Will there be a groundswell of support and a change of tone on health care reform now that the lion of the Senate, Teddy Kennedy, has passed away?

‘Stupid’ seems to be the word of the week.

First, President Barack Obama during a prime time press conference, called the Cambridge (Mass.) Police force of “acting stupidly” in the arrest of esteemed Harvard professor Gates. (Glad the BeerFest sorted that out but I wonder how many Buds  Biden had AND he wasn’t invited).

Then, we have comedian and talk show host Bill Maher calling Americans “stupid.”

Are these the same “stupid Americans” who voted for Barack Obama?

When asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer whether former Governor Sarah Palin had a future nationally as a presidential candidate Bill Maher responded “I don’t know about a presidential candidate but I would never put anything past this stupid country.

Blizter went on to ask “people are already complaining that you are calling the United States a stupid country and I’m giving you a chance to clarify that.”

Congratulations to the Richmond Times-Dispatch on their FOIA request on Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine’s travel and expenses paid for by the taxpayers of the Commonwealth. And well done to the Virginia State Police for following up on this ongoing matter.

For those of you who do not know, Kaine holds down a number of jobs:

• ·         Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
• ·         Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
• ·         Obama confidante
• ·         Vice President in waiting (watch your back Joe)

Unfortunately for Mr. Kaine it’s been reported that he, in four months, spent 31 days outside of Virginia in his role as Chair of the DNC. This, despite promises otherwise http://www.examiner.com/x-16143-Richmond-Republican-Examiner~y2009m7d11-Does-Virginia-have-an-aroundthe-clock-Governor

The RT-D reports that the request sought records of expenses incurred by the state police executive protection unit which, of course, protects the governor 24/7 including officers who accompanied Mr. Kaine whilst fundraising for the DNC and other Democratic events.

http://static.mgnetwork.com/rtd/pdfs/20090722_dncc.pdf

Frankly, the GOP dropped the ball on this one. I understand Chairman Pat Mullins’ reasoning for not pursuing the matter due to incurring more taxpayer dollars and court time misspent. This, however, was an opportunity for Republicans which they failed to catch.

God Bless the Fourth Estate.

Back to Kaine; Virginia’s biggest frequent flyer. The Governor of Virginia, Timothy Kaine, has traveled to New York City, Chicago, Boston, and several Floridian destinations, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Kansas and Philadelphia not to mention the numerous trips to Washington D.C (over forty)

Governor Kaine’s Communications Director, Lynda Tran says that “the Governor is engaged in state work every day.”

Every day? Even the days he is working for the DNC and Democratic candidates and fundraising for a political party? Blackberry or not, this is impossible. It’s a juggling act at taxpayers’ expense but Mr. Kaine is prohibited from running for re-election due to term limits.

The Republicans also had a similar dilemma with former Governor, Jim Gilmore who, for a time, headed up the Republican National Committee.

However after some pressure this year from state GOP leaders, Kaine said he would break with practice and have the DNC reimburse the Commonwealth’s taxpayers for his security costs for DNC related travel as well as other expenses due to party business.

Kaine in an interview seemed contrite saying that declaring these expenses was “the right thing to do.” He went on to say that he would provide an itemized account of costs his security detail on his DNC travels twice a year until his term ends. Bit late for that.

Jim Nolan of the R T-D reports that Kaine’s travel has picked up in recent weeks with nine of his 14 documented trips occurring in May and June and last week a speaking gig in Aspen. This weekend the Governor is heading back up to Washington to address the National College Democrats. Nolan goes on to say that Kaine informed him that he will probably go to San Francisco and Seattle for the rest of the weekend. Then the Governor is off to address the Latino organization La Raza in Chicago next Tuesday performing gubernatorial and DNC duties all at the same time.

Many in the GOP have alleged that the Governor is neglecting his duties as the chief executive officer of the state during this crippling recession to further the interests of his chosen political party. The Governor responds by arguing that his job as the Chairman of the DNC pays dividends for the Commonwealth with regard to access and influence with decision makers in Washington.

That may be so, but why did it take a FOIA request that was frequently denied to the GOP and other concerned citizens yet now acquiesced due to media and legal pressure?

President Barack Hussein Obama is in Moscow this week. How fitting.

Attributed to many political leaders, monarchs and dictators, the ‘cult of personality, is most commonly referred to when speaking of the former head of the Soviet Union, one Joseph Stalin.

Question: What is the ‘cult of personality’?

Answer: When a leader or would-be leader of a country uses the mass media and other forms of communications to create a heroic public image of themselves, usually through unquestioning flattery and praise.

