Back in the office notice…WTF is Obama up to?…does he even know?
Well, hello there, fellow web travelers. I am back from my spiritual mission into the mountains of Teton. I met a young guru, a ski instructor named Juanita who helped me regain my downhill mojo after my five year hiatus from serious skiing. I imbibed the elixirs of the region…PBR, and Snake River Pale Ale….and enriched my body with the local sustenance….elk chops, elk tenderloin, elk burger, elk jerky. You would think that I would feel ready to leap back onto the double diamond slopes of American politics…but no. I actually paid a bit of attention to the Obamanigans that were going on while I was away, but I still remain confused about what he is actually doing to us. Is he Machiavellian, Moronic, or Madoff? I still don’t know.
Was the brouhaha over the AIG bonuses the result of his incompetence, or something he orchestrated to help in the destruction of our traditional capitalist system? I don’t know. Michael Goodwin of the NY Daily News quotes the best line of the day:
During the campaign, a fellow journalist confided that “I know Obama is a Manchurian candidate, I just can’t figure out what for.”
And what to make of his bizarre performances on popular TV shows? The brilliant cartoonist Ramirez captured one aspect, here:
I know the Special Olympics “gaffe”….if gaffe it was….has been done to death on the ‘net, but still, is it not of a piece with the “lipstick on a pig” supposed “gaffe” after Sarah Palin’s brilliant debut? It’s only a gaffe if the MSM says it’s a gaffe, right? Nevertheless, I can’t help but imagine what would have happened had it been George W. Bush who had committed this retarded gaffe (offensive turn of phrase intended, to make the point). My local paper put the story on page two. Do you think it would have ended up there if it had been W who had made the statement about the S.O.? Let’s try this little experiment, substituting “Affirmative Action” for “Special Olympics,” and see how innocuous everyone still thinks it is.
WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush’s appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno attracted the largest audience to NBC’s late-night program in more than four years.
Unfortunately for the president, that meant a lot of people also heard him make a wisecrack about Affirmative Action that was criticized as insensitive and prompted the White House to swiftly apologize.
His gaffe came toward the end of the interview Thursday, when Leno ribbed Bush about his poor oratorical skills, derided on the campaign trail.
Bush joked he had been practicing and recently made a stump speech with only three mispronounced words. Leno offered tongue-in-cheek praise, saying, “That’s very good, Mr. President.”
“It’s like – it was like getting the editorship of the Harvard Law Review because of Affirmative Action, or something,” Bush responded.
Michelle Obama, whose husband Barack attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School as a result of Affirmative Action, called Bush’s remarks “degrading.”
“These Community Activists overcome more challenges, discrimination, and adversity than most of us ever will,” she said yesterday.
The president’s apology came shortly after the show was taped in California on Thursday. White House spokesman Dana Perino released a statement while the president was flying back to Washington on Air Force One.
“The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own public speaking that was in no way intended to disparage Affirmative Action,” Perino said. “He thinks that Affirmative Action is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to privileged grievance groups from around the country.”
The Anchoress has a related roundup.
Also related: Is Iowahawk behind the new “Barack’s Teleprompter’s Blog“? Hmmm.
StickerShock:
Driver, did you write the AA/Tonight Show scenario? It’s fantastic!
I’m heartsick over the latest Obama news — Notre Dame has chosen him to be the commencement speaker. In one fell swoop the university of Our Lady has renounced its Catholic principles. Obama just finished removing bans on federal funding of abortion. He has voted repeately for partial birth abortion. In fact, he has the most pro-abortion record of ANY US senator. ND should be ashamed.
23 March 2009, 4:32 pmStickerShock:
Just saw this Notre Dame/Obama symposium on NRO:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTBlNmY2NzM4ODdkNDY0NzRjMzA3OTZlYjg5YzcwYjU=
23 March 2009, 4:36 pmdriver:
I did write it, Sticker, thanks. All I did was take the Philadelphia Inquirer’s coverage of Obama and change a couple of words. Awful about ND. I thought we had it bad at Williams with Perkie Katie Couric, but ND having Obama really takes the cake. I hope the Pope writes them a letter.
23 March 2009, 4:46 pmStickerShock:
Driver, the actions of Fr. Jenkins seem to be designed to deliberately antagonize the Pope.
I can top Perky Katie: I had Ted Kennedy at my graduation. Didn’t attend.
23 March 2009, 5:10 pmcollegemom16:
Does anyone think this presidency is going well…. anyone?
24 March 2009, 1:27 amWoodwork:
I’ll take a different point of view on this one.
I am actually heartened by this whole imbroglio. The Church abides. And while so doing –in this instance– an opportunity has been given to those faithful to the Church to draw attention to something that seems to have drifted off the radar: Obama’s radical position on LIFE and the indiscriminate slaughter of the unborn fetus/baby at a whim; a total disregard for the sanctity of life and in that a total disregard for nature, and the nature of truth and beauty.
Just finished reading Richard John Neuhaus’ last book, “Catholic Matters†before he went on to what I am sure is his rich reward. So I have a reinvigorated long term view of faith and the spirit and its ability to reshape the crippled bones of a corrupted body-politic.
And here, I am reassured by those that have taken this issue for what it is and put it back up therein into the public discourse. Otoh, if I had a child at Notre Dame and had to endure this spiritual charlatan’s presence I would also be disturbed, or even better, have my faith tested –trying to look at it from the side where the sun shines.
Also, excellent and simple (is there a distinction here?) job at making these schmucks have to eat their regurgitated crow. Including here, this is the second place I have seen this sweet satire posted.
Very well done!
24 March 2009, 9:28 amStickerShock:
Woodwork, yes, the Obama invitation draws attention to his sick obsession with the culture of death. But if ND doesn’t rescind the invitation, the culture of death expands. And not in a tiny increment — but in a major leap. It’s Our Lady’s university, the premier Catholic University in our nation, famous for advancing civil rights and battling the KKK. Allowing such a virulent pro-abortion icon to be commencement speaker grants a Church imprimatur.
I’ll take a page from Driver & change a couple of Abe Lincoln’s words:
“If partial-birth abortion is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”
I would absolutely LOVE to have Obama invited to the campus to debate sanctity of life issues. The philosophy department would destroy his arguments without much effort. Even if they spot him a working teleprompter. But commencement invitations are special — they imply that the speaker is one who should be emulated by the new grads. The speaker shoule be chosen because he represents the values and mission of the institution. Other than sending our economy on a downward spiral & filling his top cabinet spots with crooks, Obama’s most noteworthy achievement of his new presidency has been his almost giddy urgency in snuffing out innocent human life, both here and overseas.
24 March 2009, 1:17 pmWoodwork:
Stickershock,
I don’t disagree with a word you’ve written here.
I was merely riffing on the old saw that if they give you lemons squeeze for lemonade, and investing some of my faith in divine providence and its ability to inspire the faithful to do the right thing.
Still, it is appalling, to say the least, that they invited what can be called nothing other than a merchant of death –even if unwanted babies deaths– to pontificate at what is otherwise a sacred place of learning, ideas and faith.
BTW, I mentioned Neuhaus’ book above. If you have not read it, I recommend it as I believe you would like it if you did.
.
26 March 2009, 9:39 amStickerShock:
Woodwork, I’m ordering it now. Thanks for the suggestion (and as it’s coming from you, I know I won’t be disappointed.)
27 March 2009, 8:48 am