Here we go again - Rahm condemns BP as Obama & Biden Save the Gulf while Golfing

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Only in the capitol of the most powerful nation on Earth that is suffering from the most devastating environmental disaster in history could media attention be focused on the leisure activities of our leaders. It all started when Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel went on national television and blasted the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, for being at a yachting race off England while the BP oil well was still pouring crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.



Chicago ballet dancer Emanuel is known for his Southside Chicago political pit bull attacks on any opponent of Obama or his policies. The controversial Rahm was attempting to play off the poor image of BP in public opinion polls while deflecting attention from criticism of Obama for his handling of the oil spill.



There were two factual problems not mentioned by Obama cheerleader MSNBC and their liberal morning hosts. One was that the BP CEO Tony Hayward being criticized by Emanuel is no longer in charge of the oil spill having been tossed to the wayside due to relentless media pressure here in the colonies.



The other is that while Rahm was blasting BP for playing while the oil was spewing, his own boss Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden who are still responsible for the oil crisis were also playing at the sport we imported from the UK, golf.



Was the chief of staff unaware of the schedule of his boss or did he think he controlled the media so much that he didn't need to worry about anyone discovering the truth?



Note the irony that as Emanuel beat up on Hayward, another UK resident, Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland was winning our very own US Open golf tournament just beating out Gregory Havret of France.



What in the world is going on? An unknown from Northern Ireland wins America's most prestigious golf championship, the first time in 40 years a non-American wins, while a Frenchman finishes second? It must be the End Times!


Over in South Africa at the World Cup soccer matches even a redesigned official soccer ball could not make most matches interesting. I don't know about you but I have a very hard time accepting a tie as anything short of failure, yet the vast majority of matches do end in a tie.

The White House must tell the truth about Sestak job offer - did Rahm Emanuel offer a bribe?

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One of the talking points Joe Sestak, surprise winner of the Democrat primary in Pennsylvania used to defeat White House backed Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania was that the White House tried to get him out of the race by offering him a job. He even hinted during the campaign that it was the position of Secretary of the Navy, appropriate for a retired Admiral.



However, if what he said was true, then someone in the White House violated a federal law by making the offer and if they offered it to keep him out of the Senate race it was a blatant bride. It seems as if this White House is never far from controversy when it comes to Senate races.



There was a lot of controversy over what happened to Obama's own Senate seat when he was elected president. The Illinois Democrats and ill-fated Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich made a joke of the process and left lingering questions of whether that seat was up for sale and what role White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel played in it, answers that may very well come out in court.



Even long before these potential illegal matters there is the unanswered question about how Obama got his Senate seat in the first place back in 2004. In the Democratic primary he was the underdog and his opponent suddenly withdrew just before the primary. Supposedly he received a multi-million dollar buyout of his business and was in personal trouble for having an affair. By the way, the buyout came through Goldman Sachs. Again in the general election Obama's Republican opponent dropped out of the race before the election because of personal problems, meaning an affair, and he reportedly worked for Goldman Sachs.



I have raised these questions since the campaign for president but none of the traditional media have ever followed up on the stories. One of these days I hope someone in Washington media of Congress has the guts to fact check the earlier Senate race and get to the bottom of the Sestak and Blagojevich senate race bribes.

In the meantime, if there is no misconduct by the White House, and both Robert Gibbs, press secretary and David Axelrod, political director have been on television saying a report was made in the White House and "nothing inappropriate" happened. If that is the case, then release the report. Either the White House or Sestak lied and the truth needs to be released. The last thing we need is another liar in the Senate.

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Could Goldman Bring Down the Obama Gang and the Republicans?

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As Obama turns up the heat on financial reform and Republicans resist the financial reform bill proposed by Senator Chris Dodd a dangerous game is being played in Washington. Polls just came out that show three fourths of all Americans do not trust the government. With the partisan nature of debate in the capitol and the propensity of the Obama White House to call for bi-partisanship while attacking anyone who questions the partisan Democrats, is it no wonder the public trusts no one?



Then along comes the SEC with fraud charges against the king of the banking community Goldman Sachs. Goldman, the perfect target for venting American frustration with the motives and interests of the banks and their apparent total disregard for public opinion as noted from their multi-billion dollar bonuses, occupies a most unusual position in politics.

