Saturday, April 11, 2015

What? A celebrity with manners?


If you, like I, have all but written off the millennial generation as a sorry and self centered lot of underachievers take a good look at Jordan Spieth. The pride of St. Monica's Catholic High School in Dallas, Texas is going into the final round of the Masters 4 strokes up on his nearest opponent. His third-round 70 today and set a Masters 54-hole scoring record at 16-under 200. Tiger Woods was at 15-under 201 after three rounds in 1997 and Raymond Floyd was at the same number in 1976. This is his second appearance at the Master. He has played a total of 7 rounds and lead in 6 of those.This kid excites me the same way Secretariat and Bobby Fischer did.
No matter the outcome tomorrow Spieth has already raised the standard for public deportment among professional athletes. What a breath of fresh air! He can get through a lengthy interview without once invoking the first person singular pronoun which is all the more astounding considering that he is a Texan. He refers to his new mentor, the legendary Ben Crenshaw as Mr. Crenshaw and states that his special needs sister is the most important person in his life.
On the course it's not just his skill that draws envy but rather his poise and self control. He makes Charlie Rose look like a bundle of nerves and not just when he is playing well. A blown two foot putt is followed by a wince and then and grin and comment to his caddy and then is seems to be forgotten. He is the most self disciplined man in public life today.
He had to rent two houses at Augusta. One where he could sneak off to for a good night's sleep and another for his parents and grandparents, siblings and six friends from high school to party in. The only house rule is golf cannot be mentioned in his presence.
This kid could be as good as he looks!

Friday, April 10, 2015

Joel Gilbert's "Dreams From My Real Father" Thoroughly Discredited

I previously reviewed Joel Gilbert's "Dreams From My Real Father"
http://obotomy.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-dreams-from-my-real-father.html#comments  I compared Gilbert with Oliver Stone. I never thought of Stone's "JFK" as convincing but it was compelling. For all of its flaws it was better than the Warren Report. Gilbert's video for all of its shortcomings at least looks at Obama's murky background. The rest of the media divert their eyes.

At "American Thinker" Jeff Lipkes thoroughly dismantles DFMRF, even challenging Gilbert's credibility.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/04/whos_your_daddy_another_look_at_joel_gilberts_emdreams_from_my_real_fatherem.html

This is a welcome review. The Left has abandoned the premise of truth but we cannot afford to do so. I don't want a conservative/tea party/constitutionalist version of Barack Obama. I don't want someone who will lie for our cause. My political philosophy and philosophy of life is premised on truth. If we choose our beliefs on their aesthetic value we will make poor choices. Truth, often inconveniently, is on our side.

So if Stan Dunham was never a CIA agent and his daughter was not knocked up by a card-carrying Communist, then why in the world was an adolescent Barack Obama introduced to this dangerous mind? Even in the free spirit 1970's in free thinking Hawaii, most grandparents would not encourage a relationship, a mentoring if you will, with Frank Marshall Davis. This is one of the questions about Barack Obama I would love to see answered.

So we now know about as much about Barack Obama's background than we did in 2008, which is to say, we know almost nothing.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Idolatry Versus Ideology

Idolatry Versus Ideology

The news media do not usually cover news media. They are a club. They are perhaps the most insular profession in America. There might be pecking orders and rivalries and jealousy but they are good at keeping their grievances in-house. They like to refer to one another as colleagues.

Bernard Goldberg reminds us that there is no secret handshake. None is needed. In this finely-screened guild, dissidents are not recruited or welcomed. They often graduate from good schools but nonetheless they do have dimwits in their ranks. They are not necessarily stupid but they will consciously promote stupidity when duty calls.

Members of the news media are haughty and cavalier and every word in the thesaurus for both haughty and cavalier accurately describes them. No exceptions. They are parochial and provincial and every word in the thesaurus for both parochial and provincial accurately describes them. No exceptions.

Smugly superior, tirelessly loyal to their clan, secular in the extreme. Secularists are notoriously vulnerable to cult leaders. Offbeat religions have much better success recruiting at Harvard or Yale than at Brigham Young or Oral Roberts. The Cult of Obama would find the ranks of the secularist media to be their Happy Hunting Ground.

Observers might denounce media bias but they often mistake loyalty to proper noun for loyalty to principle. In the case of Barack Obama, idolatry is often mistaken for ideology. The Obamacist media practice unconditional love for their beloved leader.

A purely objective press has never existed. We have discussed press prejudices and how they have evolved over time. Yes, there has always been a bias against dissent, an endorsement of pack journalism for the good of the pack. What was absent until 2008 was an ongoing consensus on behalf of matters related to one man and his agenda.

The news media might have been chummy and sniffy but they were also independent. Even during times of war—World War II being the possible exception—news media expressed diverse viewpoints. That is no longer the case.

Mysticism is unifying. Reason is divisive. “ So says Thomas Szasz. Ideology has its limits. An idea as simple as “the government should help the poor” immediately encounters an obstacle course. How do we help the poor? Should we first help those who help themselves? Should we first help those who cannot help themselves? Should we first help those who will not help themselves in hopes of lifting their spirits? Should we help poor people find work or just give them cash? Would it be better to give poor people food stamps and free education and subsidized housing than to give them cash? Should we help intact families more than single mothers or vice versa? Reason divides.

George Patton said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” To that, our news media reply in unison “Yes we can!” For many journalists, Obamacism is their first religious experience. For most journalists, Barack Obama is the only deity they love and revere. For all members of the Fourth Estate, Obamacism is the only religion that matters.

Issues do not matter to the Obamacist. Candidate Obama excoriated President Bush for his profligacy, “two wars on a credit card...Bank of China credit card...” more references to credit cards, calling deficits unpatriotic, etc. President Obama would ultimately spend more rapidly and more recklessly than any president in history, arguably with little or nothing to show for it. The press are behind their deity all the way, They are zealots, not ideologues.

President Obama bears no resemblance to Candidate Obama in 2008 or even Candidate Obama in 2012 when the press adroitly assisted the incumbent in running against his own record. Republicans. The Tea Party. Congress. His rivals who acted as rivals. Rush Limbaugh. These entities all served as scapegoats for the Administration's ongoing failure. Never is anything the president's fault. Never.

The Obamacist media mob praised the Affordable Care Act without reading it. Through executive order and Secretarial fiat, the ACA morphed and shape shifted and evolved into something much different from its legislative form. The chorus backed their deity every step of the way. Changes in law were but words on paper. Love and worship of their leader is all that mattered.

Previous executives waffled or flip-flopped. Barack Obama pivots and grows and evolves. Never indecisive, always reflective. One Obamacist even coined a term to prop up their divinity: He leads from behind. Unconditional love. Unending loyalty. Consensus achieved.

Obamacism is a media-created, media-generated, media-fed religion. A land of skeptics found its savior. Finally, there was someone worthy of their deference. We will examine the techniques of persuasion and deception that made Obamacism possible. We need to reemphasize Obamacism's universal support from the Fourth Estate. Their unanimous, total and unending loyalty has made the impossible a reality.



Thursday, April 2, 2015

America Became Jonestown But Can Jonestown Become America?

The Future Of Jonestown

I don't like politics and yet I have become obsessed with the subject. Growing up, politics was discussed at the dinner table and it was something I could have done without. It was not intrinsically interesting to me. Politicians seemed like timid people who tip-toed through life, avoiding people and places that might someday be viewed as a political liability.

I made a point to mingle with political liabilities and I have never regretted that decision. I was wary of what politics might do to one's personality. This suspicion would be confirmed when Rush Limbaugh became a sports analyst. Hours into the job, Limbaugh injected politics into a discussion about football. I had seen something like this happen on smaller stages. I had witnessed politics consuming people. Now I saw it consume Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh saw everything through a political lens, even something as deliberately escapist as professional football.

A learned lesson was reinforced. Rush Limbaugh seemed like a decent guy who was so obsessed with politics that he could never turn it off. He was not unlike the sidewalk preacher pedestrians crossed the street to avoid. I did not want to be like the sidewalk preacher or the guy in the office who turns every conversation into political discourse. Not me.

That is not to say that I was without core values or opinions. I was born a freedom-loving, anti-authoritarian guy who was suspicious of bureaucracy and even more suspicious of propaganda and mind control. Generally, you would not know my political beliefs unless you asked. I was more likely to express an opinion about a movie or a basketball coach. Political discussion was something I usually avoided.

Years went by. We would witness a major terrorist attack, a bloated and often destructive bureaucracy, an ever-expanding police and surveillance state and a national debt that threatened our social and physical well being. Into this mix came Barack Obama.

I was suspicious of Obama from the onset. Who was this guy? It is a question we still ask daily. We thought the news media would eventually provide factual information about this mysterious character. We did not think our relatives, even the stupid ones, would blindly pledge their allegiance to a man they did not know or care to know. We did not expect our lifelong friends to put on their blinders and guzzle the Kool-Aid. But it happened. America had become Jonestown.

Over the next six years I grew obsessed with finding out who Barack Obama really is. As to the reflexive charge of “You just don't like him,” in all of its implied racism, that was not the case at all. I judge a man on his actions and “like” and “dislike” do not mean much to me. Things like “respect” and “believe” are much higher on my scale than a Facebook judgment.

I gave up or greatly reduced the following activities:

Spectator sports. I used to love watching sports on TV so much that I would have to take measures to limit my viewing time. After Obama came to power I would click on the dial during a commercial break, go to a news channel and forget all about the game. I don't even read the sports page anymore.

Music:  Completely replaced by talk radio.

Fiction: I used to read a lot of fun books. Now I read books like “Culture of Corruption,” “The Amateur,” and “The Great Destroyer.”

Movies: Hollywood and I were already drifting apart. The remake did a number on me. Why should I pay to see “The Longest Yard” when I can see a better version at home for free? In Jonestown, movies no longer delivered the two hour escape. I could no longer see the character beyond the actor. Every role was filled by a member of The Legion Of Beautiful People. I could not see past the pampered and privileged and resentful GeorgeTom DamonDeniroDicaprio who give the political elite their unending love and give the rest of us their middle finger. I used to love film. I was once a patron and a fan. I was once a movie guy. Gone. All gone.

Socialization: I have always been an introvert and something of a loner. Those qualities have grown more pronounced in Jonestown. I submit that my isolation is largely self-imposed. Reading and writing and blogging are solitary pursuits. I do not dislike Obamacists but I do have a hard time respecting anyone who pledges allegiance to a cult leader they do not know and do not care to know. Solitude serves me well.

I did not plan on becoming politically obsessed. Then again, I did not plan on living in Jonestown.


American became Jonestown but can Jonestown become America? The press will never vet Barack Hussein Obama. They will tell us how brilliant and how concerned and how sophisticated and how praiseworthy he shall ever be. They will tell us he is principled but they will never elaborate on the principles he embraces. They will tell us he is misunderstood but they will not help us understand his occluded personality. Mostly, they will turn the criticism on the critics. We never supported him. We never gave him a chance. Implied racism. More implied racism. Insinuations of racism. More insinuations of racism.

We know Barack Obama has friends in high places who can make things like passport records disappear. A benefactor probably funded his education. Despite what Michelle Obama might have said about student loans, no such debt was ever mentioned in any of her husband's election filings. Will we ever learn of the identity of this mysterious sugar daddy?

Here and there talk radio would host a caller who would tell the listeners that Barack Obama will not leave the White House after two terms. The comments section that follow YouTube videos sometimes have statements to that effect. Those comments used to seem silly to me. They no longer do.

2012 reminded us that Barack Obama's record was not on the ballot. However, Barack Obama's divine essence was on the ballot and it carried the day. He was not just a bad president he was duplicitous, tyrannical and corrupt. All irrelevant. Unconditional love.

Then a series of scandals surfaced in 2013 such as the IRS targeting political dissidents and the NSA spying on average Americans. These and other abuses of power were circulated around the Internet but kept out of the mainstream media until after the 2012 elections. Now that they came to light maybe the Obamacists would see what kind of bully and cheater and....Nope! Unconditional love. Unending worship.

Then there was the budget wars where Obama used dying children and hobbled veterans as props in his one man play. For what purpose did the president resort to such Machiavellian tactics? To inflate our national debt. To assert his supremacy over mortals. To punish those who dared to mock him. Maybe now the spell would be broken. Nope! Barack Obama is still a god to tens of millions of Americans, perhaps hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

As previously mentioned I started the blog, Post Obotomy Syndrome, shortly after the 2008 elections. It was not intended to be one more Us vs. Them hot spots. It was an effort to spread more light than heat. This site would primarily focus on the unacknowledged religiosity of the overnight cult of personality. Yes, I thought if I could reveal the magician's secrets, I could effectively deprogram the masses. I greatly underestimated the length and the strength of the cult's tentacles.

