Seven Deadly Stories

John Harris at Politico tells the tale of the seven stories the Obama administration don't want told, or worse, take hold as the Obama presidential narrative unfolds.  No one knows the importance of the narrative more than Barack Obama who won office creating a winning storyline that, "featured an almost mystically talented young idealist who stood for change in a disciplined and thoughtful way," according to Harris.  The truth, however, was found in the anti-Obama narrative Harris describes, "featuring an opportunistic Chicago pol with dubious relationships who was more liberal than he was letting on."

A year into his presidency, seven narratives the Obama administration would argue as unfair are gaining traction:

He thinks he’s playing with Monopoly money   Tale as old as time, Democrats can't grow government enough and tax and spend their way out of the majority every time.  The disciplined and thoughtful crew at the helm of the Good Ship Obama didn't want to waste the crisis and passed a trillion dollar "stimulus" package designed to fulfill every big government dream the Democrats ever dared to dream.  When unemployment continued to rise well past the predicted levels the stimulus was supposed to prevent, independents jumped ship in droves.  The House passed a wildly unpopular cap and trade bill that simmers in a pot in the Senate while the two bodies debate alternate versions of a  trillion dollar health care takeover.
Verdict:  This is already firmly rooted as evidenced by the VA & NJ elections as well as the flight of the Independents.

Too much Leonard Nimoy 
This story is currently a favorite of the Saturday Night Live and Chris Matthews crowd who would argue Obama's cool intellect creates a wall between his Ivy League educated mind and the idiocy of the masses who just need some warmth and empathy from their leader.  Harris argues the Spock associations of Maureen Dowd and Joel Achenbach is strong on Afghanistan:

The Spock imagery has been especially strong during the extended review Obama has undertaken of Afghanistan policy. He’ll announce the results on Tuesday. The speech’s success will be judged not only on the logic of the presentation but on whether Obama communicates in a more visceral way what progress looks like and why it is worth achieving. No soldier wants to take a bullet in the name of nuance.

Verdict:  Obama can rest easy on this one, most of his real world critics call this "dithering" and indecisiveness on a good day.

That’s the Chicago Way 

Here Obama is not nearly as fortunate as  he has been on the "he's just too darned smart," story.  Harris makes the point the administration has brought this on themselves but can't resist throwing the Republicans in the mix for a little blame as well:

It does not help that many West Wing aides seem to relish an image of themselves as shrewd, brass-knuckled political types. In a Washington Post story this month, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, referring to most of Obama’s team, said, “We are all campaign hacks.”

The problem is that many voters took Obama seriously in 2008 when he talked about wanting to create a more reasoned, non-partisan style of governance in Washington. When Republicans showed scant interest in cooperating with Obama at the start, the Obama West Wing gladly reverted to campaign hack mode.

I think Snowe, Specter and Collins handed Obama that trillion dollar stimulus debacle which has left Specter looking for a party to love him ever since.  The party of no has not said no often enough which is part of the reason this crew is in the White House to begin with.

Harris carefully neglects the Valerie Jarrett's of this administration who never met a run down slum they didn't like or the revolving door of union thugs that regularly pay visits to the White House.  Consider this story sold in the minds of millions.

He’s a pushover 
Politico's version is a liberal fairy tale meant to rationalize Obama's failure to lead on the public option and gay marriage though on foreign policy they are getting warmer:

It seems a bit contradictory, to be sure. But it’s a perception that began when Obama several times laid down lines — then let people cross them with seeming impunity. Last summer he told Democrats they better not go home for recess until a critical health care vote but they blew him off. He told the Israeli government he wanted a freeze in settlements but no one took him seriously. Even Fox News — which his aides prominently said should not be treated like a real news organization — then got interview time for its White House correspondent.

It's entirely laughable Fox News gets tossed in this mix.  On foreign policy his no questions please press conference in China and bowing tour and a host of other mess ups may cause some to think he's a pushover but the next storyline may be closer to filling the bill.

He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe 
Harris resurrects a George H. W. Bush line used against Dukakis to masterful effect here and captures the criticism from the right with accuracy:

Politicians of both parties have embraced the idea that this country — because of its power and/or the hand of Providence — should be a singular force in the world. It would be hugely unwelcome for Obama if the perception took root that he is comfortable with a relative decline in U.S. influence or position in the world.

On this score, the reviews of Obama’s recent Asia trip were harsh.

His peculiar bow to the emperor of Japan was symbolic. But his lots-of-velvet, not-much-iron approach to China had substantive implications.

