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During the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the federal government has expanded astronomically and has left the the United States more than a trillion dollars in debt.  This number scares the American people as they see a government that has grown too fast, and will provide  a burden on the liberty of future generations who will have to pay it off.  This irresponsibility of both administrations has led people to identify with a Tea Party movement that is not led by a charismatic leader like Obama, but rather by the idea that government needs to go back to its roots…the Constitution…where its main job to is to protect the liberty of its citizens and not take it away with massive entitlement programs.  This is why the Democrats won back Congress  in 2006 and Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 .  I know that statement might be confusing to you, so let me explain.

When Newt Gingrich led the GOP to control of the House, the main element of the Contract with America that they were looking to enact was a balanced budget.  After the failure of Hillarycare and corruption of Congressional Democrats led to a massive GOP win in 1994, Bill Clinton was in danger of being thrown out of office in 1996.  Bill Clinton, being a smart and saavy politician, decided it was best to work with Gingrich in cutting the federal budget.  This decision led to Clinton being reelected in 1996, as he signed into law courageous centrist policies such as welfare reform and reduced the size of the federal government.  Most Americas were thrilled with the results of his presidency and were hoping for similar governing from his successor George W. Bush.  However, President Bush started his presidency by creating two large government programs that led to increased federal spending.  They were the No Child Left Behind education program and the prescription drug benefits program for Seniors.   This two measures among others caused Bush to rack up the largest amount of entitlement spending since LBJ and the Great Society.  Also, after 9-11,  President Bush got America embroiled in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were very costly to operate and maintain during his presidency.  The governing of George W. Bush led the United States to take a surplus from Clinton administration and turn it into a multi-billion dollar deficit.  Bush’s running up of a large deficit and failure to manage the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, led to the Democrats taking over Congress in 2006.   During the two years before the 2008 election, the partisan rancor in Washington was at an all time high and Americans were looking for a centrist and practical President that would provide a new style of politics in Washington D.C.  In that door stepped Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Barack Obama presented himself during the 2008 presidential campaign as a centrist Democrat who would  build broad coalitions to achieve policy goals.  He talked of the fact that we are not “red states” or “blue states,” but the United States of America.  He spoke of bringing “change” to Washington and a new, open style of politics to the nation’s capital.  After living through the nasty divisiveness of the Bush presidency, the American people longed for a president that could bring the country together and make America respected again in the world.  During the campaign, President Obama sounded like a moderate Democrat in vowing to cut taxes for 95% of Americans and go through budget items line by line to make sure that there was no government waste.  Obama came off as a sensible politician that would be very strategic and measured in making policy decisions.  Even though Barack Obama had very radical friends during his time as a community organizer in Chicago and was the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, many people looked past his associations and voting record.  They didn’t believe his background was a good guide in deciding his future as president.  Instead, the focused on Obama’s soaring rhetoric and can-do-attitude regarding the future of America and voted him into the White House as the 44th President of the United States.  16 months later, many Americans who voted for Barack Obama look at their selection as a major mistake.  The reason for their rejection of President Obama stems from America’s rightward turn in political ideology since the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980.

With the election of Ronald Reagan, America finally saw that conservatism was the answer to providing wealth and prosperity in the United States.  After the Great Depression, America was very hesitant conservatism and thought its tight connection with the free market is what led to the collapse of the stock market in 1929.  That is why from 1928-1980, the only Republicans who made it to the White House were moderates Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Eisenhower believed in the effectiveness of government , which led to him developing the interstate highway system.  Also, Eisenhower believe in balanced budgets and not tax cuts like his successor John F. Kennedy.  Richard Nixon was also a big government liberal Republican that often gets swept into the conservative movement by the media in attempt to demonize it. Nixon believed in expanded powers of the federal government, including support of increased welfare and health care spending.  Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, was pro-choice, which puts him at odds with many conservatives.  The previous three Republican administrations is why the election of Ronald Reagan was monumental and earth shattering.  Reagan believed in cutting taxes, cutting spending, increasing the defense budget, protecting the sanctity of life, and renewing American patriotism and pride.  His can do attitude and belief in the American middle class worker led to the longest peace time growth in nation’s history.  After the divisive year’s of George W. Bush, where America took a step back abroad and suffered a financial meltdown at the end of Bush’s second term, Americans reserved the same optimism for Barack Obama.  However, they have been extremely disappointed in their new president.

