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The Obama Watch
His Queeg Moment
A perspective on our president from Down Under.
In Herman Wouk’s classic World War II novel, The Caine Mutiny, there is a moment when a group of the ship’s officers are getting away from the increasingly eccentric Captain Queeq by relaxing ashore.
Suddenly the malcontent Lieutenant Keefer asks the others: “Does it occur to you that Captain Queeg may be insane?
In fact Queeg is not insane, at least not at that time. He is simply grappling, more and more disastrously, with a job too big for him. Come the crisis of a typhoon, he becomes paralyzed and nearly sinks the ship by failing to give the obvious orders. At the subsequent court-martial he appears quite normal until he breaks down under the pressure of cross-examination. Before this, the officers have searched the regulations for guidance, but the regulations refer only to a captain who is clearly and unmistakably insane, not one who is merely guilty of eccentricity and bad judgment. At a lower level of responsibility, Queeg might have performed adequately, but with Keefer’s question, the remaining respect for Queeg’s office has gone.
Obama’s second inauguration speech may be his Queeg moment — an undeniable demonstration that, in an emergency, he is incapable of grappling with reality. For all his unceasing invocation of the word “change,” the outstanding thing about Obama has been his apparent inability to react, even to an imminent crisis. Like Queeg, he stands frozen on the bridge as the waves grow higher, or obsesses over issues like homosexuals and women in the military as the typhoon rises.
Faced with the worst looming fiscal cliff-fall in world history Obama, like Queeg in the typhoon, has done nothing at all, but has, increasingly, resorted to meaningless words. His pseudo-Keynesian fiscal notions and a mantra-like repetition of old and failed ideas, suggest a serious lack on mental versatility.
Economics is not an exact science, but some of its rules are now well-known, and one is that a government cannot spend its way out of a recession.
Yet Obama does not project any sense of urgency, merely a smug, radiating sense of his own greatness. The one fiscal measure to which he seems committed — taxing the rich — is infantile stuff, like Queeg’s obsession with who ate the wardroom strawberries. Any first-year politics or economics student knows that there are not enough rich, even in as wealthy a country as the United States, to have raising their taxes make any appreciable difference. President Reagan’s application of the Laffer Curve proved emphatically, and only a short while ago, that the way to both stimulate the economy and to increase government revenues is to lower taxes. And it is not hard to pick some areas as least where towering taxes would make no appreciable difference to public infrastructure.
Like Queeg, Obama shows an inability to change course when such a change is desperately needed. Giving 20 F-16 fighters and hundred of tanks to Egypt was never, in my opinion, a clever idea. Even when Egypt was an unequivocal friend its security required things like armored cars to put down street violence, not these hi-tech weapons whose only conceivable use would be against Israel. Indeed, Obama seems to show no awareness that Egypt and other major Islamic countries have changed from being friends to something like enemies in a few months. For a President of the United States there is a difference between making a bad policy choice and clinging to that policy when it is plainly completely wrong, like the Caine steaming in a circle and cutting its own tow-line. Mistakes that cannot be ignored are always someone else’s fault (refer George Bush).
The dancing is still there, the golf, the celebs, the multi-million dollar holidays, but behind them it is possible to detect a desperate emptiness, a interconnected mosaic of failure. The one much-boasted triumph, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, was the work of other men. One of those most responsible, Dr. Shakil Afridi, rots in the hellhole of a Pakistani jail, abandoned. Obama’s oath to bring the Benghazi murderers to justice seems to have been forgotten as soon as it was made, something — I am not sure if there is a word for it — actually below the level of a campaign promise. Allies have been lost or slighted in almost every part of the world, the Afghan war has brought the U..S and NATO humiliation and Russia and China lead in Space. The defenses of the U.S.’s major allies, such as Britain, are in an even more dire situation.
This does not even consider the exploding levels of domestic poverty. Restoring flexibility to the wage system, so as to give American industry a reasonable degree of competitiveness, seems out of the question.
The Western position in Mali seems to have suddenly collapsed without warning, or without preventative action being taken, and meanwhile, we have had the North Korean threat. I somehow doubt we would have had that if Reagan had been at the helm. What, exactly have things come to when a cockroach of a country, apparently run by real, certifiable lunatics, can threaten the United States with nuclear weapons? The typhoon waves are starting to break over the bridge.
Photo: UPI
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (120) | Leave a comment
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Arnie| 1.29.13 @ 6:19AM
Well, down under, Obama would get about 70-80 percent support. And Howard of the conservative, Liberal Party, instituted some of the most restrictive gun legislation in the world. And it's successful.
And Australians are extremely rich, and have more labor and health protections than Americans, but that's another discussion.
Doctor Right| 1.29.13 @ 8:28AM
Australians are "extremely rich"???
Really? Because I lived in Australia for a year. And I saw a wide diversity of incomes, from the very rich to the very not-so-rich.
Any healthy, free-market, capitalist economy will have a wide range of incomes, and therefore a wide income disparity between top and bottom - but a healthy and full spread between the two poles.
