Tonight's debate and the NH Primary on Tuesday

CBS: What to watch in tonight's GOP debate   " Romney will be looking to land punches while also avoiding the sort of gaffe he made last time around, when his offer of a $10,000 betgenerated a torrent of negative headlines. Romney is a good debater but can seem uncomfortable when on the attack; if he can be convincingly aggressive against Gingrich, it will both diminish the frontrunner and help put to rest concerns among some Republicans that he won't take the fight to President Obama in a general election."
....
"The Fox News/Iowa Republican Party debate will take place from 9-11 p.m. Eastern Time. Check back to CBSNews.com during and after the event for our reports on the biggest moments of the night as well as our take on who had a good night - and who didn't."


Romney Headed for Blowout in New Hampshire  "The new polls from New Hampshire all show Mitt Romney headed for a big primary win next Tuesday."

Is it racist to require a photo ID to buy drain cleaner?

THE CITY SQUARE  "CBS reports from Democrat-run Illinois:

CHICAGO (CBS) – A new state law requires those who buy drain cleaners and other caustic substances to provide photo identification and sign a log.

"Republican efforts to require photo ID for voting are labeled as a return to the racist "Jim Crow" era (examples are here, here, andhere) and provoke outrage.   However, don't minorities, the poor, and the elderly need to buy Drano too?  Where is the outrage?"


The Astute Blogger asks us to LET'S MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE THINGS YOU NEED PHOTO ID FOR  

1. TO BUY BEER.
2. TO BUY DRAINO.
3. TO BUY SUDAFED.
4. TO BUY CIGARETTES.
5. TO GET ON A PLANE.
6. TO GET INTO MOST LARGE OFFICE BUILDINGS IN NYC.

Michelle Obama and the Evolution of a First Lady

NY Times " Like many of the president’s supporters, Mrs. Obama was anxious about the gap between her vision of her husband’s presidency and the reality of what he could deliver. Her strains with the advisers were part of a continuing debate over what sort of president Mr. Obama should be, with Mrs. Obama reinforcing his instincts for ambitious but unpopular initiatives like the overhaul of health care and immigration laws, casting herself as a foil to aides more intent on preserving Congressional seats and poll numbers.

"“She does think there are worse things than losing an election,” Susan S. Sher, the first lady’s former chief of staff, said shortly after the 2010 midterm elections. “Being true to yourself, for her, is definitely more important.” Back then, Mrs. Obama sometimes talked about what would happen if her husband lost in 2012. “I know we’ll be fine,” she told Ms. Sher."

From Political Wire: Quote of the Day   "I'm not accepting it. Your punishment is that you have to stay here and get this bill done. I'm not letting you off the hook."

-- President Obama, quoted in Jodi Kantor's The Obamas, not accepting Rahm Emanuel's resignation over a stalled health care reform bill.

Huffington Post: "That revelation is one of the more explosive included in The Obamas, a new book by Jodi Kantor of The New York Times about the first few years of the Obama administration and the strains that it produced on the president's marriage -- strains that were ultimately overcome."

OBAMA AS PHARAOH   "The movie The Ten Commandments came out when I was in elementary school. The Pharaoh would issue edicts and conclude with, “So let it be written. So let it be done.” 

Quoting Michelle Malkin: 

Like Yul Brynner’s Pharaoh Ramses character in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” the demander in chief stands with arms akimbo issuing daily edicts to his constitution-subverting minions with an imperious wave of his hand. His entourage of insatiable usurpers never rests.
Can’t delude legislators into adopting a $1.5 billion Kabuki summer-jobs boondoggle? Create an unfunded program through executive fiat.
Can’t muster up a filibuster-proof majority for radical nominees? Czar-ify ‘em.

Obama's Tin Ear Returns

The American Spectator  "It may be that Obama is feeling his oats after his payroll tax cut "victory" over House Republicans and therefore trying to flex his muscles. But he's picked a stupid fight at a stupid time, with far more to lose than to gain, reminding us of the surprisingly tin-eared Chicago-style politician he spent most of 2009 and 2010 proving himself to be."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/01/05/95195

Jennifer Rubin: Obama’s recess appointments: The ex-law professor makes a power grab  "It also gives the Republicans the upper hand in their argument that Obama is interested not in governance, just in naked partisan power plays. That may send a tingle up the legs of the left, but to average voters it may well seem like bad faith by a president who has long since proved unable to work within the system of separation of powers."

