The New President
Like it or not, Barack Hussein Obama is the next president of the United States of America. Hats off to him and his campaign team for successfully running what must be the most nonspecific campaign since Jimmy Carter. Carter came in to run against Gerald Ford who was sacrificed at the political altar for the necessary pardoning of Richard Nixon for his role in and the attempted cover-up of the remarkably stupid Watergate break-in. At that time the country was ravenous for their pound of flesh having endured months of media frenzy that overhyped a small time political stunt into a national tragedy. Carter was a fresh face from outside the beltway that spoke with a slow southern drawl, carried his sport coat slung over his shoulder and had a drunk brother named Billy that couldn’t put two words together to make sense.
In much the same way, sans drunken brother but plus an illegal immigrant aunty, Barack was able join the media in the demonizing of George Bush. The reasons Bush was demonized changed from week to week depending on whatever the hot button issue was in the polls. It went from Iraq to Afghanistan to gasoline prices to health care to Wall Street. The Obama campaign capitalized on this and spent two years and one quarter of a billion dollars getting his message of change out to the huddled masses. The term change, which had been limited to street hustlers and panhandlers, is now the mantra of every politician and political hopeful across the fruited plain. But there are a couple of problems here.
Firstly, many of the problems used to damn Bush were either untrue or not of his creation. The war in Iraq is being won, much to the disappointment of the Democrats in the House and Senate who said it was a lost cause months ago. The war in Afghanistan will be very difficult with the terrain involved and tribal culture to overcome, but it will ultimately be won as well. Osama Bin Laden may still be alive, but it’s tough to run your terrorist network from a remote mountain cave unless you happen to be Dr. Evil. The credit crisis which brought about the Wall Street mess was caused by Barack’s Democrat buddies in the House and Senate with their mortgage welfare programs.
The second and probably biggest issue is that absolutely nobody has any idea exactly what change is coming and what it will mean both short term and long. Nobody bothered to ask because nobody cared. We heard John Mellencamp talking about ending tax breaks for evil corporations that export hard working Americans jobs. But we never once heard the name of any of these companies. We heard Barack say he was going to “Take on the insurance companies” to bring down health care costs. But all that will mean is that insurance companies will reduce or eliminate coverage for the most risky and expensive procedures. I guess being dead will make it cheaper. We heard Barak say he would clean up the environment with a cap and trade system. But if you ask anyone outside of Al Gore’s immediate family most people couldn’t tell you cap and trade from cap and gown.
But there certainly will be change. The first and most immediate change will be felt around the world as America inaugurates a man with absolutely no military or executive experience to be the Commander and Chief. Barack is a man with a penchant for deep thought. We know this by the countless Che Guevara like posters and photos of him, hand on chin, gazing into the abyss of theoretical possibilities. What we don’t know is if these pictures were snapped while he was contemplating one of his 160 “present” votes cast in the Illinois Senate, one of the handful of votes he was actually around to make in the US Senate, or standing in line at McDonalds.
Now that McDonalds has cut a piece of cheese off the double cheeseburger I can see his dilemma and need for extended consideration if it was in fact the latter. Having a man with no experience as CEO of the military means that, like children so often do, there will be those that test his limits. As his Vice President Joe “Insert Foot” Biden so aptly put it, his mettle will be tested. When children set out to see how far they can push, usually nobody gets killed. Unfortunately that will not be the case here.
The terrorists from around the world that will try to take advantage of this newcomer posses a bloodlust and veracity that may surprise a thoughtful self-biographer and community organizer. How he handles the first confrontation will determine how quickly there will be a second.
In the 1970’s the Iranians discovered that America had elected an inept buffoon in Carter and were able to take full advantage of it. Carter was their number one ally in overthrowing the Shah, whom he viewed as guilty of egregious human rights violations. In repayment for this thoughtfulness they installed a Muslim fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini who not only brought human rights violations to a completely new level of horror, but directed the siege on the US embassy and the taking of 52 American diplomats held hostage for 444 days. Surprisingly the hostages were released literally minutes after the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. It also brought to the forefront the now IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was one of the student terrorists capturing and holding the hostages. Other countries like the old USSR saw America’s weakness and began their campaign in Afghanistan which spawned such human rights advocates as Osama Bin Laden.
Carter, in what could in fact be the ballsiest move of his entire presidency, lashed out at the USSR for their actions by forbidding our American athletes from participating in the Moscow Olympic Games. That’s probably why Vlad “The Impaler” Putin has such a negative attitude about the U.S.. He was likely just a little comrade at the time and didn’t like big bad U.S. of A. making nyet nyet all over his Olympic Games. That kind of thing will scar a junior KGBster.
That’s the problem with these wacky terrorists and rouge dictators. The actions the U.S. takes today may not reveal their full ramifications for years to come. That is of course unless you kill them, in which case several years down the road they’re still dead. If you don’t believe me ask Uday and Qusay Hussein. I’m guessing their answers will be identical.
Many people think that conservatives and perhaps Republicans in general want President Obama to fail. I do not speak for the entire group, but I can tell you categorically, that for me there could be nothing farther from the truth. The stakes are way too high. Any sign of indecision or weakness on the part of the U.S. President will test not his, but the mettle of our brave servicemen and women many years after that President leaves office.
Do I think he whose name is not to be spoken is up to the challenge? Unfortunately I do not. I think his empty rhetoric will come back and bite him right in the seat of his Nike jogging suit. But I pray that for the first time in my life I am 100% wrong.
