"Billary/2008" <F#%K_Liberals@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:bLUeh.4018$Q36.2302@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Looks like we're going to invite (ie have) Hitlery for lunch!
> Billary
> Tampa, FL
> <><><>
> BARACK THE BABY
>
> By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
>
> December 7, 2006 -- In reading Senator Barack Obama's #1 bestseller, The
> Audacity of Hope, one begins to wonder whether he is another cynical
> politician or just a helplessly naïve neophyte.
You sup****t a helplessly naïve neophyte --- in your repeated posts you
claim
it has done the country no harm --- so why are you starting to worry about
that issue now?
>
> After a few chapters, one actually has the audacity to hope that it is
his
> inexperience - and nothing sinister - that accounts for his sometimes
> silly and often misleading narrative. Anyone who is that naive should
not
> be a U.S. Senator, much less the president.
>
> Obama is a uniquely charismatic candidate who has catapulted into second
> place among democratic primary voters, forcing Hillary Clinton to
hastily
> abandon her coy pretense that she hasn't made a decision about whether
to
> run. He inspires people by his story, his demeanor and his message.
>
> But if his book offers a window into the real Barack Obama, one thing is
> certain: He has a long way to go before he is ready for the presidency.
> He's only been in the U.S. Senate for two years and before that, he was
a
> state senator and a professor of constitutional law. He's never been an
> administrator, met a payroll, developed a budget, or solved a crisis.
It's
> not only his greenness that sends out warnings; at times, he doesn't
seem
> to grasp the implications of all that he writes. At other times, his
words
> have a distinct disconnect with his actions and legislative record.
>
> Sometimes he sounds downright juvenile. Consider this missive, which
opens
> chapter five: "One thing about being a U.S. Senator - you fly a lot."
> Brilliant! It gets worse: "Most of the time I fly . in coach, hoping for
> an aisle or window seat" (But not always.) " . there are times when . I
> fly on a private jet." Then, "the flying experience is a good deal
> different." Wow. Obama then describes the experience: "lounges that
> feature big soft couches and big screen TVs." Hog heaven. "Restrooms are
> generally empty and spotless, and have those mechanical shoe-****ne
> machines and mouthwash and mints in a bowl." The planes? "Well, they're
> nice." The purpose of the trip was "fund raising" but the senator was
> thrilled when his staff "explained to him" that he could travel on
> "someone else's jet" and only have to pay the comparatively minor cost
of
> first class airfare.
>
> There's no mention of the special interests that pay for those cor****ate
> jets for senators or about the lobbyists that usually accompany them,
> using the down time to fill their heads with information and arguments
for
> their client's legislative priorities. All we learn from Obama is how la
> dolce vita prevails at private air****ts.
>
> Obama actually took 23 separate trips on cor****ate jets during his first
> year in the Senate, until he was appointed as the democratic point man
on
> ethics legislation last year, following the Jack Abramoff scandal
> involving lobbyists paying for Congressional travel. Given the political
> atmosphere and the intense probe of Congressional travel, it would not
> have been good politics for him to continue to avail himself of the
> lobbyist largesse. So, that's when he stopped taking the free rides.
Cushy
> sofas or not.
>
> Obama is a political infant, a babe in the woods. He's a Jimmy Carter,
> running for president based on his personal moral outlook, his
background
> and history, and making a virtue out of his limited knowledge of how
> American government works. One thing is sure - in the age of terrorism,
we
> don't need a president who can't find the men's room.
>
> Obama's book is replete with paeans to non-partisan****p and rising above
> the bitterness of the blue/red divide. He sees the virtues in his
> political opponents. "I find it possible," he declares, "to understand
> their motives, and to recognize in them the values I share."
>
> But, in reality, Obama is no "third way" politician. He is a party line
> Democrat, according to the National Journal, the 18th most liberal
member
> of the Senate, which puts him ahead of (or behind) 60% of his fellow
> Democrats in the Senate. The gospel according to Planned Parenthood? He
> gets 100%. Right to life? Zero. The AFL-CIO celebrates his vote with
them
> on nine out of ten issues and the ACLU agrees.
>
> He talks like a moderate, but he votes like a liberal.
>
> This deception, which he shares in common with Hillary, would be par for
> the Wa****ngton course. But it is the sound bites that festoon his book
> that lead one to suspect that he really doesn't understand the facts or
> the issues.
>
> For example, he writes, "we say we value the legacy we leave the next
> generation and then saddle that generation with mountains of debt."
> Really? Has the senator noticed that the deficit is now down to only a
bit
> more than 2% of our GDP, or is that sound bite too precious to lose in
the
> face of the facts?
>
> Or - he accuses us of tolerating "schools that don't teach, that are
> chronically underfunded and understaffed and underinspired." We hate to
> get in the way of his speechwriter's momentum, but how about the central
> issues: teacher incompetence, the need for merit pay and the im****tance
of
> waiving tenure to get rid of bad instructors?
>
> He speaks of an increasingly wealthy "knowledge class" of Americans able
> to purchase "whatever they want on the marketplace - private schools,
> private health care, private security and private jets." But then he
> opposes the voucher system designed to give the poor parity in
purchasing
> power for private education.
>
> And then he says that voters are tired of "sound bite solutions to
> complicated problems." So are his readers.
>
> Senator Barack Obama could indeed represent something new in our
politics
> instead of something old and simply repackaged. He could step up and
truly
> develop a third way, carrying on where Bill Clinton left off on issues
of
> poverty, race, standards, education and global competitiveness. But Bill
> Clinton worked hard at grappling with our problems and designing real
> solutions. He immersed himself in the data and worked hard to learn how
to
> be president.
>
> But Obama is taking the easy way out - skimming the surface,
sloganeering
> and hiding behind Democratic orthodoxy while pretending to be something
> else.
>
> The saving grace is that he is young and just starting out. If he pays
the
> same attention to substance that he appears to have spent acquiring a
> profound understanding of constitutional law - which he used to teach -
> then he has the potential to be a great figure.
>
> But he's not there yet.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
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IN
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>
> ***Copyright Eileen McGann and Dick Morris 2006***
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Love Billary
> Tampa, FL
>
>
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