Tuesday, March 31, 2009

31 March 2009

1) Life And Death Lessons The Us Still Needs to Learn for Survival

We’re in a war against terror. Every minute, Islamofascist murderous maniacs are plotting to blow us up, behead us, nuke us and destroy us. The threat practically smashes us in the face.

America must wake up or perish. One way to get that wake up call under way is to read Jihad Incorporated, and other resources named in this column. America has two of the most dangerous enemies it has ever faced — the terrorists at home and abroad and the people now occupying the White House.

2) Obama's Most Telling Answer
Joseph Ashby
The President's inconsistent views on equality and fairness. More

3) Antiwar Left Can't Admit Obama Betrayal
Obama Seeks Muslims For White House Posts
Gates Reveals Schism In Obama White House
Obama's Involvement in Chicago Climate Exchange
US Liberals Begin To Confront Obama Betrayal

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Obama Wrecked The Economy, Now He's Working On National Security

By Herb Denenberg,
The Bulletin
Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Reprinted in full (emphasis mine)

My last column focused on the meltdown, unraveling and disintegration of President Barack Obama’s administration. But there was so much evidence of that in its handling of the economy, we didn’t have time to talk about another meltdown that is just as serious — how the administration is handling our national defense and national security. He’s bankrupted the economy and now he’s moving forward on plans that will destroy our national defense and national security.

During the campaign, Sen. Obama gave us every indication he would be weak on national defense, weak in fighting the war on terror and weak in defending our borders. As with the economy, he has proven to be worst than predicted.

I think I can make my case with three examples that show weakness and wrongheadedness that is truly beyond belief. You be the judge:

• First, there is Speaker of the House Nancy “San Francisco Values” Pelosi, a key mover in the Obama administration, who announced it is un-American to enforce the immigration laws. She asked, “What value system is that?”

So from Ms. Pelosi’s perspective if anyone wants to enforce the immigration laws, they are not only un-American but have the wrong value system. This woman is not only calling the shots on some of Mr. Obama’s key legislative moves, but she is also third in line to the presidency.

But in a way the Democrats in the House did us a favor by electing her speaker of the House — they showed us the Democratic Party has now become the party of the extreme left. She, and now the Democratic Party, truly represent “San Francisco Values,” which include what is in effect an open borders policy and an anti-military policy that will make us vulnerable to terrorism.

• Second, there is Attorney General Eric Holder, who distinguished himself by his early service in the Justice Department by his role in pardoning terrorists and a fugitive from justice. So we should not be surprised if he does some strange things. ABC News reported on March 18, “Some detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay could be released into the United States, while others might face criminal trials, Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters today.”

Mr. Holder chairs the panel appointed by President Obama to figure out what to do with the detainees after Guantanamo is closed. The Gitmo scenario shows how disorganized and ineffective the Obama administration is proving to be.

First, there is no good reason to close Guantanamo. Second, if it was to be closed, the Obama administration should have figured out what to do before announcing the closing, one year from the date of announcement. Third, it makes no sense to give enemy combatants trials in the U.S. anymore than it would make sense to give all World War II prisoners access to American courts. Fourth, it makes no sense to bring these people back to the U.S. Finally, it makes even less sense to release these people into the U.S.

Here’s what Ms. Pelosi said to a largely Hispanic audience at St. Anthony’s Church in San Francisco on March 14:“You are very special people. You’re here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country’s future. That makes you very, very patriotic. Who in our country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families? It must be stopped. What value system is that? I think it’s un-American. I think it’s un-American.”

Ms. Pelosi’s clear intent is to condemn and stop the enforcement of immigration laws because of some claimed abuses. If there is evidence that ICE agents routinely break down doors and take children away from parents, why doesn’t she take it up in Congress? It is our Congress that passed the immigration laws, and she acts as if she is just a random bystander to their existence and enforcement.

But these are just pieces of a much larger picture that show the Obama administration is pathetically weak and pathetically misguided in conducting the war against terror.

He appointed Homeland Security Secretary Janice Napolitano who, in her first congressional testimony, could not bring herself to use the word “terrorism” even once. Her department was created to prevent a terrorist attack on the U.S. Yet she can’t utter the word out of political correctness or some other perverted notion. Perhaps she is afraid to offend the people who are working to cut our heads off or blow us up.

Needless to say, other Homeland Security secretaries have used the word “terrorism” early and often in their pronouncements.

Why would Secretary Napolitano take such a ridiculous verbal stance and not use the word central to her purpose as secretary of Homeland Security?

In a Der Spiegel (the German magazine) interview, she was asked, “Madame Secretary, in your first testimony to the U.S. Congress as Homeland Security Secretary you never mentioned the word ‘terrorism.’ Does Islamist terrorism suddenly no longer pose a threat to your country?”She answered, “Of course, it does. I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word ‘terrorism,’ I referred to ‘man-caused’ disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.”

So, in this twisted view that sounds like pure lunacy to me, we don’t use the word ‘terrorism’ as it is part of the politics of fear. Is this derived from the Obama campaign of hope and change? We can’t describe what we’re talking about because it may cause some fear. We should fear terrorism and act accordingly. We should not try to perfume it or pretend it is not an existential threat.

Someone ought to give Ms. Napolitano this message: Saying man-caused disasters instead of terrorism is more than a nuance. It shows a departure from reality that is dangerous, especially for the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

This should shock everyone but surprise no one. As the blog Free Republic, reports, President Obama has avoided the use of “war on terror” and the Obama administration actually announced it was abandoning the phrase “war on terror.” Free Republic describes this whole development as suggesting the Obama administration is “permanently insane.” What they are doing certainly can’t be explained in rational terms.

In any event, Ms. Napolitano doesn’t seem to have the temperament for the job, and sounds like a candide that thinks everything is just fine. For example, CBS reported that she doesn’t think Mexico is in danger of becoming a failed narco-state. There is open war and major battles between drug lords and the Mexican Army. The violence is even spilling over in the U.S.

