Our Changing Globe » president

Which Candidate Got Most Money From Wall Street?

Michael Redbourn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:09:42 +0000

Wall Street pays big to influence Washington – CNN Political Ticker …

politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com1/31/12

Washington (CNNMoney) — Financial industry spending to influence Washington topped $150 million for the second year in a row, with emphasis shifting to regulators of the Dodd-Frank reform law, according to watchdog …

Charts: Wall Street Blows All Other Political Donors Away | Mother …

motherjones.com1/26/12

Wall Street's outsized political influence is no secret, but some new data shows just how much it's ballooned. According to the Sunlight Foundation, campaign spending by elite donors from the finance, insurance, and real …

He got more money from Wall Street than any candidate in the history of U.S. politics!

How can Obama side with Occupy Wall Street protesters when took more money from Wall Street than any candidate in the history of U.S. politics?

It seems like the media and many OWS protesters conveniently forget that Larry Summers was instrumental in the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which removed the final Glass Steagall regulations on banks, securities firms, and insurance companies, as well as the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 which deregulated financial derivatives at the very heart of the crisis.

Obama’s response?

Obama made him his Director of the National Economic Council!

As for campaign contributions, Obama’s second largest benefactor in 2008 was Goldman Sachs.

And numbers six and seven were JPMorgan and Citigroup.

In total, the various financial services industries donated a combined $30 million to his campaign.

John McCain received $21 million.

Obama Win Will Be Difficult In 2012

Michael Redbourn — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:26:13 +0000

Shaw's Blog: Gallup Poll–Battleground State Nightmare for Obama

shawsblog2011.blogspot.com2/1/12

fox nation Today, Gallup released their aggregate state approvals for President Obama over the entirety of 2011. His drop relative to his 2009 standing is especially stark in battleground states. Here are some of the …

Webutante: Battleground States Show Sharp Decline For Obama

webutante07.blogspot.com2/1/12

Battleground States Show Sharp Decline For Obama. AS MITT ROMNEY MOPS UP IN FLORIDA TONIGHT, many of my fellow conservative commenters diss and whine about Romney's conservative qualifications, his …

The following data is from all of 2011, and 2012 is not looking any better.

The Good News For Obama

His political standing is in reasonable but not good shape in traditionally Democratic Midwestern battlegrounds such as Wisconsin and Michigan and the more Republican heartland state of Iowa where his rating is 46 approval/46 disapproval.

And his numbers in Virginia are better than those in other battleground states 45% approve, 49% disapprove.

His numbers in North Carolina 44/49 approve/disapprove and Florida 44/48 approve/disapprove and even in Georgia 45/48 approve/disapprove aren’t good, but given his overall numbers, they aren’t that bad either.

The Bad News For Obama

His job approval ratings in the other battleground states are solidly underwater however, and in many states, they are much worse than publicly perceived, mostly because of White House spin.

In Colorado, which is seen as a gateway to aggressively contesting the Southwest, Obama scored a net -12 job approval 40/52 throughout the year.

In Nevada, also seen as a major bellwether, Obama has a 41% approval rating, with 50% of respondents disapproving.

In the critical battleground state of Ohio, 50% of voters disapprove of his performance, with only 42% approving.

And in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, Obam’s job approval is underwater, with 45% approving and 48% disapproving.

More Bad News

New Mexico is seen as a Democratic-leaning state because of its voting history and its significant Hispanic population.

But Obama’s performance there, 42% favorable, 51% unfavorable, isn’t much different than his weak standing in the other Southwestern battlegrounds.

The Obama campaign argues that it has an outside shot at contesting Arizona, but his approval rating is at 40%, with 52% disapproving.

In New Hampshire, a state that John Kerry carried in 2004, Obama’s job approval is at 39%, with 54% disapproving, and it’s a state that with Romney heading the GOP ticket, is starting to look more and more out of reach.

So What Does Obama Have To Do To Win?

Based on the above numbers, the most plausible path for the president’s re-election runs through Virginia, Florida and Iowa, which isn’t a scenario that Team Obama drew up in its spin sessions, but if the polls are to be believed, then it’s likely the only way to go.

Do Liberals Finally Understand Obama Was A Huge Mistake?

Michael Redbourn — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:12:28 +0000

Obama Rejected Numerous Proposals to Retrieve Lost U.S. Drone …

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com12/9/11

Apart from the obvious — Islamic Iran, China and Russia now have state-of-the-art stealth technology and we lose a killer app in the war against the enemies of freedom, the most troubling aspect of this story is that Obama had a window of opportunity to retrieve the critical intelligence gathering drone and rejected it. He left it there for the murdering mullahs. With early knowledge that the aircraft had likely remained intact, the senior U.S. official also told Fox News that …

Gay donors fuel Obama's 2012 bid – Catholic Citizens

www.catholiccitizens.org12/10/11

The left-leaning super-rich, including George Soros, see Obama as hopelessly compromised and have lost their enthusiasm for him. Some Wall Street and hedge fund executives, tired of being criticized and regulated, have …

It’s somewhat hard to believe that this conversation took place on an MSNBC panel.

And I’m somewhat stunned by it!

On Morning Joe, a consensus emerged that Barack Obama doesn’t believe he has failed America, but rather that America has failed him.

Joe Scarborough encapsulated, saying,

"Obama sees our version of democracy as a stumbling block to his greatness".

More quotes:

"He believes that the country is not commensurate with his gifts".

"He thinks this country has an 18th constitutional republic that needs significant updating".

"He sees elected leaders from across the country as a stumbling block".

"And he sees democracy as …".

"He sees this government as a stumbling block that’s getting in the way of his greatness!".

I never thought I’d say it but,

"If this was on Morning Jow, then it must be true".

Does this video signify the end of the leftist MSM’s support for Obama?