First there is the self described mission of the CEO Lloyd Blankfein as told to John Arlidge of the TimesOnline. As John wrote:

So, it’s business as usual, then, regardless of whether it makes most people howl at the moon with rage? Goldman Sachs, this pillar of the free market, breeder of super-citizens, object of envy and awe will go on raking it in, getting richer than God? An impish grin spreads across Blankfein’s face. Call him a fat cat who mocks the public. Call him wicked. Call him what you will. He is, he says, just a banker "doing God’s work"

"Just a banker doing God's work." One wonders what God he is referring to when making such an outrageous statement. Was it Yahweh or Ba'al and was it the Hebrew Ba'al or Christian Baal? Most people would believe the only God Goldman is working for is a false god or idol and we know what kond of agenda that god is pursuing.



Still Goldman, after watching and most likely contributing to the destruction of two of their major competitors, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, and then getting the Federal Reserve to change a long standing policy and allow Goldman to change from investment bank to commercial bank thus allowing them to feed at the trough of almost no interest government money while continuing to invest in high risk deals, is in a league of its own in world banking.



A frequent collaborator with the most powerful and secret banking family in history, the House of Rothschild and their army of surrogates, Goldman is the most visible bank in politics of all time. It may just be that this penchant for publicity and obsession with power on the part of Goldman has put them on a collision course in their desire to remain king of the hill.



Now the danger to politicians is greater than ever regarding their association with Goldman or any effort that could be perceived to protect Goldman during debate on the financial reform bill. To begin to understand the problem consider the following as reported by OpenSecrets.org under the Center for Responsive Government:



Top Political Contributors in federal elections since 1989

AT&T, Inc. $44,361,209.
American Fed of State, County & Muni Employees $42,248,261
National Association of Realtors $35,733,073
Intern Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $31,660,630
American Assn for Justice $31,645,679
Goldman Sachs $31,612,375
National Education Assn $30,194,067
Laborers Union $29,132,400
Service Employees Union $28,134,482
Teamsters Union $28,029,624

Note that the American Association for Justice is the new name for the Trial Lawyers Association which gives 91% of their money to Democrats. Goldman, one of only two private companies on the top ten, normally gives 64% of their money to Democrats but gave 74% to Democrats during the Obama campaign. For all intents and purposes 8 of the top 10 contributors the past 20 years are unions.



So Goldman stands alone in pouring money into federal campaigns. But Goldman bundlers also raise money from others in their related industries so Commercial Banks contributed $222 million, Securities and Investment firms $628.9 million, Finance and Credit $59.8 million, and Insurance $327.3 million. That is well over a BILLION DOLLARS over 20 years.

If conflict of interest laws applied to congress most members could not vote for anything related to Goldman Sachs because of campaign contributions. By alas, such rules do not exist. However, in the interest of transparency and integrity all politicians should divulge their relationship with Goldman including the money donated directly and indirectly through Goldman and their dealings with Goldman as a favored special interest in Washington.

This includes an account of the involvement of Goldman from the Clinton presidency days when Goldman executives working for Clinton including Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, Clinton Treasury Secretaries, and Rahm Emanuel, chief Clinton fundraiser, were involved in changing federal regulations that allowed Goldman to capitalize on derivatives, swaps, and oil futures along with moving transactions outside the US so they could not be regulated.



These financial vehicles were adopted in 1999, the last year of Clinton's presidency, and opened the floodgates to hedge fund and others to manipulate the housing, oil, commercial real estate and commodities markets and nearly caused a worldwide depression. Just this week former President Clinton said he regretted allowing his economic advisors to make the federal rule changes. All three of the Clinton economic advisors from Goldman's are now key economic advisors to Obama.

As for transparency, if Obama intends to use Goldman's as a scapegoat then he needs to disclose his long association with Goldman as well. Dating back to his campaign for US Senate in 2004 there are questions regarding his involvement with Goldman including did they pay off the leading candidate in the Democratic primary against Obama and the Republican in the general election when they withdrew from the race for personal reasons? Also what was discussed in private corporate meetings with Obama in 2006 and 2007 in Chicago and NYC?

Finally there are the potential conflicts for the many former Goldman executives throughout the Obama administration and international financial community. Is the government protected from any actions that might benefit Goldman?

As for the Republicans, they risk being perceived as the protectors of Wall Street if they simply vote against the Senate financial reform bill. The mistrust of the public toward Washington will only be reinforced if they block the vote. They must offer a more substantial alternative than what Obama is offering that will effectively control the Wall Street abuses.

Doing nothing 2-3 years after the crash will cost them dearly in potential political gains as the public is waiting to see what congress and Obama can do in light of their cozy relationship with Goldman and other Wall Street firms.

Finally, both Obama and the Republicans can hurt themselves if they support any actions to dilute the impact of legal actions against these firms as more and more charges are filed. If they do not condemn any plea bargains that allow the companies to avoid an admission of guilt and to expense the cost of the fines then they should be held accountable. The actions of the financial community from 2007-2009 cost Americans $29 trillion in lost savings. Someone must pay for these damages.

So you see, both Obama and the Republicans can lose a lot more than they gain if they do not play by the rules, do what is good for America, and tell us exactly their relationship to Goldman. If they don't, then both sides could be a big loser.

Goldman Fraud Charges to Test Obama Administration Morality, Ethics & Transparency

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The first salvo of taking America back from the clutches of greed and corruption was launched by the SEC with fraud charges against Goldman Sachs but this is just the opening salvo of what could be a long, drawn out legal battle to bring morality where it is needed most, in the financial affairs of Wall Street.

The reason is because cleaning up the mess entails more than making a few scapegoats out of corporate executives and the multi-million dollar bonuses. What is really needed is to expand the legal actions to include all of those former Wall Street executives who went to work for the government and led America down the path of self-destruction.



Greed was as much a motivator for government employees as it was for Wall Street crooks and campaign contributions and kickbacks were the tools that bought off government protection from these master thieves.

Even former President Bill Clinton had a mea culpa of sorts this weekend when he said he was wrong in letting his former Treasury Secretaries, namely Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, create the regulatory laws that opened the floodgates to corruption, fraud, conflicts of interest and ethics violations that brought about the collapse of the economy.



Just before Clinton left office his economic advisors, with the help of Wall Street, changed the rules of the game and created layer after layer of unregulated opportunities on Wall Street. The sub-prime mortgage market was just one of many. But it took more than Wall Street to hoodwink the public, it took government insiders and congressmen that could be bought off.



Then there was the curious case of Rahm Emanuel, yet the same Emanuel serving as the most important advisor to Barack Obama, who was also Clinton's chief fund raiser all the way back in 1992, who was hired by Clinton to raise money while being paid $3,000a month by Goldman Sachs for consulting.

The Emanuel, Rubin and Summers trio remained with Clinton throughout his presidency and were the movers behind the NAFTA treaty and Mexican Peso crisis, both of which lined the pockets of Goldman. This was before the secret regulatory reform by the same trio that opened the floodgates to derivatives and swaps used to fuel the sub-prime fraud.



Then Emanuel was placed on Freddie Mac's Board by Clinton where he was paid $350,000 as the two government funded housing programs put up the funds for the housing scam. The SEC action against Goldman is just the tip of the iceberg.

Senator Chris Dodd, the indignant Senator who is retiring because of the mess in DC is another player and cohort of the insiders who steered the government into the hands of Wall Street. In his case he benefitted from illegal mortgage loans at highly favorable rates and millions in campaign contributions from these same firms destroying our economy.



Yet we have only begun the process of cleaning out the mess. All the players are still inside the Obama White House as paid staff or key advisors. Many details about Obama's own relationship to Goldman Sachs are yet to be revealed.

Did he know his key advisors spent almost two decades putting in place the regulations and deals to destroy the housing market? What role did Emanuel and Goldman play in buying off Obama's two major challengers in the US Senate race in Illinois when both the top Democrat in the primary and top Republican in the general election mysteriously withdrew for personal reasons opening the door for the unknown State Senator to explode on the national political scene. Remember that the unknown Obama was the featured speaker at the Democratic Presidential convention in 2004 while he was the underdog candidate for Senate.



What about the secret meetings between Obama and Goldman executives in Chicago early in his presidential campaign, or the secret practice debate Goldman arranged with Tom Brokaw of NBC in NYC during the presidential campaign?

With Obama still surrounded by Goldman people should he protect his own integrity by ordering them to stay out of the investigations, and many more are to come, and recluse themselves from any action that might benefit Goldman and other Wall Street firms? It would seem to be the only way to clear the record and protect the public from them influencing actions by federal agencies as well as policy, programs and regulatory initiatives that might unfairly benefit the institutions.



At the same time someone honest in Washington, if there are such people left, should demand that any congressmen or Obama administration officials receiving funds for special interest campaigns or political campaigns should also recluse themselves from participating in any actions impacting on these firms if the firms are being investigated for fraud.

Money runs deep in DC. There is a direct deposit line between Wall Street and the offices of president and congress. The surviving financial institutions like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley spent more than $21 million lobbying Congress last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.



They also employed plenty of Washington's brand name lobbyists to work their influence, including: former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt; Steve Elmendorf, a former top Gephardt staffer; Chuck Brain, former President Bill Clinton's top lobbyist; Ken Duberstein, a chief of staff in the Reagan White House; and Tony Podesta, a prodigious fundraiser close to the Obama administration and much of the Senate Democratic caucus.

As more charges are released and attention moves from housing to oil futures to credit markets to debt financing for foreign governments there will be pressure on the investigative agencies to plea bargain the cases, a standard practice in the past. This will amount to no more than a reward to these firms as they can avoid responsibility for what they are charged by not admitting guilt, thus protecting themselves to some degree from civil actions by the investors who lost billions of dollars.



For example, the SEC action against Goldman, if plea bargained, will not recover the $1 billion in investor losses that resulted from the fraud. If Goldman can afford to pay $25 billion in bonuses they can certainly repay $1 billion in losses.

The media thinks the Wall Street mess will be used for political advantage. Of course it will, it is a case of the politicians being just as guilty as the Wall Street executives. The politicians share the guilt and must not be overlooked.

But if the Obama administration agrees to plea bargains they will still be guilty of aiding and abetting the crooks. Obama, in the interest of his much ballyhooed transparency, needs to get transparent real fast and explain his role with Goldman and other financial institutions dating back to his Senate race, he needs to get transparent and release all documents, memos and emails from the Goldman gang in the White House including Emanuel, Summers, Rubin, and the many other staff in the White House and Treasury who worked for Goldman and were still benefiting from stock and dividend payments from the behemoth, and he needs to denounce the plea bargain as a tool for settling cases involving billions of dollars of damages from fraud.

We have not even begun to scratch the surface of the depth of the moral bankruptcy in America and we need to move fast and furious to make sure it does not engulf our politicians in an ever growing web of deceit and deception. We can not let them forget the millions of lives hurt by the actions, the billions of dollars lost to them, and the pain and suffering from people around the world who were victims.

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Did Senator Evan Bayh Retire to Replace Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff?

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The Associated Press said in yesterday's stunning announcement that:

"Two-term Sen. Evan Bayh says ever-shriller partisanship and the frustrations of gridlock made it time for him to leave Congress. Republicans aren't buying it, saying he and fellow Democrats sense that voters will be after their heads this fall.

The Indiana Democrat, a moderate who twice came close to being added to his party's national ticket, said Monday he will not seek re-election this November. The announcement gives Republicans a strong chance of capturing his seat and makes it likelier that the 59 votes that give Democrats command of the 100-seat Senate will dwindle.

Bayh, 54, said his passion for helping people is "not highly valued in Congress." He said he did not love the institution in which his father, Birch Bayh, had also represented Indiana."



Well I for one don't really believe his explanation. Bayh was a potential powerhouse among moderate Democrats with a history of working for bi-partisan government. His credentials were everything the American people are looking for in leaders of the new America.

There are several reasons I think he retired and having watched his career, I do not doubt the veracity of what he said. His Midwest background and father's influence are indeed significant causes for him to express frustration with liberal Democrats and the inertia of Congress. His acute awareness of the unfair need for elected officials to spend much of their time raising money for the next campaign is exactly why I got out of politics so I am encouraged he pointed out the huge flaw in our political system.



Yet there is more I suspect beneath the surface because a person like Bayh is needed now more than ever. To explain let me first outline what else happened yesterday when he announced he was retiring at the end of the year. The most powerful person in the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid, did not find out about this dramatic development until after Bayh made the announcement. It is unheard of that a party boss would be left out in the cold on such an important matter impacting on the future control of the US Senate by the Democrats.

Yet immediately after he made the announcement the President and White House praised Bayh and said they were aware of his decision beforehand. Why would he consult the president and not the leader of the Senate where he is a member? Let me give you a clue.

The White House has demonstrated how to mismanage the presidency to a degree not often seen before with tactics that infuriated both the Democrats controlling the House and Senate as well as the public and the Republicans. Since before Obama took office I pointed out how they were making one of the first sins of government, expecting the hard nosed opportunists from the campaign to be able to run the nation's government.



