A Timely Message from Journalist Charlie Reese

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The article below is pretty neutral, ...not anti republican or democrat.

Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day.

It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000

EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.

[Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything from sports to politics. From 1969–71, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states. He was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner.]

545 PEOPLE--By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote "all" of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it......... Is up to you.

The following might be funny if it weren't so darned true. Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table, At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes Are the rule.
Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts Anyway!

Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat.
Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he Tries to think.

Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries, Tax his tears.
Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways To tax his ass.
Tax all he has Then let him know That you won't be done Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers; Then tax him some more, Tax him till He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he's laid.
Put these words Upon his tomb, 'Taxes drove me to my doom'.

When he's gone, Do not relax, It's time to apply The inheritance tax.
Sales Tax
School Tax
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Excise Taxes
Property Tax
Cigarette Tax
Medicare Tax
Inventory Tax
Real Estate Tax
Well Permit Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Inheritance Tax
Road Usage Tax
CDL license Tax
Dog License Tax
State Income Tax
Food License Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Social Security Tax
Service Charge Tax
Fishing License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Building Permit Tax
IRS Interest Charges
Hunting License Tax
Marriage License Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Personal Property Tax
Accounts Receivable Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?' I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!

GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!

P.S. If you do the right thing and pass this on - which is entirely up to you - please do the right thing and highlight and delete any addresses you receive with it.

Thank You

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Obama & Pelosi New Democratic Campaign Strategy - Bush Babble

Our president who promised to champion change starting with eliminating the polarization of politicians and the partisanship in Washington, not to mention the adoration toward special interests and dependence on campaign contributions, seems to have forgotten all those promises.

Now we see that our president, the one who is supposed to serve all Americans including Independents, Republicans, Democrats and the Disinterested, has returned to the campaign trail with a whole new Democratic strategy called the Bush Babble attack mode.

I suppose when you don't have a leg to stand on any old Bush will do.

Obama just might be the first president in modern history to conclude after just two years in office it is easier to be against everything Bush than to learn the art of compromise and work with those you were elected to serve.

His new image is quite a contrast from the slick, intelligent, pre-packaged, self-assured Ivy League image he tried to convey when he got elected. Those days of the consummate elitist are gone it seems, replaced by the tough talking, slang slinging Bush basher he has become on the fall campaign trail.

Here we thought two years ago we had put Bush behind us with the election of Obama. He was not running against Bush two years ago and he sure is not in 2010 but when your legislative initiatives have passed and still no one understands them or has seen any evidence of what good they will do for us, you are in desperate need of a straw man to blame for your misfortunes.

So Obama and Pelosi have instituted the Bush Babble strategy and so far about the only thing it has achieved for them is to bring them one step closer to oblivion as far as their political power and careers. No presidents have bashed their predecessor like Obama has bashed Bush. I mean Clinton even worked with George Bush senior and George Bush junior worked with Clinton on highly successful charitable causes.

Such unabashed Bush bashing as Obama undertakes daily from the bully pulpit is demeaning to the office of president and much more in tune with the bully politics of Chicago than the dignity of the office of president.

How can the nation have hope when our leader is too busy tearing people down and pointing fingers to set an example for the world? Of all the empty promises we heard during the election none are missed more than the promises of an experienced healer to lead the nation.

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Pelosi Delivers Congress to Teacher's Union - Assures Long Term Financial Chaos

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Once again Obama Administration tramples all over state's rights!

Only in America could the Speaker of the House call Congress back in session from vacation to pass a bill designed to pay back the teacher's union for millions in campaign contributions to Obama and the House Democrats who are running for their lives in the fall elections, and have the audacity to call it a "jobs bill".

It sounds good, hiring back 160,000 teachers about to be let go because states have failed to balance their budgets. But if Pelosi, Obama and the Democrats were being honest they would give the money to the governors and let them decide who to keep and who to fire. Don't they trust the governors to act in the best interests of the public they serve?

You see, Pelosi thinks up to 140,000 policemen and firemen may also be saved from unemployment. Yet I fail to see the logic of forcing the governors to hire 160,000 teachers when our educational system is a disaster, then saying the governors could hire some additional police and firemen with the left over money.

First of all, governors don't hire teachers, policemen or firemen, that is done by local governments and most local governments are being held hostage by unions such as the teachers union that already has the most expensive health and pension payments in the nation, far higher than our policemen and firemen.

Union health and pension benefits already broke the auto industry and cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. Why is Pelosi forcing governors to hire the most expensive public employees possible, the teachers, thus increasing the state and local budgets for future health and pension costs? You see the teachers work for local school boards but the state is responsible for health and pension costs.

Better yet, since the states now know Obama and Pelosi will give them whatever they need to keep union jobs, then Congress will have to spend $26 billion every year, meaning the $26 billion is now going to be $130 billion just for the next five years. And it does nothing to reduce the health and pension benefits in which some states pay 100% of the health care cost for life. Do you have a health care program with no matching or co-pay requirements on your part? Do you have a health care program that pays every dollar of cost for the rest of your life?

This is really an issue of the federal government again usurping state's rights not because it is fair or cost effective or even needed but to protect the unions as a payback for the millions in campaign funds they already gave to the Democrats. If there was an honest bone in the congressional leadership they would vote on a five year bill because that is the least it will really cost, $130 billion not $26 billion.

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News Headlines of the Day in Obamaville

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Pelosi and her Swamp

When Nancy Pelosi was swept into her House Leadership position four years ago she promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington of corruption. Four years later the only swamp that was drained was two top Democratic party leaders Rangel and Waters, both members of the Congressional Black Caucus, so Nancy has had to redefine what she meant by draining the swamp.

In a burst of pre-election insight she now says she meant, "The swamp was described in the press as a 'criminal syndicate' operating out of the Republican leader's office." Now that is a pretty major charge for the Leader of the House and a person a heartbeat away from being president.

Of course after four years of her witch hunt for criminal syndicate Republicans none have been charged with anything while her own party leaders have been charged and are going to trial so one might say Ms. Pelosi is playing politics with ethics and is delusional with the facts. It's no wonder just 11% of the people have a favorable opinion of Congress.



Obama's Birthday

Today is Obama's 49th birthday and he is celebrating it with the boys in California while his wife, Michelle scheduled a last minute junket to a posh resort in Southern Spain along with 30-40 $2,000 rooms at a Spanish resort for her family and friends. Why is the First Family halfway around the world spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars instead of celebrating with the President at home? Rumor has it she is fed up with Barack's emulation of Clinton's presidential style, at least the parts not involving Clinton's bi-partisan work with Republicans.



BP Oil Leak

The Obama administration has defied liberal environmentalists once again and trial lawyers for the first time by releasing a report today that 75% of the oil that leaked into the Gulf is gone and the rest is widely dispersed and no longer a threat to cause cataclysmic environmental destruction. That does not bode well with the environmentalists who claim the Gulf was destroyed by the spill and that we must allocate billions of dollars for future research by them to find the missing oil.;

Nor does it sit well with the Trial lawyers, the largest special interest contributor to Obama's presidential campaign, who expected to make billions of dollars in legal fees suing BP and everyone else for the disaster. Since Obama already protected them during the acrimonious health care debate by refusing to limit excessive medical malpractice legal fees and fines, they expected a better return on their investment in Obama.



Will Obama Oil Drilling Ban be Lifted?

As the weeks roll on and nothing has been done to resolve the Obama ban on deep sea drilling, that has also literally blocked all offshore drilling, and the Obama administration's own scientific report says the environmental damage is far less severe than previously claimed, there is growing distress in the Gulf states who stand to lose thousands of jobs that are going to other countries where offshore drilling is encouraged.

Alternative energy advocates have held the drilling ban hostage as a way to block oil production and get federal approval for the massive energy cap and trade legislation Obama wants that will force a huge increase in taxes and in the cost of gasoline and all other oil products. Of course Al Gore and Goldman Sachs, also big Obama campaign backers, are poised to make billions of dollars from the cap and trade initiative and are desperate to protect heir investment.



State's Rights versus Obama Centralized Government

Arizona has been joined by 19 other states in fighting the Obama Justice Department efforts to deny states the right to protect their citizens from illegal immigration costs and crime.



