by Barry Kelly | August 19, 2013 · 9:07 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 70 – THE ADVISOR

EGYPT AND OBAMA

The Advisor sat in front of his wide-screen TV watching the streets of Cairo turn to chaos. Minutes later he was astonished at President Obama’s comments on nationwide TV. Advisors were not to be surprised by the actions and statements of their Presidents. For the past two weeks, since the President had not sought his advice, the Advisor had been frantically searching the Presidential Journals written by Advisors since Washington’s first term. He had a treasure of history lined up on the floor to ceiling book shelves. Surely there were bits of history that would help him advise this President, he had thought. His search had not turned up evidence of another Advisor being continually surprised by the man in the Oval Office.

Recently, a thought had been trying to insert itself in his thinking. Maybe he was using the wrong assumption. All of his predecessors assumed, rightly, that their Presidents were seeking solutions to problems affecting the nation’s well being and progress. What if President Obama has a different vision? A vision that required the destruction of the present to usher in a period of greater fairness and equality for, not just America, but for the entire world? He definitely had a serious problem with the colonial past of both Great Britain and, a different kind of world domination by the United States. Nothing he was doing or planning to do would improve National Security or the nation’s economy. His record showed he was constantly putting obstacles in the way of national independence in the energy field from fossil fuels in favor of a vision of green energy from non-existent technology that was, at least, several decades in the future. Cheap energy in America would do more to bring back manufacturing jobs and products than all his cumbersome regulations and pronouncements.

Egypt is what brought the President’s destructive words and actions into focus. Here, the people rejected a military dictatorship for free elections and democracy. Their sacrifices brought elections that put the most organized opposition into power. The Muslim Brotherhood is not a political party. It’s like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Both are armed militias that do a modicum of social work. Once acquiring power, either by coup or the ballot box, they do not give up power. One person, one vote, one time. Germany under the Nazi party had a similar experience. Once the Muslim Brotherhood under Morsi gained power they moved immediately to ensure their permanency. Their intent was not to benefit the Egyptian people or nation, it was to install an Islamic nation under sharia law.

The Egyptian people ousted the dictatorship of the Brotherhood with the backing of the Army. President Obama gave lukewarm support to the overthrow of Morsi, while lamenting the loss of democracy. The Brotherhood took the fight to the streets demanding the return of Morsi and democracy, vowing to fight to the death. The streets are jammed with Brotherhood supporters, even though they are a definite minority. Chaos is spreading. The already shaky economy is vanishing. The Army moves to restore order. The Brotherhood uses weapons to fight back. Casualties mount on both sides. Progressives, with the President at the point, condemn the Army’s brutality in putting down the Brotherhood revolt, demanding a return to the democratic process and canceling a joint U.S.-Egypt military exercise.

Clearly President Obama has sided with the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Progressives and their Presidential leadership forget that if you added two zeros to the number of dead in Egypt you would still have far fewer dead than in Syria, where a hands-off policy was Obama’s choice. Yet with Christian churches burning and armed Brotherhood roaming the streets of Egypt, President Obama calls for talks and negotiations to restore the democratic process.

The Advisor mused. Doesn’t he know there are times when talk is impossible? A return to democratic elections would only mean the best organized and ruthless group, Morsi and the Brotherhood would win again. This time there would be no return. The Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel would end. Morsi would align Egypt with Iran and attempt to establish an Islamic Empire, forcefully rejecting all Western influence. The war for Islamic dominance is on and our President is supporting the Islamists. His circle of advisors has several Islamists pressing their version of the future.

I must find a way to show the President a different vision. A war between Islam and Christianity is not in America’s interest. Islam weakness is its rejection of reality and the absence of love and forgiveness in its theology. There is nothing democratic about Sharia Law. It is a real war on women.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com. The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to pass on this blog or parts of it to your contacts and friends. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful.

Muslim Brotherhood Defiant as Death Toll Passes 500 (hispanicbusiness.com)
Neoconservative Propagandist Supports the Massacre of Muslim Brotherhood Supporters (lataan.blogspot.com)
Writing the Wrongs: Egyptians Enraged by U.S. Outreach to Muslim Brotherhood (writingtw.blogspot.com)

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Tagged as Barack Obama, Cairo, Egypt, Egyptians, Islam, Muslim Brotherhood, Obama, United States

by Barry Kelly | August 15, 2013 · 7:00 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSTIGHTS 69-ADVISOR

PROBLEMS

The Advisor sat slumped in his chair. For the first time in his life he felt inadequate. His President and the nation needed help. There were so many problems, he wasn’t sure where to start or even if he should start.