President Barack Obama has been the anti-Reagan, proving that his campaign speeches simply meant that government, rather than the people, would be at the forefront of his “CHANGE” agenda.  President Obama has taken drastic steps in increasing the size and scope of the federal budget, even after the hundreds of billions of dollars of debt he inherited from George W. Bush.  President Obama has tripled the deficit to $1.8 trillion since being in office by passing a huge stimulus package and a massive health care entitlement.  The stimulus package hasn’t provided many jobs to middle class Americans, but rather has caused unemployment to rise to10%.  The health care bill signed into law this past March is expected to raise insurance premiums and increase taxes on middle class families.  Unlike Reagan, Obama’s governing has led to a shrinking of the economy rather than its expansion.  Businesses are afraid to invest in workers, since they are unsure what additional costs would come with each new hiring.  They are unsure how the government plans to reduce the deficit and what impact the new health care plan will have on their bottom line.  Also, Wall Street and other major businesses in the United States have been berated by the Obama administration for the financial collapse and now are afraid to spend any money on private jets, entertainment, sports, business meetings, etc.  This stranglehold on big business has hurt small businesses that rely on their clientele.  Unlike Reagan, who brought all Americans together with his colloquial speaking style and optimistic view of what was possible for  all Americans, Obama speaks with a petulant tone and is dismissive of those who dare to question his motives.  Reagan welcomed a debate of ideas and had his back and forth on issues with House speaker Tip O’Neil.  No matter how heated their exchanges would become during the day, at the close of business, Reagan and O’Neil would end the day with a drink and a conservation.  That civility has been absent in Obama’s Washington, where he famously told House Republicans in their first meeting together, “We won, we write the bill.”  This arrogance and dismissive attitude towards the opposition has also extended to ordinary American citizens who joined the “Tea Party Movement” to protest Obama’s spending policies and show their concern for the nation’s debt crisis.  Obama denounced this group of Americans as “teabaggers”, a term describing a sexual act that should be clearly be beneath the office of the presidency.  The president has shown during his time in office that if you disagree with what he believes that he will call you out publicly rather than have a civil dialogue with you behind closed doors.  Just ask Officer Crowley and the Supreme Court.  President Obama has proved to be a liberal ideologue in his governing and he has tried to jam his views and beliefs down the American people’s throats, rather than look to compromise with them and congressional Republicans who think problems can be addressed differently.  Lastly, unlike Reagan, Obama has not employed a foreign policy of “Peace through Strength” that helped to end the Cold War, but rather has weakened our national defense.  Ronald Reagan used a strong ally in U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to put pressure on the communist Soviet Union with tough rhetoric and increased missile defense.  President Obama has mistreated our ally Israel and diminished their confidence in us, while Iran continues to progress on their nuclear program with no actions or harsh rhetoric by the administration.  Rather, the president has reserves his tough rhetoric to criticize United States foreign policy, demeaning measures that helped our country defeat Nazism, Fascism, and Totalitarianism during World War II as well as put an end to Soviet communism in the 1980s.  Also, instead of increasing our weaponry and missile defense as a strong deterrent for Iran to go forward with their nuclear program, President Obama instead signed a nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia, that lays out no strict conditions for Russian disarmament.  So, clearly President Obama’s arrogance, partisanship, and weakness has caused him to lose favor with the American people.

Now, as 2010 approaches, its time for the American people to give a strong message to President Obama and congressional Democrats, that government entitlement programs and destruction of American Exceptionalism will not be tolerated by our leaders.  Americans believe in an individual and collectivist society, but they don’t believe in bureaucracy, inefficient management, and Chicago thug-style politics.  Americans believe that “individuals” working together as a “collective” unit is what makes our country most successful.  For instance, the “rich” use their capital to invest in businesses or products, which allow middle-class people to obtain jobs and accumulate their own wealth working for the private venture.   With their accumulated wealth, Americans take care of those less fortunate by donating a portion of their wealth to those less fortunate.  Most Americans don’t believe that they can sit on the sidelines, and let government take care of the poor.  Rather they believe it is THERE responsibility to lift up those who are in need by offering them a hand up.  Through their own individual hard work and effort, people create a better life for themselves and their family.  They also contribute what they can to helping out citizens who have fallen on hard times.  In the cases of human despair, such as Hurricane Katrina, Americans time and again show their compassion for their fellow citizens and contribute substantial resources to get them back on their feet.  In 2010, Americans will send the Democrats a message that government is supposed to protect the people from all enemies, foreign and domestic, not redistribute their resources.  Government needs to make sure that people are not being exploited by the private sector, not run the private sector.  Government is supposed to regulate health insurance companies, not put bureaucratic red tape between patients and their doctors.  The American people will send a message in November, that limited government is what’s best for America.  A nation of 300 million people can make better decisions for themselves and this country, then a few hundred bureaucrats in Washington, DC.  2010 is the year that the people take back their government.

This Obama guy is talented…huh.  Let’s first take a look at what a Scott Brown win in Massachusetts would mean to the political landscape, then let’s see if he can really WIN!  I can’t believe I am writing a blog entry about how a Republican can win in a Senate seat in Massachusetts.  A Massachusetts Republican hasn’t been elected to the Senate since Richard Nixon’s first term as president in 1972.  It’s like the Royals or Pirates winning the World Series next year.  Amazing!  Or the Red Sox finally winning the World Series (Yes, that happened…so their is HOPE).  If Scott Brown wins on Tuesday, defeating Democratic Candidate Martha Coakley, then you will see what I am labeling “Democrats in Disarray.”  Right now the Dems are holding up a unified fight against the GOP  behind an unpopular Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, sure-to-lose-in-2010 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (especially after his “light-skinned” racist comments about the President), and President Obama, who has continued his steady decline in the polls which began this past summer.  The latest Quinnipiac poll has his approval rating at an all-time low of 45%.  Democrats are holding firm, because they are so close to getting a major overhaul of health care passed, which they have been trying to do since FDR’s presidency.  Even though health care is hovering around 40 percent in approval, Democrats are still willing to pass it with a party line vote and take their chances in 2010.  However, if Massachusetts falls, then everything changes.

If Scott Brown were to win this seat in Massachusetts, it gives the Democrats only 59 votes in the Senate, which breaks up their super majority, and allows the Republicans to filibuster a bill after it comes out of conference committee between Democratic House and Senate leaders.  With Brown’s public statements indicating that he would vote against “Obamacare,” I see no chance of the bill passing.  This leaves the Democrats with a major policy loss, and President Obama with a year where he has no major legislative achievements to speak of.  That should do wonders for his approval ratings and it will cause the Democratic Party to enter a time period of “disarray.”

We saw this among Republicans in 2006, where George W. Bush become a “dirty” word among the GOP and they began to sprint away from the President as fast as they could.  I’d expect the same thing from Democrats and and their reactions to Obama.  If health care reform fails, then Democrats wouldn’t be able to display any major policy achievements to the voters in November.  If Martha Coakley loses in the “bluest of blue” states in Massachusetts with New Jersey & Virginia, who gave Obama comfortable wins in 2008, also turning red, then the Dems are in big trouble.  Democrats will start to conclude that they are toast politically if they stay the course with the Obama, Reid, & Pelosi’s agenda and they will begin to abandon them in droves.  This will lead to a Democratic Party that has no central message to the voters come November, and it could lead to the GOP taking over the House in 2010, as they did in 1994. The fact that Scott Brown even has fighting chance in Massachusetts shows that the Dems are poised to lose seats in both chambers come the fall.  But this can turn from a “bad” year for Dems to “catastrophic.”  If the Dems lose the House, President Obama will have to cancel his plans for a ‘rebirth” of the “Great Society,” and instead work with the GOP that he famously told during the first days of his presidency “We won, we write the bill.”  I assume the GOP will say the same to him.  This would turn Obama into “lame duck” president, as Bill Clinton was characterized in 1994.  However, Bill Clinton was one of the most-talent politicians to ever sit in the Oval Office.  He suffered major personal and professional scandals along with a thumping in his first midterm election, only to stay in office for two terms and leave office with over a 60% approval rating.  President Obama came in with nearly a 70% approval rating, and has already lost 1/3 of that support without any major gaffes.  The political skills of Obama surely will be tested if he has to deal with a split legislature and a very polarized Washington, D.C.  So the era of “change” that the media was championing, could turn into political “gridlock” for the next two years.  Sound familiar.  So much for the 40 year Democratic Majority.

Now for the big question: Does Scott Brown really has a chance to win in Massachusetts?  The answer is YES, I think.  The latest polls out in the Massachusetts Special Election are very favorable to Scott Brown.  Brown leads by an astounding 15 points in the Pajamas Media/Cross Target poll and is up 4 points in the Suffolk/7 News poll released last night.  An internal poll from the Martha Coakley campaign has her trailing 47-44.  The Democrats are scared to death of losing in Massachusetts, and that is why they are sending in the heavy artillery: former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.  However, a lot of pundits think that might not be enough, because Democrats are not likely to turnout.  A lot of far left Democrats are upset with Obama over his decision to expand troop levels in Afghanistan, and don’t want to support a candidate who has run a horrible race and provides little to get excited about.  I feel that the polls are heading Scott Brown’s way, but the race can still go either way.  If I had to pick a winner now, I say Scott Brown wins 49-48 in a nailbiter.  If that happens, then it is the end of “HOPE & CHANGE.”  President Obama loses his chance to reform health care, as Democrats will not to associated their name with a bill that is so unpopular with the American public.  Now, President Obama will appear just as beaten and worn as President Bush.  Chalk up another win for the greatest political system in the world.  Just when you think you got it beat, it knocks you down a peg.  I LOVE AMERICA!  Thank you Founders!

The American people have increasingly become skeptical of Obama’s handling in Afghanistan.  A Gallup Poll released today shows that only 35% of Americans approve of it, down from 21% from July.  What is even more troubling for the President is that his approval in Afghanistan has dipped significantly among Independents (-25%) over the same time period, which is more of a dip  than shown from Democrats (-16%) or Republicans (-20%).  Politically speaking, even if President Obama fails in Afghanistan, most Democrats will support him for reelection, especially if he signs health care reform and climate change into law.  Even if President Obama succeeds in Afghanistan, most Republicans will not support his reelection bid, due to his massive expansion of the federal government.  President Obama tonight had to convince Independents, who are abandoning him on Afghanistan in droves to come back inside the tent and support him.  I don’t believe he did that tonight in his nationally televised speech at West Point in front of sea of cadets.  He tried to talk out of both sides of his mouth by pandering to  partisans on both sides of the partisan divide in this country.  However, this is not the way you attract moderates to your cause.  You attract moderates by showing strength & confidence in your decision. You stress that it must lead to “Victory”, since our national security hangs in the balance.  Not once  in the President’s speech tonight did he say that we will “win” in Afghanistan.  Not once did he stress that our national security was at risk.  Americans are not likely to support a plan that simply promises to “end the war.”  If we just want to “end the war,” most Americans believe we should just do it now.   Especially, if according to President Obama, our national security and well-being is not at risk.  He made that clear by setting a timetable for withdrawal of all troops by July 2011.  If our nation’s security was at risk, then why would you put a time frame on the conflict?   Anytime a war is escalated,  Americans believe that victory must be at the core of the decision.  President Lyndon Johnson tried escalation strategies to “end the war” in Vietnam and it brought down his presidency.  If the President would have used rhetoric and details that conveyed how we were going to “win” in Afghanistan, he would have swept Independents to his side and this would have caused partisans in this country to feel compelled to hop on board.  That was the point of the speech tonight.  He needed to garner broad support from the American people for a deeply unpopular war in its eighth year.  Not an easy task by any means, but the Presidency isn’t an easy job.  Nights like tonight separate the average Presidents from the great ones.  Obama looked very average tonight.

In a 90 minute interview with Politico, former Vice President Dick Cheney expressed his reservations about President Obama’s overall foreign policy outlook.  His analysis clearly cuts to core of why Independents are losing faith in his ability to be an effective Commander-in-Chief.  Cheney points out the following reasons why he deems his foreign policy approach to be flawed:

• Factoring “politics” into foreign policy decisions
• “Dithering” in his decision-making that leads to questions about the President’s commitment
• Showing weakness to foreign leaders through bowing and apologizing for our past actions
• Not believing  in American Exceptionalism

All these points lead to a central idea that the former Vice President is trying to express, which is the President doesn’t know how to be a leader.  It is the same point made surprisingly made by filmmaker Michael Moore in an open letter that he wrote to President in opposition of the decision to send more troops into Afghanistan and his desire for immediate withdrawal of all troops from the region.  The following points by Moore also help explain why Independents are lacking confidence in the President’s leadership.

• He didn’t have the courage to fire Gen. McChrystal who openly defied him in the media
• Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan have been diminished to around a hundred members
• Americans are more concerned about jobs and rising health care costs

These points lead to Michael Moore’s central idea that there are more important problems facing America than Afghanistan, where Al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan is minimal and provides little threat to America’s security.

The American people were looking for President Obama to answer one question tonight.  What makes your approach to Afghanistan and foreign policy better than the ones suggested by the Dick Cheney & Michael Moore?  Unfortunately, he didn’t answer that question tonight, which will cause Independents to either lean closer to either Dick Cheney or Michael Moore.  The President’s approach to Afghanistan looked to quiet down Cheney and keep Moore on board, but it did neither.  Good leaders are able to establish a strong middle ground that maintains support of their party’s most intense partisans and diminishes the influence of its fiercest opponents.  Reagan and Clinton both possessed this leadership, which Obama sorely lacks.  This is why the President has struggled to achieve any major accomplishments during his first year in office.  This is why I lack confidence that President Obama’s strategy will succeed in Afghanistan.  He hasn’t given me any reason to believe it will.

Since being inaugurated in January, President Obama has kept his promise to voters of trying to “remake” America.  Most voters thought it was a cool catchphrase during a presidential campaign, but they were wrong.  Instead, it is Obama’s mission.  He wants to “remake” the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.  When you look at that goal in print, it should send shivers down your spine.  The United States of America was created by the founding fathers whose main goal was to give each individual “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  These principles which Thomas Jefferson wrote in the “Declaration of Independence” are the foundation of this republic, which all other ideas are built upon.  They are the building blocks of America.  These “unalienable rights” are “endowed by our creator” and therefore cannot be infringed upon by any internal or external force.  The founders were stating that this new nation would be governed under rights given to us  by God.  Our creator gave us life so that we could live in liberty and be free to pursue our own happiness.  God desired “liberty” for all men to praise him by using their talents to build a successful society.  Man’s ability to create a livelihood and contribute to his family and society would be bring him happiness.

