Exclusive; Oval Office Watch – Monday, October 12

The Nobel Peace Prize has now become, like the American literary Pulitzer, a certification of political correctness. The Nobel nominating process closed a mere two weeks after Barak ObamaBarak Obama took office. With less than a year in office, Obama's prize can not be based on anything except campaign rhetoric and dubious liberal expectations.

The award also will be interpreted as a repudiation of the Bush era. Out of over a hundred candidates, a man with little or no actual achievements has been coroneted. When you examine the context, the award is not that much of a surprise; and, like scoreless soccer, this award fairly drips with irony.

In the end, the Nobel committee hasn't done Obama or the prospects for peace any favors. Indeed, for many, this certificate of premature adulation may validate suggestions that Obama is a one trick pony, a multicultural version of Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter. A previous peace prize winner, former president Carter has painted himself into a corner as a latter day Arab partisan, devoid of any sense of fairness or impartiality.

Put aside for a moment the Norwegian pandering and the absurd attempt to influence domestic American politics. If Obama keeps his eye on the prize; the opportunity costs could be enormous. These would be: the fate of Israel; two militant religious sects armed with nuclear weapons; and another series of theocratic coups in the Muslim world. Political prophylaxis is seldom safe, frequently ineffective, and it invariably dulls our important sensitivities. Read article.

The Nobel Prize for Moral Posturing - Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Is a Joke
Robert Tracinski, Atlas Shrugs2000.Typepad.com

The news announcement came over my cell phone this morning—I thought it was a joke at first, a headline from The Onion instead of the New York Times—that the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is Barack Obama.

For what? What has Obama ever accomplished for the cause of world peace?

The Nobel Committee says the prize is "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Which Obama has accomplished by—what exactly? Giving a speech at the UN?

This is an attempt by the Nobel committee to play on Obama's vanity in order to influence his decisions on Iran and Afghanistan. The message is: how could you possibly let Israel attack Iran's nuclear facilities, or how could you send an additional 40,000 troops to "escalate" the war in Afghanistan—after we've just given you the Nobel Peace Prize?

In appealing to Obama's moral vanity, they know their man well—and it will probably work.

In this respect, Obama is the perfect successor to the last American president to win the Nobel: Jimmy Carter. Consider the legacy of Carter's term in office. Read article.

A Step Too Far
Jennifer Rubin, Commentary Magazine.com

Obama has done the impossible. No, not the prize, silly. That is, as a number of us have pointed out, the ultimate pairing of Obama, who is infatuated with multilateralism and moral relativism, and their most ardent international fans. (One isn’t surprised when the Rolling Stones sell out. Give the crowd what they want and they’ll shout and scream for more.) But what is a bit eye-opening is the level of embarrassment — cringing, really — among those rather sympathetic to Obama. Take a look through the Washington Post’s Post-Partisan blog. Yes, the conservatives are somewhere between appalled and bemused. But so are Richard Cohen, Ruth Marcus, and David Ignatius. Read article.

America, You've Been Punk'd!
Pedro Primavera, American Thinker.com

It's okay to admit it: you thought you were voting for a more benevolent and wiser version of Tiger WoodsTiger Woods when all you got was a smoother version of Chicago-style, brass knuckle politics. It isn't so much that you voted for the wrong guy; you were lied to by the media.

But you should have known better. Chicago has a long and storied run of thoroughly corrupt political bosses giving envy to any third-world dictator. Barack Obama also ran around with loony-tune communists and wild-eyed radicals including his pastor, Jeremiah WrightJeremiah Wright, who makes the loosest of cannons seem laser-guided. Then he tells us absolutely nothing about himself other than what is in his -- not one but two -- autobiographies.

If you scratch below the surface -- not too hard since there isn't much there -- you find a different human being, one entirely at variance with what you find in the media or his autobiographies. It is a man driven not to overcoming obstacles but stuck on them, still living in his past. The case of Barack Obama is one of a deep, deep inferiority complex from his childhood and he just seems unable to rise from it. Read article.

