The President's Sad Tune

You get the feeling that the air is escaping from the self-inflated Obama dirigible of hype over substance, prose or policy and imagery over realty. Yesterday, President Obama did his usually fine job of speaking, but if you listened to the words, his presentation rang hallow.

The President's songs remind me of old fashioned FM radio, where listeners were subjected to the same tunes over and over again, until one simply accepted them as noise. It was later, we found out that disc jockey's were paid under-the-table to pump the records.

Gallup and Rasmussen both showed the Republican winning the generic Congressional ballot by four and six points respectively, an unheard of number given the circumstances. If health care is so critical and an overwhelming majority of American want the government in charge, then why does the Congress have its lowest rating ever at 21 percent? President Obama is now at 46 percent, according to Rasmussen.

People are scared. You see it everywhere in people's faces. The New York Times ran a story Sunday on Page One that said the "effective" unemployment rate wasn't 10.2 percent, but 17.5 percent, when you factor in those who don't apply for benefits or who have given up looking and are burning their savings and hoping for a gig. I run into people all the time who are either waiting to be laid off or know someone who is in their ninth or tenth month of idleness. This is a hard-core white collar Depression.

President Obama doesn't understand this. He thinks that it's about greed or some problem with the capitalist model. The printing of money, the bailouts then bonuses for crooked bankers and lazy investment officers, the anticipated seizure of our health care system and then cap and trade have frozen the investment class. Gold is now $1,111.00 per ounce and climbing.

The government took over the distribution of vaccines for H1N1 and have promptly botched that big time. Even in China, were there five times the people, those jokers have a handle on it. And we are not even in the heart of the flu season.

And, then at Ft. Hood, the country's largest domestic military facility, a base that one would hope had state-of-the-art security to protect from within and out, a medical officer manages to gun down 52 people with a pair of 20-round semi-automatic pistols before a local cop put him down. What has been more frightening than the success of this killer, is the level of denial from the President on down on its causes and lessons.

His inadequate reaction and remarks Tuesday were foreshadowed by his initial, almost indifferent announcement days earlier about the incident, when he spent many minutes acknowledging a crowd to a summit on Native American issues in a casual, joking matter then shifted on a dime to details of the crazed shooting. It was a spooky performance since most of American already knew how many brave soldiers had died at the hands of a Islamic-fanatic. You get the feeling that no matter what they put on the teleprompter, President Obama will read it without understanding the context or the audience.

In his words and deeds, President Obama believes political correctness trumps the security of our nation. Well, political correctness does indeed - kill.

President Obama said, that the soldiers, "were killed here, on American soil. . . . This is the fact that makes the tragedy even more painful, even more incomprehensible."

You wonder how stupid does this guy think we are? Incomprehensible? A troubled officer who was identified as a problem and potential security risk, who openly railed against the chain-of-command and the mission, consorted with groups sympathetic to the nation's harm, and his actions are beyond our President's comprehension?

Of course, there were the defenders of the President - Slate magazine, David Brooks of the New York Times and of course - MSNBC - the network of the liberally deranged.

So, hope and change has led to let's hope something will change. But nothing will change right now. The spending will continue and the President will still keep singing the sweet tune of collectivism and common purpose.

And less of less of us will have the radio on.

The Wall

Twenty years ago, everyone was caught off guard when the Berlin Wall became just another collection of cinder blocks, grout and barbed wire. The East German government announced it would no longer prevent people from leaving the country and seeking the west. Before long, Germans began to bang away at it with sledge hammers and picks. The cold war was over. Game, set, match to the free world, led by the United States of America.

When I noticed this anniversary was due, I thought back to a time when the world was divided into lightness and darkness and I got to see it up close.

In 1970, the Healy family took its first trip abroad, mostly to see the U.K. but at one point the family split up for a side trip. My mother and brother would go to Scotland, and my father and I headed off to Berlin. The Berlin Wall was only eight years old at the time, and my father wanted me to see what Communists looked like. So aside from running around the funky West Berlin, we took a tour of East Berlin, by ourselves, in a rented car.

It took hours to cross over through Checkpoint Charlie, the famed roadblocked where Russian and American tanks were parked on either side of the border. Once across into the Eastern side, it was very clear who was getting a better deal. Despite having a population of 3 million, the streets of the city were empty in the middle of day. There were no stores and only a few kiosks and restaurants, and they only took the very worthless East German mark. Another thing one noticed was the lack of advertising or art anywhere.