President Obama seems not to believe in allowing Americans enjoy the  right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  Instead, Obama and the Democratic Party believe it is their right to decide “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all Americans.  The elites in this country, whch include Obama, the media, academia, and Hollywood believe that they are the “best & brightest” and therefore have the right to decide what America should be.  They believe that America should be modeled after Europe, which believes in a strong centralized government that’s main purpose is to provide goods and services for its people.  They believe in a European model that stresses equality over liberty and fairness over free enterprise.  However, the Constitution does not give Obama or any one else the authority to force what the president calls “positive” rights on its people.  American citizens in the Constitution are not granted a right to free health care, a right to affordable housing, or any other particular service.  All Americans are given rights that CAN’T be infringed upon by the government.  So, for Obama and the Far Left, the Constitution is a document that needs to be worked around in order to pass their agenda.  So, this is why Obama consistently apologizes for American when he goes abroad.  He is embarassed that his country, America, doesn’t give him the “freedom” to pass government programs easily.  He also is confused by the idea that the federal government is supposed protect the freedom of all Americans through administering strong national security measures.  Instead he sees these policies not as American strength in pursuit of world peace, but as arrogance.  President Obama’s ideal America would be one in which nationalism and exceptionalism is non-existent and instead it is just one of many nations involved in a consortium that makes decisions regarding the world on the basis of consensus.

This is why President Obama does not have a problem allowing the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalik Sheik Mohammad take place in a Federal court room in New York City.  He does not understand that only Americans have the “right” to a fair trial.  This “right” is for Americans only, and does not have to be extended to our enemies abroad, especially a terrorist who plotted to kill 2,000 New Yorkers more than eight years ago.  For the entire history of America, enemy combatants have been tried in military tribunals, which are just trials, but don’t extend the same rights to defendants as Americans receive.  And why should they? It is unfathomable that a president of the United States would grant a terrorists a fair trial roughly hundred yards away from where he committed the biggest single day attack in our nation’s history.  Obama must believe that this will win him points with foreign leaders (he bows to) and show them that America is truly a nation they should befriend and help him “remake.”  A nation that he wants to see adopt redistributionist economics, government-run health care, and a cap on carbon emissions.  If his vision comes to fruition, then individuals will be able to keep less of what they earn, be limited in making decisions about their health, and be restricted in their ability to innovate and create.  Simply put, Liberty is being assaulted by the tyranny of government control.

The founders had an opposite vision for America, which favored individual liberty over bureaucracy and the elite.  When King George III wanted to tax the colonialists tea, they told him to stick it.  This is what thousands of Americans have conveyed to Washington this past year through tea parties and town halls.  They have fought back against a massive increase in government and a restriction on their personal liberty to make choices for themselves and their families.  They have cried out again massive government spending leading to increasing debt and inevitably higher taxes for future generations.  They have made their case against a government run health care system that would fine the uninsured unless they participated  and run private insurers out of business through a public option.  Simply put, during Obama’s first year in office, many Americans have been ”going rogue.”  They have tuned out the elites in the media, academia, Hollywood, and Washington D.C. and instead have clung on to their Constitution and the American ideals handed down by the founding fathers.  Now former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin looks to lead them in their quest to defeat those who “reshape” America.

This is why Sarah Palin needs to be destroyed by the elites.  She is the antithesis of what they believe and therefore she threatens everything they desire for America.  The elites believe that America is controlled by them and therefore they decide what policies it is governed by and what its makes up its culture.  No document, individual, business, etc. will get in the way of shaping their agenda for America.  The elites believe they are only ones who can shape public opinion through education, the media, and popular culture.  This is why someone like Sarah Palin scares them to death.  She cuts through all the “messaging” coming from the elites and makes a connection with people one-on-one.   Her personal story, charisma, appearance, and political ideas all make her very interesting to an American public who is fascinated with her.  She is the antithesis of Obama, who is revered by his followers for his grace, elegance, intelligence, and perceived wisdom.  He is seen as the “hope” that will bring about ”change” in the lives of his followers.  Obama’s control of the government will finally allow his followers to get ahead in America.  Sarah Palin on the other hand is revered by her followers for her optimism in them and what they can create in America.  She believes strongly in American Exceptionalism and that American gets its strength from everyday, hard working people.  They are the foundation of America and if we give Americans the liberty to pursue their goals and work towards their ambition, then their is no nation in the world that can achieve what we can achieve.  By granting citizens the liberty to pursue their own happiness, they are able to use their God-given abilities innovate and create the technologies of the future.  Just like President Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin believes that America is a “Shining City On A Hill” that is the envy of the world.  With that honor, comes responsibility to confront threats from enemies around the world with a foreign policy built on strength rather than likeability.

In conclusion, I believe the statement made by Sarah Palin to Barbara Walters in her hour-long interview to air this Friday regardin her interview with Katie Couric truly encapsulates her appeal to conservatives, and especially Middle America:

Unfortunately, I was wearing my annoyance on my sleeve. And I shouldn’t have done that. Because, it seemed to me that she was asking “Do you read? How up there in Alaska, in this kind of nomadic, Neanderthal atmosphere that you live in, how are you connected to the world?” When I had just done an op-ed in her hometown newspaper, the New York Times, when I had just been interviewed by all those national media outlets. And that surprised me that she hadn’t done that home work. Very unprofessional of me, though. My fault, my bad, that I answered the way I answered. And that was with that proverbial roll of the eyes. Like, are you kidding me? Are you really asking me that?