What distinguishes Obamacism from every other religion is that this is the first and only media-created religion. Concerning our forty fourth president, the Fourth Estate can be divided into two categories: the Obamacist Cheerleaders and the Silent Majority.

Obamacism is for now an unacknowledged religion. Practitioners might identify as Catholic or Jewish but their loyalty and their worship is extended to their cult leader. Here and there the cheerleaders will trip themselves up and tell us that Obama, “is kind of like God,” but they don't feel it's safe to place both feet out of the closet just yet.

The Silent Majority has pledged omerta for their leader. Maybe they don't have secret handshakes and maybe they don't don robes and burn incense but if you want to continue to report on barking dogs in Dacron, Ohio, you had better keep mum about your social superiors. Thou shalt not connect the dots.

The Lame Scorpion President

The Silent Majority might not care to discuss their leader's core values but a picture is coming into focus. First, if Barack Obama's core values were popular with the American people, he would advertise them. His secrecy on these matters speaks loudly.

Barack Obama might not be anti-American but he certainly is not pro-American. Barack Obama might not be anti-Israel but he is certainly not pro-Israel. Barack Obama is opposed to the premise of free enterprise. He likes rich people who give him money and he resents rich people who do not give him money.

Barack Obama is not enthusiastic about protecting religious freedom, at least not for Christians. He goes out of his way to see that Islam is never offended. He might be less of an Islamic sympathizer and more of an OPEC sympathizer. The Oil Producing Exporting Countries have helped promote the global warming/climate change/climate disruption hoax, possibly to impede American energy independence.

Who purchased Al Gore's Current TV? Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. Who financed Matt Damon's anti-fracking movie, “Promised Land”? Image Nation Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media, based in United Arab Emirate. Who quietly purchases stock in western news companies? Mideast oil interests who have a vested interest in keeping energy prices high and preventing a worldwide energy glut.

The Lame Scorpion President might use all of the resources at his disposal—the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, The Department of Justice, the IRS, Federal courts—to hobble domestic energy production. In some circles there is the belief that an American renaissance, fueled by energy independence, is inevitable. That might not be case if OPEC has its way.

An OPEC shill might not be the worst case scenario. We need to re-examine John Drew's insights into the mind of a young Barack Obama. It should concern one and all that the future president was a fervent Marxist-Leninist. It might concern us even more that the Occidental student was enthusiastic about the inevitability of a worldwide revolution. Our grandiose president might take extreme measures to ensure that he is not omitted from the history books.

Perhaps the most successful anti-achievement of the Obamacist Media is the removal of budgetary issues from the news cycle. We stopped talking about our colossal debt that spelled Armageddon throughout the Bush administration when it was one third to one half of what it is now. America cannot pay off $18 trillion in debt as well as tens of trillions more in unfunded liabilities.

Both political parties have contributed to the fiscal crisis but the Republicans could make the case that theirs was the slower road to ruin. They have become the party of lesser evil, silver medalists in the destruction competition. Siss boom bah.

I reiterate: We are told that deficits do not matter as we are also told that we must raise taxes. We are being conned.

Taxes are not always generated to pay for deficits. Deficits are sometimes created to raise taxes. I know of no country the Marxists/Leninists/Maoists/Communists or even the Socialists or Progressives have made rich, but they have made billions of people poor. Leftists might not be able to deliver Heaven on Earth, but they can give all of us a taste of Hell.

Leftists perversely view destruction as a virtue. Not what Schumpeter called creative destruction where the word processor destroys the typewriter and an MP3 player destroys the compact disc. No, the leftist takes pride in destruction minus the creativity.

I am afraid that Barack Obama shares the leftist view of destruction as virtue. He has upgraded the status of the apparatchik class and a few Wall Street/K Street insiders to the exclusion of just about everyone else. Barack Obama is driven by something. What exactly? It might be his desire to dismantle (or as he says “fundamentally transform”) America.

Some people have suggested that the president will start a war or allow a terrorist attack prior to the 2016 elections. Others have gone so far as to state that he wants to start a civil war. Those sorts of extreme measures might not be necessary. The crushing debt coupled with an economy deliberately crippled by Washington might provide sufficient social unrest to extend Barack Obama's second term.

