I’ve been saying since the day Barack Obama was elected that I want him to succeed.  I’ve also spent a fair amount of time questioning some of the rationale behind his decisionmaking to the point of being dissatisfied with his performance.  I’ve made it clear that I have no intention of doing what the Republicans did with GW Bush and Dick Cheney which was giving them a kind of “blind loyalty,” rubber stamping virtually anything they wanted.  That all being said, I have to say that as the so-called “underpants” terrorist plot is becoming clearer and clearer I am SO THANKFUL that President Barack Obama is “at the helm” instead of what we had prior to him – because I FEEL SO MUCH MORE SAFER with Obama than I ever did with Bush/Cheney.

As the folly of the intelligence community becomes more apparent what we’re seeing is almost a duplicate “replay” of 9/11.  And, while Dick Cheney and other Republicans go around the country claiming Obama is not keeping us safe and “it’s his fault,” I would remind you that the “bickering” that evidently goes on between the different branches of the intelligence community was going on at the time of 9/11.  That is to say, the people who flew the planes into the Twin Towers were in this country for almost a year and the NSA knew it, they knew their phone numbers, and the only reason they weren’t tracked more closely is due to the lack of cooperation between the NSA, the CIA, the TSA, the FBI, and I’m sure other agencies that can be described by some combination of capital letters from our alphabet!  So, since Obama’s only been in office for something approaching one year, we can surmise that the Bush/Cheney “team” spent 7+ years after 9/11 failing to address the fundamental problem that made us unsafe in the first place.  Of course, all the while they were NOT KEEPING US SAFE (and there were several other ways they weren’t keeping us safe besides not addressing the miscommunication among intelligence agencies), they were traveling around this great country claiming JUST THE OPPOSITE of what was true.  THESE REPUBLICANS ARE UNBELIEVABLE! (literally AND figuratively)

Here’s the real problem I’m having with all of this.  WE STILL HAVE DICK CHENEY GOING AROUND SHOOTING OFF HIS MOUTH.  And, if ever there was a man who fit the saying “if his lips are moving, HE’S LYING” it’s Dick Cheney (well, OK – I “get it” – you could put Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin [woman], Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, John Boehner, Michael Steele and “fill in the blank” with your favorite Republican – in the same lying spot).  Dick Cheney claiming that President Obama is “weak”on fighting terrorism – with the ensuing inference that Cheney was “strong” – makes about as much sense as Tiger Woods claiming the reason he’s taking time away from golf is to “spend more time with his family.”  When are Obama and/or the Democrats going to SHUT DICK CHENEY UP?  The man was totally out of hand while in office – HE’S WAY BEYOND THAT NOW!

If you’re wondering how even the Republicans can put up with Cheney (I know, Rush Limbaugh loves him, but I would say Limbaugh falls into pretty much the same category – they come from the same school of propoganda) read the book “Angler” which documents how Cheney, while supposedly “vetting” potential VP candidates for GW, collected massive amounts of sensitive material on dozens of unsuspecting Republicans (telling them all they were on the “short list” of candidates – pretty cute, huh?) prior to naming himself VP  – then “OUTED”  one of the potential candidates – making sure all the other candidates were fully aware of what he did so they could anticipate the same thing happening to them should they “cross” him – therefore, gaining their “LOYALTY.” (Cheney is famous for “outing” people)  Of course, “LOYALTY” is a big thing to Republicans these days.  They even want anyone who is running for official Republican office to sign a loyalty oath to the basic tenets of their party – stray on even one principal and “you’re out.”  Remind you of anything?  I’m going to assume if you’re reading this blog you have a level of intelligence.  I’ll just say that it’s ironic the people who are claiming our sitting President to be a fascist would be the ones who would adopt such an ACTUAL fascist approach to “party politics!”