That Obama was coming from the extreme left was never in doubt because he was a member of the New Party (communist) just twelve years before he was elected.

And he didn’t quit his prominent role; the courts shut the New Party down!

Did the MSM believe that he would be less left than his past portrayed?

Who knows, but let’s hope that they now understand and continue to downgrade him.

He has to go and maybe now there is a uniformity or opinion on it!?

Pro Israel? Anti-Israel? Please watch this video

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:54:52 +0000

Israel – Light onto Nations: Growing forests in the desert

israel-lightontonations.blogspot.com11/30/11

Once the trees are mature, it's possible that they could become a renewable source of biofuel to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This is another area of great interest to Israel and just about every other country on the planet …

Technion LIVE: Cornell – Technion – Together in Vision

www.technioniit.com12/3/11

During his visit, he planted a now-famous first palm tree that still stands in front of the old Technion building in Hadar. … Its graduates helped to build the county's infrastructure and started the high-tech industries that today make Israel a modern country with the greatest concentration of high-tech startup companies anywhere outside of Silicon Valley. More than 70 percent …. Israel's 10th Nobel laureate on his way to Stockho. … Technion Nanocrystals for Solar Power …

I recently received a link to the following video and thought it well worth posting.

Please note that it was made 6 years ago.

Israel is certainly no angel, and both its politicians and its army make their fair share of mistakes.

But regardless of whether you’re pro or anti Israel, you’ve surely got to admire its upside and wish that other countries could or would achieve the same positive results.

Please post your comments, and if they don’t flame or use abusive and/or hateful language, then they’ll be approved.

Is President Obama Earning His Salary?

Michael Redbourn — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:39:19 +0000

Barack Obama Vacations In Martha's Vinyard While Job Crisis, Debt …

www.huffingtonpost.com8/17/11

WASHINGTON — Is there ever really a good time for the president to go on vacation? President Barack Obama's summer getaway to Martha's Vineyard has reignited a seemingly annual debate.

Town Hall Patriots: Michelle Obama Vacations – While America …

thpatriots.blogspot.com11/14/11

"Everybody's going to have to give a little bit. … If you're a family trying to cut back, you might skip going out to dinner, you might put off a vacation." President Barack Obama Barack Obama has been President over …

A great many people are now asking what President Obama, his family and his political supporters are getting paid for.

Their Vacations?

His Reelection?

To Fulfill His ideology?

Or What?

And now Gov. Chris Christie wants to know what Obama is being paid for!

"I was angry this weekend, listening to the spin coming out of the administration, about the failure of the super-committee".

"The president knew it was doomed for failure, so he didn’t get involved".

"Well, then what the hell are we paying you for?

"It’s doomed for failure, so I’m not getting involved?".

"Well, what have you been doing, exactly?".

It’s been a slow steady decline, but President Barack Obama‘s job approval rating has finally dipped below Jimmy Carter’s, earning Obama the worst approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern history.

Gallup’s daily presidential job approval index puts the current president‘s job approval rating at 43% compared to Carter’s 51%.

And US News adds:

Back in 1979, Carter was far below Obama until the Iran hostage crisis; something that is being eerily duplicated in Tehran today with Iranian protesters storming the British embassy.

The early days of the crisis helped Carter’s ratings, though his failure to win the release of captured Americans, coupled with a bad economy, led to his defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1980.

According to Gallup, these are the job approval numbers for other presidents at this stage of their terms, a year before the re-election campaign:

– Harry S. Truman: 54%.

– Dwight Eisenhower: 78%.

– Lyndon B. Johnson: 44%.

– Richard M. Nixon: 50%.

– Ronald Reagan: 54%.

– George H.W. Bush: 52%.

– Bill Clinton: 51%.

– George W. Bush: 55%.

And to make matters worse for Obama, Gallup reports that his overall job approval rating ranks among the worst in American political history, averaging 49%.

And only three former presidents have had a worse average rating at this stage:

Carter, Ford, and Harry S. Truman.

More Than Eighty Reasons Why Obama Shouldn’t Be Reelected!

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:51:35 +0000

Daily Kos: What I said to Joe Biden and the Obama re-election …

www.dailykos.com11/19/11

In the past two days I have received emails from Joe Biden and Jim Messina of the Obama re-election committee asking me to contribute and become active in the re-election effort. I support President Obama (in 2008 and will …

Mitt Romney: Nuclear Iran Would Be Consequence Of Obama Re …

www.huffingtonpost.com11/13/11

Mitt Romney: Nuclear Iran Would Be Consequence Of Obama Re-Election. Romney Obama. KASIE HUNT 11/12/11 11:54 PM ET Associated Press AP. React. Important Funny Typical Scary Outrageous Amazing Innovative Finally. Follow …

More Than 80 Reasons to Elect a New President Worthy of a Great Nation: Not the Abomination of an Obama Nation

With very rare exceptions, everything on this site was written by me; but this one was too good not to promote.

Courtesy of www.rabbidov.com

(Based on an Idea and Initiative, and Built off a List, Launched by KRLA Radio Talk Show Host and Constitutional Law Professor Hugh Hewitt)

1. Obamacare – Attempting to federalize local state rights, extending federal control over massive components of the national bourse, extending federal control over individuals’ lives in violation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. Cynically lining up supporters in white doctors’ robes, while refusing to consult with much more prominent and predominant medical groups who oppose. Lying about the program’s cost and tax burden by subterfuging it with exorbitant taxes that begin several years into its anticipated roll-out. Robbing $500 billion from Medicare that will destroy access for seniors, while lying about the Ryan proposal that would not affect people over 55.