Maybe Barack Obama is deliberately spending us into oblivion. It looks like the Federal Reserve did what it could to numb the pain in the short term, delaying the day of reckoning until after the 2014 midterms. They can't keep the plates in the air forever. Bernanke and Yellen have had more success at elevating stock prices than elevating stock earnings. At an average P:E ratio that exceeds 15, Wall Street is on shaky ground.

Do not lose sight of Barack Obama's heightened sense of grandeur. He would love to preside over a nation in turmoil. He likes chaos. He would love to dispense food here and withhold water there. The petulant child would love to reward loyalists and punish infidels.

Remember too, this man's addiction to adulation. If there is any way to keep the crowds cheering, our diva will find it. If there is a large scale cyber attack or the crippling of our nation's electric grid, the crowds will just have to chant “Yes we can” by candlelight.

A major crisis, orchestrated or spontaneous, would serve Barack Obama's personality but something more pragmatic might make the dominoes fall. His administration is rife with crime. The Obama DOJ can only obstruct justice as long as they are the Obama DOJ. A Republican DOJ might not be as willing to overlook abuses of power, graft, perjury and other forms of corruption. It is doubtful that a Hillary DOJ would be any more merciful. The Clintons despise all things Obama.

So yes, it is conceivable that a crisis might be generated by senior Obama Administration officials who fear indictment. Which is to say there is a long, long, long list of people who want to lower the curtain—at least until the statutes of limitations expire.

In fiction we sometimes say things we can't otherwise say. This is especially true of movies and television where executives do not want to offend large segments of the viewing audience. In, “The Twilight Zone,” Rod Serling tells parables about racism using aliens as characters. No need alienating the Deep South.

In this century there are seemingly fewer restrictions to viewer content. Profanity rules the day. So too, do references to bodily functions and more bodily functions and bodily functions we don't all share, thank goodness. And we can discuss sodomy and man to man love and blaspheme, GD, OMG...what if anything cannot be said on television?

We cannot make fun of Barack Obama or his mindless worshipers. Remember the Missouri rodeo clown? Do you think perhaps, the rise of Zombie shows that came to life during the Obama Administration, might reflect society's fears about brain dead Obamacists? Obama would not be a daunting figure without the massive hordes of walking dead who support him. Many of us fear God but not as much as we fear his followers. The same can be said for Obama and his zombies.

We have to come to grips with what stares us in the face. Jim Jones never had more than a few thousand followers in Guyana and California and he managed to get 923 people killed. David Koresh, with a following of a few hundred, was responsible for 85 deaths, not counting his own.

The Obamacists are not as tightly controlled as other cult members, not yet anyway. Are they as fanatical as other cultists? On average, no. But there are tens of millions of them in the US and many more of them spread throughout the world. Not all of them are as stupid or as pliable as the Occupy Wall Street marionettes but they are just as loyal. Some of them have the technical skill and the position to wreak cyber havoc. If they see their deity facing eviction, they might spring into action.

Unconditional love and undying loyalty are the hallmarks of Obamacists. With a little prodding, from their deity or the people around him, bedlam could be released. Let us be prepared.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Just In Time For Holy Week: Mike Pence Cast As Judas

Social issues as they are normally defined don't much interest me. They usually draw more heat than light. One is either for or against the death penalty and no amount of verbiage changes one's mind.

When the topic of gay marriage would come on the radio, I would instantly switch stations. the subject just does not engage me in any sense of the word.

Mike Pence is bothersome for several reasons. I watched his speech live and turned him off. Like most people I respect those who stand on principle if for no other reason than it means they have principles.

I don't know which was more pathetic, Pence's body language or his childish babble.

Governor, did you not read the bill you signed into law?

Could you not find some reason to justify your actions. I am sitting way up in the bleachers half asleep and I could muster a better defense of your actions than you did.

 Could you not point to the other states who have similar laws?

 Could you not remind the haters that Illinois  has a similar religious freedom protection act and it was signed by no other than Barack Obama?

Could you not remind the pundits that we have a similar federal law that passed during the Clinton Administration?

Could you not stand by your constituency instead of the national press?

Could you not tell the national press to take a first person interest in matters sodomitic?

But let's put the coward aside for a minute. Why do we even need statutes to protect constitutional freedoms? That is the fundamental question.

