Obama: Furthering the Divide

The President's choice to ignore millions and millions of Fox News viewers Sunday morning combined with the denigration of Fox News on the White House website* seems rather contradictory to his claim of wanting to bring the country together.

It seems that if he were truly interested in lessening the so-called division he would reach out to those who didn't walk in lock-step with his health care plans.

In the Fox News viewership there are millions who are on the fence. They want health care reform, as do I, but they're not sure they want what Obama promotes. Many know they don't want him to succeed in implementing his ideas regarding health care.

He said he was going on TV to battle fear (paraphrased) of a change or transition in health care. It seems that since he obviously believes, per his website, that most who are "fearful" of his health care proposals watch Fox News, it should have been included in the list of "musts" for his Sunday morning blitz. Logically, Fox viewers are the ones he should have been trying to placate, calm or convince. Instead he spoke to an audience comprised of those who are, for the most part, predisposed to support him in whatever he does.

On the topic of fear

It's not fear of a transition, it's fear of what he is proposing. We want change. We need change. But I defy anyone to come up with ANYTHING the government has "fixed" or truly improved since the early days of our country's formation. Welfare. Social Security. Medicaid. Medicare. The Post Office. The IRS. All riddled with corruption, or incompetence, or people protecting their jobs, power or little fiefdoms.

Why wouldn't we be fearful of government intervention? Those in Washington make laws and implement rules then go on about their merry way expecting someone down the chain of command to make things work. They add layers of bureaucracy to oversee and manage agencies, then only get involved when it's time to dole out more money or deal with a crisis. We all know that "government" is some huge, bulky, bloated, blob of self-protective agencies and groups that grow without any real checks and balances. Why would we want to take one more piece of America and feed it to "the blob"?

Why doesn't President Obama want to talk with some Americans?

If Mr. Obama really thinks his way of changing health care is right, if he has a good plan to sell to the American public, why is he working so hard to alienate the majority of American TV viewers? Fox News by far outranks all the other news stations in viewership. By refusing to include Fox in his round of talks Sunday morning, he came across as divisive and / or like someone scared to talk to those who have the audacity to question him.

Perhaps his plan is to solidify his soldiers, his waffling supporters, and those who pretty much walk in lock-step. Possibly he felt he needed to prove to those on the far Left that he was "with them" by snubbing the independent, moderate and yes, far right viewers on Fox News. Could be that he's playing a game of appeasement as he knows the public option that the far Left crave won't openly be in the final plan.

A long term plan destined to fail

I don't think Mr. Obama does anything without strong calculation as to the long-term outcome. For some reason he is trying to widen the gap between the so-called Right and Left in America. I think he's going to succeed to some degree to widen the gap between the extremes, it's already apparent. But I also think he'll ultimately fail as he is pushing the moderate Left to the middle as newly self-claimed "Independents". More and more in America are calling themselves "conservative" or "independent" as they contrast themselves with the direction they see President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and friends taking the country.

He has awoken the sleeping giant of usually silent Americans and is forcing them to choose sides. He gambled that most believed as he did based on election results and the cocoon of society he has surrounded himself with in life. I think he's finding out he lived in a world that doesn't reflect the vast majority's values.

*"We figured Fox would rather show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ than broadcast an honest discussion about health insurance reform..." - White House website

"Fox is an ideological outlet where the president has been interviewed before and will likely be interviewed again, not that the whining particularly strengthens their case for participation any time soon." - White House spokesman Josh Earnest to ABC News

Obama refused to appear Fox News with Chris Wallace throughout the 2008 election, although he appeared on every other imaginable news outlet. Remember Wallace's “Obama Watch” that counted up 768 days from when Obama agreed to appear and his one and only talk with Wallace?

Yep, they all received the 'Talking Points'

In my last blog (Boooorrrrriiinnngggg) I talked about the regurgitation of the same old, same old from the media in their attacks on Sarah Palin. I'm definitely not the first to write or talk about the talking points that everyone in the mainstream media and friends must receive. Many of us are intelligent enough to pick up on it when the media, the progressives, the libs, the left, whatever you want to call 'em, start spitting out the same thoughts over and over.