Virginia and Michigan are pursuing separate court challenges to the Obama health care experiment saying it is unconstitutional for the federal government to force their citizens to buy health insurance against their will, especially if they have the ability to pay for it.

As Obama moves closer and closer to the massive federal government he has advocated in order to pursue his often stated goals of redistribution of wealth and expanded control over all sectors of the economy and banking system expect more and more challenges by the states to protect their Constitutional rights.

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Obama's Perfect Storm - Will it Sweep Democrats Out of Office?

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As more and more attention turns to the midterm elections next November it is beginning to look like President Obama just might have created the Perfect Storm, a rare once every 100 years opportunity, for the Republicans to sweep the Democrats out of the leadership and majority in the House and Senate.

Perhaps confusing his narrow election win and high favorable ratings early in his term for a real mandate from the people, did Obama and his gang totally miscalculate the mood of the public for sweeping liberal reforms? Every day the prospect looks more likely.



First of all Obama never had a mandate, he just had a chance to show what he could do. When he got elected people were fed up with government, the direction of the country and the bleak economic future. The wave of frustration he rode was not a wave of support for his liberal agenda for change. Misreading the political tea leaves was the biggest mistake of his early presidency.



The Democrat majority in the House under Pelosi and Senate under Reid got caught up in the same false sense of euphoria and they promptly introduced Obama's legislative program which sent the conservative conscious public into toxic shock.

Too many promises were made by the inexperienced Obama before he got elected. Too many old time politicians surrounded him after he got elected. In their delusional euphoria and at the intense urging of their many special interests an avalanche of new legislation was proposed and the public watched the future of the Republic sinking into a bottomless liberal spending pit.



To his credit, Obama seemed to regroup and started backing off from his many promises and interest groups, what with him being the pragmatic professor and consensus builder he sees in the mirror. Although his ardent partisanship did not stop as he drifted toward the middle of the political spectrum, the public thought there might still be hope for this young upstart.

After bailouts to Wall Street, banks, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the auto industry at a cost of trillions of dollars that we did not have, the people had enough. Though they still did not blame Obama entirely for the debacle, as Pelosi and Reid had taken center stage when Obama decided to remain on the sidelines of the legislative battles, all the proposed bills became the subject of increased public attention.



Obama, with the help of Pelosi and Reid, then slammed through the health care bill with a dubious legislative rule that prevented Congress from direct votes on the merits of the legislation. That was the last straw for the public, as Obama's agenda was increasingly becoming the greatest danger to the financial security of the nation.



In desperation the brakes were put on many jewels of the liberal agenda like cap and trade in energy, card check for the unions, green energy for environmentalists and massive new aid for schools. A second stimulus bill was put on hold.

At the same time the public concern for the now approved Obama health care bill continued to slide downward, in spite of the passage of the bill. In truth the bill never had a chance for broad public support in spite of the rosy outlook offered by the liberal mainstream media. But the bill, reflecting Obama's penchant for putting off controversy until far into the future, like after the 2012 election, had delayed the implementation of to many of the things people wanted in the bill.



While Obama went on the road to build public support for the new legislation people watched as detailed analysis of the new bill, something that did not happen during the debate, now discovered that element after element of the new bill would not be implement for years.

The old political trick used by the Obama gang was exposed. As a result the financial reform bill was stalled until meaningful changes could be made to assure the Obama people were not playing with the fine print. It remains in the Senate being debated much to the frustration of Obama.



Suddenly another Obama promise is forced to center stage and again he is trapped. Arizona passes what Obama describes as a dangerous and flawed immigration bill. Finally the liberal media had another cause to champion and they promptly filled the airways and newspapers with vicious attacks on the state bill. Good old Harry Reid, in danger of being thrown out of his own Senate seat because of his Majority manipulations, then said he was bringing immigration reform to the national forefront.

Once again Obama, the Democrat leaders and the liberal media totally misread the mood of the public. Polls just released today indicate the public, by an overwhelming majority, support the Arizona state immigration bill that Obama and the Democrats condemned.

Here we go again. Thanks to the knee jerk reaction of the Democrats and media in unified opposition to the Arizona bill they are again standing in opposition to the public. Did Obama and the Democrats forget that the primary beneficiaries of their immigration bill are the illegal immigrants? Don't they understand that many of the current illegal immigrants already get better health care, food and may other forms of assistance that not even low income Americans qualify for?



