RedStateEclectic

Salute

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No comment.

 

See also A Ship with the Engine Off.

Presidential Trivia?

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You never know, maybe Michelle - experienced collaborator that she is - snatched the umbrella from Barry just to make sure he wouldn't botch this one as well. Selfie Barry, preoccupied with admiring his own glorious self, is probably oblivious to either variant - his being impolite or his being prevented from doing harm.

So much for a bit of yellow press here at RSE.

Here's Schopenhauers take:

A man shows his character in just the way he deals with trifles – for then he is off his guard. This will often afford a good opportunity of observing the boundless egoism of a man’s nature, and his total lack of consideration of others: and if these defects show themselves in small things, or merely in his general demeanour, you will find that they also underlie his actions in matters of importance, although he may disguise the fact. This is the opportunity which should not be missed. If in the little affairs of every day – the trifles of life, those matters to which de minimis non applies – a man is inconsiderate and seeks only what is advantageous or convenient to himself, to the prejudice of other’s rights; if he appropriates to himself that which belongs to all alike, you may be sure there is no justice in his heart, and that he would be a scoundrel on a wholesale scale, only that the law and compulsion bind his hands. Do not trust him beyond the door. He is not afraid to break the laws of his own private circle, will break those of the State when he can do so with impunity.

The source.

See also Unpacking a Presidential Sentence and links contained therin.

Barry et al. - Obamacare's Path to Power

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Speaking about why his campaign website worked so well compared to the ACA site, Obama said:

You know, one of the lessons - learned from this whole process on the website - is that probably the biggest gap between the private sector and the federal government is when it comes to I.T. …

Well, the reason is is that when it comes to my campaign, I’m not constrained by a bunch of federal procurement rules, right?

He later added that:

When we buy I.T. services generally, it is so bureaucratic and so cumbersome that a whole bunch of it doesn’t work or it ends up being way over cost.

Obama seems to be acknowledging that his ideological opponents are right. Yet, he claims that these fundamental inefficiencies are easily fixed?

Ann Althouse comments:

we've been told we must buy a product, and things have been set up so we can only go through the government's market (the "exchange"), and the government has already demonstrated that its market doesn't work. But you can't walk away, you're forced to buy, and there's nowhere else to go. And yet, he wants us to feel bad about the cumbersome bureaucracy the government encountered trying to procure the wherewithal to set up the market it had already decided we would all need to use.

Check out the source and this source.

For the broader background, here is an interesting article about (a most timely book on) Obamacare's path to power:

The story of the Affordable Care Act is as twisted and bizarre as anything ever written by Stephenson, Kafka, or Orwell. It is an Act that saw the President oppose his signature legislation, before he supported it, and that saw the President’s challenger sire the Act, before he disowned it. The Act sparked conservative outrage around the country, though it was conceived in the heart of the conservative movement. It passed only through handouts to some States, but was partially stricken as violating the financial free will of all the States. And, of course, it is an Act that raised no taxes, but that survives as a valid exercise of the taxing power.

The source.

See also The Community Organizer Giveth, and the Community Organizer Taketh Away, and The Healer - America's Telocratic President.

Keep Cool with Coolidge

Supposedly the first presidential film (other presidents had been caught on video before, but this one seems more intentionally filmed).

I wonder whether we could just run him posthumously?

Polling Silliness

I wonder sometimes why pollsters even ask questions like this:

John F. Kennedy remains the most popular modern U.S. president, according to a new Gallup poll of the nine most recent presidents, while Jimmy Carter’s approval rating has dropped 9 percentage points since 2006.

Since Gallup began its retrospective job approval poll in 1990, Kennedy has consistently topped the list of most popular presidents, while Richard Nixon has received the lowest approval rating in every poll except the one conducted in 1993. Lyndon Johnson, who now has a 47 percent rating, was ranked last that year.

Kennedy got a thumbs up from 85 percent of respondents.

Consider this for just a moment…

1) John F. Kennedy got a “thumbs up from 85% of respondents.

2) John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963—just over 47 years ago.

3) It appears from Gallup’s methods that they surveyed only those who are 18 years of age or older.

4) Now, if my quick math is right, based on the numbers found here, it would appear that (assuming no significant change in numbers between 2008 and now) that roughly 75% of the population is 18 or older, and of that number, almost 50 % would have been either been infants with likely no memory of the Kennedy presidency, or else born anytime in the last 47 years. 

Just out of curiosity, why would we take seriously any kind of polling on presidential popularity—especially among the general public?  Seems to me that the prime function of this is to help built the legend, not to really find out anything of substance.

A Gesture of Hospitality

Flying in and out of Ramstein Air Base, American presidents are frequent visitors to the place where I live in Germany.

Should president Obama decide to stay in my town overnight, on business or to take a break, I would be happy to pay for his accommodation here:

Make sure to study the Rates, the Gallery, and the Furnishing.

Obama's Yodel Politics

Have you carefully listened to this political speech, given by Franz Josef Strauss in German?

Good.

No, you are not right to think you did not understand him.

He said exactly what you heard.

Without a teleprompter, admittedly.

Otherwise, Obama is of similar rhetorical brilliance.

Both speak politics.

Everyone understands politics.

PS

Frankly, this lady makes a lot more sense, to me. (Hat tip to Eric Parks.)

Satanism with a Friendly Face

Excepting its occasional anti-religious remarks, Edward Cline's article The Doomsayers is well worth reading as an overview of the malice underlying the great political projects of Obama and his collectivist friends.

Tender, Juicy Obama Fingers

Writes Der Spiegel:

A German frozen food company hopes to raise sales with a new product: Obama fingers. The tender, fried chicken bits come with a tasty curry sauce. The company says it was unaware of the possible racist overtones of the product.

The source.

The Answers

To your President's Day Quiz:

1. Calvin Coolidge adopted a raccoon, whom the Coolidges named Rebecca.  It was a gift from a voter in Mississippi.
2. Walter Mondale (Jimmy Carter's VP) was the first Vice President to have an office in the White House proper.
3. Gerald Ford was nicknamed "Bozo" for his public clumsiness (although he was one of the most athletic Presidents we've ever had), and Robert Dole "Pineapple" because of his last name.
4. Nine Presidents never attended college (Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Cleveland, and--most recently--Harry Truman).
5. Frank Sinatra was the famous singer who supported Spiro Agnew.  After a Sinatra pep talk, Agnew told reporters "I will no resign if indicted," but resigned a month later.
6. Ronald Reagan received one electoral vote in 1976.  Michael Padden, a Republican from Washington, became a "faithless elector" when he went against his pledge to vote for Gerald Ford.
7. Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton are the only Democrats to have been elected twice.  Harry Truman became President upon the death of FDR, shortly after taking office, and then was elected to his own term in 1948.  The Republicans have had twice as many incumbent Presidents re-elected during the 20th (and now 21st) century.
8. John Adams was the first President to be denied a re-election. 
9. The first political party to hold a nominating convention was The Anti-Masons.  The meeting was in Baltimore in 1831, and representatives from 13 states nominated William Wirt to be their candidate. 
10. In 1804, the Democratic Republican congressman held a nominating caucus (as opposed to the more open convention that came later) and named Thomas Jefferson their candidate.

Happy Presidents Day!