2. The catastrophic $850 billion stimulus. $700,000 to develop a robot that tells jokes. $3.4 million for an underground tunnel for turtles to cross the road in Florida. $1 million to help smokers kick the habit by giving them Blackberry "smartphones." $2.6 million for Chinese prostitutes in China to drink responsibly. Lying to Americans by claiming the money was going to "shovel-ready jobs" — and then joking about the falsehood. Lying by hiding the amounts transferred to favored liberal projects unrelated to job growth or economic stimulation.

3. Chronically high, persistent unemployment – His own staff said that he would bring it under 8% ; yet it remains over 9% thirty months into his one term, with real unemployment actually exceeding 15% as huge numbers of unemployed Americans withdraw from searching hopelessly for jobs. Lying about a Summer of Recovery (2010).

4. Gas prices – Now exceeding $4.50 a gallon in California, while he bars exploration in ANWR, restricts licenses to explore along the Atlantic coast or in the Gulf, but exports American dollars to help Brazil explore for oil in the Gulf even as Obama promises that America then will buy that oil from Brazil. (See also #82.)

5. Failure to pass a budget. The abject failure by the Chief Executive to get any kind of budget adopted for 2010.

6. Multi-trillion debt free-fall. Turning the disastrous Bush deficits into a multi-trillion-dollar economic free-fall, now leaving the nation with a debt exceeding $14.3 trillion . . . and pressing for authorization to increase the free-fall. His own latest mad deficit proposal was demolished in a House vote 97-318, as his own Democrats abandoned him in droves.

7. The seizure of GM and Chrysler. The illegal transfer of bondholder wealth to unions, imposing his views on parts of the American auto industry, artificially trying to jump-start his favored companies with "Cash for Clunkers," only to find that American tax dollars were used instead by people buying preferred Japanese cars to acquire them cheaper while being forced to destroy throughly sound used cars.

8. Dodd-Frank.

9. Unremitting hostility to Israel. Destroying the Mideast process by imposing unilateral burdens on Israel, forcing Israel to cease construction of Jewish homes, even in Jerusalem, thus compelling Abbas to harden several positions, all while publicly snubbing Prime Minister Netanyahu in the basement of the White House (the first visit) and trying to snub him on the second visit with a horrible policy speech as Netanyahu was flying en route to America.

10. Failure to support Iran‘s Green Revolution. A complete silence and abandonment of leadership when Iranians risked their lives for freedom, while backing the Moslem Brotherhood uprising in Egypt.

11. Failure to support the Syrian people’s revolution against Assad. Utter failure to lead until it was impossible to overlook the massacres by a dictator who actively finances and supports Iran and Hezbollah, America’s sworn enemies in Iraq and South Lebanon.

12. The Libyan Fiasco. Entering Libya while failing to consult Congress. No sense of whether we are supporting people just as bad as Qaddafi. Remaining in the war more than 90 days without obtaining Congressional approval. Lying about violating the War Powers Act by claiming there are no "hostilities" in Libya.

13. The Gulf oil disaster. Bumbling in handling the Gulf oil disaster – refusing aid from countries with oil-cleaning vessels, failing to accept offers of boom to corral the spill, bringing in underwater filmmaker James Cameron as an expert.

14. Closing down oil exploration. The unnecessary moritorium on permitting oil exploration in the aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster, contributing to a massive explosion of oil prices, even leading a federal court to overturn him.

15. EPA interference. The shutdown of Shell’s Arctic oil exploration by EPA

16. Cap-and-Trade Fiasco. The push in Congress for a disastrous "cap-and-trade" plan that would stymie the coal, electric, and natural gas industries, while enormously raising Americans’ home fuel prices, leading even his own party’s U.S. Senator from West Virginia to film a TV promise to voters that he will shoot the proposal full of holes.

17. Use of federal agencies to bypass Congressional oversight. The attempt, after Congress refused to adopt his cap-and-trade nonsense, to bypass Congressional opposition and impose cap-and-trade undemocratically via the EPA.

18. Use of FCC initially to restrict free speech. The push for unconstitutional restrictions on free speech on his political enemies on Talk Radio while assuring protections for unions to spend money on campaigns via The Disclose Act.

19. The Disclose Act and cherry-picking. The attempt to unconstitutionally impose The Disclose Act on his political opponents but not unions via Executive Order.

20. Czars to bypass Congressional oversight. The use of unaccountable "czars" who effectively run huge segments of the American Government without being accountable to Congress and who are protected from Congressional subpoena power.

21. Boorish shaming of Supreme Court justices. The embarrassing and arrogant verbal assault on the Supreme Court while Court Justices courteously attended the first State of the Unionaddress, sitting in front of him, leading most to boycott the subsequent State of Union addresses.

22. Boorish attempt to shame Paul Ryan. The similarly embarrassing and arrogant verbal assault on Rep. Paul Ryan when addressing the federal budget, with Ryan having been invited personally by Obama to attend the speech and sit in front of him.

23. Boorish attempt to shame John McCain. The insulting, embarrassing, and arrogant gloating at John McCain during the televised sham negotiation over Obamacare, when he responded to McCain not substantively but by saying that Obama had won and McCain had lost the election — so there!

24. Refusal to prosecute Black Panthers for Voter Intimidation. Obama’s and Attorney-General Eric Holder’s politicization of the Department of Justice, including refusing to prosecute the Black Panther voter-intimidation case in Philadelphia.

25. Marriage Act. Obama’s and Holder’s refusal to defend the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, an act of Congress.

26. Lies, Lies, Lies. The regular use of straw-man demonizations to try winning support for his unpopular legislation, like accusing doctors of performing unnecessary surgery so that they can enrich themselves by imposing misery on their patients.

27. Throwing his grandmother under the bus. Using his grandmother as a foil to win points, calling her a racist like "typical white people."

