Tuesday, November 18, 2008

How Obama Got Elected

In case you were wondering, here's some insight into how Obama was elected president:



More at HowObamaGotElected.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Is Obama Qualified?

Questions about Obama's status as a Natural Born Citizen persist.  Alan Keys has filed suit in a Califoria court to force clarification of the issue.  More here .
Why has Obama failed so far to difinitively address this issue?
hattip: ace.

Jimmy Obama

Ann Althouse thinks Obama sounds a lot like Jimmy Carter :



What do you think?

And, oh, BTW, since when did it become appropriate for The Office of the President-Elect to issue a weekly address?  Is it my imagination, or are the marionette-like strings connecting Obama to his handlers visible in this weekly address video?

While we're at it, is there any meaning to be found in the fact that,. while the world's leaders are meeting, Obama is holed up in Chicago?

A question to which we may soon learn the answer: Is Obama a follower, or can he lead?

Monday, November 10, 2008

A humble prediction

Here's a humble prediction: Severe buyer's remorse will have settled in by the time Obama is sworn in, on January 20, 2009, as President of the United State.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

The Hypocracy of Dividers and Uniters

Free Speech in the Obama Era: Censor Your T-Shirt

Free speech in the Obama Era. A man is arrested for simply wearing a McCain/Palin t-shirt:




H/T: Ace .

Thursday, November 06, 2008

The Multi-Trillion Dollar Question about Obama

Obama has demonstrated exemplary skills at running a campaign. Obama has proven his ability to run an effective Presidential campaign. Just as Obama proved his ability to run a successful Senate campaign. Just as Obama proved his ability to run a successful campaign to become a legislator in the state of Illinois.

The campaign is over. Obama is now president-elect. There is no next campaign for Obama to pivot to; the President's office is not a springboard to another position up toe political food chain. Being president is about leadership. About governing. Voting "present" is not an option.

The multi-trillion dollar question about Obama is: can he govern?

Only in time will we learn of Obama's ability to govern. The stock market, however, excels at incorporating the future into current stock prices. On learning Obama is the president-elect, the stock market declined by more than 5%. The largest post presidential election stock market decline ever. Is the market prophetic? 

Monday, November 03, 2008

Obama's Finger

These videos are making the rounds today. The first is of Obama speaking in a disparaging way about Hillary Clinton:


The second video is of a (tired looking) Obama speaking about John McCain:



Coincidence? Careless gesture or intentional insult?

The Dead Vote in Cleveland

As we are on the eve of a Presidential election, these findings by Cleveland TV station 5 are unsettling:
CLEVELAND -- Among the thousands of graves at Highland Park Cemetery, one modest tombstone stands out.
Alex Holmes Sr. has been at rest in that cemetery for 15 years. But recent election records show he cast a ballot in this year's primary.
And our 5 On Your Side investigation found a home on Cleveland's east side listed as Holmes' address.
Jeremy Moore, Holmes' grandson, was stunned.
"He's deceased. Deceased since 1993," Moore said.
And it doesn't appear to be a name mix-up.
Records reveal Alex Holmes Jr. -- who is still alive -- voted in the same election as his deceased father.
Cuyahoga County Elections Director Jane Platten said she'll look in to it.
"Without having full detail, I have no idea why that would have happened," Platten said.
But this isn't the first time we've uncovered dead voters. Two years ago, another 5 On Your Side investigation exposed 13,000 dead voters registered in Cuyahoga County. More than two dozen of them cast ballots.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Obama's Energy Policy: Bankrupt Coal-Fired Power Plants

An audio file in which Obama outlines his energy policy includes a promise to eliminate generation of new electricity using one of America's most abundant resources:

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.


Approximately 30% of US electricity production is from coal-powered facilities. The US holds approximately 25% of the world's known coal reserves. R&D has produced significant advances toward clean coal power generation. New coal fired electric plants would incorporate the new technologies.

Perhaps Senator Obama was speaking recklessly. Perhaps. To my eye, greater bang for the buck would be achieved by stimulating building of power generation facilities, including coal powered facilities, that are cleaner than existing facilities. New capacity could enable retiring old inefficient and dirty facilities. Categorically ruling out expanding electricity production that leverages one of America's most abundant resources is short sighted.

More on Obama's Illegal Campaign Donations


An Instapundit reader does some important leg work on illegal foreign contributions to the Obama campaign:

Meanwhile, reader Joseph Edwards emails:

All these stories about Obama's campaign contributions (lack of credit card verification, Aunti Zaitun, etc.) prompted me to check Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends) to see from which countries people are searching for "Donate McCain" versus "Donate Obama." Check it out yourself. Nothing other than the USA registers for McCain, but a statistically significant number of Canadian and British residents apparently have enough interest in donating to Obama's campaign they show up as numbers two and three. Somehow I don't believe these are all US service men and women stationed in Montreal or London who are googling this topic.