President Pelosi 
Behind every successful man there is a woman?  Harris' reasoning astounds me a bit here:

The great hazard for Obama is if Republicans or journalists conclude — as some already have — that Pelosi’s achievements are more impressive than Obama’s or come at his expense.

This conclusion seems premature, especially with the final chapter of the health care drama yet to be written.

Pelosi is masterful at whipping her blue dogs.  Still her ability to ram massively unpopular legislation through the House of Representatives isn't likely to have most consider her impressive.  Politico notes Obama has unwisely allowed Pelosi to become much more of an equal than many from both parties think advisable.  Her popularity is in the cellar.   Truthfully only next to a man who has absolutely no legislative accomplishments of his own or tangible executive skills for that matter can Pelosi look more impressive; it's not saying much.

He’s in love with the man in the mirror 

This is my personal favorite and perhaps the most dead on of the deadly seven stories.  Professor Jacobson found a recent picture that captures this problem in a nutshell.  The photo gets a mention by Politico as well:

It’s a common theme of Washington buzz that Obama is over-exposed. He gives interviews on his sports obsessions to ESPN, cracks wise with Leno and Letterman, discusses his fitness with Men’s Health, discusses his marriage in a joint interview with first lady Michelle Obama for The New York Times. A photo the other day caught him leaving the White House clutching a copy of GQ featuring himself.

" It's a gift," don't you know?  Frankly it was Obama's own grossly inflated ego that led him to run for the presidency without any legislative accomplishments or any executive experience.  The American people seemed quite taken with their own image as a nation who can elect an African American to the highest office in the land.  Unfortunately they chose the wrong one to prove the point, ignoring the most accurate storyline that was there all along for those who  chose to see:

H/T: Memeorandum
Jill at Pundit and Pundette has more
Peter Wehner at NRO catches Harris in a mistake I didn't catch.  Confession, I am not a Trekkie.

Food Stamps are all the Rage During Funemployment

Via Memeorandum

The New York Times reports there are so many people receiving "nutritional aid," (nee food stamps) the stigma once associated with being on the dole is fading fast.  Consider this the latest sign of hope and change during the Obama administration.   The program is so successful it is growing in leaps and bounds:

It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.

Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.

The Times is quick to point out the effort to remove the stigma was a bipartisan one undertaken during the Bush administration.  Does anyone recall the Times pointing out anything positive during the Bush years?  I certainly don't.  There was nearly full employment during the Bush years too, but the liberal media was loathe to acknowledge it at the time.   The bipartisan effort to reduce the stigma led to a name change from food stamps to nutritional aid and changed the form of delivery to an inconspicuous card swiped when purchasing groceries.   These efforts cleared the path but the numbers have actually "soared" during the recession.   Hallelujah!

Mickey Kaus points out the Times front page piece goes out of its way to avoid informing the reader  how much the program has grown recently:

 (Amazingly, the Times never bothers to tell readers by what percentage the program has grown recently, though it barrages them with unassimilable stats from select counties and tedious anecdotes.) The paleoliberal undermessage of today's NYTpiece is basically: 'Hah, hah, you conservatives and 'values' Dems. When times are tough all your stigmatizing of welfare goes out the window.' Americans are learning to to love the dole.'

Interesting aside, Jonah Goldberg sees the same dynamic in the Democrats' strategy to institute nationalized health care:

The Democrats sincerely believe that nationalized health care, in one form or another, is the best thing for America, and that if they can get it passed, voters will fall in love with it. Politically, there is a real danger they’re right. Americans are loath to relinquish entitlements once they’ve secured them. That’s the Republicans’ gamble.

But Goldberg counters the Democrats gamble is that voters will revolt over exploding deficits, increased taxes.  Inevitably an explosion in growth of a cash-like welfare program such as food stamps will stress depleted federal, state and local budgets leading to increased taxes, decreased growth and ultimately voter revolt.  The Times, however, sees nothing but blue skies as do the federal officials involved in the program:

Although the program is growing at a record rate, the federal official who oversees it would like it to grow even faster.

“I think the response of the program has been tremendous,” said Kevin Concannon, an under secretary of agriculture, “but we’re mindful that there are another 15, 16 million who could benefit.”

