Will Obama wreck the U.S. economy just to prove a point?

The fiscal cliff, he's still in campaign mode.  The issue on the table: should tax rates be raised on the rich?  Now while I disagree with that position I would also say it's not an invalid position to take but should Obama dig in and pursue it at all costs even if it means the country heading into another recession?  That's the definition of an ideologue, maybe even a socialist.  My point: take your point as far as it will go, put it away for now if you have to and revisit it another day.  Obama is framing the solving our debt/deficit narrative as the public vs. the wealthy, raising taxes on those making over $250,000/yr. in order to spare the middle-class.  He says his reelection was a public mandate to do just this and maybe he's right but I daresay most presidents would vastly prefer to compromise a little on their own principles instead of throwing the country into an economic tailspin.  Why such intransigence?  Even if you're a liberal how can you not be frightened by this? and then let's say come Jan. 1 the nation falls right over the fiscal cliff and then Obama will ultimately blame the rich and pursue the class-warfare right through his second term.  My take, he's not so much a leader as somebody with some issues.  Mr. Obama, a professional angry person. 

A kind of an afterthought on the Petraeus scandal

It kind of bothers me that the FBI spent so much time on this.  Yeah that FBI the one that is supposed to fight crime and domestic terror.  It'd be like Batman going after the Mayor's mistress instead of doing battle with the Joker.  Some women simply like men in uniform, think Cop Sex.   I think the interesting thing with Obama is that his right-wing enemies and they are legion can't even seem to approach the merest whiff of an aroma of a sex scandal and don't think they haven't been trying.  I think Obama has deliberately lived his life according to those porn disclaimers re safe sex - "we highly recommend the Surgeon General's accepted guidelines of monogamy and/or abstinence or at a minimum..."  Bill Clinton being warm-blooded got caught up in Monicagate but I think Obama being so intellectual is beyond even this and knows well the practical importance of living a chaste life the better to push through liberalism without the usual distractions.  Since time immemorial women have destroyed powerful men and all their medals and honors and accolades go out the window.  Oh I know I wasn't gonna do a Petraeus blog but I somehow feel less safe with the FBI devoting such massive amounts of manpower to basically a noncrime, I mean was a law broken? but then again it's something J. Edgar Hoover would have done:)

The GOP & the Susan Rice Affair, a funny way to go after Obama's demographics

Ninety-seven GOP House members have sent a letter to the White House basically saying UN Ambassador Susan Rice shouldn't even be considered for the Sec'y of State slot now that Hillary is leaving.  This is only a symbolic vote of course as the real action takes place in the Senate but it does carry some weight.  Now conservatives in general are opposed to Obama who happens to be black.  They're not opposed to him because he's black but because he is an unreconstructed liberal but the perception still floats out there.  Now they seem just as opposed to Susan Rice's nomination and she happens to be an African-American.  This is......awkward.  Senators John McCain from AZ and Lindsey Graham of SC are leading the charge against her in the Senate.  Saw Graham recently on Meet the Press and I didn't like the way he came across.  Ya got the Southern twang going and he's against another high-ranking black, I'm just sayin' (mental image of Graham humping Ned Beatty, McCain on the banjo).  You know when you're the passenger in a car with someone, you're not even driving but you feel your whole body tense up and become stiff throughout the whole ride?  I'm finding myself cringing here and as a practical matter it might be smart to drop the whole Susan Rice thing.  Yeah I know she repeated those Benghazi talking points on all the Sunday morning talk shows but she was obviously speaking on behalf of the President and I kinda agree here to be honest that they need to take it up with him instead if there's a problem and there is.  They don't like Eric Holder either and he's of color and I think they have a strong case with Fast and Furious and some other business but the Stupid Party really needs to start thinking of the racial scorecard here.  Go all out on Susan Rice and see how it comes back to haunt you come 2016 - happy demograpics.  Benghazi is already beclouding Obama's second term here, the sequel ain't going well but I'm just wonderin' what the strategy wonks in the GOP are thinking. 

Chris Christie in 2016 - that's so not gonna happen

Word on the street is many Republican activists were not happy with NJ Governor Chris Christie's bromance with President Obama in the wake of Sandy.  He lavished praise on Obama and seemed to forget who he was campaigning for and I think the storm and the media coverage definitely gave Obama the edge, to frighten you into the loving arms of government, Obama is better on climate change, what have you.  Now Christie's taken Romney to task for some post-election comments of his having to do with maybe Obama having won the election by promising gifts to certain groups of people.  That's really not that far off the mark and it really won't help the GOP in the long run by becoming so politically correct, might piss off the base but for Christie it wasn't an inclusive and loving enough message, not broad-based enough and Christie seems to be validating Obama's ad-claims about Romney during the campaign.  With friends like this...It's clear the GOP has been shaken and wants to refurbish its image and message as being more inclusive, tolerant and broad and I think here is the faintest whiff of Christie wants to make a run.  Look he can give a gay man an anal massage on national TV and he'll still lose and then the collective conservative introspection will begin all over again.  In fact the bulk of conservative post-election analysis when they lose is perfectly worthless and the endless cycle of angst/analysis becomes annoying after awhile.  Meanwhile Obamanomics continues to crunch out the crappy numbers......

Kind of a thought

Radio host Alex Jones has called on Ron Paul to head a new secessionist movement in America.  Has Florida decided its 29 electoral votes yet?  What's up with this rogue peninsula?  I'd rather them go than Texas.  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says there's no right to secede, dunno why it's right there in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.  Of course if states start seceding Obama could probably just as easily pick up a few new ones like Puerto Rico, Cuba eventually after Fidel croaks?  Also to consider if your newly seceded state gets walloped by a major storm there will be no FEMA around or maybe that's a good thing.  Does all this have something to do with organic beeswax? 

Obamanomics - increasing the underemployed

This from Drudge - Denny's to charge a 5% surcharge to their customers and to cut worker hours to cover the increased cost-of-doing-business under Obamacare which come 2014 will be fully implemented.  Other companies are probably gonna follow suit and I hope BB considers this the next time he sits down to enjoy his Egg McMuffin and hash brown and morning paper.   Part-timers, the new norm.  Maybe Burger King can offer giant John Roberts soda cups as a thank you.

Conservative post-election analysis

Now we get into the sheer entertainment spectacle of conservative cannibalism and zombie apocalypse, now they're working on Romney's leg.  The problem was outsourcing as if Made in Indonesia just happened yesterday, no but maybe Romney should have been from the Midwest instead of the Northeast.  Romney didn't reach across the cultural aisle to shake hands with Hispanics the fastest growing demographic in the country but if memory serves they were on prominent display at the RNC along with many prominent Republican women.  Other conservatives want Republicans to start killing fetuses and joyfully pass out Rear Entry silicon-based lubes to gay couples and maybe smoke a couple of doobies too while they're at it you unhip out-of-touch crowd.  Here's a thought though, what if Romney did nothing wrong? what if the country is simply more liberal or wishy-washy or whatever?  What if some people are simply stuck in some form of economic masochism, you know some young guy out of a job for quite some time now but who has simply gotten used to the Routine of sleeping in every day and then circle-jerking to the Price Is Right models and he can go out and buy at least the cheaper gas station porn with his government handout when the old stuff isn't fresh anymore?  HOW do you appeal to a populace in constant moral/social flux anyway who know more about the Kardashians than the national debt and deficit or Benghazi?  I think Mitt Romney was a strong candidate, strong enough in a bad economy to win and certainly stronger than McCain was so in 2016 what'll happen is maybe they'll throw up a Marco Rubio or a Chris Christie or put them in tandem somehow and when they lose too the conservative post-election analysis/post-mortem will begin all over again with ever fresh and creative deconstruction.  Obama got a strong storm bounce of that there is no doubt and I think Chris Matthews (free speech again) hit upon the truth here.  You know it's funny about Obama he seems to court every possible voting bloc except the white male vote and I totally agree with Bob Woodward who said on the last episode of Meet the Press that Obama has to start having a much broader message beyond his core constituencies.  You want Romney to go out and escort a woman to the nearest abortion clinic or offer his and Ann's bed for a gay romp while they go out shopping at Target? well if you think it'll help but I have to laugh over here in Westchester County practically every Democrat candidate for every conceivable office including dogcatcher touted I AM PRO-CHOICE and my brother goes most people don't care about that at least not right now, where are the JOBS?  One last thought, if the conservative pundits know what's best why don't they run?

