According to Jimmy Carter’s libel against opponents of Barack Obama, “an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is black man.” This reminds us once again of what a pathetic and mean-spirited figure Mr. Carter has become. But it is also evidence of how unhinged and desperate many liberals and some within the Democratic party are becoming. The hatred and fury that consumed them during the Bush years is returning with a vengeance. It turns out that the cause of their derangement during the Bush years may not have been Bush after all; he may simply have been the object of their crazed attacks.

It’s fascinating to watch how furious liberals have become despite Obama’s being president and Democrats’ controlling the Senate and the House by wide margins. This period should be—they expected it to be—years of milk and honey for them. But events and reality have intervened. They see the Anointed One, Barack Obama—their “sort of God”—failing. He is not only a mere mortal but also a deeply flawed one.

They see support for Obama’s effort to nationalize our health-care system collapsing. They see the American people rising up against his brand of liberalism. They see Republicans with all the intensity on their side. They see GOP candidates leading in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. They see the popularity of their majority leader, Harry Reid, cratering. They see the Republican party drawing almost even with Democrats on issues like health care—and surging ahead of Democrats on many other issues. They see a dangerous loss of support for Obama among independents and the elderly. They see, in short, what the respected political analyst Charlie Cook sees:

The president’s ratings plummet; his party loses its advantage on the generic congressional ballot test; the intensity of opposition-party voters skyrockets; his own party’s voters become complacent or even depressed; and independent voters move lopsidedly away. These were the early-warning signs of past wave elections. Seeing them now should terrify Democrats.

Many liberals simply cannot process this new data, this horrible turn of events. What we are seeing is the equivalent of a computer crash. As a result, they are returning to what has become for some liberals an emotional and psychological norm: anger and fury, overheated and reckless charges, bitterness and pettiness. It is embodied in people like Frank Rich and Keith Olbermann and Joe Klein, but some version of this affliction extends to many others.

We’re only eight months into the Age of Obama—the period in which he promised to unite our divided country, heal our wounds, and bind up our divisions—and Obama’s critics are now routinely labeled as unpatriotic, racists, liars, mobsters, evil mongers, practitioners of un-American tactics, and more. As Obama’s failures mount up, it will only get worse. The volume will only get louder. And the charges will only get more desperate and incendiary.

It will be an ugly and sad thing to witness. Nervous breakdowns often are.

While I realize my efforts to decode Barack Obama may turn into a never-ending task, I want to focus on another of his rhetorical habits: his ceaseless attempts to portray himself as America's philosopher-king, the person standing not only above country but above politics itself. Obama is, he would have us believe, uniquely able to transcend old, tired, and rutted debates, to think anew, and to bring a fresh, creative approach to the problems of our time. He alone inhabits the upper world.

On the stimulus package, Obama accused the bill's critics of employing "phony arguments and petty politics." Speaking to House Democrats at a retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia earlier this year, he criticized Republicans for having "come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas" that helped cause the current economic crisis. And in a radio address, Obama continued to criticize Republicans for pushing what he called "tired old theories."

This charge echoed another one Obama made during the campaign, when he said, "At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else." And this, in turn, echoes what Obama said on another occasion, when he declared that "It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it. For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy –– give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else."

When talking about health care, Obama framed things this way: "You got a problem with health care: tax cuts. You got problem with education: tax cuts. You got a problem with the economy: tax cuts. Poverty: tax cuts. That's not a policy, it's a dogma, a tired and cynical philosophy."

This locution is now being picked up by Obama's aides. Prior to the Summit of the Americas gathering in April, Dan Restrepo, the president's top Western Hemisphere adviser on the National Security Council, told FOX News that if a "chance encounter" with Hugo Chavez occurred, Obama's pitch would be, "Let's put the animosities behind us. Let's not have old arguments. Let's not have tired ideological arguments."

Obama has used this set-up with cultural issues as well. On gay rights, for example, he says that "though we've made progress, there are still fellow citizens –– perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones –– who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes, who fail to see your families like their families and who would deny you the rights that most Americans take for granted."

This theme is, in fact, an all-purpose one for Obama. "America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past," he said during his Convention speech. During his announcement speech, Obama took aim at "the smallness of our politics –– the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems." And during his Inaugural Address, Obama put it this way: "On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things."

There are, I think, several things to say about all this. The first is that what is most tired, old, and worn out is Obama's lazy rhetorical ploy. He relies on a few stock, and by now hackneyed, phrases to substitute for a serious engagement with issues.

