I believe that the Obama/ Democrat rout of 2008 and the resulting damage to our country, economy, prestige and freedoms had nothing to do with failed policies of the Bush administration.  Instead, it can be attributed to the failure of Republicans generally and the President in particular to articulate their positions/solutions cogently and thus earn the support of the American people.

In a recent article published at http://www.JewishWorldReview.com Thomas Sowell raises a warning to Republicans that we can only pray they will heed for their own good and the survival of our country.  Will Republicans quickly lose their newly regained credibility and waste the opportunity they have been given to rescue our country?  Dr. Sowell’s warning:

They say that, in politics, “overnight is a lifetime.” In other words, the journey from triumphant hero to discredited scapegoat can be very brief.
In the wake of the Republicans’ triumphs in last November’s elections, great hopes are being held out that Republican control of the House of Representatives can slam the brakes on Barack Obama’s march toward a completely government-controlled economy and ruinous deficit spending.
The first big step toward that goal could be forcing the Obama administration to cut back on spending, as the price of raising the national debt ceiling, which will be necessary early on in this new Congress, if the federal government is not going to be forced to shut down for lack of money.
Much of the runaway spending in Washington has been a spending of money that the government doesn’t have in the till, by borrowing money through the sale of government bonds– in other words, running up a record high national debt.
Because there is a legal limit on how much national debt the government can create, the spending has to be cut back or the debt ceiling increased by Congress. Otherwise, the government is going to have to shut down many of its operations for lack of money.
Some people see this as a golden opportunity for the new Republican majority to gain concessions from the Obama administration, as the price for going along with an increase in the national debt. It sounds logical. But logic is not always the dominant factor in politics.
The last time the government shut down, back during the Clinton administration, the Republicans were riding high as a result of their capture of the House of Representatives– where all spending bills must originate– for the first time in decades.
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich seemed to hold all the high cards. But the government shutdown ruined Republicans politically.
Congress had increased the amount of money appropriated for the government to spend, though not by as much as President Clinton wanted. So it was Clinton who shut down the government, though it was the Republicans who got blamed.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter who holds the high cards, if the other side plays their cards better.

Today, the Republicans don’t hold as many high cards as they did back during the Clinton administration. How did they lose then — and what are their chances of losing now, if they try to force serious concessions from the administration, and Obama calls their bluff by daring them to shut down the government?
Often, in politics, it doesn’t matter what the facts are. What matters is how well you make your case to the voting public.
Back in 1995, Bill Clinton and the Congressional Democrats, with the aid of the media, pounded away on the theme that the Republicans had “cut” government programs, even where the Republicans had appropriated more money than these programs had ever had before.
What Republicans had cut was the amount that Clinton had asked for. You might think that this was a fairly obvious difference and that this could be explained to the public. But the Republicans failed to do so effectively.
It was painful to watch various Republican spokesmen come on television and talk about discrepancies between Congressional Budget Office statistics and statistics from the Office of Management and Budget. This might have been fascinating stuff in a seminar on accounting, but it was like Greek to many TV viewers.
If the Republicans cannot be bothered to put in the time and the hard work required to develop an effective articulation of their case, then they deserve to lose. But the country does not deserve to have disastrous policies continue.
While the case for having the government play Santa Claus is easier to make, the opposite case is by no means impossible to make. Radio talk show hosts from Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity and many others make that case every day, in plain language that anyone can understand.
If Republicans still do not appreciate the enormous importance of articulation, then forcing a shutdown of the government can be another political disaster for them. So can caving in to Obama.

Please read this and other articles by Dr Sowell and other clear thinking opinion leaders at http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

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I am having a very difficult time understanding many of my “fellow Americans”.

I look around me and see the “American Way” quickly becoming something I am less than proud of.   I see that corruption in our federal government has risen to extreme levels that I never thought possible.

Radicals, socialists, communists, crooks, thugs and automatons pervade the highest levels of our government.

I see a huge power shift from the people to our corrupt government.

I see Black Panther bullies given a pass for outlandish intimidation of voters at a polling place.  By the way, my concern has NOTHING to do with race, it has only to do with America and our law.  I wonder how Mr. Holder would have handled guys in white sheets intimidating black voters in Mississippi?  (I would hope he would stow them under the jail as he should have done with the Panthers. Now I have insulted both the panthers and the clan.)

I see a health care law enacted that creates many more problems than it solves and a US Army unit training in Georgia to handle “domestic unrest” with in our own borders.

I see terrorists being called ill instead of hateful and Americans who cherish traditional American values being ridiculed and mocked.

I see presidential promises broken with a wink instead of an apology (and America winks back).

Speaking of apologies, I see POTUS apologizing to the world for everything that is good in America.

I see our government trashing our relationships with our closest allies and sucking up to those who hate us.

I see our economy being trashed and our children’s future being squandered.

I see what has been a worthless media, rising up and becoming a malignant force that seems to be bent on our destruction.

And our congress! when did it become the enemy of America?

I feel like Rip Van Winkle!

It seems that bad has become the new good and good has become outdated, uncool, and stupid. (Props to Isaiah the Hebrew prophet for warning us this would happen)

The point is, I see these things and think: Germany, circa 1936, Argentina, circa 1955 (or North Korea, circa today).  Whereas, millions of my fellow citizens, see a great new hero who is leading America to its glorious destiny.

And, when I try to talk to one of these citizens who refer to themselves by the euphemism “progressives”,  I begin to see how much trouble we are really in.  Trying to talk to these “progressives” about our founders and the constitution or freedom and its price, is worse than trying to talk to a fence post.  At least the fence post can generally be counted upon to be free from body odor and refrain from spitting on you or clubbing you to death with nonsensical sound bites and mantras.

It is more like trying to teach a pig to fly.  It is a complete waste of time and it annoys the pig.

In reading this, you may conclude that I hate Mr. Obama, but that is not the case.  I hate what he is doing to the America i grew up in.  The one that was created and preserved by the blood and sacrifice of my ancestors.  The one that I have served and struggled to pass on to my posterity.

But I do not hate Barack Obama.

I believe he is simply being himself and doing what he sincerely thinks is best for himself and those he cares about.  There are no surprises with Mr. Obama.  He is exactly what he seemed to be before he was elected and he is behaving exactly as he told us he would (for example: why should he prove he is ineligible for this great job when he can get a pass and keep feeding at the trough?).

When he reminded Republican law-makers that “Elections have consequences” shortly after his inauguration, he was simply setting the tone for his presidency.  He brought his friends and associates with him to Washington just as Jimmy Carter (the last president whose stupidity we almost didn’t survive) did.  It just so happens that rather than being a bunch of “crackers” (and I mean that in the kindest possible way.  Some of my best friends are from Georgia) Obama’s cronies are a bunch of thugs, crooks and radicals (ooops, now I have insulted Chicago).

I don’t hate Barak, I just want the USA to survive him and get back on track.

And I should say this:

Our country has been off track since long before Mr. Obama bounded onto our stage.  In fact, we have been the proverbial “frogs in a pot” for decades.

We have been steadily pursuing a slide down the slippery slope we started in 1962 when prayer was first banned in schools.  This slide was certainly accelerated in the decade beginning in 1965 during which we sacrificed 50,000 American lives in a futile war in Vietnam for which we had no clearly defined objective and no commitment to “win” (whatever that meant to the politicians), then again in 1973 when Roe v. Wade paved the way for the legal slaughter of over 40,000,000 unborn babies so far.

I thought the slide was over when Ronald Reagan was Elected in 1980.  Unfortunately, that merely just a pleasant delay, but it made me feel optimistic about our country again after the Carter fiasco…er… administration.

When you think about it, If the Obama regime serves as a wake up call to a sleeping American populace (who have been enjoying the warming water in the pot for at least five decades) before we actually boil to death, Mr. Obama could be the best thing that has happened to America in fifty years!