Trouble in Paradise

All through the campaign Obama was able to deflect any scrutiny that was leveled at him. He was able, with the help of the media, to shrug off his radical associations (Ayers, Wright, Flagel). He was able to say he was going to "spread the wealth around", without people being concerned. But campaigning is very different from leading. He has never run anything or led anyone and even now he's still campaigning to sell his radical policies. The state senator that voted "present" most of the time and never introduced a major piece of legislation, became a US Senator that never introduced a major piece of legislation and then a President with an agenda but no substance. His Vice-President and Secretary of State, while they were his primary opponents, said he wasn't qualified to lead and lacked executive experience and they were right. In fact despite the brutal attacks she endured, Governor Palin had more executive experience than Obama, Biden and even McCain COMBINED.

He's still not leading, he's still on the road campaigning. He's introducing broad policies and asking his liberal allies in Congress to come up with the details. When he's asked for details, he stammers and fumbles for answers, appearing weak and unsure of himself. The people have begun to realize that he's not telling them the truth now, because they're learning details for themselves, without the filter of Obama and his teleprompter. The public knows more about what's in the legislation he's trying to push on them than he does and they don't like what they see.

The post-racial candidate has been replaced by a president that accuses a police officer of racial profiling and acting "stupidly". He injects himself and race into a case that he admits he doesn't have all the facts about. He is absolutely at a loss to understand why people are angry at him, not realizing that he's the one that has behaved stupidly and in a racist manner. He assumes that the police have been racist, because his friend a black professor was arrested, never considering the possibility that Professor Gates might have been the one who acted "stupidly" and brought race into the situation. Had he taken five minutes to read the police reports (which I did online), he might have learned that his friend accused a police sergeant, who had been hand picked by his superior (who happened to be black) to teach a course on avoiding racial profiling at the police academy, of wanting to see his I.D. because he's "a black man in America". In fact Sergeant Crowley was there to protect the home of the same black man that was accusing him of being a racist cop. Had he not responded, the officer would have been accused of not caring about protecting a black man's home. Again, had the President investigated, he would have found that there had been a previous break in at that home.

In the very same speech, where the president insulted police officers, he accused doctors of taking children's tonsils out to make more money, turning doctors, who were already skeptical of his plan, against him even further.

The arrogance remains, but the veneer of invincibility is gone. He still believes that he can push his radical agenda on the American people, even though members of his own party are unwilling to risk their political futures to vote for it. But when congressmen go home to their districts and are laughed at for trying to convince their constituents that spending a trillion dollars on a government run healthcare system will save money and his HHS secretary goes to a town hall meeting and is told "it will be a cold day in hell before he (Obama) socializes my healthcare", their is no doubt that things are changing. That's change we can believe in.

It took more than two years, but people are starting to see him and his agenda for what they really are, an unprecedented growth of government, spending and intrusiveness. While there are those that want what he's peddling, they are far from the majority. Independents aren't left-wing or socialists. They don't want to be taxed to death. They don't want to give the government unprecedented power to control their healthcare. They don't want healthcare policies that have failed in Norway, England, Canada, Massachusetts and even his birthplace Hawaii, imposed upon them. Nor do they want the Federal Government to impose failed policies like California's environmental standards on the nation, further increasing unemployment and damaging our economy by driving industry and jobs overseas.

The administration that was going to be the "most transparent" ever, is now being seen to be so secretive that it won't release his full medical records, his college transcripts or his ever elusive long-form birth certificate. Even people like Lou Dobbs that were once skeptical and thought that the so-called "birthers" were fringe, nut jobs are starting to ask questions of the untouchable president. Only the most far-left members of the media are still not asking questions. Not only is the honeymoon over, there is trouble in paradise.