The Supreme Court's Rightward Shift

This will come as no surprise to observant court watchers. Under John Roberts, but not necessarily because of John Roberts, is the most conservative it has been in decades. The general rightward shift will continue for the foreseeable future until one of the five conservative justices leaves (Kagan is replacing a liberal in John Paul Stevens). This is unlikely to happen anytime soon as one conservative justice, Anthony Kennedy has indicated he'd like to wait out Obama.

Obamanation!

Barack Obama was sworn in this afternoon as the 44th President of the United States of America. He thus becomes the first black President, the first minority of any type, ending the monopoly held by white males on the highest office in the land for over two centuries. In some ways this very fact is a good thing. No longer will America's detractors, both within and outside of our country, be able to speak of glass ceilings and inequality with any credibility. Anyone can rise to the highest office in the land. America is willing to accept a person of color, as proven by President Obama's new position. America is willing to accept a woman in the position as well. The support for both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin from their respective party's as they ran last year prove that statement as well. So this is now officially an Obama Nation. He and his supporters are in charge now. The celebrations will continue with a number of parties tonight known as Presidential Ball's, but when everyone wakes up in the morning the real business of governance will begin. President Obama began his tenure by stumbling over his swearing-in ceremony as he was incorrectly led in taking the oath of office by SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts inserted the word 'faithfully' at the wrong point, causing Obama, who had likely prepared for this and practiced the oath a number of times, to halt. The two then did a verbal dance until Obama simply said it in the manner that Roberts led him. We can write that off to nervousness on both men's parts, and the awesome reality setting in that this event was actually finally happening. Everyone is not perfect all the time, not even Barack Obama and John Roberts. However, can you imagine the field day that the media and celebrities would be having were it George W. Bush being involved in such a blunder in front of the whole world? This was a real shame for such a truly historic moment. But human gaffes aside, its the meat and potatoes of the acceptance speech that really matter. President Obama started well by properly thanking President Bush for both his service to the nation and his cooperation in the transition. But he then spoke of how the economy has been weakened by, among other things, a "collective failure to make hard choices." Obama himself and his Democratic Senate colleagues have been front and center in failing to make hard choices and consistently cow-towing to liberal special interests and pork barrel spending programs. It will be interesting to see how the new President leads us into the more fiscally responsible era that he seems to be calling for. He said that jobs have been shed and businesses shuttered. I wonder if he plans on following or supporting the path of Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat House colleagues in allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, and in raising taxes that will only result in even more businesses closing and more jobs lost. He spoke of our health care being too costly. Now is not the time for details, but when they eventually come out will they involve a socialized medical coverage plan that will lower costs for some in initially, but lower care as well while creating frustrating and interminable bueracracies such as those that have emerged with Canada's national health care system? And the costs that will rise from that bueracracy? They will be borne by 'We the People' in increased taxes for all. We will all pay in the end. It's just that now you will be paying that bigger Uncle Sam rather than some medical provider. He said that "our schools fail too many", but is that really appropriate, or do too many students fail themselves because they are unwilling and undisciplined. Is the problem really mostly in the schools, or is it in the home? He said that "we use our energy to strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet" and yet consistently voted against programs that would have led to greater energy independence for America. The new President also incredibly stated that there was a "sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable." I don't know who President Obama has been speaking with...oh wait, yes I do. He has been speaking with and is speaking of his fellow Democrat politicians and their followers. Republicans and American traditionalists of all stripes have never had any such thoughts. We are always confident in our belief in the strength, power, faith, and resilience of America. We always see both the spirit and the actuality of America's greatness extending well into the future. We are always positive. It has only been the Dems and their supporters who have felt this "sapping" and "nagging" about our nation, its world role, its direction. He later went on to call those who do not believe in his programs "cynics" who "fail to understand that the ground has shifted beneath them", and claimed that "stale political arguments...no longer apply." Trust me, we conservatives are well aware of the political shift. And we also realize that political differences remain and the arguments will continue. We will regroup, re-engage, and come back again even stronger in the future. The President said that the problems of government are not whether it is too big or small, but whether it works. The fact is that whether it's working or not is defined differently by many different sources. However, it is also factual that if government is too big, that in itself is a huge problem. Government is already too big and President Obama and his followers plan to grow it to an incredible size. That will create a true "problem of government." The President made a telling statement in addressing world leaders when he said that "America is a friend of every nation, and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity." What he failed to say was anything about how he would deal with those nations whose vision of peace and dignity is not possible without the destruction of Israel as a nation and the erasing of America from its position as a world power. He began to draw to his closing, and one of his comments referred to the goodness of "a parent's willingness to nurture a child." It will be interesting to see how his Supreme Court nominees stand up to that measure of goodness in their willingness to protect those children as God's most precious gift of human life. Despite my skepticism of his plans, Barack Obama is now my President. Unlike the destructive path that the Dems took with President Bush, myself and most Republicans will pray for and support President Obama as our own, our leader, our Commander-in-Chief. But we are indeed the 'loyal opposition', and our loyalty only extends so far. We will continue to fight against him and the liberal Democrats as hard as we can to maintain traditional American values, keep government out of our individual and familial business as much as possible, and maintain our safety and security. We will not allow this new Obama Nation to become an abomination. God bless President Barack Obama, but more importantly, God bless America.
NOTE: This article has been amended from its original form, which alluded to problems with the swearing-in ceremony being caused by Obama's nervousness. He may have been nervous, but it was Justice Roberts' gaffe that started the problems. Thanks to a commenter for pointing out this error. Comments can be viewed by clicking on to that below label on every entry.

