Awkward Year-End Note

2010 is apparently the Year of the Tiger. There's too many jokes I could make here, so I will leave it to my army of three readers.

What A Decade

Over at Ace of Spades, Gabriel Malor lists the ten most jaw-dropping TV moments of the decade that didn't involve death. I'm stunned to note that none of them involve reality TV. Perhaps there is hope for the republic.

They're Not Depends, That's For Sure

Scott Ott knows funny...

In the wake of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253, President Obama, in a news conference from the Pacific White House in Hawaii, on Monday cautioned Americans to avoid "lashing out against folks in puffy underpants."

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, faces charges of attempting to destroy an airliner by detonating a high explosive sewn into what the FBI described as "boxers or briefs ... but clearly not adult incontinence undergarments."

"Our future as a nation depends on how we react to this incident," the president said. "If we start profiling people based on the mere appearance of their slacks, a lot of incontinent adults as well as infants and toddlers will be swept up in the discriminatory backlash. Civil rights and social justice must take precedence over our parochial concerns about fire, explosions, crashes and the potential of physical harm resulting from such events."

...Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new security measures for airports, including a requirement that passengers "dispense with belts, allowing their trousers to sag in a manner that would reveal any potential undergarment threat."

What's scary is that the security measures in this article might be as effective as the ones TSA is now implementing.

Looking for Just One More

The power of 41. Byron York has a good point. Maybe that's why the GOP should make a push in Massachusetts to steal Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, because having the filibuster in operation through next January might prevent any more debacles. Besides, we're big fans of the idea of Democrats being infuriated when Massachusetts rises up to prevent the passage of Obamacare, if the conference bill doesn't emerge before a new Senator is elected and seated.

What Annoying Song is Stuck in My Head Today?

If I need to suffer with a song stuck in my head, why shouldn't you have to do the same? Sometimes they're good, most times they're bad... but no matter what, they make you suffer. So I like to share the suffering whenever it happens.

This is in contention for most annoying song of all time, mostly because I'm convinced it will stay in my head for a week each time I hear it. Of course, thank God for Parker and Stone for giving me Cartman's version, which makes it liveable -- in fact, if someone can cue up Cartman singing over the Lady Gaga video, I might start liking the song. But this is the best we could do.



You're welcome.

'Nuff Said

Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words. Good job by Michael Ramirez.

The Wright Stuff

Jay Wright is Philly's Sportsperson of the Year. I'm surprised that it didn't go to a Phillie, but they appear to have split the votes, and Jay is a worthy winner. For Villanova alums, we take pride in knowing that the program is a winner, but take greater pride in knowing that it does the other things (like graduating players and being role models) even better. Wright is responsible for all of that, and therefore deserving.

Well-Said

The Lord of Truth points me to this article by Shelby Steele, where he examines the President from a perspective that helps crystallize a lot of what I've been thinking. I found this part very illuminating...

I think that Mr. Obama is not just inexperienced; he is also hampered by a distinct inner emptiness—not an emptiness that comes from stupidity or a lack of ability but an emptiness that has been actually nurtured and developed as an adaptation to the political world.

The nature of this emptiness becomes clear in the contrast between him and Ronald Reagan. Reagan reached the White House through a great deal of what is called "individuating"—that is he took principled positions throughout his long career that jeopardized his popularity, and in so doing he came to know who he was as a man and what he truly believed.

He became Ronald Reagan through dissent, not conformity. And when he was finally elected president, it was because America at last wanted the vision that he had evolved over a lifetime of challenging conventional wisdom. By the time Reagan became president, he had fought his way to a remarkable certainty about who he was, what he believed, and where he wanted to lead the nation.

Mr. Obama's ascendancy to the presidency could not have been more different. There seems to have been very little individuation, no real argument with conventional wisdom, and no willingness to jeopardize popularity for principle. To the contrary, he has come forward in American politics by emptying himself of strong convictions, by rejecting principled stands as "ideological," and by promising to deliver us from the "tired" culture-war debates of the past. He aspires to be "post-ideological," "post-racial" and "post-partisan," which is to say that he defines himself by a series of "nots"—thus implying that being nothing is better than being something. He tries to make a politics out of emptiness itself.

