Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sarah Says: POTUS is Like "An Overgrown Little Boy"

It's time to Break It Down!

To be more precise, this is the direct quote the former (underscore unsuccessful) Vice Presidential candidate used recently to describe the President:

“An impatient president doesn’t just get to trample our Constitution and ignore Congress just because he doesn’t get exactly what he wants every time he wants it,” Palin said. “It’s like an overgrown little boy who’s just acting kind of spoiled. And moms, we don’t put up with that, do we?”

I’ve grown accustomed, over the years, to taking most comments made by the partial-term Alaska Governor with a grain or two, or twenty, of salt.  She has a knack for creatively influencing media coverage with the best of them.  Of course, she is most effective when operating in the friendly (to her) confines of the Fox News studio.

Alas, I confess, when she chimes in, or rather endorses the oft-repeated GOP meme of Obama as infant, I am more than a little troubled.  This past Saturday at U.S. Representative Steve King’s (Republican – Iowa) Iowa Freedom Summit, Mrs. Palin joined a number of other Republican voices in promulgating the next new attempt to minimize the stature and significance of the Leader of the Free World.

Infantilizing rhetoric such as the quote above is becoming a GOP norm with this President.  A few examples include:

·      A few years ago, U.S. Representative Joe Walsh, Republican – Illinois, characterized President Obama as being “like a teenage boy.”  Representative Walsh went on to add, “House Republicans effectively played the role of Obama’s parents.”

·      Rush Limbaugh has referred to President Obama as “the little black man-child,” and further compared him to “a little boy” that women voters “want to protect.”

·      The Wall Street Journal ran a piece last year in which a former Bush/Cheney administration official accused President Obama and his team of being “self-obsessed teenagers.”  All total, the piece referred to President Obama and his team as “teenagers” six times in nine paragraphs.

Republicans have systematically skewered Democratic Presidents going at least as far back as Presidents Carter and Clinton.  In those cases, however, the pattern did not include the insinuation that the President was less than adult.  Frankly, all the certain to be deniers notwithstanding, it strikes me as just a sneakily backhanded way to malign and otherwise disparage a black man, who just happens to be Commander-in-Chief, by calling him “boy.”  It is a slur.  Not so vile and repugnant as the infamous N-word, but a racial slur, nonetheless.

All this reviewing of the GOP mind set regarding the President leads me to an interesting idea.  Mrs. Palin has exuberantly told us what she thinks of our President.  In turn, I wonder, what do you, gentle readers, think of the imperious Sarah Palin?  Let’s transform this post into our very own plebiscite.  That’s right; I am inviting you the readers of this post to weigh in and share your thoughts on Mrs. Palin.  Feel free to make your opinion known, be it brief or exhaustive.

In my own view, if one were comparing and/or contrasting President Obama to any of the characters referenced above who assessed, shall we say, his “level of maturity,” versus theirs, objective observers would almost certainly find unanimously, that President Obama is the “adult in the room.”

"Sarah Says: POTUS is Like “An Overgrown LittleBoy!”"  What do you say?  Comments are welcome; let me know by responding in the Blog Comment Section.

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com.  Find a new post each Wednesday.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

State of the Union: Designated Survivor

It's time to Break It Down!

The State of the Union Address…that moment each year, but especially during non-General Election years, when the President of the United States addresses the entire nation in Prime Time. Following last night’s address, President Obama’s penultimate, Republicans offered a rebuttal. Then, Cable News networks and a plethora of print and digital media parsed the speech and enthusiastically told us where and why the President failed or succeeded in setting a tone and laying a course FORWARD! Therefore, I’ll skip the opportunity to pile on what the "experts" have already told you.
That is not what this brief post is about. Rather, it centers on an obscure, but time-honored tradition (dating back to the Cold War years), of identifying a State of the Union Designated Survivor (SOTUDS). This year, that individual is Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
I was both interested and intrigued by President Obama’s selection this year because Secretary Foxx is a North Carolina native, a Charlottean, and former Mayor of North Carolina’s Queen City. To be sure, there is no circumstance imaginable under which we hope Mr. Foxx, or anyone else in this position would be required to ascend to and assume the responsibilities of the Presidency. Consider it a prudent, if not necessary precaution. But should the unthinkable have occurred and the Capitol and all in it have been destroyed in some kind of disastrous attack, Secretary Foxx would assume the reins of authority of the most powerful nation on earth.
You may not know it, but the SOTUDS is accorded many of the protections and protocols of the President…for one night. Those amenities included full Secret Service Protection, and a military aide carrying a briefcase with the codes to launch nuclear weapons. The position has often been held by a Cabinet Member, and must be someone Constitutionally eligible to become President. This caveat means some Administration officials, e.g., Sally Jewell, the British-born Secretary of the Interior, are not permitted to hold the position.
While it’s admittedly a cool gig, with little likelihood of turning into an immediate new long term job opportunity, complete with almost unfathomable responsibilities for the position’s occupant, it does come with what many of the highest Federal officials might consider a prime perk; the chance to engage in the pomp and circumstance of the State of the Union.
As a side bar note, it is frequently reported that a number of members of Congress spend hours, some arriving at the Capitol Building as early as 8 or 9 a.m. on the morning of the President’s address, just to get preferential aisle seats. Of course, members of the Administration would not likely take such extreme action. The point, however, is for many in political Washington, the President’s Cabinet included; the State of the Union Address is a proverbial hot ticket item. One which Secretary Fox missed it.
On the off chance the unpredictable, unimaginable, indefensible should have happened last night, Secretary Foxx would have instantaneously transformed from being the man behind many men and women to “the man!” Not surprisingly, it did not happen. So fear not citizens; no Independence Day (the movie), no foreign invasion, and no natural disaster exploding, or otherwise destroying our beloved and majestic Capitol last night. Alas, Secretary Foxx will have to wait his turn and perhaps actually run for the nation’s highest office, in order to become the first North Carolinian since Andrew Johnson, and the second African American to occupy the White House.
Now, I return you to your regular programming, which may include a cornucopia of talking heads extolling, decrying, or simply parsing the President’s comments. Weigh them for yourself; judge them according to your own standards and measures. Have at it. Meanwhile, my shout of the day goes to “State of the Union: Designated Survivor”…Secretary Anthony Foxx!
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the linkhttp://thesphinxofcharlotte.comFind a new post each Wednesday.
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Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Foxx