By this statement, Sarah Palin taps into the frustration of conservatives, tea partiers, and town hallers.  She is simply saying are you “listening” to us.  Do you know we even exist?  Do you know what makes us tick?  Do you even care?  This is what ordinary Americans were expressing in outrage this summer.  They feel forgotten, overlooked, and sneered at by the elites who think they are misguided in their views.  The elites think they are so misguided that they wonder if they even “read” or know what is going on.  How could someone who hunts moose, talks with a funny accent, and is from Alaska know how to govern?  This is what runs through the minds of elites.  She scares them because she is so different and rejects what they and Pres. Obama are selling.  If she gets control of the government, then elites will be marginalized in their control of country.  This is what made them so crazed during the Bush presidency.  President Bush didn’t care what they had to say and was going to do what he thought was best for America.  Being shut out of the process drives the elites crazy. With Sarah Palin, they fear more of the same. Let’s hope so.  Its time to for the elites  and their abstract ideas to go away, so Sarah Palin and conservatism can save America for the rest of us.  God, we truly “hope” for that kind of CHANGE. Please answer our prayer.

WE ARE ADOPTING A SOLDIER AND NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE CARE PACKAGES FOR OUR TROOPS.

Items to bring:

Food:

Powdered Drink Mixes (individual packets are best), Cookies, crackers, pretzels (in snack sizes), Tuna in a pouch, Beef, chicken or turkey jerky, Cheese spread (no aerosol cans!) Ramen noodles, Snack cakes, Gum, Nuts, Granola bars, Pop Tarts, Dried fruit, Trail mix, Pistachios, Raisins, Red licorice twists, Tootsie Rolls (both candy and lollipops), Peanut butter, Triscuits, Wheat Thins, Canned meats (no pork products), Hard candy (individually-wrapped)

Sports Equipment:

Baseballs, Baseball gloves, Soccer balls, Basketballs, Volleyballs, Squirt guns, Frisbees

Entertainment:

AA & AAA batteries, Craft kits, Scrapbooking materials, Books (mysteries, action, drama, science fiction), Magazines – new or nearly new (sports, news, entertainment, travel, nature), Playing cards, Small hand-held games, Crossword puzzles, CD’s\DVD’s

Hygiene Supplies:

Facial cleansing pads, Moisturizing lotion, Wet Wipes, Eye drops, Lip balm, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, Soap, Body wash, Shampoo and conditioner, Deodorant, Sunblock, Foot powder

Miscellaneous : Blank cards, Stationary, paper, Pens, Letters, Ziploc bags (sandwich, qt., gal. sizes)

Please keep in mind that all food items must be in the manufacturer’s original packaging. 

NO chocolate – 110 degree heat and chocolate do not mix well, though M&M’s are fine.

For Ziploc bags, make sure that potentially leaky items don’t make a mess during shipping, and service members use them to keep sand out of their things while in the desert.

However…that underscores the central point of these elections being held tomorrow.  The key to conservative wins, and dare I say solid victories, in tomorrow’s contests is providing a halt to Pres. Obama’s agenda to increase government control over the private sector.  According to several reports, House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi is planning to stage a vote on her Health Care Reform bill later this week.  It is a vote that could lead Democrats one step closer to passing a public option through Congress.  This is why conservatives and independents must come out in droves tomorrow to show their opposition toward the Democrats big government takeover of America.  If voters in New Jersey elect Chris Christie their next governor, Bob McDonnell blows out Creigh Deeds as expected, and Doug Hoffman wins big in NY-23 special congressional election, then Blue Dog Democrats will start to tremble.   Blue Dogs in conservative districts will be terrified to stand in lock step with the agenda of Pres. Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  They will tell this power hungry threesome “thanks, but no thanks” on health care and cap & trade.

Under 24 hours until to the polls close in these pivotal races, it looks more and more likely that conservatives will go 3 for 3 in these races.  Bob McDonnell has been up double-digits for several weeks  in Virginia gubernatorial race and Pres. Obama has not shown his full support for Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds.  Today two polls were released, with Public Policy Polling having McDonnell up 14 points and Survey USA giving the GOP candidate a 18 point lead.  These are shocking numbers, due to the fact that Pres. Obama won Virginia last year.  Even though Virginia often elects a governor opposite to the party in control of the White House, it is still disappointing to the administration to see Virginians give the GOP candidate a potential rousing win.

