Obama's Poll Numbers Tanking Hard

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of negative five (–5%).

The number who strongly disapprove inched up another point to the highest level measured to date and the overall Approval Index is at the lowest level yet for Obama-

What Can We Gain From Russia, Anyway?

In the 1980's, Reagan actually toyed with the Russians in talks at Geneva and Reykjavik. The Kremlin at the time badly needed a deal to save the entire communist economic system -Gorbachev's #1 objective- and this had to include the cancellation of the US missile defense program, a technology the Soviets lacked the resources to compete with.

But Reagan knew it, and wasn't really interested in helping them save their dictatorship, nor in giving up his SDI plans- the aim was nothing less than freedom and democracy for Russia and all of eastern Europe, not just Glastnost and Perestoika. So The Gipper waited until 1987 -a full two years after his first Swiss summit with Gorbachev- before signing the INF treaty.

Today we have Barack Obama -who's in need of a foreign-policy victory- openly pandering for a missile deal as the START treaty expires... it's hard to imagine him bringing home anything of value from Russia now. Sadly for us, it appears that Obama's poker skills are in the same league with his bowling and girly-style baseball throw. And Russia recieved much of what it wants before Obama even landed, so how would anybody expect Barack to gain any advantage? Meanwhile, the Kremlin has failed even to comply with the terms of the truce signed with Georgia last year- continuing to do pretty much as it pleases.

At this summit in Moscow, Obama is to announce the restoration of bilateral military relations with Russia, as well as of the NATO-Russian Council. And to please the Kremlin, Obama has now put on hold plans for the deployment of American missile defenses on Polish and Czech soil. In a letter to Medvedev earlier this year, Mr. Obama floated the idea of cancelling those deals entirely if Russia can prod Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. The Russian's response was dismiss this out of hand, but they now know the installations are negotiable.

When a superpower like the United States faces the world with an insecure foreign-policy posture, you can really get taken to the cleaners in trying to convince certain people to like you. The Kremlin leaders Obama is rushing-into-the-arms-of now are in reality zero-sum, mostly ex-KGB thugs who are out to settle a few scores with the west; this crew can smell weakness, and will be taking advantage of any on the US side to the fullest. Wouldn't it be fascinating to read the Russian intelligence files on Barack and Hill's personality flaws... and how best to exploit them?

And as to set the tone, as Obama landed in Moscow thousands of Russian troops were involved in the biggest war games in the south Caucasus since the end of the Cold War... menacing the small, independent nation of Georgia yet again. President Saakashvili remains a thorn-in-the side survivor, resistant to Russian hegemony in what the Kremlin sees as its near abroad. A pro-Kremlin regime in Georgia would give Moscow the control it desires over energy routes through the Caucasus... and influence over independent-minded Azerbaijan and Armenia, too. But as Barack smiles and glad-hands Kremlin leaders, it's like the brutal war in Georgia never happened. The Russians have paid no real price whatsoever for their expansionist adventure there- and therefore would do the same thing again in a minute.

It's hard to imagine just what Barack Obama expects to gain for America by rushing over to Moscow like this- as with Iran, he's allying the US with unsavory, anti-democratic regimes for little benefit, while abandoning those who aspire to traditional American ideals of free elections, free press, free enterprise, and rule of law in Russia and the CIS.

And he might be betting on the wrong horse yet again- the evolving reality in Russia today is that Vladimir Putin is on the political ropes-

As reported in American Thinker:

A few weeks ago, a massive protest by unpaid aluminum industry workers in the town of Pikalyovo, outside of St. Petersburg, snarled traffic for more than a hundred miles on a major interstate roadway. Putin was forced to make an emergency visit to the town and put up significant government funds to assure payment of wages.

Nearly a quarter of Russia's population lives in "monotowns" like Pikalyovo, which depend entirely on a single industry for subsistence. Russia can't afford this kind of largesse everywhere, and economists were openly worrying whether the gesture in Pikalyovo could place the country on the road to ruin.

Putin's assumed plans of cruising right back into the presidency in a couple years are suddenly looking shaky; the collapse of the Russian stock market and the ruble have dented support, and it's not possible to blame it all on Medvedev- everyone knows where the real power lies. Like Gorbachev, Putin needs an arms deal to save his economic model -a brand of dictatorial crony capitalism- so Barack Obama would be well-advised to not let him have it.

The new missile deals Obama has made a priority seem to be of little value to US interests- few expect Russia to ever seriously face off with the US or NATO, let-alone with nuclear weapons. But any substantial nuclear arms deal with Moscow certainly frees them up to focus on far more useful endeavors, such as modernized conventional forces that could wipe the floor with Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, or Poland. More special forces and US-type weapons, communications, transport, and training is something Putin could actually put to good use... unlike 2000 ICBMs sitting in silohs.

Russia has little to offer the United States in any negotiations- and they have almost no influence on America's foreign policy. It would be difficult for the US to purchase gas without the necessary LNG infrastructure in place. Russia's state-dominated oil industry is a chronic underacheiver, and government property grabs discourage western oil tech firms from providing the needed development. Add to that the Kremlin's use of energy as a diplomatic truncheon and oil deals simply look better elsewhere. Moscow's industrial backwardness and continuing Wild East legal environment brought them a pitiful $36B in trade with the United States last year- much of that likely Stolichnaya, not notoriously shoddy Russian manufactured goods.

However, there are few things we would value coming from Russia- like maybe a halt to their calculated and opportunistic attacks upon US power and influence, i.e.- bad mouthing the dollar/calling for a world currency, selling high-tech weapons and nuclear know-how to our enemies/terrorist sponsors such Tehran, Damascus, Caracas, and Pyongyang, as well as nabbing that US/Kyrgizstan air base from right under Obama's nose... just to make a point. But it's difficult to address these issues when Obama appears to not be interested in any such unpleasantries while chatting with Vlad and Dmitri.

The prototypical narcissist Obama is primarily after power and fame- and at any cost. In practice this means looking for a headline weapons-control deal that props-up his man of peace schtick while allowing him to eliminate F-22 production, cancel needed missile defense programs, and perhaps even cut military aid for traditional American allies, and all in order to fund his expensive domestic programs and entrench the Democratic party politically.

Obama long-ago bet his whole foreign policy platform on appeasement and legitimizing dubious regimes, and has nowhere else to run... it's hard for him to now support America's traditional freedom agenda when he's already on the record abandoning it. Thus his kid-gloves treatment re. issues like Russia's bullying of Georgia and Obama's shameful acquiescence to the brutality deployed in Tehran last month.

We have a president who's more focused on his personal and far-left domestic political agendas than on what's in the long-term, common-sense strategic interest of the United States- at best, a warped world view. Today's Russia is nothing to be afraid of, either- really just a Saudi Arabia with trees. Russia is a deeply dysfunctional society who's industry, political culture, and rule-of-law all remain seriously underdeveloped. They've got oil, though- and pride themselves in punching-above-their-weight. What our president doesn't seem to realize is that the Russians are -as is so often their practice- bluffing... as they are dealing from a position of comprehensive weakness.

But the cynical Kremlin surely doesn't take Obama seriously at all, instead they purely see an opportunity for comprehensive strategic and diplomatic gains at America's and NATO's expense. The reality is that Russia has nothing to offer the US- so as Barack heads over there to flatter them and give away our strategic advantage, perhaps we should ask for what?

And the worst is yet to come. In 1978 Jimmy Carter met with Soviet Premier Brezhnev, extending his hand in friendship much as Obama is doing in Russia today. After seeing what kind of a zero they were dealing with firsthand, the Soviet Union promptly invaded Afghanistan- in direct violation of promises made to Carter in Moscow six months earlier.

It is hard to imagine today's Kremlin being cowed or intimidated after meeting with a smiley plastic mannequin like Obama, putting his arm around them and schmoozing all the time- they know he's not going to do anything.

Next year it's Yes We Can invade Ukraine... and what are you going to do about it?

UPDATE: Obama reaches all-time low of -3% differential rating in Rasmussen's latest -here-

Clintons Plotting Their Comeback on Obamamania's Ashes?

While many Obama supporters where still delirious in the fresh afterglow of Barack Obama's "historic" election victory, a strange thing happened last December- he appointed his critical, often hostile, and recently defeated primary opponent Hillary Clinton to the head the State Department.

Was it based upon her qualifications?

What qualifications?- Clinton had no foreign policy experience to speak of. Other presidents lacking diplomantic exposure have brought someone who has such a background to the State Department--- but he didn't feel the need, for some reason. Perhaps the most unsettling concern is that Hillary's judgement is warped by her blinding ambition to gain power and control- causing her to be manipulative in her dealings with others.

So maybe it was their friendship? Deep interpersonal respect? LOL, not exactly...

In addition to other puzzling cabinet choices that starkly contrasted Obama's Hope-n-Change theme -old-guard party aparatchiks like Joe Biden and other primary challengers like Bill Richardson- the only explanation would be fulfilling political deals that got him elected... as well as the calculated co-opting of Democratic rivals that could pose a challenge in 2012 when The One's numbers are in the toilet. When you're talking about a guy like Obama who had all three other Democratic Party challengers thrown off the ballot in his very first Illinois State Senate race... a man who displays a history of shocking and ruthless political opportunism... the deduction seems obvious.

The appointment of Hillary to State was likely a political bargain struck at the convention- Obama wasn't about to let qualifications or ethical considerations get in the way of such a win-win deal. And Barack takes care of Barack- so given the opportunity, it was a priority to control and contain Hillary, Richardson... even Biden. And if he hadn't suffered a most inopportune bimbo-eruption, elaborately-coiffed leftist Ken-doll John Edwards would have been appointed to a substantial position in the Obama Administration too... he was certainly angling for it.

But the Clintons were -and still are- the #1 potential Democratic threat to an Obama-world future. Obama knows his radical domestic transformation foisted upon an economically shellshocked American public in a desperate "do something" mood all but ensures that his popularity won't remain stable for long... particularly when the print-money spending creates 1970's style stagflation with continued unemployment. Obama's plan is to ram his entire liberal domestic program down our throats as quickly and quietly as possible- while putting a lid on other potential power centers like the Clinton machine and keeping the GOP back on their heels with the help of his MSM allies.

However, the Voice in my Head blog reports that in the wake of the mild rift between Biden/Hillary and Obama re. support of Iran's demonstrators, it now appears as though Hillary and perhaps some of the old guard are hedging their bets... so as to stake a claim on told ya so credits when Obama goes into his inevitable political tailspin:

Last week, the New York Times dropped this tibit about the Obama administration's response to the protests in Iran:

Even while supporting the president’s approach, senior members of the administration, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, would like to strike a stronger tone in support of the protesters, administration officials said.

To that point, criticism of President Obama was mostly confined to Republicans and conservative leaning blogs. And while that story raised more than a few eyebrows, it was quickly dismissed by the White House.

However, since that time President Obama has begun to move away from his early hesitation in speaking out against the thuggish regime and for the protesters as reportedly advocated by both Biden and Clinton.

But even with this new approach, new evidence has emerged that Biden and Clinton may have themselves moved further toward the view that Obama is simply not up to the task.

So with Obama's poll numbers now slipping - the negatives are dragging him down- the Clintons' timing here in bringing-in such a loyal Clintonite Rottweiler like Sidney Blumenthal (who coined the phrase "vast, right-wing conspiracy") as consultant to Hillary is... let's just say they know what they're doing (as noted by Dan Riehl). And a betting man would keep an eye on them, for Clinton will be pro-actively planning her future with or without Obama- she's a canary in the coal mine that indicates top-level Democrats'/Clintonites' confidence in his leadership.

It shouldn't surprise anyone then if Hillary Clinton were to do a Bobby Kennedy, should it? RFK was Johnson's Attorney General -inherited from JFK- and when President Johnson's popularity started to slip, Kennedy turned on him and ran for President against him in the 1968 primaries. Anyone telling you today that the Democrats wouldn't run a serious primary challenge against Obama in 2012 -which I have heard and read often- plainly doesn't know what they are talking about.

Some time in the next 2 years, Clinton would simply resign as Secretary of State -saying that she can no longer support Obama, of course- and then run for President in 2012, perhaps presenting herself as the best (moderate) hope against Sarah Palin's appeal as a potential first female president.

You can never really count the Clintons out... and they've almost certainly schemed and brewed up a post-Obama "plan B" as The One employs politically high-risk policies at home and abroad... why wouldn't they? There's no real loyalty there, everybody knows that.

And although they are careful to say the right things these days, the pramatic, insatiably power-hungry Clintons must have all the bases covered, and are surely watching his ill-advised programs unfold like a gift from heaven as they wait for the exact right moment to expoit his mistakes. It would be hard to imagine Bill-n-Hill not holding a grudge too, desirous of revenge after the denial of a presidency they thought they owned, and of course all the things that were said by both sides in the primaries.

Hillary ain't going down with the USS Obamanation, bet on it- serving Chairman O to the bitter end is not the way the Clintons plan to end their legacy. And as for other Democrats who were caught surprised by the meteoric rise of Obama, then just went with the flow-- there's a lot of shallow support out there that could evaporate as quickly as it appeared. The arrogant serial-opportunist Obama seems destined to offend much of the party's old guard, as well as anyone else that he used to get elected... but now no longer finds useful.

The way he's burning through the unprecedented goodwill he's enjoyed is beyond me- a compulsive narcissistic personality disorder, coupled to a megalomaniac's warped sense of self-awareness has become the only apparent explanation. That, and he's incredibly spoiled after having the rails lubricated by a crooked Chicago Machine and adoring DNC for years... Obama simply doesn't seem to realize how quickly it can all disappear- he obviously believes his own mythical narrative... ala Elvis.

But Barack Obama's personality flaws and misguided decision-making are the kinds of things that political opponents tend to take notice -and full advantage- of.

You can be sure that the Clintons have- and are planning accordingly.

Palin Rocks on Fox

If you caught Hannity's interview with Governor Sarah Palin last night, it's not too hard to see why the left have put so much effort into trying to destroy her.  Not only does Palin make a world of sense,  but -like Dick Cheney- she clearly believes that now is the time to stand-up unabashedly for bedrock Republican principles.  Judging by her chipper self-confidence and charming demeanor, if the leftist MSM and DNC did any damage to Palin's morale over the last 12 mos-- it's surely not showing. 

Sarah Palin foresees conservative Reaganite policies as being the nation's desired antidote in 2012 to Obama's socialist re-make of the United States- as the country will soon be painfully aware of how The One's radical agenda has taken America to the edge of the abyss.

Palin's unshakable belief in what made this country great in the first place -coupled with common-sense arguments against the agenda of today's White House- are precisely what Obama and the DNC don't want you to hear.  They'd prefer to lull you into complacency with specious and vacuous Obama rhetoric that is the political equivalent of the Muzak that they pipe into your dentist's office- and for the same reason, to take your mind off of what's going-on.

HANNITY: What do you make of – look at the state of the economy now...

PALIN: Well, when you consider that the federal government is about eleven trillion dollars in debt, and we’re borrowing more to spend more.. it defies any sensible economic policy that any of us ever learned through college. It defies economy practices and principles that tell ya ‘you gotta quit digging that hole when you are in that financial hole’

Palin continues:

"America is digging a deeper hole and how are we paying for this government largesse. We’re borrowing. We’re borrowing from China and we consider that now we own sixty percent of GENERAL MOTORS – or the U.S. government does… But who is the U.S. government becoming more indebted to? It’s China. So that leads you to have to ask who is really going to own our car industry than in America."

HANNITY: You know but it goes back - It does go back a little to the campaign. I mean, ‘spread the wealth, patriotic duty…’

PALIN: Kind of a ‘we told ya so’.

HANNITY: Well, is that how you feel?

PALIN: That’s how I feel! I feel like… and I think that more and more constituents are going to open their eyes now and open their ears to hear what is really going on and realize ok… Maybe we didn’t have a good way of expressing that, or articulating that message of ‘here is what America could potentially become if we grow government to such a degree that we cannot pay for it and we have to borrow money from other countries, some countries that don’t necessarily like America.

And this many months into the new administration, quite disappointed, quite frustrated with not seeing those actions to rein in spending, slow down the growth of government. Instead Sean it is the complete opposite. It’s expanding at such a large degree that if Americans aren’t paying attention, unfortunately our country could evolve into something that we do not even recognize.

HANNITY: Socialism?

PALIN: Well, that is where we are headed. That is where we have to be blunt enough and candid enough and honest enough with Americans to let them know that if we keep going down these roads… nationalizing many of our services, our projects, our businesses, yes that is where we would head. And that is why Americans have to be paying attention. And we have to have our voices heard. And ultimately it need to be our will, the American people’s will imposed on Washington, instead of the other way around.  

(Transcript- Drudge Report)

Biden is a Dangerous Fool

Although he may have taken Biden aboard as VP in some deal with the DNC, it appears that the opportunistic Obama at least initially had no problem with it- insecure narcissists like and need to be surrounded by fake suck-ups.  The ever-calculating Obama also likely sensed that such an appointment increased his job security... since the nation would cringe at the surreal thought of a gaffe-prone and confused President Joe replacing him.

He was presented to us last year as a seasoned asset for a future Obama Administration, yet the sad fact is that Biden has been consistently on the wrong side of history over the last 30 years... so his DNC-vaunted foreign policy “experience” has little value… this partisan hack doesn’t appear to have learned a thing.

Like Obama, he vehemently opposed the highly-successful Iraq Surge strategy- instead, Biden favored what amounted to surrender, and came-up with a harebrained proposal to split the country 3-ways.  In 2006 he was still calling the Surge "a tragic mistake".  What is clear is that if the Obama Administration were in-charge 4 years ago, Iraq today would be an Al Qaida Caliphate that makes 2001 Kabul look like Disneyland.

In the 1980s, alleged foreign-policy expert Biden opposed every element of Reagan’s defense buildup that peacefully toppled the USSR as “dangerous”- in particular, the vital Pershing II missles to match the Soviets' in Europe.  The Delaware Senator later voted against the first Gulf War in 1991, which would have allowed Saddam to keep Kuwait and control a large chunk of the world’s oil supplies. 

In the 1987 presidential primaries, he not only had plagiarized British Labour leader Neil Kinnock’s speeches wholesale… but actually adopted his entire life story(!), falsely claiming to have been the “first in his family to go to college” and a “coal-miner’s son”.  Back in reality, Biden’s father was a car salesman (no surprise there, Biden looks like the sales manager at a Buick dealer).

And when it comes to gaffes, Biden says incredible things that Sarah Palin would have surely been pilloried mercilessly for... while Joe gets yet another mulligan from the O-bots of the MSM. Typical was how the Biden schooled us all in the presidential campaign last fall regarding how FDR came on television in 1929 to discuss the Depression, as he suggested President Bush should have done-  But unfortunately, 1929 was a year in which there was no President Roosevelt... no Depression... and no television.  

At the height of uncertainty regarding the unfolding financial crisis earlier this year -when the nation was yearning for a confident voice from this new administration- Biden said on camera that the economy was "in danger of really tanking".   Was Obama using him to stir panic in order to pass his reckless stimulus spending package?  Then when met with an uproar, it's "oh, that's just Joe" again?  I wouldn't put it past him-

Inexplicably, Biden is allowed racist slurs, too-  like when he called Obama in the early primaries the first "clean" black politician who "speaks well" to run for president... before he went-on to state that Obama was unqualified.  Biden also said something about not being able to go into a 7-11 convenience store "without an Indian accent"..... and like his boss, Biden finds it appropriate to mock the disabled in public for a few chuckles.

He delivered a nonsensical tirade on Dick Cheney's alleged abuse of power and violation of The Constitution while betraying a shocking, comprehensive ignorance of the Articles himself.  This supposed foreign-policy guru has claimed that we  "kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon" somehow- which of course never happened. And he warned us a few months back that the new president would be "tested" by foreign adversaries, and that we should "gird our loins" for the Obama presidency... huh?.

Some of Biden's most grevious howlers were compiled (below) by the McCain campaign last year.  While Biden's oafishness is often a convenient excuse for this administration, many of these statements appear to be calculated, politically useful prevarication- as it's hard to believe he's actually this ignorant and/or loose with the facts:

1. TAX VOTE:  

Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: 

Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: 

Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: 

Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: 

Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: 

According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: 

Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: 

Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: 

Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: 

Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: 

When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: 

Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: 

Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: 

Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

Joey Plugs is a reckless clown who often says things that betray a major disconnect with reality– and it's not easy to shut him up.  Truly this was a ridiculous choice for Vice-President of the United States, where a few loose words can start wars or crash markets- but like most of Obama's picks, was made for the opportunist's own political security, above all.  As with the appointments of potential 2012 rivals Hillary and Bill Richardson -or obedient partisan toadies like Napolitano- the nation's interests don't weigh very heavy in this president's descision-making process, to say the least.  And Biden was no exception.

Now that we're all stuck with him for awhile, best chain this national embarrassment to a teleprompter every time he heads out the door- before he causes us some real trouble.

Yes-We-Can Internet Op Morphs Into Orwellian Thought-Control

What was accomplished by Team Obama in last fall's presidential campaign regarding the Internet has been widely considered to be historic- changing the way that political campaigns are organized, strategized,  financed, and implemented.   


Julius Genachowski -who worked on the Harvard Law Review with Obama- is the high-tech entrepreneur behind the use of  technology in the presidential campaign. He is the one that convinced Obama that the Web had powerful implications for his ideas about "empowerment" and connecting people. 

But Obama's 2008 campaign has never ended- it's now employed to to push-through massive spending programs and other initiatives, as well as keep real (and perceived) enemies back-on-their-heels.   Barack is still out there on the stump, on YouTube, in tightly scripted-and-'Prompted pressers... with continuing grassroots door-to-door operations and TV ads funded by the DNC. Of course, Team Obama web-based efforts continue as a high priority... and this seems to include a comprehensive and organized effort to control political discourse on the Internet-with a disciplined message and Obamamania cheerleading, coupled with Alinsky-style attacks and diversions when useful.  

According to Politico, "Obama for America, the fundraising juggernaut that powered Obama's ascent to the presidency, spent nearly $9.5 million in the first three months of this year", including on telemarketing and print and online advertising, event staging, money for the DNC, the Obama political group Organizing for America, and the Obama family. The report also shows that Obama for America contributed $4 million to the DNC.  Organizing for America is funded by the DNC... and operates Obama's continuing effort on the web.

Vladimir Lenin had said of the cutting-edge media of his day: "Of all the arts, for us (communists), the cinema is most important."  The Bolshevik was clearly not referring to artistic or cultural value of the film industry; rather, cinema's usefulness as a medium for propaganda and tool of agitation.  


Today's equivalent -the Internet- is more far-reaching, wide-ranging, powerful, and effective than Vlad ever dreamed of.  But it's also harder to control-  thus the unprecedented efforts we are seeing from Team Obama to both utilize and contain it.

And the Democrats appear to have all avenues covered:  far-left to moderate, as well as more innocuous Hope-n-Changey blogs supporting the President; systematic trolling on blogs' comments sections; manipulating political message boards; mass-rating of news items on aggregators such as Digg, etc.  Team Obama also installed tracking-cookies on the computers of those visiting the Obama '08 website to track their online history for use in a DNC data base.

And anyone reading message boards these days -such as Politico, Topix, or Yahoo!- can see what appears to be organized Obama-ites jumping on fresh conversation threads thoroughly and promptly, gaming the ratings-system with multiple IDs (I once had a message on Yahoo! rated over 100 times- curiously, with zero written responses)- as well as attempting any other imaginable manipulation perceived to be to their propaganda advantage.  Sometimes, the goal seems simply to clog the board with so many new posts and topics as to render conservative messages unreadable.

There are taunting statements and personal attacks on what they call the "cons"- burying their posts in gobbledygook.  Steer the topic.  Change the subject.  Deflect and divert. And they're at it all day long- in a comprehensive and systematic way.  It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there are organized trolls attempting to hijack and control all internet debate, all to maintain momentum for The One as he rams-through an ultra-liberal agenda while also focused on 2010... and 2012.

Using ID's as "Little Bam" and "USA_4_Obama", you see them on there spinning every reality like the Tasmanian Devil...  i.e.- the New Deal was just great (but perhaps not big enough), everybody loves Barack, all his opponents are retrograde racist/anti-progressives in the "Party of No"... or are somehow allied with the evil and greedy "rich".  

They interestingly stick tightly to DNC talking-points ala JournoList regarding Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, anything to trash Palin, Jindal... even shameful slander of Ronald Reagan's legacy, all in an obvious effort to distort the truth and destroy any potential GOP rallying-points for 2010/2012.  They seem to be working off the same list of accusations, targets, and historical revisionism as the White House and their media allies- as they display precious little variance that would indicate free-thinking, good faith discourse.   

And it's not difficult to see why the Democrats might prefer to banter playfully about made-up GOP "scandals" and irrelevancies like Meghan McCain's latest drivel than debate Obama's ongoing destruction of the country.  When most of his domestic and foreign policies are a carbon copy of serial-failure Jimmy Carter's, and there's no other historical prededent to suggest potential for success -and when today's Republicans demand proven solutions- might as well just attack them personally, or employ some diversion, eh? 

Breitbart.com actually polices nonpartisan newswire stories for such obviously coordinated attacks. According to Andrew Breitbart "Much of Mr. Obama’s vaunted online strategy involved utilizing “Internet trolls” to invade enemy lines under false names and trying to derail discussion.  In the real world, that’s called “vandalism.” But in a political movement that embraces “graffiti” as avant-garde art , that’s business as usual. It relishes the ability to destroy other people’s property in pursuit of electoral victory."  Other right-leaning sites such as Instapundit and Nadtional Review Online even refuse to allow comments, so as to not provide a platform for the mischievious activist left. 

Sadly, similar efforts from the Democrats have been with us for some time, and in various forms. During the Clinton impeachment scandal, a then-new leftist group out of California called MoveOn.org employed a plan to get its members to dial into right-leaning talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh with scripted talking points falsely claiming that they were Republicans. They then feigned revulsion and said they "would never vote for the GOP again if the case against Bill Clinton was pursued."  The same MoveOn.org is, of course, today in the vanguard of the web's leftist-activists.

"This is nothing more than the Internet version of Soviet disinformation," Human Events editor Jed Babbin told Brietbart. "MoveOn.org and the little boys from Lord of the Flies who run Media Matters want to make it appear that there's huge dissension within conservative ranks on issues on which we're most united."  

Breitbart continued:  "The right, for the most part, embraces basic Judeo-Christian ideals and would not promote nor defend the propaganda techniques that were perfected in godless communist and socialist regimes. The Huffington Post, Daily Kos and other left-leaning sites benefit from the right's belief that there are rules and decorum in political debate and civic engagement. Of course, every now and then, a curious right-winger will go in and engage in discussion at a left-wing site, but rarely under purely disingenuous and mass coordinated means."

I myself have received numerous hostile messages that ring similar and hollow on this blog, the Reaganite Republican Resistance- and I moderate them for that reason:  it's not the specious taunting, but there's a transparent focus and agenda.  This includes repeated messages by the same two or three of the same people attacking the GOP, Reagan, or myself; kindly reminding me that "Ronnie is dead, and so are his ideas"; "the GOP has no leader", I'm a "racist" and a "coward" not to post their messages;  then telling me what mental-problems I have (they obviously operate under the directive that no conservative message should go unchallenged- so do what it takes).  Note that one of Alisky's most valued techniques is "ridicule" to "provoke" the "target" into responding.

Creatively, one of these online charlatans has now taken to informing me that he has "Republican friends who complained that I wouldn't publish their messages"- which is, naturally, sheer fiction- I publish anything that doesn't reek of troll.  There have also been a dozen dubious "I'm a Republican", but shouldn't we all "just get along" and "give Obama a chance"- with almost identical scripts... while the real Obama we're supposed to try and get-along-with charges an ultra-liberal multi-trillion-dollar spending orgy to your great-grandkids' Visa-card.   Things that make you go hmmm.

Young and net-savvy Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has admitted that there is such a web-based effort in support of Obama... he runs it... and it's funded by the DNC:

"David Plouffe, who ran Obama's campaign, now runs "Organizing for America" out of the Democratic National Committee. It uses the same Web-based tactics that won the presidency to mobilize public opinion behind Obama's initiatives." 

The Yes-We-Can wolfpacks on the blogs and message boards may be paid by this program, but who knows-  Plouffe is notoriously stingy with campaign funds.  Regardless, there is surely a  residual supply of enthusiastic volunteers to staff any effort he has organized to flood the net.  Mr. Plouffe operates out of the DNC's offices-- same place the anti-Limbaugh ads came from (some even is Spanish) to dovetail with attacks from Obama, Emanuel, and their media allies.  The DNC is basically evolving into a propaganda ministry for Obama- now with Plouffe bringing ACORN-style community-organizing to the web to support Obama's agenda. 

But employing such a manipulation on blogs and message-boards serepticiously is really not clever, slick, or anything to be proud of... rather, it's underhanded, cowardly, and ethically dubious. If Obama's wisdom and moral supremacy are so self-evident, then why such fear of an open discussion of the issues? 

It's all pretty anti-democratic... un-American... and the whole thing stinks like trash-truck juice: an appalling mix of internet-savvy trickery and borderline fraud, Chicago-Machine thuggery, with a little ITAR-Tass mixed-in.  Such efforts to control public discourse are far more totalitarian-propagandist Stalin-Goebbels-Castro than the fair-play democracy of Washington-Jefferson-Lincoln.  The development and implementation of such tactics by Team Obama should be disturbing to anyone who values the good-faith discourse traditional in our country. 

President Obama is apparently not satisfied with just purporting false intentions and misleading, vague "plans" -like that he intends to halve the deficit while simultaneously spending like a billion drunken sailors-  he has also felt the need to fund a propaganda campaign to drill what he wants (and needs) you to believe into your head... and while neutralizing any opposing voices. But the recent TEA parties seems to have stuck a nerve with the President and his sycophants... they showed that many of the less-smitten amongst us are fast becoming wise to this habitually-dishonest closet socialist. 

Now we are told that pending legislation before the US Congress would allow Obama the power to shut down the entire Internet whenever he deems appropriate- talk about the wolf guarding the henhouse.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation "The group (EFF) is particularly worried about the Commander-in-Chief becoming Commander-of-the-Web. It says the bill gives the president “unfettered authority to shut down Internet traffic in an emergency and disconnect critical infrastructure systems on national security grounds.” The bill would permit the White House to declare a "cybersecurity emergency" and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any network the president declares "critical." 

And it's uber-partisan and serial-opportunist Rahm Emanuel that will have the President's ear regarding just what constitutes such an emergency. After the disturbing, politically-motivated DHS report on "right-wing extremists" -in addition to relentless Team Obama online shenanigans- it's pretty difficult to make the case for why we should trust the Machiavellian Obama Administration with the most powerful communication medium that's the world's ever seen- one that ruthless revolutionary and pioneering-propagandist Lenin surely would have stood before in awe... and envy.