Ms. Napolitano admitted there has been an increase in the number of kidnappings in the Southwest United States, but she says is just drug gangs targeting other drug gangs. She seems to suggest it is tolerable and is not a threat to U.S. citizens who just might get in the middle of one of these drug shoot-outs.

After I had finished writing this column, the front-page of The New York Times (March 23, 2009) had a headline, “Drug Cartel Violence Spills Over From Mexico, Alarming U.S.: War Without Borders.” You could see this coming like a freight train 100 yards away, but Ms. Napolitano missed it.

Ms. Napolitano is the perfect Obama Homeland Security chief — she is weak and misdirected on all security matters. When asked about a border fence, she said, “Show me a 50-foot fence, and I’ll show you a 50-foot ladder.” Someone should tell Ms. Napolitano they have ladders in the Middle East, and yet the Israeli border fence, barrier, of whatever you choose to call it, dramatically cut the amount of infiltrating terrorists. If someone suggested that Ms. Napolitano get a lock for her front door, would she say, “Show me a lock, and I’ll show you a key to open it?”

Perhaps the most dramatic show of weakness is President Obama’s campaign promise to negotiate without precondition with terrorist regimes such as Iran and North Korea, and his beginning to implement that process as president. He sounds like he is more into groveling before Iran’s leaders rather than having any negotiation that might be productive. Mr. Obama makes Arthur Neville Chamberlain look like a super-hawk.

In connection with the Persian New Year, Norwuz, he reached out to ask for a new chapter in U.S.-Iranian relations and suggested that negotiations try to resolve differences. The Iranians are probably laughing up their sleeves, as they immediately rebuffed Mr. Obama’s gesture. The real leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomenei, in a speech, sent this message to Mr. Obama: “He insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day. If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed?”

In other words, the Iranians want concessions from us even before negotiations. And it is obvious they will be glad to negotiate forever. Such negotiations will just give them more time to go into production of nuclear weapons. John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said, “Time is on their side, and the Obama administration is playing right into their hands.”

He also pointed out Mr. Obama is doing the exact opposite of the right thing. He is negotiating out of a position of weakness, not strength. It should also be obvious that negotiations will be unproductive. The Europeans have been talking to the Iranians without results for six years.

The Iranians already have missiles to deliver nuclear weapons to countries in the Middle East, to Europe, and even beyond. They are on the brink on nuclear weapons, which will upset the balance of power in the Middle East, threaten all of our allies, endanger world oil supplies and place the ultimate destructive power in the hands of genocidal maniacs. When dealing with genocidal maniacs, we cannot rely on the doctrine of mutually insured destruction. So we are about to let genocidal maniacs, partners of terrorists worldwide and suppliers of terrorists, get a hold of nuclear weapons.

Confronted with this threat of an Armageddon on the way, Mr. Obama doesn’t seem to have a policy on Iran, other than sweet talk, negotiations that have already failed, and sanctions, which have been weak and ineffective. The clock is at five minutes to midnight, so the Obama administration better stop talking and start moving toward sanctions tough enough to work or toward the military option.

This is only a few of Mr. Obama’s signals of weakness, incompetence and appeasement in matters of national security and national defense.

For example, there are top Obama advisors pressuring him to recognize Hamas, the terrorist organization. Then there is the Washington Times report (March 17, 2009) that President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program that put guns in the hands of the crews of commercial planes. Whether we like it or not, we’re in a war against international forces of terror, yet almost all of Mr. Obama’s moves are in the direction of immaturity, weakness, retreat, appeasement and surrender

Obama Wrecked The Economy, Now He's Working On National Security
The Advocate

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Can The American People Be? Are They?

Americans can't be so 'stoopid', er, gullible, can they? Well, the Emperor's courtjesters seem to think they are.

America's Right says:

Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Ignorant


Quick Quiz: Can you tell what these are originally known as?

Overseas Contingency Operation
"legacy assets."
"man-caused disaster."
"undocumented workers"
behind-the-scenes television monitor

It will be interesting to see what they will come up with next to disguise the unpalatables.

Come on, people. You can't be as brain-challenged, as grey-matter deprived, as intellect-empty as they make you out to be.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Obama Continues To Set Records For Incompetence

By Herb Denenberg,
The Bulletin
Monday, March 23, 2009

Excerpt (emphasis mine)

There are growing indications that the Obama administration is melting down, unraveling and falling apart. The clearest indication is Barack Obama and his treasury secretary failing to come up with a plan to fix the bank/credit crisis. He is proposing solutions for every social problem ever identified by liberal Democrats, but doesn’t seem to be dealing with what should be his No. 1 priority. The bank fix is supposed to be announced by Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, during this week.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but the early days of the Obama administration will be remembered for his picking NCAA basketball tournament winners, appearing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and making fun of special needs children — while the American economy is burning.

If the public fully understood President Obama and the Obama administration, there would be endless calls for his impeachment. Of course, the U.S. Constitution does not make incompetence, radicalism, socialism, the abandonment of American values and world-class lies and hypocrisy impeachable offenses.

So all of these disillusioned Americans will have to satisfy themselves with calling for his resignation. Mr. Obama has done the impossible — proven he is a worse president than even his vice president, Joe Biden, would be.

During the election, this column stressed then-Sen. Obama was a world-class phony, hypocrite, liar and a few other choice descriptions. Then we added incompetence to our long and growing list. I’m afraid my opinion has not only been vindicated since the election, but more and more pundits are finally taking the same tack (...)

Beware when an apparent incompetent radical, both inexperienced and untested, starts to implement the greatest governmental transformation in history within his first two months in office. But you need not wait for the results. Just observe what is going on now.

This is especially disturbing, as it is coming from a president whose background and record are little known and understood.

As Judicial Watch has pointed out, “No president in modern times has received as little scrutiny on matters of ethics and corruption as Barack Obama. ... But because of our dogged tenacity in asking ‘Just who is Barack Obama?’ his ethical lapses and links to possible corruption are still very much in play.”

Too many questions remain unanswered and what we know by itself is very bad enough.

Americans better be prepared to fight the Obama proposals if we want America to look like America four years hence, or for that matter, if we want America even to survive.