No newly elected president has done that because they know the campaign people have neither the experience nor the ability to work with all elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, once elected. By nature the campaign people are paranoid, living in constant fear the other politicians will undermine their efforts. To compensate they use heavy handed tactics to force loyalty from their own party, Democrats, and use intimidation and threats to try and control the opposition party, the Republicans.

It never works. All new administrations make a series of staff mistakes that take one to two years to correct. Obama made these mistakes throughout his fledgling administration loading his staff with friends and associates, campaign contributors and lobbyists. Time after time his own people have been his biggest burden and their actions have upset those who know what makes the government tick.



To be successful a president must surround himself with people who are not paranoid and who know they must govern for all the people, not just those throwing money at them. Thus the White House staff is a sea of turmoil when they have no policy, executive nor practical experience in a bi-partisan world.

Such appointments are not necessarily a sign of weakness but a sign of inexperience. In time the polls and the inability of the president to govern make these mistakes obvious. Perhaps Obama has finally seen the light and realizes his strident and petty staff are his own worst enemy.



Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been the most striking example of how a staff member can get a president in trouble. Every major failure of the Obama administration can be laid at the doorstep of the Chief of Staff from secret deals with the pharmaceutical companies and unions (SEIU) to interfering in local elections (New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts).

When your key aide is the cause of your failure to govern the key aide becomes an untenable liability and now many people are questioning the judgment of Obama's Little Napoleon. I suspect the reason Obama knew about the Bayh resignation in advance is that Obama may have talked to Bayh about taking over as his new Chief of Staff. It was necessary for Bayh to clear the way to move to the White House and take over.

By announcing his retirement when he did, the day before the filing deadline for someone to run for his Senate seat, it left no one time to file as the Democratic candidate for Senate from Indiana. Since no one expected Bayh to leave no one was prepared to file the next day. This means the State Democratic party in Indiana can select the next candidate for the people, giving them time to recruit the best possible candidate for the race.

It is all too convenient for Bayh to end up taking over as Chief of Staff for Obama and solving one of the biggest headaches for the president, how to get Emanuel out of there. Bayh could resign at any time and his seat would be filled by governor's appointment. The governor is a Republican in Indiana but Bayh could make a deal with him on his replacement, appointing a Democrat who will not run for office in the fall. The Indiana governor is a weak form of state organization so he may very well make a deal to get the seat open and to get a friend (Bayh) in the White House.



If Obama does not make moves to fix his White House staff there will be a series of resignations by cabinet members like Hillary Clinton who are sick and tired of the backroom politics of Emanuel and the other staff members and see their ability to represent the United States being undermined by the politics in the White House. Bayh would be in a great position to help the president and smooth over the ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill.

Remember, President Reagan was successful because he had former Congressman and moderate James Baker as his Chief of Staff. Obama could learn from Reagan's experience. It was Baker who helped make Reagan one of the most popular presidents of all time. Oh yes, as an early supporter of Hillary in her campaign for president Bayh would go a long ways toward healing the deep wounds between Obama and the Clintons.

Stay tuned...

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Obama Prima Ballerina Blasted by Sarah Palin - Rahm Emanuel Regrets Remark

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In a rare episode in American politics the leader of the Chicago gang in the White House got caught using the F___ word and a derogatory characterization of America's special needs children, "retarded", and was immediately called on the carpet by Sarah Palin.



Damage control by the White House was swift as they already had practice at covering up such derogatory blasphemy since President Obama had earlier stepped on his tongue when making fun of the Special Olympics.

Why is it that the liberal community remained silent on the Emanuel lip slip when special needs is a cause of concern to liberals? There is a hypocritical silence by the liberals when anyone in the Obama administration mocks liberal causes but Sarah Palin came to their rescue blasting Emanuel and calling for his firing as a leader of the American government.



Emanuel was quoted in the Wall Street Journal last week making the comment in an August meeting with some liberal activists who were threatening to run TV ads against conservative Democrats hesitant to embrace President Obama's approach to health care reform.

After the Journal story was published, Emanuel called Special Olympics Chairman and CEO Timothy Shriver to apologize. The Special Olympics announced Tuesday evening that members of the disabilities rights community will meet Wednesday afternoon with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, after the fiery Chicagoan admitted to having referred to some liberal activists as "f---ing retarded."



The Special Olympics said in a statement: "The meeting will be a face-to-face discussion with Rahm Emanuel about the suffering and pain of people with intellectual disabilities that is perpetuated by the use of the terms 'retard' and 'retarded' as well as the damage that can be done by the casual use of the R-word – even if it is not directed toward people with intellectual disabilities."

