I’m not using it in a “willy-nilly” way. I’m not using the words for the sake of “demagoguery.”

Why would I do that? I’m not being disingenuous. I’m simply stating what I see, and what there is plenty of evidence for.

It is actually happening, and it won’t all of a sudden become a whole new thing – worthy, finally, of the s, m, or c words – just because it gets worse.

As an analogy, let’s say there is a building that has some flames in a far corner of the basement. “Hey,” says I. “There’s a fire! This building is going to burn up if someone doesn’t put it out!”

“No,” says you. “Don’t say that, you’ll panic the masses. Wait till the building is halfway on fire, then more of them will agree with you that fire exists. If you try to point it out now, then when the building is half-consumed, no one will believe it is on fire!”

What would be the point of that? I’m not here to convince stupid people, which would be a good definition of those who would look at a building half in flames and still deny it was on fire.

I knew what Obama was all about from studying Obama last summer: his life, his beliefs, his own words, his campaign speeches, and his website of plans.

I’d hoped he would back off from all that, and sober up, as it were, once he achieved the actual momentous importance of the Presidency. But nope, he has not changed, nor have his policies and plans.

There’s an arsonist, and he’s starting in the corner of the basement.

You disagree with my analysis. That’s all. Instead of telling me and others what words we should avoid for fear of startling the herd, why not you just say what you believe, and I’ll just say how I see it?

It’s not my job to parse out my descriptors – and in effect, deny what I know – just so that people who can’t imagine having a socialist/Marxist/Maoist/whichever President will be able to accept that fact when things get worse.

You can be one of those who says he’s destroying private capital, and all the things you listed above, and that’s fine with me; that’s a perfectly fine approach. I appreciate your voice in it, and your approach.

But I will go ahead and call it like I see it, and I don’t believe that damages anything at all. I have never been one to do anything else. I have always told other people the truth, to the best of my knowledge. It is up to them how they handle it.

Your excuses for the this administration’s snubs and flaunting of protocol, by the way, are just laughable.

Alana on March 13, 2009 at 11:13 PM

It’s not an issue of being afraid to use those words, but instead an issue of using them in a willy nilly way that makes it impossible for people to take them seriously when it actually happens.

For example, let’s say 2 years from now Obama decides that it’s time to nationalize the means of production, starts handing down governmentally mandated 5 year plans, and forcing everyone to work at a governmentally mandated wage at risk of imprisonment on the collective farms. Then all of these people who’ve been calling him a Marxist since the campaign come out and say “See? I told you, he’s a Marxist” to which the economically uneducated respond “Whatever, you said the stimulus was socialist, you said the temporary nationalization of the banks as recommended by Alan Greenspan were socialist, why should I believe you now?”

Point being that when the terms “socialist” and “Marxist” are used for the sake of demagoguery, they lose their meaning in practical application. There are a plurality of different economic systems that deviate from free market capitalism, there’s corporatism, mercantilism, the welfare state, mixed economies, all of these deviating significantly from free market capitalism and none of them can be accurately referred to as “Marxism” or “Socialism”. Believing in wealth redistribution is not inherently Marxist, as most economic systems have some degree of wealth redistribution, hell, if you have a government you have wealth redistribution, period. If I make a million dollars and you make five thousand dollars, even if we pay a flat tax rate of 10% I’ve paid $100,000 and you’ve paid $500, presuming we get the same quality of defense from the police and the military, I’ve just paid a lot more for the same thing you got for $500, I’m paying for your policing and military defense. Marxism and socialism refer to initially centrally controlled means of production, and subsequently centrally controlled wages and rations. It’s not wealth redistribution, it’s wealth distribution, as no one has any wealth unless the state gives it to them.