Israel and the Defense of Civilization
One Cosmos.Blogspot.com

If Israel is quelled or destroyed, we will be succumbing to forces targeting capitalism and freedom everywhere. We will allow a fatal triumph of the barbarian masses that may well end up demoralizing and destroying the United States as well. --George Gilder

I remember Dennis Prager making a point about how throughout history, the best humanity has to offer always suffers at the hands of the worst. Unfortunately, this is axiomatic, since bad people want to hurt others, while good people don't want to hurt anybody. So every time an American soldier is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, it is a case of the worst killing the best. Every time a Palestinian monster blows himself up in Israel, the worst have murdered the best. Likewise, only God knows how much human greatness was denied the world due to the Nazi genocide of an earlier era.

So what do we do about it? We give the Palestinians another billion dollars to further cultivate their depravity. And tell Israel to close their settlements, since we don't want the good people to irritate the bad people. Read article.

This is a Religious War
John Bernard, Ruthfullyyours.com

This war in Afghanistan is a case study in such arguments. It provides us with two protagonists in a religious war that will redefine the world as we know it and as it has been defined by recorded history. Make no mistake; this is a religious war. The first great mistake made in prosecuting this war has been the lack of political courage in identifying the enemy. The second was the lack of wisdom in correctly identifying the conflict as religious.

Our delicate American sensibilities don’t allow us, as a nation, to even conceive of the possibility of two nations fighting over religious ideological differences much less being party to it. We are not given a choice however. For if this war was thrust on us by the intrusions of Islamic forces from abroad over the past 30 years, we must also recognize the reasons for their attack. They have given us the reasons for their attacks over, and over again. We are the enemy to Islam and therefore to them. The fact that there are apostates in their midst and around the world that choose not to agree with that statement does not remove the fact that there are larger numbers of them who do.

In the weeks that followed September 11, 2001, our intelligence agencies and those from around the world identified the forces that exported the agents that carried out that final insult that awakened the ’sleeping giant’. Once identified, our government decided to find them and destroy them as well as those who offered them shelter and comfort. If this was not a justifiable response to an unprovoked attack then there never will be a legitimate reason to go to war – ever! The reason that some, lacking intestinal fortitude, were and are repulsed by this war is because of the religious overtones.

They should be afraid; very afraid. In traditional wars, peoples send out their government trained, armed and uniformed forces to attack or repulse a like trained enemy. Hostilities continue until the coffers run dry or one side or the other can no longer bear the pain. This war is different. Only one side has a legitimate cause. One side fights as a nation, for their survival, the other based on warped ideological obedience. For that side, there will never be a cessation to hostility because that is a core tenet of their ideology. They live to fight and die for Allah. There is no earth-bound reason and therefore no earthly power restraining them or guiding them in their conduct. As a Christian nation (sorry Barrack) we are constrained by our faith and the governing forces placed there by the electorate and God.

General McChrystal has bought into the argument that there are those in the Islamic culture of Afghanistan that want what we have and need and want our help. He is wrong. Read article.

Obama’s not-so-secret plan to raise taxes
James Pethokoukis, Reuters.com

Does President Obama have a secret plan to raise taxes on middle-class Americans — and,well, pretty much everybody else — with a European-style, value-added tax? Actually, it’s not such a big secret. Connect the dots:

1) The joint statement from the just-concluded G20 Summit in Pittsburgh called for balanced global growth — which means Americans must spend less and save more and reduce its budget deficit.

2) That same weekend, John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama’s presidential transition team and an outside White House adviser, tells a Bloomberg reporter that a value-added tax is “more plausible today” than ever, adding that “there’s going to have to be revenue in this budget.” A VAT is a kind of consumption tax.

3) Yesterday, the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank with close White House ties, holds a conference on the rising national debt. While speaker after speaker — Paul Krugman, Roger Altman, CAP President Podesta (again), Laura Tyson — admits entitlement spending must be reduced, they also agree that taxes must be raised. Altman suggests $400 billion in new tax revenue is needed almost immediately to calm financial market fears, and a VAT would be a great way of doing it. That’s $400 billion a year, by the way, not over ten years.

4) Also, yesterday was the first meeting of President Obama’s tax reform panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul VolckerPaul Volcker. In a two-part interview with Charlie RoseCharlie Rose airing yesterday and today, Volcker says that if Washington can’t get spending under control, either a VAT or a carbon tax would be effective revenue raisers. “Those are two big ones,” he says. Read article.

Who Are These People And Where Did They Come From?
Hugh HewittHugh Hewitt, Townhall.com

More than 2,000 activists packed the Crystal City Gateway Marriott this weekend for the annual "Americans for Prosperity" meeting. It is a football weekend in the most beautiful time of the fall, but these folks were in a vast ballroom on Saturday morning cheering Newt, Jim DeMintJim DeMint, Stephen Moore, Ed Morrissey, John Fund, Herman Cain and the always energy-and-enthusiasm generating Larry Kudlow as each in turn spelled out the details of the sharp left lurch the country has taken in the past nine months.

Americans for Prosperity was founded by, among others, David Koch and is ably guided by, among others, Tim Phillips. As Koch and Phillips chatted with guests and members throughout the morning, their confident smiles telegraphed that the surge in their membership and their reach is continuing. With a seasoned field staff and a dynamic group of young volunteers and headquarters professionals, AFP is filling a gap that exists on the right in the space between the think tanks, web portals and the GOP party apparatus. This is the sort of para-party organization that the Democrats benefited from during their wilderness years, and the appearance of a AFP as a major force in conservative circles marks a key moment in the renewal of the conservative movement.

So to does the rise of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a new PAC founded by South Carolina's DeMint. "SCF is a political action committee dedicated to electing strong conservatives to the United States Senate," the PAC's website declares. "We do not support liberal Republicans and we are not affiliated with any Republican campaign committee."

The declaration of purpose continues: "SCF seeks to bring bold conservative leadership to Washington by supporting only the most rock-solid, conservative candidates nationwide -- candidates who believe in the principles of limited government, strong national defense, and traditional family values."

The Fund is off to an incredibly strong fundraising start though of course it can use more, especially from small dollar donors who will help build the organizations reach just as AFP has built. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has been deeply damaged by its past support for some very unusual Republicans, chief among them the nutty Lincoln Chaffee. John CornynJohn Cornyn of Texas is rebuilding the brand, and the defection of Arlen SpecterArlen Specter to his new team made Cornyn's life much easier, but the opportunity for conservatives to invest in a PAC as focused on electing only conservatives will be welcomed by many donors who simply refuse to fund pro-choice Republicans for example, or senators who are willing to vote for portions of Obamacare when the vast weight of American opinion is against it in total.

The success of AFP and the Fund are just two more indications that a tide is building in reaction to the president's twin agendas of apologies abroad and power at home. Read article.

Brain-dead conservatives? No, it’s the elitist critics at room temperature!
Kenneth Tomlinson, Washington Examiner.com

“Is Conservatism Dead?” screamed the headline on page one of the Washington Post’s Outlook section Sunday. Behind that headline is the photo of a nude white male body being medically resuscitated, seemingly without success, along with small black letters: “Nope. Maybe Just Brain Dead.”

The article was by Steven F. Hayward, described as the F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Just a couple of days before, the New York Times’s David BrooksDavid Brooks was flailing at conservative radio “talk jocks” Rush LimbaughRush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck whose intellectual shortcomings, he charged, are the real reason behind the decline of the Republican Party.

About the only place in America where there is not an unemployment problem is in the ranks of one-time conservative elitists getting checks from the liberal media—to attack conservatives. How else could Kathleen Parker be on a legitimate payroll?

What is the real sin of Limbaugh and Beck in the eyes of these liberal media darlings? Is it their ability to communicate with the American people? Is that why “tea baggers” so offend the learned Fellow Mr. Hayward?

