Promises, Promises

In the "Humor and Satire" section of today's paper is an article that includes this passage: "[Obama's] first three months or so in office could show how effective he will be at keeping his promises, which include guiding the nation toward energy independence, health care reform, middle class tax cuts and an improved education system." The article also mentions that Obama "promised to end the war in Iraq."

Pretty funny stuff, huh? Except that I lied... there is no "Humor and Satire" section of the paper; this is a serious article on page 1. Now, to begin with, why is Obama being held to a standard we don't hold any other politician to -- namely to keep his so-called "promises", when, as everybody knows, a politician's campaign promises have about as much validity as those of those bimbos selling phone sex on late night TV? And besides, look at what he is alleged to have promised:

1. Energy independence: Well, I guess he could get a law passed forbidding people to drive to work in their own cars with no passengers. But he's also promised to bail out Detroit from its financial woes. And Detroit makes, guess what, cars, and the gas-guzzling kind at that. Or, maybe he's just going to pay them _not_ to make cars, just like the farmers. And there's starting to be a bit of push-back, e.g. from the entire Third World, on the ethanol question. Plus, hey, isn't one of the main reasons we're in the Near East the fact that we know that "energy independence" simply isn't going to happen, and we'd better take over as much oil-producing territory as we can? So you can forget all about that promise.

2. Health care: OK, so he's going to "reform" something that represents a virtual monopoly -- set in stone by the legal system -- on the part of the AMA, i.e. conventional, AKA "allopathic", medicine, which specializes in treating symptoms rather than root causes of disease. Oh sure, we might all wind up with "single-payer" plans and have no choice whatsoever in the medical care we get... but that's hardly "reform", that's just solidifying the system as it is. You want real reform? Break the AMA's monopoly, and that of Big Pharma. But that's not going to happen.

3. Middle class tax cuts: Right. Where's he going to get the money for all of his progressive social welfare programs? The rich are too smart to pay any more than they're paying already... the poor aren't paying anything now... so who's left to foot the bill? The good old bovine non-protesting middle class, of course. They've already been raped and pillaged by the financial crisis and will continue to be... and Obama is just going to send them still another set of bills to "fix" problems they had nothing to do with causing. There's a good chance the American middle class will cease to exist as an economic entity after one Obama term. So there's nothing the least bit real about this idea.

4. Improved education: Wait a minute! The public education is perfect just the way it is, according to the NEA and its facilitators in Congress. All it needs is tons more money... but in terms of education standards, standards for teachers, discipline (of students and teachers), subject-matter priorities, and so on, we are already living in the best of all possible worlds. So nothing needs improving.

5. Ending the war in Iraq: We've already talked about this. It will be just as much out of Obama's hands as it's out of Bush's hands. If he hasn't already accepted that fact, he will about five minutes after he moves into the Oval Office. Plus, hey, Democrats like war as much as anyone else -- as long as it's for the right cause, like crushing the Serbs for instance. They believe in pushing our weight around world-wide, if it's for the right reasons. And besides, so many of the "right" people are in favor of continuing the war that he can't possibly let them down. And they won't stand for it anyway. So no, that ain't gonna happen -- at least not voluntarily (vs. simply being thrown out by the Iraqis, which actually could happen... but it would take a while).

To all of this we must add that, so far, all the usual suspects are flooding back into Washington to be part of Obama's "transition team". And here I thought the "spoils system" was a thing of the past -- at least that's what we were taught in Social Studies. But all I see in the news is unreconstructed Clintonistas with one-way tickets zooming back to the Death Star as fast as their "liberal limos" and private jets can take them. So... once the wholesale looting of the taxpayer by the current administration has subsided we can expect a whole new drive to squeeze the last drops of money -- and freedom! -- from the hapless citizenry, many of whom probably voted for Obama on the theory that "it won't affect me all that much". Well, that's what they all say, or think, until they're being marched off to the camps. Greed, foolishness, and playing along with the government's con games very seldom pay off in the end, at least for the ordinary person. The people who are really running things don't even bother to vote; why should they?