However, to say, as a general rule, that Australians are "extremely rich" is nonsensical.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.29.13 @ 10:29AM
State of the Union 2013:
Obama surveys the audience and proclaims, "Who forgot to tax the strawberries?"
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 1:08PM
Very good Bill. What about TLP and the contest? Has Colebatch just won it?
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:10PM
No. You're Mother just won it for her Impersonation of Linda Lovelace in my Basement.
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 3:10PM
Sorry my friend, not funny.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 3:55PM
I am really sorry, Al.
I've responded to Arnie and vtwin so much today, that I guess I didn't pay attention to who I was talking to.
My fingers were working without the help of my brain.
I can't tell you how sorry I am.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 3:56PM
I Flucked up.
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 4:54PM
All is forgiven my brother.
Otis, my man!| 1.29.13 @ 11:32AM
Arnie,
You are correct. Australia's gun control is succesful at being restrictive. And as a result, robbery and burglary rates have skyrocketed. The Australians now have a problem, as do the Britains and the Canadians, with "hot burglaries." I'll let you google that phrase yourself, rather than explain it.
Most clever Australian gun owners still have their guns, but they are cleverly hidden.
Australian medical care is no where near as good as ours, but soon it will be, because Obamacare will inevitably bring ours down to the Aussie level.
If you live there, stay there. If you live here, why don't you move there?
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 12:30PM
Standard NRA lie. The Australian government has asked the NRA to remove it from their web site.
old white guy| 2.1.13 @ 3:26PM
millions of canadians are armed. you will only see a high crime rate in cities that prosecute people for defending themselves.the state, ie province, always loses those prosecutions. juries always aquit those who are defending themselves. there are stupid people all over the world.
Murl| 2.1.13 @ 11:32AM
Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1 were describing you, Arnie.
You are like the Pharoah in Egypt when God sent the 10 plagues, and still Pharoah refused to let the Israelites go. Obama would be killing your first born, and you'd be in the other room bowing down in worship and adoration, and lauding him as the 2nd coming.
Sadly, there are no words to convince you of what an utter and contemptible troll you are.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 12:56PM
As mythical a story as the woman defending her children with her assault weapon.
old white guy| 2.1.13 @ 3:22PM
and you,arnie, live in an alternate universe.
Kitty | 1.29.13 @ 6:19AM
Mr. Colebatch, you seem to believe that Obama wants to solve these problems. I think you should consider that he doesn't.
Doctor Right| 1.29.13 @ 8:29AM
Agree, completely.
Obama's speech - moronic though it was - delivered a message to his supporters.
Obama is NOT the President of all Americans; he is only the President of those who donate to him and pledge their fealty. The rest of us are screwed.
TSIndiana| 2.3.13 @ 9:38AM
As in the 47% who were faily well promised to be screwed by Romney?
darcy| 1.30.13 @ 4:13AM
That was my thought, too, throughout the reading of the piece. My contention is that it's commonly understood among conservatives that our country's collapse is his goal. He's more a Captain Ahab than he is a Captain Queeg; America is the white whale and he intends to spear it. And I for one hope he comes to the same end as Ahab, figuratively, of course. What delicious irony.
No_BlahBlah| 2.1.13 @ 10:20AM
Another clueless pundit who refuses to do his research about oCommie's background, influences and associates.
Not hard to figure out what's going on if you stop in your naive belief that he wanted to be president for the same reason every other presidential candidate ever has(well maybe excepting jfk, who was trying to please his father).
Sad really.
Appleby| 1.29.13 @ 6:45AM
A Canadian colleague commented to me the other day that Obama would make a better Canadian prime minister than he does an American President. I doubt that, since the average prime minister has to make constant deals with minority parties to get anything done, and Canadian minority parties are attack dogs. But if Obama was prime minister, he would have been booted out of office AND out of the government entirely, about 3 years ago.
Arnie| 1.29.13 @ 6:56AM
No, actually Obama is quite popular in Canada. Generic Republican, i.e. Romney, gets about 10 percent support there.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le4381177/
Roscoe| 1.30.13 @ 9:41AM
It should've occurred to you that the reason he's popular in Canada is that they're there, & he's here.
Poppakap| 2.1.13 @ 10:08AM
Once again Arnie shows why he's a jack of all trades and an Ace of none.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 12:58PM
Wow!!! THAT'S a persuasive argument!!!
No_BlahBlah| 2.1.13 @ 10:24AM
???
You didn't address Appleby's observation that oCommie as prime minister must be constantly involved in the legislative process and can't pretend he is King. His own party would have dispatched him quickly.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 12:59PM
Obama offered cuts to Medicare and SS in the 2011 debt ceiling talks but the Republicans couldn't say "yes."
TSIndiana| 2.3.13 @ 9:56AM
That's because they swore to sabatoge everything he does, even if it wrecks the country.
It's hard to imagine Jewish racists..but this site proves it.
PJ| 1.29.13 @ 7:23AM
I happened to think that Capt Queeg was certifiably insane with some lucid moments.
