Summer of 2009 was a political battlefield. Most certainly, the theatre that is American politics tossed up some delightful amusements to rouse your sleeping intellectual and political passions. Here's the scoop any informed college student should have.
Drill baby drill. During his administration, George W. Bush attempted to finance offshore drilling on the coast of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico; however, environmentalists' whines sent the plan into a series of federal court cases. Back during the campaign Obama hinted he may consider offshore drilling as a component of his energy plan. Amid cries from the same environmentalist crowd he backed down. It seemed that, at least for Obama's presidential career, off shore drilling was dead in the water. But it really depends on which shores you are talking about...A recent story in the Wall Street Journal uncovered that the U.S. government would now be lending two billion dollars for offshore drilling in Brazil. That's odd. Especially when you consider that foreign oil drilling in South America and Africa pose a greater threat to the environment than more tightly regulated American operations. The policy of the Obama Administration has destined the coast of Brazil for a massive drilling operation and the resulting externalities. But maybe Obama isn't thinking about the environment, maybe it was a key move to secure energy reserves and lessen our petroleum dependence on potentially hostile states. Sounds like something Bush might do.
Secretary of State Clinton. Oh, she must be a bitter woman. It seems as though Obama has tucked Hill-dog right in his front pocket. As America's top diplomat the former first lady has dropped off the political radar and if she was secretly harboring presidential ambitions they are most certainly dead. One night at Clinton Comedy Hour she compared Dear Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Ill, to an unruly child. North Korea fired back calling Clinton's words "vulgar remarks" that indicated she is "by no means intelligent". She probably regretted her name-calling when two American journalists were imprisoned for "grave crimes" against North Korea. Sounds like a job for the secretary of state, except she's gone and run her mouth. Not to worry, Bill Clinton to the rescue. He flew in to North Korea and was greeted warmly. Just hours later Monica Lewinsky's former popsicle was able to inform his "wife" that he was flying home with two Asian women (for once she was happy). When asked at an African press conference what her husband thought, Hillary snapped... "I'm the Secretary of State," she spat as she leaned back in her chair with the usual aristocratic sneer.
Health-Care. Has the President drained his political capital by pushing for socialized medicine? Although Obama's ratings are dropping like mercury in Maine, at least he gave it the good ole college try. His best move was pretending the special interests were against him when, in fact, they wholeheartedly supported his plan. First he bought off Pharma, the largest prescription drug lobby in the country. A memo discovered by the Huffington Post revealed that the administration had made a secret agreement with the prescription drug companies. Remember the pro-health care adds you saw on MSNBC, think Pharma. But that's just one special interest; Liberal statists argue that health reform must be good if the insurance companies want it. Huh!? Of course they want a bill which will punish Americans for choosing not to have health insurance (with fines of over $3000). Any health care bill passed under Obama will guarantee the insurance companies profit indefinitely through coverage mandates. This provision and others will limit the freedom of all Americans. If that's not terrifying enough, give the seemingly harmless "public option" ten or fifteen years. That's how long it will take for an overwhelming percentage of businesses to dump their employees onto a public plan and effectively create a government monopoly on health care. No matter what any elected official may opine, choice and competition are imaginary when a government option exists.
Overheard. (Obama's Speech Notes): 1. Thoughtful platitudes, 2. Describe "plan" based on what you hope it will do, 3. Emphasize how much money Bush spent, 4. Say "choice" and "competition" a lot, it focus grouped well, 5. Personal Anecdote, 6. Bush's Wars, 7. Ted Kennedy (tears), 8. Get fired up, 9. Acknowledge Common Humanity, 10. Hit the after party to mac on Olympia Snowe.
(Ignore the military, all same-sex marriage issues, your own record spending, terrorism, and border security.)
Big Corporate Liberals. President Obama pledged to keep lobbyists out of his administration; However, a pattern seems to be developing, a pattern of corporate leaders becoming very cozy with the Obama administration. Of all the people advising the President, how many have corporate interests that went unvetted? The Truth stands in stark contrast to Obama's pledge for a lobby free executive. The National Journal checked some 267 senior advisors of the Obama Administration and discovered that 30 individuals, or 11 percent of the Staff, were former lobbyists at some point after 1999.
U.S.S.A. Obama also has 33 advisors that do not go through Senate confirmation hearings. This nebulous shadow cabinet is compromised of individuals, ominously dubbed Czars, who will be spending the bailout money. Recently a most heated controversy surrounded Van Johnson, an admitted communist, and his role as Obama's Green Jobs Czar. Johnson finally resigned when it was discovered that he was part of a group that believes the Bush Administration was behind the attacks of 9/11. Johnson's troubled past was exposed by the wacky Glenn Beck who, despite his clown like displays, often speaketh the Truth. Beck's next target is Cass Sunstein, one of Obama's Harvard pals. Sunstein is up for Regulatory Czar, a position that entails unlimited power. Sunstein could regulate everything from gun rights and hunting to cattle farming and fast food. From the wide body of polemical literature Sunstein has authored, it is evident that his views are not at all similar to those held by most Americans (he thinks chickens have rights). How many more revolutionaries have the President's ear?
1984. Remember when that vile Bush character forced the Patriot Act through congress with nearly unanimous consent from a bipartisan group of legislators? Remember how petrified the liberal crowd was and how they whined about the loss of their "civil liberties"? With Obama came the hope that domestic spying would be reformed, even discontinued. However, after several months we have seen the new Democratic administration embrace not just the Patriot Act, but a systematic effort to gather information on political dissenters. Flag@whitehouse.gov is an address created and managed by the White House. Officials representing the president encouraged citizens to report "fishy" information they may have seen in an e-mail or heard in passing conversation. When Drudgereport and talk radio began reporting on the site the backlash was immediate; the site was down within days...or so it appeared. In a press conference soon after Robert Gibbs denied there was anything wrong with the site and explained that the service had simply been merged with another component of the site, realitycheck@whitehouse.gov. Next step; Reid and Pelosi will likely create a committee to investigate Un-American activity.
Steve Robinson is a member of the Class of 2011.