Do as Barack Says, Not As He Does

I can barely leave my house without running into Obama's face. The man is not even in office and yet, he is EVERYWHERE. He is inescapable. I made the mistake of going into Barnes and Nobles the other day and was greeted by a barrage of Barack. Kiosk after kiosk showcased books plastered with his face.

Just out of curiosity, I did a search for Obama on Amazon. The search yielded 2,217 Obama books (73 of which are children's books), 1,897 Obama apparel & accessories, 12 Obama music CDs, 3 magazines with Obama on the cover, 77 Obama related DVDs, 102 Obama related office supplies, 157 Obama car accessories, etc. Slightly excessive for someone who is not even president, yet and did little in the Senate beside vote "present."

I guess it makes sense in our society which seems to prize image over substance more and more every day. A few flashy words, a snappy dresser and a big smile is enough to make the man a God.

The only thing emptier than his words is the world's obsession over him. Obama iconography has infected every aspect of our culture. How much worse is this going to get?



Why does man, who arose from the dirtiest of the dirty political cities, Chicago, seem to skate above any scrutiny? Why is it assumed he's squeaky clean and can do no wrong? People are so quick to make him a role model for their children, but the man's a smoker. What kind of role model is that? Not that being a smoker makes him a bad person, but it certainly isn't commendable or presidential behavior.

Parents use the President-elect as a parenting aid.

You could call it Obama discipline or Obama etiquette, and it goes something like this:

Get up! Do you think Obama would have slept late and not made it to school on time?

Why don't you guys share? Don't you think Obama would want you to share?

How much did you read? Obama would have finished the book by now.

Do you think Obama would sneak cigarettes? (Oops.)

Does anyone know where I can get a WWOD bracelet?










I don't care if we're talking about Obama, Palin or Paris Hilton, there is no excuse for this kind of idolatry. It is dangerous. He is just a person, a flawed person, just like the rest of us. Not to mention, HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET.

Do people really have so little strength and confidence in themselves that they must project their hopes and dreams on this man? If so, that's a sad commentary on our society.

Does it even get any creepier than this?




I think it's great that people look up to and are inspired by our President, rather than a celebrity, reality star, musician, vapid athlete, etc. But this is excessive and scary. With people so enamored by a leader, it is easy to allow ourselves to be blinded by this adoration. And again, what does this say about people's inherent self worth? Why must we seek out someone on which to lavish such hero/messiah worship?

And can we tone down the hypocrisy just a tad? Shall we compare two articles: one on the fitness regimen of Obama and one on the regimen of Bush.

Can you guess which is which?

[Blank] has gone to the gym, for about 90 minutes a day, for at least 48 days in a row. He always has treated exercise less as recreation than requirement, but his devotion has intensified during the past few months. Between workouts during his Hawaii vacation this week, he was photographed looking like the paradigm of a new kind of presidential fitness, one geared less toward preventing heart attacks than winning swimsuit competitions. The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.

The more [Blank]'s life intensifies, friends said, the more he relies on the gym -- which is why he might be taking office in the best shape of his life. The gym is where he releases stress, maintains a routine and thinks without interruption. He sometimes wears headphones and barricades the outside world.

Versus:

[Blank] spends an enormous amount of time working out.

There’s no denying that the results are impressive. [Blank] can bench press 185 pounds five times, and, before a recent knee injury, he ran three miles at a 6-minute, 45-second pace. That’s better than I could manage when I played two sports in high school. And I wasn’t holding the most powerful office on Earth. Which is sort of my point: Does the leader of the free world need to attain that level of physical achievement?

I know it's tough, but can you figure it out?

As Michelle Malkin points out:

Fit Republican president = Selfish, indulgent, creepy fascist.

Fit Democratic president = Disciplined, health-conscious Adonis role model.

The good news: In just a few short weeks, W. will be able to exercise in peace, free from the disapproving glares of journalists now rushing to mop the sweat — er, the glisten — from Barack Obama’s hallowed brow.

