Thanks to the destruction of the public financing system for presidential elections, and the rampant fraud committed by the Obama campaign in raising money, it looks like the presidency of the United States has been bought for a little bit over 640 million dollars paid by both domestic and international sources.
There is no question that Barry has been at the swirling center of a storm of corruption, cronyism, and has developed a fantastic ability to lie to people convincingly. So have most other politicians, of course. That being said, here are the hopes of a social liberal and libertarian civil rights activist:
1- The Akaka Bill & The Cherokee Freedmen
Although he has supported the Akaka Bill previously, one can only hope that he lives by his racial unity rhetoric (“out of many we are one”) and refuses to create a separate race-based government in our homeland of Hawaii, which both Barry and I are natives of. Most likely, it will pass the house, senate, and be signed with great flourish, spitting on the grave of Martin Luther King, Jr., who asked that we be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. At that point, we can only hope that it is declared patently unconstitutional by the SCOTUS.
Similarly, although the casino tribes have poured money into Obama’s coffers, one can only hope that Barry’s post-racial outlook drives him to dismantle the race-based tribal government system, and truly make this one nation under one law. Allowing race-based tribal leaders to terrorize dissenters with disenrollment and worse is an abomination of the first degree.
Frankly, this was the deal-breaker for me – the Democrat party needs to remember that civil rights are ones we all share, regardless of race or ethnicity. If they want affirmative action based on socio-economic status, they can get my support. If they continue to pander to racial separatists and those who would insist on special privilege based simply on a single drop of blood, they simply cannot have my vote.
2- Gay rights
Despite his pandering to the religious right of the Democrat party, one can only hope that with control of the house, senate and the presidency, federal law can be passed recognizing gay marriage. As commander in chief, he can also remove the ridiculous don’t-ask/don’t-tell rule. If the Democrats don’t use this opportunity to enshrine equality for gays into law and into practice, they’ve squandered their only moral high ground.
3- Iraq & Afghanistan
If Barry can step far enough away from his left-wing base, and listen to the generals on the ground, we should be able to maintain our gains and honor the sacrifice of our men and women in arms. Perhaps he will even admit that freeing the people of Iraq was not a mistake.
4- Israel & Palestine
If a miracle happens, Barry will be able to use the might of the US to create a one-state solution that gives equal rights to everyone regardless of religion in Palestine. Â Barring that, at the very least, the US needs to stop supporting the apartheid practiced by the Israelis, and force a return to pre-1967 borders with the immediate removal of all Israeli settlers from Palestinian land.
5- Redistribution of wealth
It is likely that the continued recession will worsen, government intervention will fail to stabilize the markets, and hopefully the proper lesson from this will be learned – we need end the policy of forcing banks to loan money to people who cannot afford it, and we need to stop trying to let government pick winners and losers in business. If we’re lucky, taxes will not be raised, but if they are, and the economy tanks even further, we can only hope a backlash forces our politicians to disengage from the policy of socialism that worsened the first Great Depression.
If Barry does decide to increase taxes on the wealthy, I hope he starts by taxing at 100% all money over $250,000.00 made by actors, actresses, trial lawyers and athletes. If we’re going to start “spreading the wealth”, let’s take it from these groups first.
6- Civil rights/affirmative action
The idea that Obama’s upper-class white children should enjoy special consideration because of the color of their skin is simply offensive, and one can only hope that the civil rights gains made by people like Ward Connerly continue. If we’re really lucky, people will look at the first one-drop black president and decide once and for all that the victimhood philosophy of affirmative action is no longer justifiable by any rationale.
7- The 2nd amendment
One can only hope that Barry means what he says about leaving our guns alone, especially since any upcoming Great Depression is probably going to result in a dramatic increase in crime, which hopefully can be deterred by a well-armed law-abiding populace.
8- Church and state
If we can get “intelligent design” firmly removed from public school curriculum with the carrot/stick of federal funding with a Democrat trifecta in the house, senate and white house, great. One can only hope that Obama’s conversion to christianity and buddying around with Jeremiah Wright was simply a political ploy, and in his heart of hearts he realizes that there is no God.
9- Welfare
Although there is probably a large constituency of voters who voted for Barry with the hopes of getting a bigger welfare check, we might be lucky enough to have our neo-Great Depression put the kibosh on any increased government spending.
10- Alternative energy/nuclear/global warming swindle
Drill baby, drill. As the world gets colder from now until 2030 (as predicted by solar climate models), hopefully the misguided environmentalists realize the poor rationale for CO2 as a driver of climate change.
11- The end of the high-carb food pyramid
Simply put, government advice on diet to eat low-fat/low-calorie and exercise to combat obesity has in fact created the obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer epidemics. Gary Taubes lays it out in a lecture at Berkeley. If Barry wants to lower health care costs, he’ll embark on a program to teach people to eat less carbs, more fat and more protein. With a dramatic drop in obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and other chronic diseases as a result of a proper low-carb diet, universal health care won’t be so far out of reach.
12- Democrat hero worship
It still befuddles me how Democrats can still idolize the Clinton family, whose “stand-by-your-man” fellatio-with-interns drama simply turns my stomach. The same signs of blind-hero worship are showing up in the Democrat reaction to Obama, who seem to believe that he’ll be able to establish world peace, fix the economy, give everyone free health care, and provide a pony for every house. A friend of mine recently assured me that with Barry in the White House, I would be better off two years from now…but shouldn’t that be my responsibility, not Obama’s? There is a disturbing religiosity to the kind of blind-faith displayed in “The One”, and I certainly hope it’s tempered with time.
Just found your site. I’d like to explore it but I’m very much offended by the attitude toward the POTUS elect, Barkak H. Obama. Do you know him personally. When do you intend to drop the Barry moniker?
Do you know why you’re offended by my attitude towards him? I think that would be an interesting question to explore.
I don’t know Barry personally, although we did go to the same school in Hawaii (he was a senior when I was in kindergarten, from what I understand). I don’t intend to drop the Barry moniker, because I simply do not respect him – think to yourself how many times you, or others you know may have used the name “Dubya”, and you might understand where I’m coming from.
Now, could he earn my respect? Certainly. Will he? Probably not. His basic political philosophy thus far as expressed by his actions has not matched his rhetoric, and I’m a harsh judge of hypocrites. As it stands now with his cabinet picks of Washington insiders, it almost looks like Clinton won the election. About the only halfway decent move he’s made is keeping Gates, but if that means a retrenchment of pro-Israeli-apartheid policy, that’s very unfortunate – if it means he’ll listen to commanders on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, that’s great.
BTW, for the record, I’m five for five now on my presidential picks – Perot, Perot, Nader, Nader, McCain.