Sound familiar?

Akin to hero worship, personality cults are most common in regimes with totalitarian government systems seeking to radically alter or transform society with supposedly revolutionary ideas. In one word: Change.

Sound familiar?

Just to name a few ‘personalities’ apart from Stalin, we have Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong, Josip Tito, Nicolae Ceausescu, Ferdinand Marcos, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il-Sung, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Kim Jong-Il.

At their peak, these ‘leaders’ presented themselves as infallible, almost god-like. Portraits and other images were hung in private homes and public buildings alike.

Sound familiar?

Which brings me to the 44^th President of the United States of America: Barack Obama. I am not comparing the current Commander in Chief to the above despots but the warning signs are there.

Let’s take a look at narcissism. Logically it goes hand in hand with the need for a cult of personality.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes narcissism thus: ’ a personality disorder that revolves around a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and a sense of entitlement. Often individuals feel overly important and will exaggerate achievements and will accept, and often demand, praise and admiration‘.

Ali Sina, a writer from FaithFreedom.org says the following:

“When cheering for someone turns into adulation, something is wrong. Excessive adulation is indicative of a personality cult. The cult of personality is often created when the general population is discontent. A charismatic leader can seize the opportunity and project himself as an agent of change and a revolutionary leader. Often, people, tired of the status quo, do not have the patience to examine the nature of the proposed change. All they want is change. During 1979, when the Iranians were tired of the dictatorial regime of the late Shah, they embraced Khomeini, not because they wanted Islam, but because he promised them change. The word in the street was, “anything is better than the Shah.” They found their error when it was too late.”

Sound familiar?

Barack Obama came to office on adulation and not much else. He had no record on which to run - voting ‘present’ doesn’t count. He won the Presidency on the twin messages of ‘Hope’ and “Change we can believe in”. Whatever that means.

We’ve seen the President getting down and dancing on Ellen, we’ve seen Chris Matthews of ‘Hardball’ (hardly) say he has a shiver up his leg every time Obama speaks, we have Oprah saying “he is the One: Barack Obama - we need Barack Obama”.

Barack Obama was and is more than cult phenomenon.

Talk about the audacity of hope.

The guy gets up in front of the Press Corps Annual Dinner and says “ And I know all of you voted for me”. They did indeed apart from the Fox News folk and the Pat Buchanans and Joe Scarboroughs of this world. Apart from them, the media both in the USA and world -wide are, to quote Bernard Goldberg’s great book, having a slobbering love affair with The Chosen One.

Take a read or a re-read of George Orwell’s ‘1984’. There you will find the mantra that former junior one term (almost) Senator and his communications team used so brilliantly:

Yes We Can !

We are the ones we have been waiting for!

Hope!

Change!

Change alright. Just ask members of Barack Obama’s own Party; Congressmen such as Maria Cantwell, Carl Levin, Byron Dorgan, Dianne Feinstein, and Bernard Sanders how they feel. And that’s just the start.

Taxpayers have a right to see where their hard earned money is going and putting the President’s face on my Metro ticket isn’t quite enough. The feel good factor is only going to last just so long as today’s Gallup polls indicate.

In the word’s of Obama’s pastor of twenty years ‘the chickens are coming home to roost’ and I suspect a large section of these United States of America have a wee case of buyers’ remorse.

Lynda Farley of Edmonton, Kentucky drove to the Tea Party in her infamous Liberty Van from her home town to Washington D.C to protest Federal Government spending. I asked her why she drove the thousands of miles to attend the rally held near the Senate and she told me she’s “one p----d off grandma with eight grandkids and six kids and she doesn’t want them to live in a communist country“. Linda has driven the Liberty Van to every state capitol in the country to protest myriad government interventions apart from Hawaii and Virginia though she is headed to the Capitol of the Commonwealth as I write.

There is much criticism in the main stream media that the plethora of tea party groups across the country is just a Republican Party front. One gentleman, Jeff (who declined his last name) when asked for his reasons for being there said “I’m sick of Republicans acting like Democrats, and Democrats acting like Marxists”.

If anything, most of those in attendance Saturday seemed to be independents or libertarians of the Ron Paul slant; Congressman Paul’s book ‘The Revolution’ was promoted widely on vendor stands at the event.

