Friday, March 6, 2009

Personal Aside: State, National GOP Rising Thanks to Dems. Cobb

Saves Burris From Ignominy…Obama Gaffe, Allowing Pelosi to Craft Stimulus Prompts Bayh, Feingold Rebellion.

All of a sudden…quicker than you can imagine…the Republican party is back in the political ballgame—here in Illinois and the nation. But it’s Illinois I’ll tackle first…because with Obama’s roots here, what comes down in this city can be a forerunner to what happens in the nation. The likelihood that Roland Burris will be on the 2010 ticket here thrills Republicans…and the blunt, intrusive presence of Rahm Emanuel who gave the stimulus okay to Nancy Pelosi helped split his party on the issue.

Illinois: Cobb Forces Dem White Oligopoly’s Hand.

In Illinois no sooner did the Democratic party get rid of its corrupt Gov. Rod Blagojevich and start cruising with a somewhat popular governor who succeeded Blago (pro-abort Catholic Dem Pat Quinn) than Roland Burris threatens to divide the party over race… fratricide that begs to become so ugly it could trigger chaos that could elect a Republican senator and a GOP governor in 2010, no matter how blue (Democratic) the state has become. By week’s end Quinn was hastening to repair the damage but by placating blacks about Burris he may alienate the general electorate which feels rightly that Burris doesn’t belong in the Senate.

The story thus far: Burris, appointed to Barack Obama’s Senate seat by Blago, came as close to perjuring himself in denying connections to the ex-governor as is possible to get: utilizing the time-honored political tricks of evading truthful answers and withholding much: including the fact that his son received a $75,000 state job for Blago…that Burris volunteered to raise money for the embattled governor as a quid pro quo… and that he lobbied repeatedly to Blago’s brother and anyone who would listen for the Senate post. After he was sworn in as senator, it became so apparent that his testimony before the state House impeachment committee was dishonest, that a state prosecutor and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald are studying whether or not to indict him.

As result, one of Gov. Quinn’s first acts was to urge Burris to resign, starting a chorus that was joined by Catholic pro-abort Dick Durbin the hustler, the U.S. Senate’s second ranking Democrat. President Obama’s news secretary came very close to joining the chorus. End of synopsis.

But state and national Dems failed to reckon with a brilliant black public relations savant hired by Burris as a lucky stroke, one who is far smarter and more wily than Burris who now is utilizing the race card for him. Like all Dem machine pols, Burris is truth-averse which has enabled him to survive for 35 years, saying with one breath: “I have never, ever, thought about race” and in another “the white boys are out to get me!” For someone of his mediocrity, his pick of a publicist, who plays race antagonism like an ocarina, was a great coup.

She is Del Marie Cobb, an attractive black publicist who talks sweetly for the cameras but who has amassed the equivalent of a Ph.D degree in the art of churning up African American anger at the polls. Before she came on the scene, even many black Illinoisans were either apathetic or apologetic about Burris whom they regarded rightly as an over-age hack. Now they’re boiling mad at the possibility of losing the only black Senator in the chamber.

When Cobb took over as Burris’ political guru he was on the ropes and ready to accept defeat. She shushed that private display of weakness and recruited black ministers, movement leaders and angry black radio talk show hosts on Chicago’s South and West Sides to threaten to pull down the Democratic party house if the only black in the Senate is torpedoed by what she calls “the white oligarchs” in the Dem party.

Last week Cobb took three brilliant major steps. (1) She mobilized the Chicago City Council’s black caucus front and center for the city media, featuring angry Alderwoman Fredenna Lyle who shouted that “white pols are not targeted for wrongdoing but Roland is despite the fact that he’s done nothing whatsoever wrong!” Well, that’s debatable but the way Lyle behaved…standing before a group of headshaking city council black colleagues…frightens the very devil out of the two-member white Dem principals in Illinois—Mayor Richard M. Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan who are dependent on a machine’s clockwork tsunami of black votes for their election.

Second, she re-orchestrated a familiar sight: a black ministerial convocation of Bible-quoting evangelicals touting Burris’ supposed martyrdom with a lively nodding, amen-chanting chorus as backdrop. Featured performer was U. S. Congressman Bobby Rush, former Black Panther now also a minister declaring “the state constitution worked for Quinn! Let it work for Roland!” After all, said Rush, “Roland hasn’t done anything indict-able!” Don’t talk too soon, Bobby…but for now as a campaign slogan it works with disadvantaged South and West Side blacks…all Cobb is interested in at this point. The ministers even went so far as to note—rightly--that the white media-canonized Teddy Kennedy escaped punishment when his car went over a bridge at Chappaquiddick and killed a woman, implying with painful accuracy that if he were black and without white gilt-edged political connections he’d have gone to jail.

