UFC Champion Brock Lesnar (R-SD) suggests that during a recent medical emergency if he would have stayed in the Canadian healthcare system at best he would be forced into early retirement “and would have to wear a colostomy bag,” and  “At worst, I could have died.”

Harsh words for the President brought on criticism from the resident village idiot talking head at ESPN, Jim Rome.

Even the sports world is arguing about Mr. Obama’s flailing, failing health plan.

One of the mixed martial arts’ largest draws, Brock Lesnar faced nearly fatal health risks while in Canada. Unfortunately, the socialized healthcare outfit was without basic equipment to diagnose Mr. Lesnar’s issue.

Mr. Rome’s comments suggest that one should not use a “tiny facility” to judge a “nation’s healthcare system.”

Actually, we should.

The closest things to Obamacare in the United States that we have today is the Veteran’s Administration hospital system… which, by the way are horrible.  For the most part we reward our nation’s heroes with ill equipped facilities and effectively no service in large geographic gaps in our nation.  Of course, for those who would attend a “tiny facility”, who cares, right?

No wonder the backlash against Obamacare has such a populist tone.  Rural agrarians against paying higher taxes as a redistribution to the president’s backers?  Sounds just like the 1880s to me.  Just add ACORN and unskilled labor unions to large banks and we have the completely corrupted system at the end of the nineteenth century.

Populism, so easy a ‘rassler can do it.

$3,800,000,000,000.00 is how much Mr. Obama wants the United States to spend next year…  $126,666.67 per person…  26.76% of the entire nation’s income.

The proposed budget by the same president that wants to cut the deficit without raising taxes.  Lip-service you can believe in.

Live blogging of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union.  Check the comments.

Had Mr. Bush been president in 2010, how much rhetoric would the left-wing spawn in frustration about the current situation in Haiti?  Perhaps Kanye West would create a variation on his 2005 hit song “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People“.

Imagine the outrage.

Where is this with Mr. Obama?

Mr. Obama has an excellent knack for saying what people want to hear.  Mr. Obama’s promises to help out our neighbors in Haiti, however, were not effective.  Over 110,000 dead, with totals expected to end much higher. Hundreds of the uncounted are already buried and have disappeared forever. When it is all said and done, this will most likely be the biggest natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere.

Our neighbors in Haiti never had a chance.  Poor building codes and no warning equals disaster.  The immediate response, too, was horrible. Turning away assistance in the time of grave need is not just poor leadership, rather it is manslaughter.

Yet no one bothers to blame Mr. Obama — the leader of the nation who is guiding the rescue effort.  Haiti’s government — while fragmented — is doing all that it can to bring in help.  Yet the biggest stumbling block in the early days was the American machine.

As a result, without food or water, Haitians turned to looting and violence.

Yet no one bothers to question Mr. Obama’s leadership over the issue.  In fact, he is too busy giving speeches about healthcare and another major electoral loss for the Democrats.

This is a very similar cycle that Bush faced with Katrina, except there was dysfunctional autocratic state and racist local leadership and about 1% of the deaths.  No wonder Mr. Jindal easily cruised to the governorship in 2007.

Yet Mr. Bush hates black people, while Mr. Obama is a swell fellow in a tough spot.

Yes, Mr. Bush fumbled the response on New Orleans.  Yes, Mr. Bush probably should have (illegally) intervened on behalf of the Louisiana people.  But when you look at the regions on the Gulf Coast that took a direct hit from Katrina — Mississippi — they had their ducks in a row.  Mr. Bush’s only fault was trusting the locally elected leaders of the region and not micromanaging members of the opposing political party.

Mr. Obama fumbled the Haitian response.  Instead of it being thousands of American lives, it will cost hundreds of thousands of Haitian lives. At least Obama will go down as the most recent conqueror of Haiti.

After the ousting of Governor Rod Blagojevich, Pat Quinn’s governorship seemed in relative peril going into 2010.  Running as an unelected incumbent due to corruption is a hard sell — especially for a career politician.

With recent advertising increasing the anti-Quinn rhetoric suggesting racism and incompetence, it appears that the gloves are off among the Democrats.

Neither Quinn nor challenger Dan Hynes successfully defined their own campaigns.  Instead, both campaigns seem to prioritize defining the other candidate in a race to the bottom campaign usually seen in partisan battles.

Quinn supporters would suggest that Hynes is race baiting and desparate while Hynes’ camp would argue that Quinn is racist and incompetent.  Meanwhile, the Republicans are in a very boring race which will all-but-definitely lead to former attorney general Jim Ryan’s nod to November.

Whomever wins the Democratic primary will have a tough spot defeating a relatively unscathed Republican challenger. Ryan has not had to spend hardly any money to get to November, and his reputation has stayed above board without incessant attacks from Republican insiders.

In a year that will be difficult to govern due to budget issues, both Quinn and Hynes will suffer the public’s scorn when funding cuts come down the pike.  Ryan is in an excellent spot to win in November, barring any unseen events.

One year after Mr. Obama’s inauguration, it is hard not to provide a year in review.  Unlike Mr. Obama’s delusional self-reflection, reality shows that Mr. Obama’s first year is far from a “good solid B+“.

