Tag Archives: Obama

by Barry Kelly | February 19, 2013 · 4:09 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 36

PLAYING THE ISSUES

If you have been following my recent blogs, you know I believe President Obama is following the guidance of Saul Alinsky, a brilliant radical tactician. The core of Alinky’s teaching is that “the issue is never the issue.” The only goal is the destruction of the existing order and replacing it with the Progressive (socialist/communist) blueprint for a new and better world where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone pays their fair share. Under this political social philosophy, even a discussion of ends justifying the means is meaningless. If you are striving for power, the means are always morally justified. This strategical approach gives anyone using it incredible flexibility. They can change sides at any time it appears advantageous. The first step in creating a new world is to destroy the current order.

English: Barack Obama delivering his electoral victory speech on Election Night ´08, in Grant Park, Chicago. (Wikipedia)

Now for some complexity. All issues are not the same and cannot be treated the same by the Progressives. For our purposes, I will put issues into three categories: The first category is issues that have been with us for several decades. Under this category live issues such as immigration, states rights, taxation, gun control, energy development, abortion, and solvency of our social programs. The second category are those that have been created recently. Here, I put climate control, sequestration, cabinet appointments, the role and size of the federal government, right to work issues, and government spending. Granted, some of these issues could fit under one of the two other categories. The third category contains those issues that appear to be spontaneous such as Benghazi, Syria, Muslim radicalism, international debt problems, unemployment, and job creation.

The flexibility Alinsky believers have somewhat depends on what category the issue is in. Take immigration as an issue. Obama cannot come out against immigration and he doesn’t have to put forward an effective bi-partisan solution. In fact he will not. Published plans, budgets, position papers are not part of Alinsky tactics as they limit changing sides or conditions abruptly. Instead, the immigration issue will be used to damage the Republican Party, the only party that stands in the way of the establishment of a Progressive dictatorship. This president does not want the Democrats and Republicans to come together to pass bipartisan immigration legislation. Instead, he will present obstacles and deal killers.

Since this is a blog and not a book, I’ll deal in this piece with only a few of the many possible issues. Energy policy is a perfect issue. Does any sane person believe America can be energy self-sufficient without the primary use of fossil fuels for several more decades? Yes. A constant search for alternative power sources is good as long as we are focused on creating an energy program in America that creates thousands of jobs and energy self-sufficiency. Windmills, algae, corn, solar panels just are not economically viable nor credible. How can any president not welcome the Canadian pipeline? It is a no-brainer unless your real objective is to create chaos, high unemployment, angry union workers, and blow off a good neighbor. Only Alinksy followers can applaud Obama’s lethargic non-action. Don’t fall for the Progressives blaming the increasing cost of gasoline on Big Oil. They aren’t boy scouts but the price goes up when the Federal Reserve, which is a private company, prints obscene billions of dollars each month that weaken the dollar. Arabs sell oil for dollars. The weaker the dollar, the more dollars it takes to buy a barrel of oil. Keep in mind few transformations ever occur in a country with an sound economy, near full employment, and a promising future.

One last issue, Benghazi. Could the president have anticipated this crisis? No. But his staff and Cabinet should have. This issue just popped up. The president didn’t know what to do. So he did nothing. Well, he did create confusion. To have this shameful crisis be centered around who created what “talking points” is a mark of Beltway mentally. Fix the blame. Not the problem. Not even Alinsky or Axelrod would have recommended he not call the Pentagon for action or fail to convene his National Security Council, or travel the next day to Las Vegas to attend a fundraiser, or throw Susan Rice under the bus, or the bumbling concealment of information. In keeping with Obama-type transparency he has even kept the names and whereabouts of the Benghazi survivors secret, in spite of requests from Congress. On the Benghazi issue, the president damaged himself as well as the nation. Using every issue as a means to attack your opposition often diminishes all of us. Just ask the surviving family members what they think about the issue is never the issue as a principle for presidential leadership.

By the author of the Jack Brandon thriller series. www.factsandfictions.com

Is there an Obama-Alinsky comparison to be made and will it push us over the fiscal cliff? (itmakessenseblog.com)
Eight Decades of Insights 34 (factsandfictions.com)
Eight Decades of Insights 35 (factsandfictions.com)

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

Tagged as Barack Obama, Benghazi, climate, Federal Reserve, gas prices, Obama, oil, politics, Republicans, Saul Alinsky, Susan Rice, Syria

by Barry Kelly | February 13, 2013 · 7:30 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 34

WHY YOU CAN’T BELIEVE

THE STATE OF THE UNION IS NOT GOOD. The Obama presidency is a clear danger to the American way of life. Now, be honest, you don’t believe his administration is dangerous. You don’t believe because every politician you have ever known cared about issues. They ran on how they would handle the issues facing their voters. You and the media evaluated those office holders on how well they handled the issues important to you. You may not have liked their methods or the exact results, but they talked about your issues and worked on solutions.

President Barack Obama speaks with White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod in the staff work room April 4, 2009, in Strasbourg, France. (Wikipedia)

Western thought is based on working on the parts or pieces of things and then bringing them together. Republicans and Democrats believe putting America back to work requires serious work on a tax overhaul, reduced and prioritized spending, resource development, size of government, a retrained workforce, and increased exports to come together. Granted, there is plenty of room here for disagreement, but that is our system and a solution will emerge. That is what we are used to. It’s how and why we chose our candidates. We expect work on the issues, vigorous debates, and a workable solutions.

We have elected a president who does not work to solve issues or to reach agreement through compromise. He uses issues to achieve one end, the transformation or socialization of America. Issues are the tools he uses to destroy opposition, in this case the Republican party, Congress, Wall Street, Big Oil, and the courts. He will and has taken shifting sides on most all issues according to his faithful following of the Alinsky plan, “The issue is never the issue.” The only issue for President Obama and his progressive left following is the acquisition of total power, a one-party political system with only ceremonial roles for Congress, the states, and the courts. Any means to achieve socialism in America he believes is justified. Lying, misrepresentation, switching sides, demonizing the opposition, and the constant use of class warfare rhetoric are there for you to see. But you must be willing to look. For you will not see any detailed proposals or plans or budgets from the Obama presidency. Written plans are a no-no. They make it too easy for the opposition to point out shifting positions, falsehoods, and deceptions. Even the media would jump on inconsistent or shifting plans. So no detailed written plans. Instead, an in-your-face series of speeches and sham press conferences. Even the State of the Union report to the nation is childish in its petulance finger pointing at everyone but the president. The Supreme Leader does not recognize his own mistakes.

Obama’s State of the Union address covered a number of issues he and his co-president, David Axelrod, plan to use to destroy Congress and the Republican Party. Don’t expect any real moves to solve issues. Take immigration: It is to most Americans a very important issue. Hispanics, how do you feel being pushed aside for Obamacare? As long as you vote for him, he doesn’t care if you are unhappy. Remember the “issue is not the issue.” Immigration is a tool to use in the socialization of America. To progressives/socialists, controlling the medical industry is more important than dealing with immigration. We need the border controlled and a path to residency, in many cases citizenship, for the Hispanics now here. We need them. Welcome! Mr. President, where is your leadership?

To President Obama: Immigrants are not people needing help. Just a way to embarrass and demonize the Republicans. He will take care of them after the transformation is completed. Just like the socialists/progressives took care of the people in Cuba, Russia, China, Iran, and Germany. Do we have an all-of-the-above energy policy? If you think we do, stop drinking Obama kool-aid. What’s wrong with the Canadian pipe line through Nebraska? It would bring lower energy prices, give funds to a friendly nation, and create jobs. The private sector unions are even in favor. No real help here. Only words. It is easier to sell socialism to a jobless hurting population than to a economically thriving nation. Create a national crisis then use it against the opposition.

Another issue, the U.S. military. They are an obstacle to a socialist dictatorship. Weaken them by sending an incompetent former senator, who is anti-military, to manage our security. Why would any president do that? How about the nomination of a politicized former CIA officer to run CIA? Where was this champion of national security when all the monumental leaks of highly classified information occurred? Where was he during the national disgrace of Benghazi and the aftermath? I can’t think of a single issue where President Obama took the lead and solved an important issue. He blames the Republicans. Hell, they don’t even know what’s happening. Are gun and climate control critical issues?

The issue is never the issue. Apply that principle to every issue of the last four years. Maybe it will help you believe we are in dangerous times.

Eight Decades of Insights 33 (factsandfictions.com)
Economy to be Obama’s focus in State of the Union (tbo.com)
Obama’s State of the Union: A look back at past speeches (tv.msnbc.com)
Obama to lobby for immigration reform amid citizenship dispute (reuters.com)
Obama to lay out economic growth plan in State of Union speech (news.yahoo.com)

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS 21

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

MY PERSONAL VIEW OF PRESIDENT REAGAN

In December of 1986, Frank Carlucci pulled me aside in the coffee hour following a worship service and told me President Reagan had asked him to be his National Security Adviser. He was putting together an entirely new Security Council Staff and wanted me to do all the intelligence, covert action, counter terrorism and counter narcotics staff work on his staff. I greatly admired Frank Carlucci and would have followed him anywhere. I reported for duty just after the first of the year. What follows is my personal view of President Reagan whom I would soon meet for the first time.

