by Mark Rhoads
The late Democratic Gov. Huey Long would be proud of his rhetorical son. Demagoguery is the normal default position for President Barack Obama. He apparently does not even understand the distinction between demagoguery and normal rhetoric because for him the tactics of demagoguery are normal rhetoric.
"The cost of our of doing something will be high but I can assure you the cost of doing nothing is greater." Mr. President, the demagogic tactics you routinely employ every single day you have been in office are beyond the pale. You present your fellow citizens with bogus choices between "doing something" and "doing nothing." You are supposed to be some articulate wizard who is a master of the English language, and yet you seem unable to string together three coherent thoughts in a row about what you think the primary problem of "this global crisis" is.
So-called health care reform did not bring down banks and neither did office drapes or private jets or CEO bonuses no matter how popular a target they might be in the polls. "I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it?" Who are you kidding? The American auto industry tied to high union wages compared to the rest of the world has been noncompetitive for decades.
The problems of GM or Chrysler did not happen in the last five months and had nothing to do with Democrats insisting on the extension of bank credit to mortgage applicants who could not make their payments even under normal conditions. You want to "reform" the best health care system in the entire world which draws heads of state from every nation to our hospitals when they need care? And make our system like who exactly? Canada, England, Sweden? What are you thinking of? Try controlling the federal budget before you try to ration health care to one-fifth of the economy.
Mr. President, I did not vote for you but I am still ashamed that millions of my fellow Republicans and others sat on their hands and stayed home on election day. Their emotional temper tantrum against George W. Bush or John McCain or Speaker Hastert or whoever they were mad at must have felt great for one day but the cost of their irrational immaturity has led to a hard core socialist in the White House. Worst of all, Republicans in Congress tonight who applauded the siren song of socialist cliches in order to be seen on a TV camera as somehow supporting bipartisanship are doomed to Dante's region.
For President Barack Obama, of all people, to now become a champion of education reform is a laugh. What did he actually do in eight years in the state senate in Springfield to stop one African American child from dropping out of school in a state where the gap between caucasian and minority drop out rates is thirty percent? Obama was great about writing reports funded by gangster Mo Annenberg's son, but show us who he kept in school or who he even tried to keep in school. That would have been a solid legacy for Illinois.
I really thought President Obama would mellow but he is so much worse in office than he was as a Senator and a candidate. America is in for a grim two years until the November 2010 election, like the 1994 election, gives people maybe their last chance to say no to a future of socialism.
President Obama's backers in Congress take no responsibility for their foolishness in the past in urging lending to people who could not pay their mortgages. Instead, like all good socialists, they say "everyone deserves a home." As they say on Saturday Night Live, "oh really?" I thought the preamble to the Constitution says we will "promote" the general welfare, not "provide" it. If America wants to be Robin Hood and take from one person to bestow on another because it feels good, what happens to the people who only asked for the freedom to try to buy their home, not a guarantee. Gov. Bobby Jindal said it well when he said the purpose of the monster stimulus bill was not to grow the economy or the private sector, but to grow government to the level of socialist dreams. Socialism your time is now and President Barack Obama is your man of the hour. Take us where you will as fast as you can since it will take years to undo your damage.
