Barack Obama Faces False Choices
It is important for President-elect Obama, his policy team, and—perhaps most of all—the rest of us, to beware of false choices.
Left vs. right.
Main Street vs. Wall Street.
Stimulus vs. Thrift.
Big Government vs. Small.
These are the phony alternatives now being defined by Washington wise guys and the national media.
This is especially true among the various C- and D-list talking heads, who are being called upon to fill the endless cable TV gabfests of the presidential transition period and know little but how to parrot the stale, conventional wisdom.
But if Obama's victory stands for anything, it is the desire to move beyond the same old same old.
And he should understand that the political coalition that elected him could melt away as quickly as it formed.
We face a political future dominated by pragmatic, independent-minded voters who will be forming and reforming, in pollster Peter Hart's evocative description, ever-shifting "coalitions of mercury."
The Obama administration, and the Democrats in Congress, can best succeed by keeping this in mind. American voters did not choose a socialist over a capitalist; they made a leap of faith that an audacious and dynamic young leader can make the government work—with efficiency, care, and imagination—for the American people.
Barack Obama can meet his promise if he delivers what Franklin D. Roosevelt vowed to supply at a somewhat similar moment in American history.
Not ideological rigidity but "bold and persistent experimentation."
Tags: politics | President | Barack Obama | Obama administration | Obama transition
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LOOK OUT AMERICA
Phil Berg / Andy Martin Updates
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November 10 - We The People Foundation will release an Ad in the USA Today regarding this very topic and in support of Phil J. Berg, the man behind Berg v Obama. It will actually run the entire week of November 10th.
November 17th - Phil Berg & Robert L. Schulz (Founder & Chairman of WTP) will hold a press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
November 18th - Andy Martin’s case: Martin v Obama will be heard on this date in Honolulu, Hawaii.
December 1st - Barack Obama has until this day to release his original long birth certificate from “vault” (located in Honolulu, Hawaii) to the court.
If or when this occurs, Phil Berg will then have to submit a response.
December 15th (or perhaps 13th), the Electoral College meets to vote for the next President of the United States.
January 6th, 2009 - The new Congress will be sworn in. The Democrats obviously have a comfortable majority, but it will not be available to have a say about this birth certificate drama.
In the meantime, SHOULD the SCOTUS find that Barack Obama isn’t eligible—those who knew this fraud will deserve punishment and the Democrats will pay a heavy price.
real news
Congressman Warns of Obama Dictatorship
Monday, November 10, 2008 6:44 PM
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WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship.
"It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he's the one who proposed this national security force," Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. "I'm just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism."
Broun cited a July speech by Obama that has circulated on the Internet in which the then-Democratic presidential candidate called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.
"That's exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it's exactly what the Soviet Union did," Broun said. "When he's proposing to have a national security force that's answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he's showing me signs of being Marxist."
Obama's comments about a national security force came during a speech in Colorado about building a new civil service corps. Among other things, he called for expanding the nation's foreign service and doubling the size of the Peace Corps "to renew our diplomacy."
"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," Obama said in July. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."
Broun said he also believes Obama likely will move to ban gun ownership if he does build a national police force.
Obama has said he respects the Second Amendment right to bear arms and favors "common sense" gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he'll at least enact curbs on ownership of assault weapons and concealed weapons. As an Illinois state lawmaker, Obama supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons and tighter restrictions on firearms generally.
"We can't be lulled into complacency," Broun said. "You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential."
Obama's transition office did not respond immediately to Broun's remarks.
© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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