2008, In A Nutshell

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah, and thank you for continuing to visit our site.

This pretty much sums up 2008.

Congratulations, Joseph Cao!

Despite the fact that the coverage of this was painfully thin, I think that it is a momentous occasion that Joseph Cao is now the first Vietnamese-American member of Congress, representing the 2nd district of Louisiana.  Did I mention that he’s also a Republican?

It’s also fantastic that his opponent was Democratic Rep. William Jefferson.  You remember him…the guy who was indicted on federal bribery charges for taking $500,000 in bribes, not to mention $90,000 he stored in his freezer.  It’s nice to see that voters are finally beginning to see through some of these corruptocrats who insist on foisting themselves upon this country’s political system.

Mr. Cao’s story seems to reflect that of the Indian-American Governor of his state, Bobby Jindal. Ironically, Louisiana is a state that gets consistently harassed for racism and lack of diversity, usually by Northeastern liberals.  The “live-and-let-live” ideology of the South, a perspective of true tolerance, is a perspective that the rest of the country would be wise to emulate.  We are so blessed to live in a country where people from all around the world can come to pursue a better life.  Mr. Cao is truly a representation of the American Dream.

Palate Cleansers: The Founding Fathers vs. Obama on the Redistribution of Wealth

(Hopefully, this can be the beginning of a new series.  I have amassed many links over the past few months or so that I keep neglecting to post here.  They are poignant morsels of food-for-thought.  Enjoy!)

The first in the series is a juxtaposition of what the Founding Fathers thought about redistribution of wealth:

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/the-founding-fathers-on-redistribution

…and what our now-President-elect Obama thinks about redistribution of wealth. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck

Confessions of a McCain-Palin Supporter

(Note: This is an op-ed I originally wrote for a newspaper.  I decided to post it here instead.  I have not updated it in light of the recent events surrounding Obama’s appointments and Blagojevich, as it was written well beforehand, but I will post more on those later.  In the meantime, enjoy!)

Now that the bright lights of the victory stage have dimmed and the giant crowds of supporters have gone home, America is left with a new President-elect of the United States.  History should marvel that our democracy worked once again, setting an example for the rest of the world.  This election was indeed historic, with America getting its first chance at having an African-American man as President or a female Vice-President.  Now that the media has exhausted standard clichés and obscenely-biased coverage, America is left with President-elect Barack Obama.

The leader that the majority of the voters chose, I wouldn’t have.  I would have preferred having John McCain as the 44^th President of the United States, with Sarah Palin as his Vice-President.  I feel that their policies, their ideas, their approaches to the difficult situations that face our nation would have been more successful.  Senator McCain and Governor Palin together fulfilled three main criteria that most conservatives like me consider to be important when choosing candidates for public office; they believe in small government, a strong national defense, and the sanctity of life.  During primary season, I always considered McCain to be the most liberal of the candidates available.  I often joked after the Republican primaries that there was a choice between three Democrats for President: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.  I was an early advocate of McCain choosing conservative Governor Palin as his running mate, and back in June of this year I asked him at a town-hall meeting if he would choose her.  Needless to say, I was exceptionally pleased when she became his Vice-Presidential candidate.  McCain’s choice of Governor Palin was the difference between me lukewarmly supporting McCain and actually holding McCain/Palin signs and handing out bumper stickers.  Despite the fact that the Republican ticket lost this election, I will definitely support Governor Palin running for President in 2012.

As tempting as it is to look towards the future, the man who will be our President for the next four years is Barack Obama.  I am just as inspired as any other American by his story, his fulfillment of the American Dream.  I see him as a man of decency, of eloquence, and of respect.  That having been said, I have serious concerns about his policies, his judgment, and ideology in general.  I was very disappointed when he turned down public financing after promising to take it, and it was at that moment that I realized that he is not a “transformational figure” but a standard, garden-variety Chicago politician.

On national security, Obama’s record has been less-than-stellar.  His campaign plan for a 16-month withdrawal from Iraq has already been thrown out of the window as unfeasible, his waffling on an Afghanistan “surge” with such little time for action is unacceptable, his willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue states without preconditions is unheard of.  For a man with 300 foreign policy advisors surrounding him, it appears that he needs all the help he can get. 

The gross misconduct on behalf of both parties when it came to spending at all levels of government must be stopped.  It appears that now-President-elect Obama’s proposals will simply result in more spending, with no way to pay for it outside of raising taxes.  Candidate Obama’s “95% tax cut” proposal is dubious, considering that the income level ceiling for such a cut dropped magically from $250,000 down to $150,000 in a matter of weeks and that the specifics of the proposal are cloudy, hidden behind “refundable tax credits” and other clever political jargon.  For a man who requested nearly one billion dollars in pork-barrel-spending in three years for his home state to suddenly warn Americans about deficits is laughable.  He has made many, many promises this election to many people, as evidenced by the entitlements couched in Obama’s “plan to revive the economy.”  In politics, promises cost money.    

Most of President-elect Obama’s “proposals” are couched in warm, comfortable language with no respect for facts or specifics.  He says that he will “fix our health care, education, and social security systems” on the “Agenda” section of his superfluous new transition website, change.gov.  The entire section describing his agenda is under two paragraphs.  It is embarrassing for a man who will become the next President of the United States to have policy proposals that a fifth-grader could come up with, in the midst of so many issues that require attention.      

Herein lies the root problem with the Obama candidacy and, I fear, the Obama presidency: underneath all the “hope” and “change” lies nothing but fluff.  His “proposals” are like cotton candy, sweet and airy and delicious.  But after the American people who voted for him gobble up his ideological carnival fare, they will realize that they’re still empty, as well as their wallets.  Author Toni Morrison once called Bill Clinton the first African-American President of the United States.  Perhaps Barack Obama will be our first Cotton Candy President.

Housekeeping

My apologies for the gross negligence in not posting here in the aftermath of the election. I’m going to start posting here more often, commenting at Hot Air, and we’re going to get this machine a-rolling again. Why wait until New Year’s for resolutions?

I’ve been keeping an eye on Obama’s cabinet appointments and the Blagojevich scandal, and I will post more on that later.

The Twitter is up and running now, and the URL is http://twitter.com/BltProofDiction 

Please follow/add me on Twitter, and many thanks to these three for already doing so:

Conservathink: http://conservathink.blogspot.com/

Infidels Are Cool: http://infidelsarecool.com/

Rajan Vaish: http://vaishrajan.wordpress.com/

My next few posts will be a form of playing catch-up.  I’ve already added most as posted items on Facebook, and they’re things I hope y’all find piquant. 

Thank you all for still continuing to visit the blog in my absence, and, as always, please tell your friends/enemies/frenemies about Bulletproof Diction!