Read more: Obama Continues To Set Records For Incompetence
Advocate

It’s Time to Smoke Them Out

Force them to choose between the red President and red blooded Americans
By Coach Dave Daubenmire
March 19, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

Excerpt

What's that old saying? "What goes around, comes around." For the past sixty years the communists have worked in secret to overturn the "establishment." The culmination of their efforts reached the zenith with the election of communist Barack Hussein Obama to the pinnacle of American power. He and his minions are doing all they can to change the White House into the Red House(...)

None of the camouflaged-communists could pull it off.

But Obama could. With his silver tongue, and his mulatto ancestry he was able to lure away enough-middle-of-the roaders to carry him on his magic carpet to the highest office in the land. He disavowed the god-haters and America haters that surrounded him so smoothly that Peter Graves from the old TV show Mission Impossible must be envious.

But let there be no doubt, he is the marionette that the communist puppet masters had been grooming for years. A true Manchurian Candidate he was the perfect hand-picked front man programmed to do the communist’s bidding.

With the help of the socialist media, the socialist labor unions, and the socialist entertainment industry he was swept into office with the bogus claim that he was America’s first “black” president. He was the first president “of color,” to be sure. But the color is red, not black.

The years of communist indoctrination in our schools had finally paid off. After two generations of students steeped in the socialist gobbledy-gook of a morality characterized by tolerance, diversity, and racism, millions of government-schooled robots used their vote to show how tolerant, diverse, and accepting they were as a sign of their moral superiority. Voting for a “black” man was the greatest evidence of personal morality; far above those intolerant one’s who would dare vote to save the life of the unborn.

Character of the candidate didn’t matter. His positions on the issues were irrelevant. He was everything the change-agents had worked to promote, a multi-cultural minority who was tolerant, diverse, and non-discriminatory. He was the poster child of the communist, traitorous, democratic left.

And now he is president. We must tip our caps to Obama and his handlers. They executed their plan to perfection.

But he is not our king. We are not yet a dictatorship. But the window of freedom is rapidly closing (...)

Read entire article: Force them to choose between the red President and red blooded Americans

And: Obama Loses the Times

Vast protest against Obama commencement address at Notre Dame gathers pace

Posted by: Damian Thompson on Mar 24, 2009 at 01:34:44

Oh boy, have those Catholics who suck up to Barack Obama got a PR problem on their hands. As of tonight, 40,000 people - mostly Catholics - have signed a petition condemning the decision to ask the manically pro-abortion President to give the commencement address at Notre Dame University on May 17.

"Help Stop the Scandal at Our Lady's University" reads the message of this website, which gives out the phone number and email address of Fr John Jenkins, president of the historic Catholic institution in South Bend, Indiana.

The petition doesn't mince its words:

It is an outrage and a scandal that "Our Lady's University," one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws...

Read more...
Vast protest against Obama commencement address at Notre Dame gathers pace
Telegraph Blogs
Telegraph.co.uk

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Messiah is Melting


Excerpts (emphasis mine)

Not so long after castigating Senator McCain for saying that the fundamentals of the economy were okay and Governor Palin for trying to talk to the people, past the press-- Obama encouraged everyone to focus on the sound fundamentals of the economy and decided to talk to the people and past the press, by going on Leno.

But then of course originality had never been Obama's strong point...

Two months in and it's painfully obvious even to the press that Obama is a failure.The double standard that kept him going this long required an endless propaganda loop and infinite second chances. It demanded that the public think the best of Obama and the worst of his opponents.

So (...)now thanks to the wonders of the teleprompter and carefully screened questions from the press, we have a man in the White House who might be more incompetent than he is corrupt, or more corrupt than he is incompetent.

With the economy stumbling further, stock in incompetence is rising, even while no other stock is.

There's no question about it, the paint is flaking, the antenna is bent and the wheels are coming off.

To increasing numbers of Americans who did vote him, Obama is a nice guy who's completely out of his depth. A year in, the assessment is likely to be far worse. (...)Dodd and Obama, respectively the number 1 and number 2 recipients of contributions from AIG, are busy pretending to be outraged by AIG's bonuses.

(...)As if Dodd's own amendment didn't specifically exempt executive bonuses, and as if Obama didn't sign a bill with that amendment in it.

Once again corruption and incompetence go at it, and corruption wins, followed by an incompetent coverup.(...) The media didn't stop spinning though until Obama, who had been closely tied to sub prime mortgages and was involved in a major real estate scandal that would ultimately help topple Governor Blagojevich, was in the White House.

But now Obama is in the White House and after passing a major stimulus package heavy on the pork that did nothing for the economy. (...)and after his bailouts have elicited public outrage, Obama is still spinning frantically.

The Two Minute Hate campaign targeted first at Limbaugh, then at Wall Street commentators who questioned his tactics, and finally the Republican party as a whole-- crashed and burned despite media enthusiasm. The public as it turned out didn't care about Rush Limbaugh, and were not prepared to blame him for Obama's failures. Aside from the core of hard left wing activists, the American people were not interested in playing Obama's blame game. They just wanted results.

Heading to Leno to promote his economic plan, something no sitting President had ever done, Obama was once again falling back on his same old "like me, believe in me" spiel that had gotten him this far.
But if a pity vote had helped get him elected, too many Americans have no pity to spare for the man whose wife boasts that the great thing about living in the White House is that when something breaks, right away it's replaced. Not when they're working two jobs to make ends meet.Obama's economic plans are a failure.

He did as his advisers advised, he seized the crisis, and the resulting pigfest at the mud pit revolted even many of his own supporters.

Meanwhile more quietly, he was a failure abroad (...)Obama's emissaries to the region have made it clear that the new administration is keener on cultivating its foes than courting its friends...

If you want it all boiled down, Obama has managed to do more damage to foreign policy in barely two months, than Bush had in 8 years.

Corruption or radical anti-americanism, the diagnosis may differ, but the end result is the same. Week after week, the Messiah has turned in one failure after another. Unable to even assemble a full cabinet, with nominee after nominee falling away due to tax problems, his failure is swiftly becoming a fact.

