The Most Essential Skill of Any President

I think everyone, no matter what political party they aspire to, can agree that the most crucial skill for any President is to surround themselves with intelligent advisers who will guide them to the best decisions. Kennedy did this with McNamara and his own brother (who did deserve the job). Bush "did" this with Rove and Cheney (good choices? probably not). But I see this as Obama's serious downfall. I know I don't agree with any of his policies, but, barring that little detail, he can't seem to appoint an adviser that hasn't evaded taxes or done something extremely reckless politically.

Back in March of last year, Samantha Power (Obama's foreign policy advisor) called Hillary Clinton a "monster" (forget for a minute that she was right, you still can't say that and hope to have a job under the President of the United States). Also, last March, it came to light another foreign policy adviser Rob Mailey, had been meeting continually with the terrorist group Hamas. And then we have Tim Geithner who evaded large amounts of taxes. Then we have Bill Richardson (corruption), Nancy Killefer (payroll tax evasion), Hilda Solis (tax evasion), and Tom Daschle (more tax evasion). You starting to get the picture yet?

The latest in this trend of poorly thought through and piss poorly vetted advisers (or czars if you prefer the Soviet term like Obama does) is that of Van Jones (read about him here and here), the Green Jobs Czar. He came out last week with all guns blazing and called all Republicans "assholes" (they generally are but you can't say that on the record and hope to hold a political office). He also signed the 9/11 Truth petition arguing that the Bush administration either turned a blind eye to 9/11 or perpetrated the attack themselves (which could be the case but you don't want a special adviser to the President holding that belief). He also founded the ColorofChange.org which "addressed black issues" (aka he's a racist).

Now, I am torn over the "assholes" comment. I believe that people should be able to say whatever they want and if that was Jones's only slip up, I would have wanted to keep him around. But he's a racist and a conspiracy theorist, good riddance.

But this highlights a bigger problem. Obama cannot choose staff intelligently (a simple Google or Wikipedia search would have told him all he needed to know about Van Jones). This scares me more than his socialist-leaning policies. I think the ability to choose your comrades is the most important ability a President has to have....... and Boh'Rock ain't got it.

A parting thought: Maybe Obama needs a Czar for Appointments of Czars

CIA doing something illegal? Gasp!

Obama told Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint someone to investigate whether or not the CIA committed any illegal acts during the interrogations of the past few years (why Holder couldn't be bothered with this himself or why Obama didn't choose anyone himself is beyond me). Now, I can only be brief for I have to run to an all day training, but I know that any agency in charge of foreign intelligence gathering must be giving a whole lot of leeway when it comes to observing domestic law. Need I remind the rest of this country that most of the people interrogated are from third world nations (Afghanistan, Iraq, etc) that have a very healthy hatred for everything we stand for. And when it comes to people that hate us til the ends of the earth, we need to play hardball (aka not hold the interrogators to the letter of the law). On a side note, this means that I am agreeing with Cheney.... please don't hold it against me.

Good job Obama, you just significantly handicapped our ability to gather intelligence and defend our nation, good job slick!

because I am not that articulate, I leave others to say what I can't :http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/08/24/kt-mcfarland-cia-interrogation-intelligence/?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r3:c0.101844:b27320092:z0

This Could Be A Full Time Job For Me

So on this fine DC morning I was planning on writing about Congress voting to buy themselves three private jets after bashing the leaders of the Big Three for taking private transport to ask for bailout money. Instead, however, there is a much more sinister issue that has come to light in the past 48 hours and that is of the White House asking citizens to forward "fishy" information concerning health care to the administration at the email address: flag@whitehouse.gov

The whole article published by the White House can be read in its entirely here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

This should be a huge cause for concern. The White House is going to develop a database on who people are that disagree with ObamaCare. The Administration will have access to e-mail addresses, IP addresses, and identities of those who have differing opinions. I hope you find this as unconstitutional as I do. Who decides what is considered disinformation and, therefore, "fishy"? I certainly don't trust Obama's judgement for that!

When citizens know that if they express an opinion that is against that of the administration they will be tracked, they will hesitate to express that opinion. That, right there, is undemocratic. The whole point of our government is to give everyone a voice. So what is the point of having a say if you are scared to use it? Webster's defines Democracy as "a government by the people" so why, in a democracy, is one person allowed to corrupt the voice of the people?

What if Bush had done this? I am NOT a fan of Bush in the least but there would have been a MAJOR uproar had he proposed something similar. So why the love for Obama? Why the double standard? Just because he's black? Just because he's a Dem? Just because he is fashionable? Whatever the excuse, it is a truth that must be stopped. You can't argue the fact that Obama has been given a easy ride so far and has taken advantage of it 100%. Let's wake up and challenge the "Hope" and "Change" that is going to destroy our liberties.

So everyone that reads this, I ask that you please e-mail flag@whitehouse.gov and tell them how you feel, I already have several times. Tell them how un-American it is that they are monitoring private citizens. Do not be afraid. Take a stand. "People should not fear their governments, the governments should fear the people" -T Jefferson, as American as they come ladies and gentlemen.

This tactic wreaks of Joe McCarthy, Joesph Stalin, Richard Nixon, and Adolf Hitler (and we all know how history judged them). What makes it different when Obama does it? Think about it PLEASE!

Cash for Clunkers Rant

Now I know I haven't written about the CARS program (aka Cash for Clunkers) before today because I was hoping I would be wrong and it would do some good. Of course I don't agree with the government giving money to individuals to turn in their cars and buy more fuel efficient ones but I was desperately hoping something positive would come from it and I would be wrong....... too bad I wasn't.

Anyway, what everyone is talking about today is how wildly successful this program has been seeing that funds ($1 billion) were expended in 4 days (more or less). If the goal was to use that money as fast as possible, then yes it was a resounding success (too bad this is the way most people think). But really the goal was to provide a financial incentive to people who are driving older cars to turn that car in and buy a new, more fuel efficient car. An additional hope for this program was to help GM, Chrysler, and Ford move their inventory (a neat marketing trick from GM's management aka Obama).

There are two major issues with these goals the first problem being with getting the old cars off the road. It takes a lot of energy and effort to dismantle and crush a vehicle. You have to dispose of all the plastics, recycle every possible component, and dump the rest in a landfill. This entire process uses massively more energy than can be saved by a marginal increase in gas mileage. Also, let's not forget that a huge amount of energy also went into building the new car that person is going to buy (an even higher amount if it is a hybrid, the production process for hybrid batteries is grossly environmentally degrading which is why I have no respect for any hybrid driver for it shows their utter lack of intelligence or willingness to research a major investment. A real environmentalist does not drive a hybrid). So there are two huge energy usages in the creation and destruction of the cars and the trade off is a small (like 5mpg) increase in gas mileage. That does not make sense to me and what I would really like to know (and trust me, the government did not research this before they initiated this half cocked program) is how long you would have to drive a vehicle that gets 5 mpg more in order to balance out the energy costs associated with the destruction of the old vehicle and the creation of the new one?

Second major issue: helping domestic auto makers. It makes sense to me that the US government (which has a vested interest with GM) would like to keep domestic manufacturers afloat, they would like some return on investment like any investor with a pulse would. So we would expect that the numbers would show that the cars bought with money from the CARS program would mostly be made by GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Well the numbers are in!!!! But guess what, O! won't share them with us. They would rather us commit to giving them another $2 billion for a Round 2 of the program before releasing the figures (what happened to transparency?). WHO ARE YOU KIDDING? No one in their right mind would buy a car from any of those companies when their respective futures are so uncertain? Who would buy a car with a ten year warranty if the company can't promise it won't go under in the next 6 months? And let's not forget that American cars are generally sh*t anyway (some of my friends own American, sorry guys but your cars rank somewhere between gum on the bottom of my shoe and my flaking skin as a result of my latest sunburn).

This is like telling your parents that your grades are low because they don't let you stay out late enough on school nights and if they would just let you stay out until 2am instead of midnight, your grades would go up (I use metaphors because most people are too dumb to understand what I'm actually saying..... and I think I'm really clever).

So let's let this program die. The money is going to foreign companies when the intention was to keep to here. It is probably going to be detrimental to the environment in the long run. And it uses our money for it all. So please just stop.

^ Credit Nate Beeler for this cartoon. Nate, you often brighten my morning. Thanks so much.

(This was reproduced without his written or implied permission, please don't sue)

Update!!!

Here is a list of the top ten cars turned in to the government under the CARS program and it proves my point about American cars being absolute crap (I have to admit, I did love my first car to death and that was a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I still miss it today)

1. 1998 Ford Explorer
2. 1997 Ford Explorer
3. 1996 Ford Explorer
4. 1999 Ford Explorer
5. Jeep Grand Cherokee
6. Jeep Cherokee
7. 1995 Ford Explorer
8. 1994 Ford Explorer
9. 1997 Ford Windstar
10. 1999 Dodge Caravan

Here is a list of the cars bought under the CARS program. Honestly, it isn't as bad as I would have thought but it still ain't pretty.

