THE SUMMER OF RECOVERY 2010

This is another in a series of articles written long before the current election season by J. Scott Lyman These articles are being posted on the UniteOrDieCafe.com blog to give context to past and future posts.  

The Summer of Recovery

by 

J. Scott Lyman

On Tuesday, August 24, 2010 the “non-partisan” Congressional Budget Office reported that, President Obama's economic stimulus package may have added or saved as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy and may have prevented the nation from lapsing back into recession.  While the news on the economic front presages the continued free fall of what was once the greatest economic engine in human history, Vice President Biden labels the sun’s current tenancy in the northern hemisphere as “the summer of recovery,” and recently allowed: “no doubt we're moving in the right direction.”  The question is whether the president, vice president and many of the elite in the democratic party live in a world where political and economic fantasy trumps reality. I, for one, believe, that the Obama Administration is taking us over a political and economic cliff, if not into a black hole. 

In 2008 candidate Obama cast himself as the post-partisan, post-racial pragmatist who, with the wave of his wand, would miraculously heal the political and economic wounds inflicted on the nation and the world by George W. Beelzebub. But as it turns out, the “hope and change” we swallowed was not the reincarnation of a pragmatic Messiah, but rather his somewhat narcissistic, Alinsky trained radical egalitarian alter-ego.  

It doesn’t take a Harvard law degree to figure out who and what our president is and is not. Confusion or ambiguity on this issue is pretextual at best. First, what Obama is not: He’s no more a pragmatist than Biden is polished, persuasive and charismatic.  What Obama is: Credit where credit is due;  he’s smart, witty, charismatic, handsome and, truth be known, a sincere and committed ideologue. Largely the anthesis of George W.  And to what ends he pours on these considerable gifts should be equally clear, if one cares to look.

By heritage and legacy, from early childhood to the present, Obama’s socio-political instincts and philosophy have been radical egalitarian, with a centralized State as the wellspring and locomotive for the achievement of his vision of social justice and the redistribution of wealth in society. The denials of socialist/Marxist leanings by Obama and his cadre of radical egalitarians supporters are contrived, transparent and tactical. Exactly what Alinsky taught in his 1971 must read book, Rules for Radicals.      

Exhibit A in support of the real Obama is his 20 year tenure in the pews of  Jeremiah Wright’s  Trinity United Church of Christ. The core theology expounded by the good Rev. Wright is overtly Marxist, unapologetically Afrocentric and stridently revolutionary.  Not only did Obama regularly warm the pews of Trinity United for 20 years, but as was written by Chukwudi Nwokoye, in nigeriaonline.com.: “Rev. Wright was his mentor. He has known him for 20 years. The pastor was the person that introduced him to Christ. He officiated the wedding between Barack and Mitchell Obama, and baptized Obama’s 2 daughters Malia and Sasha. He was more than a pastor to him, he was a family and in fact a father figure to Obama who never really knew his father.” 

Exhibit B is the core constituency of Barack Obama.  From the day he set foot in Chicago before and after law school, Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), what was and is (in its various permutations), the largest and most hard left (i.e., Marxist), radical group in America.  It was only when ACORN, like the good Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a political liability that Obama distanced himself from the organization.  But wait! That’s definitely pragmatic. 

Another of Obama’s  core constituencies is the Service Employees International Union or SEIU. On the SEIU radical egalitarian agenda, Obama is perfectly clear.  In a speech before SEIU on August 23, 2009 President Obama proclaims: “Your agenda is my agenda...I wouldn’t be standing here without you...My life’s work is to make your agenda a reality.”  Lest there be any doubt about Obama’s commitment to his rhetoric, bear in mind that Andy Stern, the president of SEIU and an unapologic Marxist, has been one of the most frequent visitors to the Obama White House since day one.  Some would argue that this is the same SEIU that is a prime actor in the bankruptcy of municipal corporations from coast to coast.  While extended commentary on ACORN and SEI’s political agenda is beyond the scope of this article, suffice it to say that in both cases they are hard left, radical egalitarian and arguably Marxist. 

Exhibit C, and most important, is the direction Obama has taken the country since ascending to the Presidency, along with Democratic control of both houses of congress. The Obama trend line, in virtually all spheres of its political life, is toward the consolidation of power in and expansion of the federal government.  Vast new armies of bureaucrats  are forming to insinuate themselves into the lives of individuals, associations and political subdivisions, from birth to death.  The notions of checks and balances, states rights, Federalism and the Founding Fathers fear of the of autocracy and tyranny, are being thrown under the bus as anachronisms.  Even the classic totalitarian “cult of personality” syndrome is in ascendency under Obama.

Vice President Biden proclaims,  “We’re turning this great ship of state around that was wandering out to sea and it’s headed back to port.  There isn’t any doubt that we’re moving in the right direction.”  While perhaps serendipitous, it is worth noting that the vice president ostensibly was talking about the “ship of state,” not the economy when he proclaimed we are headed in the right direction. But whether America is headed in the right direction is very much in doubt.  The summer of recovery this ain’t!

In some polls up to 70% of the American people believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and a large plurality disapprove of the job Obama is doing as president.  Simply put, the question is, do the American people support the  fundamental change promised and acted on by Obama?  It’s not the economy stupid!  It’s whether “a government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall parish from the earth! November cometh!