Category Archives: Obama

by Barry Kelly | September 27, 2016 · 2:40 pm

The Professor and The Debate

The first Presidential debate of 2016 had just finished and the spin rooms were already active with talking heads. Professor Clark shut off the wide-screen TV that dominated his home office. He said, “It is a pleasure to have this class in my home for this historic debate. There is no question that this is the most important election period in my lifetime. There are serious issues at stake. Many have been postponed for years. The very direction of the nation is being decided. The kind of world you will live in for the rest of your lives is being debated now throughout the nation. To verge on the sensational for a moment, I don’t think it is a stretch to say the very existence of this unique nation could be a casualty of the election.

“I know it is late and the sleep time hard-working students get is precious, but I want to go around the room and get some one-liners from you. Alison, let’s start with you.”

Alison said, “Secretary Clinton stayed on message and showed very good debate discipline, but I don’t think she scored many points. Her poll numbers will remain relatively constant.”

“Robert, you’re next.”

“It’s hard to pick a clear winner. Trump missed several opportunities to score but he did as well as he needed to. The moderator was clearly helping Hillary and that will resonate with his followers.”

“Carlos, what’s your take?”

“I agree with Alison and Robert. The debate was a draw or close to it. Secretary Clinton had the worst hand, having to run on the direction Obama put this nation on when the people are screaming for change.”

“Katrisha, comments?”

“I saw the debate nearly the same as my colleagues, but was struck by the body language. Hillary was ‘smirky,’ stiff and her voice was too high-pitched. Trump showed anger and some petulance. He couldn’t get over his ‘counter-punching’ instincts. As a result, he let his opponent direct the substance of the debate.”

The Professor nodded at Paul and said, “Go.”

“I thought at a presidential debate even a moderator from NBC would play it fairly straight. It could have been worse, but his frequent interruptions of Trump, the selective fact checking and the avoiding of any questions on e-mails, illegal servers, BenGhazi, the Clinton Foundation and many others showed a clear network biases.”

“Barbara you’re on.”

“I was struck by the fact the contestants seemed to be unconsciously addressing different audiences. Hillary’s comments, I believe, were directed to the wonks and the Washington establishment. Trump seemed to be ignoring that audience and speaking to the people outside the handpicked inside audience. His pitch should have resonated with mainstream America. Especially the working people and those who are having difficult times just feeding and housing their families.”

“Edward, comment?”

“Yes. Irrespective of the judgments coming out of the spin rooms, the wonks and talking heads have been wrong about nearly everything associated with this campaign. And they have been wrong because they dislike the Republican candidate deep in their core. Trump is not of them, he doesn’t look like them. He doesn’t share their beliefs and perhaps worst of all, he is not an ideologically pure right-wing conservative Republican. The Conservative establishment class, including those in Congress and the feckless national security crowd, are giving, at best, very tepid support to the Trump campaign. The entire Bush crowd is an example of these political correct Brahmans.”

“Not exactly a one-liner but then the one-liners have been growing with each speaker. Alice, it is up to you to wrap this up.’

“I’ve enjoyed the comments and have to admit some of them surprised me. Indicating that while we all witnessed the debate, we saw different things. This is not a traditional presidential campaign. Maybe this is closer to a revolution than an election. Maybe, just maybe, in most countries these issues would now be being fought in the streets.”

“Excellent comments. This is a remarkable class. Go get some sleep and we will pick up these threads in our next class. Thank you.”

INSIGHTS 275: President Trump – What is the Risk?

These thoughts are for those of you who voted twice for Obama and are now in the Hillary Clinton camp.

After eight years of the progressive rule of Obama, what does your country look like? Have you noticed transparency of government operations never happened? The Obama administration can’t seem to tell the truth about issues as important as unemployment figures. Can you believe from what you see that the unemployment number is 5.5 percent? I hope not. Any accurate honest accounting would put the unemployment number at near 15 percent. If you drop all the spin and count people who have dropped out of the workforce because they have given up on finding a job, the figure would be much more accurate.