My motivation for writing this after decades of silence is the similarity between where President Carter and President Obama have led this nation. Neither one of them could ever have led us out of where we were then and now. But I have nothing but praise for President Reagan. I have several unflattering comments I could make about people in his Cabinet but silence is the better choice. I will say that Cabinet government cannot work without a strong, committed presidential staff. In my time, that was the National Security Council Staff. Cabinet members are soon captured by the organization they lead and soon are presenting the organizational viewpoint rather than that of the president. Please don’t believe I was an important person in the White House or that I was close to the president. In this case, admiration flowed one way. I was in his presence several times in the Situation Room and the Oval Office, but less so in the latter. My role was to provide the staff preparation for National Security Council meetings that fell within my area of responsibility. Okay, enough of the establishing of credentials.

In my first meeting with President Reagan in the Oval Office, he immediately made me feel at home and that he wanted to hear what I had to say. After his opening humorous story or joke, he said, “Frank, unless you tell me what is happening, I have no way of finding out.” He wanted us to know we could say what we thought without holding back. Bad news as well as good news is all relevant to the president. He was always gracious and sincerely interested in the well-being of his staff. I never saw him treat anyone with anger or sarcasm. He was extremely loyal to Cabinet members and Pentagon officials even when they deserved being sent to the wood shed. Keeping government organizations on the course the president wants, not what they want, is more than a full-time job.

Foreign officials couldn’t understand that the Reagan Revolution was first and foremost for Americans. His vision of the ‘Shining City on a Hill’ was not for nice-sounding rhetoric read from a teleprompter. It was call to all of us to throw off the cloak of doom and gloom and to remember our heritage, remembering also that government growth diminishes individual freedom. This is the president who destroyed Communism, rebuilt our military power, restored faith in capitalism and the free market, spoke truthfully, practiced transparency, and was respected by both parties. The most powerful man in the world never thought of himself in those terms. He understood those of us from blue collar backgrounds. The last quote I remember from him was, “Barry, I want Americans to be able to walk down any street in the world and be safe.” He cared about all of us. I’m glad he is not here to see Americans slaughtered in Libya while Carter, sorry, I mean Obama, dithers.

http://www.factsandfictions.com The author of the Jack Brandon Thriller Series.

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Filed under Capitalism, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions, Politics

Tagged as communism, National Security Council, National Security Staff, Obama, President Carter, president reagan, White House

by Barry Kelly | September 12, 2012 · 9:41 am

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS #19

LETTER TO FAMILY & FRIENDS

I was asked recently to comment on the use of lies, flip flopping, and spin in the presidential campaign. Politicians from both parties and their surrogates are and have been guilty of all these methods of distortion. I will concentrate on those of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party in this blog because I believe the distortions here are more dangerous to our nation than those of their opponents and are more outside the normal use of truth twisting. I am aware of my own bias in favor of centrist policies and hope I will not offend my many Democrat friends, present or past. I’m going to present the case in bullet form without paragraphs of evidence.

*President Obama is often mistakenly accused of lying when he simply failed to reach one of his goals: Unemployment under 8 percent and cut the deficit in half in his first term if he was given more than 800 billion of stimulus to spend. Those are not lies; they are simply failures of management and leadership.

* Obamacare will be deficit neutral. No one now believes that will happen. Lie? Probably not. But the denial of movement of 700 plus billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare is much closer to the definition of a lie. Many would say that is just slight-of-hand budgeting and more in line with spinning the truth. It seems clear this transfer happened but the faithful will say it was all going to a medical fund for the American people. The choice is yours.

* Repeated charges that the Republican Party is waging a war on women is a hard stretch to fit under political spin. Did Secretary Sebelius of HHS anticipate the firestorm that followed her decree that the Catholic Church had to pay for contraceptives for women who worked in all Catholic hospitals, clinics, and schools? The issue was and is, simply: Could the president force the Catholic Church to pay for something that is against their religious beliefs? To me this is clearly an example of the Big Lie strategy. Speakers at the DNC expanded on the extent of the “war on women” to fears of losing their right to vote or exercise of their right to decide on having an abortion. Maybe they were reading too much into the Republican Party platform. Platforms of both parties, no longer, if ever, follow principles. They are used to give radical and fringe elements evidence of their influence in return for their support.

