Death of a Salesman

As a friend of mine used to say, “You can't win for losing.” First Obama gets a rude rebuff in Denmark (in which, as we know, there is something rotten) vis-a-vis the Olympics – then he returns home to face the warm-beer, morning-after realities of having to deal with all the skeptics and naysayers who have refused to swallow whole his “hope 'n' change” nostrums.

First, let's deal with the Olympics. Obama's loss of face on this one was an accident that could have been prevented so easily – he could have simply not gotten involved. Hey, what ever happened to the notion of “de-politicizing” the Olympics? I thought there was a chance after the Soviet Union broke up, and all those stone-faced Russian she-males disappeared from the judges' stand. Guess not, though. But he wasn't just trying to get the Olympics to the U.S. again – he was trying to get them to Chicago. Suddenly the president of all the people is shilling for his home town -- tacky, tacky. And nowhere in all the discussion of this have I heard anyone mention that one contributing factor might be the fact that, after all these years, Chicago is still one of the most abjectly corrupt cities in the country, if not in the world. Who wants a repeat performance of Salt Lake City, but this time on steroids? Are you telling me that this did not enter into the committee's thinking? Please. Not to mention, Chicago is bent on setting new records for teen violence – not exactly the kind of atmosphere in which the Olympic ideal is likely to thrive. And I would be willing to bet that the slap-down for Obama could also have also been a symbolic response to all the recent American huffing and puffing – including at the recent G-20 meeting – about how Europe in particular had to start practicing “financial discipline” -- whereas in fact, the rest of the world rightly sees the economic crisis as having been made right here in America. We sneezed, they caught cold, and now they're supposed to fix it? Right. So who are we to talk to the rest of the world about discipline? As usual, the message is “Let's compromise – do it my way.” Quite a contrast with Obama's hero's welcome in Europe even before he was elected.

Then we have the domestic scene, and the G-20: Tear gas! Rubber bullets! Sound cannons! Riot police! SWAT teams racing in attack formation up and down the main streets of Pittsburgh! Yeah – just the sort of thing you would expect to happen if Nixon were still in office, say... or “W”. But no, this happened on Obama's watch, and make no mistake, these over-functioning law enforcement squads were acting on orders from above; they didn't make any of this stuff up on their own. So what's going on here? My comment was, don't get fixated on just this one event. I don't think the powers that be were seriously worried about the G-20 being derailed by a gang of street mimes and clowns in gorilla suits. It was – and there are ample historical precedents for this – an exercise for law enforcement organizations, in anticipation of things to come. You have to remember that, for over a year now, the powers that be have been whispering in the ears of law enforcement agencies at all levels that they must prepare for the worst, since the economic crisis will surely give rise to not only “tea parties” and “town hall meetings”, but rioting, insurrection, rebellion... yea verily, even revolution!! It's the 60s all over again, except this time the shoe is on the other foot. So 24-7-365 vigilance is required, and no event is too small or trivial to merit close scrutiny and preparation. So we were treated, just a while ago, with the spectacle of a rag-tag bunch of anarchists and anti-globalists confronting platoons of police, state troopers, etc. in full riot gear – which only serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy for both sides. Now they can each say, “See, I told you so!” So now Obama – prophet of change and hope – has blood on his hands (or at least tear gas residue). Excuse me if I see him more and more as a puppet of higher powers, helplessly buffeted by the winds of political and economic fate.

But wait! -- as they say on TV – there's more! We also have the low-grade infection called “the economy” and the continued siphoning off of the nation's wealth to a den of thieves on Wall Street and in Detroit. And where is the payoff to the average American in all of that? Better you shouldn't ask. And ObamaCare turns out not to be such a cakewalk – didn't he learn anything from the ClintonCare debacle? Guess not. And then there's Afghanistan, which is Exhibit A in the pantheon of no-win situations... not to mention Iraq, which isn't getting much attention lately even though it's still costing us billions a week.

And as I've said before, these are all, without exception, self-inflicted wounds. They could all have been prevented if reason had a place in governance... but alas, it doesn't, and is unlikely to have at any time in the foreseeable future.