Are you an NPR fan? Ever hear of the NPR Radio?
Get details, info and a special deal by visiting:
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/14860/c/438/a/100109
------------------------------------------------------------
THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW - January 18, 2011
Is Obama Leaving the Left Behind?
by: Pat Buchanan
The day that President Obama departed for Arizona to
address the nation on the Tucson massacre, Washington
was abuzz.
Would he take the line of the hard left and call out the
right for having created what columnist Paul Krugman
called the "Climate of Hate" in which a mentally deranged
Jared Lee Loughner had acted?
Would he lay moral responsibility for the slaughter at the
feet of Fox News and Sarah Palin, as the wilder voices of
the left have been doing nonstop since Saturday's shocking
news?
Obama did the opposite, admonishing his allies as well as
critics, "at a time when we are far too eager to lay the
blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those
who think differently than we do, it's important for us to
pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with
each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."
Again and again, he returned to the theme. "Bad things
happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in
the aftermath.
"For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what
triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know... what
thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's
mind. ... But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as
one more occasion to turn on each other. ...
"If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate... let's
make sure... it's not on the usual plane of politics and
point-scoring and pettiness." No "lack of civility...
caused this tragedy."
Obama thus cut the ground out from under those exploiting
the massacre and attempted murder of Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords to smear and exact retribution for the crushing
repudiation they suffered on Nov. 2.
In one of the finer speeches of his career, Obama realized
that, at this hour and in this tragedy, his country yearn-
ed to come together on the higher ground of grief for the
fallen, celebration of those who behaved bravely and prayer-
ful hope for the wounded.
By rising above "politics and point-scoring and partisan-
ship" in Tucson, the president has recaptured some of the
luster he had lost since that January two years ago.
The speech in Tucson confirms what seemed a month ago to
be a conscious decision by the president to effect a course
correction in his presidency after the "shellacking" in
November.
------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR VIDEO SNACK BAR
Top Viewed Videos...
1. I Could Get Used To This
http://c.gophercentral.com/HDFM
2. A Cat with A Drinking Problem?
http://c.gophercentral.com/Y4qx
3. Amos N´ Andy - In the IRS Office
http://c.gophercentral.com/iIoi
4. A Dog with Human Arms
http://c.gophercentral.com/z3FR
5. Alfred Hitchcock Montage
http://c.gophercentral.com/9PBy
6. What a Wonderful World It Would Be
http://c.gophercentral.com/jREA
------------------------------------------------------------
The decisive moment came when the left was loudly demand-
ing that he fight to the last ditch for repeal of the
"Bush tax cuts for the rich," even if it meant the lame-
duck session of Congress ended in a dead-duck session.
Instead, recognizing Sen. Mitch McConnell's Republicans not
only had the votes but the will to block any action in the
Senate before the GOP took over the House in January, Obama
shoved aside Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and moved to cut
a deal with the GOP.
The Republicans got the Bush tax cuts. But Obama got a
Social Security payroll tax cut for every worker, an
estate tax raised back to 35 percent and another full
year of unemployment compensation.
Obama had entered negotiations with a weak hand. But he
had emerged with so impressive a deal from his own party's
standpoint that Republican deficit hawks wanted their
party to walk away from it, even if it meant all the Bush
tax cuts expired on Jan. 1.
After cutting that deal and breaking the logjam, Obama got
votes and victories on allowing homosexuals to serve openly
in the military and on providing billions for the first
responders of 9/11. He came close to getting a limited
amnesty for illegal aliens.
In short, by shouldering Pelosi and Reid aside and taking
charge of negotiations with the Republicans himself, Obama
not only won a string of victories, he proved bipartisan
government could work.
Since then, he has been on a steady ascent in the polls.
And, in his choice of new aides like Chicago's William
Daley, brother of the mayor and son of the legend, Obama
has signaled that after an era of confrontation on Capitol
Hill comes an era of negotiation.
What does this mean for Democrats?
The left wing of the party, for the immediate future, is
going to be the "dummy" at the bridge table. Obama is
going to play every hand. For this president has been
jolted into an awareness that, today, if not in 2008,
this is a center-right country, and he and his party have
drifted dangerously far out of the mainstream. He is now
paddling his own canoe back to the middle of the river,
leaving the left up the creek.
What does it mean for Republicans?
They will not be running in 2012 against a cookie-cutter
liberal. For while Sen. Obama may have compiled a voting
record to the left of Socialist Bernie Sanders', this,
recall, is a fellow who voted "present" over 100 times
on controversial issues in the Illinois Senate.
This is no true believer. This is a survivor. This is a
fellow with an almost Nixonian capacity for maneuver.
(COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM)
------------------------------------------------------------
Follow Your Favorite GopherCentral Publications on Twitter:
http://www.gophertweets.com/ More Coming Soon!
------------------------------------------------------------