Can’t just sit there hoping Obama’s warmed-over FDR/Carterism will do the trick:

As our case is new, we must think and act anew. – Abraham Lincoln</blockquote

Time to shake off the shackles of a century of liberalism and start heading in a new direction – and some times, in order to go forward, one must go back to where one screwed up and choose the right path, this time.

Always felt sorry for her on two counts – loss of her son and the cruel way the left exploited her sorrow and naivete:

Just a few years back, she was the media’s darling. Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier slain in Iraq, led the anti-war charge against George W. Bush. Egged on by the mainstream media and left-wing activists eager to put a “face” to their cause, she camped out in front of Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. The entire situation became a media circus, with Sheehan at its epicenter. We saw her getting her hair cut at “Camp Casey,” saw her visiting her son’s grave with media flunkies in tow, and watched her get up close and personal with Hugo Chávez. Feted and celebrated, she could do no wrong; she held what has been called an “absolute moral authority card.”

So what exactly happened? Where is Sheehan today? She said she was quitting public life back in 2007 when, according to her post on Daily Kos, her cutting ties with the Democratic Party got her “trashed on such ‘liberal blogs’ as the Democratic Underground. Being called an ‘attention whore’ and being told ‘good riddance’ are some of the more milder [sic] rebukes.” Just a year later, though, she tried to unseat Nancy Pelosi. Perhaps having had a taste of the limelight, she couldn’t help herself. But, as one could have predicted, she was beaten handily by San Fran Nan — receiving less than 18 percent of the vote.

You might think that Sheehan had given up entirely and gone back to the quiet, placid existence that most Americans live, but you’d be wrong. It’s just that the left and the media have finished with her. Having wrung every ounce of moral authority and celebrity out of the poor woman that they could, they’ve moved on to greener pastures. It’s an era of hope and change, you know, and now that The One™ is in office, Sheehan’s brand of anti-war activism is no longer a welcome diversion — it’s more of an unwelcome distraction.

The alleged fierce, moral urgency of being anti-war during the Bush years has been replaced by the fierce, moral urgency of slavish devotion to executive power. In this Sheehan is no longer needed, and so she’s frozen out. A few die-hard pacifists still hang around, but the rest of the left has no more use for her – it was never about the war, Cindy, or your heroic son…it was all about bashing President Bush with whatever club came to hand.

It must always be kept in mind that when dealing with the left, power is the central thing – the retention and expansion of same for leftist leaders. If, by some strange chance, doing the right thing coincides with this, then that is ok. But for most of the time, “right thing” and “leftist power” are in opposite corners and so a ruthless, cynical manipulation is necessary to make it appear there it a bit of “right thing” in leftist actions. Sheehan hasn’t entirely figured it out as she’s officially blaming Bush for the lack of funds she suffers under – but, once upon a time she was proud of her hero son and took comfort from President Bush’s strong, moral stance on the war….perhaps she’ll wake and go back to that.

Whatever else happens, Sheehan provides an excellent object lesson for anyone who wishes to join the left. You can do so and gain a lot of wealth and fame – but as soon as you are no longer needed, you will be discarded like yesterday’s trash.

Who knew that the liberals new, tin-plated demi-god would fall so far, so fast?

The Spell is Broken. Cap-and-trade, the mega-deficits, the apology tours, and the sleaze of some appointments and congressional grandees (cf. Rangel, Dodd, Murtha, etc.) were stimulants, but not in themselves enough to awaken the somnolent American people from their collective trance. Yet health care was like a shot of adrenaline that jolted the patient out of his slumber. Suddenly hope and change no longer worked like the swinging watch and “you’re getting sleepy” lingo. Voters are feeling they’ve been “had” and were mesmerized into being used for an extremist agenda.

Who made the following decisions? 1) to propose a 1,000 page bill that no one had read, much less could explain?; 2) to ram down the greatest change in the US economy in fifty years by the August recess?; 3) to talk loosely of the “uninsured” without knowing why they were not insured, how much it would cost to insure them, or whether they currently in fact find some sort of care?; 4) to reference Rahm Emanuel’s doctor brother as a source of wisdom? 5) to demonize the health-care industry as greedy?

(NB: Does Obama really believe that illegal aliens do not possess 200-300 dollars a month to buy catastrophic health coverage, when they send on average at least that amount back to Mexico on the assumption the emergency room here is free, for everything from injuries to natal care? Does he believe that a 25-year old does not gamble that his robust health means he prefers his I-pod, DVDs, and nights out to squirreling away cash each month for health insurance? There are flaws in our system that must be corrected, but the notion of conspirators in black hats who plot to prevent health care for the “uninsured” is fallacious.

If Pelosi had really cleaned House – especially of people like Rangel and Murtha; if Obama had really been transparent; if there had been a genuine attempt to reach across to the defeated right…if, if if…as Churchill once observed, “the terrible ‘ifs'” have accumulated. Its not just been one mis-step; it has been a whole series of terrible tactical and strategic errors and there is no evidence to date that anyone, from Obama on down, realizes how badly they’ve screwed up. In fact, we’re getting indications that the left, including Obama, merely wants to double-down…to press even harder for a leftist agenda, apparently in firm conviction that America really did turn left in November and the opposition really is just “astro-turf” corporate shills and right wing die-hards. The left will be disabused of this notion.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Obama can’t climb back up a bit – heck, it doesn’t even mean he can’t be re-elected in 2012. But the bloom is off the rose and he’ll never get it back. You don’t get do-overs in politics. Regardless of the merits of the case, once the Katrina response was tagged as a miserable failure, President Bush could never recapture that aura of firm executive competence he had built up – Obama will never again be the savior-like political figure he was in November of 2008.

Ultimately, the failure of the left lead by Obama must be laid at the door of the rank and file of the left – for decades the left has been warned that their leaders are actually corrupt hacks who are merely using leftist rhetoric as a means to power, and power is to be used for personal gratification and enrichment. Overly-concentrated on the relatively rare and usually small-time corruption of various Republicans, the left failed to notice that, via legislation and regulation, leftist leaders have been systematically robbing the people of the United states – robbing them of their wealth and their freedom. This, in turn, all stems from that fundamental flaw of the left – built on the false premise that Mankind is perfectible via man’s actions, the only way it can be sustained over times is by dishonesty…and once you head down that route, you’ll just get worse and worse about it.

Obämerdämmerung – the twilight of the liberal gods. Its all gone wrong, and they won’t be able to get it back. As long as we hold firm and press our agenda, we will sweep them in to the ash heap of history for good.

Leftist astro-turfing meets genuine grass roots effort:

We beat the MoveOn/union/Acorn pro-ObamaCare crowd like a big bass drum.

Scheduled for 7pm, the other side was trying to get there before us, but failed; 20-30 intrepid Tea Partiers grabbed the best (shaded) space by 4:15pm, leaving the 5-6 starting MoveOn troops out in a very hot sun. Later they gave up and moved past the entrance to some shade. By 5pm, we had them beat 10-12 to 1, after which both sides seem to grow pretty proportionally. since ours were actually there for the town hall, many of ours went on inside after awhile, so we had a fluctuating population, while they stayed out, desperately trying to do anything to look less pitiful, even going back to the ZCM tactic (Zombie Circular March). By the time Session started the town hall, somewhere between 1,800-2,000 citizens. And, from the partisan applause and cheering to questions and answers, the entire audience was also 10-12 to 1 supporting the protection of our healthcare system.

The government healthcare advocates couldn’t be happy; about a dozen of theirs were Communication Workers of America and the left as a group before the MoveOn and others. Not many- if any- of the Government Healthcare advocates that were protesting actually went in for the town hall. Not interested in actually discussing the topic.