One could well imagine a successful administration boasting that fewer people needed such assistance under their programs, here we see the opposite.  Of course, no one  wants to see anyone go hungry especially not in a land where so much food is wasted by nanny staters worried about trans fats.  In Pennsylvania helping low income families obtain more nutritious diets is listed as the chief purpose of the plan.  The application has an advisory for those who might qualify for immediate benefits and a completely confidential voter's registration form (pg 8):

Interestingly enough the Times makes no mention of migrant or seasonal farm workers in their article.  It's all folks just like you and me:

This is the first recession in which a majority of the poor in metropolitan areas live in the suburbs, giving food stamps new prominence there. Use has grown by half or more in dozens of suburban counties from Boston to Seattle, including such bulwarks of modern conservatism as California’s Orange County, where the rolls are up more than 50 percent.

Despite the efforts of the Times to create this impression, they include an interactive map showing increase in food stamp participation by county.  The table below the map shows the areas where as many as 49% of the population relies on food stamps.  Only four of the first 15 voted for McCain and often not in the overwhelming percentages as those counties that went for Obama.  Moreover, Many of these counties have high unemployment numbers and with the exception of areas heavily populated by Native Americans have seen little or any of those magically  "created or saved" jobs the administration loves to boast about.  I have researched this a bit and put together a table to illustrate:

Perhaps this administration should concentrate on taking the "un" out of unemployment so that fewer need to rely on food stamps and other forms of government entitlements.

Multitasking

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner, delivering your new grandchild while making sure the turkey does not burn gives new meaning to the term multitasking.  Fortunately everyone is fine and this little girl will always have a story to tell about the day she was born.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Bountiful Blessings from the Blogosphere

 

While the USA stops to give thanks for the blessings of this nation, conservative bloggers continue to update their blogs with the latest items of news and political intrigue.  In the four months I have been blogging, I have come to appreciate the amount of preparation and dedication goes into maintaining a blog.  As a group conservative bloggers the kindest, most helpful group anyone new to this experience could possibly hope for.  Believe me, I certainly counted each one in my list of blessings this year.  Here is a sample of their hard work in a "Full Metal Jacket - Cornucopia Edition."

American Power has a great Ramirez cartoon along with a post titled, "More on Climaquiddick: Eric S. Raymond on CRU's Global Warming Fraud."  I love that term, "Climaquiddick."

Pat Austin took time from her Thanksgiving prep to blog, "Thomas Wilner's Weak Argument for Civilian Trials."  The decision to try KSM in New York is most likely indefensible, still the media rallies to the aid of the man they elected.  Pat destroys Wilner's argument.

Another Black Conservative  covered the conclusion of the investigation into the death of Bill Sparkman.  Left-wingers were quick to point to conservatives as the culprits as the word "Fed" was scrawled on his chest.  As you may recall, The Other McCain wrote an investigative piece on the Sparkman death published in the "Green Room," at Hot Air.

Smitty wrote an excellent piece pointing out the Obama band of rookies is mostly a red herring.  There is no middle ground with this administration.  This is something that continues to astound me about this group, the progressive agenda will choke them out of power yet they cling to it.

Backyard Conservative  is back from a break and astounded by three cherry-picked trees in Siberia.  Who can blame her?

Bride of Rove is one of four girls just as I am.  Her post on lunch with her oldest sister naturally intrigued me.  Normally we eldest of the bunch are the wisest ;) and of course her sister is literally genius.  Still they have quite different takes on the current administration.  It was a thought provoking lunch.

Carol's Closet has not an ounce of pity for the poor  perverted Roman Polanski.  She cuts to the quick some demented soul who decries the injustice of throwing the child rapist in jail.

Fishersville Mike finds something to be grateful for in the headline from Kim Strassel's latest article.  Ding Dong, cap and trade is dead.

Professor Jacobson assures us our legal records will be absolutely safe once they are in the hands of the federal government.  Something about that post tells me he is being just a tad ironic.

Carol at No Sheeples Here seems to be in cahoots with The Other McCain in a brewing blog war against the evil Daley Gator.  Oh no, there's going to be a duel in Atlanta or maybe it's a football game.  It's kind of hard to tell from all the nasty barbs being tossed back and forth.   It could be a long week folks.

Lookie Lookie Obi's Sister dismantles a hockey stick.

Two entries  from Paco Enterprises for the next "Ruby Slipper Top Ten List of  Best Conservative Humor."  I better get moving on that list before Paco has all 10 spots.

Jill at Pundit and Pundette located the source of the Christmas decorations that cover my next door neighbor's lawn every year.  If I have to look at that Zebra till February this year, I am going to need medication.

I am tempted to link this post over at the Evil Daley Gator hideout but it is a tad NSFW.  Instead I will link to a post on the discovery of the world's biggest turkey.  It's a tough call which makes my jaw drop the most though I think I am leaning a bit to the first.