That said Obama is just over his head administratively---- remember, no experience. Yet, he has an anti-American agenda that was developed during during his youth. His minions are carrying it out irrespectful of constitutional law, his constituents' well-being, & common sense. This is not crazy but power-grabbing while some would actually call it evil.
buckeyeman| 1.29.13 @ 12:51PM
The Queeg analogy interesting but fundamentally flawed. Queeg was a mediocre but basically decent man. He was borderline competent when there was no stress but in over his head beyond that. His personality was flawed and his arrogance led him to irrational lengths.
In sharp distinction, Obama is evil. He calculates and connives. Queeg's irrationality led to his undoing. Obama's calculated mendacity causes him to slap us in the face with his many contradictions and double-dog dare us to confron him. Which "we" won't. I say again, evil.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:20PM
The Queeg analogy is totally wrong.
A more apt analogy would be that of Pol Pot.
Remember the Jubilation at the Fall of the Cambodian Government, and the Immaculation of the Communist - Pol Pot.
The people were Dancing in the Streets. He offered them Hope and Change and Fairness. The Rich needed to be Punished. And soon it was a Capitol Crime to be Rich, a Businessman, a Teacher, a Doctor, a Lawyer, a Successful Person of any kind.
Sound Familiar?
The cheering throngs were soon replaced by a Terrified Populace, as one by one, their Loved Ones were taken away at Gunpoint, for Reeducation.
Everyone had the same. They all had Nothing, soon to have a Bullet in Their Head, and a place in his Killing Fields.
THAT is where we are, today.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:00PM
That seems a bit extreme, even for a conservative.
rhcrest| 2.2.13 @ 3:07PM
I don't think TLP's analogy was extreme at all. Just give Obama some time. He just hasn't gotten to the shooting people in the head or the reeducation camps yet. Just give him some time. That is the problem. People seem to be in disbelief to the reality that the person occupying the Oval Office is utterly evil beyond anything any of us could imagine. It's called being naive.
derekcrane | 1.29.13 @ 6:09PM
Queeg was believed by his men to be a coward. When the boat was under fire Queeg would hide on the side of the boat opposite the line of fire. Obama avoids the tough interviews and prefers the news outlets away from any difficult or dangerous questions.
Queeg played with two large ball bearings to relieve tension. Obama plays with a very large basketball and smaller golf balls to mitigate stress.
Queeg was eventually relieved of duty. There are still four years left with Obama.
Alan| 1.29.13 @ 7:34AM
Not quite sure what part of Alinsky's book writers on this site can't grasp. He's not a politician, he's a revolutionary.
CJW| 1.29.13 @ 8:19AM
I agree. Obama is incopetent and crazy only if you belileve he is a traditional president who respects the Constitution and our country. Obama was clear that he wants to radically transform our country and redistribute the wealth. Just look at his friends/associates: Rev Wright and the terrorists Dohrn and Ayers.
If he cared about Israel's safety he would not sell the Muslim Brotherhood's Egypt the weapons.
SeymourGlass| 1.29.13 @ 12:48PM
Wrong. He's neither a politician nor a revolutionary. He's a narcissist who, let's be honest, achieved a LOT in a short period of time. His views are the ones he rode to power, tempered into those which will, he's been told by his handlers, will keep him in power.
Poppakap| 2.1.13 @ 10:19AM
I've got to disagree Seymour.
Regarding your definition of a revolutionary: you might disagree that his tactics don't quite qualify but it would be stretching rationality to disagree that his goals, worldview, and associates (komrades?) are.
Did you know BHO was part of a distinguished panel of sickle & hammer aficionados who commented on Alinsky's work and tactics following a play dedicated to the "Rules For Radicals" writer? This occurred in Chicago during the 90's (I've forgotten the exact year) when he was a rising agitator. If that very personal advocacy of radical tactics doesn't qualify one as revolutionary, what does?
Poppakap| 2.1.13 @ 10:26AM
One other point to add to my comment: what exactly are Obama's achievements? In other words, what has Obama accomplished besides rising in power? I don't like equating a rise in power with achievement/accomplishment. Power can be accumulated through ruthlessness, narcissism, ideological association, etc. In other words, the list of negative attributes one can use/possess to gain power is long and is in direct opposition to legitimate accomplishment.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:04PM
Obamacare, Lilly Ledbetter Act, end of DADT, non-enforcement of the unconstitutional DOMA, the stimulus, and all of the additions to the stimulus that he's been able to convince/trick the Republicans into passing.
SeymourGlass| 1.29.13 @ 12:49PM
And, it must be said, in that respect, he's no different from a long line of men who've held this office.
CJW| 1.29.13 @ 5:18PM
No, do not agree with your opinion. He is out to change the country. He said so. Read his two books, and listent to his speeches. He is very clear about his intentions. He is not complicated. The problem is most, especially the MSM, view him as a traditional politician. I agree he is a narcissist, but he is a committed ideologue of the left. Other politicians, Bubba most notably, are also narcissist.
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 1:05PM
W:
There is much to consider in this article. Not least is that we are fortunate in having the 25th amendment which, given the clear mental state of the president, might be worth consideration.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:01PM
The weapons aren't being "sold" (I would say given) to the Muslim Brotherhood. They are going to the Egyptian army, which still pretty much opposes the Brotherhood.
