There is an amusement park in New Jersey called Six Flags Magic Mountain which is a theme park with all kinds of rides and attractions. But recently we have seen a new amusement park open in Washington D.C. It used to be called the White House. It might now be aptly called Eight Flags, No Magic Mountain. And it has rides that are making a lot of people scream.It's called Eight Flags No Magic Mountain because, and I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but when appearing at a venue onstage, outside the White House, Obama has consistently appeared with no less than eight American flags on the stage behind him. Eight. For past presidents one was enough. Once in awhile you might even see two. But eight?
The speculation is that Axelrod wanted 8 American flags on stage to remind Obama exactly what country he's been elected President of, since the belief is that Obama, who has been driven purely by personal ambition, just wanted to be President and it didn't really matter for which country.
But its going to take more than a reminder to straighten out what has to be the rockiest sloppiest most amateurish start to an administration anyone has ever seen. And now with Judd Gregg deciding to remove himself from nomination as Commerce Secretary only days after being named, the Obama administration has turned into not just a farce but an amusement park ride that, as every day goes by, more and more people are wanting to get off.
Three weeks into the Obama Administration, its time to remember every Democrat and every newspaper who endorsed Obama, led by Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Senator Pay Leahy, the Chicago Tribune, LA Times and NY Times, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and many others, who did so by saying Obama was the candidate who had the judgement to be President from day one.
Of course there were enough warnings that this wasn't the case, that this was part of the snake oil he, the DNC and the press were selling since he not only had no experience, and no vision (other than "change") , he had accomplished absolutely nothing in 12 years as an elected official, and has never showed any of the things the country needed in a President, especially after 8 years of Bush, not to mention his problems with ethics and truth telling.
Instead, Democrats like Dean, Pelosi, John Kerry, Jesse Jackson Jr, and many others in the DNC and the press, decided to make Obama's race the issue, the guiding light behind why he should be elected while those who had no issues with race, who never thought race should matter one way or the other in the first place had to watch as a fiasco of a primary unfolded. So why would anyone think anything good would come of such a dishonest process?
Now with Judd Gregg deciding to withdraw his name from nomination because he can't support Obama's economic polices and was nominated in the first place because Bill Richardson had to withdraw his name from nomination because he is under investigation by the FBI, the fiasco continues.
Yes, the argument can be made that a Democratic fiasco will still produce better results than the Republican fiasco of the last 8 years and that's true, but why are we having any fiasco at all?
You can blame the DNC and the press for this and for the eight year fiasco of the Bush Administration. They are the ones who punched everyone's ticket. They are the ones abdicated their responsibilites to be honest and objective and report the truth.
It was clear to 18 million Democratic primary voters from day one that Obama didn't have the judgement to be President and now it looks like it's finally sinking in for everyone else. The magic that everyone was hallucinating about is clearly gone. Chris Matthews doesn't have goose bumps going up his legs anymore. And Axelrod's free food and a rock concert strategy won't work this time. The Magic Mountain doesn't exist. And never did.
So we are left with the eight flags. The amusement park at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will no doubt continue, and Eight Flags No Magic Mountain will be open for the next four years. Either that or we are witnessing the start of a new TV series called "Eight Isn't Enough".
Marc - Come on! Don't you know that those flags symbolize Obama's patriotism. In case there are any doubts, they prove he's the real deal. I can't believe you didn't understand that. Get with the program, man.
ReplyDeleteAnna
The Obama "magic mountain" ride is not going to be fun:
ReplyDelete"We're in trouble," Mr. Fabbri said. "We don't have sufficient economic plans at present to resolve the banking system or the financial crisis, and the stimulus package seems loaded for 2010." -- WSJ
Those flags symbolize the 8-ball we're all behind.
ReplyDeletehey, at least he fared better with that background than with this one
ReplyDeleteYahoo News reports Six Flags as "one of the fifteen companies that might not survive 2009". Thought that just seemed amusing and appropriate to point out, even if off topic.
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-Companies-That-Might-Not-usnews-14279875.html
Mr. Obama's "stimulus" plan is not intended to stimulate the economy. It is intended to put into action his plans to redistribute wealth and put everyone under his surveillance in George Orwellian style.
ReplyDeletePlease go to logisticsmonster.com. There is an article 2/12/09, Tsunami Media Alert: The Trojan Horse is At The Gate. He outlines Obama's REAL intentions with this "pork plan" and it is not about recovering the economy. That is a front, a shill for his real agendas. Obama is a very well thought out machine and his plans have been in the making for a long time. He is scarier than any of us thought.
Second theory about the 8 flags:
ReplyDeleteOne is for the traditional flag on stage when the President speaks. The other 7 represent the 7 new states that joined the union since Obama started his campaign, to give us a total of 57.
Susan: I'll start the club of those who actually don't feel that he scarier than anyone thought. I always thought he was so freaking scarey and it boggled my mind that the media, the DNC and masses of the electorate bought into the brand hook, line and sinker. Now we've all got to live with it.
Marc - The 8 flags must represent the 8 years that Obama wants to be POTUS, assuming the "no term limit" bill, just introduced in Congress, doesn't pass the House and Senate. So, when he and Michelle tire of the White House and want to take a road trip to the local elementary school, he'll glance at the 8 flags, sigh, and buckle down to actual work, for the first time in his obviously charmed life.
ReplyDelete"The 8 flags must represent the 8 years that Obama wants to be POTUS"
ReplyDeletethe eight flags are exactly what they look like they are -- a prop, if not to remind Obama who he is then to try and make him look Presidential.Which is why most Presidents, even Nixon only needed one and Obama needs eight. It could be the start of a new TV series set in the White House called "Eight Isnt Enough".
Eight isn't enough? How about "Four will be too many" (years, not flags).
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to figure out why I still can't stand the thought of another day of an Obama presidency...and I think you've kind of answered it in this: "Yes, the argument can be made that a Democratic fiasco will still produce better results than the Republican fiasco of the last 8 years and that's true, but why are we having any fiasco at all?"
I know that HRC might not have run from the center, too, but good heavens, at least her administration would have been intelligently run. And I know that she would have been intimately involved in everything...she's got that kind of mind.
But Obama has always been a political lurker...always in the picture (now with 8 flags!), but never out front, never leading the charge. Even his "famous" speech on Iraq (the one he went back and re-recorded…even with crowd noises because no one bothered when he actually delivered it) resulted in not a single attempt by BO to end the war once he got into the Senate. But then, he was so busy on day one running for his next promotion he forgot that little issue, didn't he?
I remember reading about him running into committee members on their way to a press conference about something they had just accomplished. He said, "What's up" and they told him and he said, "Can I come along"? They said sure - they wanted people on the podium for pictures and then he had the audacity (whoops!) to take the mic and speak as if he had been personally involved in the accomplishment. Staffers were pissed as hell at what he did.
He lurked in CT in 2006 (never really coming out and supporting Ned Lamont). He always has and still lurks on pro-choice (using weasel words and voting present). He lurks on race (demanding a dialog and then saying we should all move on - pun intended!).
Where in the world does he really stand on things? He doesn’t…because he’s always lurking waiting to see which way the wind is blowing before he takes – even an initial – stand.
That’s why it took him days and weeks to respond to things during the primary.
Barack Obama has no convictions.
Therefore he has no policies.
And therefore, he will never have any plans upon which he stakes his convictions.
A sad four years for America and the world.
Anyone noticed the gold brocade curtain backdrop? Seems to be the east room at the white house.
ReplyDeleteMore Axelrod stagecraft.
Only seen it once before for a Laura Bush event.
BO uses every OTHER day - when not in front of the 8 flags.
I also find the overdone flags to smack of an overzealous nationalist feeling that hints of leaders fron the past whose politics were not so great, like fascists.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!!
ReplyDeleteWould you like a Link Exchange with our new blog COMMON CENTS where we blog about the issues of the day??
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
Would you like a Link Exchange with our new blog COMMON CENTS where we blog about the issues of the day??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
Sure thing.
Well- flags or no flags-
ReplyDeletemy question is this- Marc- I'd love to read your commentary:
Why did Obama rush the stimulus package through- saying it needed to be passed "quickly and bodly" (one of his favorite sayings) and then take a 3 day holiday week-end for some R&R??? He hasn't even served a full month as POTUS and he needed a 3 day week-end? I don't get it.
And why does he need to fly to Denver to sign the stimulus? He is going to Denver to promote "green" jobs- yet he is flying AF1 across the nation to do so-
He is then coming to my neck of the woods on Wednesday to speak about foreclosures and his plan to assist homeowners.
Why is he coming to Mesa Az to speak? I know the valley has been hit hard w/ foreclosures but we can hear him loud and clear when he speaks on TV, w/ his teleprompter.
Why aren't the "journalists" asking about this? How green is this dog and pony show? How much does it cost the taxpayers to move this circus across the country?? Aren't we already buried under a mountain of debt- is this Obama's way of showing us how to live more frugally?
I am at a loss for words.
"Instead, Democrats like Dean, Pelosi, John Kerry, Jesse Jackson Jr, and many others in the DNC and the press, decided to make Obama's race the issue, the guiding light behind why he should be elected while those who had no issues with race, who never thought race should matter one way or the other in the first place had to watch as a fiasco of a primary unfolded."
ReplyDeleteJesse Jackson, Jr. did a lot more than make race an issue. Jackson actively harassed other Congressional Black Caucus members (especially those who had announced support for Hillary Clinton) and threatened them with seeking and funding candidates to run against them if they did not support Obama. One good thing that came out of the Blago mess in IL, is that Jesse Jackson, Jr. will never get that seat in the Senate he so richly "undeserves".