President Obama might be a Marxist, but he is yet to pursue Marxist policies, and if he ever does pursue Marxist policies and people don’t believe those calling him out on it because they’ve been calling him a Marxist for years we’re all going to look very stupid. There’s no need to go to the demagogic, call it what it is, bad economic policy. Say he’s destroying private capital, that he’d meddling and subsequently screwing everything up, that he’s leading us right back into stagflation and that he’s just extending the recession while simultaneously guaranteeing it’s going to have to get worse because of the anti-inflationary measures his choices are necessitating in the future. He’s extending Bush’s economic policies, he’s doing more of exactly the same stuff that got us in this hole in the first place, and what he’s doing is bad enough without having to label it something that it isn’t.

philwynk on March 13, 2009 at 10:36 PM

Gotta say I don’t buy it. There’s no reason to snub Brazil. These sorts of things are screw ups, nothing more. Taking matters of state seriously, bending over backwards to make sure you don’t offend anyone with anything other than policy, these are matters of free capital. It costs us almost nothing to make sure the Brazilian state officials feel respected, spelling his name right, not putting quotes around his legal name, etc. this is stuff that can be done with a quick Wikipedia search. This stuff has to get done because it can make everything a lot easier, or, if screwed up, it makes it a lot harder. We have interests at stake in Brazil, and there’s no possible benefit in pissing them off just for the sake of pissing them off. The last thing we need is to alienate potential allies in Latin America, especially when talking about one of the states that is one of the closest to a market economy in a region that has been turning extremely socialist recently.

It’s a disaster because he doesn’t have the people in place to catch this stuff. I don’t think anyone expects President Obama to know this protocol stuff himself, but Rahm Emanuel certainly should know most of it, and everyone else should at least know when the protocol people at the State Dept. should be called in. And they don’t, and that scares me, because an administration that squanders international political capital in exchange for absolutely nothing is FAR more dangerous than a President like Bush who could be said to have had an overly ambition foreign agenda.

It occurred to me that maybe the White House staff (who basically work their whole careers there) may not like YoMama and are deliberately sabotaging the worthless little runt.

darwin-t on March 15, 2009 at 11:01 PM

.
No they are professionals. The question is what have they prevented.
.
If I screem “Death to America!” will I get invited to the White House?

Any takers?

philwynk on March 13, 2009 at 10:36 PM

He has surrounded himself with a bunch of very young very inexperienced people. And they’re screwing up.

Which reminds me, I have it on good authority that obama was planning to give a kitten to Sarkozy. Luckily for him an aid caught what was written on the teleprompter “Hey Nicky, have some pussy my man”

bullseye on March 14, 2009 at 1:08 AM

:-D That and the hotly-awaited game of “Sarko Polo” in the White House swimming pool, with the whole First family. (Don’t even need an official pool — a blow-up pool on the White House lawn will do! :)

Nothing says ‘Special’ like a gift of Old Spice. And you can keep the bottle after it is empty. (In truth you keep the bottle so no one gets the idea you might need more)

entagor on March 15, 2009 at 2:58 AM

:-D So that’s the trick! Now you tell me…

Has anybody considered the possibility that these snubs are deliberate? Honestly, I can’t imagine that President Obama is that thoroughly incompetent

philwynk on March 13, 2009 at 10:36 PM

You misunderestimate is incompetence. He has never had a real job in his life, let alone run anything.

But you may be right. He is arrogant enough to be doing this deliberately.

In the final analysis, it’s (bad) results that matter, not his motivation.

$1,000,000,000 in cash to Hamas
$25 in a crappy DVD set to the Brits

Change you can believe in….

Nevermind about the comment that may appear some day, I guess Brazil nuts has been mentioned. (Should read all comments first…der.)

Maybe the Mayan calendar of end times in 2012 is true… for the USA anyway.

kthomas8268 on March 13, 2009 at 3:20 PM

Been thinking the same thing.

Or is that racist?

Perhaps I’m missing a little of that Hot Air irony, but I hope that my fellow commenters are aware that they don’t speak Spanish in Brazil. Portugese is similar to a large extent, but it ain’t Spanish.

Aside from that, I was struck by the difference between the two presidents as I listened to today’s presser on XM radio. Brazil’s leader seemed to have a clear understanding of his nation’s position and objectives while our own dear leader resorted to his typical vague generalities and what seemed to be (even for him) an excessive number of “uh, uh” pauses. I have always been as big an Obama detractor as you could find, but I continue to be surprised by how clueless he presents himself to be.

vitocorleone99 on March 15, 2009 at 12:39 AM

Well, we know that Portuguese isn’t Spanish; however, does Obama realize this? And yes, Lula (even with the translator) was more clear, concise, and articulate than Obama. “Uh” is also used by Portuguese speakers and Lula had no “Uh”s…

Further, Obama kept making references to the plans that they would present soon… It’s always wait a week for the plans…

How about a nice pair of socks?