R Martin| 1.29.13 @ 7:50AM
Mr. Colebatch, may I borrow your piece for my entry in Friday's contest...please?
CJW| 1.29.13 @ 8:14AM
RM
"Everyone is trying to get in act."
CJW| 1.29.13 @ 8:14AM
"the act."
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 1:10PM
I think Colebatch just won the contest.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:21PM
Contest on Friday.
Pecos Pete| 1.29.13 @ 8:26AM
Ricky: No, you may not. I already wrote an extensive piece, ready for posting: Hillary as Queeg. Just shows that great minds think alike.
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 1:34PM
Clinton as Queeg. No. Bogart was better looking.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:22PM
I'm prettier than she is.
Pecos Pete| 1.29.13 @ 3:04PM
Absolutely!
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 3:11PM
No doubt.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 3:58PM
I will take that as an acceptance of my apology.
Thank You.
Al Adab| 1.29.13 @ 4:56PM
TLP;
See above
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.29.13 @ 8:33AM
As I read the article, that's what I thought-another early entry (...and I proved, using geometric logic, that a contest did exist, and I've have produced that contest, if they hadn't pulled TLP out of action. I know now that they were merely trying to protect Happy Jack...).
JimH| 1.29.13 @ 8:36AM
Too bad in this case his thieving mutinous crew is working with the captain against the rest of us. I never read the book, but I have seen the movie a few times. I think another parallel with Queeq is the sense resentment brought on by their encounters with the rich.
Pecos Pete| 1.29.13 @ 8:36AM
What, exactly, has King O and his merry band of czars accomplished? Other than to never passing a federal budget, extending the welfare state through deficit spending and increasing debt, eliminating liberty with regulations and the Department of Homeland Security, avoiding and ignoring the Constitution with regulations and Executive Orders, castrating the military, and making a comedy of our foreign affairs?
I'm sure the Local Stupid Communist Village Idiots can provide an extensive list of accomplishments.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:07PM
Both Republicans and Democrats support the PATRIOT Act, which I would consider the single biggest danger to freedom in this century.
Maxwell| 1.29.13 @ 8:58AM
I just have one basic question, what event will happen that is so catastrophic that it will cause the whole ball of yarn to unravel & have people FINALLY sit up and notice, we are in a real snot hole of trouble? Can in the next four years the lid finally blow off in so many places that Barry will be pictured with his finger up his nose? Just asking.
ncatty| 1.29.13 @ 10:52AM
Those things have already happened. The economy and Benghazi being examples of events that should have shaken the administration to the core. Instead, they are handed another term.
Bob K| 1.29.13 @ 11:02AM
It will have to be something that greatly upsets the media or something that it cannot ignore or minimize with interminable articles about Golf Professionals who want to leave California because of it's high taxes!
See above. AS here is part of the media you know?
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:24PM
In other words: Nothing.
SUBVET| 1.29.13 @ 11:28AM
Max............may I remind you about.....Daniel 2:21
Sit back and watch the show.......maybe pop some corn to enjoy the main feature...we age just seeing the previews now.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:09PM
So far, He seems to favor Obama.
BShep| 1.29.13 @ 1:25PM
Interest rates finally catching up with inflation. When this happens and the bond market stops lending to the US because the interest due each year is larger than the amount of tax collected the "whole ball of yarn" will unravel.
Unfortunately, no one will be able to afford a loaf of bread or gallon of milk either.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:12PM
The US is still borrowing at the lowest interest rates of any country in the world - negative interest rates if you take (some) inflation into account. You guys have been predicting an interest rate rise since Obama's FIRST inauguration - when is it gonna happen???
Ned the Red| 1.29.13 @ 11:02AM
From the Column: Obama’s oath to bring the Benghazi murderers to justice seems to have been forgotten as soon as it was made, something — I am not sure if there is a word for it — actually below the level of a campaign promise.
He did an "OJ" remember how he was going to spend the rest of his days searching for the true killer or killers.
Bill8472| 1.29.13 @ 2:11PM
I favor the term "will o' the wisp" when discussing Presidential promises to "leave no stone unturned," to "work non-stop for X result," and to "bring Y to justice."
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.29.13 @ 2:17PM
...focused like a laser...
RJ| 1.29.13 @ 11:56AM
Octobama's real talent is having enablers who allow him to live in a virtual reality. The man is an obnoxious Chancey Gardner. I can't imagine the amount of emotional baggage he must be carrying. A sad fate is in store for a country that has a twisted fool for a leader.
floridahan| 2.1.13 @ 12:30PM
Yes, it would be a fantastic story if we could get truly inside information about what all is going on in the WH -- can you imagine what things could be told by Obama's security people? It truly would be a circus of unimaginable degrees. That's why I believe the Wikileaks was great for the country -- there is so much BS going on behind closed doors that is harming the average citizen and the more those secrets are exposed, the more we can hold those responsible for injustice and corruption accountable. We need more whistleblowers to be protected, for our own sake.