Only one thing to do, he thought. Pull out your journal and put down your problems. If you can’t help President Obama solve them, at least you can record them. The record may help another President and his Advisor.

He uncapped his Waterman fountain pen, dipped it in the open inkwell to get the flow started, and wrote in large printed letters at the top of a clean page, PROBLEMS. Wondering what to write next, he just started to write. The words flowed like they were pouring from a deep wound in the Nation’s body.

Obamacare: Here’s an unpopular program that addresses a national need. Nearly everyone believes health care in America is broken and needs fixed. If this President could get over his revolutionary philosophy that pushes him to use every issue to destroy the opposition, it would be easy to pass a bipartisan bill that keeps the good parts of Obamacare and meets the nation’s needs without polarizing the populace. There is a constitutional process that could make this happen. President Obama has to take the lead. He shouldn’t worry about the opposition. They are without leaders and nearly hopeless. Also the President and his Progressive supporters must accept constitutional limits on executive powers and the role of the states. This is not a hard problem. Ignoring it can lead to impeachment talk.

After health care, the sweeping ink trail took up the energy problem.

To start with, energy is too important to be left to spineless politicians and those progressives who believe humans can control climate and its worldwide effects. How can anyone trust politicians or executive department heads such as EPA who refuse to recognize that the world’s climate has and does change, almost constantly in historical terms? The changes are not caused by humans. Humans weren’t even present for many of the changes. How about the time when there were two miles of ice over the place now occupied by Chicago? How many emissions from cars and coal-fired plants did it take to warm up the Earth then? Any objective person of science knows that minute changes in the Earth’s orbit, the energy put out by the sun, and the occasional meteorite might have been instrumental in changes in the world’s temperature.

Again, a bipartisan energy program would not be hard to accomplish if the President could bring himself to cast aside the misguided environmentalists and focus on an intelligent use of fossil fuels while investing modest sums in finding a cleaner form of energy in this century. In the meantime, I must help him recognize that the civilization we have today and may have tomorrow, is because of fossil fuel. Pipelines, drilling on- and off-shore for oil and natural gas and building refineries are good for the nation and cheap energy will bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Massive amounts of tax dollars, poured recklessly into solar cells and wind turbines, will not magically develop even ten percent of our energy requirements.

The Advisor liked to write and ponder problems by candlelight. The flickering light was a constant reminder of how close we are to the past. He felt we are much closer to the time of our founders than we are to the citizens of the next century. Of course, that is what history is all about. Knowing the past will help us get safely into the future. Maybe, that is the message I can get across to the President.

Even I have to get some sleep. I’ll leave National Security, overstepping of executive power, and the economy for another session. If the President comes back, I will have something for him.

Marita Noon Commentary: We Win They Lose (fggam.org)
Eight Decades of Insights 67 – the Advisor (factsandfictions.com)

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Filed under Alinsky, Barry Kelly, centralization, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, General, global warming, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, political solutions, Politics, Progressives

Tagged as Climate change, Obama, Obamacare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, United States

by Barry Kelly | August 12, 2013 · 7:20 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 68 – THE ADVISOR

WHAT DOES OBAMA BELIEVE?

Safe in the Shadows

It has now been four weeks since the President had been to talk with the Advisor. The Advisor had gone over the handwritten journals of a few of his predecessors. The ones he found the most helpful were those associated with the long tenure of President Roosevelt. The Advisor then had realized that the President and he were operating from an entirely different set of facts. If you don’t know what your President believes, it is very hard to advise him. Presidents Roosevelt and Obama have a number of things in common. Both liked good coffee and cigarettes. On the personalty side both had very thin skins for politicians and both believed they knew better than Congress or the Courts what would be the best for the nation. The Advisor’s predecessor believed that FDR’s policies would delay an economic recovery and change the relationship between the citizens and the central government for decades to come. Both were and are Populists with a strong sense that the elite knows better than the people how to run America. Those beliefs caused huge increases in the size and scope of the federal government.