2008 American of the Year: George W. Bush

George W. Bush is winding down the final three weeks of an eventful eight year Presidency. For the past seven of those years, the President has been under as heavy a burden as any American President before him. There have been many of his predecessors who have had to guide the nation in a time of war. Some notables include Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman during World War II, and Ronald Reagan in the 'Cold War', or World War III. Lincoln, Truman, and Reagan each had the faith, the strength, the moral courage, and the personal timing to bring these struggles to a successful close for the nation. Roosevelt, alas, did not live to see the fruits of his difficult labor, but his vision and courage, his willingness to stand up to the evils of Nazism and totalitarianism were vital to our American future, indeed the entire free world's future. Much the same can be said of President George W. Bush these past seven years. As we all know, on September 11th, 2001, just over eight months into his first term, the United States suffered a major attack on our continental soil by the foreign power of Islamism. The forces of Islamofascist terror had been at war with America and the western world for at least a decade to that point. They declared it against us, and they had previously taken action with attacks against our interests both abroad (Kenya, Tanzania, Lebanon) and here at home (the first WTC attack.) Still, while we knew they meant us harm, few understood the imminent danger in their ability to actually reach out and destroy serious targets on America's shores. That reality was slapped home on 9/11 when a pair of airliners flew into the Twin Towers and resulted in their destruction, and another flew into the Pentagon doing serious damage to our main national defense headquarters. A third airliner had been thwarted from doing even further damage thanks to the bravery of the passengers, who had learned of the earlier attacks. In the end, approximately 3,000 Americans and foreigners lost their lives as a result of the attacks. The Bush administration plans for the future, both in domestic policy and foreign affairs, was forever altered. The fact of the matter is that the primary responsibility of the President of the United States, of our national government in fact, is to preserve, protect, and defend the union. In his seven years in office following those attacks, the President has taken us on the offensive against the Islamofascists, and has thus averted any further attacks on us by an enemy sworn to inflict even further damage. In the aftermath he established what has become known as the 'Bush Doctrine', which is basically the combination of ideas stating that there is no 'moral relativism'. We are good, they are evil, and that is a fact beyond dispute. Further that the United States will go on the offensive in wiping out these organizations, and will also deal with nations who support them in an aggressive manner. And in doing so we will not only be reactive, doing something only after we are attacked, but will also be preemptive in hitting those who clearly state their intention to harm us. The President responded to 9/11 by sending our troops into Afghanistan to wipe out the Taliban regime that was both terrorizing its fellow Afghanis, and which also was harboring the terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda, who had attacked us on 9/11. He followed that up by sending them into Iraq to rout Sadaam Hussein and his Baathist government, and to help Iraqis install a democratic government that would serve as both a launching pad and a beacon of hope for the entire region. All the while, our troops military actions in the Middle East would attract the attention of the Islamists, diverting them from America's own shores. Despite the ups and down of every major military struggle in history, the strategy has worked remarkably well. The seeds of freedom have been planted in a region of the world where they had not existed for centuries, and where it appeared just a few years ago that they would never take root. Perhaps most importantly, the President has clearly done his job of protecting the United States, as we have not been successfully attacked on his watch again since 9/11. From Afghanistan to Iraq, from Guantanamo Bay to the Patriot Act, the President and his team have been proven out to be consistently correct in their efforts to keep us safe. As he leaves office, he can also hang his hat on a pair of tremendous achievements: keeping taxes low and appointing constitutional SCOTUS judges. The current financial meltdown is a problem largely outside of the President's scope to control, the mistakes that led to it largely having begun in the Clinton administration anyway. But keeping taxes low has allowed the crisis from being even worse. And in his appointments of both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, the President has hit a pair of homeruns that will benefit our nation long after he leaves office next month. It is true that he needed direction in the Alito appointment after initially wanting his friend, Harriet Myers, for the position. But he showed great leadership in his willingness to listen and in his ability to admit when he was wrong, and he ultimately made the correct decision and nomination. There were outstanding candidates this past year aside from the President, most notably the Republican VP nominee and Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who was the runner-up. It is very difficult to justify someone like President-elect Barrack Obama, whose only real action this year was in running for an office. Perhaps one of these individuals will be honored here in the future based on their actions, rather than for a political campaign. But in this past year, no one in the country had a more difficult job than President Bush, and he came through with flying colors. Despite an intensely negative media portrayal and the utter disrespect of the Democrats over almost the entirety of his terms in office that resulted in his low approval ratings, the President has kept his head high and his country safe. The day that he leaves office next month, the nation will likely become a far less safe place, and that will likely only deteriorate over the ensuing months and years. In the long term, it says here that Bush will be viewed in a positive light, and will be proven even more right in his positions. For his leadership, for his continuing to fight for the nation despite the ravenous attacks of his enemies, for the continuing example of his public faith in God, and for keeping America safe, the website is proud to honor President George W. Bush as the 5th annual 'American of the Year', following in the footsteps of previous honorees Pat Tillman (2004), Bill O'Reilly (2005), Rev. Billy Graham (2006), and P/O Chuck Cassidy (2007).

