Thanks for Waiting

Cold Day
In Cold War Echo, Obama Strategy Writes Off Putin (New York Times headline, 4/20/2014)

As others have noted, Candidate Obama got off a (rehearsed) line during the last campaign at Mitt Romney's expense saying something to the effect of 'the eighties wanting its foreign policy back.' And so - adding to a list which includes George Bush and Dick Cheney - Obama now owes an apology to Romney. Of course, all three are smart enough to know that they will never get one. 


Runaway
Even as Mr. Obama announced that eight million Americans had enrolled in the program and urged Democrats to embrace the law, those in his party are running from it rather than on it, while Republicans are prospering by demanding its repeal. (New York Times. 4/20/2014)

And why is this? Can some Democrat please explain why the party's candidates are running away from its signature legislative accomplishment?


Bent
That’s daunting enough, but here’s the key finding: The world has only about 15 years left in which to begin to bend the emissions curve downward. Otherwise, the costs of last-minute fixes will be overwhelming. “We cannot afford to lose another decade,” says Ottmar Edenhofer, a German economist and co-chairman of the committee that wrote the report. “If we lose another decade, it becomes extremely costly to achieve climate stabilization.” (New York Times editorial, 4/21/2014)

Climate change deniers (yes, that includes RedStateVT) have a ball with these predictions of impending doom, particularly when they come with a specific date attached. Back in 2006, Al Gore (remember him?) predicted that the end would come in ten years. And so the ever clever Rush Limbaugh took the Gorey One up on it and posted a countdown clock on his website. It is still there today and reminds us that - according to Gore - we are down to the final two years!


Over and Over
In his opening statement, Obama asserted that "the repeal debate is and should be over. The Affordable Care Act is working." He said the same thing on April Fool's Day, though the repetition is beginning to feel like "Groundhog Day." The assertion, and especially the reassertion, that the debate is over is self-refuting, for it is simply a statement of Obama's position in the debate. (James Taranto, Wall Street Journal, 4/18/2014)

Liked this one from Taranto. In essence, if the debate is over, why is Obama still talking about it? RedStateVT has a similar observation that when Liberals are unwilling to debate an issue any longer (usually when they are losing that debate!) they simply declare the debate to be over. It's settled science!


RIP
Weeping before a polished wood coffin at her wake this past Saturday, they described Ms. Onyango, the half sister of the president’s father, as “the spirit of the Obama family” and talked about raising money to send her body back to Kenya. Mr. Obama helped pay funeral expenses and sent a condolence note, Ms. Onyango’s family members said, but the president did not attend, as he was golfing. (New York Times, 4/23/2014)

The New York Times declares that Obama's relations with his extended family are, well, "complicated." We will have to research how the Times described Ronald Reagan's relations with his children. We do not recall them saying "complicated."

Fell Dismay

At Home
Yesterday RedstateVT was watching MSNBC. Wait it gets worse. We were watching Ronan Farrow on MSNBC. Readers are cautioned NOT to do this. RedStateVT is a trained professional. Those who attempt to watch MSNBC (the journalistic home of Rev. Al Sharpton!) without the proper training could suffer grave injury. Anyway, the topic was "Homelessness in America." What was surprising about this is that this topic - Homelessness in America - has never previously been discussed when a Democrat occupies the White House. Homelessness in America, as all know, is the fault of Republican presidents, e.g. Ronald Reagan, George Bush, George W. Bush. Of course, no blame was laid at the feet of President Obama by MSNBC's boy journalist who asked for viewer input on homelessness in their communities and vowed to follow this story...even if it led to the White House. Just kidding about that last part!


Back to the Drawing Board
American officials made clear they would ratchet up the pressure if Mr. Putin does not back down. They went immediately back to the Situation Room after the announcement to begin work on a next round of sanctions that could come as early as this week. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

In the next round of sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea President Obama threatened to not return Putin's phone calls, to deny Russians the next iPhone model, and to stop drinking Russian vodka.


Hopeless
Mr. Obama held out hope that diplomacy may yet succeed, but he sent Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Eastern Europe to meet with nervous NATO allies like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and reassure them of American resolve. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

After stiffing Eastern Europe several years back on the issue of missile defense in order to assuage Putin, Obama now sends Vice President Punch Line to tell them not to worry, Obama has their backs. Message to the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians: Be worried, be very worried. 

And so this gets added to Obama's foreign policy highlight reel which includes among other things:

Telling a Russian diplomat on an open mic that he would have "more flexibility" after the election. Which Putin then rightly interprets as a license to have his way, whether it be in Syria or in the Ukraine. How ironic it all is, especially in light of Obama's derisive comments to Mitt Romney during the election about "the 80s wanting its foreign policy back." 

And one final thought for Liberals who say: what is Obama supposed to do, go to war over Crimea? That is not the point. The point is that Obama's repeated public appeasement of Putin created the very situation that he now finds himself in. Obama is like the kid who kills his parents and then asks for mercy as an orphan.

