Speed Kills

It may be a combination of things converging all at once, be it Obama's relatively youthful exuberance and his desire to succeed immediately, coupled with his lack of experience in actual accomplishment, or it could be interpreted as something far more sinister, such as a diabolical plan for the ultimate ruination of America. Which, I am incapable of discerning, which is why I write. Mine is a mission of thought provocation, designed to stimulate the thought processes of the reader and to trigger cognizance. To be honest, if you're already reading here, you are pre-engaged anyway.

We have all seen the billboards prominently displayed on the roads across America, the ones with the [whichever] State Trooper propped up against his patrol car, speaking into his radio mic, and the words "Speed Kills" just above or below the picture. Those are ad campaigns designed to get drivers to slow down and reduce road fatalities.

More often than not it is the driver who is killed, along with any passengers who may be on board. So it is with Obama driving a bus loaded with giddy congressional Democrats, feeling as invincible as the teen just embarking on life's journey. Their current domination of the political process is responsible for that feeling, and they can't envision the bus slamming into a tree at high velocity.

Somehow mesmerized by Obama, Democrats are so eager to pass dubious and disastrous health care reform this year that they are poised to commit political suicide. How they cannot see this is incomprehensible, for even if they do nothing else this year, they are still facing trouble in 2010, according to Charlie Cook, who is already predicting a possible net loss in the House of Representatives in excess of 20 seats.

Of course, Congress never does "do nothing", and Democrats have a peculiar penchant for self-inflicted wounds, so it is small wonder that they are preparing for triage. Since Obama has successfully ginned up Democrats with the promise of finally reaching their long-sought after goal of social utopia, i.e., Universal Health Care, they have become blinded by their pending euphoria.

Attempting to assuage the concerns of the people over the cost of reform - I prefer to call it lying - Obama is presenting himself as fiscally responsible by insisting that his plan for health care will be "deficit neutral". People, however, particularly those at Tea Parties and Town Halls, know that all that means is that someone is going to have to pay for it. If you are broke but still want that $5,000 home theater system, and you refuse to go into debt to get it, the only option is to receive it as a gift or...have someone else pay for it.

Perhaps he's been deliberately desensitizing the people to his numerous broken promises in the hope that by the time he breaks the promise of no new taxes, we'll be so used to it that his loss of political capital will be minute. Since government is certainly not going to receive health care reform as a gift, that means that they'll need someone else to pay for it; that would be us.

Completing the recipe for disaster, the Democrats are inching closer to employing the "nuclear option", whereby the majority party locks the opposition out of the process. In other words, Democrats are preparing to ram universal health care down our throats all by themselves without Republicans voting, thus owning the debacle. That is something the people will remember in an election year and something the Republicans will be sure to remind us of next year.

Such an act of betrayal by elected officials will most assuredly make Charlie Cook's current estimate look extremely conservative in scope.

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Republicans Ready To Stop Mixing Paint

"Four years ago we raised a banner of bold colors—no pale pastels. We proclaimed a dream of an America that would be "a shining city on a hill." - Ronald Reagan

One of the reasons the Republican party enjoyed such a short ride at the controls of power in the U.S. is clearly obvious; they forgot the vision of Ronald Reagan. It was a vision he believed in and embraced convincingly, enough so that he caused a wave of hope and optimism nearly as powerful as the feelings Obama supporters felt. As one man's opinion though, I don't think President Obama believes his own vision quite as strongly as did Reagan, and I highly doubt that he will be able to deliver in the same fashion.

While Reagan set a course and steered the shortest path toward it, Obama seems to demonstrate - in his first week of the Presidency - a propensity to serpentine. The passengers aboard his bus will no doubt need dramamine in large doses if the trend continues. Of course, there is always the high possibility that he learned the tactic from watching his Republican colleagues during his truncated stay in the U.S. Senate.

As for President George W. Bush, we'll never know if he intended to govern from a conservative stance since his administration was handed a whole new direction by al Qaeda on September 11, 2001. But at least some members of congress on the right side of the aisle are learning slowly the error of their ways. Barack Obama may well have lost his bid for the White House had he faced a true conservative.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY, is sending out the word that the party must change. He's also pointing out that not all conservatives are republicans; we already know that not all republicans are conservatives. He spoke to republicans at a meeting to choose the next chairman of the RNC and he said, in part, this:

"It's clear our message isn't getting out to nearly as many people as it should ... Too often we've let others define us. And the image they've painted isn't very pretty."

He is absolutely correct. Republicans have spent entirely too much time and effort trying to get democrats to just like them and all they have received as reward is a boot heel across the throat. (Side note: this should be a clear indicator to President Obama that appeasement never works). One good way to repair the damage done over the last six years would be to name former Lt. Governor of Maryland, Michael Steele, as head of the Republican National Committee.

I have heard Michael Steele on talk shows and filling in for nationally syndicated radio hosts quite frequently of late, and he seems to have all the ingredients necessary to combat this infuriating march to the left seen in politics. I firmly believe that Mr. Steele is more than capable of taking a can of paint straight off the shelf and applying it to the walls without mixing it with another hue.

Take Reagan's lead, ye politicians on the right. Paint the party with bold colors and broad strokes. Rebuild the party, and they will come.

Author's note: Accompanying cartoon used with kind permission from Brett Noel. See his work at Patriot Art.

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