Election Eve

Well, it's finally here: Election Eve. Just one more night of these incessant commercials that end or begin with: "I'm _______ (insert politician name), and I approve this message." The majority of the opinion polls are calling for a Democratic Party victory across the board for the Presidencey, in Congress, and in the U.S. Senate. The major network news stations and the majority of the print media have been gleefully reporting these results to the public. There is no doubt that the prosecution of the Iraq War and the recent plummet in the stock market have hurt the Republicans most. Congress deserves as much blame as President Bush, if not more, but that just doesn't matter. President George W. Bush has been a target since first being elected back in 2000 in the closest American Presidential vote ever, an election that Dems believe to this day was stolen from them by the Supreme Court. They believe that the entire Bush Presidency has been illegitimate, that he would never have beaten Kerry in 2004 if he had not been handed the 2000 victory over Al Gore, who they believe should be completing his 2nd term in the White House. To even imagine the horror of what the last eight years would have been like under a Gore administration is too frightening a concept on which to waste ones time. Suffice it to say that a President Gore probably would have ceded the Middle East to the Islamofascists by now, and the Supreme Court would be liberal for the next two generations. Thank God that 'W' was elected if only because he kept us safe after 9/11, responded with strength to that Middle East crisis, and appointed two tremendous, originalist SCOTUS justices in John Roberts and Samuel Alito. If John McCain does indeed succumb to Obama tomorrow night, the Republican Party needs to seriously get back to the drawing board from the grass roots on up. People like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin among others need to step up solidly on the national stage, and strategists need to begin to fight back with a plan to take back Congress. Should McCain-Palin eek out a victory, expect the left to cry foul, and cry it loud and long. After all, partisan pollsters and pundits have been telling them for a month that they have an easy win on their hands. My bet is that if it is a win for the Dems, it won't be easy or big. This should be a close election. My call is that neither candidate gets more than 51 or 52 percent of the vote, which means that a significant portion of the nation's citizens will not have supported the next person who would be the President. In any event, it's almost over now. One more night. Soon, the commercials will end, the signs will come down, the rhetoric will ease for a time, and we can look forward to Christmas. But beyond that, we can either be looking at a nightmare or an opportunity. As Hillary Clinton sits home wondering what exactly happened to her dream, anything remains possible here on Election Eve.