Coloradoright

THE PRESIDENCY: As we enter the New Year, it is not off limits to ask if this administration is not in the process of doing potentially irreversible damage to the long-term interests of the U.S. Some decisions are so antithetical to the national goals, as to suggest that something beyond sheer incompetence is involved. Just consider a few the more blatantly foolish decisions. Someone is either incredibly stupid or just plain evil – or both. After all, is the Commander-in-Chief an empty suit?

By Dennis Mullin

About the first thing the President did was announce that he was closing Guatanamo prison, would apologize for everything that ever was wrong with the world, and all his Moslem brothers would love him and peace would prevail. No 5-year-old community organizer could have been that naïve – without an ulterior motive.

In 2009, the Obama administration decided "war on terror" was too provocative a label for what might be better dubbed "overseas contingency operations." Apparently, they were thinking a kinder, gentler image would discourage terrorists.

TERRORIST RIGHTS: Accordingly, the self-confessed architect of Sept. 11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was promised a civil trial in New York with all the full rights of an American citizen and the protection of the system he would annihilate -- rather than a military tribunal normally accorded to out-of-uniform murderous terrorists. Expect a lot of soapbox speechmaking about America's sins during his testimony in 2010.

But as 2009 ended, we were reminded that radical Islamic terrorists still want to kill us for who we are, and what we represent, rather than any particular thing we do. Maj. Nidal Hasan, nursed on radical Islamic doctrine, murdered 12 fellow soldiers and one civilian at Ford Hood, Texas. Five would-be terrorists with U.S. citizenship were arrested in Pakistan on their way to link up with Islamist militant groups.

HOMELAND INSECURITY: And Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was stopped in flight from Amsterdam before he could blow up an American passenger jet. The President warned everyone not to prejudge the “alleged,” perpetrators as blood covered the walls. It took him three days to note the Christmas attempt. His director of “Homeland Security,” said the system worked after the man’s father warned the CIA, he boarded with no luggage, paid cash and was already on a watch list – how sick is that?

But no; Obama’s Justice Department is busy charging a SEAL trooper for punching a terrorist in the stomach – honest – and is trying to prosecute CIA agents for following orders legally and enforceably issued to them under the previous administration.

All these recent terrorists – who Obama wants to grant citizenship to so they can go to work for Acorn on tax-supported salaries and vote for him, when not destroying America -- are not poor. Most have lived in the hospitable West and care little that the Obama administration has been critical of the U.S.'s prior war-on-terror policies. So, while we assured the world in 2009 that we wouldn't be overzealous in our various efforts to stop terrorists, the terrorists proved they most certainly would be in theirs to kill us.

FOREIGN POLICY: And take foreign relations in general. In 2009, the new administration assumed that George W. Bush was largely responsible for global tensions. As a remedy, we loudly reached out to our foes and those with whom we had uneasy relationships, and promised “reset” buttons for everyone under the sun.

But so far these leaders -- like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- have only interpreted Obama's serial goodwill gestures as weaknesses to be exploited. They play the part of the bully; we the compliant nerd.

In the waning days of 2009, Iran announced it has no intention of dismantling its nuclear facilities and ignored the latest Obama deadline to cease. There's no reason not to expect the theocracy to make significant strides in its nuclear program in 2010, while continuing without rebuke to beat and murder democratic dissidents in its streets.

MORE THREATS: Russia has announced plans to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons -- and has scoffed at suggestions that it should pressure Iran to stop its nuclear development. Venezuela brags of its own similar program to come -- an act that could threaten all the neighboring democracies in the region.

The administration courted China on a much-heralded Asian tour. President Obama even has said he would be our first "Pacific president." Unfortunately, China was not impressed. It declined our advice about reducing its carbon footprint and instead reminded Americans that we owe the Chinese people nearly $1 trillion. Expect much more of that hectoring in 2010 as our debt to China grows. The terrorists and the world’s tyrants are both laughing out loud at Obama’s ludicrous, infantile pomposity.

MASSIVE DEBT: Meanwhile, at home we are operating on the same naive assumptions. The Obama administration inherited a $500 billion deficit and expanded it threefold. Its planned mega-deficits may well grow the aggregate national debt over the next decade to over $20 trillion. But the administration's 2009 calculations on how to service the growing red ink are based on continued cheap interest. In 2010, it is likely we will see rising inflation, rising interest rates -- and rising costs to the continual self-destructive borrowing. We were given a financial break on energy prices in 2009.

The worldwide recession sent oil down to about $50 a barrel. But America did little during the year's reprieve to rush into production newly discovered domestic gas and oil fields, to tap existing finds in Alaska, or to license new nuclear plants.

By year's end, oil was creeping back up to $80. If the economic upswing continues, in 2010 it may near its old high of $150 a barrel. Soon we will wish we had done something concrete rather than offering more rhetoric about wind and solar power. In other words, in our foreign relations, in the war against terror, in our massive borrowing, and in our energy policies, we created chickens that soon will come home to roost.

These facts are so obvious, that either Obama is incredibly stupid or just plain evil.

FICSCAL CRISIS: If you don’t believe that look at some numbers: After $787 billion in stimulus spending and $700 billion in bank bailouts, bipartisan support is finally growing in Congress for action to stabilize the nation's bulging debt, which is now $12.1 trillion.

The public debt is the amount owed to individual investors, including foreign countries, but excluding money the government owes to its own trust funds. It has soared from $5.8 trillion to $7.6 trillion this year alone -- and is more than half the size of the nation's economy for the first time since 1956. Without action to reduce that unprecedented rise in red ink, lawmakers and experts say, Washington risks a fiscal crisis.

The Congressional Budget Office projects annual interest on the public debt would be about $800 billion by 2019, but the Heritage Foundation estimates it could surpass $1 trillion by then. Foreign creditors could refuse to buy more Treasury securities.

NEVER WORKED: Doesn’t Obama realize that? Hell no; he has, by his own admission never had a job for a profit-making enterprise – to him money is something rich liberals give to community organizers. The focus is on the now on the State the Union address when he will be forced to talk about fiscial discipline and budget cuts.

Lawmakers and lobbyists seeking to cut the record $1.4 trillion budget deficit and stabilize the debt want Obama to back the creation of a commission that would recommend spending cuts and tax increases and require a vote by Congress. It's a process that has worked since the 1980s on military base closings.

"This is a defining moment for this chamber, for this Congress, for this administration," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who came to Washington in 1986 when the deficit and debt were one-sixth their current size. "It is imperative that we find a way to deal with this debt threat."

TASK FORCE: Thirty-four senators so far favor creating a task force whose recommendations Congress would have to approve or reject. What's unusual is the number of proposals, the clout of lawmakers supporting them and the admission by Obama and congressional leaders that the rising debt should be a priority.

The administration is examining options as it prepares its second budget, to be unveiled Feb. 1.The White House says it inherited the problem from the Bush administration, , citing the cost of two major tax cuts, two wars, a recession that began two years ago and a bailout of financial institutions. House Republicans blame the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed in February and increases in this year's spending bills.

The cumulative debt has surpassed annual deficits as the greatest concern. The public debt could be 61% of the economy next year, growing to 70% by 2013 and 85% by 2018 if current tax and spending policies are continued, according to the Peterson-Pew Commission.

None of the talk matters. None of these people have ever met a payroll, worked an honest day or paid a bill. Congress is evil; Obama is stupid – the combination is toxic. The Commander-in-Chief is an empty suit.