The lack of health care reform activity, the focus on immigration and illegal immigration rights, the staggering national debt and the mountain of unfulfilled campaign promises are weighing ever heavily on the president and his campaign hopes of protecting his massive block of Democrats in Congress. It is a majority that has so far failed to do much of anything important to a public that is getting ready to go back to the polls.

If the president cannot stop the downward spiral of public support then America is going to do what it always does when the leadership is in doubt, they are going to elect a way to check the agenda and make sure that the first priority of Congress is fiscal integrity, something that has not happened under this president. The only viable conclusion is that Obama's Perfect Storm will bring about a Republican landslide in it's aftermath.

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Obama's Achilles Heel - Exploding National Debt

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Now that the hoop ala over the health care reform has subsided and learned people have had the time to analyze exactly what the White House and Congress slammed down our throats it is fast becoming obvious that the spiraling national debt is far greater than Obama and the Democrats want us to believe. In fact, new estimates by the very same Congressional Budget Office that said health care would reduce the debt now say we are in serious trouble.

Doug Elmendorf, best known for arbitrating the costs of various health care proposals, added his voice to a growing chorus of economic experts who predict dire consequences if political leaders don’t scale back spending, increase taxes or both, and soon.



Elmendorf noted a recent CBO report that pegged an increase in the public debt from $7.5 trillion at the end of 2009 to $20.3 trillion at the end of 2020 if President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget were to be implemented as written. As a percentage of gross domestic product, the debt would rise from 53 percent to 90 percent, CBO forecasted. The last time the percentage was that high was right after World War II.

What that means is if Congress passes the president's budget, which includes health care, our national debt will nearly triple in the next decade. To put that in perspective, when Presidents Roosevelt and Truman managed the massive debt needed to carry out World War II while also overcoming the long term consequences from the Great Depression, the ratio of debt to Gross National Product reached the highest level in history, about 120%. The Obama budget will cause it to rise from the current 53% of GNP to 90%, nearly doubling the debt. That does not include normal adjustments to be made.



To make this clearer, when the debt hit the peak in 1947 it was equivalent to $10 trillion today. That pulled the economy out of the great depression and into high gear to win World War II. The Obama debt will hit twice that much, $20.3 trillion by 2020.

As for the normal adjustments, they have already begun. CBO warned the Democrats in Congress that changing the student loan program that was approved in the health care bill will actually increase the deficit by an additional $52 billion by 2020, not reduce the deficit by $68 billion like the Democrats said.



In the study, the CBO explains how the accounting mandated through the Federal Credit Reform Act (FCRA) is the standard procedure used to record the budgetary costs of the government’s direct and guaranteed loan programs.

However, the CBO notes that FCRA cost estimates exclude the value of “market risks” and the loan programs’ “administrative expenses” while the CBO’s “fair value” estimates takes them into account.

This discrepancy between the two estimates results in the FCRA figure being a less “comprehensive” appraisal of the true cost to taxpayers of the federal government’s direct student loan program, according to the CBO report.

“Fair-value subsidy estimates, which include the cost of risk and administrative costs, provide a more comprehensive measure that allows the costs of the two programs to be compared on a level playing field,” states the study.



That little change in what the CBO reported to Congress to help justify the bill makes the debt increase by $120 billion, from the projected reduction of $68 billion to the actual deficit of $52 billion.

The same health care bill allowed them to claim a $450 billion savings in Medicare costs by reducing the payment to doctors by 21%. Yet Congress promised to fix this problem by restoring the reduction. That bill is to be debated this month and Pelosi has promised it will be passed. If they don't pass it thousands of more doctors will refuse to treat Medicare patients meaning there will not be enough doctors to treat all the new patients Obama is flooding into the health care system. But if Congress delivers on their promise, it will raise the debt by another $450 billion.

Such adjustments can be found throughout the flawed health care legislation and either these accounting tricks were known to the White House advisors or they are just plain stupid. The rush to get Obama his historic bill will come back to haunt us for the next decade.

Three things are clear to anyone who digs through the reality of the Obama health care plan. Taxes have to go up, insurance premiums have to go up, and the only thing historic about the massive bill is our national debt will hit a historic high.



As Doug Elmendorf, head of the CBO warned yesterday, the nation’s fiscal path is “unsustainable,” and the problem “cannot be solved through minor tinkering.”

The calculations by Congress of every new entitlement program have been multiples off the mark. The 1965 Medicare program was supposed to cost only $9 billion by 1990. Instead it cost $67 billion in 1990 and it now costs $521 billion.

People must be told the truth or the next two generations will face a bankrupt national government. The Obama promise is also the Obama Achilles Heel and that says very little for the future security of our nation.

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President Obama Popular but Policy Suffers in Polls. Why?

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What is this dichotomy in the most recent polls? The popularity of Congress sinks to the lowest levels ever recorded while Obama remains in fairly safe territory. The top politician in America has separated himself from the Washington politicians, he's not one of them. A Democrat as president and Congress under the control of Democrats, yet Obama is not considered one of the politicians in the eyes of the public.

Politics being what it is, there is a never ending fascination with the polls and the meaning of polls which I have been just as guilty of as the next person. There may be a difference however. For several decades I have worked with polls, refining polls, adapting them between politics and use by the business community, and figuring out ways the public tricks the pollsters.



All the way back to the days I was involved with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and developed new ways to scientifically measure pockets of poverty in metropolitan areas. Then there was time with the Census Bureau and the development of the computerized census and address coding guide. Even to the initial testing of the technique of measured perception analysis for polling of focus groups or onsite campaign groups. I never tired of trying to reduce the range of probability in polls to the lowest common denominator.

If a poll is done right it can tell an incredible story. Most aren't. If the questions in a poll are truly unbiased and nothing is done to influence answers, meaningful results can be generated. But most don't do that either. Most polls serve a master, the one paying for the poll, and can easily be slanted to get the results desired. This is not to say there are no valid polls. Some pollsters have real, scientific methods they use to accurately collect data. Most don't.



Be that as it may, when many different polls serving many different interests give similar results, like the favorable rating of Congress hitting rock bottom while the favorable rating of the president from the same party (Democrat) as most members of Congress tracks at 43-50% favorable consistently, then there is likely some truth in the obvious conclusion. Simply stated, people like Obama as a person and think Congress stinks.



Now I didn't say just the Democrats in Congress stink, although I suspect Majority Speaker Pelosi may lead the pack in negative ratings, because most people don't distinguish between political parties when they think of the Congress, they just think all the politicians in Washington stink. So bad news for Republicans, if you don't do something to help fix this country now and prove you are not just more of the same old politicians in Washington, then you are going to sink right down to the bottom of the cesspool with your Democrat colleagues in Congress.



I think the recent poll on MSNBC by Gallup, I believe, most recently demonstrated that the Democrat liberals were looking for a way to prove their outrageous claim that the Republicans were to blame for the hatred and threats against members of Congress. They believed a quick poll showing the public did blame those nasty Republicans for the violence and threats would help the Democrats in the fall elections.

But the set up backfired when the public, in the liberal's own poll, showed the public indeed blamed the Democrats (49%) more than the Republicans (43%). In the eyes of the public clearly the Democrats suffered more because the public did not buy the liberal line.



Obama, on the other hand, has enjoyed a rather good favorable rating in spite of the turmoil and the bitter controversy around him. More important, it is in spite of the fact the majority of people don't like his policies. America, all of America and that includes the places outside the Washington beltway, is not liberal. If anything this country is moderate to conservative as a whole.

Right now the public links Obama policy with the left leaning liberal causes. But I'm not quite so sure. We know he is a Harvard guy, and we know that Harvard from the Ivy League has produced 8 US presidents. In all 13 presidents have come from the Ivy League with Yale in second place with 5 presidents. It was time for a change. Yale presidents have been in charge the last 20 years straight, it is time to give someone else a chance.



Harvard will not count against Obama (meaning the arrogant or silver spoon perception of the Ivy League in the public eye), though people are more than a little suspicious of the motives and means of Ivy Leaguers. This just means the Ivy League schools do not like their alumni to look bad and they have quite the extended support system to protect their reputation. We can usually count on a Harvard, Yale or Princeton to straighten out one of their own if the president doesn't get it.

