A blast from the past: my take on an Obama presidency, written January 19, 2009

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The Columbian tells us Obama lifts hopes locally.

And that’s true, to a greater or lesser extent. The problem is the observation, because the question is: “What hopes?”

We all have “hopes,” but for many, “hope” will be the first step in our ultimate disillusionment.

Obama, who showed no particular depth of brilliance during his all-too-brief time in elective office, will bring that same lack of ability to the Office of the Presidency, not to be confused with his nonexistent Office of the President-Elect.

He has no vision, no plan and so far, no clue. Unfortunately for him AND this Nation, play time is over. Shucking and jiving got him elected, but it won’t keep him that way, and it won’t keep this country safe.
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So, my hopes are somewhat simpler than those expressed in this article. My hope is that we survive.

I have a son bound and determined to join the Marine Corps. My hope there is that HE survives, more or less intact, and that Mr. Obama will not, as so many of those who support him would, sell out my son and the hundreds of thousands of other sons and daughters foolish enough to risk their life under the “leadership” this man will provide.

So, the hopes expressed in this article by the many politicians vested in this system and in this man:

“I said to Barack the other day that I want him to succeed, but this country needs him to succeed,” she said. “This is unprecedented, the challenge he has been handed in terms of the nation’s economy. I’m confident he has the best minds working on it.”

– uttered by arguably the dimmest bulb in the Senate, our own state cow, Senator Patty Murray, who has apparently never heard of the Great Depression.

"I want to hear him tell us to do some of the hard stuff: get out of our cars, work on global warming,” he said

– Uttered by a clueless and short-sighted democrat legislative district chair. Global warming is the least of Mr. Obama's problems, not the least of which will ultimately become finishing his term.

It is not that I wish Mr. Obama any harm; on the contrary, I, unlike his fellow travelers who wished for long, painful deaths for Republicans, hope that Mr. Obama and his family enjoy good health for a long time.

My belief is based on the “fleas” our President-Elect has managed to collect during his political maturation process, which included lying down with a large variety of “dogs.” At some point, to quote Mr. Obama’s spiritual mentor, those “chickens will come home to roost.”

I admit it: an Obama presidency terrifies me. But I am terrified more by his replacement, a man who gained fewer votes in his presidential effort than Sarah Palin won as mayor of a small town in Alaska; a man who chucked principle out the window to join with and ultimately support another who he described as “not ready to be president.” I am equally concerned about the leadership of a Congress that would sell out their own mothers as shown by their completely moronic bailout programs and THEIR willingness to bury us in a pit of self-inflicted debt so they can pay off THEIR “friends.”

The One has set the bar so impossibly high that there is no way he can be what he sold us into thinking he would be. Correspondingly, the MSM will treat him as if they were getting a check from the DNC, because they are just as responsible for our empty-suited, Anti-American racist bigot President who, it seems, puts social engineering and voodoo science ahead of, say, war; our economy and the many other issues miles ahead in importance of “getting us out of our cars and global warming.”

“I would like to hear him call on all the American people to recognize that we are in difficult times and the only way we get through them is if people pull together and make the difficult choices that have to be made,” he said.

– uttered by our own too-afraid-to-take-a-position-on-the-megacasino Congressman. While a lofty sentiment, I have to question: where has Mr. Baird been on this issue for the past 8 years? Or have I just missed it? Where were the cries for unity then?

Mike Heywood, former Columbian Editorial Page Editor and failed city council candidate (and while as far to the left as the current idiot holding the job; who, lying through his teeth, calls himself an “independent,”) brought down by a little "pornography at work” problem (Odd, isn’t it, that the local dems would give a position of some responsibility to someone engaging in such a demeaning-to-women practice ) referred to Mr. Obama’s

“…calm, rational approach to situations and problems that he demonstrated throughout the campaign.”

(How's that "calm, rational approach" working for us now?) In short, it appears that Mr. Heywood hopes that Mr. Obama continues to lie; continues to flip-flop, continues to promise the moon plus $2 while continuing to fail to deliver.

The issue of race plays a central theme. When race is mentioned at all, the “white” half of this man is ignored. After all, to acknowledge that fact is to somehow dilute the message… and we can’t have that, can we? Any black voting for this man was, well, just voting for him because he is…. Nah, I can’t make the claim that 96% or so of the black vote going to Mr. Obama wasn’t based on the perception (the incorrect perception, it would seem, given that Mr. Obama is no more black than white) that he is black.

After all, to vote for or against someone merely because of the color of their skin is, dare I say it? RACIST.

Mr. Obama will have the job within hours. He is my president. I must put my fear aside and allow him the opportunity to make all the wonderful things he said he would make happen, happen.

And that’s MY hope… much more basic than those quoted from the four democrats and one Republican shown in the article (nah, no bias THERE, right?)

But you and I both know they will not. And at some point, we will all find that out.

I only hope the cost for that isn’t too high a price to pay.




Obama lifts hopes on local scene
Monday, January 19 8:50 a.m.

BY KATHIE DURBIN
STAFF WRITER

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., shown here in September giving a history lesson Hockinson High seniors, says "anything is possible," for the U.S. (File/The Columbian)

When President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office Tuesday, U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Brian Baird will be sitting right behind him in the stands at the U.S. Capitol.

Three thousand miles away, 17th District Democratic Chairman Pete Aller will be watching at the home of Clark County’s Democratic first couple, Dan and Val Ogden.
Joyce Lindsay of Washougal and a few of her friends will take in the address over breakfast in the bar at the Hilton Vancouver Washington.

And Brent Boger, a Republican insider from Vancouver, will be polishing a speech on the history of the presidency he’ll give Wednesday at the Vancouver Rotary Club.

What they all have in common is a fervent hope for the success of the nation’s first African-American president as he confronts a tsunami of challenges at home and abroad.

Asked what she hopes will change, Lindsay said, “Everything! I just think a change is really welcome right now. I think it’s going to be very uplifting.”

As chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Appropriations, which will play a key role in implementing the new administration’s stimulus package, Murray has Obama’s ear.

“I said to Barack the other day that I want him to succeed, but this country needs him to succeed,” she said. “This is unprecedented, the challenge he has been handed in terms of the nation’s economy. I’m confident he has the best minds working on it.”

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