He's right. Here's "Donate Obama," and here's "Donate McCain" on Google Trends. Of course, that just tells you who's searching, not who's donating.
Agreed.   It does raise myriad questions the Obama campaign should address pronto.


Biden Crowds vs. Palin Crowds

I'm a strong believer that actions speak louder than words. Both vice presidential candidates visited Bowling Green this week. Palin was in town Wednesday morning (Oct 29). She drew a crowd estimated at 5,500 on a work-day morning. The event required attendees to plan in advance and obtain a ticket to the event. It took commitment to attend the Palin event.

Biden spoke last evening, a Saturday, at an outdoor event held on the BGSU campus that attracted a crowd estimated at 1,500. Barriers to attending the Biden event were limited: no ticket required (show up), no need to miss work. Kids living in the nearby dorms didn't need to travel far. Parking was abundant. It appears Obama/Biden supporters were more committed to their beers than to making the limited effort required to rally their candidate.

Will a similar difference in commitment be apparent at the polls on Tuesday? We'll see.

Tito the Builder

Obama on Civilian Security

This clip is disturbing for a number of reasons. One is that it appears Obama is proposing yet another government program. Two, one might infer that Senator Obama is unawares that the US already has voluntary civilian security organizations we variously call the US Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, the Coast Guard, the National Guard, and even local police officers. Three, it could be interpreted as a promise of jobs for many individuals. Fourth, the prospect of 'civilian' enforcers is a chilling prospect reminiscent of Cuba and other totalitarian regimes. Is this program intended to enforce internal compliance with Obama's views?



UPDATE: The Captain's Journal has some questions:

  1. How will this Civilian National Security Force (hereafter CNSF) be just as powerful as men with guns, artillery, ordnance, war ships and aircraft?
  2. What will make the CNSF “just as strong” as the U.S. Marine Corps?
  3. How will this CNSF implement national security policy?
  4. Since the 2009 budget includes just over half a trillion dollars for defense spending (The Captain’s Journal supports this, and calls for even more), and since it is judged that this CNSF be “just as well funded” as the military, where will this half a trillion dollars come from?
  5. Finally, if he didn’t really mean that this CNSF would be the beneficiary of half a trillion dollars (to do with we don’t know what), then why did he say so?

Excellent questions. I'm not holding my breath that anyone will bother to ask these questions of Obama or that Obama would answer them if they were asked.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Dear Mr. Obama

Powerline's John Hinderaker captures powerfully the irony of the current presidential campaign:

But because McCain was so spectacularly right, and because President Bush ultimately took his advice, the war has become a non-issue in the campaign. No one could have foreseen it: the 2008 Presidential race is about the banking industry and the stock market, not the war against Islamic terrorism. And, in just one of the many ironies of this election season, the result may well be that the candidate who was most spectacularly wrong about Iraq--Barack Obama--will benefit from the fact that his opponent was proved right, and win the White House. This is why throughout human history, people have referred to the "wheel of fortune," not the "wheel of justice."


Does this pattern also reflect the short collective memory of the US voting public?

The Govenator Challenges Obama to "Pump it Up"

Stumping for McCain in Ohio, the Govenator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, packages Obama:


Every year in March I come here to organize the Arnold Classic, which is all about building the body and pumping," Schwarzenegger said.

"That's why I want to invite Senator Obama because he needs to do something about those skinny legs. I'm going to make him do some squats.

"And then we're going to make him do some biceps curls to beef up those scrawny little arms. But if he could only do something about putting some meat on his ideas.

"Senator McCain on the other hand is built like a rock. His character and his views are solid."

UPDATE: Here's the video:

Obama's Illegal Alien Problem

The AP is reporting that Obama's aunt, a Kenyan, is in the US illegally and living in subsidized public housing:

Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as "Aunti Zeituni" in Obama's memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango's case.

In fairness, it is unreasonable for a candidate to be held accountable for the actions of his/her relatives. On the other hand, to my eye, Obama has an unusually large number of personal connections to individuals with personal histories or circumstances that fall outside the realm of my personal experience. We know from the extensive literature rooted in symbolic interactionist theory that one's social ties determine a substantial amount of variance in an individual's views of the world. In short, those social ties DO matter, no matter how hard Obama and his surrogates try to shrug them off. There is much truth in the old saying, "You can tell a man by the company he keeps."