Apparently even his fashion choices speak volumes about his ability to govern us effectively. My personal favorite is what the editor at GQ, Jim Moore said about Obama:

There's a very modern thinker there. He's not the pattern-mixing guy, not even the khaki guy. You'll very rarely even see him in jeans. He has an urbane, citified kind of palate. He has a vitality to him, and his image transcends race.

Transcends race? Really? Wow. That's pretty impressive, although I'm still not entirely sure what this phrase means. And what is it about his style allows him to achieve this inhuman feat?

I think what we can take take away from the past few months is that we should all just try to be a little more like our homeboy, Barack.

I demand more Italian/Scottish-American representation!

Whatever happened to appointing someone on their merit rather than their race or gender? Please.

Latinos push Obama on vacant post

By Guillermo X. Garcia

After the withdrawal of Bill Richardson's name as an Obama administration Cabinet nominee, Hispanic leaders say they expect the president-elect to name another Latino to head the Commerce Department.

An Obama transition team source said a veteran California congressman, Xavier Becerra, has emerged as the leading congressional candidate to replace Richardson, the Hispanic governor of New Mexico, as President-elect Barack Obama's choice for a job that will include overseeing the 2010 U.S. Census.

“Even though he turned down the trade representative slot, Becerra is not only Hispanic, but he has the skill, talent and experience to do the Commerce job,” said the source, who was not authorized to speak for the president-elect.

“Xavier's name has gone to the top of the list of potential replacements in part because he is a member of the House leadership, he is well liked, he has very good credentials, and, of course, he was an early Obama backer,” the source said.

Becerra, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and the House Committee of the Budget, turned down Obama's offer to be U.S. Trade Representative because he did not want to give up his House seniority.

But several sources, including two who know him, say Becerra might be tempted to leave Congress, where he has been for 16 years, for the Commerce slot.

Richardson, who has also held a variety of high-profile posts including Energy Secretary and U.N. ambassador in the Clinton Administration, became an early Obama supporter after his own bid for the Democratic presidential nomination fizzled.

After Richardson removed himself from consideration Sunday, Hispanic interest groups around the country began pushing to have the position go to another Hispanic.

San Antonio Congressman Charlie Gonzalez said the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is meeting in Washington this week, “will be coalescing with other groups on a specific person to recommend” as Richardson's replacement. He declined to name any candidate.

He said Hispanic groups would strongly push to have a qualified Hispanic named as Richardson's replacement because of the need to have minorities, especially Hispanics, properly accounted for in the Census.

The Census Bureau, which conducts a national count once every 10 years, is part of the Department of Commerce. Many federal entitlement program allocations to the states are based on Census data.

While Gonzalez said he could not release the name, the Obama insider who is familiar with the situation, said the person under consideration is Becerra, 50, an eight-term congressman from Los Angeles.

The Obama official said Becerra's name “has risen to the top of the list” of potential Hispanics to replace Richardson, who removed himself because of a pending criminal investigation in his home state.

“I am crushed that Richardson is out,” said Linda Chavez Thompson of San Antonio, a member of the Democratic National Committee.

“I can't think of a single high-profile Latino at the level of Bill Richardson. He would have been ideally situated to positively impact the everyday life of Latinos, especially during these economic times we are living through,” Chavez, who until her retirement last year was the third-highest-ranking officer in the national AFL-CIO labor organization.

“We are going from three Latinos to two on the Obama Cabinet,” said Juan Sepulveda, a San Antonioan who served as the Obama campaign's Texas coordinator. “While we still have Sen. (Ken) Salazar and Rep. (Hilda) Solis at Interior and Labor, respectively, Richardson would have been the highest-ranking Hispanic in the cabinet.”

It would have been the first time that three Hispanics would serve as Cabinet secretaries at the same time, he said.

Three Latinos — current Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and former Housing and Urban Development head Mel Martinez — served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush, though not at the same time.

Three Latinos also served in Clinton's Cabinet, but not at once: former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros as HUD secretary, Richardson as Energy secretary and former Denver mayor Federico Peña, a Laredo native, served as head of the Transportation and Energy departments.

