RUTHFULLY YOURS

The “Wizard of Oz” is the best available single-source explanation of American politics. Specialists, to be sure, will want to read the Federalist papers, de Tocqueville and the speeches of Lincoln, but the 1939 MGM movie gives you the essentials. We are a nation of scarecrows without a brain, tin men without a heart, and lions without courage. Nothing is going to cure us, but the next best thing is to feel better about ourselves. The Wizard, a broken-down carnival huckster impersonating the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz gives our three national archetypes not what they need, but the next best thing: A phony diploma, a testimonial, and a medal. The party favors don’t help the feckless trio (the Scarecrow proceeds to recite a comically mistaken formula for the length of the sides of an isosceles triangle) but they did wonders for their self-esteem.

America is a winner’s game. America succeeds because it breeds success and ruthlessly crushes failure. A main purpose of American politics, in turn, is to make losers feel better, without, of course, preventing them from losing. No president in American history more closely resembles the Wizard than Ob the Great and Powerful, the present occupant of the Oval Office. Self-esteem is America’s consolation prize and Obama spreads it with a shovel.

MIKE FLYNN: CNN POLL: VOTERS’ IDEAL 2016 CANDIDATE AN ANTI-OBAMA

A new CNN poll, asking Americans about their “perfect” candidate in 2016, is a bitter prelude to Obama’s presidential legacy. By strong majorities, Americans want a political leader with lots of experience who will reverse Obama’s policies.

Barack Obama first registered on the national political scene a scant four years before he was elected President. His entry into the national political arena was precipitated by a speech to the Democrat National Convention in 2004, when he was a state Senator and candidate for the US Senate. Rather than an event or singular accomplishment, his political fortunes were forged in words.

According to the CNN poll, 59% of Americans would prefer Obama’s successor to be a seasoned political leader who has been on the national scene, and in the public eye, for many years rather than a newcomer. An equally strong majority would prefer the next President to have executive experience, either in government or business, rather than a legislator.

Senator Dan Sullivan defeated Democrat incumbent Mark Begich in 2014. He was Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources where he promoted energy security and opposition to federal government overreach….rsk

All Americans should worry about the president’s recent illegal land grab.
President Obama’s plan to designate 12 million acres as wilderness in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge did not fool Alaskans. The announcement in January revealed his goal of starving the trans-Alaska pipeline by stranding tens of billions of barrels of American oil permanently under the Arctic tundra, and turning the state into a giant national park.

Given the huge importance the oil industry plays in employing Alaskans and funding state services, the president’s plan will wreak havoc on the state and especially its middle class. Gov. Bill Walker and nearly every member of the state legislature are united with the majority of Alaskans and Alaska Native leaders in opposition.

What “transforming America” really means.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/frontpagemag-com/obamas-true-intentions-on-the-glazov-gang/

After him are men even less likely to comply with a nuclear deal.

Negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 powers led by the U.S. are racing against a March 31 deadline to conclude a nuclear deal in Lausanne, Switzerland. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Saturday that negotiators had made “genuine progress” but that “important gaps remain.”

Yet what happens if the Iranian leadership that the U.S. and others are dealing with now is not in place to implement any agreement? Two recent developments suggest that the Islamic Republic may be heading toward one of its cyclical spasms of intense factional competition. The outcome could derail any deal, or leave the West committed to an agreement that is even less verifiable or useful than it might be today. There is scant evidence that the Obama administration is taking this into account.

Another week, another victory for disorder in the Middle East. This time the meltdown is in Yemen, where this weekend the U.S. withdrew the remaining U.S. special forces from a base where they were waging a drone war against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The withdrawal comes amid growing chaos in the country after Houthi militants deposed the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the capital, San’a, for Aden last month. The Houthis belong to the Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam and are receiving help from Iran. They are at war with Sunni jihadists, who struck back in bombings on Friday that killed 152 people in San’a and Saada province. An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility.

The New Fascism is being spawned on campus. Here recently at UCLA, the Inquisition Redux.

NB: Obama is now a runaway train. He is obviously losing control of himself and he will only pick up steam until Congress stops him. America is already paying dearly for the mistakes we made in 2008 and compounded in 2012, and it will only get worse until Obama (is scheduled to) leave office.

Dan Friedman
NYC

And:Daniel Mael, “Had a chance to talk with Scott Brown about campus anti-Semitism this AM and how the Obama Administration’s attitude toward Israel impacts the conversation.”

https://youtu.be/FnvojAm45a0

Nearly a week after election day in Israel, the country is still reeling from the results. In a rare case of uniformity, the political echelon, the pundits and the public are sharing the same sense of shock.

Surveys conducted over the past three months, since the government was disbanded and new elections were called, indicated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party was in deep trouble. Though he himself received relatively high marks as a statesman when compared with rivals, respondents to polls simultaneously expressed dissatisfaction with their lot, both economically and in terms of Israel’s standing internationally.

At 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, when the voting was concluded and the exit poll was released, the Left was devastated. Five minutes earlier, the assumption had been that the Zionist Union (the joint list formed by the merger of the Labor party, led by Isaac Herzog, and the Hatnuah party, headed by Tzipi Livni) was going to come out ahead; and the only question remaining had been by how much.

The Likud and its supporters had been hoping against hope for a tie or a single-seat loss — a situation that still would have enabled the Right to form the next government, even if the Zionist Union was given the first shot at doing so.

The worry all around was that the two major parties would be forced into forging a national unity government.

Juan Williams should check his facts before speaking on national media.

To say that Jewish people can’t live wherever they want to live, is the same as saying Black people need to ride the back of the bus.

To say that Jews must be restricted from building in certain neighborhoods is to say that you support Jim Crow racial separation.

To say that Jews must be confined to particular zones and may not be permitted to move freely is to reintroduce the Nuremberg Laws.

We are accustomed to racist slurs, but it was doubly hurtful to hear you, Juan Williams, a leading African American spokesman, a confidante of Barack Obama, jump in with that comment. How about a moratorium on backstabbing from you and from our supreme leader?

“So here we are again, getting more of the same from our #hashtag/travel log ambassador Michelle Obama. It’s spring 2015, and both she and her husband are still focusing on trivial things. They continue to use shallow slogans to advance superficial ideas that accomplish absolutely nothing, spend our hard-earned money on personal indulgences, and assume the American people don’t recognize flagrant hypocrisy when we see it.”

It’s official! Mrs. Obama has gone #hashtag crazy. Remember when she pleaded with Boko Haram to release the 276 kidnapped girls using the hashtag “#Bringbackourgirls?” Well, that didn’t work! The girls were either sold into slavery, murdered, or married off to terrorists, and despite Michelle Obama’s solemn effort haven’t been seen or heard from since.

Moving right along, using the excuse that she’s promoting a #letgirlslearn education initiative, FLOTUS has taken a break from dancing the “Uptown Funk” with Ellen and sponsoring her #givemefive campaign.

Instead, as part of her usual spring fling, Mrs. Obama decided to take Asia by storm.