Quotations from Chairman Barack

There are some recent developments this month that really creep me out, and they do not receive the attention and scrutiny they deserve. One has to do with a new product, Pocket Obama, that is being sold at The History Company. When I first read this I thought it was some kind of cruel joke. Here is an excerpt -

Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, this book is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama's speeches and writings. It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times.

At a price of $49.50 per book only 10 copies have been sold so far. What is really creepy is how close the sales pitch for "Pocket Obama" matches these words about Quotations from Chairman Mao. Here is an excerpt -

As its title implies, it is a collection of quotations excerpted from Mao Zedong's past speeches and publications. The book's phenomenal popularity may be due to the fact that it was essentially an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times...

The second troubling development is the announcement that Obama sets up national network to help policy agenda. An excerpt from this LA Times news story -

Organizing for America, the new group, will be a tool to press for policy. It reportedly will have an annual budget of $75 million, making it an unprecedented standing political army for a president.

There is absolutely no truth to any rumor that this new unprecedented standing political army will be issued brown shirts with black armbands. Perhaps the shirts they will be wearing are going to be royal blue.



Blogger Ken Robinson at the Signs of the Times website suggests an optimistic possibility for Organizing for America.

On one hand, he could utilize the technology to organize and encourage Americans to simply push the Obama agenda. This could prove to be a little Orwellian. Many ultra conservatives such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have characterized Obama supporters as blindly following any edicts handed down by the Obama camp, and this new initiative won't silence any arguments to the contrary.



Another avenue, which might seem more in line with the tone Obama's press office has sought to portray is one of education and involvement. This would necessarily involve a two-way flow of information. Not only would information be sent by the Obama administration, but it would require individuals to organize, debate and funnel information back up the governmental chain.

When I envision a blue shirt Organizing for America member reaching into his pocket for his Pocket Obama copy when he encounters me I don't get the impression of a two-way flow of information about to take place.

My Fellow Citizens - and so it begins

On January 20, 2009 Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Following the swearing in ceremony President Obama began his inaugural address with the phrase "My fellow citizens". Hearing these words was like hearing chalk scratching a blackboard. Every President in my lifetime has always used the phrase "my fellow Americans", and I do believe Obama had a reason for not using this phrase. He intended his address toward a wider audience - the citizens of the world.



President Obama is the first American President ever whose brothers, sister, aunts, uncles, and grandmother are not citizens of the United States. They are citizens of Kenya. Nobody reporting on the inauguration of President Obama bothers to point out this first based on nationality of blood relatives. I don't think they really care, but I suspect that national security issues from this fact may cause agents in the NSA to care about it a lot. Instead of nationality they focus on race, and they ignore a very important fact about race. They ignore how it was the American side of Barack's parents who cared for him, raised and nurtured him, and gave him the opportunity to one day become President of the United States. These were white Americans who did the right thing. The African side of Barack's parents abandoned him as a baby. This was a black African. This fact especially made Rev. Lowry's prayer to God that the whites will do right especially offensive to me.



After beginning with "my fellow citizens" President Obama obliquely spoke to his wider audience about his assessment of the situation what he wants to see done.

Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age...each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

I disagree that the blame lies with greedy irresponsible capitalists for our weakened economy. The blame lies with politicians in Congress who interfered in the market by picking out "too big to fail" government sponsored entities. I also disagree that our use of energy threatens our planet. Pres. Obama is telling his wider office that his administration will meddle more with the market and coerce US citizens to use less energy.

The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

Mr. President, you did not include the first and most important God-given right to life written into the Declaration of independence.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.

Soil-powered factories??? WTF? Mr. President, you did not include coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy that are currently providing our country with 99% of the fuel for our cars and our factories.

...this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

I disagree that markets spin out of control. Markets will punish folks who get too greedy and take too many risks, and it will reward folks who best provide a good or a service to their customers. Things begin to spin out of control when the government meddles with the market and tries to pick and choose folks as too big to fail.

And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect.

Speaking to his wider audience of fellow citizens Pres. Obama is telling them that his administration is going to make the US behave by not being so productive that it consumes so much of the world's resources. I strongly oppose Pres. Obama's vision of remaking a new United States of America, and I hope that he fails to get what he wants done.



I disagree with the meme that it is just wrong for anyone to hope that our US President fails because this meme does not define what success is. As with every President in my lifetime I hope that President Obama will succeed in fulfilling his oath to "faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." I would especially like for the President to preserve, protect and defend the 10th amendment -

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.