Second, President Obama's words reinforce the impression some of us have that his most dangerous personal characteristic is his other-worldly self-regard. He seems to believe he is unlike, and better than, any others who have come before him. He sees himself as a man of awe-inspiring intellectual honesty, a mind rinsed off of prejudice and bias. While the rest of the country is engaged in petty and trivial fights in political sand-boxes, Obama is America's playground attendant, teaching the rest of us how to act right and think right. It is all rather too much.

Third, Obama - despite his pretensions to the contrary - is a completely orthodox, doctrinaire liberal. His policies are strikingly uncreative and, if I might borrow from the Obama lexicon, tired, old, dogmatic, ideological, and discredited. Is a top-down, government-controlled, tax-and-spend approach to economics fresh, new, and interesting? As President, Obama has shown no intellectual boldness when it comes to his policies. Most of his reforms are hollow and non-existent. He has, in fact, acceded to the committee chairmen on Capitol Hill time and again. More than any president in modern times, he is deferring to barons on the Hill to steer the ship of state. Whatever that qualifies as, it is not a break with worn-out ideas and the politics of the past.

Unlike Bill Clinton and Tony Blair - both of whom intellectually transformed their parties in important ways - Obama is building a bridge to liberalism's past. His policies, if not his style, most resemble Walter Mondale's and Jimmy Carter's. It is quite a thing to witness for a man whose campaign was based on the incantation of hope and change.

Finally, Obama fashions himself as the Great Liberator - freeing us from old arguments, old creeds, and old ways. Mentioning the past is meant to evoke barely disguised contempt; it is the harbor for antediluvian prejudices. Obama alone can remake the rules and remake the world. There is something vaguely utopian and deeply un-conservative in Obama's attitude. And, I might add, deeply unwise and dangerous as well.

Barack Obama, it turns out, is not our Socrates; he is our Sophist-in-Chief. As this becomes clearer over time, more and more people will make their way up the steep and rugged ascent, out of the cave, free of the shadows, and into the sunlight.

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Obama, the best thing that's happened to the Republican party since Ronald Reagan.

Quoted:
The sheep are stupid as this rating could change overnite.
I will get excited when the # is -20.
Are the Rasmussen poles that true of an indicator?
Good to see none the less.

Quoted:
Makes my day!

With a 52% disapproval rate now (45% approve), he's on the wrong side and it's painfully obvious that many brainless voters are waking up.  9 months into his first term, and he's dropping like a rock-faster than anyone in history.

Many dumbos that tie their cart to him will find themselves unemployed in '10 and '12.  He's the Titanic of the dumbo party.

HH

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Don't worry, soon these polls will only be reflecting the racism in this country.

Quoted:
The sheep are stupid as this rating could change overnite.
I will get excited when the # is -20.
Are the Rasmussen poles that true of an indicator?
Good to see none the less.

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His problem is he hasn't been on TV enough to get his message across. He needs to ramp it up a little. You know,keep the little people informed.



Chris

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Good articles, p-d.  You come up with some really great stuff.

HH

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Well, Obama is scheduled to appear on 'Meet the Press' this Sunday.

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Yup! He's like the invisible President, never hear him say anything except late at night on cable...he's very sheepish and shy. Does'nt think highly of himself..probably hates mirrors and people listening to him talk. He needs to get out more and tell people his vision and message for change.

Quoted:
Makes my day!

With a 52% disapproval rate now (45% approve), he's on the wrong side and it's painfully obvious that many brainless voters are waking up.  9 months into his first term, and he's dropping like a rock-faster than anyone in history.

Many dumbos that tie their cart to him will find themselves unemployed in '10 and '12.  He's the Titanic of the dumbo party.

HH

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Sadly, I'm just waiting for Obamavilles (tent cities) to start popping up.

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Obviously, Rasmussen is racist.  

You know, when a president falls this far, this fast, he is bound to have a breakdown.

The president has at his disposal, awesome power.  
The "War and Emergency Powers Act" pretty much lets him do whatever he wants, for a time.  
Plus, he has his finger on the Nuclear Button.

If he has a total emotional collapse, we could be in really deep shit.  End of the world deep shit.

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Hey it took a Carter to get us Reagan. Imagine who we might get after Carter Mk2?

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Let's not get carried away now

http://marylandshooter.com/ar15/Funny/chicken.jpg

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he's a good politician, who is early in his career. He's an ass now, but closer to elections he'll center up again and start courting the retards that put him in office.



they, being retards, start swallowing his shit again and we'll be in trouble.
as happy as zeros fall from grace is making me, I have no illusions that this will be permanent.





F Obama.

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I'm actually kinda reluctant to post this but:



If the guy would just STFU and let the media sell "the drooling viewership" on his god-like status he would be the most popular president in the history of this nation.

The man has an ego the size of the astrodome though.  
He just can't bring himself to shut up.