I knew it would happen, and today it did.
I received a call from a former client and friend, a guy in his late 70s, who was a huge Obama supporter and a fairly mainstream liberal and Democrat.
In the past my friend very much enjoyed getting me agitated by frequently mentioning the latest Frank Rich or Maureen Dowd column about the evil of Sarah Palin. At his age, getting me aggravated was pretty much his main form of entertainment.
In the months after the election the relationship was somewhat strained. There were certain things we just didn’t talk about, although he would poke me in the political eye from time to time.
I haven’t spoken to my friend in many months, probably since the fall or summer. So I was pleased when his name showed up as an incoming call on my cell phone, although I wondered how we would dance around the subject of Him.
The first sentence out of his mouth was, “Let’s get it out of the way, you were right about Obama.”
Not being satisfied with mere contrition, I asked him whether he was bs-ing me, and he said no, he meant it.
My friend spends half the year in Florida along with his similarly ancient friends. He’s predicting a “Republican sweep” in November, although his dissatisfaction with Obama is not the result of a conversion to conservatism. He feels that Obama broke so many promises, and “he’s just another politician.”
If Obama has lost my friend, the Frank Rich-loving, Sarah Palin-hating greedy Democratic geezer that he is, the Democrats are in deep electoral trouble.
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Comments
Democrats don't even know how much trouble they are in.
no, they don't – ostriches in every sense of the word.
for months after Nov. 2008, i despaired for my country. i'm fairly pragmatic, but like most people – optimism is a siren's song that beckons even thru the darkest fog.
i'm so proud of my fellow Americans. sounds corny, i know. but we are up to the challenges ahead of us. i read something every day that substantiates this. today – THIS was the icing on my cake.
I am a Republican who is an independent but not registered as one. Obama sucked me in. Now I rarely say I voted for him. I wish with all my heart I could take it back. He was going to bring us together, include Republicans, etc. But I should have read his books instead of listening to him.
One of my closest friends is a hard core union man (he works for the UP Railroad) and a died-in-the-wool Texas Democrat (you know the kind; my daddy and was a Democrat, my granddaddy was a Democrat, and by God, being a Democrat is good enough for me).
I dont think the guy has ever voted for a Republican in his entire life. But he recently told me that he would vote for anyone, including a damn yellow dog, before he will ever vote for another Democrat. He is not anomalous to many Texas Democrats. They understand that the Democrats have overreached in a way that has not been seen since the days of FDR which resulted in term limits for presidents.
My county, decidedly dark blue, recently elected the first Republican sheriff in our history. We currently have a couple of Republicans on the County Commissioner's Court, something that would have been unthinkable just two short years ago. The latest primary found Democrats jumping across the lines to vote in the Republican primary for Rick Perry (when Kay Bailey was thought to be a shoe-in). When the registration of a county is like mine (70%-D/30%-R), Democrats have to jump ship in order for any Republican to get elected.
My friend is also symbolic of a lot of Americans, votes Democrat, but are still social/fiscal conservatives because they have never taken a dime from the government and have worked to support their families and meet their needs their entire lives.
The Democrats are counting on American ADSD, hoping that by the mid-terms, voters will forget how they have acted. But I don't think they will.
There is only one way to deal with the promises and statements of politicians. Ignore most of them. Forget about statements of a glorious future based on good feelings.
We should think of politicians as construction contractors. We don't need statements like "it will be the best building you could imagine". We do need blueprints and references. Has he built similar buildings? How did they turn out?
Tell Me About The Past
==========
I want a politician to tell me about the past. What has he done, what has already worked well, and why? Maybe he didn't do it himself, but he has seen something that worked, and he wants to apply it and describe it.
In a world with websites, he can report all of his ideas in detail, and link to the plan that worked, in detail. He can hire the people who implemented the plan that worked. He can make his plan subject to review and criticism. Before election, please.
==========
Even though this one fellow is now remorseful, the commander in chief, who will look you right in the eye and lie to your face probably has more tricks up his sleeve. It's not time to rest, what with republican leadership busy in cat-houses instead of focusing on the real issue, the white house.
Hot digity dog. People, smarter than I, have put to words what I've been thinking since Obama announced his candidacy. Because I think Republicans are as phony as Democrats, I'm leaving their party and registering as an independent. Obama has done more damage to this country, by splitting us in half, than anyone could have imagined. It's up to all of us who think that way to keep reminding others between now & November. We won't forget the thuggery. Or will we?
The DemocRATs are TOAST in November this year and in 2012 the cleansing of the political liberals, socialists, progressives, and Marxist ideologues from the body politic will continue.
The New American Revolution has begun and the Tea Party Movement is one of it's inspirations. Obama is a Marxist liar and dissembler; only the blind can not see it clearly by now. And yes, there still are many blind zombies out there.
I'm sure if Obama keeps telling us we're a bunch of ignorant racists, we will eventually defer to his opinion on how we should vote on things.
Or, you know, the opposite of that.
We won't forget the thuggery, or the corruption, or the health care nightmare, or porkulus, or the insulting of our allies and cozying up to our enemies, or the shameful treatment of Honduras, or the sneering way Obama talks about his opponents. No, we won't forget.
But we are going to have to beat them by more than the margin of cheating! The way Obama said, "That's what elections are for" makes me very nervous that the Dems are planning such a horrendous flood of fraud that we will have to outspend, outwork, and outvote them by a 2-1 margin.
All of us need to decide right now how much we're willing to spend to elect decent candidates (it'll cost us much, much more if we don't), and start sending money NOW to the ones we like.
Then we have to decide how many hours we're willing to work over the next 7 months. Pick the candidate(s) you're willing to volunteer for, and contact them to offer your help. No experience necessary; they'll find something you can do!
Then, pray.