Signs of hope outside the U.S.

Could it be? A European leader who departs from all the climate change BS?

New EU President Klaus Is a 'Figurehead'; Appellation Rarely Used on Predecessor Sarkozy

By Tom Blumer

To say that President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic is not liked by Euro-elitists is a grand understatement.

European media has generally bent over backwards to give European Union politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels respect and the benefit of the doubt. If there is a voter referendum that enhances EU power, the press is for it, and those in countries like Ireland who reject its advances towards smiley-faced socialism are unenlightened.

Even France's widely disliked Nicolas Sarkozy received favorable treatment from the Europhile press during his 2008 stint as EU President.

That has changed now that Klaus, a fervent advocate of democracy and ardent opponent of statism, whatever its disguises -- including "climate change" -- has taken over that office.

David Charter, Europe correspondent for the UK Times Online, led the charge last Friday (the picture and caption above is from the Times's story page), and reported that things are getting quite testy between Klaus and the Europe uber alles crowd:

EU's new figurehead believes climate change is a myth

The European Union's new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.

The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.

The Czech president, who caused a diplomatic incident by dining with opponents of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on a recent visit to Ireland, has a largely ceremonial role.

But there are already fears that, after the dynamic EU presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy - including his hyper-active attempts at international diplomacy over the credit crisis and Georgia as well as an historic agreement to cut greenhouse gases - the Czech effort will be mired in infighting and overshadowed by the platform it will give to Mr Klaus and his controversial views.

Czech diplomats in Brussels insist that Mr Klaus is not a big part of their plans and are trying to limit him to one speech to the European Parliament in February and chairing one international summit, either the EU-Canada or EU-Russia meeting.

..... Tensions recently erupted between Mr Klaus and Brussels when a private meeting with senior MEPs descended into a slanging match after they presented him with an EU flag and said that they were not interested in his Eurosceptic views.

Mr Klaus responded: “No one has spoken to me in this style and tone in my six years here. I thought these methods ended for us 18 years ago. I see I was wrong.”

This led to a counter-attack from Mr Sarkozy in the European Parliament. He told MEPs: “The president of the European Parliament should not be treated like this and Europe’s symbols should not be treated like this, whatever people’s political engagement.”

What should not be lost in all of this is that Klaus is likely in better touch with the mood and outlook of average Europeans than the insulated bureaucrats and elitist politicians in Brussels. It's no secret that the blowback against radical steps to fight the non-problem of "climate change" is continent-wide, and growing ever more fierce.

In fact, as CCNet's Benny Peiser noted in the Wall Street Journal in mid-December, Europe has gone wobbly while the administration of the new president-elect of the US may be poised dive headfirst into the globaloney pool:

Participants at last week's United Nations climate conference in Poznan, Poland, were taken aback by a world seemingly turned upside-down. The traditional villains and heroes of the international climate narrative, the wicked U.S. and the noble European Union, had unexpectedly swapped roles. For once, it was the EU that was criticized for backpedalling on its CO2 targets while Europe's climate nemesis, the U.S., found itself commended for electing an environmental champion as president.

Thus, Klaus arrives at his supposed "figurehead" position at the EU just as European public opinion has swung dramatically his way. No wonder Europe's media is going out of its way to aspersions on him. Expect US media either to follow suit or to somehow forget one of its favorite mantras -- "we should be just like Europe" -- for at least a while.

Remembering an Inspirational Family

I had a good friend, JP Blecksmith. We went to high school together. He was a top student, quarterback of the football team, captain of the track team, hilarious, generous and all around nice guy. After high school, he attended Annapolis and then was deployed to Fallujah, where he acted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marines. In November of '04, he was shot and instantly killed while clearing a rooftop for his platoon. Fox was kind enough to do a several day mini-documentary on JP and his platoon, which really showed the kind of guy he was. I wish I could find a clip. More information on JP can be found at http://www.jpblecksmith.org/.

