Obama admits "there's a sense he hasn't been successful"

Via The Blaze:

Only in the perception that Obama hasn't really changed Washington though. Of course, that perception is wrong, wrong, wrong because he has made improvements don't ya know. He has made improvements, but mainly in the areas where "he has complete control."

 That whole "sipping on Slurpees" riff and calling Republicans "the enemy," was that what we can expect when Obama has complete control? Maybe that is the best he can muster when he is forced to negotiate with terrorists as the American people are held hostage? No one can really expect much more from a man who must deal with a Republican Party that, may fight to end the middle-class tax cuts that I've championed and that they've opposed,"  can they?

Still, Obama is going to continue to work to rebuild a sense of trust in government and restore a belief that ordinary people' s voices are heard in Washington.  Like our voices were heard when they wanted to pass health care?  Thanks but no thanks, champ:


Obama on 9NEWS from The Blaze on Vimeo.
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Breaking: Federal Judge rules against parts of health care law

CNN reports :

Washington (CNN) – A federal judge in Virginia has ruled parts of the sweeping health care reform effort led by President Obama to be unconstitutional. This is the first federal court to strike down the law, contradicting other recent rulings the law was permissible. The key issue of contention was the "individual mandate" requirement that most Americans purchase health insurance by 2014.

This ruling was expected to go against the administration as The Wall Street Journal reports:

The ruling by District Judge Henry E. Hudson is perhaps the most significant so far among a slew of state-based legal challenges to the law, which also faces attack by newly resurgent Republicans in Congress. More than 20 federal lawsuits have been filed against the health overhaul since President Barack Obama signed it in March.

While the cases differ somewhat, they largely rest on the argument that Congress lacks constitutional authority to require most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a fee. The Obama administration counters that three clauses of the Constitution gave Congress the power to put the requirement, known as the individual mandate, in the law as part of regulating how people pay for health care.

 (snip)

Supporters of the law are bracing for defeats in Virginia and in Florida. Judges Hudson and Vinson have both shown sympathy to the plaintiffs' arguments and are GOP appointees.

Two other federal judges, in separate lawsuits in Michigan and Virginia, have already ruled in the administration's favor on the individual-mandate question. Those cases, along with the other federal cases challenging the law, have a narrower base of plaintiffs than the suits brought in Florida and before Judge Hudson in Virginia.

Read the  rest for background on  the Virginia case as  well as the case brought in Florida which is likely to garner another ruling against the law later this week.  This is unlikely to stop the health care law in its tracks but it does open up a path to challenge the law in higher courts.  Stay tuned...

UPDATES

From NRO - Eric Cantor calls on Obama and AG Holder to send the case directly to SCOTUS:

“To ensure an expedited process moving forward, I call on President Obama and Attorney General Holder to join Attorney General Cuccinelli in requesting that this case be sent directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Though I doubt Obama or his JD will support a fast track to the Supreme Court they would be helping to resolve the uncertainty that will surround the law for the next few years if they heeded Cantor's request.  If they are confident of their position why not resolve the constitutionality question ASAP?

Here is a pdf of the ruling:  Ed Morrissey spots the crux of the judges sentiments in this AP report:

Hudson rejected the government’s argument that it has the power under the Constitution to require individuals to buy health insurance, a provision that was set to take effect in 2014.

“Of course, the same reasoning could apply to transportation, housing or nutritional decisions,” Hudson wrote. “This broad definition of the economic activity subject to congressional regulation lacks logical limitation” and is unsupported by previous legal cases around the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

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Condoleezza Rice kicks Katie Couric's behind

Via Breitbart

I don't have much time to comment here but this video clip does all the explaining necessary. Katie Couric trots out the liberal media narrative about the Iraq war and Condoleezza Rice kicks Katie's sorry behind in addition to her sorry argument:




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Snowmageddon in Minnesota

Alternatively, folks are calling it Snowmygawd. It's the largest snowstorm to hit the Twin Cities in 19 years.  Neil Gaiman is loving it. His dogs are mostly loving it.  Though the male, Cabal, would prefer to be admiring the snow from the inside of Gaiman's nice warm house.  I can't say I blame him, I love this house:

I hope readers from the Minnesota area are enjoying their Snowmageddon as much as Gaiman and his beautiful dogs.