28. Bowing to the Saudi King and the Japanese emperor. Literally.

29. Treating our British alliance contemptuously. Shamefully returning to Great Britain the bust of Winston Churchill that they had given us and that had reposed in the White House, while insulting the Queen and the Prime Minister with inane gifts like DVDs. The subsequent fiasco while toasting the Queen, continuing to talk during the playing of the British National Anthem.

30. Violating and abrogating long-standing promises to our allies. Removing the missile shield from Poland and the Czech Republic to placate Putin.

31. Standing with the aspiring Honduran dictator. Backing the would-be dictator of Honduras when that nation’s duly convoked Supreme Court had removed him from office in careful compliance with law.

32. FTAs with allies. Failure to push for quick ratification of free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea.

33. Amateurish handling of Afghanistan military effort. The painfully over-extended indecision, for months, whether to authorize a military surge into Afghanistan, then exacerbating the indecision by announcing to our enemies a date-certain withdrawal timeline — a time coordinated with his reelection bid.

34. Incoherence on how to handle the anti-Mubarak uprising in Egypt. Having Frank Wisner despatched as his emissary, and then rejecting Wizner’s advice.

35. Radicalizing the NLRB outside Congressional purview. Appointing [Harold] Craig Becker, a radical unionist, to the NLRB through a recess appointment that otherwise never would have passed Congress.

36. Radicalizing FCC outside Congressional purview. Appointing FCC commissioners who are pursuing "net neutrality" without Congressional authorization.

37. Ecology gone wild in California. Wiping out much of the agricultural economy of California’s Central Valley by restricting full water deliveries to protect a small Delta Smelt fish

38. Gitmo debacles. Promising to close the Guantanamo Bay facility that interns terrorists, trying to close it, failing to close it, refusing to concede his error or assure that "Gitmo" will remain open.

39. Civil trials for terrorists debacles. Promising to move terrorist trials to civilian courts, then trying to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed in Downtown New York, only to be opposed even by the two ultra-liberal Democrat U.S. Senators of New York, then pressing to try another terrorist, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, in civilian court, resulting in the terrorist being acquitted on 284 of 285 counts.

40. Napolitano out of touch. The shameful failure of Obama’s Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano, to appreciate the Obama Administration’s security failures in the face of the near-catastrophe of the "underwear bomber" in the skies over Detroit, as she insisted "the system worked."

41. Student loans. Government takeover of the student loan program

42. Border security. Cancellation of the "virtual border fence" project with no replacement, while deploying National Guard troops to do paper work at desk jobs and provide office assistance rather than stand armed along the border.

43. The "Beer Summit." In the aftermath of wrongly castigating and erroneously pre-judging fault regarding the Cambridge Police Department, tying up the country with a foolish spectacle on the White House lawn.

44. Immigration and Arizona. The Department of Justice’s attack on Arizona for that state’s exercise of its sovereign legislative authority on the issue of citizen identification rules. Failure of his own federal government to execute the law on immigration.

45. The attack on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Attacking the Wisconsin governor and his state legislature for exercising their sovereign legislative authority on public employment issues, while Obama failed to acknowledge that the new Wisconsin rules are comparable to those that always have applied to federal employees.

46. Lying to McCain on their deal over campaign fundraising. Violating his pledge to John McCain to abide by McCain-Feingold limits for funding his Presidential campaign.

47. Downplaying American exceptionalism. Apology tours.

48. Implying that the Minnesota bridge collapse was the result of lack of infrastructure funding

49. Chicago Olympics fiasco. Shamefully inserting himself into a botched campaign to bring Olympic Games to Chicago, thereby exposing the Presidency of the United States to ridicule and formal rejection, and demonstrating early-on his overconfident sense of himself and his unpreparedness for the seriousness of his office.

50. Hypocritical attack on D.C. public school voucher effort. The attack on a voucher program for Washington, D.C. schools, even as his own children are protected from the educational failures that curse the Washington populace.

51. Associating with the murky. Associations with convicted unrepentant domestic terrorists and eccentric haters of America: the Reverend Wright, William Ayres, Van Jones.

52. Anita Dunn. Her war against Fox News and her boastfulness that the Obama White House has the "courage to speak truth to Power" — when it is the White House, not a cable TV station, that is "Power"; and her speech to schoolchildren, as a White House representative, sharing with the young and impressionable her idolization and admiration of mass-murderer Mao Tse-Tung.

53. ACORN.

54. SEIU. Having Andrew Stern, President of SEIU, as the man who has visited the White House more than any other person during the Obama term.

55. Teleprompters / White House for Dummies. A reliance on teleprompters to protect him from stumbling and bumbling speeches when, without scripting, he has spoken of his visits to America’s "57 states," has denigrated the handicapped, could not pronounce "corpsman," moronically said that Austrians speak "Austrian," referred to deceased war heroes adding that many were in the audience he was addressing, and has made more gaffes than Dan Quayle.

56. Arrogance and Haughtiness. An extreme level of personal nose-in-the-air arrogance and lack of graciousness, from physical comportment to the way he addresses others. The Roman columns. The arrogant temerity to tell Americans, God-like, that history will record his coronation as the moment that the rivers stopped rising and the planet healed.

57. Chicago Corruption. The house he corruptly acquired through Tony Rezko.

58. The artificial shifting dialects. Affecting an artificial accent when speaking to unions, and to others with whom he allies in his "class wars," that belies his having grown up in Hawaii, reared by a Caucasian grandmother, his having spent years being schooled in Indonesia, and later attending school at Occidental College in California, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School.

59. Lack of transparency. Refusing to share his academic records or the sources through which he paid for private college and law school, despite his pre-election calls for transparency.

60. Failure to lead on immigration. Not confronting the immigration issue when he dominantly controlled both the House and a filibuster-proof Senate, then mocking the GOP on immigration, saying they would not be happy with "alligators and moats" — when all they want is secure borders.