I flipped on the TV this morning as I was putting on my socks and shoes to walk on the treadmill and lo and behold, I heard the current lib mantra come from the mouth of yet another pundit!

I didn't catch the speaker's last name, her first name was Julie, and she was on Fox and Friends this AM talking about Sarah's latest interview. Julie's ending shot? Sarah needs to go away for two years and reinvent herself.

Gosh, isn't that what Robert Schlesinger, U.S. News, said in HIS blog? Gosh, isn't that what they're all saying on that side of the media aisle these days?

Memo to "progressives" --- Sarah isn't going away.

She burst onto the scene like a breath of fresh air (heard that one before? see I can repeat stuff, too ;-). Seriously, she is what most of us want our politicians to be... real. We want people who know how we live, who are in touch with our needs. We want people who stick to their principles. We want politicians with a backbone who will stand up for what is right.

Usually, by the time we hear someone's name in the media, or they make it to elected office on the state or national level, they're not the person we elected. They've learned to play the games, to compromise. They've learned the art of justifying their actions for the greater good or whatever blarney they feed themselves. They've learned how to placate just the right number of people to stay in office another term "because they haven't finished what they were elected to do for the people" or some such drivel.

Every time a liberal attacks Sarah, another large group joins in to defend her. A new website pops up, a new conservative activist is energized. Every bit of garbage that is thrown at her rebounds like a boomerang onto the faces of those doing the tossing.

They just can't help themselves, can they? I said in my last blog, if they really wanted her to go away they'd stop talking about her. Truth be told, they can't stop themselves from talking about her. Neither can we!

Poor poor Wittle Obama. Don't you cry.

Awww, I feel so sowwy for wittle Obama. Poor Obama doesn't like it that those big bad mean media types over at Fox News are asking him those tuff qwestions. Don't cwy Mr. Obama, everybody else is protecting you.

What a wuss. Whine, whine, whine. Toss a chunk of cheese at him to go with the latte.

Have you heard about the interview he did with the New York Times Magazine? He said Fox News has cost him a couple of points in the polls. They have the audacity to portray him as a liberal. Oh my! I'm shocked.

Here's a quote from an article on Fox about the Obaby's interview:

"I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three
points higher in the polls," Obama says in the article. "If I were watching Fox
News, I wouldn't vote for me, right? Because the way I'm portrayed 24/7 is as a
freak!"

He continues that he is being typecast as "the latte-sipping, New York
Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effet, politically correct,
arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?"

Obama's reference to his poll numbers comes at a time when he has
opened up a commanding lead over his rival, John McCain, in national polls, as
well as in several battleground states. A recent New York Times poll puts Obama
ahead by 14 percentage points.

Have you heard Sarah Palin whining about how ALL of the media is treating her? Have you heard John McCain whining about how the liberal media is attacking him? They answer a question if asked, but you never hear them taking on the trash job the media does on them every single day.

Obama gets the red carpet royal treatment by the majority of the media.

Can you imagine what his reaction is going to be if he's elected? What do you want to be that the Fairness Doctrine comes into play? How long do you think it will be before he shuts down some of the media because it's "contributing to the bad economy"?

If Barack Obama can't handle the kid-glove approach even Fox News has taken with him (aside from maybe Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly), I can't wait for the first time the media types don't like something he does and they actually ask him a tough question.

What a whiner. Ya think he's gonna stand up for us if he can't even handle Fox News? What do you think is going to happen when the French, the Chinese, the Iranians don't like something he does? Oooh, his feelings will be hurt and he'll have to do whatever it takes to make them happy.

Wimp.

NYT: Obama Laments Media Image, Says FOX News Cost Him in Polls
Barack Obama riffs on his media image in an interview for the New York Times Magazine, which quotes him as suggesting FOX News has cost him a few points in the polls.
The interview with reporter Matt Bai, to be published Sunday, features the Democratic presidential candidate feeling lamenting a "media narrative" that has pigeon-holed him as a liberal stereotype.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/15/obama-nyt-interview/