What these elitists don’t seem to understand is that more and more people are turning to Glenn Beck because he is the best place to go for exposes on powerful forces like ACORN and Presidential Czar Van Jones. Read article.

Bloom is off Obama's rose, and he'll be the last one to realize it.
Lance Thompson, The Next Right.com

“You’re always the last to know your own reputation.” I can’t be certain that I coined that phrase, but I am sure that it is an underlying principle of the universe, and even presidents are bound by its laws.

I first noticed the principle in Hollywood, where no matter how washed up a has-been some one is, no one will ever say it to his or her face. One whose future is past is still welcomed, just not that warmly. His calls are still taken, at least for a while. He still goes to parties, but he’s no longer on the A-list. As the has-been begins to notice the lukewarmness of his receptions, the increasing distance of his close pals, he seeks reassurance from those around him. They will tell him that he’s imagining things, that he’s as cool as he ever was, that he’s still on top of the world. Until those reassuri ng friends also stop returning calls.

Barack Obama is still sailing along on the certainty that he’s the coolest world leader on Earth. He won an historic election, the media was solidly behind him, adoring crowds greet him wherever he goes, and only a few cranky right-wing commentators and tea partiers dare to rain on his parade.

But as Charles Krauthammer and others have revealed, Obama knew of Iran’s perfidy in concealing their nuclear program when he spoke at the United Nations on 24 September. Despite the urging of European allies, he refused to bring up the uncomfortable subject, as it would detract from his speech. The focus of the speech–Obama’s dream for a nuclear free world. He still spun his no-nukes platitudes, knowing full well that one of the most dangerous regimes in the world was inches from deploying a nuclear weapon. France’s President Sarkozy, England’s Prime Minister Brown, Germany’s President Merkel all wanted to use the international forum to expose Iran’s decades of deceit, but Obama postponed until the G-20 summit. Obama’s refusal showed his weakness of character and selfishness of motive. Read article.

This Is Not the Country of the Founding Fathers
Ercille I. Christmas, NMJ.us

The week ending September 2009 and ushering in October 2009, was very eventful, in terms of exposing the diminishing role of the US as a world power. The “sleeping giant,” under its new leadership, has been snoring while dictatorial powers have been partying! Party like it is 2009!

China did have a birthday party and it celebrated with the help of its biggest debtor, the USA. “And it is three cheers for the red, white and blue!” Factually, it was light up the Empire State building with the two colors that have come to symbolize repression. Yep, there in a blaze of red and yellow light, was that symbol of American freedom, lustily celebrating Communist China. One pundit suggested that the color red symbolized millions “eliminated” by the regime. Sometimes, or most of the time, a dictatorship has to do what a dictatorship does best. Although to be fair to China, it has come up with a “cocktail” of communism and capitalism, which seems to be working out really well. Taking over about 90% of the world’s manufacturing might make other nations see red, but China is experiencing a flood of currencies in multiplies of color!

Ironically while the Empire State Building was celebrating sixty years of a dictatorship, some folks in Hong Kong and Taiwan were not partying. They were out protesting. They had better be careful in case they are made to learn the lessons of Tiananmen Square. About 2500 learned a deadly lesson in that Square: Protest and die on the streets. “Protest and die.” This eerily brings to mind an Iranian Tiananmen Square protest moment that the Iranians had about four months ago. Many went out to protest what they considered to be rigged elections for the post of president of Iran. Many did not live to find out if they were correct. They too were mowed down with the same “efficiency” as happened in Tiananmen Square. The name Neda continues to symbolize Iranians dying on the streets of Tehran. During that time of upheaval, the US hemmed and hawed.

“Protest and die.” This eerily brings to mind an Iranian Tiananmen Square protest moment that the Iranians had about four months ago. Many went out to protest what they considered to be rigged elections for the post of president of Iran. Many did not live to find out if they were correct. They too were mowed down with the same “efficiency” as happened in Tiananmen Square. The name Neda continues to symbolize Iranians dying on the streets of Tehran. During that time of upheaval, the US h