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/politics/state-of-the-union-2015-transcript-full-text/index.html











Wednesday, January 14, 2015

British Prime Minister: Fox Pundit "A Complete Idiot!"

It's time to Break It Down!

American Conservatives seem to actively seek out opportunities to try and insert a wedge between President Obama and our allies.  No, it’s not just the American voters.  They often start conversations with anecdotes about how the President has deferred to our enemies, and dissed our friends.  The current meme revolves around the President not going to Paris last weekend to attend the Unity Rally.

Of course, had he attended, critics would have insisted it was just a glorified photo-op.  But that’s beside the point.  In fact President Obama has actually conceded, the Administration should have been represented.  At least his humility is in tact.

It’s harder to reach that conclusion about some of the Conservatives.  One such hardliner, Steven Emerson, a supposed “Internationally recognized expert on terrorism and national security,” recently said on Fox News, “In Britain, it’s not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in.”

Now that is a bold and bodacious claim in its own right.  But Mr. Emerson did not stop there.  He further stated, in “parts of London, there are actual religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn’t dress according to religious Muslim attire.”

London, of course, is the Capital and largest city in England and the United Kingdom, with a population of over nine million people; Birmingham is the second largest city, with over one million residents.  For a Conservative, there is a certain irony that Mr. Emerson takes such liberal license when purportedly dispensing facts.  In this case, his commentary went viral, and resulted in a deluge of Twitter mockery employing the hashtag #foxnewsfacts.

In response to the wave of protest and dissent, including that of British Prime Minister, David Cameron (More on the Prime Minister’s reaction momentarily) Mr. Emerson recanted.  Well, sort of.  He said, “I am issuing an apology and correction on my website immediately, for having made this comment about the beautiful city of Birmingham.”  And with that, he did apologize.  He simply didn’t take the story down on his website.  SMH!

Back to David Cameron, who had this to say: “When I heard this, frankly, I choked on my porridge and I thought it must be April Fool’s Day,” adding, “This guy is clearly a complete idiot.”

In a different interview, Gisela Stuart, who represents Birmingham in the House of Commons, added, “I checked whether this was some kind of early April Fool spoof, and then I thought he was talking about Birmingham, Alabama. But then I realized he was just utterly and completely wrong.”

The reality is Birmingham’s Muslim population is 22%.  Not 100%, or 80%, or even 50%.  There are plenty of non-Muslims who live in, and go to, the city every day. There is also no such thing as “Muslim religious police” – in London, Birmingham, or any other part of the UK – beating anyone.  Go figure.

When you are considered an “Internationally recognized expert on terrorism and national security,” you likely have numerous opportunities to weigh in on the subject.  It appears Mr. Emerson has had his share.  In that regard, paraphrasing Country Music singer Vern Gosdin, “This Was Not His First Rodeo.”

In 1995, Mr. Emerson had this to say: “Oklahoma City, I can tell you, is probably considered one of the largest centers of Islamic radical activity outside the Middle East.”  He made this bold assertion just after the Oklahoma City Bombing…and just before anti-government radical Timothy McVeigh was arrested for it.  Oops!

Even in a world with no more elections, President Obama, faced with Birthers, bellyachers, and would be blockers, on a daily basis, is unlikely to characterize any of his detractors in such direct, even if accurate, terms.  Alas, here is one instance in which a bona fide ally has communicated with unequivocal candor the lack of intellectual heft and veracity associated this specific conservative’s argument and logic.  British Prime Minister: Fox Pundit "A Complete Idiot!”  If you’ll allow me to channel President Obama for a moment, I imagine he is at least thinking, “Long live David Cameron.”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com.  Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.”  Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post: 
















http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama