Once again, a lot happened over the last week that I’d like to touch on; so here it goes.
FIRST, the head of America’s space program, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, informs us that the number one priority of NASA is now – drumroll please – making sure that people in predominantly Muslim countries have high self esteem. Not getting to the moon, or to mars, or advancing our scientific knowledge, or creating more space-connected jobs or products on earth (remember Tang), but making sure Muslims around the world feel better about themselves. I’m not making this up.
Referring to President Obama’s instructions to him, Bolden stated as follows: “Foremost, he (Obama) wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, and math, and engineering.” As usual, the mainstream press all but ignored this gaffe, so you may well not have heard about this new, ridiculous policy, by an Administration that seems to be losing more and more credibility every week.
SECOND, President Obama decided to skip the normal Senate confirmation process and just appoint Donald Berwick to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Why? Well, this is the government agency that will oversee “Obamacare,” which was rammed through Congress by Obama/Pelosi/Reid back in March. And some of the radical quotes this guy has made about health care over the years are the polar opposite of what Obama promised.
Remember the Democrats’ promise that there would be no rationing of health care? Here’s Berwick: “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care – the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.” And remember the assurance that our new health care would be nothing like Britain’s socialized health care system? Once again here’s Berwick: “I am a romantic about the British National Health Service. I love it because it is generous, hopeful, confident, joyous, and just.” No wonder the Obama Administration wanted to avoid any tough questions that might have been asked as a result of such inconsistencies.
And listen to this quote by Berwick, “Any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must – must – redistribute wealthfrom the richer among us to the poorer and less fortunate.” This sounds a lot like candidate Obama’s off-the-cuff remarks that got him into trouble when he told Joe the Plumber that we need to “spread the wealth around.” No wonder a recent poll done by Democracy Corps (a polling outfit run by Democrats James Carville and Stan Greenberg) found that 55% of likely voters say they believe the term “socialist” describes the Obama Administration “well” or “very well.”
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the Administration for trying to “Sneak him through without public scrutiny.” And even Democratic Senator Max Baucus said he was troubled by the recess appointment since “Senate confirmation of Presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on Executive power.”
THIRD, Politico reports that the Obama White House is trying to fight the perception that they are anti-business. How could anyone possibly have that impression? (Cap and Trade, health care, higher taxes, more regulations…) And oh by the way, virtually all Obama’s Cabinet choices have little or no business experience – they overwhelmingly come from a community organizer, academic, or government background. No wonder they can’t get the economy moving again, or start creating jobs in the private sector.
FOURTH, pollster Frank Luntz now says that the Democrats in Congress are in more trouble today than they were back in 1994, when they lost 53 seats in the House of Representatives, and thus lost control of the House for the first time in 40 years. (I was one of the 53. And this time we only need to pick up 39 to take Nancy Pelosi’s gavel away.) Luntz’s exact quote is as follows: “On every statistical measurement, the Democrats are in more trouble today than they were in July 1994 when they lost control of the House and Senate.”
FIFTH, the latest Washington Post – ABC News Poll indicates that the American people by 51% to 43% would prefer to see Republicans in control of Congress rather than Democrats. This eight point Republican edge shows a huge turnaround from the fifteen point Democrat edge before the last election. But, as I always say, not a single vote has been cast in the election yet, and we must continue to work hard, and not get overconfident or cocky.
SIXTH, there are rumors filtering out of Washington that the Democrats realize they are going to take a shellacking this Fall, and intend to try to push through the remaining parts of their un-passed liberal agenda in a lame duck session of Congress (the time between election day November 2nd,and the new Congress being sworn in two months later in the first week of January.) This liberal laundry list of unfinished business could include an immigration amnesty bill, Cap and Trade, even more stimulus spending, even higher taxes, and God knows what else. Frank Luntz, the pollster I previously mentioned, says that if the Democrats did this, and thus in effect ignored the will of the American people as expressed in the November election, they would take a pounding in the next election, the Presidential election of 2012. He noted that Americans polled on this issue oppose such action three to one, and even a plurality of Democrats oppose it.
And on a final note, congratulations to the National League, especially Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, Arthur Rhodes and Joey Votto, for their big win in the All-Star Game last night!