In order to grade Mr. Obama, we will use the definitions he established for himself in 2008.

Foreign Policy:  D-

• D War on Terror
• C- Iraq
• F Iran
• F Chicago 2012
• D- Haiti

Mr. Obama led his inaugural address with a focus on foreign policy.  The diaper bomber broke through the security nets in place to protect American aviation. Instead of the American government it was a Dutch tourist that saved hundreds of lives. Luck, not policy, saved the terrorism issue from being an F.  Instead, Mr. Obama’s inability to catch any significant Al Qai’da leaders leaves the executive’s grade just above a complete failure.

Mr. Obama’s Iraq conflict policy is mediocre at best.  By approving a timetable of withdrawal, however, Mr. Obama all but ensures symbolic victory for anti-American agents in Iraq.  As long as our enemies execute a series of attacks immediately before American departure, then they can claim victory.  At least Mr. Obama is giving some time for our troops to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

Mr. Obama consistently promised to change the tone of American foreign policy.  Obama planned to set an example by shifting the American policy towards Iran.  Instead of the idealist expectation of open meetings with Mr. Ahmadinejad, Iranian leadership slammed the door on Mr. Obama’s face.  Worse yet, when lobbying for an Olympic bid for his hometown, the IOC rebuked Mr. Obama’s cause — even when Mr. Obama played the Oprah card.  Even worse, after a devastating earthquake in the land within Monroe’s Doctrine, Mr. Obama continues to verbally promise relief but deliver Katrina-Bush quality results.

Domestic Policy: D+

• F Healthcare
• C+ Economy, re: Wall Street
• C+ Economy, re: Automobile Industry
  
• D- Economy, re: Main Street
  
• F Transparency

The healthcare debate has dominated Mr. Obama’s first year in office.  As far as progress made, the issue is a definite loss for the executive.  Started in 2009 as a quick, under-the-rug summertime issue, healthcare reform blew up on the Democrats, resulting in a series of ugly deals made behind closed doors.  From the cornhusker kickback to just plain bad legislation, Obamacare inspired thousands of Americans in Nixon’s old silent majority to take to the streets.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama placed a gigantic Keynesian bandage on the economy.  The inherited Bush bank bailouts seemed to have worked temporarily.  Mr. Obama’s policies for bailing the automobile industry appear to have revitalized the old American staple.  This temporary solution will hopefully lead to internal changes within the struggling manufacturing factories. Maybe even the labor unions will hop a grenade for the team.  Main street, unfortunately, continued to hemorrhage through much of Obama’s first year.  Mr. Obama promised nothing worse than 8% unemployment, while the executive delivered over 10% unemployment and millions more of underemployed and discouraged workers.

One of Mr. Obama’s most attractive promises was that of transparency.  The healthcare debate sadly proved that these promises were here election day, gone tomorrow.  Rush-jobbing legislation, getting a “bill, any bill” is unacceptable.  Rush-jobbing legislation without providing the people a chance to voice their opinion is a political atrocity.

Political Implications: F

• F 2009 Gubernatorial – New Jersey
• F 2009 Gubernatorial – Virginia
  
• F 2010 Senate – Massachusetts

For a man whose rise to power can be compared on only a few leaders like Andrew Jackson, the complete implosion of Mr. Obama’s political popularity is astounding.  In the wake of effectively no Republican leadership, Mr. Obama’s failures to deliver home-field victories is even more apparent.  Worse yet, the threat of losing Senator Kennedy’s old seat in Massachusetts, let alone actually losing the 60th vote in the Senate, is a shot across the bow of the sinking Democratic ironclad.  1994 is happening again.

Voters in Massachusetts selected a Republican for the old Kennedy seat.

Thank you, Massachusetts.

All eyes are on Massachusetts today as voters go to the polls today to determine the structure of the nation’s healthcare.  May the Bay State select correctly.

Much to the chagrin of high level Democrats, it appears that Massachusetts voters will pull the plug on the 2010 healthcare debate.

If the Republicans can pull a “miracle” victory in the old Liberal Lion’s old seat, then the Republicans will have the ability to filibuster any Obamacare debate in the Senate.  The most recent polls suggest that Republican Scott Brown is leading by 7%, just inside the margin of error.

Unless there are major deviations between polling and reality, the Republicans are about to score a huge coup, building momentum for November.

Winning gubernatorial races in 2009 and a Senate seat — in Massachusetts, of all places — will sound dire warnings for the Democrats in 2010. Lead Democrats like Chris Dodd (D – CT) and Harry Reid (D – NV) both appear weak in the polls.  So much so, that Dodd abandoned ship.

In 2008, the Democrats looked unstoppable.  In 2010, the Democrats appear to be imploding worse than 1994.  When will the Democrats learn that no matter how high the tsunami of popularity, healthcare will act as a nationwide buzzkill.

What is worse for the Democrats is that the Republicans effectively have no leadership.  No leadership and they are wiping the floor with Democrats in died-in-the-wool blue districts.

http://www.redcross.org/