Politik blues

After getting about an hour of sleep last night, I decided to take a nap after getting home from work today.

…And I just woke up. Oops.

So! It’s been a fun one. Last night I was listening to Obama’s “town hall” in Shanghai and was amazed at how bold some of the questions were. One of the attendees asked him what he had done to earn the Nobel prize and how he was qualified with his educational background. I about did a spit-take when I heard that one – can you imagine an American reporter having the gall to ask that? Didn’t think so. Additionally, while talking about freedom of information and the “great firewall of China,” Obama slipped one of the more honest quotes I’ve heard from him:

“There are times I wish information didn’t flow so freely so I wouldn’t have to listen to people criticize me.”

It’s remarkable that the president would say such a thing. To have such thin skin as to wish that information was unavailable so that his political opponents would have nothing bad to say about him? Ridiculous and juvenile. He’s already taken plenty of swings at Fox News in particular, so it’s hardly surprising, but it is a little disheartening to hear him come right out and say something like this.

I don’t know what will surprise me about this president anymore. At first I thought he would be incompetent, having no experience and all the naivete of a young politician fresh on the national stage. After it became clear that he had an agenda above and beyond what he’d revealed, I was worried he’d cause some grief, but couldn’t imagine that the sort of thing he’s managed to achieve could possibly happen – not here, not now. And now we stand on the brink of a complete government takeover of health care, under the watch of a man who’d rather daydream about silencing those who criticize him than think about the consequences of what he’s doing.

So for those who’ve asked me in the last couple weeks why I’ve focused a bit less than usual on politics, it’s largely due to the fact that I’ve been getting increasingly depressed about the state we’re in every time I look at what’s going on in the political realm.

So that’s that, tomorrow we’ll avoid politics. Goodnight, all.

Slightly less outrage now.

So apparently Obama either changed his mind, or Fox screwed up the original reporting. Either way, it looks like The One has decided to give the Pentagon an eight percent increase rather than decrease. If it was Fox’s mistake then they should apologize and one-up all the B.S. antics pulled by CNN, NBC, CBS and the rest for the last eight years by actually issuing a deserved apology.

If this manages to get through Congress, it will be a rare piece of good news.