These hot words terrify shaky fledgling governor Quinn who to win support from white liberal reformist protests had called on Burris to resign and who had also endorsed a special election to please the Tribune editorial board—an idea he now finds to his horror is despised by the Dems’ huge black political base. Add to this a leading black alderman, Ed Smith…usually docile where the white-run Dem party is involved…who gave forth this scary statement: “Pat Quinn decided he’s going to dictate to us what should go on in our communities!”

Thus to placate all, Quinn has become a literal wind-sock, reflecting every cross-current of breeze. Cobb’s orchestrated rebellion also scares pro-abort Catholic attorney general Lisa Madigan (who wants to be governor) who had demanded Burris quit and who issued a finding stating a special election is justified by her reading of the U.S. Constitution’s Article XVII. At least for now she ought not to go vote hustling for governor as her step-father’s white dimpled darling on Chicago’s South and West sides.

Third, Cobb sent Burris to thunder out a speech she had written at a black church where to cheering hundreds he endorsed…to no one’s surprise…a Constitutional amendment giving the residents of D. C. full representation but then much more… a brilliant fillip thought-up by Cobb--a resolution memorializing “the black slaves who built the U. S. Capitol from the ground up!” a dash of gasoline tossed on the fire that caused the emotional congregation to exploded to a fever pitch. White liberal news reporters were jeered at the church, worshipers charging Burris is being held to a tougher standard than white senators including Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) who hasn’t yet fully explained his sweetheart deal with Countrywide mortgages. Intriguingly, the crowd accurately called the supine pro-Daley media to account for not subjecting the mayor’s 2016 Olympic bid to scrutiny: an extraordinarily valid point.

Cobb told me that next on her list is Chicago-based Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan who last week spoke for three straight hours at before 14,000 rapt followers at a “Savior’s Day convention where white, blond-haired Fr. Michael Pfleger, the black militants’ token, spared from pastoral term limits by the queasy archdiocese because he’s so heavy with Democrats and Daley, sat applauding in the front row. Odds are she can get Farrakhan to join in her pro-Burris crusade-- which means she’ll get Farrakhan follower Pfleger to get his St. Sabina’s congregation worked up for Burris as well.

Thus in one week the political situation changed drastically to favor Burris thanks to the work of one woman: Del Marie Cobb.

Similar Coddling Threatens National Dems.

Similar danger confronts the Democratic party nationally which like Chicago coddles more than its share of liberal mediocrities: including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who said on the floor that “the American people really don’t care” about how much money is wasted on pork…Sen. Chris Dodd who has received sweetheart loans from Countryside because Dodd is Banking chairman. And not to forget good old Charlie Rangel, (D-NY), who writes our tax laws but who has earned rental income from properties he owns in a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic while neglecting to report it on his House ethics form and who has improperly taken advantage of rent-controlled apartments in New York city to house his campaign staff…spared from House probes because of the intercession of Nancy Pelosi.

Back in Chicago the Del Marie Cobb revolution in the state’s USSR-like Dem party could well (a) nominate Burris next year but not elect him…sending into the general election one who is seriously flawed and likely to be defeated by a good Republican candidate…( b) emasculate Gov. Quinn who is hurrying to make peace with the blacks by renouncing his earlier views…(c) wound Lisa Madigan who demanded Burris resign…and (d) destroy the so-called “golden boy” of the Dems, State Treasurer Alexi Gianoullis who has announced an exploratory committee preparatory to running against Burris in the primary—best guess is he’ll change his mind and stay put. If Cobb’s rehab of Burris continues, why would he want to incur animosity from blacks by challenging Burris in the primary: animosity that is sure to linger in the future?

That’s why the political picture looks brighter than it has for years for Illinois Republicans. Now the details of the national picture.

Radical Domestic Policies.

When Barack Obama ran for president, those who knew him (including this writer whose one-hour ABC radio show was the first one he chose after election to the state senate) were divided as to what sort of president he would be. Presidents come in two categories: those who merely want to be somebody (Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter) and those who want to change government (FDR and Ronald Reagan). Because of his ingenious suavity and skillful parsing in the campaign, Obama could have fallen in either category.

But now it is clear he means to lead a socialistic (there’s no reason to mince the words) upheaval as utopian as it’s radical. He is not only committed to a huge outlay of federal “stimulus”…as was Bush’s which didn’t work … but a big government superstructure atop an eye-popping $3.5 trillion budget for fiscal 2010 that will, if enacted, drastically change the United States as we know it forever…in three ways.

First, by producing universal health care as drastic as LBJ’s Medicare which will be paid for by curbing Medicare payments to private providers, cutting income tax deductions to the “better offs,” ending the Bush tax cuts (which means in effect a tax hike in a recession) and straightforwardly raising taxes on those earning $250,000 or more—mostly entrepreneurs from which most economic and employment growth comes…and creating a new National Health Insurance Exchange which eventually will leave people with few options besides government-run health insurance.