Now Obama may be their best work to date. Not because he broke the historic racial barrier. Not because he came out of nowhere with some mighty powerful help. Not even because it seems the longer he governs the less he seems to espouse a distinct philosophical leaning and the more he seems to be willing to compromise in order to do what he thinks the country needs to do.



His attitude of avoiding controversy and refusing to champion liberal causes may have cost him the support of his active and extensive liberal base but could open the door to achieving success as president. It was a lesson that Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Sr. and Clinton all mastered with great success. The old adage that a great compromiser is the one who, when he can't get what he wants, will take what he can get, is starting to fit Obama and a pleasant change that may be.



Today Obama announced he agreed with Sarah Palin's campaign battle cry, "drill baby drill," and said he would free up much of the waters on the East Coast, and tracts in Alaska and the Gulf for offshore oil drilling. It was a dagger to the heart of liberal environmentalists but music to the ears of moderate Americans who know we can achieve energy independence with our own oil and natural gas among other things.

Of course the policy reversal by Obama left both the liberal Democrats and Republicans sort of dumbfounded. Then the GOP fed us the standard, knee jerk reaction saying it was not good enough. On the other side of the aisle the liberal Democrats must have fumed at the news of their Chosen One agreeing with Sarah Palin but, at least they fumed quietly.



What Obama proposed did not address natural gas and should, but he never said it could not be changed to address what was missing, like natural gas. I mean he does have to keep a few bargaining chips on the table to demonstrate leadership and have a better negotiating position for getting the new energy policy into law. Still, what he proposed was a heck of a lot better than what we have today.



I figure Obama has offered two olive branches to the Republicans, with nuclear expansion and offshore oil drilling, to make up for kicking their butts on health care. Now if the Republicans just realized that Obama is willing to play the game of compromise and worked with the president instead of opposing the president, then Congress might actually accomplish more than health care the first two years and with a lot less whining by Congress.



Unfortunately, that might be asking for a lot. How entrenched is the GOP in the mantra "No" to anything the president may propose? It could be a golden opportunity for the GOP or a huge, lost chance to reverse their fortunes in the fall elections.



Is Obama sincere in wanting to work with the GOP and really willing to compromise, as it looks on the surface? If he reverts to being a partisan mouthpiece again like he has acted on occasion as president, there is little chance of success.

The need for action and reform is here and now. The scope of problems in need of action and reform is mind bending. Darn near everything our government does needs reform, often extensive. Some of our programs, including social programs, are beyond reform and need to be closed down. Long ago they outlived their usefulness.



Only a Democrat president like Obama will ever have the chance to take the needed actions and make the many reforms in the social and liberal areas. The strength of the special interests on the left far surpasses their low level of public support or success as a social experiment. Yet somehow they have stopped the Republicans, even when the GOP controlled Congress, from changing many liberal laws.

I suspect they will go along with Obama's radical move to the middle because they would rather have a friend in the White House than an enemy. If they were to have a flight of conscious and keep supporting their president even if he did not agree with them on everything, Obama could have good success.



Many momentous decisions are just ahead for the politicians in Washington. The public is watching with more than a little curiosity. Quite a few political careers could be on the line. It all depends on who makes the effort to listen to the public, living safely outside the beltway, and knowing that in the end, it is their vote that will determine our future, not the votes of Congress.

And that is the lesson in the polls. People are willing to give Obama a chance. For Pete's sake it is not in the nature of the American public to want their president to fail. It is only in the nature of the politicians and news media, yes those special interests, who need controversy to sell news. [I use that term loosely, "news", for it is about the strangest institution there is to define.]

Helping Obama get new laws and reforms passed that the Republicans agree with is not going to help the Democrats in the fall elections. The public does not see the president in the same dull light as Democrats in Congress. What such new laws do mean, on the other hand, is that this president does not think as a liberal, left-leaning ideologue but will put the good of the country above his own personal views.



It is an interesting new paradigm in politics. When a president can risk or even sacrifice the support of their own base to do what is best for America, it is a rare occasion in politics.

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