Sunday, October 20, 2013

If It's Obama's Idea - It's Bad

President Obama has had to endure unprecedented opposition during his years in office.  Republicans can't agree on one single idea or agenda.  Several weeks ago it seemed we were on the brink of war with Syria.  President Obama tried in vain to convince Republican leaders that military action was necessary to stop chemical weapons from being used against their own people.  You read that right - President Obama failed to convince Republicans to go to war.  Republicans love war - they make obscene profits off of war - so why do they oppose it so much now?  Because it's President Obama's agenda.  Only history will show if this is correct or not but I suspect the President is actually using that opposition to his advantage.  If he had argued against military action - you can sure bet the Republicans would have argued in favor of it.  If this type of physiological governing is real - I think it's brilliant!  But it depends on total opposition - the kind that President Obama has had to deal with.

This is not the only example either.  If you think back on the first election, President Obama argued against  more off shore oil wells.  Then, once in office and facing the total opposition - President Obama suggested we drill offshore.  This was met with strong resistance from the GOP - even though they fought for it during the election.  It sounds crazy but it just might be true.  Again, only history will tell and even then it would be clearly debatable.

Perhaps President Obama should have strongly opposed the Affordable Care Act - maybe then it would have been fully supported by the GOP.  After all, it was their idea to begin with.

Fox News (Head) Spin

If you heard explosions last week - it might have been frequent views of Fox News heads exploding.  I only saw re-caps on The Daily Show with John Stewart, but the message was clear - er I mean unclear - wait - what??

You see over the last several weeks the Government was "shut down" over budget battles and Obamacare.  One could argue who was causing the problem (Republicans!) but the entertaining part of it was on Fox News.  There they somehow had to juggle the idea that Government is bad - while also showing the outrage at things that were closed.  They tried to convince viewers that the shutdown wasn't real by calling it a "slim down" (actually correct) at the same time blaming Democrats for closing the National Parks.  If it's just a "slim down" then it's not really that big of a deal - right?  But those darn Democrats caused this horrible mess!  They also had to convince viewers that Republicans were correct in not negotiating on a compromise - while at the same time blaming the Democrats for the very same thing. If anyone is still considering Fox News as a legitimate news source they are crazy.  But they do - and they are.

The thing Fox News didn't likely report on were the actual Government services that real people depend on that stopped.  There was outrage at Veterans not being able to see a memorial - but no concern for those that might not have a meal - including some of those very same Veterans.  People went without paychecks, necessary food recalls were not done, the FAA was not watching over your flight and the list goes on and on.  All this from just a "slim down" - imagine if the Government actually had shut completely down.  But that would be good - right?  No bad - isn't it?  Arrrgh!

If this were an isolated incident on Fox News it might actually be funny - but it wasn't an isolated incident.  They twist, turn, and fabricate "news" into something that supports their agenda on a daily basis.  It should be illegal.  Yet somehow they manage to keep going - and the people still watch - and the people vote the way they were guided.  Except in this case they might not know where they were supposed to be guided!  Once your head explodes it's difficult to vote anyway.