1. Ford Focus
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Corolla
4. Toyota Prius
5. Ford Escape
6. Toyota Camry
7. Dodge Caliber
8. Hyundai Elantra
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevy Cobalt

The Sh*t Keeps Piling Up

Sorry for my hiatus everybody, I was at a conference up in Maryland for work. But now I am back and more upset than ever.


God Bless Canada! The Canadian Free Press anyway. They are reporting on the staff hired to manage Michelle Obama's agenda and activities. If that last sentence doesn't automatically make you sit up and get you a little verclempt, let's remember that she holds no official government post, no elected position, and makes zero decisions what-so-ever. So you say, "Okay, she can have a secretary to handle her public appearances" and I might agree with that but that is not the case in the least. Below is a list of everyone that works for her directly and how much they make per year:


-$172,2000 - Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)
-$140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-$113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
-$102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$90,000 - Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-$70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-$65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
-$62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-$60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
-Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)
-$40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)
-$36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
-Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
-Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)




I just did the math and that adds up to $831,500 and some of those people don't even have salaries attached! So let's call it around a cool million. What do all these people do? How many events can she POSSIBLY have? Why does she get ANY of these people working for her? She is not making any decisions or policy in the name of the United States so what is the point of all this? Give her a cell phone and a calendar and let her earn her own keep.




Flash back to the election, Palin got slammed for spending campaign funds on clothes for her and her husband. While I'm not a fan of Palin or her nutjob beliefs, I see her spending of this money as in better faith than paying the salaries of Michelle's entourage. At least Palin had a goal in mind, get her and McCain elected (after all, isn't that what campaign funds are for?) while Michelle is just passing the time she's in the White House (hopefully only 4 years or even less). I'm going to refrain from going into the whole "the media will crucify the conservative for the lesser evil while letting the liberal skate" tirade that I hear almost daily.




I'm going to be brutally honest here. I have a passionate hatred for Michelle. I hate her guts. She is about as un-American as you can get (where's Joesph McCarthy when you need him?). I hate that everyone likes her. I hate how she thinks she is a fashionista. And now I hate her for taking my taxes and hiring a staff of over-glorified secretaries.













































But really, what can be done? What recourse is there? She doesn't hold an elected position so we can't vote her out of office. We could try tarring and feathering but that is so 200 years ago (there would be an ironic historical accuracy for her crime however). Here is the crux of the issue, there is no way for us citizens to have any real impact or give any meaningful feedback as to where our tax dollars are really going. The federal government has gotten so bloated that it is absolutely impossible to have any real oversight. Essentially the government is seen as a bottomless piggy bank and the spending skyrockets accordingly. But, guess what, the money comes from two places: our pockets and foreign investment and both sources are being maxed out.

























The public is being fleeced, our pockets are being picked, we are being robbed blind......

Racism is an equal opportunity employer

His Illustriousness B Obama spoke out against the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. This came at the tail end of Obama's speech about healthcare (more like advertisement for it) when a Chicago Sun Times correspondent asked Obama's opinion on the matter and what it said about race relations in the US. This means we got to hear Obama's opinion more or less unfiltered by speech writers and his advisers (AKA they didn't have time to make sure everything he said offended absolutely no one).



So what came out of O!'s mouth was that the police had "acted stupidly". While disregarding the fact that Obama knows little to nothing about the incident, I must say that two black men breaking into the home in a predominately white neighborhood should, without a doubt, create a stir. And the fact of the matter is that a citizen called the complaint in! It isn't like the police just saw two black men randomly sitting on the front porch of this house, they were responding to a call from a concerned citizen (funny no one is saying that citizen is racist here..... they aren't at all, I'm just making a point that people rush to demonize police). If the police hadn't acted on the tip and it turned out to actually be two thieves and the police let the home get broken into, the community would be livid!





So here is what it looked like from the police side of the story (and you can't tell me you wouldn't have acted the same way):


-Call comes in from a neighbor saying that two men were breaking into a home
-Police respond to that residence
-Police question the man (Gates but not yet identified to police) inside the house
-Man refuses to provide proof of who he is
-Man verbally abuses officers
-Officers ask man to come outside
-Man continues to yell
-Police arrest man for disorderly conduct
-Police verify his identity after arresting him
-Police release him




That, right there, is text book police work. You see something fishy going on, you err on the side of caution and make sure everything is copacetic (because *gasp* sometimes criminals lie about who they are). Had they not followed procedure and it turned out the house was actually being broken in to, there would have been hell to pay (for one, I'd rather be in jail for an hour for breaking into my own house than let someone who claimed to be me steal all my stuff).