Obama on the Campus

Obama Campus 2012  "In the next 10 months, we shall see the college campus to be a center of Democratic activity.  The reason appears in this short piece at The New Republic by Ruy Teixeira.  According to Teixeira, the youth vote is crucial to Obama's reelection, 18-29-year-olds forming one of his strongest support groups.  In 2008, the youth vote went for Obama by a 2-to-1 rate, a huge disparity that, I believe, has never been seen before in presidential elections.  If those numbers hold up, and if the youth vote turns out as well as it did in 08, when 51 percent of them went to the polls (a huge gain over the 40 percent that turned out in 2000), Obama's prospects improve significantly.  It may make the difference."

A Test Where 'Good" Means 'Terrible'  "I asked the teacher what I was supposed to do if a presentation was bad or poor. She looked at me and said, with a straight face, "Good means poor." "How so?" I asked. "What kind of semantic gymnastics is that? Does that mean that superior is above average, and excellent is average?" She didn't answer the question, but said that the students worked really hard on their projects and the school didn't want any of them to feel discouraged. If they scored in the 70s, then their presentation was considered bad. "But you're telling them that it is good," I said."


Both above from Manhattan Institute

Foreign Policy Experts Urge President Obama to Take Action Against Assad

Add caption

The Foreign Policy Initiative  "The letter also responds to recent statements by the Obama administration in opposition to efforts by embattled Syrian citizens to defend themselves. “Such a position is counterproductive, especially since the protesters themselves are calling for international protection from the Assad regime’s forces,” the group said. “U.S. condemnation of their armed resistance undercuts them, and could have the effect of discouraging further Syrian military defections.” "

Obama and recess appointments (UPDATED)

Now we realize that there is nothing that stands in the way of a president openly refusing to be bound by the Constitution. Who will enforce his adherence? Congress? Not when his party rules there and supports him in this as we will see below?

WaPo:  Obama’s recess appointments are unconstitutional  "President Obama’s attempt to unilaterally appoint three people to seats on the National Labor Relations Board and Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (after the Senate blocked action on his nomination) is more than an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent the Senate’s advise-and-consent role. It is a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers and the duty of comity that the executive owes to Congress.

"Yes, some prior recess appointments have been politically unpopular, and a few have even raised legal questions. But never before has a president purported to make a “recess” appointment when the Senate is demonstrably not in recess. That is a constitutional abuse of a high order."....

"If Congress does not resist, the injury is not just to its branch but ultimately to the people. James Madison made clear that the separation of powers was not to protect government officials’ power for their sake but as a vital check on behalf of individual liberty. To prevent future tyrannical usurpations of power, Congress must act to redress this serious threat to our liberty."   By Edwin Meese III and Todd Gaziano

Obama’s Reelection Strategy: Bypass Congress  "In brief, the entire multi-trillion dollar bureaucratic apparatus of the federal government will be directed towards Obama’s reelection.  Unfortunately, these executive actions will have serious negative economic consequences in terms of compliance costs and the broad uncertainty and anxiety that comes from not knowing what arbitrary decisions will come next.  That’s terrible news for our economic recovery, and it may also mean that the Obama strategy will backfire politically with an electorate that’s desperate for job creation and economic growth." Also this:  The White House Is Wrong — The Senate Conducted Business During Its ‘Recess’

Neal Boortz says: Ceasar Obummas strikes again!   "Obama said he was going to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”  Are you starting to understand how he intends to do that?  Let’s start with ignoring the Constitution."


Krauthammer: Obama's Recess Appointments Part Of "A Long String Of Lawless Actions"


Oops, she did it again:  "Nancy Pelosi is "glad" that President Obama ignored the Advice and Consent requirement of the Constitution on his recent appointments to the National Labor Relations Board and the new bureaucratic beast, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

Weekly Standard:  ‘A Lawless Action by the President’  "As the man vested with “The executive Power” (all of it), the president must, first and foremost, faithfully serve as the nation’s chief executive — ensuring that the laws and the Constitution are carried out as written.  The very rule of law largely depends upon his fulfillment of that trust."

Update: Obama takes victory lap  "Two days after defying Republicans and appointing Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Obama visited the new agency to take a little time to gloat."

Bill Ayers Apostle Appointed White House Education Initiative Director

ed.gov

Big Government  "Jose Rico has been named the new director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, a key position that could help close the achievement gap between white and minority students.  But if his history is any indication, his influence may do more harm than good.

Perhaps most troubling is Rico’s connection to unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and communist radical Mike Klonsky through the Chicago-based “Small Schools Workshop.”"....