(...)we only need to hang on through the storm. A storm that will have Obama in the center of it regardless of what he does.

Now the first major anti-war rally is being planned and it specifically targets Obama, while we can expect the press to ignore it, it will begin hardening the break with many of Obama's old allies, even as he's running low on new ones.Obama has a Democratic congress, which means he also has all the rope he needs to hang himself with.

The backlash against his policies is already beginning, and the Messiah looks more hapless than ever as the greasepaint and sweat begins to run down his face.There's nothing to be done about it. The Messiah is melting.

Read entire article: The Messiah is Melting
By the same blogger:

Why Obama Backed Down Against AIG

by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, March 22, 2009

Excerpts

The AIG controversy is one for the ages, for it starkly reveals who is really running our economic system, and to what end.

(...) The spectacle of AIG executives receiving millions of dollars in bonuses— all of it taxpayer money— aroused a deep anger across the country. Somehow, a company in which taxpayers own 80% was shelling out millions to the same executives that ran the company into the ground.

Instead of the government forcing AIG executives into the unemployment office, it was recently revealed that Democratic politicians secretly enabled them to receive million-dollar bonuses through Obama’s stimulus bill.

When the public outcry began, Obama weakly replied that “all legal avenues were being pursued”, meaning, that nothing would actually be done.

When the outcry intensified, Obama resorted to angry rhetoric— but this time words weren’t enough.

(...) The reason Obama is cowering before the pressure of the financial oligarchy is that his economic recovery plan is completely reliant on their cooperation (...)

Obama was forced to use this ridiculous approach — itself created by Wall Street insiders— because (...)

Read more: Why Obama Backed Down Against AIG

And:
AIG is a Legal Money-laundering Ring
The Circle of Financial Life, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Others…
- by Debbie Morgan - 2009-03-21

Forget AIG Bonuses--The Next Bailout is Here
- by Ruth Conniff - 2009-03-20

Krugman on Toxic Assets Plan: 'What an Awful Mess'

Obama Prefers Chirac to Sarkozy

OBAMA PREFERS CHIRAC !
Obama writes to previous French President

French article ; English translation below

Barack Obama does not seem to know that in May 2007, French voters elected Nicolas Sarkozy to the French presidency, to succeed Jacques Chirac who had been president for twelve years.

Yesterday, we told you Sarkozy is irritated because Mister O. refuses to tell him if he will accept to meet him personally in the next few months.

Strangely, we have just learnt this surprising piece of news :

Barack Obama wrote a letter to Jacques Chirac to tell him about his desire to "work with him" for the next four years !

In a letter described by Chirac as "very nice," Obama wrote, "I am certain that we will be able to work together, in the coming four years, in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world.

"The use of the word "peace" was taken to be an indirect reference to Chirac's stance against the US intervention in Iraq, which Obama had also opposed. This revelation was made by the online edition of the daily Le Figaro on Thursday.

So, if I understand well, Mister O., who has already despised Gordon Brown, behaving with him as if he did not know he is Prime Minister of Britain, does not even know the name of the French president.

I wonder if someone had told him, when he came to France last summer, that the man he met was NOT Jacques Chirac !

In any case, for Sarko, the blow must be terrible : he has tried to persuade Obama to invite him in Washington for months, and now he learns that his predecessor might soon be Obama's guest at the White House before him !

Lame Cherry (says Obama is):
Clueless

Many have concluded that Birdie Obama is so clueless that he does not even understand that it is President Sarkozy who is President of France and not the former President in Jacques Chirac.As Mr. Obama actually met President Sarkozy, I do not believe even he is this incapable of remembering someone he met.

(...) is a serious slap by Barack Obama at the French people.

(...) What B.H. has just done is worse than the humiliation he just heaped upon British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his wife and their 2 children. Obama just negated the French elections by telling a person with no more power than Jimmy Carter he is going to be working with him. Chirac is an old Citizen of France and that is it.

This is what is the breach in Obama has now antagonized the three most important allies America has in England, France and the Israeli state.

These actions are deliberate by Mr. Obama to break the western alliance and supplant it with the central Europeans who started Obama's original Marxist dogma which he laps upon.

Barack Obama Is a Terrible Bore

Update 22 March 2009
Tongue-tied Obama turning into Jimmy Carter
Posted By: Tim Shipman at Mar 21, 2009

by Michael Wolff
March 20, 2009 8:59 AM

Sheesh, the guy is Jimmy Carter.

That homespun bowling crap on Jay Leno, followed by the turgid, teachy fiscal policy lecture, together with the hurt defensiveness (and bad script for it) that everybody in Washington "is Simon Cowell… Everybody's got an opinion," is pure I’m-in-over-my-head stuff.

Even the idea of having to go on Jay Leno to rescue yourself from the AIG mess is lame. Be a man, man.

The guy just doesn’t know what to say. He can’t connect. Emotions are here, he’s over there. He can’t get the words to match the situation.

This began, I’d argue, from the first moment. He punted on the inaugural. Everybody ran around like crazy trying to praise it because if Barack Obama couldn’t give a speech then what?But now, at week 11, we’re face-to-face with the reality, the man can’t talk worth a damn.

You can see the fundamental mistake he’s making. Having been so successfully elected, he’s acting like people actually want to hear what he thinks. He’s the great earnest bore at the dinner party. Instead of singing for his supper, he’s just talking—and going on at length. The real job of making people part of the story you’re telling, of having them hang on your every word, of getting the tone and detail right, the hard job of holding a conversation, he ain’t doing.

He’s cold; he’s prickly; he’s uncomfortable; he’s not funny; and he’s getting awfully tedious.

He thinks it’s all about him. That we want him for himself—that he doesn’t have to seduce, charm, surprise, show some skin.

So Jimmy.

It’s instructive and humorous to remember that Carter ran a brilliant campaign that succeeded largely because his voice was new. Simple, direct, basic, human. And then, of course, he turned into a sad-sack twit.

What happens when you move into the White House? Well, shit, of course. The true secret of the power of language is in quickness. Barack Obama can’t keep up. He evidently needs too much preparation.

And then there’s the organization. He’s undoubtedly got too many people debating what he should say. That’s the other secret of language: You’ve got to just go for it. Can’t think too much about it. It’s like hitting the ball. And then there’s knowing who you want to be—which is different than knowing who you are. You’re on the stage. You’re acting. You’ve got to make yourself believable, cleverly make yourself up as you go along.

This guy is leaden and this show is in trouble.

(Reprinted in full. emphasis mine)

Barack Obama Is a Terrible Bore
More of Newser founder Michael Wolff's articles and commentary can be found at VanityFair.com, where he writes a regular column. He can be emailed at michael@newser.com

Thursday, March 19, 2009

No Boiled Carrots - Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad.

President Obama is still having trouble summoning a temper at the gall of the corrupt money magicians who continue to make our greenbacks disappear into their bottomless well.'

Tough Talk From the Teleprompter
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: March 17, 2009
New York TimesWASHINGTON

On St. Patrick’s Day, the president spoke a bit of Gaelic, dyed the White House fountains green and talked about his distant relatives in the tiny Irish town of Moneygall, aptly named since money and gall are the two topics now consuming him.

But Mr. Obama is still having trouble summoning a suitable flash of Irish temper at the gall of the corrupt money magicians who continue to make our greenbacks disappear into their bottomless well. He’s got to lop off some heads.

(...)At the White House on Monday, the president read reporters some tough talk from the teleprompter about the chuckleheads at A.I.G., accusing them of “recklessness and greed.”

But it was his own boiled carrots who acted shocked at bonuses that they should have known were coming, and should have dismantled before handing A.I.G. another $30 billion two weeks ago. It is bad enough that the billions are being laundered through A.I.G. to the likes of bailout double-dippers Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, not to mention foreign banks.


(...)As Andrew Cuomo pointed out on Tuesday, 11 of the A.I.G. executives who received retention bonuses of $1 million or more — including one who received $4.6 million — were not even retained. They’re no longer working at A.I.G. Bonuses were paid to 52 people who have left the company.

(...)Cuomo, who seems far more intent on transparency than Mr. Obama, and Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary who reluctantly signed off on the bonuses, issued subpoenas for the names of the bonus babies. Cuomo started an investigation of whether the payments were fraudulent because the company knew it did not have the funds to cover them.

The president needs to brush back the arrogant, greedy creeps who kneecapped capitalism, rather than cosseting Wall Street for fear of looking like an avatar of socialism.

Geithner, who comes from the cozy Wall Street club, and Liddy believe it’s best to stabilize the company and keep on board the same people who invented the risky financial tactics so they can unwind their own rotten spool.

Isn’t that like giving bonuses to the arsonists who started a fire because they alone know what kind of accelerants they used to start it?

“Their mythology starts with the false premise that these are irreplaceable geniuses,” says Cuomo.

Boiling mad that A.I.G. made more than 73 millionaires in the unit that felled the firm, Cuomo called the company’s counsel on Monday to demand that she stop payment on the checks.

Cuomo was informed that the money had already been direct-deposited in the accounts of the derivative scoundrels with the push of a button.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

B HYDRA O

1) The Knock on the Door
March 18, 2009
Lona Manning
American Thinker

Excerpts

A sitting President of the United States is "organizing a political organization loyal to him, bound by a pledge, outside the government and existing party apparatus. The historical precedents are ominous."
(...)
But there is a new organization on the political scene -- "Organizing for America," announced by President Barack Obama in late January but officially unfurled last weekend.

Obama describes OFA as a "grass-roots movement" but OFA is a "project" of the Democratic Party of America.

As Politico reported, OFA will take the 10 million person database built up by the Obama campaign "to mobilize support for the president's legislative agenda."

A visit to the OFA website reveals that supporters are not simply asked to sign up, they are asked to take a pledge. A pledge to support -- not the flag, not the constitution, not the country, not even the Democratic party, but Obama and his "bold plan (...)

So we have a Movement -- this is their term, not mine -- organized by, and loyal to, a sitting President. Pledge canvassers, armed with your name, will ask you to pledge loyalty to the President too. A president whose term has already become a permanent campaign, is signing up ground forces in a mass organization pledged to personal loyalty to their Leader.
(...)

(...)Mao's "Red Guards?
(...)Fidel Castro's "widespread system of neighborhood informers"?
(...)Hugo Chavez's use of "neighborhood committees"?

(...)
Do any of Obama's pledged servants understand why a sitting president has no business creating and deploying his own supporters to help organize their neighbors...


2) Glenn Beck exposes FEMA's detention camps
YouTube
(...)
These camps, which can be found in every state in the union, currently sit empty and are intended to be pressed into service in the event of an "emergency."

Funny that we've made it over 200 years without needing a national network of on-demand concentration camps.

Why do we need them now? (...)
3) Has The Obama Administration Repeated A Shameful Sin From The Past?
Michael S. Swenson
Underground Brooklyn
March 17, 2009

As Treaty with Germany is Signed, giving German Scientists Access to Highly Secret US Laboratories, Sins from the Past Come to Light

According to a shocking article posted on Monday by the news website Spiegal Online International, the Obama Administration has apparently signed an agreement that will allow German scientists access to highly secretive US laboratories. According to the article, "US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and German Research Minister Annette Schavan met early Monday morning to discuss the agreement." (...)

Obama and the AIG Revisited

Obama's stimulus bill protects the AIG bonuses

Update 19 March 2009

BREAKING: I was responsible for bonus loophole, says Dodd

Sen. Dodd told CNN Wednesday that officials in the Treasury Department asked him to add the bonus loophole to the stimulus bill before it was passed.


WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN’s Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer Wednesday that he was responsible for adding the bonus loophole into the stimulus package that permitted AIG and other companies that received bailout funds to pay bonuses.

Watch: I'm responsible for bonus loophole, Dodd says
On Tuesday, Dodd denied to CNN that he had anything to do with the adding of that provision.
Full story

And:
When did Geithner know about AIG bonuses?
Frank: Ownership key to recouping AIG bonuses

Dan Spencer
Right Side Politics Examiner
March 18, 12:53 AM ·

What outrageous crocodile tears.