There were plenty of pictures of Eric Honecker, the Soviet stooge who ruled East Germany for all but a few years. There was no doubt who was in charge. Churches and other religious structures that were damaged during the Allied bombings of 1944 (26 years ago at that time) were in the same condition of ruin.

It was all rather creepy - quiet and desolate and devoid of the hustle and bustle of West Berlin where we retreated to at nightfall. Having grown up on the novels of John LeCarre, the entire environment was intoxicating. One could see people slipping in and out of the long shadows of an alley way or a dark avenue. People muttered on corners, smoking cigarettes before marching off with no destination in mind. But no matter how far you walked or drove, you always hit the wall.

When we flew out of Templehof Airport in Berlin in the evening, we gazed out the window and saw a large island of light and neon, surrounded by a sea of darkness. Only a flicker of light could be detected on the Communist side of the street. A fitting metaphor for what the world was like. That was before Nixon's detente and Ronald Reagan's robust assault on the entire Communist system, capped by his famous line - "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!"

Of all the gifts of insight my father has given me, none equals the four days we spent in West and East Berlin. It was where we saw one of the greatest conflicts and freedom's most compelling triumph.

A Big Save in New York State

Only the liberals can wish there is a split in the New York GOP when two Republican candidates collectedly pull 70 percent of the vote between them against a Democrat. Friday night, the insider appointed by New York Republican County chairman, Dede Scozzaffa, quit her candidacy for the 23rd special Congressional election, thereby giving Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman a chance to win and make history.

The bombshell was a gracious act by Scozzafa, whose withdrawal allows Hoffman, to receive support from the Republican National Committee and grass roots operatives around the state. It was the grass roots Republicans who expressed outrage at the selection of Scozzafa, who is liberal of social issues and not an aggressive tax cutter. Soon, national Republicans watched as Scozzafa wandered aimlessly through the district, failing to capture the unrest and frustration with the Obama administration's policies. Hoffman, who comes from a the private sector and is an accountant by profession, had a laser like message.

The parade of commentators bemoaned this development. They should because it shows how a principled, focus message (lower taxes, smaller government, a robust national defense) offered by a credible person (business owner, entrepreneur) is still a viable product for the voters to buy.

Hoffman has received many endorsements from national Republican figures including Sara Palin, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former New York Governor George Pataki, as well as numerous conservative groups at the local and national level.

The 23rd district has been in Republican hands since the birth of the party and it is a conservative slice of upstate New York. If the Democrats captured this seat, it would have cost the NRCC at least $1 million to recapture it next year - money that could be used elsewhere on a promising challenge race.

What is particularly amusing is how Frank Rich of the New York Times was so bereft over this, he spent his whole column talking about it Sunday. The real story is the Republicans are on the march, returning to their basic message and not tolerating pretenders who think they can get over by over a vague mixture of ideas that impress editorial writers but don't reflect the realities in Congress and across the country.

Our country is at war in two countries and our President is pondering whether to pull the plug in one location. The Congress is attempting to seize one sixth of the nation's wealth and put it directly under government control and our economy is teetering toward a double-dip recession - spurned by a collapse of the commercial real estate market.

People are pissed. They should be. Doug Hoffman is a smart guy who can read a balance sheet. There are not many of those in Congress. It all adds up for the people in the 23rd district and that is why he will win Tuesday.

Dodd and Rangel Share a Problem

The year-long investigation into the financial affairs of Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee are no different from the issues which face Sen. Chris Dodd. The only difference is Rangel comes from a district that would reelect him if he was making license plates upstate at Sing Sing. Sen. Dodd, as we know, is in the fight of his life.

Rangel, who has become the biggest joke in Congress, came to Congress in 1970 by beating another crook, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., when he won a bitter primary. Since then, Rangel has moved slowly up the leadership ladder, amassing fame and fortune on a Congressman's salary. Aside from living in high style on Lenox Avenue in Harlem in rent-controlled apartments, shaking down donors for his colleagues and foundation, Rangel also grabbed a cheap property in the Dominican Republic (sound familiar?), which is rented out and pocketed $75,000 the proceeds. He forgot to declare it on his taxes.