Jimmie Bise has some laughs at the expense of that  "Guy You Alert the Flight Attendant About".  Something tells me there are a lot of teenage girls who would disagree.

Chris at Wyblog has the perfect story to prove limousine liberals should not be allowed anywhere near a soup kitchen.  If we perfect keeping them out of soup kitchens we can work on keeping them out of the White House.

The Gold Medal for Stupidity is Awarded to .....

Kudos to Newsbusters for catching what has to be Joy Behar's gold medal moment in stupidity - Even the Russian judge agreed on this one.  In a pre taped episode for "Black Friday,"  the High Priestess of Political Correctness questions Whoopi Goldberg whether the name "Black Friday" is racist.  Behar makes approximately $1.8 million a year from the View alone proving there is no intelligence requirement to amassing a fortune in television.

The entire exchange is very brief and takes place in the first minute of the following clip.  From there Whoopi goes on to tell a TMI story about underwear just in case you might be interested:




Yid with Lid sums it up, "this is the lady who calls Sarah Palin and Airhead?" Yes, indeed she does, every chance she gets. For more see Another Black Conservative's post, "Silly Ramblings from a White Liberal: Joy Behar on Black Friday." Clifton writes:

If white people don’t get all bent out of shape over the phrase “White Sale”, then I think us black folk should be cool with the phrase “Black Friday”. There is a huge chasm between racial sensitivity and utter foolishness and Joy clearly crosses that chasm here.

Hey, what did he mean by "White Sale?"

H/T: Memeorandum

Health Care Hocus Pocus

John Stossel nails the lies and deceptions used by politicians to sell the health care debacle:

The key to magic is misdirection, fooling the audience into looking in the wrong direction.

I happily suspend disbelief when a magician says he'll saw a woman in half. That's entertainment. But when Harry Reid says he'll give 30 million additional people health coverage while cutting the deficit, improving health care and reducing its cost, it's not entertaining. It's incredible.

The politicians have a hat full of tricks to make their schemes look cheaper than they are. The new revenues will pour in during Year One, but health care spending won't begin until Year Three or Four. To this the Cato Institute's Michael Tanner asks, "Wouldn't it be great if you could count a whole month's income, but only two weeks' expenditures in your household budget?" (H/T: Instapundit )

Charles Krauthammer thinks "the bill is irredeemable. It should not only be defeated. It should be immolated, its ashes scattered over the Senate swimming pool."  Pat Austin wonders if there is a Senate swimming pool.  Of course there must be nothing is too good for those we pay to shred the US health care system then lie about what a wonder it will be.  Presto Changeo, the "result is an overregulated, overbureaucratized system of surpassing arbitrariness and inefficiency," according to Krauthammer, who suggests we can throw a dart at the 2000 page tome and find a problem:

You’ll find mandates with financial penalties — the amounts picked out of a hat.
 
You’ll find insurance companies (who live and die by their actuarial skills) told exactly what weight to give risk factors, such as age. Currently, insurance premiums for 20-somethings are about one-sixth the premiums for 60-somethings. The House bill dictates the young shall now pay at minimum one-half; the Senate bill, one-third — numbers picked out of a hat.

You’ll find sliding scales for health-insurance subsidies — percentages picked out of a hat — that will radically raise marginal income tax rates for middle-class recipients, among other crazy unintended consequences. 

Of course we can throw darts all day but the only solution to this bill is to throw a knife and end the misery.  Howard Dean admits the "Republicans are right about the rhetoric of this bill," though Dean seems to be hitching himself to the liberal wing of the party.  Dean's devotion to the public option aside, it is hard to ignore his point the health care bill is a giant bailout that will have negative consequences if enacted.  Hot Air has a transcript for the video below:


Ed Morrissey wonders:

Dean — who was a successful chair of the DNC and supposedly represented the mainstream of the Democratic Party — has now hitched himself to Socialist Bernie Sanders and the progressive wing of the party. Is Dean thinking about a 2012 run predicated on a politically wounded Obama who failed to pass health-care reform?

Now that would be entertaining, imagine sawing the Democratic party in two with a primary.

It's Not Easy to be a Reality Show Star these Days

UPDATED: Donald Douglas linked my post in a follow up post titled "Did Hollywood Today Plagiarize American Power on Tareq Salahi's Palestinian Ties?" There is another follow up that contains response from Hollywood Today: "Jeffrey Jolson, Publisher and Editor-in-chief at Hollywood Today, Responds to Absence of Source Attributions at Tareq Salahi ATFB Story"

Donald Douglas at American Power predicted there would be a major effort to downplay the security breach that permitted the reality TV wannabes Michaele and Tareq Salahi to crash the White House state dinner Tuesday night.  American Power has a report on Salahi's interesting  political ties that will no doubt be completely ignored in the press as well:

In addition, and ominously, it turns out that Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the "right of return" for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The "right of return" has long been considered the backdoor to Israel's destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat's funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department's designated-terrorist group, Hamas.

Michaele Salahi couldn't resist posting her photos from the event on her fanpage on Facebook revealing how alarmingly close the intruders got to certain Obama administration  officials and foreign dignitaries.  The New York Times points out though, the competition is really fierce these days to get on a reality show.  Hey, these folks really needed a chance to stand out.  Stand out they did:

Here's a photo of the crashers with the guest of honor:

As Rep. Peter King (R) notes someone dropped the ball:

“Obviously, somebody dropped the ball,” said Mr. King, of New York. “I mean, you’re talking about the president of the United States and the vice president and a powerful world leader, the prime minister of India.” The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, was the guest of honor.
Mr. King said he had seen people turned away from similar White House events, including a congressman who brought his daughter instead of his wife, whose name was on the list. He also raised concerns about the Secret Service’s assertion that Mr. Obama was safe because all guests passed through metal detectors."

King is calling for an investigation while the Salahi's get the fame they sought through the event:

Whether or not they wind up on “Housewives,” the couple have certainly acted as if they were stars. They are now scheduled to be on “Larry King Live” on Monday.

On her celebrity-minded Facebook page, Mrs. Salahi telegraphed her television aspirations, writing, “Get Ready Kelly Ripa — Don’t you want a friend to tag team Regis!” She also suggested herself as a co-host for NBC’s “Today” show. On Facebook, she has more than 4,000 friends.

Actually the facebook page now shows more than 7000 fans and there is quite a bit of heckling in comments on various pictures and notes on Michaele Salahi's page.  Salahi couldn't resist posing for a photo with a former "Today" show  host while she had the opportunity:

Michael Hirschorn, former VP at VH1 admits that aggressive lobbying and "self producing" is the name of the game in the competitive arena of reality show appearances:

Mr. Hirschorn said prospective reality stars were becoming smarter about “self-producing,” knowing they had to inject drama into the shows.

“At this point,” he said, “there must be what, a thousand reality personalities on TV at any one time? So they know they have to stand out.”

Even so, Mr. Hirschorn added, this “would seem extreme to me.”

Gee, d'ya think?  Reality-show wannabes weren't the only undesirable folks at the party however.   Michelle Malkin has a list of the cronies, czars and corruptocrats that didn't need to crash the party; they were invited.

My Favorite Holiday Recipes

This is simply the best recipe for cranberry relish I have ever tasted.  As a bonus, it is also the simplest.  The recipe comes fom Georges Perrier Le Bec fin Recipes.  
2 Cups Fresh Cranberries
Grated zest and juice from 2 oranges
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Grand Marnier
Put all ingredients in a food processor. Finely chop. Chill overnight.


I have been making this delicious recipe for Potato Gratin with Mustard and Cheddar Cheese ever since I saw it in the November 1995 issue of "Bon Appetit".  My copy of that magazine is so worn and tattered, I am grateful it is now listed on epicurious.  This is a bit more involved than the cranberry relish recipe but certainly not more difficult than most casserole recipes.  I make this every year at Christmas too. ( recipe below the jump)

DCCC Fuel For the Turkey Day Food Fight

As you head out over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house for a fine Thanksgiving turkey, consider yourself forewarned that cousin Cathy and Aunt Alice, the family flaming libs, have been armed with Democrat talking points to stoke the fire in the annual Thanksgiving political brawl.   Control issues much?  The downloadable cheat sheet gives a list of potential myths the family conservatives might trot out and supplies the family liberals with "facts" for effective "myth-busting."


 First off, the term myths, as used by liberals, requires an Inigo Montoya retort: " You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."  The cheat sheet begins with the "myth" "Democrats haven't done anything this year."  The DCCC provides the following facts to prove "House Democrats and President Obama have delivered more progress for America this year than George Bush and the Republicans did in the last eight."  For your convenience I have included a sample snarky response, in red of course,  in case someone in the family comes bearing a  DCCC cheat sheet:

On The Menu

On the menu at Obama's oh-so-stylish state dinner: typos.

H/T: Memeorandum  Photo: Lynn Sweet