Obama Speaks with Forked Tongue

So Obama has new ideas. What are they one might ask? To be sure, like any good politician, he offers something for everyone: the teachers’ union, veterans, “working families”, college students, taxpayers, small businesses, alternative energy development, the war in Afghanistan, poverty and health care. He claims he has already identified the sources of funds to pay for all of this but in the next breath says he will (future tense) go through the budget line by line and eliminate those programs that don’t work and close loopholes. This suggests that he hasn’t actually figured out how to pay for all of this.
He said he would reduce taxes for 95% of “working families”. Has that term ever been defined? Who does it include? Who does it exclude? Do you have to have blue collar to head up a working family? How about retirees on a fixed income? Do they get a tax break? How about those with 401ks? Will he impose new taxes on the dividends and capital gains earned by the underlying mutual funds of 401ks and other pension funds? His words may sound good to the uninformed but not to someone who is tax-savvy or who is dependent on those funds.
He says drilling for more oil can only be a stop-gap measure yet if we exploit all natural gas and oil deposits available in the United States and offshore, there would be enough to last us for the rest of this century, especially if we stabilize our population. Of course, we must push ahead with the development of alternative energy sources of all kinds with great urgency. Everyone knows that. Obama is preaching to the choir on that issue. His reluctance to wholeheartedly endorse the development of all of our oil and gas resources, even as a stopgap, should be troubling to every American who understands how energy dependent our society and economy is.
Now to Afghanistan. It is here that Obama demonstrates his ignorance of the war on terror. He made fun of McCain’s remark that he would follow Bin Laden to his cave. Obama has no appreciation of the fact that that is exactly what we have been trying to do while we concurrently deal with a resurgent Taliban. Obama has no new ideas in that area except to close down the war in Iraq “responsibly” (this is a new term for him, earlier he wanted us to withdraw without that condition) and place those troops in harm’s way a short distance away in Afghanistan. He doesn’t know or doesn’t comprehend that the Brits and the Russians came a cropper in that backward country and its history would indicate that no country can overcome the horrible conditions that exist there for the fighting man without unspeakable casualties. Obama has not plan for finding Bin Laden or bringing that conflict to a close “responsibly”