So now, let's turn to Gates. He is crying racism over the entire incident. You know what that says to me? The first thing to come into his mind is "I'm being arrested for being black", not "I'm being arrested for breaking into a home". Doesn't this show who the racist really is?



And let's look at the officer in question here, Sgt. James Crowley. Here is a guy that taught classes in how to avoid racial profiling to other officers (BTW a black police commissioner picked him for that job). Don't you think he might know a thing or two about how to avoid racial profiling? And I also have a feeling that if Crowley were black, we wouldn't be hearing a peep about racism but the event would have gone down the EXACT same way.


So now Obama answers a few questions about this incident at his health care press conference and ends up saying that the officers 'acted stupidly'. There are a few problems here: (1) Obama has no first hand knowledge of what went on, (2) he doesn't defer to the judgment of law enforcement who were actually there, (3) he actually questions the law enforcement process of public safety by saying that officers following procedure were acting stupidly, (4) he implied that race had a role in this at all because it was a black man being arrested.




Now I hate to jump to conclusions here (who am I kidding, I LOVE jumping to conclusions!), but in any situation like this I say "would this be an issue if both people were white, black, yellow, green, etc?" The answer is HELL NO, there would have been no shout from Gates about this being a race issue, Jesse and Al wouldn't be back up on their respective soap boxes, and Obama wouldn't be questioning the integrity of a highly respected law enforcement officer.





So Gates, Al, Jesse, and Obama, to save yourself from appearing racist (even though anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows you are), just shut up.

Update: Obama and Gates were friends before the incident (SHOCKING!), more about Crowley is coming out about him being an upstanding citizen and family man.

Read about it here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4S-r9G0m8HEq4JAFUw7_epFRb9QD99KQSJ80

Another update: Obama calls Crowley to semi-apologize (still not good enough!)

Here: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=116&sid=1723683

Chicago Style Politics Live On

Boss Obama is back to strongarming states to get what he wants. In a letter written to Gov. Jan Brewer of AZ (in response to a tv appearance by Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona), Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood threatened to withhold stimulus funds from the state of Arizona. The reason, you ask? Sen. Kyl stated on "On This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that the stimulus was not working and that all contracts not already started should never be. Bottom line is that the Obama administration didn't like what Kyl had to say so now they are threatening to withold funds from the state as a penalty. I'm sad to say that, myself being a product of Chicago, I am surprised we haven't heard about more of these kinds of events (its how 'work' gets done in Chi-town.... just look at the Daley Empire)

Link to article ---> http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/15/nice-state-you-got-there-kyl/

How is this kind of behavior acceptable? A voice of dissent and disagreement results in threats? I thought the whole idea behind our democratic government was that of open dissent in order to have an enlightened conversation that would produce the best result for all parties involved. Apparently I have the whole concept ass-backwards.

This Bush-esque tactic is coming from the administration that marketed themselves as being everything that Bush wasn't (can I sue for false advertising?). This is a classic bait-and-switch tactic (Dr. Myers taught me that one, thanks T$). I believe this is a sign of things to come. States will be threatened and cajoled into giving the national government what they want until one day we will wake up and realize states don't exist anymore (we're already close to this already with a national drinking age, federal road funding, and national speed limits).

Let's not get too sidetracked though. The issue is that Arizona is being threatened for having a different opinion than the President. A healthy skepticism is exactly what we need when it comes to the federal government, it was us NOT being skeptical that got our national debt to the unholy level that its at now and got us into Iraq too (don't give me that 'Support the Troops' lecture, that's not even remotely the issue). Imagine everyone having the exact same opinion as the O! administration (Picture a scene from A Brave New World), we would be a socialist nation full of drones turning bolts 8 hours a day (why do you think Russians drink so much?).

Naturally, this story has taken a back seat to the Sotomayor confirmation hearing going on now as well as the "MJ was murdered" stories (and don't forget the media loves O! and refuses to report objectively about anything he does. They have given more air time to the Obama dog than this issue). So don't expect anything to come of this issue but let's see what happens next. Will this kind of thing continue to happen? (My guess: absolutely) Will AZ actually get their stimulus money? Will it come out that Kyl is having an affair with a former staffer? (Woops, wrong Republican)

And I leave you with 2 parting quotes:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty"

"People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people"

These are from Thomas Jefferson, smart guy, huh?

