If you saw the video clip of Obama responding to a question about being Christian, you could tell, despite the obvious roll out of prepared talking points on the subject, that Obama really struggled to answer the question convincingly and honestly.

Should Barack Obama turn out to be a one-term president, students of his presidency who attempt to explain his fate will cite high among their reasons for the president’s downfall his insistence on being too clever by a half. No better example of this process at work could be found than in Obama’s answer yesterday to the obviously planted question, “Why are you a Christian?”

For weeks, pundits had been reassuring us, based on off-the-record tips from White House sources, that we should expect visual and other reassurances that Obama was a Christian and not a Muslim, as 18 percent of the public purportedly believed him to be. For weeks, we were told, we would start seeing visuals of the president and his family going to church.

That they produced. But the stills proved just the appetizer. The president rolled out the full course meal at what was billed as a “backyard chat” with a group of carefully selected “ordinary Americans.” (How does one get to be one of those?) In his well-delivered, eloquent, and obviously rehearsed remarks, Obama, always better at playing the politician than at being president, touched all the bases. He stated that he was a “Christian by choice.”

This is a rather pathetic attempt to deal with his “religion problem’ because of the clear political calculation behind this and his recent churchgoing, in the last weeks before the midterm elections.

George W. Bush was a genuine God-fearing man who always did what he thought was was right because it was the right thing to do. Even when faced with controversial decisions, he stood on a firm moral foundation that was structural sound. To the contrary, Obama is using religion as a means to a political end… to improve his own image in the polls. I don’t believe Obama is a God-fearing man. He’s too narcissistic to have a true fear of God’s judgment.

As details of the new Woodward book on Obama come out, we not only learn of a dysfunctional administration, but of a rather fatalist attitude Obama has towards defending this country from another terrorist attack.

Woodward’s book portrays Obama and the White House as barraged by warnings about the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and confronted with the difficulty in preventing them. During an interview with Woodward in July, the president said, “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.”

This is just unacceptable. Sorry, but that attitude just doesn’t sound like  it comes from someone who “will not rest” to defend the American people. 9/11 should have been a wake up call, yet Obama has pretty much fallen asleep at the wheel. This “We can absorb another terrorist attack” attitude is a disgrace. George W. Bush did everything he could to protect this county and prevent another attack, and it is baffling that this country could fathom electing someone who clearly is willing to accept failure in the war on terror.

Exciting news from Sean Bielat’s campaign.

Today, Sean Bielat, candidate for Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District, released the details of a survey that shows support for Barney Frank in the district has dipped below 50% in the head-to-head contest with Bielat. According to the poll, Frank leads Bielat by just ten points, with 48% favoring Frank and 38% supporting Bielat. Those who are undecided make up 13% of the poll. Notably, Independents support Bielat over Frank by the wide margin of 51% to 34%.

“People are sick and tired of Washington and career politicians. That’s why Barney Frank’s poll numbers are dropping like a rock and why he’s taking desperate measures like bringing in Bill Clinton to campaign for him,” said Bielat responding to the poll results. “National support is snowballing and our campaign and supporters are more enthusiastic than ever. It shows what we’ve known all along: we are on track to replace an entrenched politician who’s been part of the problem for years.”

The survey, conducted for Bielat’s campaign by the firm OnMessage, polled 400 likely voters in Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District after the September 14 primary election. The margin of error is +/-4.9%.

You can make a difference. Support Bielat with a donation.

Wow, Obama and the Democrat Congress are really helping out the little guy.

The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama’s first year in office.

The poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, in 2008.

The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent — or 50.7 million people — mostly because of the loss of employer-provided health insurance during the recession. Congress passed a health overhaul this year to address the rising numbers of uninsured people, but its main provisions will not take effect until 2014.

Obviously, this is pretty good to hear. This wouldn’t have benefitted anyone, but I still feel like pointing out that the case was made that this one pastor burning a Quran would have tarnished America’s reputation worldwide… yet depsite the fact it’s now nearly 9 years after 9/11, there’s been little condemnation from the greater Muslim communities of the world, particularly in America, of the terrorists attacks, yet we are not supposed to paint Muslims with such a wide brush of mistrust?

We had a little issue with our domain today, so you may have seen a GoDaddy placeholder page this afternoon and this evening. Sorry about that. Obviously if you are reading this now you know the problem has been fixed.

Every now and then I like to share something non-political here. Today, I’d like to promote something that has made me do something that I once would have written off as impossible.

Today I graduated from the Couch-To-5K Program.

What is that? you ask. It is a nine-week program that starts you off running for short periods of time, gradually building your run intervals up so that you can, by the end of the program, run a 5K.

Now, I have never done recreational running or even running for exercise before. When I first started the program, the 60 and 90-second running intervals were a struggle for me. Today was my third day of a full 30-minute run, and with the help of a great iPhone app called RunKeeper, I have been able to monitor my progress. Today my average pace was 10:06 per mile. That may not be fast to most people, but for me, I still can’t believe I could do it.

Oh yeah, and I have been running virtually barefoot.

Shortly after I started the program I started wearing Vibram FiveFingers, which are a minimalist footwear designed to allow your feet to do the job they were designed to do while offering you minimal protection. Barefooting is an interesting thing, after spending your entire life believing that you need to shod your feet to enhance performance and protect yourself from injury.

Anyway, for our readers that are looking to get in shape and would like to give running a try, I recommend the following things.

• The Couch-To-5K Program with c25k App for the iPhone.
• RunKeeper (there are free and pro versions of the app available through iTunes)
• Vibram FiveFingers (barefooting is not for everyone, but I endorse it)

Anyway, I just thought I’d share. And for the record I have not been paid to use or promote these products or programs.

Something tells me Obama would give immunity to Osama bin Laden too.

The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing.

The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. And it comes practically on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port of Aden.

In a filing this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said that “no charges are either pending or contemplated with respect to al-Nashiri in the near future.”

The statement, tucked into a motion to dismiss a petition by Nashiri’s attorneys, suggests that the prospect of further military trials for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has all but ground to a halt, much as the administration’s plan to try the accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in federal court has stalled.

Wow, this is just … who would have thought Obama would ever so blatantly show his lack of desire to fight terrorism.

The Heritage Foundation looks at the “Report of the United States of America,” which was delivered  to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights the other day.

The U.S. report is revealing of how the current administration views the American people and America’s place in the world. The first section of the report (entitled “A more perfect union, a more perfect world”) begins by quoting the Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and Obama White House documents, includingPresident Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Though presented as coherent and harmonious thoughts, the intellectual inconsistency among these documents is striking.

Whereas the Declaration and the Constitution assert American independence and a realistic assessment of human nature, the U.S. UPR report declares that America’s international role is to help “build a world in which universal rights give strength and direction to the nations, partnerships, and institutions that can usher us toward a more perfect world, a world characterized by, as President Obama has said, ‘a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual.’” With this in mind, the White House, cannot be satisfied with imperfection at home in America. Addressed to an international audience, the report contains many statements of dissatisfaction with America’s record,

Obama, and the people he surrounds himself with, don’t seem think very highly of America do they? You’d think that these people, who at this moment in time have the power to represent our country to foreign leaders and institutions like the U.N., would have more position things to say about our country.

The Tea Party Movement is planning nationwide public readings of the Constitution, Saturday, September 18th. Here are the details from WeReadTheConstitution.com

WeReadTheConstitution.com was formed in order to promote the reading of the Constitution in its entirety by as many Americans as possible. The Tea Party movement has stimulated a widespread interest in our founding documents, principles and ideals. We’re organizing a nationwide series of local events celebrating the United States Constitution on September 18, 2010. Across the United States ordinary citizens will be hosting or attending local gatherings at public places and backyard barbecues where they will read aloud the entire text of the United States Constitution. It is a profoundly moving exercise that will take less than one hour.

This is a good idea. I hope that Democrats will be forced to hear the words of the Constitution. Lord knows they need to finally read it.