President Obama feigns choked up anger and Democrat Congress critters bloviate and threaten confiscatory taxes. It is all an act -- an attempt to cover one's posterior.

The Associated Press reports the Obama administration and members of Congress have known for months that American International Group was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while surviving on taxpayer bailouts:

It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back.
[. . .]
So far, the administration has been unable to match its actions to Obama's tough rhetoric on executive compensation. And Congress has been unable or unwilling to restrict bonuses for bailout recipients, despite some lawmakers' repeated efforts to do so.


The situation has the White House and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the defensive. The administration was caught off guard Tuesday trying to explain why Geithner had waited until last Wednesday to call AIG chief executive Edward M. Liddy and demand that the bonus payments be restructured.


Not only did lawmakers and administration officials know about A.I.G.'s plans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars of bonuses last fall, but even more infuriating is the fact that language in Obama's so-called stimulus bill actually protects the A.I.G bonuses.
The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," provides at Section 111(b)(3)(D)(iii):
`SEC. 111. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.
[. . .]
`(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary
.
I can't help but wonder what, if anything, those bonuses Obama received from A.I.G. had to do with this mess. I am comforted that, except for three Senators, the entire Republican Congressional delegation voted against Obama's so-called stimulus.

Also:

The AIG Bucks Stop at Obama’s Desk - DC Examiner
AIG Outrage - Larry Kudlow, National Review
The Real 'Outrage' Behind AIG's Bonuses - Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
AIG Anger Depletes Obama's Political Capital - Washington Post

Unabated Flounder

President Barack Obama: Perhaps he can't fix it. . .
Simon Heffer Last Updated: 8:21PM GMT 17 Mar 2009

President Obama has been in power for just over 50 days, but already critics believe his plans to save America from disaster are doomed

Barack Obama will back a federal Europe
By Nile Gardiner
17 Mar 2009

America's support for a more united Europe betrays both US and British interests, says Nile Gardiner.
More:
Menorah: Israel's visiting chief of staff finds doors closed in Obama's Washington

Gateway Pundit: Unreal. ACORN Will Participate in Obama Census


Obama and the AIG

Obama Received a $101,332 Bonus from AIG

Dan Spencer
Right Side Politics Examiner
March 17, 3:01 PM ·

Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org.

The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.

The A.I.G. Financial Products affiliate of A.I.G. gave out $136,928, the most of any AIG affiliate, in the 2008 cycle. I would note that A.I.G.’s financial products division is the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps and "misjudged" the risk.

The Washington Post reports a "mob effect" at A.I.G financial products division:
A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn't show up at all.

With the anger and rage that is being exhibited against A.I.G., perhaps the bonuses Obama received from A.I.G. explain Obama's A.I.G crocodile tears.

Now that the Wall street Journal has revealed that A.I.G. paid bonuses of $1 million or more to 73 employees, it's time to ask if recipients of A.I.G. "bonuses," including President Obama, will give what now ought to be taxpayer money back?

More:
The Real AIG Scandal

AIG Bailout Went to European Banks

As US Economy Continues To Tank, More Bonuses Planned For Bankers

03-17-2009: Citigroup CEO Awarded $10.82 Million Bonus

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Its Name Is AGONY

Lame Cherry writes

Don't stop there Birdie Obama

This blog has read and sifted through hundreds of items about Obama since before last year's presidential election. This latest item by Lame Cherry is the most distressing yet that The Oxpecker has come across. The anguish felt is just beyond words to describe.

Read these posts:

Gateway Pundit American Legion Outraged That Team Obama Won't Bud...


America's Right Abandoner In Chief

More than a bad day: Worries grow that Barack Obama & Co. have a competence problem

Michael Goodwin
Sunday, March 15th 2009, 4:00 AM

Worries grow that Obama has competence problem

Excerpts

A veteran Dem asks about the administration: "Do you think they know what they're doing?"...

Yes, it's early, but an eerily familiar feeling is spreading across party lines and seeping into the national conversation. It's a nagging doubt about the competency of the White House...

Which brings us to the heart of the matter: the doubts about Obama himself. His famous eloquence is wearing thin through daily exposure and because his actions are often disconnected from his words.

His lack of administrative experience is showing.

His promises and policies contradict each other often enough that evidence of hypocrisy is ceasing to be news. Remember the pledges about bipartisanship and high ethics? They're so last year.

The beat goes on. Last week, Obama brazenly gave a speech about earmark reform just after he quietly signed a $410 billion spending bill that had about 9,000 earmarks in it. He denounced Bush's habit of disregarding pieces of laws he didn't like, so-called signing statements, then issued one himself.

And in an absolute jaw-dropper, he told business leaders, "I don't like the idea of spending more government money, nor am I interested in expanding government's role."

No wonder Americans are confused. Our President is, too.

Read also: End of the Honeymoon
and: Why Obama is in Danger of Losing Centrists

Monday, March 16, 2009

What's Obama Up To Lately?

1) Socialism Comes To America, And You Better Believe It
By Herb Denenberg, The Bulletin
The Advocate
Monday, March 16, 2009
Excerpts
Coming to a country near you: Labor contracts dictated by federal arbitrators who know little about the businesses they will be regulating by their decisions, and the advent of near universal unionization. The country near you is your country — yes, the United States of America...

...Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) backed by President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, now the far left party...

...as any American should know, the secret ballot is essential to any election process — whether a national election or union...Now the Democratic Party has moved so far to the left... This EFCA controversy tells you how the Democratic Party has become totally radicalized and how it has sold its soul to the union bosses. When you’re willing to sacrifice the secret ballot on the altar of political expedience, you’re morally and intellectually bankrupt

If you think you’ve seen the beginning of socialism, you haven’t seen anything yet. Mr. Obama’s socialist revolution is going to take place on all fronts...

We have to decide whether we want a radical, socialist, leftist approach or the traditional approach that has produced the greatest country and economy in the history of the world. We have to decide whether we want to be another France or the same America. We better remember the threats to America are not all external. And we better not forget that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.


2) The Republicans can take heart as Obama staggers to the Left
The President's recent display of liberalism – and confusion – can only help the opposition, says Janet Daley. (The Telegraph.co.uk)

The question of who Mr Obama really is, and what he truly believes, underlies the growing list of Very Odd Things that seem to be happening under his administration
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 8:26PM GMT 15 Mar 2009
Mr Obama is changing his rhetorical course after criticism from fellow Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, that he has sounded too negative in the first weeks of his presidency.

This week he will speak forcefully to Congress and the public about the need to pass his $3.6 trillion budget, which will double the national deficit, while stressing his belief that there is hope ahead.
Mr Obama's sky-high approval ratings have fallen in the past couple of weeks amid widespread gloom over the economy. His approval rating is between 56 and 60 per cent, lower than George W Bush's at a similar stage of his presidency.
Posted by: Gerald Warner on Mar 16, 2009 at 08:57:05
Excerpts:
...Seizing upon a few flimsy straws in the wind that might support cautious optimism ...the White House began talking up the green shoots of recovery.

Unfortunately this coincided with Obama reverting to human rights issues in China, after Hillary Clinton had attracted heavy criticism by side-stepping such questions during her recent visit to Beijing. So Barack reckoned it might go down well with his Yeti-hugging constituency to smack down Beijing for its treatment of Tibet. He forgot the kind of people he was dealing with.
Within 24 hours Chinese premier Wen Jiabao took a fierce revenge by talking down the reliability of US Treasury bonds.

"To be honest, I'm a little bit worried," Wen confided at a news conference. "I request the US to honour its promises and to guarantee the safety of China's assets. We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States." Ouch! That hurt. It was a sharp reminder, from a regime that knows all about control and reprisals, that a government that holds $727.4 billion of US Treasury Bonds does not have to take any moralising sermons from Obama.

The merest anticipation in the markets that China was contemplating any level of divestiture of US Treasuries could send American interest rates soaring. China's trade surplus is already a key factor in keeping US rates down. With this kind of leverage, while America is trying to grope its way out of recession, China wields immense power. Wen commands foreign exchange reserves of just under $2 trillion and he who pays the piper calls the tune.
Link: Obama selling the U.S. to China - Barry's ObamaNation

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Latest Commentaries on Obama

Just who is Barack Hussein Obama?
By Bob Kemp
March 13, 2009

Millions of people, not limited to just Americans, are asking this question. Who is this man? Where did he come from? And, where is he taking the United States? Too many questions, and not enough answers. Truly the man is a mystery, an enigma. He is a contradiction at multiple levels, and for someone that claims his administration will be one of transparency and accountability, all this make him a paradox.

Read entire article:
Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog
RenewAmerica: Just Who Is Barack Hussein Obama?

Read also: Obama - A Fraud We Can Believe In
The Advocate
By Herb Denenberg, The Bulletin
Friday, March 13, 2009

And :
Everyone Should Note Cramer's Revelation

By Matt Benchener, For The Bulletin
Friday, March 13, 2009

“I favored Obama over McCain because I thought Obama to be a middle-of-the-road Democrat, exactly the kind I have supported all my adult life.”

Also from The Bulletin
Is Barack Obama An Authoritarian?
President Obama's Toxic Brew
Obama's Radical Proposals Should Be No Surprise
Dangerous Disrespect

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Obama Deception Film

Infowars
March 10, 2009

The Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.

Get your copy today at the Infowars Store.
http://www.infowars.com/

The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed as savior in an attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery.

We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order’s plans. It’s not about Left or Right: it’s about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.

Covered in this film: who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you...

Read more: The Obama Deception

U.S. cybersecurity head quits, citing growing role of National Security Agency poses threats to democratic processes

By SHAUN WATERMAN, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
Published: March 11, 2009 at 10:52 AM

WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- The official in charge of coordinating the U.S. government's cybersecurity operations has quit, saying the expanding control of the National Security Agency over the nation's computer security efforts poses "threats to our democratic processes."

"Even from a security standpoint," Rod Beckstrom, the head of the Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Center, told United Press International, "it is unwise to hand over the security of all government networks to a single organization."

Read entire article: U.S. cybersecurity head quits, citing growing role of spy agencies

Wednesday, March 11, 2009


March 11, 2009
Kyle-Anne Shiver
It's only been 7 weeks since the man whose resume fits nicely on the back of a postage stamp became the most powerful human being in the universe. As Presidents go, Barack Obama has proven at least one thing true: change is like the flip of a coin.


March 11, 2009
Obama's Tactic: Shock and AweBy J. Robert Smith
The United States military used Shock and Awe to overwhelm and defeat the Iraqis in 2003. Barack Obama and the Democrats are now using the political equivalent of Shock and Awe to radically move the nation to the left. Shock and Awe is designed to confuse, overwhelm and cow opponents of Obama's legislative coup d'état.

Western military forces turning inward in anticipation of domestic unrest

By Daniel Taylor
Old-Thinker News March 10, 2009

Excerpts

As the growing world-wide economic crisis deepens, military forces from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are preparing to meet angry citizens on the street. The economic crisis - and the public outrage it is causing - is at the forefront of intelligence agencies and military forces in the Western world.

Prominent trends forecaster Gerald Celente has been sounding the alarm for years, warning that riots and tax revolts are coming to America. The Pentagon, U. K. Ministry of Defense, and Canadian military apparently agree. In November of 2008 the United States Army War College released the report Known Unknowns: Unconventional "Strategic Shocks" in Defense Strategy Development. The report identifies economic collapse as a reason for the defense establishment to conduct domestic operations.

The report states,

"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security. Deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency..."

The CIA and MI5 are both watching the economic situation for signs of unrest and political instability. As the Washington Post reports, the CIA has added an economic situation report to its threat assessment for the White House...

A further sign that the United States government is anticipating widespread unrest comes with the domestic stationing of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division. The Army Times reports

"They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack."...