Have you noticed that the moderate centrist Democratic Party is gone? It has been taken over by the progressives, who will never give it back. The real goal of the progressives is to turn American politics into a one-party system where the government controls the economy and moves the United States into some form of an international world order.

Have you noticed that American economic, moral and military power has been greatly reduced from pre-Obama days? American warplanes have run out of the spare parts needed to keep our ancient planes operating and new ones are not being built. Our military manpower (male and female) is now near or below pre-World War II levels. Never has peace come from weakness, yet the progressive party of Obama and Clinton is trying the historical failed policy of peace through appeasement again. Part of the result is tragically apparent in the Middle East where the human costs of Obama’s failure to act is approaching world war levels and Clinton is promising more of the same.

Have you noticed the ‘Rule of Law’ no longer applies to government wrongdoing? No one or organization important to the progressives is ever held accountable. The Justice Department under Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch has been politicized beyond anything we have ever seen. The Watergate Nixon affair that we all thought was so bad now seems like an everyday executive action.

Have you noticed the national debt has doubled under the Obama administration and that the economy is stagnating even after unprecedented stimulus funds were poured into the economy? Wall Street and its investor class has prospered while Main Street businesses have suffered. The Clintons and their questionable foundation have grown rich. The Justice Department, reportedly, has prevented the FBI from investigating corruption and conflict of interest issues regarding the financial affairs of the Clinton Foundation.

Have you noticed nothing in the progressives’ management of the nation seems to have worked? The IRS, VA, EPA, DOJ, education, foreign policy, the Pentagon, intelligence gathering and analysis and immigration. Just pick an area. The result will be the same. The nation needs real changes. A lot of crockery needs to be broken. I believe Mr. Trump can do that. He has the ego and I hope the expertise to solve many of our problems. He’s not a perfect candidate and he needs to demonstrate a higher level of discipline and analysis. But the risk of a Trump Administration is far less than four or eight more years of Obama through Hillary. I know where that will lead and do not want to go there under any circumstances.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Clinton, Conservative views, democrats, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions, Progressives, trump

Tagged as 2016, Clinton, hillary, Obama, presidential election, trump

by Barry Kelly | August 12, 2016 · 12:49 pm

INSIGHTS 274: National Security managers versus Donald Trump

This week, 50 national security bureaucrats signed a document stating Donald Trump wasn’t fit to be Commander-in-Chief. Devastating? Not really!

National security specialists look at the world through a very murky lens. They are often wrong about their own specialty. In fact, some noteworthy national security advisors have missed what have been called the most important security issues of our times.

This whole class of self-designated security elitists have presided over the decline of American power and prestige. They lacked the courage and honor to stand up and be counted during the terrible Obama wartime decisions. They knew the military power of the United States was being systematically diminished. They knew about the fiasco over Benghazi and the failure of the leadership to even try to rescue the valiant men who died there. They knew the Obama infatuation with Iran was leading to a terrible deal that would reward the No. 1 terrorist sponsor in the world. They knew we should not have withdrawn all our forces from Iraq. They knew the Obama polices were failing to deal with Syria and the growth of ISIS. They knew Putin intends to reconstitute the Russian empire and that the Chinese were expanding their dominance in the China Sea. And they all stood quietly by, obeying orders from an administration they knew had a view of the world very far from reality.

Where were their petitions and outcries then? Why didn’t they resign in protest? To resign and protest in the face of a vindictive leader takes honor and courage. It seems these critical characteristics were missing. These men are not leaders. They are merely failed managers who valued their careers over the needs of the nation.

Donald Trump scares these timid managers. None of them would last in a Trump administration.

INSIGHTS 272 IRAQ: WHAT’S HAPPENING?

At best Iraq, is a small Shiite nation with a port on the Persian Gulf and with a rich heritage of Shiite sites and some oil fields. Its past history of being a Middle Eastern military power capable of challenging Iran is gone. Its military was largely made up of Sunni tribes and Kurds; it is now almost purely Shiite. The United States moved from being Iraq’s most powerful enemy to being its primary supporter.