Second by moving the feds into education from kindergarten to graduate school with government grants, tax credits and taxpayer-backed guarantees for college education…

And third, by locking the gigantic energy portion of the U.S. economy in a heavily regulated and purportedly “green-forced” sector from which it can never be dislodged, socking it with taxes to produce $80 billion a year from a carbon cap-and-trade system to pay for rebates and subsidies to the “working poor.”

Larded in between are spending projects left behind by Democrats when we were in prosperity…Emanuel’s contribution via Pelosi…tagged as part of “stimulus”: $5.5 billion for renovating federal office-buildings of which only 23% will be spent this year and next and $20.8 billion for “improved health technology” aka electronic record-keeping of which the peak year will be 2014. The result, if not curbed, will be the transfer of the remaining U.S. so-called “free market” system to standard European social democracy which would resemble the highly regulated, bureaucratized sclerotic European Union.

Historians note that Obama is following the FDR-Keynesian record which for all its spending and controls left the jobless figure at 19% in 1939 before he began maneuvering us into World War II. Keynesianism holds that the twin answers to unemployment and economic downturns are massive government deficit spending and cheap money producing an artificial driving down of interest rates to purportedly “free up more credit.” Obama’s goal: end the Bush tax cuts and instead extend unemployment and food stamp benefits as well as issuing short-term tax credits for those who pay no taxes.

Re-Doing the Failed Keynesian System to Look “Strong.”

Why, if Keynesianism was repudiated under FDR, is Obama trying it again? For the same reason Bush did: the dumb media and citizenry believe any action means a so-called “strong presidency.” Bush did it as a last-minute futile gesture to spare history from recording him as another Herbert Hoover. Obama does it for media purposes too—but with the more enduring goal of using the recession to install a European-style social “democracy.” As Rahm Emanuel blurted out not long ago: “One should never let an emergency like this go to waste.”

However Obama’s statist spending is building a gigantic conservative counter-revolution that is brewing a heavy backlash for future election…a counter-revolution with a special place for Catholic voters exceeding the traditional pro-life arguments.

Catholic Physicians, Hospitals Threatened.

Catholic voters were—and are-- lethargic on the abortion issue against Obama partially because liberal bishops and priests fudge their pronouncement against the issue in such a parsing way that no clear-cut view is presented. But increasingly Catholic bishops are interpreting anew Obama’s radical FOCA [“Freedom of Choice Act”]. Lawyers tell them it will override state conscience clause laws that protect Catholic doctors, hospitals and medical professionals. More than one prelate has threatened to close Catholic hospitals rather than conform to the Obama threat.

Shutting down Catholic hospitals would devastate Chicago and most other large urban areas. Not to do so would certainly spur severe criticism from Rome. Giving Catholic hospitals a pass would inflame radical pro-aborts, a key constituency for Obama. Until this is settled, a growing number of Catholics could move from pro-Obama to anti-. Hotly anti.

The Emerging Anti-Obama Coalition.

Catholic outrage would be harnessed to these constituencies movements animated by Obama (with the help of Emanuel):

… investors angered because the GDP is declining at an annual rate of 6.2%, the worst in a quarter-century along with the continued plunge of the stock market (last week the S&P 500 lost 43% of its value); the February employment report showing a decline of 785.000 jobs, the largest one-month decline in more than 60 years;

…Gun-owners because Obama supports criminal prosecution of people who have used firearms in self-defense…a ban on almost all rifle ammunition used for hunting…a complete ban on handgun ownership…and a proposal concocted because of supposed “nearness to schools” that would eliminate almost every gun store in America.

…Small business owners angered at Obama’s “Employee Free Choice Act” forcing workplaces to be unionized without private ballots;

…Big business because Obama wants to saddle it in a weak economy with greenhouse gas regulations;

…Grassroots conservatives upset because Obama’s FCC may well quash political dissent on the airwaves;

…Education choicers fuming because teachers’ unions with Obama’s blessing may reverse 18 years of gains in voucher and tax credit programs;

…Home schoolers outraged that Obama’s allies, the teachers’ unions, are seeking to outlaw their rights to teach their own children at home.

In summary, contrary to the media who worships Obama’s speaking style, aside from his superb speaking style, his first month in office was a disaster. Let me briefly count the ways. Item: By allowing Pelosi to draft the stimulus bill and filling it with pork rather than crafting it himself…Item: by referring to U.S. troops returning from Iraq as victims rather than victors…Item: by blinking at tax cheat Tim Geithner who will be overseeing Americans’ taxes and making him treasury secretary (whereupon he announced last week he’s by God going to crack down on tax cheats!) …Item: by allowing Geithner to go before the public with half-formed stimulus details that caused the markets to tank…Item: by foolishly getting into a public dogfight with Rush Limbaugh—allowing one who repeatedly looks like a loose cannon, Emanuel, to build him up to mammoth proportions by castigating him in public, raising suspicions it’s a first step to the administration clamping down on dissent by applying the misnamed “Fairness Doctrine.”

Remember: these errors occurred only in the first month. Believe me, it looks like a whole new ballgame.

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