Brushfire of Freedom
The Irritable Pundit
Note: Originally published on June 6th, 2009 at Brushfire Sparks. Our own Irritable Pundit is out on holiday, but hopefully this “greatest hits” item will hold you over until the new year.
Obama is, in his own way, the most honest President since Ronald Reagan.
There I said it.
Now look, I know what you are thinking. Obama has lied about many things already through misdirection, like a stage magician. A hand flourish here, a bright scarf there, all while hiding the little ball with his other hand. Spend trillions but talk about fiscal responsibility, counting on the inattention of the peons who exalted him. When the people read that the US debt for every living American is one million each after his glorious drunken spending spree? Blame Bush! Again counting on the intentional lack of attention to detail prevalent among his most ardent supporters. That his every move is 4 to 5 times more expensive than anything Bush ever did at his worse is conveniently unnoticed.
His loyal worshipers and the media (but I repeat myself) remind me of the woman being cheated on, who knows it in her heart, but purposely ignores the shirts that smell like perfume. She does not want to know, and neither do they. Of course in this case, they are ignoring perfume, lipstick on the collar, receipts to cheap motels, mysterious STDs, and VHS tapes starring the blonde in their own bedroom currently reaching for her shirt. But hey, love is blind! Also it is apparently deaf, dumb, and in this case utterly brain-dead. However, I say again that in many ways Obama was more honest than any politician in modern times, excepting for Reagan.
"What?!??!", you ask, "IP, you handsome hilarious devil you! Are you kidding, you just said he lied didn't you?"
Well yes, but like any good magician, not when it mattered. The greatest magicians, card sharks, and confidence men tell their audience the truth, but in such a way that the audience fools themselves. "Now, I'm going to put this ball in my pocket...". The audience is now sure the ball is anywhere but in his pocket.
Obama made many extreme statements as an early candidate (which includes his time in the Senate). He would bankrupt coal, he would redistribute wealth, he would remake America, gun control was coming, etc... He spent time with Muslim extremists, hateful preachers, anti-American domestic terrorists and followed the teachings of Saul Alinsky. The far right screamed "LOOK! LOOK! He's a socialist and hates this country!", while the far left said "Look! Look! At last! Obama is really one of us!". And all the talking heads, pseudo-intellectuals, bosses, punditry and the rank & file party-faithful immediately began a rousing chorus of "Oh, those are just promises to his base, he won't really govern that way!" And as the election came closer, they parroted his newly stated centrist positions as proof. "Everyone moves to the middle and governs from the middle" they told us. And we were given innumerable examples of past campaign rhetoric that, of course, never came true.
What we have learned since Obama took office is the extremes on both sides of the political spectrum were right about Obama, and all the televised idiots, party heads, centrists and moderates were wrong. Obama is a radical who dislikes his own country and dislikes Israel. He has Marxist leanings at best and is an out right Socialist at worst. Obama is a chicago style thug politician, completely unprepared for the actual job of governing this nation.
You do not have to be profoundly gifted on the Stanford-Binet to grasp this (though it helps), but that makes Obama... honest.
No one since Reagan was so amazingly true to themselves, their goals, and promises. Oh, without a doubt Obama will (unlike Reagan) lie, cheat, steal and intimidate as needed to get to his goal, but on the goal itself he was completely forthright. Where it most matters, Obama was true-blue. Those initial moves weren't head fakes, and they were not feints. He allowed us to believe that he didn't actually mean exactly what he was saying out loud. Obama knew we would be too clever by half, and we would discount his statements as "too far fetched". He was, after all, just a politician saying what a politician has to in order to get elected. Anyone could see that!
Unfortunately, he meant every word.
The wreck that is our economy, the unparalleled taking of power, the overreaching nanny-state apparatus being put into place, all give stark testimony to the greatest of magician's tricks and our having fell for it. The ball was really in his pocket, and now so is our future.
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