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Bill and Barry's excellent press adventure

It never fails. On a day I was mostly away from the computer, Barack Obama abdicates his role as president and decides to put Bill Clinton in charge instead. Well, at least he left him in charge of a press conference anyway. Too bad.  Who wouldn't gladly accept a third Clinton term at this point in lieu of Obama finishing out his first?

When I first heard this news, my impression was that the wily Clinton was upstaging Barack and an annoyed-but-helpless Barack left exasperated. Nearly everyone blogging this incredible news conference seemed to conclude Obama was in a hurry to get to his holiday party and was fine with leaving the grownup in charge. Which scenario is more incredible seems a toss up at this point.  The whole thing is surreal.

Nearly all the video I have seen captures the jaw-dropping moment when Barack takes his leave as Clinton dismisses him with a wave of a hand. Mediate has a longer clip, however,  that shows Clinton opening with a question "he feels awkward being here and you're going to leave me here all by myself," suggesting they actually planned it this way:



My jaw still hits the floor every time I replay the clip. Indeed, reports indicate that Obama and Clinton cooked this conference up all by themselves:

The leader of the free world and the ex-leader wandered a deserted hallway, past the offices of the senior advisers, only to discover the door to the press corps briefing room locked.

Had it not been, Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton might have discovered only a few reporters milling about or catching a few minutes of sleep. Instead, they turned around and found a junior staffer sitting outside of the office of Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.

“Do you know how to open up the briefing room?” Mr. Obama asked the staffer, Katie Hogan.

“Yeah,” Mr. Clinton said, “can you help us unlock it?”

Hearing that, Mr. Gibbs walked out.

“I said, ‘what are you guys up to?’” Mr. Gibbs recalled later. “President Obama said, ‘we’re looking for some reporters.’”

“What have you guys got on your mind,” Mr. Gibbs –- always cautious — countered.

Note the last link to the New York Times ends with a comment indicating Gibbs did not know which of the two came up with the plan for the news conference. I am going to go way out on a limb and bet everything Clinton hatched this plan. Just look at his face as he entered the briefing room:

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and with Clinton he will add a thousand more to boot.  He stayed reliving his glory days taking questions from the press for nearly an hour.  I am surprised he didn't do the Risky Business Dance.

UN Climate Change Delegates: Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide and Destabilize the US economy? Sounds good to us!

Via James Delingpole at The Telegraph


During last week's UN Climate Change Conference representatives from CFACT asked delegates to sign 2 petitions to prove what fools these global warming overlords be. The first called for the destabilization of the United States economy by imposing a series of tariffs and trade restrictions that would cause a 6% drop in GDP. Sounds awesome right?  The delegates had no trouble with that concept at all and quickly signed their names. Does anything register with these folks?

 The second petition called for the ban of dihydrogen monoxide, a "dangerous" chemical compound, because as the "largest greenhouse gas" it poses a serious threat to the environment. Notice what the delegates, who freely sign the petition, are consuming as the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide are detailed:



Crossposted at Potluck
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Lawrence O'Donnell annihilates Alan Grayson on MSNBC

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell gets in, what may be the Last Word, on the biggest loon ever elected to Congress.  I don't agree with O'Donnell on anything really, but there is a reason he is giving Fox's Greta Van Sustern a run for her money in ratings.  O'Donnell knows what makes great television; I guess his years working on The West Wing continue to pay off for him. The Other McCain has the video so I won't post it here.  Watch Ezra Klein's facial expression (about the 2:35 mark) as Grayson is really on a tear.  Klein's expression was priceless.

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Harrah Reid lassoing his casino payback to the tax bill

It appears  Harry Reid found a target for his payola Pottersville project I mentioned on Saturday.  Majority leader Harrah Reid thinks it would be swell to lasso it to that controversial tax bill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to use the tax cut package President Barack Obama brokered with Republicans to legalize online poker, POLITICO has learned — a move that could further complicate the deal Obama announced Monday.

Already, the online poker proposal has exposed the Nevada Democrat to charges of flip-flopping on a controversial issue, as well as using his Senate leadership position to repay big casino interests that helped him win reelection in a hard-fought campaign against Republican Sharron Angle last month.

How much of a payback would this little Pottersville proposal be, you ask:

“The House Republicans will go crazy if this is in the bill,” said one senior congressional aide, declaring it “a total, 100 percent payback” for the support Reid received from gambling interests. The aide asserted that lobbyists for the Las Vegas-based casino operator Harrah's, now known as Caesars Entertainment Corp., even helped write the legislation.

“You could call him ‘Harrah Reid’ at this point,” the aide quipped.

Once again, Reid's office is silent on this proposal.  What can they possibly say other than they're just really grateful Harrah's execs recognized “Waking up to the defeat of Harry Reid Nov. 3 will be devastating for our industry’s future.”  Reid is so grateful he let them write their own payback.  Where would we be without Harry Reid?  His bumbling guardian angel has the answer.

More on Memeorandum


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Parody - Grandma got molested at the airport

A friend posted this hilarious parody of the song Grandma got run over by a reindeer on Facebook earlier.  I couldn't resist posting it here.  Everyone knows the tune I am sure and the video has lyrics.  Feel free to sing along:



Thanks to Doug Ross for the Larwyn Link!!
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Book Review - Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin and the race of a lifetime

I was pleased to be offered an opportunity to review the paperback edition of Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime as part of TLC Book Tours virtual tour.  I read the hardback edition when it was released in January, tantalized, as were most, by the juicy revelations leaked  in the days leading up to the release.   On January 11, 2010, I mentioned having stopped at several book stores trying to pick up a copy of the book; it was sold out everywhere.  For political junkies, Game Change was the equivalent of the latest Harry Potter release, sans the wands and costumes.

Witches, however, were in abundance, at least as we found them in the pages of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's insiders' accounting of all things campaign 2008.  On the path to elect a candidate with a paper-thin resume, two women Palin and Clinton, were burned at the stake in the press while a third, Elizabeth Edwards, is revealed to be an insufferable shrew.  We've come a long way haven't we ladies?

Halperin and Heilemann reveal Obama to be the improbable beneficiary of a plot among senior Democrats to stop a Clinton nomination.  Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were fearful a Clinton nomination was one salacious report of a Bill Clinton affair away from implosion.  Indeed, the Clinton campaign was reported to have established a "war room" devoted to containing the threat of yet another adulterous scandal that could derail a Clinton candidacy.  Ironically, the greatest threat to Clinton's candidacy was another love affair entirely; the soppy adoration among DC insiders and the bulk of the liberal media is evidenced by the absence of "dirt" delivered to the authors in their extensive "deep background" interviews with over 200 beltway insiders.

That the failed McCain candidacy frequently targeted Sarah Palin as a scapegoat for an inadequate campaign strategy and an uninspiring candidate has been widely reported from election night onward.  For this reason, I found revelations about Palin, as reported by these same insiders, the least interesting and least surprising in the book.  Oddly enough, it is Hillary Clinton who emerges as the most intriguing and sympathetic personality.  Accounts of Bill Clinton's anger and frustration as he was painted a racist because he criticized the media fairy tale that was Barack Obama, foreshadowed how most would be treated if they dared criticize Obama as well.  Details of the strain and frustration experienced by the Clintons during the primary to the tenuous alliance with Obama in the days post election are worth the price of admission alone here.

Halperin and Heilman include new material in the latest paperback release.  In an afterward they opine on the political futures of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.  The authors give further pause to those hoping Hillary might make another run for office.  Besides facing an age barrier, Clinton we are told, hates Iowa.  I find talk of a viable Biden candidacy laughable particularly when a second term for Obama seems far from a sure thing at this point in time.  Palin, of the three, has the benefit of time on her side.  We'll all be waiting to see what she does in coming days.  One thing is assured, however, Palin will never be the beneficiary of the laudatory coverage Barack Obama received, nor will she find senior Republicans conspiring to see her elected over the supposed frontrunner.