61. Fiscal irresponsibility on foreign relations with Egypt. Forgiving billions of dollars in Egyptian and related Mideast debt when we are past the 14.3 trillion debt line.

62. Wasting billions on corrupt "Palestine" agencies. Pumping billions more into the discredited United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Authority that merged with the terrorist Hamas.

63. Radical judicial appointments. Nominating a radical leftist, Professor Goodwin Liu, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit despite Liu’s contempt for constitutional imperatives towards limited government.

64. Acceding to political bribery by cherry-picking waivers to Obamacare for favored donors. Forcing Obamacare down the throats of small businesses across America that cannot afford it . . . then approving politically correct and electoral pay-off waivers for his friends, donors, and rich boutique businesses. Granting 20% of all the country’s Obamacare waivers in Pelosi’s San Francisco district. Buying off votes from Ben Nelson of Nebraska (the Cornhusker Deal), Mary Landrieu (the Louisiana Purchase) to pass Obamacare.

65. Using the White House to crush political opposition. Trying to force donors to his political opponents to reveal their contributions. Using the White House official website asking supporters to report to the Government instances of people criticizing Government policies.

66. Attempting to crush media opposition. Punishing a Boston newspaper whose editorial attacked him, having his White House conduct a war against Fox News, claiming they are an entertainment, not a news organization, and then boycotting Fox until that strategy backfired.

67. Encouraging cultural decline. Inviting "Common," a "poet" with disgusting lyrics of hate, to entertain at the White House

68. The Louis XVI Factor. Vacations and high-profile golf during the Gulf oil crisis, prompting even Democrat strategist and Presidential advisor James Carville to erupt in fury. More high-profile golf at Cape Cod while the country was losing its AAA credit rating for the first time.

69. The Marie Antoinette Factor. Michelle high-profile huge trips abroad, a la Eva Peron, with family friends and their children partying on the public payroll, at 5-star hotels in places like Spain.

70. Al Sharpton. Launching his national presidential reelection campaign with a speech to Al Sharpton’s base.

71. Secrecy in Legislation. Failing to honor his pledge to conduct transparent governance, crafting Obamacare with Democrats behind closed doors barred to Republicans, leaving Obamacare as a massive document so convoluted that Nancy Pelosi had to tell the media: "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

72. A philosophy of redistributing other people’s money. Trying to persuade "Joe the Plumber" that it is a beneficial national economic goal to "redistribute the wealth."

73. Cynically blaming Republicans and Talk Radio for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Blaming their rhetoric, while failing to address Democrat use of vile and violent language to describe Republicans and the Tea Party.

74. Lying about a family connection to the Holocaust. Lying and falsely telling Americans that his grandfather was among those who liberated Auschwitz when, in fact, no American troops liberated Auschwitz.

75. Failing to grasp the Israel narrative. Describing Israel’s right to exist as premised on the Holocaust, thus missing the entire point of a Jewish country built on the land where Jews have lived since Biblical times.

76. Lying about a family connection to the Civil Rights movement. Telling Americans that his birth happened because his parents became amorous as a result of the 1965 Selma Civil Rights March — even though he was born in 1961.

77. Collapse of the housing market. American housing prices lowest since 2002.

78. Manipulating legislation by forcing votes on massive documents. Racing massive thousand-page legislation packages through Congress without allowing Congress or the American People time to read, comprehend, and absorb the bill — and thus breaking a major campaign promise.

79. The Credit Rating downgrade. Presiding over the first credit-rating downgrade in American history.

80. Timing military campaigns to coincide with election campaigns. Manipulating and sacrificing the lives of American soldiers, basing a withdrawal from Afghanistan not on strategic national security considerations but timed instead to coincide with the start of the 2012 Democrat Presidential Convention.

81. NLRB. Stacking the National Labor Relations Board with left-focused political hacks who are attempting to prevent America’s leading exporter, Boeing, from building a $1 billion manufacturing plant in South Carolina because that state permits employment of non-union labor.

82. Cynically manipulating the national Strategic Oil Reserve. Releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to obtain the temporary political goal of lowering gasoline prices that have skyrocketed in the face of his severe restrictions on permitting exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, along the Atlantic coast, and in Alaska in his obsessive pursuit of "green jobs."

83. "Operation Fast and Furious" debacle. Allowing Mexican drug lords to access illegal firearms, then losing track of the firearms while the drug cartels used the illegal firearms for crime including murdering Americans.

84. Lying, lying, and more lying to voters. Trying to create class warfare by telling people that Republicans’ refusal to raise taxes will cause youngsters to be unable to finance their college educations, while causing seniors to lose health care and social security payments. Failing to admit honestly that Congress extended the Bush tax cuts and refused to increase taxes even when Democrats had a filibuster-proof Senate and veto-proof control of both Congressional chambers.

85. Investigating CIA patriots. The Holder investigation into CIA operatives’ interrogations of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists and their use of methods that had been approved in advance by the Justice Department.

If there’s anything that you believe should be added to the list, then please post a response.

And please post why you think any sane person would vote to have Obama reelected.

Will Youths Blacks And Hispanics Desert Obama?

Michael Redbourn — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:32:38 +0000

Early Jobs Projections Could Haunt Obama in 2012 – NYTimes.com

thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com11/4/11

Friday's tepid jobs report brings a fresh reminder of the stubborn difficulty President Obama and his team face in overcoming the argument that his administration has failed to address unemployment.

Droves Of Democrats Balking On Obama 2012 | Politicons

politicons.net11/14/11

Radioactive Obama… Politico has a piece highlighting the droves of Democrats that are refusing to back Obama in 2012. …

Just one year from the 2012 election and President Obama is in an extremely perilous political situation.