This was a well rehearsed performance of damage control at the White House since Shriver seems to be the designated Democratic cover for big mouths. His father started the Special Olympics program and Timothy continues the family commitment. A relative of the Kennedys, his father was once vice presidential candidate for the Democrats. Oh yes, and Special Olympics CEO Shriver is a contributor to the Obama campaign.



Last March Obama got in hot water when he appeared on the Jay Leno show and when asked about the bowling alley in the White House, Obama joked to Jay that his average score of 129 "was like the Special Olympics or something."

Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver, who said Obama called him that time from Air Force One to apologize for the comment, talked about it on ABC's "Good Morning America" March 20.



"He expressed his disappointment and he apologized in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population," Shriver said, adding that Obama said he would like to have some Special Olympic athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.

Shriver added that despite the apology, "I think it's important to see that words hurt and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seem as humiliating or a put-down to people with special needs do cause pain and they do result in stereotypes."



Perhaps the incidents would be a little more sincere if a Democratic campaign contributor had not been the first and only call by the President and Chief of Staff. There are a lot of special needs children, 40 million families are affected, and there are a lot of good organizations besides the Special Olympics.

However, managing damage control for the tasteless jokes and stinging rebukes by White House staff, not to mention the periodic blunders by Vice President Biden, is about the only sign of leadership and taking responsibility by this White House. If only they applied the same leadership to running the government.

Obama - America's Perpetual Presidential Candidate - Turns Governing over to Campaign

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President's Job Stimulus Saves Campaign Workers & Contributors Jobs

As if his 2008 billion dollar campaign was not enough politics for America to stomach Barack Obama has turned his presidency over to his campaign team. throwing aside any pretentions of serving all Americas, and refuses to acknowledge there are any Independents, Republicans or Americans sick of politics as usual.

In preparation for his State of the Union an army of Obama campaign workers took to the airways to pave the way for his first State of the Union message telling long, tall tales of how Obama saved millions of jobs for America, how everything that went wrong since he was elected was caused by George Bush, how the American public is confused and deluded about the facts, and how he is going to help all those Democrats who are the old time politicians in the upcoming campaign.



With all government spending, policy, hiring, stimulus, communication and knowing what is best for an uninformed electorate safely in the hands of his old campaign team and out of the hands of an experts in their field, the Obama campaign fraternity has taken control of America in a way never seen before in politics.



Gone are the voices of cabinet members, except the Treasury Secretary who was also part of the campaign team. The only people authorized to speak for the president and his policies are those who were part of the Chicago gang who got him elected including the campaign manager David Plouffe who doesn't even work for the government, David Axelrod Senior Aide, Robert Gibbs, Press Secretary, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Aide, and the head of his campaign transition team Raul Emanuel, Chief of Staff.



I have been following politics for a lot longer than most of the media people except Larry King who I think came to America with Christopher Columbus, and I have never seen a president rely on his campaign team to run the nation. A year after getting elected Obama only relies on his campaign team for spending, policy, appointments, strategy and every word his speaks.



According to the White House appointment records he also relies on the people who financed his campaign as well including Wall Street executives, insurance executives, union bosses and others who invested millions in getting their guy in the White House.



So now they promise a feisty president who will fight for what he knows we don't know. These are the same speech writers and policy specialists who gave us the bank bailouts, insurance and auto bailouts, the economic non-stimulus program and more national debt than any president in history including Bush.



They also promised an open presidency, total transparency, negotiations with enemies, a new role for the US in world affairs, bipartisan governing, the elimination of terrorism and prisons and all that other stuff his circle of '60's radicals, big mouthed preachers and Wall Street manipulators told him to say.



After a year of failing to deliver on anything for the good of the people the wagons have circled the president and the same advisors who view promises as statements of political expediency with no need to worry about being truth are back, in control, once again telling Obama what to say.



What is good for the frat pack in Chicago has little relevance to all Americans. They have not learned a thing since taking over the presidency. They refuse to accept responsibility for anything he does as president. They are still running a campaign based on half truths and deception, whatever it takes to get elected, and let the public be damned.



The State of the Union should be a real interesting speech as long as the teleprompter keeps running. We might actually discover more promises for a yet to be determined future. But we will never know the real truth, the real agenda, and where they intend to drag America before they are done bankrupting the nation and gutting the government. It will most surely be an interesting display of motivational hyperbole and transparent objectives, more of the same.