Canadian military forces have been given a nearly identical domestic mission in a synchronized move with the United States. Canada's National Post reports that,..

Overseas, the United Kingdom's MI5 is also anticipating widespread unrest in response to economic downturn. The Daily Express reports that the U.K. Army is "on standby" in the event of unrest during a "summer of discontent."...

Ominously, legislation was recently introduced to Congress that would authorize “national emergency centers” on military installations that will provide “temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster." The National Emergency Centers Act can be read here.

As new taxes - like paying by mileage and carbon taxes meant to send "price signals" to consumers - are imposed and more money is demanded from debt laden citizens to save failing banks there is little doubt that resistance will grow. Just how far the bankers can go remains to be seen, but the military is ready when we've had enough.

Read entire article:
Western military forces turning inward in anticipation of domestic unrest

Also read: Icke - Don't Riot - It's Just What They Want
And: Civil Unrest in America?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Lame Cherry Writes: CANNIBAL LECTER OBAMA

Excerpts

In the Obama campaign, Brokeback Mountin' debate, the world was told that aborticide was above Birdie Obama's pay scale. Apparently though, the slaughter, butchery, sale and cannibalization of children is within B.H. Obama's pay scale, although it reveals either Obama has sh*t for brains or is a sadistic butcher on equal terms with Caligula.

It is no stretch to point to the Obama / Caligula connection no more than to link him to Hannibal Lecter the infamous character who dined on human livers with fava beans portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, over the Dr. Mengele use of human babies in "stem cell" butchery which Obama has now reinstated by another dictator swipe of his pen.

For those not familiar with Caligula or did not know him personally, he was from a line of Caesars who were the ...

He attained power by suffocating ... A blessed event his sister thought, until Caligula announced was a god like someone else named Obama has been saying.

As Caligula did not want any other little gods running around, he pulled out a knife one evening and cut the baby out of his sister's womb. The original aborticide stem cell research in stopping cloning exactly as Obama is concerned about. Amazingly, Obama has no problem sucking the brain out of a human in partial infanticide or in stem cell, but he has a problem with anyone trying to clone another human, as "that would be wrong".

That is the foundation in all of this though the "wrong" and how the aborticide industry, which is a worldwide multi billion dollar industry so harming women's wombs that we now have...

Wrong also includes the spin words which changed babies to fetus and tissue. This was deliberate as much as using the term "stem cells" and we have all seen that footage of just a few cells being poked by a needle when the fact is, stem cells mean A BRAIN exists, because it is brain stem cells...

Stem cells are in fact wildly reproductive when placed out of the areas they are intended to be. They do not "fix" anything, but if injected into tissues will produce tumors exactly like cancer...

What I would like people to ask themselves is the real meaning behind Obama's actions? It is a fact stem cells are past where research is now at. So why would Obama, who is acting on the behalf of his benefactors want stem cells?

The answer is, there is a horrid therapy, which might point to how the elite like... appear very much like 50 year old males when they are in their 90's. It is what this blog noted years ago in these elitists have solved the "life expansion" problem so humans can live hundreds of years. Just like pedophiles want children termed adults to molest them legally in the Obama group of liberals, it would be a conclusion that Obama has just made it easier and legal for the patricians to get their cannibalized infants inside the United States for their life expansion treatments.

They will need these treatments until they can activate their false tree of life grid they are preparing a few years ahead of the present,..Stem cells are now their expensive Obama funded link for their longevity.There are risks involved with stem cells as stated. They are cancerous type little buggers if taken out of their greenhouse and soon become weeds... The only difference between a stem cell tumor and stem cell heart is where they are injected to replicate.

A simple genetic test would expose anyone using this life expansion therapy eating babies as the babies all have DNA and the host would have not only their own DNA, but others peoples preyed upon.

The media is not going to touch this issue nor ask Barack Obama the really tough questions in why is he investing in a human pancreas diabetes treatment to treat people when doctors found better use for swine insulin long ago.The real fact is the fact that Barack Obama is sucking brains out of babies and people are using it for something science has no need for. That is murder. That is Mengele. That is Caligula. That is Lecter.That is Barack Obama the destroyer of life.Will someone inquire where that life is going now please.

agtG 246

Please read the entire post. Warning: it could cause distress to some readers.

Cannibal Lecter Obama
Lame Cherry

Links: Stem cell decision exposes religious divides


Monday, March 9, 2009

Obama Is Addicted to the Teleprompter

March 6th, 2009 - 9:50 pm ICT by GD -

Barack Obama may soon be known as the Teleprompter President as his dependence on his teleprompters get more notice every day. He goes nowhere without them and is not usually seen speaking without their help.

Onlookers have found that Obama with and without his teleprompter becomes two different men. While the President is fluid in his speech and shows total poise in a prepared speech, his unscreened answers or extempore speech are too full of the universal filler “umm”. It has become obvious that he cannot go beyond the scripted words without a good deal of stuttering, causing a fresh wave of criticism of the president who cannot speak off the cuff.

According a report in the New York Times, Obama is possibly the only American President in 50 years to have such a major dependence on his Teleprompter.

Other Presidents used teleprompters on their most important speeches, whether it was the inaugural speech or the Oval Office address. But Obama uses them for routine announcements too. He used them on a visit to the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Ill and then to make remarks about his “fiscal responsibility summit”. He even used them to talk about endangered species of animals reading out from the teleprompter, “That was an experience I will never forget.”

The New York Times also says, “For Mr. Obama, a teleprompter means message discipline, sticking close to the intended words. While some presidents prefer extemporizing, Mr. Obama likes the message to be just so. After all, he is a best-selling author who has helped write a lot of his major speeches, so he presumably feels a certain fidelity to the crafted text.”

Awkwardness often ensues like the time he introduced Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as the Health and Human Services secretary and when she came up to the stage, she could speak only before the teleprompters were lowered. Also, critics say Obama is losing some credibility because he almost never establishes eye contact with his audience while reading out from the teleprompter.



Obama Is Addicted to the Teleprompter

Update 12 March 2009, read also:
Barky's Robotic Reliance On Teleprompters