by Art Lindsey III

According to the Politico’s Ben Smith, who is relaying information from Public Policy Polling, it would appear, as per their study, that 44 percent of Americans would prefer having George W. Bush as president for a third term than to have Barack Obama in office.

This is definitely an interesting conversation piece, assuming that the poll is indeed accurate. Ben Smith does not cite any source data for the poll, That will certainly raise the eyebrows of skeptics, but at the same time, President Obama’s approval rating is in fact hovering around 46 percent, so for the sake of argument, let’s examine this based on face value.

In the short time President Obama has been in office, in a matter of speaking, he himself has labeled his term in office as the “Not My Fault” presidency. He has continually discusses situations he has “inherited”, and seems to have no problems pointing fingers, particularly when it comes to matters of spending.

Obama often cites President Bush’s extravagant spending, in turn blaming it for the county’s financial straits; however, he seems to lack the basic math skills to realize that he himself has taken the Bush deficit and more than doubled down on it within his first year in office. Engaged Americans are smarter than this, and they see right through it.

Whether you like him or not, George W. Bush took ownership of his presidency. While he was often quieter than a lot of his supporters had wished, he had no problem stepping up when the chips were down. Remember when Bush took flak for his grammatically incorrect “I’m the decider” comment when he offered his support to then-secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld? The media had a heyday with that, as it always did, continuing to its never-ending quest to prove that W. was an idiot.

However, poor grammar notwithstanding, people seemed to miss the point. George W. Bush, while he is a man with many faults, had the spine to stand up and say “This is mine. This is all on me.” The only times Obama seems to use the word “ I” is when he is he is so quick to remind us that “I won” or “I inherited this”, in an effort to quickly assert that whatever has befallen the country on a given day certainly wasn’t his fault. President Obama operates in a never-ending “CYA” mode, which makes him more akin to TV’s “Steve Urkel”, who often said, “Did I do that?”

So when you look at it, this poll may have something to it. In all honesty, George W. Bush was far from a conservative president. But at the same time, he took responsibility for his office and the path of his nation, even when his decisions were unpopular. While some of his policies were indeed deeply flawed, Bush carried himself as a leader, and with dignity.

Could it be that President Obama’s ego is finally beginning to wear on the American public? One wonders how long America will tolerate a man who demands to be adored, yet can’t deliver, and then refuses to take responsibility for his ineffectiveness.

by Art Lindsey III

Just when you think it’s safe to read the news, people are already talking about the 2012 presidential campaign. Not that this is really news in itself, because as we all know, the 2008 campaign seemed to start about 16 years too early, and by the time we got to the ballot boxes, it’s safe to assume that a lot of us felt like we had just gone the distance with Rocky Balboa.

Now, of course we all know about Mitt, Huck, Pawlenty, and possibly Newt. That crew comes with the territory. However, it seems that some people may have really lost their minds. How, you might ask?

Well, from the looks of things, it would appear that former Vice President Dick Cheney has been christened as the GOP’s last great hope, or some such thing. Sure. Why doesn’t somebody stop the world so the sane people can get off now, Okay?

It started off as nothing more than a flippant “Cheney 2012” comment made by his daughter Liz on Fox News a few weeks ago, and for some reason there was another outbreak of speculation over the weekend.

While one must concede that anything is possible, (look who’s in charge now) an honest broker must admit that such a scenario is highly unlikely.

It’s not that Cheney doesn’t have the “street cred” with conservative voters. He does. He has decades of service under his belt, and during his tenure as Vice President, he was far more articulate and concise than his boss ever was, and who can forget the even-tempered lashing he gave to Senator John Edwards in the 2004 Vice Presidential Debate? If you combine all of these things with his current spate of TV appearances where he has been substantively critical of the Obama Administration, Cheney would indeed make a fine GOP candidate in 2012.

However, there is just one tiny little problem with all of this:

Dick Cheney has made it quite clear that he has no aspirations for further office.

While it is certainly true that politicians often change their minds, and are known to lie like rugs on occasion, a presidential run for Dick Cheney in 2012 is hard to imagine.

In all honesty, why would he want to? The media has painted such a horrible picture of the man, how could he possibly get elected? We all know how disconnected a large portion of the electorate is. How could he possibly overcome the mountain of bad press that has been piled onto him over the years? He really can’t, regardless of his qualifications. Nothing short of a national educational miracle could undo the perception of Dick Cheney. It’s a pretty safe bet that a 68 year old man who has survived four heart attacks knows that, too. He doesn’t need the aggravation.

All of this speculation is obviously well intended, but it’s really nothing more than a waste of time. Again, Vice President Cheney would be a solid candidate on his merits, but the press has made him un-electable. More than that, if he really was the GOP’s and conservatism’s only hope, why didn’t a “Draft Cheney” movement begin before now? This is too little, too late.

Oh, the perils of a of a crappy news week.

We now return you to the Tiger Woods Channel.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama stated that he will not make a decision on Afghan troop levels until after the Thanksgiving holiday. This development came at the end of President Obama’s eight-day Asia tour, where he took time to stop at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. While there, he remarked to 1,500 troops, “You guys make a pretty good photo op.”

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That says a lot, doesn’t it? Upon examination, photo-ops certainly seem to be President Obama’s main concern. If you will recall, just a few weeks ago, Obama visited Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as some of our fallen servicemen were brought home to rest. For reasons unbeknownst to many, the president thought it would be appropriate to allow cameras at the event. Most families were made uneasy by this, and in fact, only one family allowed cameras to follow their proceedings.

Because of that, his visit came off as self-serving, especially when contrasted with former President George W. Bush’s visit to Fort Hood, where he insisted that no press be permitted.

The underlying point of all this, is that President Obama only seems interested in our armed servicemen and women when he can use them as a prop to get his picture taken or to get himself on television.

It has been weeks since General Stanley McChrystal requested an additional 40,000 troops for the effort in Afghanistan, and in the process making it emphatically clear that this was indeed necessary, claiming that the effort was not sustainable with current resources. On top of that, General McChrystal was only able to secure a 25-minute meeting to make the request in the first place.

Something is desperately wrong here.

Does anybody remember the campaign, where Obama insisted that Afghanistan was a top priority? The war we should be most focused on, if you will? What happened to that?

The answer to that is simple. It was nothing more than a campaign promise. It has become quite clear that our Commander-in-Chief clearly has no interest in our effort there, and by extension, it shows exactly what he actually thinks of our troops, which is, not much.

You have to pay attention to what Obama is saying here, and the words that he uses. He is saying he will not make a decision until after Thanksgiving. He’s not saying he won’t commit more troops until after then. This is nothing short of him saying “Yeah, I’m going to continue to put this off until at least after turkey is served.”

Brave sons and daughters dying over there on a daily basis, and our president is content to dither and play games with American lives and American security. This is clearly a tactic he is using in an effort to placate his left wing base, military advisors and cost to America be damned.

This man has already made his decision, and deep down we all know what it is. He may finally be forced at some point to send additional resources at some point, but he clearly has no real interest in doing so.

The only future Barack Obama is interested in is his own.

My account of yesterday’s pathetic anti-Bush protest in downtown Toronto. They have lost their fighting spirit, now that their arch-nemesis is a civilian just like you and I.

I don’t know who the Marxists, Socialists, Khadr’s, Stop the War etc have left to live for, now that they have no one to hate.

George. I finally stood in the same room with George.

Our wake-up call at the hotel this morning was at 3:30. Horrible. As far as I’m concerned, that’s still the dead of night. A race to get ready, and then into a cab that was still charging the nighttime surcharge to get to the Omni in time to see the President. We were told to arrive there for about 5am to go through Secret Service. When we arrived there was already a line throughout the lobby of the Omni. Apparently, some people started lining up around 3. There was a moment or two that we worried we wouldn’t even get in. Our new friends (met in the Steyn line yesterday) Gina and Jaycee of Clarion University in Pennsylvania and their crew were already there, and downright cranky. It seems that when they arrived there were no organizers on site to direct people traffic. A line had formed itself, which as it turned out was not in the right place, and everyone who had been in it ended up getting displaced to the back of the correct line. Jaycee especially was livid:

“All these years everyone has hated Bush, but now when we want to see him, everyone loves him?”

Hundreds of people didn’t make it into the ballroom for the 7:15 start. Thankfully, we did.

The anticipation was palpable. I couldn’t help but make the comparison to back in the days when I used to camp out for concert tickets!

When Senator McConnell introduced the president, the crowd erupted.

He thanked us for coming out so early (the speech had originally be scheduled for 10:20, but he had to fly out to TN to survey the tornado damage), cracked a few jokes about becoming “father of the bride” to Jenna as she prepares to marry, and then went on to praise his vice president, calling him the “best Vice President in history”.

The theme of the whole speech seemed to be how history would view the Bush administration. And how at this time, decisions made that many people criticized are already proving to have been right. Stem cells. Court appointments. Afghanistan. The Surge….

You know, since I’ve come to Washington, I’ve been reading a lot of history. Laura notes it’s probably because I’m making up for lost time. (Laughter.) Over the past few years I’ve read three books on George Washington — or as I call him, the “original George W.” (Laughter and applause.)

It is interesting to me that they are still analyzing the record of our first President. My attitude is if they’re still analyzing Number 1, 43 doesn’t need to worry about it.

President George W. Bush warned U.S. lawmakers Wednesday they risk causing “great harm” to America’s relationship with Turkey if Congress passes a resolution declaring the 1915 slaughter of Armenians “genocide.”

George, nobody’s going to buy into your idea that the war is for our domestic protection if you continue to insist on sucking the collective dick of Islam. A million and a half people were killed in the Armenian Genocide - double the amount murdered in Rwanda. It was a genocide. And you’re doing no one - except the terrorists - any favors when you take away from that.

How long before you start agreeing with Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust never happened, all for the sake of some ridiculous Islamic appeasement strategy?

Tammy’s With Fred! My pal Tammy was lucky enough to see Fred Thompson speak in Florida today.

And in other presidential news, Beth got to tour the White House while her husband John was hanging with the Prez.