CNN was the only major news organization present and they were not given a particularly friendly reception. A hard core group of about fifty surrounded CNN Deputy Political Director, Paul Steinhause, who was shouted down as he attempted to film his piece to cam. Cries of ‘Communist News Network’, ‘Chicken Noodle News’ and ‘State run media’ drowned him out for over 15 minutes. One wag yelled out “I went to journalism school and now I’m a lap dog”.

On the CNN website, journalist, Rachel Streitfeld, led her report of the event thus:

Nothing could be further from the truth. For one, personal grills, sparklers and fireworks were not allowed anywhere near the Fourth of July celebrations and there was more Red, White and Blue at the Tea Party than there was on The Mall. I am not sure where Ms. Streitfeld was on Saturday but it was not the same place I was.

The signs(most of them hand-made) t-shirts, buttons along with the speakers, were both entertaining, serious and everything in between. One little girl who looked about six held her own hand made sign saying ‘Obama Don’t Steal From My Piggy Bank”, with a cut out picture of a pig.

Speakers at the Tea Party included Tito the Builder and chiropractor, Patrick Beck who flew in all the way from Arizona to address the crowd. Patrick said he would ‘rather be back home in Arizona with his wife and five kids but that his one purpose and one purpose only was to get involved.

Mr. Beck was reading MarketWatch.com when he realized there were so many other like minded individuals and rather than expect someone else to do it for them they realized that somebody had to be them. Goals were, and still are, to make a difference, educate people and make them understand the power they have as individuals and in groups.

One woman, Jennifer, dressed as Wonder Woman, when asked the reason for her attendance, she replied she was there was ‘to defend the Constitution and the hold the Government accountable“. She went on to say that she wanted to leave the rally knowing she had made some sort of a difference and that the Government would hear their cries.

A disparate group of people but all with the same goal; to get Government out of their lives.

The Governor of South Carolina can, in a macabre fashion, thank the untimely death of the King of Pop. Most Americans have the attention span of a flea so Sanford went from being the top story on the 24/7cable news channels to ‘who?’. He is no longer the latest disgraced Governor on the front page of the New York Times or the Washington Post or the tabloids with brilliant headlines like “LUV GOV” and Buenos Airhead”.

The voters and legislators in South Carolina will, however, be the exception. Even his Republican colleagues are not exactly happy with his antics.

The Governor is not the first, nor the last, politician to cheat on a spouse. Crikey, if infidelity disqualified one from public office, Congress would be more than half empty as would most of the Governor’s mansions; not to mention the most high profile Commander in Cheat, Bill Clinton.

I mention Clinton in passing but it is important to note that Sanford was one of the harshest critics of Clinton marital misconduct. But hey, if it’s OK with Hillary I could care less, Personally I had issues with Clinton’s lying under oath as everyone already knew what a dog he was. Hey we’ve all read or seen “Primary Colors” which outlined in detailed then Chief of Staff was in getting ammunition in case of ‘bimbo alerts’ Hired by Hillary no less.

Segueing….. This is "very damaging stuff," Sanford declared at one point, when details of Clinton's conduct became known. "I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign)... I come from the business side," he said. "If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he'd be gone."

Again, as someone who has worked in politics for over 20 years I have seen more infidelity than most. Whilst distasteful, cheating on your wife or husband is the secondary issue here.

The real issue is the people voted for him to do a job. That of Governor of their great State. Going AWOL and not letting your Lt. Gov. know is a dereliction of duty beyond belief. Even his staff are in shock as they were out there saying the Governor just needed some time away and was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He was in an other place starting with A: Argentina on the tax payer’s dime and not for the first time.

Yes, of course he’s sorry, yes, he’s going to pay the money back but the man who I am now embarrassed to admit that I had in my top three for next Republican candidate (Romney & Palin the obvious others) is a disgrace. His self serving mea culpa press conferences this week smacks of a sociopath gripping on to the Governor’s mansion for all dear life with all it’s power and no understanding of the harm he has really done to his family (he was away from Father’s Day), his State where no officials or staff could get a hold of him and the people of South Carolina. If this is not an impeachable offence what is?

The Governor of New York gets to stay in office despite his extra marital shenanigans but New York is not the socially conservative State of South Carolina. Spitzer excepted.

Conservative TV and radio host and former Congressman from Florida, Joe Scarborough, joked that there would be perhaps 48 other states that would tolerate such nonsense - one being Utah

And, as the New York Times pointed out:

I hope the Girl From Ipanema was worth it. If you thought taking time off allegedly to hike the Appalachian Trail is hard, as voiced by your own personal staff, try the trail to re-election and the marital home.

Governor Sanford you are hardly a mensch.

Resign, pronto.