Read the whole thing -- there's a ton of good insight here, most notably in the analogy to the parable of The Emporer's New Clothes. I've always believed that a lot of what people thought about Obama during the election campaign involved the projection of their fondest hopes -- this happens with any politican, but it became something of a cultlike obsession with Obama. People wanted him to be something greater than a man, which is a real danger for any person -- because it's not something any one person can achieve. During and after the campaign, Obama was already being exalted as a liberal Reagan, a wise Lincoln-like statesman, and an FDR-like leader -- all rolled into one. Keep in mind, those are three of the most effective American Presidents ever -- and people were compaing Obama to them before he took office. That's a lot of expectations, and a lot of different coats to wear.

Steele hits upon a key point that fits not only Reagan, but Lincoln and Roosevelt -- these were men who had come to certain viewpoints about the world, and arrived at the Presidency at a time when those viewpoints were or soon became the viewpoints of a majority of their countrymen. They had to cajole and convince others of the wisdom and merits of their views, but were able to do so because people were predisposed to those viewpoints, and largely knew that their leaders held them. That's not true of Obama -- many people honestly thought him to be a moderate rather than a liberal, and he's failed to convince them of the underlying merit of his suggested policies.

Steele's general point is a different one, however, and worth noting. This President seems to lack the ability to inspire people to follow him for any reason other than empty slogans and a wish for something better -- there's no clear principles out there that might inspire people, just the man himself. And if the man himself is empty of everything save what we project onto him, we're bound to be sorely disappointed.

The Terrorists Are Still Trying to Kill Us

So we take a few days off, and some idiot with low self esteem and an apparent inability to handle explosives sets fire to his crotch while trying to blow up an airliner landing in Detroit on Christmas Day. Of course, this means less convenience when flying for the rest of us, which I would happily exchange if I knew it would make us safer. Bottom line, I tend to agree with Bruce Schneier, who notes that the only real safety improvements since 9/11 are more alert passengers and reinforced cockpit doors (I can't recall if more armed marshals are flying, or if pilots are now permitted to be armed; if either is true, I'd add those to the list).

But the problem isn't the lack of convenience, or this terrorist in particular, or other guys trying the same technique. It's the fact that we came very close to having a massive tragedy in Detroit on Christmas Day, and we're not sure that we have a security protocol that will prevent the tragedy from occurring. What saved us this time was a brave passenger jumping in and the incompetence of the "alleged" terrorist, not some brilliant detective work.

Ann Althouse rips Janet Napolitano appropriately, and it's pretty clear that she's going to be clinging to her job in the New Year. That's entirely correct, because you cannot go on television and claim the system worked when it most emphatically did not; between the CIA's failure to circulate a report about the suspect in question and the fact that the guy's visa renewal was denied, we're looking at a systemic failure of a massive proportion. Hell, even Maureen Dowd has it right here (I can't believe I just wrote that)...

We seemed to still be behind the curve and reactive, patting down grannies and 5-year-olds, confiscating snow globes and lip glosses.

Instead of modernity, we have airports where security is so retro that taking away pillows and blankies and bathroom breaks counts as a great leap forward.

If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?

We are headed toward the moment when screeners will watch watch-listers sashay through while we have to come to the airport in hospital gowns, flapping open in the back.

I don't know about that, although I recall that my initial idea after 9/11 was to have travelers arrive at the airport and strip down to fly naked. Video conferencing would become much more popular, and it would cut down on global warming emissions, don't you think? Megan McArdle is thinking the same way.

The politics of all this are theater to the underlying issue. Napolitano should probably be gone, and Obama's overly cool public statements are probably not what public wants. But the bigger problem may be the mindset of the administration -- it's PR effort/response time can be improved, but the underlying viewpoint informing it may not change...

The attempted bombing occurred at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Christmas. When finally Obama spoke after the weekend, he vowed to hunt down "all who were involved" and promised, as has become standard, to "use every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us."

Nothing less is required, and there can be no arguing with the stated mission.

Even so, Obama's description of Abdulmutallab as an "isolated extremist" was remarkable and disturbing. This radicalized young Nigerian is nothing of the sort. He operated, in fact, as an Al Qaeda-recruited, Al Qaeda-supplied, Al Qaeda-directed foot soldier - as, to put it directly, an enemy combatant, and not as the criminal "suspect" of Obama's description.

In similarly distant fashion, the President ordered up a "review" of how Abdulmutallab smuggled explosives onto the jet and a "review" of how he slipped through the government's various terror watch lists despite signals of clear and present danger.

Missing then was a statement about those obvious and unacceptable security cracks; the name, rank and serial number of the officials who would conduct the inquiries, and a deadline for completion and a report to the public. Tuesday, Obama filled in those rather basic blanks.

