Grim Milestone Watch- The Innaguration of Barack Hussein Obama One Year Later & the White House's Reaction To Scott Brown (R-MA)

Does anyone remember that episode of South Park where Mr. Hankey debuted? Among other subplots, the school winds up putting on a Christmas pageant devoid of any reference to religion that really and truly sucks. Then, when they roll credits, it shows a lonesome, mopey Jesus Christ all by himself in his studio with a single candle in a cupcake singing 'Happy Birthday to me....' while trying not to cry.

Somehow, I couldn't help but think that was how President Obama might've been observing his first year in office; dejected, isolated and seemingly jilted after the Democrat stronghold of Massachusetts selected a Republican who campaigned against much of Obama's agenda to fill the senate seat once occupied by Ted Kennedy. A single waxy candle jabbed into a stale cupcake when 365 days prior, the bubbly was flowing freely, banquets galore and the whole world seemingly eating out of the palm of his hand. And the South Park analogy isn't completely without merit, as it's been reported that aides during his fairly brief time in the Senate would sometimes refer to him as 'Black Jesus'.

As a messiah, sometimes one must take the good with the bad.

Now, the easiest thing in the world for me to do is probably sit here and take cheap shots at the President after his agenda was delivered a staggering blow by the voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, of all places. Maybe I should start off with some of the things I've thought he's done right.

Well...let's see...the airstrikes from drones against Taliban and Al-Qaeda targets in places like the Horn of Africa, Yemen, Afghanistan or the tribal areas of Pakistan seem to continue unabated. Like the marksmanship demonstrated against the pirates taking the MV Maersk Alabama, I imagine that needs executive-level approval to be acted upon.

And yes, Kanye West is still a jackass. Actually, I thought the President was being a little charitable in that instance.

As for what he's doing wrong? My my.....where to start?

I suppose the most recent and high profile debacle would be his proposed healthcare 'reform'....the one that was crammed through on Christmas Eve thanks to numerous kickbacks and buyoffs with the Democrats and their media cohorts chirping what a glorious win this was for President Obama without bothering to try and sell the public on why the legislation would've benefited the American people. I remain certain that it wouldn't have, and the fact that media outlets sympathetic to the White House didn't even try to spin it that way was quite telling. So was not living up to the campaign promise of televising the conference on the final version of the bill on CSPAN or proposing a tax on 'Cadillac' healthcare plans to cover costs for the proposed 'reform' but then exempting unions from that tax increase. The tax increase would've had the added bonus (at least if you're a Dem hack or union head) of being Card Check-Lite by creating artificial demand for union enrollment in previously non-union workplaces. Also, if this healthcare and health insurance situation in this country is so dire and has to be taken care of now now NOW NOW NOW DAMMIT!....how come most of the proposals in the legislation won't go in effect until sometime around 2013?

There was also the American Investment and Recovery Act, which was marketed as infusing cash into shovel-ready projects aimed at creating jobs, preventing rising unemployment from going beyond 8% and improving America's crumbling infrastructure. Instead, it turned out to be a giant sinkhole into which about $787 Billion disappeared and we're looking at an unemployment rate of more than 10%. Yep- one year on, we still have crumbling infrastructure and we're $787 Billion poorer.

But somewhere along the way, General Motors, Citi financial and AIG were more or less nationalized by this administration. How does the president respond to increasingly vocal concerns on the economy? By waging a jihad against the banking industry, apparently including ones that never took bailout/TARP money or the ones that took it but paid it back with interest. And I'm sure, in his infinite wisdom, that the president somehow failed to realize that no matter what tax he levies on the financial sector, they will find a way to pass the cost along to the consumer.

Of course, that same line of thinking probably didn't occur to him when he was pom-pom waving for Cap and Trade both here and in Copenhagen. Look, I have nothing against wind or solar- frankly, I think it's a good idea to try and harness energy from something that's always going to be there pretty much every day. But they don't seem to be able to provide energy on the scale that's needed. And making Americans pay more for their energy in this economy while cutting off entire industries at the knees (coal mining, petroleum exploration and drilling, refining, natural gas exploration and drilling) borders on the stupid and malicious. Yet that's exactly what kind of legislation the House passed- at President's urging- over the summertime. Mercifully, it seems to have disappeared somewhere on it's way to the Senate and hasn't been revisited since then.

It would also be nice if this White House could work up half the anger and harsh rhetoric they demonstrate when Dick Cheney shows up on TV or Bank of America turns a profit for occasions like a botched attempt to blow an airliner out of the skies or Iran's Basiij militia thugs picking off unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators for all the world to see.

You know, once upon a time I assumed that when the current Administration proposed some really shitty idea, like having veterans pay for their service-related injures out-of-pocket through private insurance, it was actually a ploy on their part. What I thought was happening was they would be intentionally proposing something so stupid and untenable that they'd back away once the public uproar began, repudiate whatever stupid, idiotic and shitty proposal that caused all the fuss and then propose something marginally less shitty by comparison that would turn out to have been their idea all along. Turns out I was giving them waaay too much credit- it's looking more and more like every stupid and idiotic policy proposal they come us with is sincere.

Of course, on the one year anniversary of his taking the Oath of Office, President Obama did what he apparently does best- blame George Bush for his problems and make it all about him, such as when interviewed with ABC News:
"Here's my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,"
"People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."

If Obama wants to keep this 'last eight years' mantra up, so be it. But at some point, he has to realize the failed policies of the 'last eight years' is going to include the entirety of his Administration.