The poor economy he inherited hasn’t recovered and has most likely worsened.

Published unemployment is stuck above 9% with real unemployment being around 18.5%

Long-term unemployment is at record post-war levels.

The housing sector, where most people’s personal wealth was and is concentrated, remains mired in deep recession.

The scandals surrounding Republican-led investigations into Solyndra and Operation Fast and Furious are deepening.

Obama Had Overwhelming Majorities In Both Houses Of Congress

Although the President had overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress in his first two years, he has only two major legislative achievements to his credit:

The stimulus bill.

And Obamacare.

The stimulus bill is generally perceived as having been worse than a total failure, because it’s perceived as having been motivated more by politics than economics, and because much of the $800 billion was directed towards public service union members and liberal causes; i.e. "green energy", rather than real economic recovery.

Obamacare also remains deeply unpopular with the general public and is headed for the Supreme Court, which could well find its key provision unconstitutional next summer, just as the election gets into high gear.

The Economy And America’s Status

Budget deficits soared during the Obama years, with three trillion-dollar-plus deficits in a row.

And this has caused the national debt to swell to a level that, relative to GDP, has not been seen since the end of World War II and for the first time ever, the United States lost its AAA credit rating, which was a deep embarrassment for the country and also the administration.

Obama’s Ratings

So it shouldn’t be surprising that under these circumstances, that the President’s approval ratings have been in sharp decline, with some of his key supporting groups, including the youth and Hispanic voters to a greater or less degree abandoning him.

Obama’s Re-electability

No recent President was re-elected with unemployment above 7.8%, and that was in 1984, when unemployment was falling rapidly as a major economic boom accelerated.

So What Happened?

How did a man who three years ago won a higher percentage of both the popular and electoral vote than any Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide almost fifty years ago find himself fighting such uphill odds to keep the White House?

The answer to that seems to lie in the somewhat exceptional circumstances that existed during the 2008 election, and Barack Obama’s personality which fitted the times.

In 2008, the American electorate was thoroughly tired of both the Bush administration and the Republican Party, which had lost its majority in Congress in 2006 for the first time in twelve years.

The Republican field of presidential candidates in 2008 was a weak one, with the eventual winner, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, widely perceived as being too old for the job.

So Obama, who was only forty seven years old, seemed in contrast, like a breath of fresh air.

He seemed personable, articulate (nobody had yet focused on his TelePrompTer) and he was the first ever bi-racial candidate for a major-party nomination with any serious chance of winning.

His biggest opposition was Sen. Hillary Clinton, the first woman candidate who also had a serious chance of winning, but she was already well known to the American people, having been First Lady for eight years; and she carried a lot of baggage from her husband’s administration.

Obama, in contrast, was a blank slate and to some extent still is because of the main stream media which is still protecting him.

Obama Hid His Tracks

Obama only served a little over three years in the US Senate, where his record was thin, and he mostly voted "present” rather than take a stand on issues.

Which we can now see was because he didn’t want evidence that could later be used against him.

How Obama Won

The Obama campaign used his lack of Washington experience to the fullest, much like Herman Cain is using his now.

They cultivated an image of a new kind of president, one who would cut through the old Washington merry-go-round of partisan bickering and special-interest pandering.

He would be post-partisan, a President who would throw the special-interest moneychangers out of the temple of the nation’s capital.

Obama’s biggest advantage in the 2008 election however, was that the mainstream media, failed to reveal any of his major negatives, such as having been and active member of the New Party (communist) and promoted all of his seeming positives; simply because it so desperately wanted to see an extreme left-wing, bi-racial candidate elected.

So What Happened To Candidate Obama’s Promises?

Running for President and being President, are two entirely separate matters however, and once in the White House a new Obama emerged, one who was quite different from the post-partisan, special-interest-bashing one.

What metamorphosed, was a hyper-liberal ideologue who attended to his special interests, such as labor unions, as assiduously as any other Washington politician had ever done before.

And what’s more, an arrogance and a rigidity that had not been seen in the candidate before, became increasingly evident, and expressed itself in such things as his State of the Union speech in January 2010, wherein he publicly criticized the Supreme Court, many of whose members were sitting in front of him for one of its decisions, which was totally unprecedented behavior.

Soon Gone Was The Bi-Partisanship

"I won the election”, he bluntly told Rep. Paul Ryan when the latter tried to negotiate regarding Obamacare, and it resulted in his two major pieces of legislation passing with almost no Republican votes in either house.

The Tea Party

What happened next was a groundswell of opposition to the Obama administration’s big spending ways which quickly became known as the Tea Party, and it’s something that Obama naively or arrogantly ignored for too long.

Obama Vainly Ignored The Clear Writing On The Wall

Republican candidates did extremely well in the off-year elections of 2009, winning the governorships in both New Jersey and Virginia with control-the-spending campaigns, and even greater evidence of voters’ dissatisfaction was when Scott Brown, who was a little known Republican, won the special election to fill the Senate seat of Democratic icon Ted Kennedy in deep-blue Massachusetts in January, 2010.

Obama Has Been Slow To Learn

Obama simply made a few token political adjustments, and in November, 2010, a tidal wave election gave decisive control of the House back to the Republicans and added seven Senate seats to their column, with Republicans also winning races for governor and state legislative seats across the width and breadth of the country.

Obama did admit that he had taken a shellacking, but he seems no more willing to change his ways than before because his latest plan to stimulate the economy is little different than his first one, and it has no chance of being enacted.

Can Obama Win Reelection?

Unlikely unless:

The economy turns around.

The Republicans nominate another weak candidate, which is possible.

The Supreme Court upholds Obamacare, or avoids making a decision before the election.

Obama’s biggest problem however seems to be that he’s totally egocentric and believes that his way is the only right way.