Reading the book again, in preparation for this review,  I found the book every bit as interesting as it was back in January.  I found different passage more intriguing, particularly after the November midterm elections.   Admittedly, I am a political junkie who finds the details of the improbable election of Barack Obama intriguing on many levels.  With a $10 price tag for this latest paperback release, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime seems like a great gift choice for the political junkie on your Christmas list.


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Crying foul on "Fair Game"

A scorching movie review in the place you would least expect it, a Washington Post editorial.  Here is a sample:

Hollywood has a habit of making movies about historical events without regard for the truth; "Fair Game" is just one more example. But the film's reception illustrates a more troubling trend of political debates in Washington in which established facts are willfully ignored. Mr. Wilson claimed that he had proved that Mr. Bush deliberately twisted the truth about Iraq, and he was eagerly embraced by those who insist the former president lied the country into a war. Though it was long ago established that Mr. Wilson himself was not telling the truth - not about his mission to Niger and not about his wife - the myth endures. We'll join the former president in hoping that future historians get it right.

3, 2, 1... heads explode in the left-wing blogosphere.

First stop TBogg at Firedoglake:

America’s fifth most influential liberal journalist Fred Hiatt doesn’t have enough to do these days having delegated most of his editorial responsibilities to sensible classical liberals like Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, Marc Thiessen, Jennifer Rubin, Robert Kagan, Robert Samuelson, Kathleen Parker, and George Will. So today he thought he would try his hand at movie reviewing but, alas, he hasn’t grasped the differences between “drama” and “documentary.”

Heads-a-poppin' at Balloon Juice:

It was a movie—you know, fiction that tries to get to larger truths about life. But because one of the truths that it tried to explore was the waste of the Iraq war, Fred had to go on the attack.

Brad DeLong writes in a post titled, "There Ought to Be Resignations in Protest and Disgust from the Washington Post Every Day, But Today More than Ever:

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Excellent question Brad, let us know when you come up with an answer.

More on Memeorandum

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Harry Reid lassos the moon

Look Harry Reid, every time a bell rings, a casino in Nevada gets a squeeze:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing behind the scenes for lame-duck legislation that would allow poker games over the Internet but restrict initial licenses to casinos and racetrack operators that have been in businesses at least five years.

Some of the biggest casino operators in Reid's home state of Nevada are eager to get a piece of the online gambling industry, which generates an estimated $5 billion a year for offshore operators.

A congressional aide familiar with the issue said Reid aides were circulating the draft legislation, and a copy of it was obtained by The Associated Press. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and did so only on condition of anonymity.

Four years ago, Congress effectively banned online gambling, passing legislation that prohibits banks and credit card companies from making payments to gambling websites. Supporters of online poker face less opposition with Democrats in charge of both chambers for another month. The House Financial Services Committee this year approved a bill that established a regulatory structure for online gambling.

Reid's office would not answer questions about the legislation.

What a surprise Reid's office is silent on this.  What could they possibly say?  I would love to hear Reid explain why he is in such a rush to pass payola legislation for the casinos that put him back in office.  Surely the 9.8% who are unemployed can wait.  Never mind worrying about the tax rates set to increase at the end of the year either.  The whole country can wait while Harry Reid puts a few finishing touches on his project Pottersville.  Someone needs to lasso Harry Reid
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Thanks to Doug Ross for linking

Obama in Afghanistan dodging bullets

Where else  would he go to dodge the latest  bad news from a stalled economy.  Notice he didn't take a surprise trip when Michelle gave the ok for us all to eat pie.  Obama decides to make a surprise trip as  unemployment unexpectedly hits 9.8%  and just as news hits both manufacturing orders and durable goods were down  in October.  It's almost as if the economy sees Obama as the enemy.

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Assange arrest imminent

Via Verum Serum, The Daily Mail has the details:

WikiLeaks supremo Julian Assange could be arrested in Britain today over sex allegations.

Scotland Yard detectives were last night preparing to detain the 39-year-old over claims of rape and sexual assault in Sweden.

An extradition warrant is expected to be passed to the Metropolitan Police today or early next week.

Meanwhile Stacy McCain has a harsher sentence in mind:

This guy is the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Internet. Kim Jong Il with a blog.

The appropriate U.S. response to Julian Assange could be summarized in four words: Predator drone. Hellfire missile.

