Anywhere I walk -- downtown St. Louis, through the undergraduate campus at St. Louis University, the "alternative lifestyle" hubs of the Central West End and the Loop, even flipping through television commercials -- I'm hit over the head with tributes to our esteemed president-elect.
Seven days before he's to be sworn in, mind you.
I've seen in no less than three places a children's book entitled "Barack Obama: Child of Promise, Man of Hope" or some nonsense to that effect. The Walgreen's near St. Louis University is selling Barack Obama commemorative hats, shirts, pins and, yes, collectable plates. The SLU bookstore itself is hawking no less than half a dozen biographies of the Changemaker. I recently saw a TV commercial peddling Barack Obama commemorative coins for the new, low price of $29.95.
Get 'em while they're hot!
Days before the election, I saw myriad students walking around the halls of SLU Law, sporting shirts with the Hopemonger's face splashed across the front. Emblazoned thereon were catchy themes such as "Change" and "Hope."
Additionally, there are apparently better than 850,000 Facebook users who plan to tune into the inauguration of the man who once made the claim that he would make the oceans recede.
This is insane.
The man has served less than one term in the United States Senate.
He has never crafted a single bill of any significance, at any level, including his "persona non grata" tenure in the Illinois legislature.
Although a tremendous political presence and dynamic public speaker, he has shown himself to be everything but a leader when it comes to his record as a legislator.
At Bipartisan Rules, we're not concerned with rhetoric or so-called political movements. We're concerned with record and results. We endorsed Sen. McCain for the presidency not because of his campaign message, but because of his voting record, legislative craftsmanship, leadership and admirable track record of independence.
I'd ask Obama's supporters one question: What accomplishment can you cite to justify your incessant fawning?
I have the utmost admiration for Sen. McCain and was deeply disappointed when he lost. I believe that, if elected, he would have cemented himself among America's ten greatest presidents. He has an instinct for the hard challenge that is increasingly rare among Beltway types (something Obama has never demonstrated, at any level) and would have run a legitimately bipartisan administration, the likes of which our country might not ever see.
As David Brooks noted in a pre-election column expressing dismay with his media colleagues' treatment of Obama, McCain is an intensely serious man prone to very serious things. However, as also noted by Brooks, such is impossible to convey in the midst of a presidential campaign.
The number of people in the tank for Obama is startling. It's beyond mindless.
Children's books? Commemorative plates?
The man has yet to take office.
His most notable accomplishment -- as impliedly noted by Sen. Clinton during the heat of the Democratic primary -- is being an electrifying speaker.
His record is fluff; his house of cards is made of rhetoric alone. He has unbelievably rallied a large swath of formerly disaffected voters into a pathetic platitude-spewing army.
The frenzy that is Obamania is laughable, were it not so sad.
2 comments:
I don't particularly subscribe to the political school of "show me the accomplishments," but rather I prefer to examine political philosophy. There, Mr. Obama is just as barren, if not more so, than his record of accomplishments and for the same reason. Other than being a hard left zealot we know nothing of the specifics of Mr. Obama's agenda precisely because he doesn't wish to tip his hand to the American people. In that way he can continue to be all things to all people for as long as possible. Mr. Obama is the product of an emotional movement that has seized upon an increasingly irrational political landscape where politicians spout propagandistic rhetoric devoid of reality as they scramble to bribe voters with their fellow citizen's money or otherwise present themselves as problem solvers for everyone's "gas, mortgage, and job" issues.
What we're witnessing here is the failure of the political system in the one way in which there is no easy political or legal solution. The American people have failed to properly inform themselves about the theories of governance, to check their beliefs about the abilities of government, and ultimately to act as the guardians of their own liberty. Without an informed, rational public demanding sound governance all we will get is a basket case of vapid (Obama), corrupt (Blago), and inept (Bush) politicians.
Indeed, to pharaphrase Ronald Reagan, it is destined to be perplexing to future historians when they consider that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its loss. America has fully and firmly derailed itself from the Constitutional principles and rule of law that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world. The end of the Republic in form, in addition to function, cannot be long removed from a public that embraces the absolute power of the central government to rescue them from the ordinary problems of life.
Why the continued bitterness? The election was decided over 2 months ago! Who's to say Obama can't be a top-10 President?
Get over it.
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