Big Dogs Weblog

Obama’s Plan; Wishful Thinking

by Big Dog on May 7, 2008 at 08:41 Political

Throughout this never ending campaign season Barry Obama has trumpeted to the masses that he is different than the others. He has told us that he is a DC outsider and that he has the vision for America that is not clouded by politics as usual. This, of course, is a crock of excrement and one only needs to look at his career to see that politics as usual played a big part in how he was elected in Illinois and how he eventually got a seat in the elite club known as the US Senate.

After the primaries yesterday Obama put out a press release (I know it was his campaign but they speak for him) which stated that Rush Limbaugh had encouraged people to vote for Clinton because he wanted her to win and that Republicans were scared of Obama. The underlying theme is that she only won by 2% with all of Limbaugh’s “help.”

The first thing to address is this idea that Republicans want Hillary to win because she will be easier to beat and that Limbaugh leads that charge. The idea behind Operation Chaos is to keep Hillary close enough so that the Democratic primary continues to its convention. While Hillary might be easier to beat (polls differ on this on any given day) the sole intent is to keep this circus going. If Hillary loses and drops out it will give Obama more time to fight the Republican. By keeping this close we take that option away and allow Democrats to damage each other. Fear of one or the other has nothing to do with wanting Hillary to stay in the race.

In the overall scheme of things there is no need to fear any president because a president has limited power. The real damage to this country is done by the Congress. Congress does not have term limits so people get elected and they stay there a long time and they stagnate. They introduce and pass unconstitutional legislation and they spend our money recklessly. Congress is the reason this country is in bad shape. For those of you who oppose the war, Congress gave the authorization for it. Blame Congress for giving the President permission. A President Obama or Clinton would do little harm if there were a small Democratic majority or a Republican majority. Even as the minority, Republicans can block judicial and other nominations. We can obstruct any president as the Democrats have done to George Bush during the last seven plus years. Congress is the root of all evil but can place a president in check.

Ideally, we need to replace ALL the members of the House and every Senator who is up for reelection. Barring that, we need to have a divided government with gridlock. The less they are able to accomplish the less damage they can inflict. Now, back to the memo.

While the memo is long on Limbaugh it also contains other items of interest. There is a statement that the Obama camp expected Hillary to win Indiana “where she has the support of Senator Evan Bayh’s political operation and the demographics heavily favor her.” I can just imagine how the cries of racism would have sounded had Bill Clinton stated that they expected Obama to win North Carolina because the Demographics heavily favored him. There is no doubt in my mind that black voters and the race baiters who speak for them would claim that the statement was racist and did not belong in the campaign. I don’t see the statement as racist and feel that either is a statement of fact but I think it would be viewed differently by the black community had Bill said it. The question that the statement begs is, if the demographics heavily favored her how will Obama overcome them in the general election given that only 12% or so of the population is of a Demographic that has supported him at a 90% level. There is little support left given those numbers. Anyone who thinks this campaign is not about race has not paid attention to who is voting for Obama. Many blacks are voting for him because he is black. That means it is about his race.

The last part of the memo that I found interesting (it is full of distortions typical of a politician) is this:

But leaving that aside, this simply isn’t the kind of tactic that Democratic voters and superdelegates want to say. As President Clinton himself said a couple of years ago, “if one candidate’s appealing to your fears and the other one’s appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.” Lynn Sweet

The first thing is that Obama has been repudiating Clinton and the politics of the past and has put some of the blame for where our country stands on the former president. I find it odd Obama would use Clinton’s words to make his case for a fresh start when he continues to link him with the past. I also know that hope is not proper mission planning. People can hope for many things and often it is an expression of wishful thinking as in I hope gas prices go down or that it does not rain. It is not prudent to hope for things, it is prudent to plan for them. Obama talks a lot about hope and he talks a lot about change but he does not talk about plans. He has no plans that extend beyond taxing people. He has nothing more than “I bring you hope [wishful thinking].” People don’t want hope, they want well defined leadership and Obama does not fit that bill.

People who live their lives based upon hope will fall for anything and follow anyone.

Enter Barack Obama…

Tags: Clinton, indiana, memo, north carolina, Obama, Rush Limbaugh, typical politician