While President’s change roles, the Advisor’s role is constant. He or she must give the President the best advice possible to protect the tenure and legacy of the President, even if the Advisor believes the President’s policies and actions are a threat to the Republic. The Advisor leaned back in his chair, put FDR’s ledger down, and thought, I’m not doing well. I’m replacing the President’s goals and policies with my own. I have overstepped my role and driven my client, the President, away. I must do better. He is the one who got elected twice, not me.

He was soon to get a second chance.

The President sat alone in the Oval Office, letting his mind absorb the flow of historical, even life and death decisions, that his processors had struggled with. He might sound like he was indecisive and maybe at times he was. But he knew where he wanted to go. He also knew too many of his staff had their own agendas. He couldn’t count on anyone presenting alternatives. Now that David Axelrod was in Chicago and getting tired of his role, no one talked back to him or presented out-of-the-box ideas. He was trained as a lawyer and needed opposition to formulate strategy and tactics to bring into being the America he dreamed of, where everyone got a fair shot and the nation’s wealth was distributed equally.

It was ten pm. What the hell! The old man in the underground office in the tunnel said he was there 24/7. Let’s see. With that thought, President Obama pushed the button that quietly called in the head of his Secret Service detail. Minutes later he opened the old vault door into the Advisor’s office. The Advisor, looking like clothing store ad with his stark white shirt and charcoal suit, red tie, and gleaming black shoes, greeted the President. He led the President over to the small conference table and poured both of them a fresh cup of strong, black coffee. The President thought it might be a dark Sumatra. The President didn’t say anything. Just sat sipping his coffee. The Advisor said, “Mr. President I have a confession to make. I believe I’ve been trying to impose my beliefs on you rather than helping you with the hardest job in the world.”

“Maybe so. But I need an honest opposition to help me think through what I’m going.”

“Mr. President I would like to try to better understand your beliefs and, with your permission, want to ask you the same questions one of my predecessors asked President Roosevelt.”

“By all means. You have my full attention. Ask away.”

“When you say you want to ‘transform America’ what do you mean by that? What do you want to keep and what do you want to change?”

As the President smiled and started to answer, his Secret Service escort knocked on the door. When the Advisor opened the door, the Secret Service Officer said, “Mr. President, you are wanted in the Situation Room now. Your National Security team will be here in two or three minutes.”

The President waved goodbye and said, “I’ll be back” and disappeared down the tunnel.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com.

The author has 27 years of Government service, including two years serving President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an advisor. Considering today’s volatile political situation, you are encouraged to pass on this blog or parts of it to your contacts and friends. Comments and dialogue are welcome and helpful.

Meeting with President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Deputy National Security Adviser Frank Carlucci and General Colin Powell in the Oval Office.

Eight Decades of Insights 67 – the Advisor (factsandfictions.com)
EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 61: The Advisor (factsandfictions.com)

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 67 – THE ADVISOR

FREEDOM IN DANGER

Safe in the Shadows The President hadn’t been down to consult with the Advisor for more than three weeks. Nevertheless, the Advisor had his duty. He must continue to write advice for the President in the Ledger. The wall behind his desk was covered with shelves of presidential advice from his predecessors. When feeling unappreciated, he often pulled out a ledger at random and browsed through it. The ledgers were all filled with handwritten comments, arguments, notes, and laments. All in ink. The Advisor wondered how those who went far before him used quills and straight pens. He used a Waterman’s ebony black fountain pen. Earlier this week, on August 1st, he had seen a very good editorial on the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal by Daniel Henninger.

President Obama probably hadn’t read it. Too bad, he thought. The article was right on target. Maybe if more media picked up the thread, the President would learn or, at least accept that managing power is very different than acquiring it. If only Saul Alinsky, the President’s ideological mentor, had written about using power instead of focusing on the means to get power. The issue is never the issue nonsense only applies to seizing power by destroying the opposition. President Obama is stuck on the destroying all opposition theology. That’s why he keeps serving up the same stale sound bites and only seems to know what he is doing when out preaching to the choir standing behind his altar.

The Advisor sighed out loud amid his musing.