That is from North Texas TEA Party. Our liberals – from Obama on down – are denigrating this popular movement, but they are doing so at their own political peril. Additionally, any elitist, insider-the-beltway GOPer who also discounts this movement is playing with fire. This is the American people rising up, at long last, against a corrupt system built and maintained for the well-connected.

Going to be taking care of some personal business and so blogging will be light this weekend (which starts today, for me). I’ll do the best I can, but it will be a bit spotty. Meanwhile, have at it on the open thread.

And, yes, trolls, I will be in often enough to thwart you – so don’t go thinking you’ve got a free ride.

At least one banker is getting it:

The president of Etica Bank in Italy, Fabio Salviato, said this week that the new encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, “Caritas in Veritate,” is a guide for redefining the world economic system.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, the 51 year-old executive and author said the encyclical is a “guide that can enlighten us in this phase of individualization of a new economic and financial system.”

He noted that the new encyclical calls for “a cultural change founded upon the centrality of the person.”

“By responding to the needs of the person, fighting against poverty, and respecting the environment a redefinition of the economical financial system will emerge,” he added.

“I believe the Holy Father has truly offered us not only a light but also a great gift, a guide for economic leaders,” Salviato continued. “And not only for them but for all those who bear responsibility in the world of politics, finance and civil society. It is a cultural point of reference and directory, of almost a technical nature, on how to build, or rebuild, the new system after this crisis and these difficulties,” he said.

There is nothing wrong with being rich but there is very much wrong with the way we’ve attempted to get rich – and if we are to build a dynamic, prosperous and equal opportunity economy, we must attend to core, moral principles in our economic dealings. We must remember that we are stewards of the things we are given – even when we assert ownership of, say, property we are really holding it in trust for the actual owner, God. We must learn that an 8% return is worthless if we haven’t actually served others by gaining it.

The error our socialist friends make is to presume that the economy is a zero sum game and that if some are well off they have done so invariably at the expense of others. This attitude leads to appeals to envy while attempting to “fix” things with programs which invariably make things worse. While there are financial sharks out there who do profit off the un- or partially-requited toil of others, we must not fall in to the immoral trap of assuming that all men who are well off are the beneficiaries of ill-gotten gains. We additionally cannot presume that all people who are poor are mere victims – some people are, indeed, shiftless. Our economy should be built to honor hard work and give such work its proper reward – even if this means that some people will have vastly more wealth than others. As long as the person is the central motivator in economics, we’re at least some what on the right track. As soon as mere accumulation of money becomes central, we’ve lost our way.

Among the things which will be noted in a moral economy is that there will be no corporations “too big to fail” – in fact, a properly functioning economy won’t have any of the monstrous, multinational corporations today’s economy has. How can a CEO in, say, New York know what the needs are in his subsidiary in Calcutta? He can’t – and he’s bound to make policy which will not help, even if it doesn’t directly harm, the people in the remote corners of his economic empire. We conservatives have correctly identified big government as the main culprit in today’s ills – but big corporation is also a problem and, in reality, big government and big corporation go hand in hand…knock out the one, and the other goes with it. We can see in the servile way that big corporations are lining up for Obama’s largesse just how closely intertwined the two things are.

We can and must build a moral economy – an economy built for people, not for bureaucrats, corporations and the manipulators of same.

And its a badge of honor:

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards is so upset that the nation’s Catholic bishops are opposed to being forced to pay for abortions in the health care “reform” bills that she has written a new editorial saying so. The editorial is making its way across the pro-abortion blogosphere.

In various letters to members of Congress, the Catholic bishops have made it clear that they support health care reform as long as it does not involve taxpayer-financing of abortion.

Richards, whose top goal at Planned Parenthood is making sure abortion is included and that her centers get government funds from the government-run health care plan, used the tried and true approach of talking about everything other than abortion.

She claims abortion is merely a first step and that the Catholic bishops will begin defining legitimate medical procedures out of universal health care, as if the bishops would begin opposing medical care or surgeries.