As its enemy, America destroyed Hussein’s military and political infrastructure. As its supporter, we presided over Iraq’s demise and the rise of ISIS. The White House, the State Department and the Pentagon still call the area that Saddam Hussein controlled Iraq. But it no longer exists. It evaporated with the withdrawal of American presence years ago. When the Pentagon and the State Department speak of the progress of the Iraqi Army they support, they are talking about the Shiite Army under Baghdad control. Any success of the Iraqi army on the battlefield is dependent solely on American and Iranian forces.

The Iraqi Army could not take Fallujah and hold it without American and Iranian support. The same is true for Mosel. Iranian militias will continue to provide the Iraqi Army with thousands of Shiite ground troops. The only winner in what used to be Iraq will be Iran. When very weak but rich nations border powerful nations, they often end up being absorbed. The term Iraq may continue to refer to Baghdad and areas South, but it will most likely be a province of Iran. I believe the White House is totally prepared for Iran to absorb Iraq.

When America and its allies defeat ISIS, they must be careful not to let the entire area of Sunni Tribes and Kurds also be absorbed by Iran. You can draw up a scenario which shows an American led coalition victory over ISIS could end up adding territory, people and oil wealth to Iran. Neither the Kurds or the Sunnis, alone or together, can withstand Iran. Only U.S. forces can do that. Under this administration or a Clinton progressive follow on, American forces will not be deployed against Iran. The transformation strategy of the Obama era for the Middle East will have taken a giant step forward.

My latest novel, The Sub Rosa Manuscript, gives, I believe, a clear understandable account of the steady erosion of the personal and economic freedom we inherited from the sacrifices of those who went before us. It is now our turn to protect our inheritance by rejecting the empty promises of progressivism.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Iran, ISIS, Kurds, Middle East, Obama, oil, Shiite, Sunni

Tagged as Clinton, hillary, Iran, iraq, Middle East, Obama, politics

by Barry Kelly | July 18, 2016 · 8:19 pm

INSIGHTS 271 Letter From A Citizen To A President

President Obama, photo by the New York Daily News.

Dear Mr. President:

I am a Korean War Veteran with 27 years of Cold War service, including two years in Vietnam and two years as a special assistant to President Reagan in the fields of intelligence, covert action and counter-terrorism. When you were elected, I had serious reservations about your ability to lead our nation, but I was pleased that America had elected a black president.

After your first month in office, I could see my fears about your capability to lead and protect America were not unfounded. I am now 85 and am determined to live long enough to see the damage you have done being repaired. That is a big job for I cannot point to anything you have done well as our President. The country is more divided now than at any time since the war in Vietnam. Russia and China are expanding. Our economy is a shadow of its past power. Our military forces are below the readiness levels prior to the WWII. Foreign leaders have no respect for you or America’s current world role. Former allies are mystified by both your actions and failures to act.

Our veterans and our workers are suffering under your leadership. Unemployment seems to be something you try to fix with bogus figures, much like our GNP annual rate. The middle class is vanishing and your constant speeches seldom fail to encourage class warfare. At least they did before I stopped listening to anything you say. The illegal and unchecked immigration you favor, while creating support for your progressive political base, puts additional obstacles in the path of American workers seeking employment.

As a direct result of your inaction and ‘leading from behind’ (which is not leading at all), the Middle East is in turmoil, millions of people have been displaced or killed. You have wasted the blood of our warriors and the nation’s treasury on your appeasement theories of foreign policy and warfare that have never worked and never will. Your anti-colonial infatuation with ‘One World Rule,’ the evils of American power, anti-capitalism, and support of Iran and Shiite Islam have no place in our past or future.

You are a true Socialist revolutionary who hasn’t realized yet that he has failed to transform America and that his time is now past. Please go quietly into history’s dust bin of failed leaders who never learned the difference between preaching about issues and actually working to fix national problems.

–BK