In the pocket of special interests

Just who or what are special interests? It would seem that it is only big business, at least as it is spun in the campaigns and press. But there are other special interests. Unions. Lawyers. Racial groups. Religious groups. Issue groups (environment, war, choice, etc). Welfare recipients. The elderly. To think of these as not being "special interests" is just naive or biased, depending on how you justify your denial.

Obama has attracted several "special interest" groups to his campaign. Assuming he becomes president, it will be interesting to see how unbiased he is concerning the rights, advantages and privileges these groups desire.

One candidate's special interest group is the other candidates base of support.

Love or something damn near like it has a hold...

Only a few times in a lifetime can a person witness a near complete national adolation for a public figure. Woman swoon. Men are emboldened. A feeling of unity, passion, commitment, and rightness swells in the breast as supporters march as brothers and sisters towards a bright, new future. It is as if the leader has a spark of divinity within, a savior that has come to bring us to a higher level, to show us the way.

For the Germans in the 1930's, it was the brash young politico Adolf Hitler. For Cuba, it was the young Fidel. JFK and Reagan had some of the awe inducing nature, but to a much lesser extent.

DocBrain tends to be a little suspicious when he sees this type of public adolation. Barack Obama is receiving this type of awe-struck support. He certainly talks the game, using all the skills of a great modern orator. DocBrain has attended several seminars in public speaking, and even took a course in high school. The techniques Obama uses are well known and well used by him. But, will that make him the right person to lead our country?

With great oratory skills comes great power to influence and control, but not necessarily great wisdom or outcomes. We have seen in recent years that poor oratory abilities leads to lack of confidence in the wisdom of our leaders, so many flock to him believing the converse must be true. Which, of course, it is not.

Obama is a socialist, at minimal soft core. Capitalist societies celebrate excellence and private enterprise. Socialist societies celebrate government and mediocrity.

Obama is somewhat unusual in his socialism without apparent patriotism. If he becomes president, it will be interesting to see how he deals with the concept of patriotism. I suspect he will demand more of it from us.

Dirty words

Here is a brief list of dirty words. Use them in public at your own risk.

Patriotism, capitalism, profits, big business, private sector, oil drilling, border security, legal immigration, gun ownership, majority, values, morals, school choice, Christian, and George W. Bush.

Here are some words that you can safely say.

Undocumented alien, open borders, entitled, rights, unfair, unequal, public sector, Muslim, minority, and Obama.

Take their dollars and promise them change

Barack Obama is the Democrat front-runner. His oratory style is excellent, having honed it on the election trail. Undoubtedly, he has had coaching in style and in content. His approach hits on many important points, particularly inspiring and promising "change" which usually is interpreted as something good by those who see anything at present that is not good. The more that you see that is not good, the more the word "change" resonates with you. But is change always better that what you have now? Change leads to unintended consequences, new problems, and sometimes lack of resolution of the problem you were attempting to solve. As the phrase goes, "No good deed goes unpunished." So, an attempt to do good can lead to really bad things.

Here are the things we really need (in addition to "change")

• Accountability. Whether new or old, we want our government to be accountable to us, the taxpayers. We want to see progress and results. We want objective measures by which we can see progress or the lack thereof.
• Information. We want to know details. That is where the devils are. Broad strokes of rhetoric are dandy for inspiration, but do not get us to the promised land.
• Attentiveness. We want our leaders to care about us. Not just the poor. Not just the rich. Not just the minorities nor the majority, but each and every one of us.
• Moral direction. We want our leaders to lead by example into a new and better sense of morality and ethics. A dignity of America and Americans that all of us can buy into as our national identity and ethos. Something we can teach to our children and grandchildren. Something that will resonate with the old and young, rich and poor. We don't want a leader to worship, for such worship can lead us astray, following the pied piper or demagogue. We want to believe in ourselves, our divine good and our "can do" spirit.

Let's see where the election takes us.

Ed Rendell

Check out this link for more on The Governor.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/mcnickle/s_552779.html

...with apologies to Tom Petty...

Shes a good girl, hates her Obama
Hates McCain and Huckabee too
Shes a good girl, crazy bout taxes
Loves welfare and entitlements too

Its a long day for Hilary Clinton
Theres a primary ruining her day
And Im a bad boy cause I didn't vote for her
Im a bad boy for breakin her heart

And she's free, free fallin
Yeah she's free, free fallin

All the anchors on Fox and NPR
And the visitors to Move-on dot org
And all the lefties standing in the shadows
Are trying to give Hill a broken heart

And she's free, free fallin
Yeah she's free, free fallin

Free fallin, now she's free fallin, now she's
Free fallin, now she's free fallin, now she's

I wanna go down into Texas
I wanna write her name on each ballot
She's gonna free fall out into nothin
She's gonna leave politics for a while

And she's free, free fallin
Yeah she's free, free fallin

Rendell is at it again

Liberal democrats are supposed to be for empowering minorities. Yet, when Pennsylvania stood ready to elect its first black governor, Ed Rendell stood in his way. He defeated Swann by unleasing a barrage of last minute vote buying, spending down the $800 million state surplus, and nearly bankrupting the state. As if this wasn't enough, he now proclaims that white America is not ready for a black president.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23134717/?GT1=10856

Mr. Rendell, Lynn Swann didn't lose because he was black. He lost because he didn't know the dirty tricks of the trade.

Holy Government!

A wise friend pointed out to me that those who eschew religion have religious fervor when it comes to political leaders. Case in point: Barak Obama.

Mr. Obama has developed a rock star status, not because of any great accomplishments, nor because of any great plans for the future. He is adored because of his godlike powers.

• He inspires people with his rhetoric. If you are not personally inspired and driven by your inner values or by emulating your personal heroes, and are not inspired by God as the one ideal form, then a human orator can be your hero, even without major accomplishments. Hitler was an orator before becoming a leader. In contrast, MLK was a leader before delivering his most impressive orations.
  
• He promises to relieve suffering, especially economic. A leader can do this in two ways: encourage people to take charge of their own lives or promise largesse from the public coffers and ultimately from the pockets of other citizens by redistributing wealth by government fiat. He seems to be a student of the latter.
  
• If you are a young adult of military age, he promises to keep you out of harms way by avoiding conflict at all costs. You need not be brave in the face of conflict, as he will prevent you from facing conflict.
  
• Everyone is important, especially those who have not succeeded in the game of life.
• The answer to all suffering is government. Not self sufficiency. Not family and neighbors. Certainly not religion, faith, and values.

If government is your only truth, your leader is your God.

President Obama

Never try to outliberal a liberal. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

John McCain is a good man with much experience who will represent the Republican party in the next presidential election. Barack Obama is a good man with no experience who will represent the Democrat party in the next presidential election.

Both are popular and have a "rock star" type of status. Both seem affable.

Voters in the middle will vote mainly according to who they like better. Less than 5% will vote on the issues. At the present time, Obama seems to be winning the beauty contest.

Conservatives are calling the Republican baby ugly and will stay home. Racist Democrats (judging from the primaries, mainly living in New England and the rust belt including PA) will stay home. DocBrain believes there are more conservatives than racist Democrats, making Obama a shoo-in.