Its the same old/same old from PP – worried about the fact that fewer doctors are willing to sully their honor with elective abortions and worried that their time on the government gravy train might come to an end, the PP people are determined to get abortion in the health care bill, force doctors to perform them and, of course, keep themselves at the taxpayer trough.

This poor woman, Cecile Richards, would be well advised to drop it – seriously, to dedicate one’s life to such a cause is just a miserable waste of a life. There is so much good she could do – especially for womens health – but she prefers to gnaw the dry bone of the Culture of Death to the very end.

The sad truth:

Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They’re also worried about getting repaid.

Screwed up from start to finish, counter-productive and a waste of money. In other words, a typical, liberal Democrat tax and spend boondoggle.

A bit of local news with a national angle:

A former Las Vegas director for a political advocacy group accused of illegally paying canvassers to register voters during last year’s presidential campaign has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and agreed to testify against the group and another employee.

Chief Deputy Nevada Attorney General Conrad Hafen said Wednesday that Christopher Edwards’ plea deal strengthens a felony case against the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now and Amy Busefink, a former regional voter registration director for ACORN.

Edwards pleaded guilty this week to two counts of conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters.

Now, before we on the right get our hopes up about the law being enforced and other strange hopes to hold while liberal Democrats run the show, it should be mentioned that our State Attorney General is a Democrat. She’s already cooked up an indictment of what everyone assumed was Reid’s strongest 2010 challenger (our Lt. Governor), leaving only little Danny Tarkanian and A Candidate to be Named Later in the field. So, don’t expect too much – the AG might decide to enforce the law vigorously, or she might not. If she does, then she deserves our thanks – if she doesn’t, we won’t be surprised.

But one of the reasons we must fight hard against Obama and his Democrats is because of their ties to corrupt groups like ACORN and the way they are lavishing taxpayer money on these partisan groups – a political party has commandeered the Treasury to support its operatives and we must first stop it, then roll it back and then, when we do regain power, prosecute vigorously. This blow against ACORN is but one, small step – and we must not allow it to drop down the Memory Hole or be treated by the left as an aberration.

HAT TIP: An Alert Reader

And a big one it is, indeed:

Two firms that received $343.3 million to handle advertising for Barack Obama’s White House run last year have profited from his top priority as president by taking on his push for health-care overhaul.

One is AKPD Message and Media, the Chicago-based firm headed by David Axelrod until he left last Dec. 31 to serve as a senior adviser to the president. Axelrod was Obama’s top campaign strategist and is now helping sell the health-care plan. The other firm is Washington-based GMMB Campaign Group, where partner Jim Margolis was also an Obama strategist.

This year, AKPD and GMMB received $12 million in advertising business from Healthy Economy Now, a coalition that includes the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, that is seeking to build support for a health-care overhaul, said the coalition’s spokesman, Jeremy Van Ess…

…Axelrod was president and sole shareholder of AKPD from 1985 until he sold his interest after Obama’s victory, government records show. The firm owes Axelrod $2 million, which it’s due to pay in installments beginning Dec. 31. Axelrod’s son, Michael, still works there. He didn’t return a phone call. The firm’s Web site continues to feature David Axelrod’s work on the Obama campaign.

Connections to lobbyists; big payouts coming while holding federal office; nepotism – and all for the evil, wicked, nasty pharmaceutical industry (or, at least, that is how its characterized in lefty talking points). This is the change we wanted? Anyone else besides me smell a rat here? We already know that Obama won’t prevent the trial lawyers from profiting off his health care plan…now we know his people are in the hip pocket of the pharmaceutical industry. It there a special interest – other than, ya know?, the people – which isn’t feeding at the public trough while Obama talks “reform” of the system?

Hugh Hewitt makes the inescapable point:

If it was Karl Rove in a similar set of circumstances, the blogs and some in MSM would already be demanding a special prosecutor. There are lots of questions for Mr. Axelrod, the first one being whether the Bloomberg story is accurate. if the answer is “yes,” the second will be: “Have you lawyered up?”