Dude, that's harsh.  When I think Kim Jong Il with a blog, I think Meghan "sweet dumb babboo" McCain.    Assange as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the internet is just about right though.

Exit Question:  Sweet Dumb Babboo?

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"The Moment of Truth"

"The Moment of Truth" is here.   This 66-page report from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform documents the arrival of our country at the crossroads. This is the time to choose whether oceans of debt begin to recede and our planet debt star begins to heal.  John Merline, AOL Opinion Editor, spots a few hidden gems buried in the report:

2) Health reform's cost savings apparently were bogus. Remember how Democrats boasted that health reform would cut the budget deficit by $170 billion over the next decade and far more after that? The deficit commission must not have gotten that memo. It says health spending projections under the new law "count on large phantom savings" and the reform law's new long-term care program that the report calls "unsustainable." As a result, Congress will still need to enact "a number of other reforms to reduce federal health spending and slow the growth of health care costs more broadly."

Who knew this thing would turn out to be a "fiscal Frankenstein?"  Aside from the 600 + posts I wrote on the subject, nearly everyone who was paying attention knew the Democratic math didn't add up.  The only way the cost curve  would be bent with this fiasco was upward.  The report at least acknowledges "the elephant in the room."

Despite offering high praise for the committee and the report, Congressman Paul Ryan is not going to vote for the plan:

"Obviously, I’m not going to vote for it,” said Congressman Ryan, who is an important voice on the commission as incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee come January.

Ryan’s biggest problem with the debt commission report, he said, was that “it not only didn’t address the elephant in the room, health care, it made it fatter.“

Just what we need, a fatter elephant.  Where is Michelle with her diet advice when we need her?  Maybe she is out buying another pair of $600 sneakers.  She, like her husband is a big spender:

5) Obama is a big spender. Although President Barack Obama has talked about fiscal discipline -- and set up this deficit commission -- his own budget plan would spend $350 billion more on so-called discretionary programs over the next decade than if the government were just left on autopilot, according to the report. 

I am completely shocked at this news.  I thought we had a  big old Blue Dog living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Read the rest of Merline's list of hidden gems, there are quite a few.

Despite my doubts real reform is possible under this president, I agree with Paul Ryan who praised the report for putting a plan on the table and elevating the discussion on our looming financial crisis to "adult level."  Ryan is wise, as always, for calling attention to the elephant in the room.  This is the moment to get that elephant out of the living room and the "Blue Dog" out of the White House.

Ed Morrissey  has more.
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Quote of the day

Via Instapundit linking a post at The New Editor.  Tom Elia noticed the most laughable statement attributed to Obama I have heard in some time.  That's really saying something.  Naturally New York Times columnist  Matt Bai reports it without a note of irony: 
"The body of Mr. Obama’s writing and experiences before he became a presidential candidate would suggest that he is instinctively pragmatic, typical of an emerging generation that sees all political dogma — be it ’60s liberalism or ’80s conservatism — as anachronistic. Privately, Mr. Obama has described himself, at times, as essentially a Blue Dog Democrat, referring to the shrinking caucus of fiscally conservative members of the party."

Wow, what is he smoking these days?  Fiscal conservative?  Why yes, it's practically the first thing I think of when I hear the name Barack Obama.  Or not.  Let's hope Mr. Obama has his Blue Dog hat handed to him like the rest of the Blue Dog Caucus.  

UPDATE:  Anne Leary links with Charles Barkley's take - what a hoot.
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Meet the latest comic book heroine: Super Maureen Dowd

Saving the world from sure destruction with her pixels and a pistol, meet Super Maureen Dowd, starring in:
THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION).

The plot, yes there is a plot, requires a time change so the villains can be Republicans natch. Super Maureen must blow the lid off the Valerie Plame scandal:  "Can she fend off the assaults of fanatical White House officials and Hezzbollah commandos in time to write and deliver her column before deadline and still be on time for her third date with George Clooney?"  Only in her mind and in the satirical musings of Benjamin Marra who is offering this work   for the bargain price of $3 plus $1.75 shipping and handling.

click to enlarge

The rest of the preview must be seen to be believed.  I am speechless.
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