I could not stand to watch Pence weasel around in front of the podium. I figured he was caving and I turned off the TV. Less than an hour later I typed "Pence caves" into the search bar. There were several references to Pence caving on Obamacare but already there were countless references to Pence caving just minutes earlier.

It seems that Mike Pence pays close attention to the hucksters who pedal their silver on Fox News. Sound investment. 30 pieces goes a long way these days, huh governor?

Friday, March 27, 2015

The Record Of President Obama



The Record Of President Obama

It is difficult to objectively speak about President Obama's record in large part because Obama and his inner circle have no capacity for objectivity. If every criticism, no matter how minor or how gentle or how legitimate is met with a counter charge of racism, civil discourse will not flourish.

Let's put the ACA, Dodd-Frank, the merits and demerits of deficits, Middle East Policy--all the left brain stuff—let's just put it aside for now. President Obama's most sensational achievement, for lack of a better term, is his elimination of civil discourse. We might take it a step further and say that Barack Obama destroyed civility.

Barack Obama is the most divisive figure in the history of America. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with playing the race card, a personal attack on the accused.

How would you objectively assess Sarah Palin's record as governor of Alaska? It is a conversation we cannot and will not conduct. You see her as an object of the hate and ridicule deserving of all vocal heretics. I see her as a victim of religious bigotry.

The ghost of Saul Alinsky hovers above us as a toxic cloud. The loyalists in the media have protected Obama to the degree that we don't know much about his philosophical influences except for Saul Alinsky and a mysterious man named Frank. Let's put Mr. Davis aside briefly and discuss Alinsky.

Saul Alinsky is one of those retched figures whose appeal will always mystify me. He advocated personal attacks over civil discourse as a means of influence. For whatever reason, Barack Obama took Saul Alinsky's methods to heart. For Barack Obama, it is all personal, all the time. There is no exchange of ideas.

What was the undefined change, Barack Obama promised America? It turned out to be unbridled hate, bigotry and intolerance for dissent. Change really has come to America. Change tens of millions of people can believe in.

Barack Obama worked hard to develop a cult of personality, a cult of worship. Part and parcel to his deification is the implicit—and at times explicit—notion that all who oppose Barack Obama are evil. Mysticism is unifying. Reason is divisive. There will be no exchange of ideas unless otherwise specified.

The Tea Party is an informal political movement that originally concerned itself with government overreach and fiscal responsibility. It sprang up after CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli launched into a spontaneous rant about his objection to bailing out reckless borrowers.

There was nothing anti-Obama in the origins of the Tea Party. Most of the early protestors probably expected a warm reception from the new administration. Wouldn't a community organizer be sympathetic to the plight of oppressed peasants? One would think.

The Tea Party would be met with surprising hostility. Obama's media thugs would do their darnedest to assassinate the character of the movement. There was the repeated insinuation of racism. A lot of, “not everyone in the Tea Party is racist but...” Ultimately the press would settle on “extremist” as the slur of choice.
What is key—and this goes to the heart of what has changed in America—is not the specific ideas the Tea Party advanced that threatened Barack Obama. Originally, there was a hodgepodge of disparate resentment being expressed. It was the idea of the idea that threatened Obama. The concept of idea. The premise of idea. There would be no rational discourse. Change had come to America.

Contrast this reaction to Obama's embracing of the obviously AstroTurf Occupy Movement. YouTube offers hours and hours of woefully inarticulate interviews with Occupants who simply cannot express what they were protesting. It was a theater of fuzzy resentment performed by political puppets with trust funds. Intellectually, the movement never rose to the level of an idea. Reason is divisive. Barack Obama voiced his support for these protesters.

We would witness Barack Obama reject discourse whenever there were budget stalemates. Rather than jumping into the fray, the president would take his show on the road. He would conduct pep rallies where he would insult Congress and generally misstate Republican positions.

This was puzzling behavior to many of us. The captain of the ship abandoning the helm and screaming at the crew with a bullhorn from a lifeboat. Those of us who thought we had seen it all were deplorably amazed. This guy will do anything to avoid the exchange of ideas (and anything to bask in the adoration of a crowd.)