Since Brazil is considered third world, throw in a clean set of underwear

A compost barrel would be both useful and educational

Better yet, a composting toilet

A joke book would break the ice

People like those cheese and sausage gift packs from Wisconsin.

What about a big salami?

Does it get better than the Popeil Pocket Fisherman?

The all time classic gift, a bottle of Old Spice aftershave was already mentioned by someone else. Nothing says ‘Special’ like a gift of Old Spice. And you can keep the bottle after it is empty. (In truth you keep the bottle so no one gets the idea you might need more)

Perhaps I’m missing a little of that Hot Air irony, but I hope that my fellow commenters are aware that they don’t speak Spanish in Brazil. Portugese is similar to a large extent, but it ain’t Spanish.

Aside from that, I was struck by the difference between the two presidents as I listened to today’s presser on XM radio. Brazil’s leader seemed to have a clear understanding of his nation’s position and objectives while our own dear leader resorted to his typical vague generalities and what seemed to be (even for him) an excessive number of “uh, uh” pauses. I have always been as big an Obama detractor as you could find, but I continue to be surprised by how clueless he presents himself to be.

“But I do think that as we continue to build exchanges of ideas, commerce and trade around the issue of biodiesel, that over time this source of tension can get resolved,” Obama said. Am I wrong to wonder if Obama even knows that Brazil’s biggest beef (at least today) has nothing to do with biodiesel? Brazil is moving toward higher biodiesel production, to be sure, but ethanol is their bread and butter right now. Ethanol is the source of their concern over tariffs. I honestly don’t think that President Obama knows the difference.

Hmm, how about a $20.00 gift card from Taco Bell

“Yes, because Lula is from South America, and all South Americans eat Tacos” – Gibbs tomorrow

and a copy of a great American Classic movie…

Does Obama know anything that’s an American Classic? He could give Lula the Best of Keith Olbermann.

Perhaps Obama is snubbing Brazil on purpose. After all we don’t need their stinking, polluting, earth warming oil… We can harness the sun and the wind.
kringeesmom on March 14, 2009 at 8:17 AM

Obama is the Son of the Sun god Sunbama!!!

And one of the trolls above me was really in space on The One’s academics. The One was never Magna Cum Laude in his life and Harvard Law will give a pass to some minorities if they know what a tort is by the third year. And we know who would play the system and that hive of liberals for all they were worth.

When Sarkozy came over here and made that wonderful gesture of spending his vacation here in the States, Bush didn’t snub him, Bush didn’t insult or embarrass the People of France. But yet Bush was reviled as a Redneck Nazi who either consciously or subconsciously (he’s an idiot, you know) worked to alienate our allies. They haven’t been our allies for decades because they’ve been indoctrinated by the Communists in their media, universities, schools, film, etc.

An unstable Middle East with a dangerous man like Saddam in power was no more in Europe’s best interest than it was in ours.

Remember, we have our MSM that keep most people in the dark over here, and in Europe it’s the same thing. They have their Leftist elitists that fill their minds with propaganda and misdirected compassion towards Muslim terrorists just as we do over here. Those people don’t really know anything about us or us about them.

They expected The One to be perfect because that’s what they’ve been taught.

In fact, His Oneness’s arrogance will probably be more damaging than their/our media’s perception that Bush was arrogant and dangerous to world peace.

Has anybody considered the possibility that these snubs are deliberate? Honestly, I can’t imagine that President Obama is that thoroughly incompetent that he’s literally not asking how to handle state visits. I knew he’d be out of his league in the White House, but they actually have career people who do this stuff for a living. For him to be flubbing this so badly, he has to be deliberately avoiding letting these folks do their jobs. It’s practically got to be deliberate.

Any takers?

philwynk on March 13, 2009 at 10:36 PM

After had I stopped laughing about the 25 DVDs I did consider whether it was a calculated insult, but I couldn’t think of any satisfactory reason why Mr Obama would want to do that. As we have seen, it justs encourages people to consider him to be classless and rude. Mr Obama strikes me as man who wants to be liked so why would he want to do something that would make people love him less?

Furthermore I am inclined to think that we don’t need to posit any dark, mysterious hypothesis because it can be fully explained by his self-centred arrogance and his inexperience. He doesn’t seem to me to be the sort of man who would understand the purpose, usefulness and importance of etiquette and procedure.