“Klonsky stressed: ‘Chairman Mao’s brilliant teachings on the ‘three worlds’ is a scientific application of class analysis to today’s world conditions. This thesis clearly defines friends and enemies and isolates the two superpowers, while uniting the world’s peoples.’”

Speaking of keeping the oil flowing.....

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/01/dire-straits-of-hormuz-3/

Obama’s Tyrannical Abuse of Power

Morning Bell  "Standing behind a podium on a stage just outside Cleveland, President Barack Obama delivered a speech yesterday that will reverberate throughout history. No, its lasting impact will not come because of its soaring rhetoric. Instead, it will make its mark because it was at that moment on a Wednesday afternoon in Ohio that the President announced his plans to act in total and utter disregard of the U.S. Constitution with his illegal appointment of Richard Cordray to serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

howthehellshouldiknow-wallyworld.blogspot.

It’s an astonishingly reckless exercise of executive authority that Heritage’s Todd Gaziano described as a “tyrannical abuse of power.” "...

Flashback: Senator Outlines Objections to ‘Unaccountable’ Consumer Czar  "At the time of his visit in October, Shelby said bluntly, “I think it would be devastating if we let [Obama] make a recess appointment.”"

Michelle Malkin: He’s baaaaack: Obama recess-appoints Dodd-Frank czar  "Refresh your memories on Cordray and the expansive new regulatory powers he will now wield here."

Obama and Iran

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/01/03/95120

Obama's Iraq withdrawal a 'snowball' of disaster in the region   "Obama knew Iraq wasn’t ready for the security handoff, but his hapless diplomacy failed to win the necessary immunity deal needed to protect any stay-behind troops.  So he ordered the troops out knowing that Iraq ’s collapse could be a disaster for American regional interests and put Iran in a dominant position, at the expense of 4,500 American lives lost and nearly $1 trillion."


How Serious Are Iran's Threats? "Simultaneous with an Iranian naval exercise in and around the Strait of Hormuz, there has beenconsiderable bluster from the Iranian side telling the United States not to send any more warships into that area. What's going on? Is there real tension in the area or is this routine polemics?"

Fareed Zakaria: Iran’s growing state of desperation  "But a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards — Iran’s crucial power source — quickly backtracked, explaining that Tehran had no intention of blocking the straits. It would be madness to do so because Iran would suffer more than any country. Blocking the straits would result in a total shutdown of Iran’s exports and imports; with 60 percent of Iran’s economy coming from oil exports, it would bring the government to a standstill."

Saudis, Gulf states on war alert for early US-Iran clash "America's failure to rise to Iran's challenge will confirm its rulers in the conviction that the US is a paper tiger and encourage them to press their advantage for new gains.
The assessment of British military experts Thursday, Jan. 5, was that the question now is: Who will blink first? Will the US follow through on the Pentagon's assertion that the deployment of US military assets in the Persian Gulf will continue as it has for decades? Or will Iran act on its warnings and block those waters to the entry of American warships?
President Barack Obama can't afford to cave in to Iran, especially while campaigning for reelection in Nov. 2012; Tehran, for its part, has made too many threats to easily back down."

Obama Gets Engaged to the Brotherhood

Commentary Magazine:  "You would think that after wasting the first year in office on a foolish attempt to “engage” Iran, Barack Obama would have had his fill of outreach to Islamists. After the Iranians treated his overtures with contempt...."
"But apparently the president’s unfulfilled desire to make friends with Islamic extremists is still driving American foreign policy. As the New York Times reported yesterday, the administration has embarked on a full-scale effort to “engage” with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt."
....
"Comparisons of American policy toward Egypt with the Carter administration’s foolish support of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s push to oust the Shah from Iran have been largely unfair. The Mubarak government’s fall was inevitable, and nothing Obama did or didn’t do affected the outcome there. But engagement with the Brotherhood at this moment is a ghastly error on the scale of Carter’s Iran mistakes. Americans may well be looking back on this decision with regret for many years to come."


Obama Statement Means No Iran Embargo  " But given that such an embargo is the only measure short of war that would halt Iran’s nuclear program, there is no other choice. If Obama continues to waste more time by engaging in feckless diplomacy to assemble an anti-Iran coalition that has no chance of coming into existence, an Iranian bomb will be the inevitable result. If Obama thinks an oil embargo would be disruptive, what does he think the impact of an Iranian bomb on the global economy or gas prices would be?"

John Kerry thinks this is all great  But then, he IS a Democrat.