Chapter VII: The myth of Obama as state Senate reformer

Shortly after Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, Prairie State Blue, a liberal blog, attributed his victory to the fact that Illinois' deeply entrenched government corruption had forced "political reformers" in the state legislature like Obama "to network outside the traditional political circles."

The claim illustrated Obama's success throughout his career at presenting himself as an outsider and reformer even as he became a skillful operator inside one of the nation's most corrupt political systems.

Former Obama Adviser Steven Rattner Called for Death Panels in NYT Op-Ed

Glenn Beck spotted an op-ed written by former adviser Steven Rattner that appeared in The New York Times a few days ago. It’s amazing that this hasn’t gotten more attention. (Thanks to Jan R. for the tip.)

An op/ed that ran in the New York Times earlier this month has made a startling declaration: “We need death panels.” The claim comes from a former Obama advisor, Steven Rattner, who claims that too many Medicare resources are wasted on the elderly in their last year of life. While the Obama campaign is trying to paint the Romney campaign as enemies of the elderly for wanting to reform Medicare and Medicaid, should they be paying closer attention to the people Obama ahas surrounded himself with?
Rattner writes:

The New Racial Justice System

President Obama issues an executive order calling for equal outcomes in school discipline policies.
What is the basis for such an exercise of presidential power? Where in the Constitution does it say that the executive branch of the federal government can impose itself on educational issues?
In fact, where in the Constitution does it say that the federal government can impose itself on any part of the educational function, which I thought was a state function? Is it because the federal government gives federal taxpayer funds to schools? How does that justify federal interference in school discipline?
This alone is so outrageous and illegal.

Why Putin Wants Obama to Win

The 2012 U.S. presidential election presents a contrast to the 2008 election in terms of their perceptions by the Russian elite.
In 2008, then-President Dmitry Medvedev expressed a desire to work with a "modern" U.S. leader rather than one "whose eyes are turned back to the past." He was referring to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. But influential Russian elites voiced their support for the Republican candidate, John McCain, despite McCain calling President Vladimir Putin a KGB spy who has no soul and calling to expel Russia from the Group of Eight leading industrial nations.
Even though McCain was more critical of the Kremlin,

Hilarious: Obama Lowers Debate Expectations ‘Because of the Demands of His Office’

I could see this as being plausible if the guy ever actually worked. Seriously, the guy has been in campaign mode for three years, has time to chat with the washed-up Letterman, the idiots from The View, talk football, basketball, play golf, and hang out with Jay-Z and Beyonce, among assorted other celebutards. So, um, when does he actually work?
Now we’re to believe he’s too busy to prepare for debates?
Child, please.

Republicans: DHS ‘attempting to conceal information from the American people’ about immigrant welfare policies

Four powerful Republican senators are demanding answers to questions they posited to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in early August regarding the apparent watering down of immigration regulations which prohibit those seeking residency or citizenship from being primarily reliant on welfare, or a public charge.
The Department of Homeland Security missed the Aug. 20 deadline and has yet to respond.

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion on Obama family last year, perks questioned in new book

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks.
In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family.
Author Robert Keith Gray writes in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal” that Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in.
Gray told The Daily Caller that the $1.4 billion spent on

Benghazi terrorists slew, Obama knew

Way to go, White House. Good job, State Department. Eli Lake at the Daily Beast reports:

Within 24 hours of the 9-11 anniversary attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, U.S. intelligence agencies had strong indications al Qaeda–affiliated operatives were behind the attack,

State Dept. switches from lying about Benghazi to lying about having lied about it

You know things are getting bad for the Obama administration when they have to give in and acknowledge consensus reality. NYT:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated for the first time on Wednesday that there was an explicit link between the Qaeda franchise in North Africa and the attack at the American diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans, including the ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens…
“Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions,” Mrs. Clinton told world leaders assembled at the United Nations meeting. “And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi…”
Mrs. Clinton’s remarks appeared to go beyond comments made last week by Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who said intelligence analysts were investigating ties between local Libyan militias and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but had not yet come to any conclusions…
Mr. Olsen said the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex in Benghazi was a “terrorist attack,” the first time the administration had ascribed the attack to terrorists. The next day, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said on Air Force One, “It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.” He added, “Our embassy was attacked violently, and the result was four deaths of American officials.”

“Self-evident.”
Wait. So it wasn’t because of a YouTube video mocking Islam? It wasn’t because of the “slander” of Mohammed, as the Greatest President Ever put it just yesterday?
The wonderful thing about doublethink is that it can be both. Politico reports:

Though he has so far declined to use the word, the White House confirmed that President Obama does believe the attack against four Americans in Libya was an act of terrorism.
“It is the president’s view that it was a terrorist attack,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters en route to Ohio on Wednesday.

Oh, okay. I’m sure that’s a great consolation to the guy they’ve scapegoated, who’s now in hiding for fear of his life. Hey, he should’ve thought about that before he exercised his right to free speech in America, right?
You might be wondering why Obama and Clinton and Carney and the rest of them insisted it wasn’t a terrorist attack, even though they knew it was within 24 hours. Even though it was obvious from the start. Why did they continue to lie about it for two straight weeks?
The answer is simple:
Shut up.

 

IT WAS AL QAEDA: Clinton Suggests Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday suggested there was a link between the Qaeda franchise in North Africa and the attack at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the American ambassador and three others. She was the highest-ranking Obama administration official to publicly make the connection, and her comments intensified what is becoming a fiercely partisan fight over whether the attack could have been prevented.

55 percent of small business owners would not start company today, blame Obama

Fifty-five percent of small business owners and manufacturers would not have started their businesses in today’s economy, according to a new poll that also reports 69 percent say President Obama’s regulatory policies have hurt their businesses.

Don’t Believe the MSM’s Pro-Obama Polls

Don’t you think it’s strange that a new poll from the New York Times and CBS News shows Obama widening his swing state lead in the wake of a full blown foreign policy disaster and 40+ straight months of historically high unemployment? It defies common sense and there’s a reason for that. They’re lying to you.
As John Nolte of Breitbart.com points out, today’s poll leaves out a critical piece of information – they’re relying on unrealistically high Dem turnout, even higher than 2008.
Jim Geraghty of National Review reports the same thing.
 Who do these MSM pollsters think they’re kidding? You.

SNAP: CNN and MSNBC Pundit Arrested for Vandalizing Anti-Muslim Ad In NYC Subway...

The New York Post reported Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy has been arrested for defacing an anti-Muslim ad in the New York subway system. The video shows her spraying pink paint on the ad while a supporter of the ad tries to block her. She's a journalist for censorship.

Eltahawy, a former Reuters correspondent, has been a recent favorite of CNN and MSNBC’s weekend morning shows to discuss Egypt, and she often smears together the Islamist “right wing” and the American right wing, as she did on Melissa Harris-Perry just 11 days ago [video and transcript below]:

BUT THEY'LL DO BETTER WITH THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: Postal Service to File For Second Default in Two Months

But I'm sure they'll do a much better job with 16 percent of the entire economy, i.e., the country's health care system: