Obama has crossed the line. Is it possible all this is one gigantic nightmare?

[LegendofNation]

http://rightsoup.com/tucked-into-obamas-civil-service-bill-h-r-1388-no-protesting-allowed/

Can this be possible? What in the hell is going on? WHY is this being allowed?

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

[LegendofNation]

WOW.

[stonersboners]

WOW.

I think we are all just numb from all the change. The lesson here is elections have consequences, and now we are all paying. I do believe that Obama is a socialist as are Nancy, Bawny, and the rest of the gang. :2:

[ZippyVol]

Meh.

I'd probably care more if I thought there was even a small chance he could actually fund such a thing anytime during his (hopefully brief) reign.

[TennesseeTuxedo]

The Democrats are fascists.

[LegendofNation]

Not all Democrats are Fascists, just Obama.

Just unreal what this guy is doing. Distracting the public with all this nonsesne while slipping shit like this while no one is paying attention.

This guy is slowly destroying our Country.

[ZippyVol]

The Democrats are fascists.

Alright, before we all lose our marbles worrying over what Obama and his cohorts are scheming; you may want to read this entry Steven Den Beste posted shortly after the election...


http://chizumatic.mee.nu/not_the_end_of_the_world

Not the end of the world

It's easy to let yourself go in despair and start thinking things like "We are well-and-truly fucked" or "This is the worst of all possible outcomes". But it isn't true.

I think this election is going to be a "coming of age" moment for a lot of people. They say, "Be careful what you wish for" and a lot of people got their wish yesterday.

And now they're bound to be disappointed. Not even Jesus could satisfy all the expectations of Obama's most vocal supporters, or fulfill all the promises Obama has made.

I think Obama is going to turn out to be the worst president since Carter, and for the same reason: good intentions do not guarantee good results. Idealists often stub their toes on the wayward rocks of reality, and fall on their faces. And the world doesn't respond to benign behavior benignly.

But there's another reason why: Obama has been hiding his light under a basket. A lot of people bought a pig in a poke today, and now they're going to find out what they bought. Obama isn't what most of them think he is. The intoxication of the cult will wear off, leaving a monumental hangover.

And four years from now they'll be older and much wiser.

A lot of bad things are going to happen during this term. But I don't think that this is an irreversible catastrophe for the union. I've lived long enough to absorb this basic truth: the US is too large and too strong to destroy in just 4 years. Or even in 8. We survived 6 years of Nixon. We survived 4 years of Carter. We even survived 8 years of Clinton, God alone knows how.

The President of the United States is the most powerful political figure in the world, but as national executives go his powers are actually quite restricted. Obama will become President, but he won't be dictator or king, let alone deity. He still has to work with the House and the Senate, and he still has to live within Constitutional restrictions, and with a judiciary that he mostly didn't appoint.

The main reason this will be a "coming of age" moment is that now Obama and the Democrats have to put up or shut up. Obama got elected by making himself a blank slate, with vapid promises about "hope" and "change" -- but now he actually has to do something. Now he has to reveal his true agenda. And with the Democrats also having a majority in both chambers of Congress, now the Democrats really have to lead. And they're not going to do a very good job of it. It's going to be amusing to watch.

And the people who fell for the demagoguery will learn an invaluable lesson.

Oh, the Democrats try to blame failure on Republican filibusters, of which there will be many. But that's always been a factor in our system, and many people believe it's an important check on government excess. The tradition in the Senate is that it is supposed to be a buffer against transient political fads, and the filibuster is a major part of that.

If the Democrats go all in, and change the filibuster rule, then they'll have truly seized the nettle with both hands and won't have any excuses any longer. That's why they won't do it. It's their last fig-leaf. But even with the filibuster rule in place, they'll be stuck trying to deliver now on all the promises implied, or inferred, during this election. The Republicans can only filibuster on bills the Democrats have already proposed.

And it ain't possible for the Democrats to deliver what's been promised. Gonna be a hell of a lot of disillusioned lefties out there. A lot of people who felt they were deceived. A lot of people who will eventually realize that the Obama campaign was something of a cult.

Disillusionment will turn to a feeling of betrayal. And that will, in turn, convert to anger.

In the mean time, Obama and Congressional Democrats will do things that cause harm, but very little of it will be irreversible.

I would have enjoyed watching lefty heads explode if McCain had won. But we're going to see lefty heads exploding anyway; it's just going to take longer.

In the mean time, those of us who didn't want Obama to be president have to accept that he is. And let's not give in to the kind of paranoid fever dreams that have consumed the left for the last 8 years. Let us collectively take a vow tonight: no "Obama derangement syndrome". Obama is a politician. He isn't the devil incarnate.

So what are the good sides of what just happened?

1. It is no longer possible for anyone to deny that the MSM is heavily biased. The MSM have been biased for decades but managed an illusion of fairness. That is no longer possible; the MSM have squandered their credibility during this campaign. They'll never get that credibility back again.

2. Since the Democrats got nearly everything they hoped for in this campaign, they'll have no excuses and will have to produce. They'll have to reveal their true agenda -- or else make clear that they don't really have any beyond gaining power.

3. Every few decades the American people have to be reminded that peace only comes with strength. The next four years will be this generation's lesson.

Now, a few predictions for the next four years:

1. Obama's "hold out your hand to everyone" foreign policy is going to be a catastrophe. They'll love it in Europe. They're probably laughing their heads off about it in the middle east already.

2. The US hasn't suffered a terrorist attack by al Qaeda since 9/11, but we'll get at least one during Obama's term.

3. We're going to lose in Afghanistan.

4. Iran will get nuclear weapons. There will be nuclear war between Iran and Israel. (This is the only irreversibly terrible thing I see upcoming, and it's very bad indeed.)

5. There will eventually be a press backlash against Obama which will make their treatment of Bush look mild. Partly that's going to be because Obama is going to disappoint them just as much as all his other supporters. Partly it will be the MSM desperately trying to regain its own credibility, by trying to show that they're not in his tank any longer. And because of that they are eventually going to do the reporting they should have done during this campaign, about Obama's less-than-savory friends, and about voter fraud, and about illegal fund-raising, and about a lot of other things.

and 6. Obama will not be re-elected in 2012. He may even end up doing an LBJ and not even running again.

One last thing: I'm not saying I'm happy with this outcome. I would much rather have had McCain win. But this is not the end of the world, or the end of this nation. We've survived much worse.

And now we need to show the lefties how to lose. Our mission for the next four years is to be in opposition without becoming deranged.

UPDATE: One other good thing: no one will be spinning grand conspiracy theories about this administration's Vice President being an evil, conniving genius who is the true power behind the throne.

UPDATE: Links from Glen, Ed, and Ace (twice).

[Polemicvol]

First, the language in that National Service bill, if accurate (you can't ever trust the accuracy of anything on a wingnut blog, they routinely re-word stuff and attribute it to their opposition), is just standard boiler plate civil service prohibitions that have been in place for decades. If you work for the government, you can't get involved with politics (other than by voting), you can't preach your religion on the clock, you can't strike, and so forth. That's all that's in that sample bill.

Secondly, Zippy's author is going to be very disappointed when this statement is very quickly shown to be both false and stupid....


If the Democrats go all in, and change the filibuster rule, then they'll have truly seized the nettle with both hands and won't have any excuses any longer. That's why they won't do it. It's their last fig-leaf. But even with the filibuster rule in place, they'll be stuck trying to deliver now on all the promises implied, or inferred, during this election. The Republicans can only filibuster on bills the Democrats have already proposed.

And it ain't possible for the Democrats to deliver what's been promised. Gonna be a hell of a lot of disillusioned lefties out there. A lot of people who felt they were deceived. A lot of people who will eventually realize that the Obama campaign was something of a cult.

Let me introduce you to my little friend, the Budget Reconciliation process. Whereby Democrats can pass their budgets (read as economic policies) by a simple majority vote of both houses. Filibusters can't be used on Budget matters. So we will put Health Care reform, Energy Reform, and all our other changes in the Budget bills. One is getting ready to roll out very soon.

Democrats are going to pass everything we want, everything Obama said he was going to do when the voters of America overwhelmingly elected him President. Change is coming and the wailing from this board will be deafening.

And before you yahoos get too fired up, Republicans used the same legislative tactic for most of the last 20 years to pass their budgets with all those huge tax cuts, and prevent Democratic filibusters. We are just going to use their tactic against them. Sew the wind and you will reap the whirlwind.

[ZippyVol]

You actually believe the Dems will deliver on everything that they promised before the election?

haha, yeah ok man. That's cool. We'll get back to that in about 3 years.

Incidentally, if you wanted to pick something from that article to be wrong three years from now; there are much better things to pick. Such as this:


There will be nuclear war between Iran and Israel.

[Polemicvol]

On Health Care, Energy, Regulatory reform, and a number of other things. Heck Obama has already delivered on a whole bunch of campaign promises, such as reversing stem cell bans, ending the Iraq War (at least setting a timeline for it to end), increasing troops in Afghanistan, and a host of other things.

Sure, I'll compare notes in a few years. At the rate Obama is succeeding, I doubt it will take that long for him to fulfill his commitment to sweeping change.

[ZippyVol]

ending the Iraq War (at least setting a timeline for it to end)

Yeah, Obama's pre-election promise on Iraq was certainly "I'm going to do exactly what Bush has been doing". All that other shit he was saying was sarcasm!

When we come back to this in three years, we have to set some ground rules. There is really only one: You have to learn how to be honest, because at this point I'm really not even going to bother with blatant, unserious, entirely dishonest bullshit.

[Polemicvol]

I simply state my opinion, and when I use facts, they are seldom refuted. I honestly state my position, every time I post.

I'm not sure what you are looking for, but it sure sounds like a bunch of bullshit.

[Athenian]

You should be in Obama's cabinet. Oh, maybe you paid your taxes and that would eliminate you from consideration.

[GhenghisVol]

What did I say.... twice as bad as Bush. The end is rapidly approaching.