Rasmussen traces an "unequivocal public repudiation of the agenda" of Obama and "a seismic shift" in thought about change

It began last November in statewide races in Virginia and New Jersey. Then it swept through Massachusetts in a stunning U.S. Senate special election this January. Most recently, it has spilled over into primary battles in Utah, Kentucky and Pennsylvania – growing more potent as the calendar year advances toward a climactic November 2010 showdown.

“It” is the ongoing, unequivocal public repudiation of the agenda of President Barack Obama – a seismic shift in the thinking of the American electorate regarding the sort of “change” they want for their country. In several races “it” is also a direct rejection of Obama himself – as evidenced by the deaf ear voters turned to his personal appeals on behalf of Massachusetts’ Attorney General Martha Coakley and party-switching Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.

Both Coakley and Specter enjoyed commanding leads over their opponents prior to Obama’s active engagement in their races, with Specter enjoying a 21-point cushion over Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak as recently as last month (Sestak ended up defeating Specter by a 54-46 percent margin). Similarly, Sen. Scott Brown trailed Coakley by 17 points just two weeks before pulling off his improbable five-point upset victory.

In both races, Obama appeared in radio and television ads on behalf of the losing candidates – and in the Massachusetts race he paid a last-minute visit to the Bay State in an unsuccessful effort to rally Coakley’s faltering campaign (similar to his failed last-ditch effort to revive the flagging candidacy of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine).

There was no eleventh hour visit for Specter – but only because Obama’s political advisors read the handwriting on the wall and were desperate to avoid yet another embarrassing image of their boss with his arms draped around another losing candidate. Accordingly, after pledging to give Specter his “full support,” when Election Day rolled around Obama was nowhere to be found – and wasn’t even following the race “all that closely,” according to his spokesman.

How’s that for loyalty?

Also worth noting was the tremendous shot in the arm that Sestak’s campaign received when he revealed that the Obama administration (in typical “Chicagoland” fashion) offered him a high-paying federal job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Specter – a charge which has yet to be properly investigated, but which served as a turning point in the race.

Meanwhile, halfway across the country in Kentucky another repudiation of Obama was taking place – albeit one that rattled the cages of a completely different set of Washington insiders. There, Kentucky ophthalmologist Rand Paul – son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul – trounced establishment Republican Trey Grayson in a race that demonstrated the growing political clout of the Tea Party movement.

Paul defeated the GOP’s hand-picked candidate by a 24 percent margin – even after Grayson received endorsements from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Similar to Obama’s last-minute shunning of Specter, McConnell also fled the scene of his anointed candidate’s downfall – ostensibly to attend to “Washington business.”

Paul’s win was the second demonstration of Tea Party power in as many weeks, coming on the heels of Utah Republicans’ refusal to re-nominate incumbent U.S. Senator Bob Bennett. Additionally, ten other U.S. Senators and twenty U.S. Representatives are retiring from politics in advance of the 2010 elections.

What’s fueling this “wave?”

Obama has found a way to keep all eyes on Obama

While running roughshod over American traditions, such as limited government, President Obama appears restrained and cautious in his approach to the terroism-sponsoring regime in Iran.

Searching for an explanation, commentators have settled on one: it's sensible to avoid intruding the United States into the internal turmoil of a dangerous and unpredictable adversary.

That's sometimes true. In an earlier time, however, President Reagan intruded directly into the internal affairs of the Soviet Union, making the Berlin Wall a worldwide issue.

Soon, the wall came down. Reagan's manly image soared.

There is another possible explanation for Obama's hesitancy with regard to Iran. This blog, as well as other commentators, has noted that Obama appears to be a narcissist, a personality disorder rooted in a Greek literary fable. The legend has it that Narcissus, a handsome Greek youth, gazed at his own reflection in a pool, became transfixed by it, and lost interest in everything else.

The story eventually worked its way into psychological literature, where it remains today. One of the characteristics of a narcissist is that he, or she, takes little or no interest in matters that do not bear directly on the fulfillment of his or her own ambitions.

As has been noted, Obama repeatedly voted "present" on back-burner issues while he was a member of the Illinois senate. Obviously, none of those votes would make or break Obama's political career.

As president, Obama has baffled many political observers by the sweeping ambition of his agenda: overhaul of the auto industry, cap and trade, health care, economic recovery. Indeed, he has spoken about remaking America, an audacious objective that should send a chill through conservatives.

While Obama's agenda appears to be in trouble, that may be a secondary consideration. For the time being, all eyes and cameras are on Obama, every day. Narcissus, who had just one pool, would envy him.

For some, Canada Care means dying in wait room

I can see Canada from my back yard. Any day now, I expect to see tired Canadians hauling themselves up on my sea wall and asking for water. This is no time to be Canadian.

It was bad enough when American teams, relying on Swedish, Finnish, Czech and Slovakian players, as well as Americans, overtook, and then surpassed, Canada's NHL teams. With our newfound pride, we started snapping back at Canada's largest group, self-righteous liberals dripping with disdain for American individualism.

Now, we're landing still another blow on our Canadian neighbors, who, in this neighborhood, can be found to the south and east as well as the north.

We are pointing with scorn at the Canadian health care system, Canada Care, citing it as an example of the horrors that would follow socialization of American health care. But we are reyling on evidence produced by Canadian physicians organized as the Wait Time Alliance.

Two of its findings: The wait time for emergency treatment averages seven hours. The median wait for life-threatening cancer treatment is seven weeks, which means that half of the patients wait even longer.

The Wait Time Alliance, formed by Canadian doctors in response to government pledges to reduce wait times, has produced a report called "Unfinished Business." It notes that psychiatric patients wait, on average, almost six weeeks for treatment.

It takes, on average, 18 weeks for a patient to see a speicalist recommended by a family doctor. In some specialties, doctors are refusing to accept referred patients.

The report says that only glacial progress has been made since the government pledged to reduce wait times.

“Although there are signs of improvement, the lack of uniform and timely information on wait times is just one symptom of the ‘unfinished business’ relating to wait times in Canada,” the WTA reported.

Obama's policies will make U.S. more like Detroit

"Detroit may be the most advanced case of “government disease” in the United States today, but signs of suffering are widespread. Compared to glistening, modern airports in cities like Shanghai and Bangkok, Los Angeles International seems like a Third World airport. The whole state of California is suffering from a Detroit-like exodus of thousands fleeing the economic devastation wrought by Big Government.

We should keep these self-inflicted tragedies in mind in considering whether to assent to the massive expansion of government that President Obama and his congressional allies are seeking. We don’t want the whole country to share the fate of Detroit."

http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=35248

U.S. public not into whoring for hispanic illegals

"Most Americans favor providing health care coverage for everyone, but not if it includes government coverage for illegal immigrants. A review of polling on the health care issue shows that voters give mixed reviews to the consensus emerging in Congress over health care reform.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans favor an across-the-board tax cut to stimulate the economy while 34% are opposed. Just 26% believe that President Obama has delivered on his promise to cut taxes for 95% of Americans.

Fifty-three percent (53%) believe that increases in government spending are bad for the economy and 45% say that the rest of the stimulus spending should be canceled."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/
obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll