Talking Out the Side of Your Neck

In prison they call it “talking out of the side of your neck.” For elitists it’s “out of the mouths of babes.” But for the rest of us, it’s pure hypocrisy, plain and simple.

On Tuesday our esteemed President spoke to a throng in Warren, Michigan and once again spewed more rhetoric and demagoguery than Huey Long.

He pledged twelve billion to community colleges and threw contradictory and contrary statements to the autoworkers, words he didn’t use during his campaign. If memory serves, didn’t Obama pledge to bring the jobs back to Detroit and support the restructuring and rebuilding of an American institution — the auto industry? Didn’t he censure McCain for the same words he used in his address on Tuesday?

“The hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back.”

Oh, but now it’s out of the mouths of babes.

Obama also said, “they are casualties of a changing economy. And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we’ve lost, and of preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create.”

Is this the same man that made so many promises to Detroit last fall? It sure doesn’t sound like it. When McCain said those very same words during his campaign in Michigan the sardonic excoriation he received from the media and Obama’s staff was off the charts. So how is it now that Mr. O is extolled by the press? He’s coddled and praised for his candor, honesty and sage insight. Isn’t he a little behind the curve?

I challenge anyone to name me three things Obama has done that he said he would do. Or three things he hasn’t changed his mind about. His promise to close Gitmo immediately following his election? Hasn’t been done. End the fighting in the Middle East? Sent 20,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Release photos of detainees? Reversed his opinion. Stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel and support “one of our most staunch allies?” Hmm, didn’t he just correct Biden’s gaffe with regards to that?

Oh yes, what ever happened to transparency? Wasn’t he going to allow five days of public comment before signing bills? Post things like the TARP proposal and others on a website for public viewing? What ever happened to ending income tax for seniors making less than $50,000 a year? Has anyone heard anything about that lately? A good one would be to keep his promise of a $3,000 tax credit to companies that add jobs. Gee, sounds like that would really help right about now. Lest anyone forgot, these were his words.

“During 2009 and 2010, existing businesses will receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired.”

I can see those words coming out the side of his neck as he speaks. But let’s go on. What about cracking down on employers that hire illegal immigrants? No action. Here’s another. Did he negotiate healthcare reform in public sessions on C-SPAN like promised? No. Hell, he didn’t even include the Republican Party. The list could go on eternally but I believe you get my point.

What about the things he has accomplished in his short tenure. One of Huffington Post’s more liberal writers, Sam Stein, came up with this collective dribble as Obama’s ten best accomplishments.

1. Health Care: The Obama White House cleared an important hurdle in the health care reform debate when it appropriated $19 billion in the stimulus package to help implement an electronic medical record system.

2. Communications: A presidential campaign built on innovative messaging and advanced technology has, naturally, become a White House defined by similar characteristics. As such, the reach of the administration’s new media efforts - from hosting online question-and-answer sessions with the president to publishing the first White House blog - has been as expected as appreciated.

3. Transportation: Since the passage of the economic stimulus package in mid-February, the Obama Department of Transportation has approved 2,500 highway projects. The movement of stimulus money out the door has been as swift as it has been effective: $9.3 billion has been spent in all 50 states.

4. Education: Maligned for its handling of the financial and banking crises, the Obama Treasury Department has nevertheless implemented policies with real qualitative and quantitative impact on debt-burdened families. Chief among those was a $2,500 tax credit to help offset the cost of tuition (among other expenses) for those seeking a college education. Nearly five million families are expected to save $9 billion, according to Treasury officials.

5. Cars: The automobile industry at the White House and Congress’s behest has undergone seismic structural changes, managerial reorganization, and massive cuts in employment. But for all the tough love, the president has put in place the framework for an industry recovery. Perhaps the most significant of steps was to allocate $2 billion in stimulus cash for advanced batteries systems. One high-ranking Hill aide called battery technology “the next big frontier” in the automotive world, adding that if the U.S. could dominate this market it would reclaim its perch as the world’s premier car manufacturer.