Bill8472| 1.29.13 @ 1:55PM
Sadly, the difference between Captain Queeg and President Obama is that, come the crisis, President Obama doesn't have steel balls.
TLP| 1.29.13 @ 2:25PM
He'll just use Michelle's.
Sixgun| 2.1.13 @ 11:54AM
LOL... now that is funny right there, I don't care who you are
Bill8472| 1.29.13 @ 2:01PM
"We're going to raise your taxes. Kay?"
"We're going to define assault rifles to be sure you don't have any semi-autos circulating in civilian life. I kid you not."
sotto voce| 1.29.13 @ 2:46PM
Mr. Colebatch, from your vantage point half a world away, it may appear that Obama's actions stem from incompetence. To Americans who are paying attention, they appear to be part and parcel of a sinister design. Others (the Americans who are being bought off by Obama's social spending) are lulled into complacency by his lies.
cicero| 1.29.13 @ 5:27PM
The end result will not be pretty. The economy will go into recession, and the currency will be inflated at the same time, devastating the Obamamaniacs. With the disaray in the military (brought about by the sycophantic top brass who are more interested in their pensions than the country), the scoundrels around the world will have a field day. They will assume that, not only will the U.S. be in no position to intervene, but it will give them ultra-modern weapons with which to attack their enemies (victims)..
The next adminisration will be left with the mess. They will have to deal with the situation (war?) between China and Japan; the conflict caused by the maniacs is North Korea; and the ongoing butchery by the maniacs currently representing the "religion of peaace".
They will then ride off into the sunset, hundreds of millions of dollars richer, and protected from the taxpayers whom they ruined by a cordon of secret service chumps.
dickdata| 2.1.13 @ 1:16PM
Um, what good would it do to "ride off into the sunset, hundreds of millions of dollars richer" if the currency is worthless??? You need to work on your consistency. Conservatives have been predicting hyperinflation since the FIRST inauguration - when is it gonna happen???
Rick Z| 1.31.13 @ 1:47PM
The officers of the USS Caine referred to their captain as "Old Yellowstreak".
Al Adab| 1.31.13 @ 1:56PM
Old yellowstain. He ordered a dye marker dropped and turned away from the action.
Bill8472| 2.1.13 @ 10:11AM
"Yellowstain blues, I got those Yellowstain blues,
When someone fires a shot, it's always there I am not;
Yellowstain blues, those Yellowstain blues..."
Babylonandon| 2.1.13 @ 9:23AM
And people keep mocking me for using the image of Cutler Beckett from Pirates of the Caribbean to show what IS going to happen when somebody finally does fire on us for real... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXcLybhbChQ
Robert| 2.1.13 @ 9:28AM
I tire so of reading how obama is inept, insane or otherwise not up to the job. He is none of these. The entire strategy is in place and being followed to collapse the economy, use the ensuing chaos and desperation to offer 'salvation' in the form of Kaiser Obama, a la Hitler, the only option a desperate German nation could choose to solve its problems in the early 1930s. Hitler, too, offered free stuff, healthcare, 'change,' and promised grandeur to the hopeless nation. Of course, he was elected!
Sotto Voce is dead on! Obama is in NO way inept. Stop excusing his actions as those of a fool. He is cunning, sly and evil. Der zweite Fuehrer stands in waiting until the fallout from the Clovis-Pivens strategy of collapsing the US economy plays out. If you have any doubts, listen to one who was there: http://www.economicpolicyjourn.....mment-form
Poppakap| 2.1.13 @ 10:35AM
I agree that Obama is cunning and desires a nefarious end to our way of life. However, I still believe he is inept at even doing that. That's why he had to surround himself with an endless cadre of czars willing and able to execute their "dialectic."
LindaKaye| 2.1.13 @ 9:30AM
First, seeing all that Obama has done, I am no longer comfortable with a President having this much power. We need to address that issue in an amendment to the Constitution. I realize he has had the help of the totally Leftist Democrats who have controlled the Senate and for a time controlled the House. And he has also had the help of Republican RINOs who have little backbone and lean left as often as they lean right. But there is something wrong with this picture when half the electorate feels the country is being destroyed out from under them but feel powerless to stop it. WE REALLY NEED TO ADDRESS THIS.
Next, the writer of the article needs to understand that it isn't just Obama, but rather most of the Democrat Party in America totally agrees with his goals. Liberal economists do indeed believe we can spend ourselves out of a recession. This guy could have accomplished nothing if the Democrats weren't behind him 100%.
Robert| 2.1.13 @ 9:42AM
The Constitution addressees concentration of power, but only if it is the law of the land. If it is allowed to be ignored, violated and 'reinterpreted,' it is nothing but toilet paper!
Forget amending it! it takes 2/3 and 3/4 majorities. Half this country is already beholden to this regime for sustenance. We are past the point of no return. There is no salvation until the whole nation comes crashing down.
But who will extend us a Marshall Plan? Don't expect China or Russia to. They are waiting for the opportunity to pick the meat of our rotting carcass.
Thank you, loyal libs! You can blame Bush for it, but you really know in the recesses of your dark hearts, the credit will be yours!
Bill8472| 2.1.13 @ 10:34AM
The Constitutiion has been amended nearly 30 times in the past 224 years. That's an average of once about every 8 years.
Don't claim that it can't be amended. That's demonstrably untrue.
We are not past the point of no return. Hell, we haven't even stopped talking to each other.
We need to get a grip on ourselves and initiate a program of re-educating ourselves in American civics.
Poppakap| 2.1.13 @ 10:42AM
With all due respect Bill, over a third of those amendments were passed in the first 10 years of our country's existence, and most of the rest in the 100 years following. It's been a long time since an amendment was even seriously debated f0r ratification.
That being said, you are quite correct that a program of civics reeducation is needed. You are also correct in the fact that our willingness to engage presupposes the assumption of having crossed the Rubicon.
Robert| 2.1.13 @ 3:16PM
I didn't say the Constitution can't be amended. I said forget trying! If no one in positions of power respects it, why bother? The original document - when observed - has sufficient checks and balances against a rogue president.
If it had been followed, obama would be in prison on treason, if even found electable. He is not a natural born citizen, but the frauds in both parties refuse to deal with this abortion of law. Yes, his presidency is unconstitutional, but no one dares challenge it on constitutional law.
If such a basic abrogation of the governing document of this country is permitted, why bother amending an inoperative body of law?
Sixgun| 2.1.13 @ 12:02PM
Amending the Constitution is not the issue, you miss the forest for the trees. There is a movement afoot to call a Constitutional Convention and last I heard we are only two states away from making that happen. When it does, the old Constitution will be gone and the left-wing wackos will finally have their opportunity to re-write the rules to their advantage. It will not be pretty.
RadicalRighty| 2.1.13 @ 9:42AM
What a brilliant correlation.
Obama = Queeg
It's either that, or Obama is simply evil.
steveb| 2.1.13 @ 9:48AM
Mr. Colebatch is obviously a gentleman, and wants to believe Obama is doing all this by mistake. Respectfully, this is the planned takeover of our country by a hard line Marxist. Same war on the rich that has been used since the French Revolution. Same promises of prosperity for all. Same deliberate economic collapse to wield ultimate power through desperation of the people that has been repeated in socialist countries for over a century.
Let's face facts - Obama is waging secret war on Israel without firing a bullet. We are now arming Israel's enemies to the teeth, helping to overthrow governments that have made peace with our Israeli friends in the past. This is a deliberate attempt to both weaken Israel and America in the middle east. Any other view requires believing a reality that doesn't exist.
Men of honor naturally want to see the good in others, want to believe the best. Concluding Obama is simply overmatched is a sign of a mind not used to grasping evil when it is staring you right in the face. Don't feel alone, your sentiments were surely shared in Russia, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Vietnam, before the mask came off.
JIL777| 2.1.13 @ 1:51PM
SteveB,
I applaud you for your grasp of reality and also for your ability to state it! You are absolutely correct. Obama wants to be the next Hitler or Stalin, basically. And the result here, if he succeeds, will make Nazi Germany look like a nice place to live.
rhcrest| 2.2.13 @ 3:25PM
Totally agree with you JIL. It is normalcy bias and naivete combined.
Sirach| 2.1.13 @ 10:01AM
What I found to be an act of collective, national insanity was the re-election of Obama to the presidency. Have Americans no sense of their country's national interests? Or do we just have our heads in the sand? Or maybe, as the Old Testament suggests, we get the leaders we deserve.
Bill8472| 2.1.13 @ 10:10AM
Tolstoy in War and Peace built his historical novel on the thesis that at times history is a force all to itself, and unfolds in such a way that it brings people along with it instead of people making history. I used to think that was claptrap. With the events surrounding our society over the past 20 or 30 years, I have come to think that Tolstoy was right. Our decisions to destroy this society, the greatest hope for mankind to date, can only be explained by the fact that we are impelled by forces beyond our understanding and that are difficult if not impossible for us to change. How else to explain our self-destructive course since the 1970s?
Poppakap| 2.1.13 @ 10:45AM
Interesting thought. That our fellow citizens believed it was more important to elect/reelect the first (half) black POTUS than to pursue a rational path of economics and foreign policy seems to validate Tolstoy's point somewhat.
1928DOB| 2.1.13 @ 10:09AM
King Obama does not have a Queeg moment. He accomplishing exactly want to wants: the total weakening of the U.S. and near collapse of the bulwark of Western Christian influence. This goal is reached by distraction, destruction, and deceit.
TSN| 2.1.13 @ 11:57AM
Interesting analysis. Is he inept, crazy, or focused on tanking the economy (and country)? Probably a mixture of all the above.
As for the competency question, Obama puts me in mind of Tacitus (I think) who said of an emperor something to the effect, "... if he hadn't been elevated to his current position no one would have ever questioned his competency for it." Right.
Sixgun| 2.1.13 @ 12:21PM
To put it another way... most people are usually promoted to their highest level of incompetence.
soldiermom11| 2.1.13 @ 12:40PM
This article gives me hope. It is poignantly true. As bad as things will have to get to convince the masses, I am willing to suffer through if it means getting this imposter out.
avafromtexas| 2.1.13 @ 12:45PM
He's insane. I've pondered this for some time........it's evident now.
What does one do with an insane, dangerous president?
avafromtexas| 2.1.13 @ 12:48PM
Let me amend my comment by adding that this insane man is being used by those that wish to destroy this country, with his insaneness being willing to be used in such an attempt
JIL777| 2.1.13 @ 1:49PM
He is wrong. Obama is not in over his head. he knows that we are headed for economic disaster. He wants that, as the ultimate crisis that will allow him to completey remake America into his utopian ideal of a Marxist-Muslim state, which will then fall right in with the One-World Government he and others envision. Same for the same of jets to Egypt. Obama knows full well that Egypt is worse now than before the "Arab Spring." He was the one behind the Arab Spring, which was nothing more than a way of installing leaders friendly to Islam and enemies of Israel and the US. Again, it is all a way of bringing down America, to force us into a One-World Government. Wake up! Stop thinking this mad man is incompetent. He is INTENTIONALLY destroying the US.
Robert| 2.1.13 @ 2:34PM
Yes, obama is fully aware that he cannot remake the institutions so ingrained in our culture by legislation alone. Not even by bogus executive orders or ignoring selected articles of the Constitution.
He must, as Cloves and Pivens wrote, tank the economy to the point where desperate, now fully dependent-ized citizens will vote for anyone who promises a way out.
This was Hitler's MO. It is obama's, too. He is patiently executing the plan, laughing at us calling him ignorant, incapable, out of his element. He is NONE of these. He is EVIL, committed to a singular goal of bringing down the USA to the level of a 3rd world nation ruled by a totalitarian, elitist cabal.
jcam| 2.1.13 @ 2:54PM
I would agree that Obama is in way over his head and is simultaneously hyper-liberal and massively incompetent. This waving of the Reagan flag must stop as well. Reagan was the leader we needed at the time and was thus, a good President. However, we did spend heavily under Reagan and, by 1986; our deficits had increased 322%. While you do not have to go on a blind spending spree in a recession, it is widely understood to stimulate growth when done appropriately. Y=C+I+G+(x-m) =GDP does not change. Further, the growth rate in government spending exceeded the growth rate of GDP in half the years of his Presidency and sometimes wildly. It was the combination of lower tax rates, government spending, and large quantities of pent-up demand from the Carter years that caused our economic growth in the 80’s. These are not opinions, they are hard facts. We must get out of these political and personality cults that we are in (both Dems and Republicans) and begin to live in a world of reality if we are to get back on a path of growth and sustainability. And remember, the Laffer curve has an upslope as well as a down slope. The type of taxation and methodology matters as well and the first tax that needs reducing is the mindless business/corporate tax scheme which includes both the double taxation that business owners face along with high corporate rates in general. If we do not fix it, we can expect the same steady slow rate of long-term decline in America.
spoofproof | 2.2.13 @ 7:08AM
Democrats in American and the Left around the world have succeeded in getting a majority? of the world's citizens to think of life on earth in strictly economic & political terms. In the civilized industrialized West hardly anyone thinks of life as the challenge that it most certainly is. Economist Tim Morgan has done a good bit of research into what the politico-economic future holds in store. His conclusions are surprising.
A word to the wise is sufficient. The foolish learn the hard way. Obama's Coterie are the very picture of vainglorious foolishness. Read and learn: http://www.tullettprebon.com/D.....rm_009.pdf
JimT| 2.2.13 @ 8:32AM
Brilliant!
I only wonder about "...behind them it is possible to detect a desperate emptiness, a interconnected mosaic of failure."
True of you and me of course, but I suspect that His Imperial Majesty may be so dazzled by his own brilliance, so narcissistic, that like the naked emperor, he is unaware of how pathetic he appears.
Unlike the actually great, conquering Roman emperors, apparently none of his minions are willing to remind him of his own mortality, to avoid falling into hubris.
Paul Murphy | 2.2.13 @ 2:41PM
Dear Mr. Colebatch:
To make Obama's actions seem perfectly rational and competent, just assume he's working for the enemy.
Or, if that's too tough for you, try this: the next five times Obama has to make a decision, examine each alternative, pick the one that will be worst for America, and ask yourself what you should conclude from being right five times out of five.
Marc Jeric| 2.2.13 @ 4:20PM
As a former refugee from a communist hell I am reminded of the basic power structure in a communist regime:
1) Secretary General of the Party – Barack Hussein Obama;
2) Politburo – his 44 czars (i.e., commissars, all unelected) in the White House;
3) Agit-Prop Office directed by the Politburo - charged with far-left agitation and propaganda, consisting of our Main Stream Media: ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, CNN, MTV, Associated Press, Reuters, NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, and many local TV and radio stations and newspapers; (cont.)
Andrew Horn| 2.3.13 @ 12:22AM
"...his 44 czars (i.e., commissars, all unelected)..."
That's a simple lie, as any actual investigation will show. Pres. Obama has no more "unelected" officials in his government that any recent president. (And remember, the term "czar" in relation to presidential appointees was originally used during the Reagan administration- by Pres. Reagan, himself.)
Marc Jeric| 2.2.13 @ 4:21PM
4) Central Committee – Democrat Party representatives in Congress;
5) Enforcement Branch – Department of Justice under that far-left racist Attorney General Eric Holder and his 25 new assistant AG’s, formerly ACLU lawyers-defendants of Guantanamo terrorists;
6) System of local community organizations (or soviets, as these were called in the defunct [thanks, RR!] Soviet Union) under orders by the Secretary General Obama, soon to be armed as he had promised (“What we need is the domestic military with a budget as big as that of the Pentagon”);
7) Party program of disarming the general population (as per Stalin in 1926, per Hitler in 1938, per Mao in 1948), with the first step in that program accomplished by the 23 Executive Orders issued by Obama on January 16, 2013; after this first step the complete annulment of the 2nd Amendment will follow.
(cont.)
Marc Jeric| 2.2.13 @ 4:22PM
8) Establishment of jihadist regimes under the Arab Spring program (done in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt; still to go in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza, West Bank, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan), and with help of the existing jihadist regimes in Turkey, Sudan, and Iran to proceed to the destruction of Israel and the associated mass murder of all Jews there under a close supervision provided by Kerry, Brennan, and Hagel. The Benghazi murder cover-up interrupted temporarily the transfer of arms to the Syrian jihadists; but it will continue after that interruption; Egyptian jihadists received 20 fighter jets and 200 tanks as Obama’s personal gift. This work will then inevitably earn Obama his second Nobel Piece Prize (his time for a real accomplishment – not like the first one given only on the basis of Hope & Change).
9) We are well on the way to the bright future of socialism, or, rather, communism. What is left to do in the near future, after the nationalization of our health care system, is to nationalize our energy (oil & gas, coal, electricity companies) and transportation (trains, trucks, airlines) industries under the “Cap and Trade” regime imposed by the Global Warming Hoax (which, after 16 years of cooling, turned into the Climate Change Scam).
10) Gigantic amnesty for some 15 million illegal aliens without any enforcement of borders; a double victory for our communists – more votes, more welfare dependents.
Andrew Horn| 2.3.13 @ 12:18AM
Apparently, Mr. Colebatch didn't read the novel very closely, or he'd realize that the point was how the men under his command could have worked with him- how Queeg, indeed, asked for their help- but they, instead, decided it was more important to make fun of him , and undermine him. As Hank Grrenberg, the lawyer who gets the mutineers off, says in the movie " You didn't approve of his conduct as an officer. He wasn't worthy of your loyalty. So you turned on him. You ragged him. You made up songs about him. If you'd given Queeg the loyalty he needed, do you suppose the whole issue would have come up in the typhoon? "
Republicans, certain that the President is somehow not up to the job, have cinsistentlky attempted to undermine him. he offers a compromise; they say it's not enough, and refuse to budge. That's not "trying to work with" him- it's just saying "no.'" And then they say that he's being obstructionist!
Andrew Horn| 2.3.13 @ 12:30AM
I started to reply to each commetor here, but quickly realized that they are all "true believers'- people who are unable to focus their intellects into actual discussion, merely repeating what their leaders (in this case, the far-right blogosphere) have told them. "Obama's a socialist! Obama wants to destroy America! Obama is scary to me!" When rational discussion is not possible, there is no reason for rational people to enter an argument.
To be clear- I think the President (as he should be referred to- respect the office, if not the man) has made serious mistakes- but to treat him as a two-dimensional monster is just feeding the least common denominator- and will lead to further division in this terribly-divided country.
Rational people can have legitimate disagreements about ho to solve problems- simply saying "you're wrong" (or, worse, "you're stupid or "you're a traitor") won't solve the problems.
HB| 2.3.13 @ 3:23PM
Obomba's a sway! If the Liberal Socialist Demagogues can finally uproot the finer bread of society and transfer their wealth to the up and comers they then can raise and rear their chilin with the abundance of easy come/easy go, and fulfill their new world mantra of absolute total government mandated equality across the board for all. Then they can displace the standard of excellence, which has a price in the first place, and cart it off to the dump and reconstitute mediocrity as the new standard. If nobody can afford the finer things and better made stuff, then they won't need anyone to build it. DON'T TREAD ON ME, ANTIBELLUM a.
Irv Lipschitz| 2.4.13 @ 10:29AM
When we persist in characterizing obama as a deluded doufus, we only delude our doufus selves. His program intends to destroy the American dollar and the economy it supports. His rhetoric to the contrary is meant to keep us inert and hopeful, waiting for the presumed doufus to see the error of his Keynesian beliefs. But he is a Marxist, not a Keynesian, committed to the destruction of capitalism and American exceptionalism. His every act since first coming to office advances the ball down that field while hopeful doufuses stand around snickering.
Peter2| 2.8.13 @ 12:05PM
Obama sort of reminds me, too, of Peter Sellers in "Being There". Vague, smiling, using words and descriptions which have no actual meaning. He gives a bizarre meaning to the word "leader".