not our friends. There are people in charge of those places that are brilliant and politically savvy, and they are making plans against out country. And guess what they see?

They see a POTUS that has thin skin, can be easily baited into hasty words and actions, and is publicly fighting with a media figure. They see a preening vain little boy who cries when someone says they don't want him to win. They see weakness, arrogance, impotence, and most importantly, a man in charge who is not a Leader. In the Chess game of international politics, we have a guy who plays checkers, and who has to cheat at that. If he can be so easily provoked by a known commodity such as Rush, the odds that he gets rolled by someone truly at odds with our country and devious (say, Putin or whoever is Chinese premier at that point) are quite high.

Think back to W's first few months in office. It was relatively quiet and no one on either side was especially behind or against what he was doing. Then the Chinese downed one of our planes and took the crew prisoner. W passed this test by being strong and not letting himself get rolled. This strength was on display later in the days following 9/11. At that point there was no question that he was the Leader.

Obama is spending valuable time and energy whining about what a radio commentator (who will NEVER be on the same side as him) said. What on earth is this guy going to do in a real crisis? How will he and his team react? Will he Lead? Or will he whine, complain, and do exactly the wrong thing?

Based on what I've seen in the first week of His Obamaness' reign, I am not encouraged. We cannot hope that our enemies will not see these things and act on them; they do and they will.

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