6. Pakistan: Cognizant of a destabilizing situation in Pakistan, the administration’s diplomatic team, with a major assist from Japan, secured $5 billion in aid commitments “to bolster the country’s economy and help it fight terror and Islamic radicalism” within the country. The money, as Pakistan observers — notably Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry - note, will prove instrumental in bringing the nation away from the brink of failure and increased Taliban control.

7. Cities: More than any prior president, Obama has put a spotlight on America’s struggling cities, even creating an office of Urban Policy in the White House. It is the Justice Department, however, that lays claim to one of the most consequential of urban affairs achievements. Through the Recovery Act, DOJ secured $2 billion for Byrne Grants, which funds anti-gang and anti-gun task forces. The money, cut during the Bush years, is expected to have massive ramifications on inner-city crime and violence.

8. Engaging the Muslim World: While certainly discussed, foreign affairs experts insist that Obama’s engagement with the Muslim world has been at once remarkable and under-appreciated. From the first interview with Al Arabiya to his Nowruz address to the Iranian people, to his proclamation that “American is not at war with Islam” during an appearance in Turkey, seasoned observers have been routinely impressed. “Through these [statements and interviews],” said one Democratic foreign policy hand, “He has been able to dramatically change America’s image in that region.”

9. Forests: Since taking office, the White House has put under federal protection more than two million acres of wilderness, thousands of miles of river and a host of national trails and parks. The conservation effort - the largest in the last 15 years - came with the stroke of a pen when Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 in late March.

10. Tone: Leaving a meeting at the White House on Tuesday a progressive member of the House of Representatives commented to the Huffington Post just how impressed she was with the president’s manner. “He is so calm,” said the member, “and has a great ability to make you feel like you’re being respected and listened to.”

There’s not much to say about this list other than most of it is insignificant and some of it is inaccurate.

Health: A major tracking and identification system for Big Brother.

Communication: I covered it in the things Obama hasn’t done that he said he would. Where is the question-and-answer sessions Mr. Stein refers to? Where is the transparency and debate?

Transportation: Only 10% of the last stimulus has gone out the door and we’re still losing a half million jobs a month. I guess it’s part of the shovel ready theory.

Education: Is he talking about those debt-burdened families that have lost their jobs and homes? Or the ones that still have jobs and are suffering under the yoke of heavier taxes which more than offset the tax credit offered?

Cars: Nothing further needs to be said about Government Motors.

Pakistan: Democratic solution, throw money at it. This has done nothing but intensify the Middle East conflict. And by the way, it’s money we don’t have.

Cities: As Stein stated, a policy originating with the Bush Administration and credit given to Obama, for “putting the spot light on it.” I’m impressed.

Engaging the Muslim world: Although laughable, one of my favorites. Yes, Obama’s kowtowing and obsequious behavior has definitely changed America’s image in the Middle East. Enough said.

Forests: Okay, let’s give him a little credit, he appeased a few tree-huggers. But what about off-shore drilling? What about the energy problem? Shouldn’t he have made a deal with the spotted owl lovers?

Tone: Now that’s the problem solving I want from my leader! Oh what the hell, who needs problem solving when you can just feel all warm and fuzzy?

What’s the worst part about this list? Compare it to the things he said he was going to do and changed his mind, or the promises he made during his campaign and has now shuffled under the rug. There you have it folks, the chief hypocrite talking out the side of his neck.

I have written much about Obama and his demagoguery and I want to leave you with this note. Words of wisdom from a century ago and published on August 30, 1908 in The New York Times.　

Demagogues and Socialists.

The nominee of the so-called Democratic Party, W. J. Bryan, is in my estimation the biggest demagogue and the most persistent office seeker America has ever seen. Favoring one policy one day, repudiating the same the very next, promising labor things impossible, favoring the wholesale destruction of corporations and of wealth, his election would be a calamity.

When men like Gum-shoe Bill Stone, United States Senator from Missouri, Jeff Davis, United States Senator from Arkansas, and more of this kind are permitted to sit in the councils of the party it is time for the American people to call a halt. With a few exceptions, the Democratic Party of today is a conglomeration of hypocrites, demagogues, Socialists and Anarchist.

Needless to add that I will vote for W. H. Taft, prosperity, and peaceful American government. ~ W. F. Edwards

New York, Aug. 26, 1908