Obammer's* first 90 days vs. mine

Today is April 20, which is Blacque Obammer's* 90^th day in office. Here's how my first 90 days would have compared to his:

Unlike our current president, I would have been obligated to follow certain courses of action. That's because I was the only candidate who had (ever!) run under the terms of a legally-enforceable contract**. If I'd violate any of its 47 points, I'd lose my office.

90 days: Two Contrasts

• Point # 2 of my contract states: "Within 90 days of my inauguration, all U.S. military forces will be completely withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of the ‘situation on the ground.'" Oh, that's right. We're still in Iraq, with more forces on their way to Afghanistan. ["No end in sight," did I hear someone say?]

• Point # 21 reads: "Within 90 days of my inauguration, I will order all US personnel out of all facilities located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This will allow Cuba to reoccupy that land, as is its sovereign right." Obammer's* much-ballyhooed Executive Order only closes certain detention facilities at Guantanamo - within a year. My Executive Order would have returned all of Gitmo to the Cubans - again, within 90 days.

Hopium sounds too much like OPM

I have to tip my hat to Chicago Tribune's columnist John Kass, for his political use of the word hopium. The root word is hope, which blossoms into the "drug" most clamored for by blind-faith supporters of Blacque Obammer*. Hopium is addictive, causing users to sacrifice commonsense on the altar of Hope.

This sentiment nicely captures the essence of hopium: "Barack will save us - you've got to have faith and you've got to give him a chance - even though it looks like he's making things up as he goes along. And please don't look too closely at the company he keeps. Actually, please don't look too closely at anything he does."

OPM, on the other hand, is a nifty little term used by W. Clement Stone. It stands for "Other People's Money," as in "Why invest by risking your own money if you can use Other People's Money instead?"

And isn't that what President Obammer* is doing? He's using OPM to try to jerk this country out of its financial crisis. And who are the "other people" whose money he's using? Your children and your grandchildren! That's right: He's financing our economic recovery by borrowing so heavily, they will bear this burden.

Obammer* is hoping you won't realize that you will become one of those "other people," unless you're too old to be around when the piper demands his payments.

My approach: Just say no! to OPM and Hopium

President Steven Searle would not have used OPM. My contract has two specific provisions which would have (thank God) tied my hands:

• "I will veto any bill presented to me by Congress which has any provision for tax increase or for increased government borrowing" - point # 17.

• "I will veto every single bill from Congress that comes my way until it passes ... a Single Payer health care reform package...[and implements] a nationwide cap on personal credit card interest rates of 18%" - point # 5.

The practical effect of these two provisions: Congress, dominated by the Democratic Party, could have tried to pass an Economic Stimulus Package, but this effort would not have succeeded. The GOP would not have cooperated to the extent necessary to provide the two-thirds vote needed to override my veto.

My approach would have been: no bailouts, no stimulus, let badly run businesses fail, and let market forces themselves determine equilibrium...but...nobody starves and nobody lacks for shelter. Some will say, "Thank God Searle wasn't elected or we'd be in a genuine Depression right now." I admit we'd be in a bad way, but nowhere near as bad as it's going to get once Obammer's* policies manifest their long-term weaknesses.

Of course, Obammer knows he can't win in the long-term unless he opts for a distracting military adventure. But hacks like Obammer don't think "long term" - all he cares about (primarily) is getting reelected in 2012 and (secondarily) doing whatever it takes to block any kind of GOP resurgence.

Meanwhile, Obammer's supporters, hooked on hopium and thinking OPM won't involve their money, will keep chanting:

"Chains you can believe in! Chains you can believe in!" - Oops, I meant, "Change you can believe in!" [My bad!]

One small indicator (and there will be others)

Recently in the news, there was a heart-warming story about how US Navy SEAL snipers freed a civilian American sea captain being held hostage by Somali pirates.

There was, however, a rather disturbing element to this story: This operation was personally approved by our president. I sincerely hope Obammer won't find it necessary to similarly micromanage future events. That's what field commanders are for. That's what professional staff is for. It was once said of General Dwight Eisenhower: He found capable men and surrounded himself with them, gave them a great deal of latitude in decision-making, but stood by them if things didn't go well.

But so far, I haven't heard anyone liken Obammer* to Eisenhower. And I don't think I will.

Steven Searle (was) a candidate for U.S. President in 2008:

"Really, it's okay to hope. But, please, keep your wits about you; your children will respect you more if you do. Hell, you'll respect yourself more if you do" - Steve.

Founder of The Best Party Available

Contact me: bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

 * The following essay explains why I refer to him as "Blacque Obammer": http://bpa-cinc.gaia.com/blog/2008/12/why_blacque_obammer

 ** see "The Electoral Contract of Steven Searle for US President" at http://bpa-cinc.gaia.com/blog/2008/9/the_electoral_contract_of_steven_searle_for_us_president

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