So I was having a conversation the other day with a relative who was visiting this area for the holidays. To say that this relative cannot stand President Obama would be a vast understatement. Typically, it’s very easy for me to avoid the gravitational pull into the political rabbit hole that leads to Nevereverland. But this time, I couldn’t help myself – especially since I knew with certainty that this particular individual to whom I am related has benefitted from the president’s so-called liberal agenda professionally and financially. Once the conversation was underway, I found it both hilarious and horrifying that my relative could not articulate why Obama is such a villainous figure. It could not be done: not in 25 words or less, not in 100 words or less, not in a single sentence. The explanation just kept coming back to personal feelings – i.e.: “I don’t like him,” or “He’s untrustworthy,” or “He’s a liberal.” It wasn’t too long before I finally heard the phrase that pays. My relative uttered: “You know President Obama is actually a secret Muslim. He was born in Kenya. He’s not even a legitimate president.” Eureka! That’s when I realized my kinsperson was quite deep in the matrix, politically speaking. If I had had Morpheus’s phone number, I would have called him and asked him to come over to my house. I would have requested that Morpheus bring a blue pill and a red pill with him, stat. To such people, President Obama isn’t President Obama. He’s actually Darth Barack – using force lightning and light sabers to wipe out his military advisers and cabinet members one by one. His enemies see him as a platinum-tongued Sith Lord sent from (insert wherever you think he’s from here) to [1] utterly destroy the United States of America from the inside, [2] use Executive Action to obliterate truth, justice, and the American way from the face of the earth, and [3] vex Republicans. If you agree with my relative, you probably see the president as a lame duck. However, I humbly suggest to you that Mr. Obama is not a lame duck. He’s a mighty duck.
For all my Republican friends, neighbors, and readers, I bring you good news and bad news. The good news is it’s 2016. This is the beginning of President Obama’s final year in office as the President of the United States of America. Congratulations, GOP. Happy New Year! Obama’s second term is nearly over. Here’s the bad news: the president apparently has no interest in going gently into that good night. Word around the campfire is that Obama plans to leave the Oval Office as he entered it: auspiciously.
Fact: Obamacare is here to stay. It will not be repealed and/or replaced, no matter how much the GOP wishes otherwise.
Fact: the American stock market was at 7,949.09 the day President Obama took office in January of 2009. It’s currently at 17,425.03. That’s more than double in value. Cha-ching.
Fact: As of January 1st, the minimum wage has been raised in 14 states. It’s about time.
Fact: the national employment rate is right at 5%. I could easily tell you what that rate was at the end of 2008, but I wouldn’t want to deny you the ability to look it up yourself. Oh, what fun it is to conduct your own due diligence.
Fact: the Iran nuclear deal is working. Led by the United States, the P5+1 (the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China) successfully negotiated a serious, comprehensive framework which effectively prevents Iran from building a nuclear weapon anytime in the foreseeable future. Just a few days ago, Iran voluntarily turned over to Russia 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of uranium. I know, I know: yet another lie/myth/misdirection from the mainstream (“lamestream?”) left-wing media. Here’s what the New York Times had to say about this momentous development: “A Russian ship left Iran on Monday carrying almost all of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, fulfilling a major step in the nuclear deal struck last summer… for the first time in nearly a decade, apparently leaving Iran with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon.” Not one American soldier died in the process. Suddenly, the 2016 GOP presidential candidates, Republican leaders in the House and Senate, and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu are wisely exercising their right to remain silent. Who wants some humble pie?
Next up: beefed-up background checks for guns. On tomorrow (Monday), President Obama will meet with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to see what executive actions might be possible. Stay tuned.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Look closer, though. If that duck is smiling, confident, and has presidential swagger, you’re not in the matrix. That’s Obama. And he’s a mighty duck.