I wonder what Glenn Beck would say about this

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to put some displaced victims of Tropical Storm Sandy in jail.  To me it's creepy and I haven't even read any conspiratorial material about the storm yet.  President Obama will visit NYC sometime next Thursday to see how relief efforts are coming along (why not Monday, Tuesday at the latest?).  Bloomberg you'll remember suddenly endorsed him very late in the game because he feels he can somehow apparently avert hurricanes and heal the Planet.  Nor have I read any religious/apocalyptic interpretations, theological offerings of these latest extreme weather events.  Where is the Rev. Pat Robertson when you need him?  Elected officials like to blame the utility companies but it's high past time the public held elected officials accountable Cuomo in particular.  To those of you with an overconfident faith in Big Government and you know who you are consider some of these massive gas lines almost two weeks after the storm.  I was saddened but not surprised to hear that newly minted President Obama is still railing against the Rich (defined as those individuals/family entities making over $250,000/yr.) and wants to stick it to them so we don't go over the fastly approaching fiscal cliff and if you don't agree with him you're not a compromiser.  You'd think a reelection that you may not have fully deserved or earned would be a humbling experience and you would have learned a few things along the way and maybe decide to change course a little over the next term.  I was pondering this thought the other day -- which is worse over the long haul catastrophic damage from the latest weird weather event from Mother Nature or our long-range debt/deficit? now that the msm has amply covered the former how 'bout the latter?  Have at it as you will:)

Rocky Mountain High

The State of Colorado went ahead and legalized recreational use of marijuana.  Not medicinal just across-the-board.  Might increase ski tourism among the OWS set but what are your thoughts?

The new norm

Conservatives sound positively suicidal.  Listening to Rush on the way home after Election Day and he said it doesn't jibe.  Ann Coulter said if we can't win with Romney in a bad economy we've reached a tipping point.  Conservatives in general have the ominous foreboding they're somehow outnumbered but Z-man has spotted a political trend of late and it goes both ways.  Bill Clinton was a two-termer, so was George W. Bush and now Obama.  I think the populace at large now sticks with the same leader for reasons of political and social stability, at least we know who he is.  This also helps on the foreign stage, doesn't confuse world leaders and a foreign policy gets a chance to work itself out and while I didn't agree with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on everything I'd much prefer him over the socialist Hollande.  So basically I think the new norm may be Americans want a president to finish the job whatever that job is and if he doesn't put a positive end to it all he'll get his just and deserved blot in History.  Kinda tolerant and fuzzy but I ain't that way.  If the economy doesn't improve however those hordes who voted for Obama have no right to complain and  I like to reserve that right and so I voted for Romney/Ryan of course.  It wasn't a good day for the GOP in general and for those of you who like to say the GOP needs to become more moderate on the social issues in order to win I have one thing to say: Linda McMahon.  Fiscally conservative and socially moderate as they say she looked good on paper and put together some very professional ads for the Senate slot in CT against Chris Murphy.  In fact if you didn't know any better you'd think she was the incumbent and she also spent a hell of alot of money or so I heard.  Wasn't even close and I don't think professional wrestling had anything to do with it.  Did it ruin my day? no, I just went off to work and did my usual, didn't get into the whole Rush/Coulter mindset.  There was alot of talk among the pundits on Tuesday night and the day after about the country's changing demographics and how they helped Obama and the Democrats, more Latinos and less whites say although if I were a Democrat and heard some chucklehead at one of the media roundtables say the less religious are somehow more inclined to vote Democratic I'd be offended.  You talk about your Tea Party and OWS movements but be on the lookout for perhaps the next big trend/movement, the movement to get rid of the Electoral College.  Where do I sign up?  Oh I know the framers put it there and I think the original rationale may have been to provide some kind of counterbalance to the natural stupidity of the American public but I was never a fan of the EC even when I was a kid and this movement can definitely be bipartisan, after all the case can be made that Al Gore should at least have been a one-term president.  I mean why not just let the six battleground states so-called vote for the President and the rest of us can just take the night off?  First president to win re-election with a jobless rate over 7.2%, the new normal:)