The race that has gotten the most exposure over the past few days is the NY-23 special election.  On Saturday, Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race, claiming that she was not able to raise the proper funds to make her competitive.  Instead, many Republicans choose to throw their support to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.  He is pro-life, anti-gay marriage, and against Democratic initiatives such as the stimulus, a health care public option, and card check, all of which Scozzafava supports.  Famous conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, & Sean Hannity all put their support behind Hoffman, causing conservative grassroots activists out of the district to donate a ton of money to his campaign.  With Scozzafava out of the race, conservatives greatest fear of Democrat Bill Owens winning the seat due to a GOP civil war will not occur. The latest polls are very disparate, as Doug Hoffman enjoys a 17 point lead in the Public Policy Poling poll,  but only a five point lead (w/ 18% undecided) in Siena Poll.  Perhaps a late shift may be going towards Bill Owens after Dede Scozzafava endorsed his candidacy and is making robocalls on his behalf.  However, most pundits believe Doug Hoffman will pull out the win.  If Hoffman wins in NY-23, it shows the power of the conservative grassroots to organize and mobilitze to win a race.  In a district that voted for Obama by 5 points last year, a hard line conservative may win this election in a landslide.  It shows that liberal candidates on fiscal policy will not garner Republican support in 2010.  Social moderates still have a place in the GOP, but any Republican who supports Obama’s big government initiatives will not have a chance to win 2010.

Limited government is what the opposition to Obama craves and where the most energy is among the conservative base.  Conservatives still care about social issues, but are much more concerned about stopping the outrageous spending being demonstrated Washington, D.C. The opposition building against the president is one that opposes high taxes, out-of-control spending, an increasing deficit, and more government control of the private sector.  In this coalition are both conservatives and business-minded independents, who voted for Obama with an understanding that he would be a moderate president.  These same independents are giving Chris Christie a chance to unseat incumbent Democratic governor Jon Corzine in New Jersey.  In a three-way race that includes Independent candidate Chris Daggett, Jon Corzine is only getting a little over 40% of the vote in a state Pres. Obama received 53% of vote in 2008 and won by a whopping 16 points.  The polls on this race are over the place showing Christie up by as much as 6 points and Corzine leading by as many as 4 points.  A race like this will all come down to turnout.  The GOP has the energy factor with New Jersey having the highest taxes in the nation and an unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent.  The Democrats have the ground game and infrastructure and out register Republicans 2-1.  However, some anti-Corzine Democrats and moderate Republicans have chosen to swing their support to independent candidate Chris Daggett.  Polling has shown that Daggett is taking votes away equally from both parties, so it has turned out to be a two-way race in the days leading up to the election.  I predict that Christie will pull off a narrow 2 to 3 point victory as more conservatives will turnout in the state then did for John McCain last year.  Also, independents will split towards the challenger with Corzine’s approval ratings hovering around 40%.

If the races go down as expected tomorrow, then both sides will try to spin the results.  The GOP will say that it foreshadows a wave election in 2010 that gives Republicans a chance to make big gains in the House & the Senate. The Democrats will say that these races are isolated snapshots of the electorate and are not a referendum on the country’s temperament toward the administration’s policies.  Time will tell which side is correct.  However, I believe that all of this guessing about 2010 doesn’t matter.  These elections matter because if conservatives sweep them, then it will curb Pres. Obama’s big government agenda and should defeat the liberal health care bills currently in Congress.  That will be a victory that all conservatives will revel in.

9 months into President Obama’s first term in office, a majority of Americans are  extremely disappointed by the president’s efforts.  Buyers remorse is settling in as many Americans feel like Pres. Obama’s promise of being post-partisan was disingenious and will not come to pass during his presidency.  Let’s look first at the $800 billion stimulus package.  Did Obama ask congressional Republicans to help him write the bill along with Democrats?  No.  Instead he said “We won, we write the bill.”

That one line began the split that has now lead to a very partisan Washington led by an ideological president.  President Obama and congressional Democrats are now prepared to pass Health Care Reform that will not have a single Republican voting for it.  It is so partisan that moderate Democrats in the Senate such as Joe Lieberman,  Ben Nelson, and Mary Landrieu are considering not voting for it and perhaps filibustering the bill.  However, Congress becoming one of the most partisan chambers in recent memory is not enough for Obama’s White House.  Instead, the Obama administration finds it necessary to declare war on its critics, which include Fox News, the Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street executives, and tea party protesters.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, the administration continues to dump on President Bush and blame him for  Afghanistan and a struggling economy.

What all this leads to is a President who looks like he is in over his head.  It does feel like the “adults” have left the White House and bunch of amateurs have taken over.  What the American people want most from their president is “leadership” and President Obama has shown little since taking the oath of office in January.  He hasn’t contributed to crafting any piece of legislation that has been presented in Congress. He has to make a decision on Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s recommendation of 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan.  President Obama also has failed to control his own party in Congress, which is fracturing between liberals and blue dogs.  Each week, Americans are getting less confident that President Obama will  move this country in the right direction.  He has united the conservatives and Republicans in strong opposition against his policies and now moderates and independents are beginning to abandon him.

As we head into next week’s election, it looks like Democrats are going to receive a big wake up call from the voters.  In the latest polls, it looks like Bob McDonnell will coast to easy win in Virginia gubernatorial race, Chris Christie will narrowly unseat incumbent  Governor Democrat Jon Corzine in New Jersey, and it even possible that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman will unseat liberal GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava and Democratic candidate Bill Owens.  Also in the latest Gallup Poll, 4o% of Americans state that they are conservative.  Also, the Obama administration has recently admitted that unemployment may not get lower than 10 percent until the end of 2010.  All these indicators point  to a possible wave election in 2010 giving GOP control of one or both houses of Congress.

Then, Obama will not only have divided America, but also the federal government. It is so surprising that a candidate that expressed so much optimism during the 2008 campaign has caused a country to harbor such deep divisions in such a short period of time.  The main distinctions between Americans now doesn’t just include the culture war, but also the issue of big government versus small government.  A large contingent of Americans are getting fed up with Washington regulating their lives with entitlement programs, high taxes, and increasing deficits that will limit their opportunity to manage their economic future.  More and more Americans are beginning to distrust large institutions such as government, the media, and big business that Obama is portecting each day.   The middle class believed that Obama was going to fight for them after feeling left behind by a previous administration that didn’t improve their standard of living.  Instead, they are going to be burdened with paying higher taxes to support the president’s overreaching domestic agenda. President Obama’s CHANGE has divided America into entrenched partisan camps with the political center moving toward the right. Obama’s “Yes We Can” approach has turned out to be empty rhetoric and broken promises.  As we near Halloween, America feels like it has been tricked with an elaborate hoax.  Maybe, Obama is the Joker after all.

Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are liberal ideologues and are not willing to seek common ground with Blue Dogs or Moderate Republicans in coming up with a Health Care bill.  Instead they are working on a plan that will please the liberal side of the Democratic Party, while also looking to coerce Blue Dogs and moderate Republicans to support it.  Health Care reform for the Democrats is not about improving the system, but rather creating another liberal entitlement.  When FDR established his New Deal programs, it was in an effort to stop the Great Depression and save capitalism from extreme leftists who were looking to turn America to socialism.  He had great aims.  The American people aren’t so sure that President Obama’s policies have their best intentions in mind. Unlike FDR, Obama doesn’t have the confidence of a majority of Americans on his desire to provide more government programs

President Obama has been foolish in his first eight months in office by tying himself to Nancy Pelosi and others on the far left in Congress.  It has put him in box that has not allowed him to reach out effectively to the opposition party or conservatives and moderates in his own party.  As President, you must be willing to work with the other side in order to accomplish any significant pieces of legislation.  FDR did  so by gaining Republican support in passing his alphabet soup programs, such as the Public Works Administration, and Social Security through Congress.  Ronald Reagan was able to secure signficant tax cuts for all Americans by working with Tip O’Neil and the Democratic Congress.  In order to make major changes to American industry, such as Health Care reform, a president must be willing to work with the other side to get something done.  He must court the opposition party openly, and not make arrogant, dismissive statements like “we won, we write the bill.”

If during his first month of office, President Obama had reached out to Republicans and allowed them to write the Stimulus bill with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, he would have garnered more bipartisan support for his policies.  However, the Democrats dismissal of all GOP congressman from crafting the Stimulus bill, then bringing it to a vote less than 24 hours after it was completed, harbored ill-will for the President among Republicans.  Now when he really needs their support to pass Health Care reform and create his “Great Society” type program, Republicans are sitting on the sidelines.  Instead, President Obama is dealing with falling poll numbers and a liberal House and Senate that are becoming increasingly unpopular with the American people. Now, President Obama has only two options to passs health care reform after the Senate Finance Committee voted down the public option 15-8 earlier today.  He can either have the more liberal House bill go to the Senate where it can get passed through the “nuclear option” of 51 votes.  Or, he can go forward with the non-public option Max Baucus bill in the Senate, which will infuriate liberals in Congress as he prepares to potentially send more troops into Afghanistan.

Either way, President Obama is set up for failure in 2010 and may be on his way to losing the presidency in 2012.  His campaign-style appeals to the American people to pass his agenda have fallen on deaf ears.  The American people want to see Obama govern, which he has not shown that he is able to do.  He is at the point in his presidency where he can’t vote “present,” but rather needs to make tough decisions based on reason and principle.  No matter what he decides to do on Health Care, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iran nuclear threat, he will be criticized mercily. That’s why he needs to show some political courage and do what he believes is right.

Campaigning around the country and making a multitude of television appearances just won’t cut it anymore.  The American people are sensitized to it by now.  It is time for Obama to show that he is qualified to be president.  Every president reaches a criticial time in their first term and need to respond when the pressure  is on.  Ronald Reagan did so during the 1982 recession by providing tax cuts to middle-class Americans.  George H.W. Bush did so  by winning the Gulf War after Saddam Hussein entered Kuwait. Clinton did so by working with GOP House and Speaker Newt Gingrich by to pass welfare reform after losing the 1994 midterm elections.  George W. Bush did so after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  This is President Obama’s time to make a decision that will define his first term and decide whether or not he wil be reelected.  The time for rhetoric has passed and now its time for action.