Archive for February, 2013

Words like credibility and gravitas get tossed around a lot and in the process land in places they don’t belong. Sometimes, however, they land dead on. Such is the case with Bob Woodward. I think for those of us who lived through Watergate, and were at least old enough to grasp the fact that something politically earth-shattering was occurring, “Woodward and Bernstein” are names tattooed on our brains.  Since their extraordinary investigative journalism led to the resignation of then President Richard Nixon, Bob Woodward has spent decades rightfully earning a certain amount of respect for the seriousness with which he continues to approach reporting, and critiquing, our politicians and our nation.

Which is why his comments during a Fox News interview today are so important and why the White House reaction and response are so deeply disturbing.

Woodward, based upon his decades-long access to and writing about every President since Nixon called President Obama’s approach to the sequestration issue “mad”…as in insane. Needless to say his comment landed with a thud at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Questioning the sanity of a sitting President is bold under the best of circumstances. But with a President as “thin-skinned” as this one (again Woodward’s language, not mine) and as intentionally insulated from criticism by a generally fawning press, it turns out to be dangerous.  The response to Woodward’s comment came from a high level White House staffer who chewed Woodward out for thirty minutes on the phone then followed up with an email warning him he would “regret” what he was saying publicly.

This President and those who surround him govern by bullying, disregard and hubris. I’ve written about their approach long before this latest incident. What I find so disturbing, as should every American, is the now fully unmasked disregard this President has come to exhibit for the dignity, sanctity and scope of the office to which he was elected. Further, he seemingly couldn’t care less about the desires and preferences of the citizens who put him there.

Bob Woodward has verbalized what many of us have thought for some time now. Either Barack Obama does not care about the destruction of the United States or he intends it to happen. Either way, he is mad. And either way, Bob Woodward has had the courage to call it like it is.

Finally, credibility and gravitas in action.

To know Barney was to love him. He was a sweet-natured feline who didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Unfortunately, he also didn’t have any sense of, or respect for, boundaries. At his worst, Barney would think nothing of jumping into your lap even if another cat was already there. He simply was “wired” in such a way that wherever he wanted to be, and whenever he wanted to be there…well, his intention was always his priority regardless of who or what was in his way.

Michelle Obama’s appearance as a presenter at the Academy Awards last night instantly brought back memories of Barney and his total lack of appropriate boundaries.

There appears to be no aspect of our lives that this Administration, and other Progressives, consider beyond the scope of their involvement and/or regulation. Like Barney, and his dismissal of all laws natural, Progressives proceed full steam ahead with a “damn the Constitution and God-given rights” attitude should either be in their way.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to tell you how much soda you can drink with disregard for the Bill of Rights and First Amendment. President Obama and Vice President Biden want to prohibit, or restrict, how you can defend yourself and your family despite your rights under the Second Amendment. Michelle Obama wants to tell you what vegetables to eat and she wants to dress up as an Oscar to tell you how good movies are for you, even when they are not so subtly indoctrinating you with a particularly Progressive agenda.

Call me crazy, but just as I wanted Barney to understand there were places and times that his appearances were unwelcome, so too do I want my politicians to understand that they are not my nutritionists, my parents, or my movie critics.

When I was in law school I had a professor who called me into his office one day to impart some unsolicited “fatherly advice” as he phrased it. He told me he had seen lots of students pass through those hallowed halls over the years and it was his observation that I “just didn’t have what it takes” to be a lawyer. He recommended that I “drop out of school and find another career.” I listened respectfully and when he finished I replied, “I have a father. If I want fatherly advice I’ll ask him.” I went on to graduate and successfully practice law. He died a year later.

It’s important that we know our boundaries. Deliberately ignoring them indicates a level of hubris worth noting. Therefore, I want Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama, Vice President Biden, Michelle Obama and all the other Progressives who lack any sense of boundaries to “step back jack” and stay out of those areas of my life that God and the U.S. Constitution deem mine to live and regulate.

While most of the country is easily distracted (and manipulated) into following either the Grammy Awards or a firefight between a heinous ex-LAPD cop and various law enforcement agencies, some of us have been otherwise engaged. There are actually reasons to be concerned, but among them aren’t Taylor Swift’s latest stab at an ex-boyfriend or the political rant of an ex-cop gone bad.

In case you missed it, Russian President Vladimir Putin has bought enough gold over the last decade to equal three times the size of the Statue of Liberty hedging against collapse of the EURO and the U.S. dollar.  His secretary of State has deliberately snubbed our recently confirmed Secretary of State by not returning Kerry’s phone call relating to North Korea’s provocative nuclear test (a direct diplomatic smack in the face).  Further, two Russian nuclear-armed bombers circled the western Pacific island of Guam just prior to President Obama’s State of the Union speech apparently directly addressing and taunting President Obama’s unrelenting determination to dismantle our nuclear deterrent capabilities.

I don’t write a blog to instill or escalate fear. There’s enough of that in main stream media, Hollywood productions and video games. I do, however, write to awaken and inform.  Yesterday, on my talk radio show “The Gold Standard” I spent the hour looking at “apathy” and “victimization” and how they lead to enslavement and violence, respectively.

Unless enough of our citizens awaken to the immanent need to question his or her focus, values and energies… we are in for a boat load of trouble that will make what happened on the Carnival cruise ship “Triumph” look like a stroll in the park.

If, by chance, you feel overwhelmed and tend to take the stance that you are just one person so what can you do anyway, well… try writing U.S. Senator Ted Cruz from Texas a “Thank You.”   He may be the “new kid on the [Congressional] block” but he’s doing the heavy lifting in Congress you say you always want from your elected officials.  He’s taken on the status quo and refusing to play by the “accepted” rules. You can thank him for the delay in the Chuck Hagel nomination for Secretary of Defense, a delay that is warranted if, for no other reason, than dubious and misleading statements Hagel made under oath that necessitate further scrutiny.

Email the thank you to Senator Cruz and write your own Senators praising Cruz’s courage as exemplary. Then rethink whether you ought to be a passive follower of movie star romances and real-time gun fights or an informed and engaged citizen.