The systemic failure is a huge problem, and can only be solved by a leader who's engaged in the problem and considers it a priority, and also only by a leader who still has the trust and confidence of the public. Jim Geraghty is right on the final point...

In 2008, President Obama was elected with high hopes and very high expectations. He can say that no one, including himself, ever said any of his agenda would be easy, but he obviously didn't mind that so many voters saw him as a larger-than-life, miraculous "Obamessiah" character. This year has been a long series of disappointments as, by many indicators, America's circumstances have gotten worse. The unemployment rate has risen all year, the foreclosure wave has continued, the deficit has exploded, health care has proven much harder to deliver than expected, the cabinet was full of scandals, pork and earmarks continue with no hesitation, the stimulus web site is full of false data, cap-and-trade is dead, the Gitmo promise is broken . . . The right-track/wrong-track numbers are still pretty bad. Obama's job approval numbers are underwater, 50-50, or barely above. The public is losing faith in this guy on a lot of fronts.

A large chunk of the public grew weary of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, sometime in 2005; after Katrina and Harriet Miers, the public stopped listening to him and wrote him off as a failure. But the one thing they gave him credit for was preventing any further attacks on the homeland after 9/11. Perhaps if there is a successful attack, the public will not turn on Obama. But if two planes fall out of the sky, the public will lose faith in this president fast. And while I didn't vote for him, I don't want him to be seen as a useless joke with three years left in his term. I'm pounding the table over this because lives are at stake, and because I don't want to see a failed president running out the clock until January 20, 2013.

Take it seriously, Mr. President. Work the problem hard, at least as hard as you've worked on health care... and hopefully more effectively. Because it's probably the most important part of the job.

A Little Humor

Back from Christmas break, but needed to acknowledge some damn good parody from the always brilliant IowaHawk. I was laughing throughout this mockup of healthcare, which may remind you of a Christmas classic:

Scene 14: Christmas Eve, inside Bedford Falls Town Hall. Senator George Bailey confronts an angry mob of constituents protesting his vote on the new health care bill.

MAN #1
Come on Bailey, you can't hide forever! Let us in!

WOMAN #1
Yeah, what is this mandatory insurance nonsense? Stop cowering behind that podium George! We want answers!

crowd erupts into shouting

GEORGE BAILEY
Now now now, everybody calm down, see? If you'll, well, see, just let me explain...

MAN #2
You should've explained these death panels before we elected you! Let's get 'em!

WOMAN #2 (shaking pitchfork)
Yeah!

MAN #3
Hey, pipe down youse mugs, let the man talk. It'll be 15 minutes before the tar is hot enough to pour. Out with it Bailey!

GEORGE BAILEY
Well well, thank you for that Pete. Now folks, see, you just gotta understand how Washington works. Remember how you, you sent me there to bring back free things to Bedford Falls, like free heath care and jobs and that new George S. Bailey retractable midnight basketball court for the high school gym?

MAN #4
Hey Bailey, do know how many kids drowned at the prom last year from that stupid thing?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, now now now, Clem, sure a few kids drowned. But look at all the jobs it created down at the Potter Retractable Basketball Floor factory. And that's my point. Now, see, down in Washington there's a whole Senate full of regular guys like you and you, and me, and we represent thousands of places just like Bedford Falls. And all of those places want their own jobs and healthcare and retractable basketball courts. And it turns out all of this costs money, so we have to get, well, revenues...

WOMAN #3
You mean taxes?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, yeah, Helen, if that's how you want to put it. See, we put all those revenues in a, a, a, big pile there in Washington, and then we start making deals and such, to make sure we can all bring some home. Sometimes we run out, and have to make up for it with other fees...

MAN #2
You mean taxes? Why don't you get it from Old Man Potter?

WOMAN #2
Yeah! Get it from Potter!

GEORGE BAILEY
Now, now, I hate old man Potter just as much as the rest of you. Maybe more. He lives in that cold old mansion up there on Beacon Hill, while you're getting laid off and trying to make ends meet. It just isn't right, and that's why I organized the big ACORN march against him last year. But I'm telling you, even if we confiscated every penny he has, we couldn't pay for your free universal health care. That's why we have to charge you for some of it, and make sure you don't use too much. But don't worry, I sent my top trade representative Uncle Billy over to China to get a payday loan for the rest.

WOMAN #5
But won't we have to pay them back?

GEORGE BAILEY
Well, Marge, yeah, technically, but only until you're all dead. After that it'll just be your kids.

Read the whole thing. I can't wait for the New Year and all our health care goodies, can you?