The President has all the power he needs without usurping Constitutional powers of the judiciary and legislative branches. He pays no heed to the Constitution or established law. A Republic like ours cannot endure a President who picks and chooses what laws to enforce. He has said he is done with Congress and will use executive powers to do what needs to be done. Those are the words and plans of a king or dictator. Individual freedom is seldom lost in some great struggle. More often it is eroded slowly in hundreds of small actions from the executive branch. The EPA, IRS, HHS, Homeland Security, and Justice Department have all been active in bypassing traditional safeguards to our freedom. Look carefully at the people he puts in charge of important Executive functions. They have every intention of establishing a one-party system dominated by the Progressive Party. Some people still think of it as the Democratic Party. It isn’t.

If the people read and understand Mr. Henninger’s article they will know why President Obama says and does what he does. It is no secret. He has no interest in governing or finding solutions to problems like the economy, the Arab Spring, health care, education, energy independence, or the nation’s morale. He is the ultimate destroyer of the Republic. Without a much more resilient and smarter opposition party, the erosion of our individual freedom will not end with Obama’s second term.

I must find a way to reach him. My mission is help the President protect and guide the nation. I cannot break my oath but neither can I help him destroy the Republic.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com

DANIEL HENNINGER: Obama’s Creeping Authoritarianism: Imposed law replaces checks and balances. “E… (pjmedia.com)
President Alinsky Threatens Americans With Rising “Social Tensions” (pjmedia.com)
President Barack Obama’s Six Months of Blunders (conservativeread.com)

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 66 ADVISOR

IS IT TOO LATE?

Safe in the Shadows (Photo credit: sigma.)

The Advisor was slowly sipping his coffee as he waited for the President. The head of his secret service detail had called earlier and alerted the Advisor to a Presidential visit later in the night. It was now 10:17 P.M. Never mind the time he told himself if the President wants to come, he will come. Time makes no difference to me. This man is very hard to advise. I believe he has been that way all his life. He has a very inflated opinion of his capabilities. Not the first President to do so. He has never been held to any standard. Not as a child or as a student or even as a Senator. He does and says what he wants. Even contradicting his own recorded statements within days or weeks. I don’t think he even worries about consequences. Presidents have been impeached for less than he has already done.

Nixon left office before facing impeachment charges for a simple breaking and entering of a Democratic office in the Watergate. There was no proof that President Nixon ordered or knew about the break in before it happened. Nevertheless he deserved the threatened impeachment. His closest advisors were involved and the President is responsible for the people he hires. President Obama after saying how serious the charges of the IRS discriminating against Conservative groups were, he is now calling it a phony scandal. Does he think Americans all suffer from short-term memory loss? He also has included the killing of Americans at Ben Ghazi a phony scandal. Same with the intercept of journalists phone calls and email.

Those are all very serious events. Far more deserving of Impeachment proceedings than WaterGate or sex in the Oval office. He is only saved by the weak Republican leadership of the House who act as if they are afraid to face facts. This President is hard to advise. I don’t know what to tell him today. We just don’t agree on a basic set of facts. He is the President and many of my predecessors have faced harder problems. I don’t want my President to be run out of office.

While the Advisor was worrying about what advice to give the President. President Obama arrived outside the steel door leading to the Advisor’s office. He stared at the antique copper plaque on the steel door and studied the faint inscription. EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS. Insights! What the hell am I doing here? The old black man inside is not helping me. Why does he think he’s so damn smart? I’m a Harvard graduate and a former professor. I think he knows what I’m trying to do but doesn’t let on. My legacy is not going to be like other Presidents. I don’t give a damn about solving problems or the ‘war on terror’ or creating jobs, or becoming a major producer of fossil fuel energy. I don’t even care about a health plan. What I care about is the redistribution of wealth and the destruction of this country’s power to create slavery abroad by dominating other nations, especially Islamic nations, through American economic and military power.

Only when the United States takes its place in a world wide family of nations as simply another member of the International Community will I be satisfied. We must follow the European model to provide for all citizens. Where everyone has equal opportunity and a fair shot and a progressive elite manages the economy and directs progress. That’s my legacy. That’s what I want. Real freedom for the middle class.

His Secret Service escort said, “Mr. President he can’t hear you through the door.”

“Too damn bad. I’m not completely nuts. No more of this.” With that outburst he spun on his heel strode back down the tunnel.

By the author of the Jack Brandon novels. http://www.factsandfictions.com