Hurray for Washington!
By Mary Theroux • Monday February 25, 2013 1:06 PM PDT • 17 Comments
“Bread and circuses” anyone?
The culmination of last night’s Oscars broadcast with a Live! feed from the White House with Mrs. Obama (hangin’ with her military BFs) marks the official recognition of the Presidency as theater: like the old Western sets, no substance required.
From the very beginning, President Obama was elected based on his strong delivery of stirring words, “Hope and change,” with no serious vetting of his record or policies. Having been awarded the presidency, as the Oscars follow the Golden Globes, Mr. Obama was next awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, solely for his well-scripted promises for peace.
And thus the facade continues: promising peace and delivering expanded war, with new frontiers broken for drone killings of children and other innocents, legal justifications crafted for killing Americans, and near-limitless executive power over nearly every aspect of our lives. Reciting the Progressive line while delivering impoverishment, decreased access and less-affordable healthcare, clearly it matters only what he says, not what is. His hoped-for next act: new goals of gun control that would make the most vulnerable more so, an increased minimum wage that would further exacerbate the inability of those with no work experience to get an entry-level job in which to hone the skills that will put them on the economic ladder, and “green” measures, based, like the Life of Pi, on computer-generated fantasy so much more appealing than dry real-world data.
But it’s OK. The Obamas make us feel good about ourselves, and, after all, that’s what Hollywood, er, Washington, is all about.
Of course, this didn’t start with this administration. Mr. Bush is still hailed a “conservative,” despite having perpetrated preemptive war based on an only-in-Washington scenario of mysterious WMDs, setting off the executive power avalanche that’s really rolling now, and quadrupling the size of the federal government.
But the trend certainly seems to be finding its culmination in the currently reigning stars of the White House—and it’s certainly not one that’s healthy for the ticket-paying audience.
Tags: Afghanistan, Bailouts, Bill of Rights, Budget and Tax Policy, Children, Civil Liberties, Constitution, Culture, Economics, Elections, Environment, Global Warming, Gun Control, Healthcare, Media, Military, Peace, Personal Liberty, Politics, Presidential Power, Progressivism, Propaganda, Second Amendment, War 
As always, perpetually astute Mary is 100% correct. We’ve had bad presidents before — Wilson, Carter, etc. — but none as destructive and determined to replace America with a third world totalitarian state than Obama — the Soros puppet who is his own biggest fan. However, I guess it’s kind of fitting that the Oscar telecast, already the worst ever, was capped by an appearance by the 21st century’s own Eva Braun.
Mark Charger | Feb 25, 2013 | Reply
You know, I was going to to say Eva Peron, but your suggestion is better. Peron had charisma.
Henry Bowman | Feb 25, 2013 | Reply
The masses approve and made it possible.
richard | Feb 26, 2013 | Reply
“Hope and Change” is clearly in competition with “The West Wing” which, according to Wikipedia “received positive reviews from critics, political science professors, and former White House staffers. In total, “The West Wing” won three Golden Globe Awards and 26 Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Drama Series, which it won four consecutive times from 2000 through 2003.”
The competition is certainly heated!
cam | Feb 26, 2013 | Reply
It is a wonder that she wasn’t nominated for BEST Animated Political Clown!!!
Vic Fowler | Feb 26, 2013 | Reply
By one small law after another–for the common good–this is how fascist police states are brought into being, not by a conquering revolution. And, as to popularity, I believe Mussolini was very popular with the Italian people at the beginning or his reign.
D. M. Mitchell | Feb 27, 2013 | Reply
We also now come to learn that Her Majesty’s gown “was a custom design by Naeem Khan with an estimated price tag of $8,990.”
David J. Theroux | Feb 27, 2013 | Reply
Oh, dear, Michelle Obama bought a dress.
Nobody mentions the reference to Bush’s “preemptive war based on an only-in-Washington scenario of mysterious WMDs...and quadrupling the size of the federal government.”
But that was then.
Howard Bowman | Feb 28, 2013 | Reply
Howard,
I guess most of us around here (such as David Theroux, above), feel we’ve said plenty on that subject: starting on the afternoon of 9/11/01, when David drafted the statement we placed on our homepage that day, and released as a Press Release 4 days later: Statement on Terrorist Attacks, and the 11 years we’ve spent since fighting every millimeter of the way against the War of Terror and the horrific change in our culture and civil society that has been wrought.
You’re right, we would like more company in this effort, which is only redoubled under the current murderous administration.
With best wishes,
Mary
Mary Theroux | Feb 28, 2013 | Reply
Your article is an extraudinary piece of wild propaganda. You have a knack for sensationalism with a scholarly touch. It’s hard to believe that you don’t work for Comedy Central. Your total disrespect for the President and First Lady is repugnant. I support your right to disagree, but the nasty comments expressed by you and others are childish and cruel.
Brenda Dalton | Feb 28, 2013 | Reply
Hi, Brenda:
Which part, exactly, is “wild propaganda”?
The part that refers to President Obama expanding war? Here is an exposition of his record in office—essentially an extension of the Bush policy. By any definition of the word, not “peace:”
U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq:
The part that refers to his policies that are deliberately killing innocents by remote-control drones? Among many other sources, you could check out the website of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which documents that there have been six times more CIA drone strikes in Pakistan under Obama than under Bush, and that Obama’s drones in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals.
Were you referring to the contention that the president has been putting forth legal justifications crafted for killing Americans? Are you unaware of the memo that was recently leaked in which the president’s administration lays out justifications for killing Americans? As The Atlantic headlined, “Obama’s Memo on Killing Americans Twists ‘Imminent Threat’ Like Bush.” The memo essentially lays out the case that “senior administration officials” can order the killing of anyone, including Americans, under a set of too easily-met criteria, with no judicial review.
Or perhaps “near-limitless executive power.” Are you aware of President Obama’s multiple signings of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) a/k/a the “Homeland Battlefield Bill,” which allows him, at his sole discretion, to order the indefinite detention of any U.S. citizen, with no burden of proof whatsoever, and no recourse for the detainee—in fact making the President judge, jury, and jailer? For two years now, he’s promised to veto it‚ and for two years in a row he’s signed it, but “promises” he won’t exercise the power. (“Listen to what I say. Don’t pay attention to what I do.”) BTW, the 2013 NDAA also explicitly prohibits the closing of Guantanamo Bay–another broken promise from the president.
I would suggest you do a little reading. It might save you from victimization of actual propaganda that would have you believe that war is peace, immiseration is prosperity, more expensive healthcare is “affordable,” and other myths.
I’m sorry, but I do not respect tyrants: I fight them the only way I can: with words.
With best wishes,
Mary
Mary Theroux | Feb 28, 2013 | Reply