Drastic Measures

Taxing
In the budget proposal that Mr. Hickenlooper released Wednesday, his office said the state could collect about $134 million in taxes from recreational and medical marijuana for the fiscal year beginning in July. He proposed to spend $99 million on programs including substance-abuse treatment, preventing marijuana use by children and teenagers, public health and law enforcement. (New York Times, 2/21/2014)

Only Democrats could come up with this: legalize dope; collect $134 million in taxes on dope: spend $99 million on anti-dope programs. It defies common sense, but that is what Dems do.


Limiting
Cities, counties, public schools and community colleges around the country have limited or reduced the work hours of part-time employees to avoid having to provide them with health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, state and local officials say. (New York Times, 2/20/2014)

Wonder why this was not the front page headline of every paper and website? 

Answer: When the public sector mimics the private sector it is not good news for Democrats.


Lesser
President Obama will drop from his latest budget request a plan to use a less-generous measure of inflation when calculating Social Security cost-of-living increases, according to White House officials. (Washington Post, 2/20/2014)

How serious are Democrats about entitlement reform? 

Answer: Not at all.


Ruler
A Nebraska judge ruled Wednesday that the state violated its constitution when it allowed the governor to approve the route of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a decision that could significantly delay the $5.3 billion project. (Washington Post, 2/19/2014)

Liberal judges ruining America. Gives Obama cover though, doesn't it?


Discord
The United States informed its NATO allies this month that Russia had tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, raising concerns about Moscow’s compliance with a landmark arms control accord. (New York Times, 1/29/2014)

Why did Putin stick it to Obama? 

Answer: He knows him.


Flex
The Obama administration said it would postpone enforcement of a federal requirement for medium-size employers to provide health insurance to employees and allow larger employers more flexibility in how they provide coverage. (New York Times, 2/11/2014)

Next in line for an Obamacare delay: employers in-between "medium-sized" and "larger."


Untimely
For Obama, now is not the time for defensiveness. His current difficulties owe less to Obamacare’s early problems than to a broader alienation fostered by the Republicans’ ability to block government efforts to ease widespread economic stress. (E.J. Dionne, Jr., Washington Post, 1/26/2014)

Question for Dionne. How out-of-touch does an op-ed writer have to be to say that Obama's low popularity is NOT the fault of Obamacare, but rather is the fault of Republicans?

An honest writer might say the following:

It is not only that the president’s political support is diminished; it is diminished, in large part, because of his main political achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Because of the way the law was sold — “you can keep your plan” — Americans have questions about Obama’s credibility. Because of the way it has been implemented — “the system is down at the moment” — they have questions about his competence. In a recent Quinnipiac University poll, a plurality of American voters doubts that Obama is “honest and trustworthy,” and a majority believes the Obama administration is not competent at running the government. (Michael Gerson, Washington Post, 1/27/2014)


Finding
Former Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans was found guilty on Wednesday of accepting payoffs for city contracts, becoming the first leader in the city’s history to be charged and convicted of corruption. (New York Times, 2/12/2014)

President George W. Bush will now accept your apologies for all criticism directed at him in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Local Customs

Lost and Found
The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers. (NYT editorial, 6/6/2013)

RedStateVT disagrees with the New York Times and agrees with.....President Obama? What is the world coming to? 

Years ago when RedStateVT toiled in the private sector an e-mail went out from an employee to others in the firm warning that cell phone companies were collecting data from subscribers for the purpose of developing more effective target marketing. Some expressed outrage, some yawned. Our favorite comment came from the friend who said: "If they want to spend money to track our phone calls to find out that my wife talks to her mother for two hours everyday, have at it!"

The larger issue - beyond that of faux privacy concerns - is that this country remains at war with Islamic fundamentalists. We love the Patriot Act and encourage the government to do everything possible to keep America safe. Note to Liberals: You cannot argue against government vigilance and then criticize that same government if the terrorists strike. See below:

Well, another day, another Washington furor. This one is over a National Security Agency phone data monitoring program, but unlike the other White House scandals there seems to be little here that is scandalous. The existence of the program was exposed years ago and such surveillance is a core part of the war on terror, if we can still use that term. (WSJ, 6/7/2013)


Friend Indeed
Assad, in contrast, has a real friend. Putin knows Obama. Having watched Obama’s retreat in Eastern Europe, his passivity at Russian obstructionism on Iran, his bended-knee “reset” policy, Putin knows he has nothing to fear from the U.S. president.

Result? The contemptuous Putin floods Syria with weapons. Iran, equally disdainful, sends Revolutionary Guards to advise and shore up Assad’s forces. Hezbollah invades Syria and seizes Qusair. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 6/6/2013)

Charles with yet another scathing indictment of Obama, a foreign policy rube if ever there was one. When Putin's henchman reported back last year that Obama had said that he would have "more flexibility after the election," Putin got the message loud and clear.