It’s highly unlikely that he’ll change, and increasingly likely that he’ll be a one term president, which is something that he said that he’d prefer.

"I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president".

And if that comes to be, then he’ll be able to say that he was right about that too!

What Is Obama’s Vision For America?

Michael Redbourn — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:02:42 +0000

An “Act of War”: Obama’s Destruction of the U.S. Energy Industry …

Kevin Mooney tabulates the damage that the Obama administration is doing to the Gulf economy, and to the energy industry generally: Ten oil rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico since the Obama Administration imposed a …

Publish Date: 08/23/2011 22:10

http://mayrantandrave.com/2011/08/23/an-act-of-war-obamas-destruction-of-the-u-s-energy-industry/

Bob Chapman: Obama's Deliberate Destruction of America …

1 comment to Bob Chapman: Obama's Deliberate Destruction of America. David. October 1, 2011 at 9:41 am · Reply. I am going to have to agree with Chapman. I think the destruction of America has been a deliberate attempt. …

Publish Date: 10/01/2011 6:51

http://sgtreport.com/2011/09/bob-chapman-obamas-deliberate-destruction-of-america/

As promised, the Obama administration fundamentally transformed America!

America is now in serious decline.

Income is lower.

Unemployment is higher.

Jobs are fewer.

Government is much larger.

Federal spending is way up.

America’s global economic status is way down.

The world-view of our country and our economy is in the pits!

And perhaps worse still, hardly anyone sees any sign of economic recovery or improvement.

Let’s look at the Labor Department data on the number of Americans 16 and older unemployed for 52 weeks or more during the five most recent recessions:

1976 750,000

1982 1,600,000

1994 1,200,000

2004 1,100,000

2010 4,300,000

Total government spending averaged about 19% of gross domestic product from 1996 to 2007 and rose to about 21% in 2008 but in the three years of the Obama administration it soared to 25%.

Why Did It Happen?

The Obama administration is focused on its increasing control of health care, propping up labor unions, increasing taxes, and expanding the scope and size of government.

In the first 70 years of the 20th century, American and European economic growth increased together, but then the Europeans shifted toward socialism, and their growth lagged.

And America is rapidly moving toward the European model, and we are starting to see its detrimental impact.

President Obama’s recent spending and tax policy proposals would only make things worse.

He wants to increase the federal deficit by increasing spending and providing some targeted, but short term, payroll tax cuts.

And this is at a time when we need to bring the federal deficit down and fast!

Obama’s Plan

Although Obama’s plan would actually increase the deficit by $447 billion over the next year or two, Obama says his increase will be "paid for", and to do it, he’s proposed a series of permanent tax increases.

But America’s economy is already facing two significant tax increases.

The first will be the end of the Bush tax cuts in December 2012.

And because of ObamaCare, starting in 2013 taxpayers making more than $200,000 will pay an additional 3.8% on investment and interest income.

The Near End Of Giving To Charity?

The new Obama proposals include reduced itemized deductions allowed for any individuals earning more than $200,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples) and included in that proposal, is a government plan that would take some of the money that would have gone to charity and instead funnel it to federal government spending.

The Effect Of Tax Increases

Tax rate increases more often than not bring in reduced tax dollars!

The Cato Institute’s Alan Reynolds demonstrated in his recent Wall Street Journal piece that the 28% tax rate on long-term capital gains brought in $36.9 billion a year from 1987 to 1997, while the current 15% rate in 2004 to 2007 brought in $96.8 billion per year.

Did Obama Change His Tune?

Last December when the president extended the Bush tax cuts, he acknowledged that tax hikes both slow economic growth and deter job creation, something he seems to have forgotten!

The higher taxes on energy producers are particularly discouraging, given the importance of energy to our economic recovery and the administration’s continued clampdown on energy production.

Can It Get Any Worse?

Sadly, "Yes".

In another measure that is counterproductive to economic growth, the Obama plan includes extending benefits for the long-term unemployed, even though studies show that long term employment benefits raise the unemployment rate from 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points.

President Obama has said that:

"Everything in [his new] bill will be paid for", and that it "will not add to the deficit".

But it will be paid for in the future, and the president is effectively saying that we should add some more to the deficit now in return for promises of future spending.

The Bottom Line

None of the administration’s programs bode well for the good or for the future of America or its people.

American Enterprise Institute’s Director of economic policy Kevin Hassett said earlier this month:

"The Obama administration’s position throughout this recovery has been that the U.S. can have the highest corporate tax on earth, a big regulatory crackdown, and a vast expansion of labor-union power and still expect a positive jobs story because of cash-for-clunkers and green jobs. This jobs report indicates how much damage that view has done".

In the end, the newest Obama proposals are proof that his recent centrist posturing was just that, posturing.

The new proposals are a continuation of the old Obama New Party (read communist) policies, and they are policies that sadly have extended the recession, stifled economic growth, and will for some years to come, weaken America!

Poll Suggests Obama’s Reelection Chances Are In Doubt

Michael Redbourn — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:40:10 +0000

Sarah Palin Trails Barack Obama In 2012 Poll By Just Five Points – Huffington Post

Sarah Palin Trails Barack Obama In 2012 Poll By Just Five Points
Huffington Post
According to a new poll, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin trails President Barack Obama by just five points in the 2012 election race. Though Palin has not officially announced her candidacy, the McClatchy-Marist poll shows that 44 percent of …
Poll: Palin Gaining on ObamaChristian Post
Palin now just 5 points behind Obama in new pollCBS News
National Review Online -Alaska Dispatch
all 377 news articles »

Pressure mounts on Obama to drop out of 2012 race – Greeley Gazette

Weekly Blitz

Pressure mounts on Obama to drop out of 2012 race
Greeley Gazette
Several media stories have appeared recently suggesting that Obama could face serious challenges in the 2012 election and one newspaper in Chicago has suggested the President consider not running for re-election. The Chicago Tribune, which previously …
Is Obama an underdog in 2012?Washington Post (blog)
Obama looking better against 'alternative'MiamiHerald.com
The 57th quadrennial United States Presidential Election 2012Weekly Blitz
Patch.com -New York Times (blog)
all 493 news articles »

A just released McClatchy/Marist poll indicates that voters are are strongly questioning President Obama’s re-election chances and a majority thinks he will lose to the eventual Republican nominee in 2012.