But Rangel's cheapest trick was to apply for mortgages on various properties in different states claiming each jurisdiction as his primary residence. This allowed Rangel to secure more favorable loan arrangements and here is where the parallel with Dodd rings true.

Sen. Dodd, it appears, also made similar dual-applications but made it worse by refusing to release the primary resident affidavit, which would clear up the matter entirely. Dodd, and his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, own a condominium in Washington, D.C. a family home in East Haddam, and, of course, the famed cottage in Ireland.

The Dodd's were able to secure two generous loans from Countrywide Financial, and initially declined to show the documents pertaining to it when the fit in the sham. But even when they did, there were no affidavits to be found.

It would seem likely that if Sen. Dodd had shown the affidavits, it would show that he and his wife claimed primary residency in both East Haddam and Washington, D.C. If it didn't, he would surely have provided them for public view. If that is the case, it creates numerous problems for him as it now does for Charlie Rangel.

Rangel has not only drawn attention to himself for not declaring $75,000 in income, but being surprised to find $5000,00 in cash in his checking account. Even the uber liberal columnist Gail Collins thinks Rangel is a joke. What a concept - you can't have a tax cheat writing the tax laws of the country!. Congressional Republicans failed to knock him from his perch Wednesday in a floor vote. Easy to see why. Almost every Congressman, including Connecticut's delegation, has received funds from Rangel's political action committee. Congressmen Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney have received healthy sums and have been loyal in return.

If Rangel is no good, then why can Connecticut allow the chairman of the Banking Committee, which writes the law pertaining to transparency of loan documents and adherence to filling out affidavits correctly, under penalty of fine, to apply for primary residency in two states and get away with it?

Those affidavits will become public eventually because the voters and the 2010 campaign will demand it. Then we will see if Chris Dodd is truly a Connecticut native or a D.C. denizen.

Shaking the Acorn Tree to Its Roots

Let this be a warning to those who think they can roll the American people and get away it. Exhibit A is the quick destruction of ACORN - Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - after several videos showed their members setting up prostitution ring and one member bragging how she shot her husband dead without anyone knowing about it - until she told the tale on tape.

In Connecticut, ACORN showed its hand in Bridgeport last year, registering children and convicts still on lockup as voters. It is unclear whether some of this activity ended up making a difference in the defeat of U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-CT, whose margin of defeat came from a huge turnout in the Park City.

But because everyday people and others kept at it, exposing the affairs of this corrupt group and weren't intimidated by its promoters in the Democratic Party and Congress, ACORN has had its funding legs cut out from under it. More important, ACORN will likely not be part of the mix when it comes to "helping out" with the U.S. Census. It was this project where ACORN had hoped to have it's biggest impact and one can only imagine what they would have been able to accomplish with a loose leash from Congress.

But as Byron York said in the National Review, the reversal of ACORN's fortunes were breathtaking.

"It was an absolutely mind-blowing turn of events, a total collapse of longtime Democratic support for ACORN. Republicans had worked for years to reduce ACORN's influence, with little success. Now, in the span of a few days, the GOP scored major victories."

"Everybody knows why. None of this would have happened had it not been for undercover videos, released on the new Web site BigGovernment, which caught ACORN employees in Baltimore, Washington, New York City and California in the act of encouraging tax fraud and prostitution, including prostitution involving underage girls. The videos, which were ignored by most big media organizations other than Fox News, had a huge effect on Capitol Hill."

So thanks to the people at BigGovernment who exposed these louts for who they are and protected the American taxpayers from further abuse.

E-mails That Tell No Tales

The recent disclosures by the New Britain Herald that emails critical of Mayor Tim Stewart and his 18-year-old son were traced by to the state House of Representatives server should not come as a surprise to anyone. What does and should upset taxpayers is how the server is set up - guaranteeing that partisan political staff can engage in this sort of activity of state time without fear of being identified and punished.

This is one of the perks of incumbency and it probably the most cynical aspect of why we have a strong political aristocracy run by the party of the people - the Democrats. The server allows all email traffic to go through one port, thereby removing the normal ability to forensically pinpoint where the bad mouthing came from.

In the Stewart case, some cowards spent the workday commenting on the New Britain site about Mayor Stewart's son arrest earlier this year for driving under the influence. At the time, the Mayor said his son would have to abide by the rules that everyone must follow and man up to it. Stewart's opponent, State Rep. Tim O'Brien, D-New Britain, decried the incidents. But there is no love lost between the unions, who support the ultra-liberal O'Brien, and Stewart, who has shown the platinum spine needed to stand up to them.

Last year, when we suspected a staff member of the Democratic leadership was using a legislative office to conduct fundraising for a local town committee. We ask to confirm this activity by trying to access information on certain users during a certain time of a day on a certain day, to acquire hard facts about the use of telephones, fax machines and email.

After making a request under the Freedom of Information Act, the Office of Legislative Management promptly replied, but gave us a list of Legislative employees who were on-line at the time. They were unable to pin it down to the actual laptop and its user, something that is routinely accomplished in the private sector on a fairly routine basis.

But not at the Legislature. House and Senate Republicans have a strict policy on this sort of thing and maybe the Democrats do, also. But it might make everyone feel a little better if the Committee on Legislative Management were to instruct the bureaucrats to create a transparent system that keeps everyone honest.

Imagine, if you could spend most of the day badmouth people, knowing you couldn't get caught and get paid for it? Now that is a swell set-up. But don't hold your breadth. This is the kind of thing that goes on in the Taj Mahal of ineptitude.

Obama Speech Will Not Change Anything

Nothing spells impending defeat like a "make or break" speech to the Congress. It is an admission that despite having one megaphone, a compliant media and a lot of good will, even from people who wouldn't cross the street to vote for him, Barack Obama has blown it. Not a surprise really, when you think how high the Obama team set their expectations and had no plan to carry it out.

Wednesday, the President will give another one of the speeches that sounds good but will say little, except to warn that to do nothing is unsustainable. He will have plenty of applause lines, but the clapping will be made with frozen smiles and shifting eyes by the Democrats. That can smell death in the air, the death of some political careers if something doesn't radically change quickly. But nothing will, because the Democrats are doing what the Republicans ended up doing - not listening to anyone but themselves.

Remember, there are many of the liberal bulls in the House who feel this is their last shot at greatness. Henry Waxman, George Miller, Charlie Rangel, Nancy Pelosi - are getting up there and they don't really care if most of America has taken a large crap on their health care plan. They are not concerned about Barack Obama's poll numbers. They believe once they get a foothold in the private health care system, it will be a matter of mission creep.

The problem is Obama forgot that there is a murderous recession out there and it has hit every sector of the economy. This is not like 1982, when it was principally a manufacturing sector problem. Not everyone is a screenwriter in Hollywood or Level 12 federal employee. People are dying out there and it is not going to get better in a year. Add some inflation to the mix, a weak dollar and run on gold and you will have a very worried electorate in 2010. And we haven't even discussed Iraq and Afghanistan yet, where the liberals want a full withdrawal and the President, to his credit, has not bought their arguments.

But back to Wednesday. Before the President enters the House chamber, many of the Members will have time to regale each other about their town hall meetings. They will probably have a few good laughs on who had the louder and bigger audiences and who had the worst youtube rendition.

No speech can wash away the true anger and passion that resides in the American people right now. Other columnists, especially Peggy Noonan, have captured Obama's central problem - he is a blood-less intellectual, who has lived in a very strange world before he became the phenom that benefited from an unpopular second-term incumbent and a Republican Party which couldn't settle on where it wanted to go.

Noonan wrote Saturday:

"He (Obama) is cold, like someone who is contained not because he's disciplined and successfully restrains his emotions, but because there's not that much to restrain. This is the dark side of cool. One wonders if this will play well with the American people. Long-term it is hard to get people to trust your policies if they think you're coolly operating on some intellectual or ideological abstractions."

"I don't think as a presidential style it will wear well with the center. And it may not wear well with the president's own party. They may come to see him, in time, as not really one of them. And that's when things will really get interesting."

Now our party has gotten its tempo back a bit. Republicans are offering ideas again and not backing down. Taking Van Jones out was a good start. It shows we can call them out and not be worried that the liberal media will call the GOP racists when we see an African American racist in our midst.

So, forget the speech. We have heard it before. Enjoy the last few nights of late light before the cold political winter sets in.