There has been a lot of speculation about the ideology of our international man of mystery. Frank Marshall Davis was a card-carrying Communist and young Barry, as he called himself, spewed Marxism as a student at Occidental. He has been called a socialist but his indentation is more suggestive of fascism, which is to say, socialism with loopholes. But the ism that best defines Barack Obama is authoritarianism.

The authoritarian manner in which President Obama pushed his agenda will forever eclipse his legacy. Good or bad, the Obama agenda has never been a mandate from the voters. The administration preferred to use executive order or bureaucratic fiat or the courts to impose its will. Even when the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress, they operated in secrecy. One of the most enduring quotes of the Obama era is Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi's instructions about the Affordable Care Act. “We have to pass the bill to find out what's in it.”

That is not how the system is supposed to work. Something I did not know until well into adulthood is that our Congressmen do not usually read the bills they pass. A 2,700 page bill that was voted on roughly two days after its final draft took shape was probably not read by a single legislator. It's not even certain who wrote the gargantuan document, although a few wonks have come out of the shadows to claim their input.

It is unlikely the president read this leviathan prior to signing it into law. To make matters more confusing, the bill was written with provisions to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to modify the law. The cherry on top was the president himself using unilateral power to delay implementation and to grant waivers as he saw fit. The ACA did not provide funds for one more doctor, nurse, hospital or medical school but it did call for additional IRS agents to collect all the new taxes and fees.

Every bit as Byzantine is the 3,000 page Dodd-Frank bill that was passed in the guise of financial reform. Its impact has yet to be fully felt. It may or may not improve our economy but it will certainly increase the power of political appointees.
The defining characteristic, the trademark of the Obama Administration is the near doubling of our national debt. I hold the strong conviction that debt does indeed matter. If it does not matter, why should anyone ever be required to pay a penny of taxation? We all know the answer to that question. Debt matters greatly!

I admit my bias as a fiscal conservative. Having stated that, I also hold the belief that “stimulus funds” are not all of the same merit. Some spending is simply more prudent than other spending.

The most depressing aspect of reckless spending is that we have nothing to show for it. At over $7 trillion, we could have repaired every bridge and roadway and everything else that was said to be crumbling when Bush was in office but is not often mentioned with Obama in office. We could have the world's best passenger rail system. We could have colonies on the Moon. At $200,000 per home (slightly higher than the median price) we could have built 35, 000,000 houses. Full employment, no more homeless shelters, no more homeless people, real estate surplus.

So what do we have to show for our $7 trillion debt (the actual expenditures exceeded $20 trillion)? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

The administration has probably raised tax rates beyond the optimum rate of return. Should we decrease corporate and individual tax rates, we would probably have more government revenue, not less. Nonetheless, the Obama Administration will never advocate for a decreased tax burden. They lust at every oportunity to punish successful people.

The good news about the economy is that America is undergoing an energy renaissance. Hydraulic fracturing is producing an abundance, possibly even a surfeit, of oil and natural gas. The bad news is that the Obama Administration has been openly hostile to fossil fuel production. The degree of resistance with which the Obama Administration opposes oil, coal and natural gas will largely determine the prognosis for America's economic revival.

On foreign policy President Obama often appears dwarfed by circumstance. He reminds one of a college sophomore who returns for Thanksgiving to pronounce old friends, family and everyone in his hometown hopelessly unenlightened. Suddenly, the college sophomore is thrust upon the world stage, advising Israel on the location of their borders, drawing a red line in Syria, leading from behind in Libya, making tsk tsk sounds at the Kremlin, offering encouragement to the Muslim Brotherhood, writing off ISIS as a JV team, calling ISIS, “ISIL”, and upgrading them to varsity status, candidly admitting that we have no strategy for dealing with ISIS and ultimately...he looks like a college sophomore thrust upon the world stage.

We cannot summarize the Obama years without commenting on the Zeitgeist. Barack Obama is a cult leader. He asks and receives unending loyalty from his minions. The citizens of his country who are not blindly faithful are treated as infidels. They are treated with scorn and ridicule, hostility and intimidation. We have witnessed IRS intimidation, DOJ intimidation, fraudulent warrants used to silence reporters, and domestic spying on a scale Stasi could only dream of.

Barack Obama makes every political discussion personal. In so doing, he has spread rancor far and wide. He has split families and ruined friendships. Barack Obama has defiled the spirit of America. It could take a long time for that to be restored.