I hope this isn't the beginning of the end......

Classroom Application of Obama's Policies

Here's a story I stumbled upon. I don't know where its from but I find it enlightening none-the-less:

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan."

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D!

No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Whoring of The Public Sector

So it just came out this morning that Steven Rattner is stepping down as Advisor to the US Treasury (aka Car Czar) (link here: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/economy/Rattner-leaving-auto-task-force_07_14-50679542.html). He took this job on February 23rd of this year after coming from Quadrangle Group (where he was one of 4 founders. The group apparently has about $2.5B invested). So, more or less, he left a position in the private financial industry where I'm sure he was making a healthy salary (and don't forget about his investments in Cerberus Capital Management) for a government posting which I'm sure resulted in a significant step down salarywise.

Apparently no one saw a problem with hiring a guy from the private financial sector to drag GM and Chrysler out of bankruptcy. Generalization warning: the private financial sector (while may not being the cause of) made this economic downturn much worse than it should have been so why would we (the taxpayers) hire someone in the private financial sector for this job? I have no idea. But that is neither here nor there (that decision was made without consulting me back in February).


The issue at hand is why is Rattner stepping down days after bringing GM out of bankruptcy? There could be many reasons (and I'm speculating here). Maybe he just wanted to gain some notoriety by being 'the car czar' for a few months and leverage that in the private sector afterwards. Maybe he realized there is NO money in working for the federal government, especially with Obama's policies (except if you are a senator apparently). Maybe he rushed GM through the bankruptcy process and doesn't want to stick around to be responsible for GM going down in flames (again, which it most likely will). According to Rattner, he is leaving in order to return to private life and his family in New York City. This probably means that he will be returning to Quadrangle Group in the near future but that is just my own speculation. I'm guessing the answer to this question will come out in the near future and I will be watching the news closely for it.




So this going-on raises a few bones that I have to pick. The first being, if the Obama administration wants (more like they NEED) executive level talent like Rattner, they need to pay accordingly. You can NOT cap pay at $150,000 per year. Someone who is making 3 or 4 times that amount will not leave their cushy private sector job for a federal posting with heavy public scrutiny for less pay (someone who does make that decision should be required to undergo extensive psychological testing). If you want the best people in the country working for you, pay accordingly.





Another issue is that of private industry goons using the government as a tool of publicity. I have a feeling that not many people, apart from financial insiders, knew who Rattner was before he started working for the Treasury (I know I didn't). After working for the government for 5 months, he now enjoys top of the mind awareness and is a household name (even the best PR firms can't bring that kind of notoriety). So this guy is more or less going to make more money in the coming months because he working for the government (going along with the Obama theme, shouldn't he be taxed on the difference between his pay before working for the Treasury and after citing that his brief foray into government work is responsible for this increase in pay? Doesn't Democrat logic suck when turned on those who constantly spew it?)

That's all I've got for this morning, I may have an afternoon rant in me later on. Enjoy some satire below for the time being:

Enjoying the Change You Believed In?

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and this case is no exception. I have a feeling this eroding of our approval of our President is just the beginning. He has only been in the office for about 6 months and, according to this study, people who strongly approve of Obama have dropped about 10% already. I would not be surprised if this is just the beginning of things to come. It seems as if every new decision he makes pisses off someone new. This should not be surprising seeing that B Obama was praised by Castro on his inauguration day (he was that guy who parked nukes 90 miles off our coast, remember?)

Here's a perfect example of why his 'strongly approve' numbers are falling and will continue to do just that. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/High-speed-rail-is-about-pork_-not-transit-7941879-50228082.html. High speed rail? Really? This is the United States of America, where the car is king. Does he expect people to drop the freedom and convenience of car travel to pay more to use trains? (By the way it takes longer to get from Richmond to DC on a train than if you drove and it costs significantly more to take the train too). What this kind of decision does is effectively polarize those who generally don't give a damn about politics. If you are an average Joe who sees Obama and the government trying to get you to stop driving and take public transit everywhere, you probably won't like it. You don't want to be limited to where the public system goes (I can tell you that Amtrak doesn't get me to my parents house in Central Indiana).

I really do believe that many people voted for Obama as a concept of change and now, when he attempts to implement his policies, those same people realize the impact that this 'change' is going to have on their daily lives. Change is always easy to support when you think someone else will be doing the changing.