I'd be a guessing that there'll be a "wag the dog" deception come this September or October.
Giving that tire biter a hard enough shack to get him off your leg is going to be a lot harder than you think.
But best of luck!
Oh I think a number of hard left Democrats know they are in trouble. You can tell by the nature of their attacks. Desperate, ill-conceived ad hominen attacks that often backfire on them are one kind. They are kind of like people going down for third time in a septic tank that they helped to fill up.
I wonder who he plans to support in the next presidential primaries? Hillary, maybe?
My Dad's in his last 70s–and that's not ancient!
There's a darned good reason we usually elect Governors or Generals or Vice Presidents, and only rarely sitting members of Congress, is that administrative experience matters. Would that we considered more private sector achievers instead of Beltway politicians for the highest office.
None of the three sitting members of Congress elected President survived their first term – Garfield and Kennedy were assassinated, Harding died of a heart attack.
Changing the butts warming the seats on Congress isn't going to be enough. I'm excited to see several serious folks putting together proposed Constitutional Amendments to clarify the limits on Federal Power (esp. through the Interstate Commerce Clause).
If we can get that and a balanced budget amendment passed, we'll really be on the way to restoring the Republic!
Woo-Hoo! Obama may yet turn out to be one of the Great Presidents…by over-reaching in the Democrats' attempt to shove the country into Socialism.
Orion
When i think of Obama's plan for America, i think of the Goodfellas' plan for the Bamboo Lounge. And i only wish thought i was being cute.
I wonder if this gentleman, retired I presume, suddenly sees the possibility of his company-provided health care disappearing. My 80 year old aunt who retired from AT&T; is terrified they'll yank the health benefits and she'll get dumped into Medicare and a "pain pill."
So much for "You can keep the plan you have."
I believe the historical parallel here is the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854.
What the democrats don't realize is that 2010 is 2006 all over again, but this time it is the Republicans who are in the ascendency.
It is hard to believe that the dems could destroy so much good will so quickly, but they have. They over reached thinking that rather than voting for liberal programs the populace was voting against the Republicans.
Anyone who voted for Obama was either a commie or wasn't smart enough to know Obama is a commie…
Our President has bowed to our enemies (and even bowed to some of our friends).
He's trashed Israel at every turn out of some dark hatred for the Jews.
He is an embarassment to all Americans.
We don't have to wait for 2012 to fire him.
He also happens to be guilty of bribing a sitting US Congressman and participating in a conspiracy to commit extortion against a sitting US Congressman (Eric Massa).
Barack Obama is a criminal.
He should be impeached the moment Republicans take control back of our government
Here is an amateur video of Michelle Obama speaking during the campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht1qeK3roU0&feature;=player_embedded
Listen carefully to what she says at the 17 second mark. Yes, that's what I heard, too.
William, that's exactly the phone call many of us have been dreaming about. We've heard about the shifts in poll numbers from the media folks, but I haven't seen much of the "wow, I coulda had a V8!" reversals.
Nice to hear specific examples of someone pulling their head out of the sand.
-Jeff
"Democrats don't even know how much trouble they are in."
And even when they find out, they still won't know. I've had house plants with a greater capacity for learning.
McGehee may think he knows house plants with a greater capacity for learning than the Democrats but somebody can point me to the Republican that looks like a rocket scientist next to a house plant. Please. The fact that the national republican party thinks local pols should decide if Obamacare is something they should address in the coming elections shows 1) they don't believe there are any principles involved (ie. they're willing to compromise), and 2) they don't have a policy that can be a litmus test where we can judge the candidates.
Try changing your perspective! Why do only working people get their income reported by W-2's and IRS Form 1099-misc? Redistributed income should be reported on IRS Form 1099-GOV. Too simple. Too fair. Too cheap (they already file these forms at EVERY government shop…on those that work!). Wake up!!! In order to track the money you have to know where it goes!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/
Here is another "Liberal Democrats" turned against Obama…
http://votingfemale.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/liberal-dems-discussing-obama-cos-communist-threat-to-dem-party-and-the-us/
I have only bad thoughts for your geezer friend. He helped put Obama in the White House, so we have him to thank for everything that has gone so terribly wrong, and his regrets are worth less than nothing.
It's tempting to count this one old guy as representative of many more we haven't heard from but I have to wonder. the fact that he's your friend shows that he's a better person than the average liberal. He might be very non-representative.
I'd feel better with a bigger sample.
I had a friend in his early 70's (loved the little digs about age you probably put in just to poke at your friend 🙂 but we didn't dance, we went to war with each other. Famous PR guy, spent a year in the Johnson White House, supposedly a Masters in Political Science but whose anti-Bush rage reduced his repertoire to endless loops of "Bush is an Moron."
We ended our friendship (mutually, I think) but this gives me hope that even he might finally be seeing the light.
But FIRST, we must create a groundswell, as follows:
A Congress of career politicians will NEVER allow us to constitutionally term limit them by an amendment. But… WE CAN IMPOSE term limits on them in Congressional elections (‘2010, 2012, 2014……):
1. Never reelect your Congressman or Senator.
2. Always vote, but only for the strongest challenger , regardless of party .
If Congress has not passed a term limits bill by 2014, repeat this in 2016, 2018….
Our only intelligent choice is to NEVER REELECT anyone in Congress!
The only infallible, unstoppable, guaranteed way to get a truly new Congress, AND a new politics, is NEVER REELECT ANY INCUMBENT! DO IT EVERY ELECTION until term limits is ratified. In other words, don't let anyone serve more than one term until Congress passes a term limits bill!
NEVER REELECT ANYONE IN CONGRESS. DO IT EVERY ELECTION! … until we ratify term limits.
Nelson Lee Walker of tenurecorrupts.com