Shortly after his death, his mother, Pam, was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer, which she battled for three years before finally succumbing in January of 2008. Pam was an extremely accomplished woman, with Stanford and MBA degrees, an extensive White House career, constant community volunteer work and a loving wife and mother of three. But, most impressive, she was the strongest and sweetest woman I've ever met. She never complained about being sick or losing her son, who was her best friend and pride and joy. I visited her in City of Hope, shortly after an extensive procedure to remove the cancer, which had, by that time, spread throughout her body. Despite her weakened condition, she was as perky and sweet as ever, while gently refusing to talk about herself, asking, instead, about my life and everyone else's.

Whenever I'm faced with adversity or sorrow, I try to remember the Blecksmiths and all of their selfless sacrifices. JP's memory receives most of the glory, because of his untimely and heroic death, but Pam was the true hero of the family. She was the silent and courageous backbone for all of them.

Pam and Ed Blecksmith at JP's funeral.

A Quality Rant

A nice little article by Victor Davis Hanson.

I'm not really with him on the American male accent thing, though.

So Disappointed...

This is no longer new news, but I'm still so disappointed. LA could really use a man like Caruso in office. And now is the perfect time for him, politically. I'm not even really a fan of his developments, but this man knows how to get things done quickly, efficiently and with integrity. I know he is facing a lot of pressure to run, so the fact that he decided not to, makes him even more admirable, especially since he sites his family as the reason. Oh well, hopefully, next time.




Caruso says thanks, but no thanks

Kevin Roderick

Developer Rick Caruso has been saying for a while that his running for mayor is only a question of when, not if. Well, it won't be this time, he announced today in a statement.

For the last few months I have been considering a potential run for Mayor because I care a great deal about Los Angeles. I grew up in Los Angeles, attended school here, started my business here and have invested a great deal in this community, both in time and resources. I have raised my family here. I love Los Angeles.

As I considered a run for mayor, given my experience both in the civic arena and in private business, I am confident that I have much to offer this city, both in terms of leadership and a passion for improving our community. For me personally however, my first consideration had to be whether, for my family, this was the right time for me to run.

And, while I am genuinely grateful for all the encouragement I have received from people all over this city to run for mayor and the confidence they put in me, I have decided that the obligation of serving as mayor would put a burden on my family that is too much at this point in their lives and, as a result, I will not be a candidate in the upcoming campaign for mayor. Having worked closely with Mayors in the past, I understand the commitment necessary to properly fill that role, and it is not the right time for me to commit myself wholly to the City at the expense of my family, particularly my young children.

My most enthusiastic cheerleaders encouraging me to jump into this race have been my four children. However, my wife Tina and I have always put our children first and I think that it would be better if the two youngest children were a little older before they make the sacrifices that are required of the families of elected officials. I hope there will be other opportunities for me to run for mayor, but my children will only be kids once.

Having an interest in serving my city is not new to me. I was proud to serve as President of the LA Department of Water and Power Commission for nearly 10 years, and to serve as President of the Police Commission during a very important time for the Department. Serving Mayors Bradley, Riordan, and Hahn was a great honor for me. Having served in those roles, I saw firsthand how important City Hall is to the everyday lives of Los Angeles residents. I have seen how much can be accomplished when the tools available to our leaders are used in a manner focused on solving problems and making our city more livable.

I have also built a business in Los Angeles, and understand from the private sector side, how government can help and also fail those trying to start a business, build a career, and raise their family here in our city. Right now Los Angeles is struggling. The LAPD, despite promises and increased taxes, remains understaffed. Instead of improved transit systems, we see more and more red tail lights. And economic redevelopment and improvements to our most underserved communities continues to lag.

These are very, very tough economic times. This City needs leaders that have a singular focus on improving the quality of life for all Los Angeles residents. There are good people in City Hall, and it is my hope that collectively, they can refocus their efforts on our City's problems in the months ahead so we realize Los Angeles' full potential. This was a very difficult decision for me to reach because of my devotion to this city, but today my role will remain as an interested and active private citizen and I will focus for now on my family, my business, and my community-based charitable activities.

Too Funny...

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are