I wanted Barack Obama to be the real deal, I really did. He was the guy who was going to bridge the partisan divide and bring the people together in a new kind of political framework. He was going to leave the old political infighting behind and create a new dynamic of cooperation. We could use someone like that, kind of a JFK for the 21st century. That would be alright. Unlike John Freakin' Kerry, Obama's initials weren't actually J-F-K, but that's not really a dealbreaker. He was someone fresh, a new voice, a change from decade three of the same old dueling Bush/Clinton dynasties. As an aside, I hear Jeb's son has political ambitions. COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU IN 2016, after the Hillary fatigue is well set in (though Hillary fatigue set in for me around 1993).
Obama had all the patter down. Good speaker. Looks and sounds good on TV. That's critical, and not to be 'misunderestimated', to quote another of our more edjacated educated (Spellcheck) presidents. Obama also had 'The Audacity Of Hope', whatever that is. I read his book, and I still don't know. Maybe it's meaningless, but it sure sounds good. I only wish someone would tell me if I have it. The Audacity Of Hope might come in handy sometime, like if I wanted to get in Oprah's Book Club and make a few million. Obama's book was also a little short on substance. Instead of tackling specific issues, he mostly talked about how he would bring both sides together in synergy and harmony, like in that old Cat Stevens song, 'Peace Train', if any of you boomers remember it. In any case…Woo, Woo ! Let's get on board !
Then Obama started running for president, and HAD to start talking about the issues, at least once in a while…
And the Peace Train crashed into the Naive Bus, and they both went over the side of the No-You-Didn't Bridge.
Obama talked about our military "air raiding villages and killing civilians" in Afghanistan (there goes the pro-troop vote). He talked about how he stopped wearing his american flag pin shortly after 9/11 (excellent timing ! There goes the, um, pro-america vote). He talked about dismantling all nuclear weapons, which I'm absolutely certain that Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, and Al Qaeda would all agree to in a hearbeat, and would also cause all US military analysts to spit their coffee clear across the room and start cursing in unison. Nothing like removing the number one deterrent of mutually assured destruction, right Barack ? That'll keep the peace. After all, this IS the Peace Train. You might ask, what exactly would keep our enemies from detonating a nuke on american soil once we have destroyed our own nuclear arsenal ? (Not that we'd EVER have a reason to distrust someone like, say, Kim Jong Il, who built his existing nuclear capability at the same time he was telling Clinton and Bush that he wasn't). Not to worry, Obama has an answer. He will negotiate with our enemies. Whew, thank goodness ! For a minute there, I thought we might be in trouble.
So, having lost the pro-military, pro-american, and pro-sanity votes, trailing Hillary by 33 points in the polls, who is left on board the Obama Peace Train ? Good question. Even the loons are starting to look in John Edwards direction. So did Barack it seems, because it appears he pulled his health care plan right off Edwards' website, just like Hillary did. You won't find anything concrete on the issues on Barack Hussein Obama's website, that's for sure. I went there so I could post his solutions to the current issues, but I just couldn't find any, other than 'pull the troops out of Iraq'. Obama goes around telling everyone he was always against the war, but in 2004 when he was asked if he would have voted for the Iraq war like Kerry did, he said he 'wasn't sure'.
But before anybody starts thinking I'm being unfair to BO, I should note that during Obama's speech about getting rid of nuclear weapons, he also came out in strong opposition to terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons. Bold move, Barack, bold move. Audacious even.