With just over a year to go until the general election,

49% of voters say they definitely plan to cast their vote against Obama while only 36% say they will definitely support him.

And perhaps most importantly,

53% of independents plan to vote against the president while only 28% are prepared to support him.

Additionally, most voters think the GOP can win in 2012.

52% think the Republican candidate will defeat the president whilst only 38% think Obama will win.

A significant number of Democrats are also pessimistic about the president’s re-election chances as well.

31% of Democrats think the GOP nominee will win next year.

More From The Poll

In the GOP primary race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry leads the field with 30% support.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney places second with 22%.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann rounds out the top three with just 12%.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul attracts 7%
Newt Gingrich garners 6%.

None of the other candidates received more than 5% and 15% remain undecided.

Perry vs Obama

While Perry leads the Republican pack, he trails Obama by nine points, 50% to 41%.
They split the independent vote, 43% to 43%.

Obama vs Romney

Obama and Romney run virtually neck-and-neck, with the president holding a slim 46% to 44% lead.
Romney leads among independents, 44% to 40%.

Obama vs The Others

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who hasn’t publicly made a decision about a 2012 run, trails the president, 49% to 44%.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, another candidate who isn’t officially in the race, tops the president, 49% to 42%.
And Obama leads Bachmann by double digits, 53% to 40%.

Palin And Giuliani

72% of Republicans don’t want Palin to toss her hat into the ring and 58% don’t want Giuliani to make another run for president which is somewhat surprising given that Giuliani would be expected to run so well against Obama.

The poll McClatchy/Marist surveyed 1,042 adults, including 825 registered voters, from Sept. 13-14 and the margin of error for the sample of registered voters is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The sample of the 317 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.

Can Obama Recover From His Massive Failures?

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:49:14 +0000

At U.N., Obama faces problems on larger stage

By Laura MacInnis WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, grappling with a poor economy and slumping approval ratings, faces problems on a larger stage this week at the United Nations, with challenges to his …

Publish Date: 09/19/2011 8:35

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/at-un-obama-faces-prob_n_969141.html

RealClearPolitics – Obama: Failing the Lincoln Test

Obama: Failing the Lincoln Test. By Michael Gerson. WASHINGTON — During his recent speech to Congress, President Obama gave Republicans this ideological glove to the face: "We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the …

Publish Date: 09/13/2011 3:00

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/09/13/obama_failing_the_lincoln_test_111312.html

What President Obama Inherited

Obama inherited a deep recession and financial crisis resulting from problems that had been building for years and those responsible include:

Borrowers and lenders on Wall Street and Main Street.
The Federal Reserve.
Regulatory agencies.
Ratings agencies.
Different presidents and Congress.

What Obama Will Bequeath?

Huge deficits.
Massive interest payments which could ultimately destroy the Republic.
Higher inflation.
A weaker dollar.
Pressure for higher taxes.

What Exactly Did Obama Enact?

An $825 billion stimulus package.
The Public-Private Investment Partnership to buy toxic assets from the banks.
Cash for clunkers.
The home-buyers credit.
The auto bailouts.
Five versions of foreclosure relief.
Numerous lifelines to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Financial regulation and health-care reform.
Energy subsidies.

Which Succeeded?

The auto bailouts?!

Even though a rapid private bankruptcy was preferable and GM and Chrysler are not yet de-nationalized successes, we can I believe, mark this up as a success.

Which Failed?

The stimulus bill cost an astounding $280,000 per job which is over five times median pay, as reckoned by the administration’s inflated estimates of jobs "created or saved", and much more using more realistic estimates.
Cash for clunkers cost $3 billion, just to shift car sales forward a few months.
The Public-Private Investment Partnership, despite cheap federal loans, generated 3% of the $1 trillion claimed, and toxic assets are still hindering some financial institutions.
The Dodd-Frank financial reform law institutionalized "too big to fail" amid greater concentration of banking assets and mortgages in Fannie and Freddie.
The foreclosure relief program permanently modified only a small percentage of the four million mortgages the president promised.

The economic records set on Mr. Obama’s watch are historic and no corporate CEO could survive such a clear history of failure.

Under The Obama Administration Watch:

The US experienced the first downgrade of sovereign U.S. debt in American history.
Relative to GDP, it now has the highest federal spending in U.S. history with the exception of the peak years of World War II
The highest federal debt since just after World War II.
The fraction of the population working is the lowest since 1983 and long-term unemployment is by far the highest since the Great Depression.
Job growth during the first two years of recovery after a severe recession is the slowest in postwar history.
Home-ownership rate is the lowest since 1965 and foreclosures are at a post-Depression high.
The share of Americans paying income taxes is the lowest in the modern era, while dependency on government is the highest in U.S. history.

Can Or Will Obama Recover From The Catastrophes?

Based on his present ratings in the polls and the fact that the economy has little or no chance of improving before the elections, one would have to say, "No he will not recover!".

And to make a comeback even less likely is the likelihood that the Obama administration will try to deliver more of the same things that failed.

Just fourteen years ago Obama was an active member of the New Party (read Communist) and he didn’t quit; it got shut down by the courts. Meaning that there is no reasonable chance that he will switch to anything like a free market economy, soon or ever!