Keynesian Economics

* If only Congress, especially the House, would pass the president’s Jobs Bill or bills, millions of jobs would be created. Lie or an example of the vast difference between Progressive and Republican financial theories? I think this is not the president or his surrogates lying. This issue is a philosophical chasm that divides conservative from progressive. The Keynesian theory, in simple form is that government spending or pump priming can grow the economy and bring an economic system from recession to a growth mode. It can add jobs in the public sector and in infrastructure improvements as long as the taxpayers continue to pay the costs. It does not create wealth or long-term growth. Only the private sector by expanding the supply of goods and services to sell in the free market can create wealth and improve the gross national product.

Henry Morgenthau, FDR’s Secretary of Treasury and financial guru, remarked after several years of trying Keynesian economics that it just doesn’t work. Contrary to folklore, the unemployment rate late into President Roosevelt’s tenure was more than 12 percent. Many communists and socialist nations have tried to develop growth and national wealth through varying forms of Keynesian schemes. All failed. Yet it remains a mantra of the far left, while to Progressives supply side economics is still the enemy of growth, even though its record shows a very high rate of success. While it is true that the House and the Senate have not passed the president’s jobs plan nor any of his budgets, their failure is due more to their lack of fiscal reality than to partisan politics. Not one Democrat voted for any of the president’s budgets. (This is an example of political spinning and differing beliefs and not lying.)

* Political spinning is also the answer to conflicts about the amount of jobs created, when, by whom, and at what cost. The whole rationale of how the unemployment rate is computed gives wide latitude to different claims. Progressive ads and political claims are often not lying, just avoiding the unpleasant facts in favor of partisan sound bites. And every time a politician, from either party, changes his or her mind in the face of new information or an internal conviction, their new position should not be called flip-flopping. Maybe it was the right thing to do.

Rather than labeling opposition statements as lies, wouldn’t it be better to shed light on the truth, even the relative truth?

http://www.factsandfictions.com The author of the Jack Brandon thriller series.

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Tagged as Catholic Church, contraceptives, DNC, FDR, flip flopping, Gross National Product, keynesian, Obama, pump priming, Sebellius

by Barry Kelly | September 6, 2012 · 12:54 pm

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS #18

BEYOND THE WORDS

Words are the fuel of politics. During an election cycle as important as this one, Americans are bombarded with words that are interpreted according to the experience, education, and existing beliefs of the audience. One of these terms, “share the wealth,” has been a cry of the progressive utopians, socialists, and communists. Hitler’s Germany used the promise of shared wealth and “every one belongs to the government.” Nazi Germany was not a right-wing autocracy. They called themselves The National Socialist Party. Lenin and Stalin’s Russia was a dictatorship of the proletariat (today’s have-nots.) This, too, was extreme left wing group. Land, bread, peace was the early slogan. Class warfare was the end result. Share the wealth certainly fit this monstrous regime. Mao’s communist China also promised a wealth-sharing economy.

Is there anyone who would like to live under any of these regimes with left-wing roots who practiced genocide and class warfare in the name of “sharing wealth” and with all people swearing allegiance to the government and all benefits coming from the government? Everyone belonged to the government. Party and government were the same. Only the leaders of government or party benefited. To various degrees, the people under these regimes struggled to overthrow these totalitarian regimes.

We, in America, have a history of well-meaning populists, progressives, or socialists writing about the beauty of living in a utopian society where everyone worked for the good of the society, with all sharing in the common good. These societies all fell. The experiments all failed because the reality of leveling society means the exceptional or better than average have to be pulled down for everyone to have equality and sharing of the wealth generated by others. The field of civilization can not be evened by everyone being pulled up to be exceptional. Everyone can not be exceptional. But everyone’s status in life can be improved by hard work in a society that does its best to give everyone equal opportunity.

One of the enduring lessons of history is that some level of government is necessary and circumstances can cause the relative size of government to increase to meet threats. The more powerful a government becomes, the greater danger it is to individual freedom. Under President Obama, the federal government is constantly increasing in size and scope. The Executive Office has assumed powers formerly and constitutionally left to Congress and the states. Cabinet officers now routinely issue Department orders, not Executive Orders, that have the force of law. In the first two years of his administration, while we were all consumed with the push to nationalize health care, the ground work was laid to steadily increase the power of the Executive Office. Four more years of this type of government and Greece will look good. Beware of leaders who espouse class warfare, using the slogan “everyone pays a fair share” and sharing of wealth and the joy of belonging to the government.

http://www.factsandfictions.com Author of the Jack Brandon Thriller Series