Everyone knows that Bush/Cheney totally SCREWED UP Iraq and Afganistan, created “black hole” rendition camps, openly endorsed TORTURE, outed a CIA agent, blundered Hurricane Katrina into an “all time” disaster, illegally wiretapped our citizens (to “keep us safer”), destroyed the Justice Department AND THE ECONOMY, and I could go on AND ON – but, can you ever imagine either one of them doing what Barack Obama did the other night?  I actually heard an American President say that our intelligence community SCREWED UP and it is HIS (OBAMA’S) RESPONSIBILITY to make sure the problems get fixed – AND FAST!   He said the screw-up was “intolerable” – instead of “great job Janny!” (Janet Napolitano – for those of you with your head in the sand).  Bush and Cheney would have been busy doing, in office, what Cheney’s doing out of office – FINDING SOMEONE TO BLAME – but themselves!  There’s a lot I’m disappointed about with President Obama, but it was REALLY REFRESHING to hear him take the responsibility to get this problem of miscommunication FIXED!  And, contrary to the Republicans, I believe he’ll do it – assuming he doesn’t have to find a way to get the Senate to go along with him – I’m sure the Republicans would filibuster any move whether it would prevent future terrorist plots, or not.  (In fact, I’ve always felt, from their rhetoric, the Republicans are secretly wishing for a terrorist plot to work – to make themselves feel better.)

One more thing.  Here’s the typical way the Republicans work.  Didn’t you just know they would have some kind of financial motivation for this attack to work?  Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary under Bush/Cheney, is a consultant for a company which builds x-ray machines which can do FULL BODY SCANS at airports.  These machines cost ONLY about a couple HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS apiece, and you’d need many thousands of them to cover every entrance at airports nationwide and internationally coming into the US – therefore you’re looking at a MULTI-BILLION dollar contract (potentially) for a guy like Chertoff if he can CON the government into thinking it’s important to view the private parts of every person who’s going to “fly the friendly skies!”  (and, of course, guess who’s out there pushing for the machines on every talk show he can manage to get booked into? – without disclosing his financial interest)  Aside from the FACT that x-rays CAUSE CANCER (think of the person who’s a “frequent flyer”), can you imagine all the people hooked on soft porn who would be scrambling for jobs at airports around the world?  Of course, when you get to the point where every man’s claims about his “package” will be verified everytime he boards a plane, the terrorists will be cramming the explosive devices YOU KNOW WHERE!!!  What a mess that’s going to make when one actually goes off!  All this, and you could avoid it by simply having the people at the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, the TSA, the Homeland Security Department, the State Department, and anyone else involved simply SHARE THE INFORMATION they get as if they are ALL ON THE SAME TEAM!  They could even NETWORK their computers – just like I do with mine at home.  I’m no geek, it’s really not that hard!

 I’ll sum up my thoughts by emphasizing AGAIN, how much I want our President to succeed – despite my misgivings about his first year in office.  This “underpants” episode has given us a FIRST HAND LOOK at the difference between a man who struggles to put a complete sentence together, and one who thoughtfully and intellectually looks at problems and then takes a relatively honest and responsible approach to fixing them.  WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY PROBLEMS (and, remember, virtually the ENTIRE MESS was the result of eight years of Bush/Cheney) it’s reassuring to have someone who thinks before acting at the “helm.”  I can’t conclude without reiterating that my main complaint with President Obama is that he’s too much of a “Washington politician” instead of the “statesman” I was hoping for and anticipating – and changing just one part of his “policy” would rid us of a lot of this problem – DICK CHENEY!  Had Obama followed my advice right from the start and allowed the investigations and, where warranted, prosecutions of the Bush/Cheney administration, you wouldn’t have Cheney running around making the most ridiculous statements EVER by a former Vice President.  I’ve been watching the American political scene for almost 50 years and have NEVER seen a former President or Vice President accuse his/her successor as being “weak” militarily while the country was in the middle of a conflict – it’s especially UNNERVING when you consider that the creator of the conflict is the one SPOUTING OFF HIS MOUTH!  I still don’t believe it’s too late for President Obama to do the right thing – AND TAKE A GOOD LOOK BACKWARD!  I’ve come to realize that the reason he won’t do this is because he is unwilling to give up the “powers” that Bush/Cheney USURPED!   That is the policy of Obama that makes me the most nervous about where he’s coming from.  I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, “The best way to shut Dick Cheney up is to get him talking to a Grand Jury or a Judge about authorizing torture, outing CIA agents, and lying the US into war!”