"...citizens of the Golden State have stood up consistently for two principles: the state should provide vastly more services to its citizens, and citizens should pay vastly less to the state."

-Christopher Caldwell, Financial Times

The conservative Law of Unintended Consequences is at work in the new Obama-Duncan education proposal, which demands that states link teachers' evaluations and pay to students' test scores...

He's so plainly a socialist in economic affairs, but when it comes to education, he's trying to inject free market principles into an intrinsically socialist system...

You know who else was really good at alienating the base of his party fairly early on? Jimmy Carter.

Things turned out well for his presidency, don't you think?

Not content with merely alienating every cop and doctor in the country, Obama made the time yesterday to antagonize a constituency utterly critical to his re-election...teachers.

Doctors and cops may trend Republican, but teachers, particularly public school teachers, are vital to the political fortunes of the Democratic Party, which Obama may have noticed, he leads. Nobody gets nominated by the Democrats to run for anything, and nobody gets elected as a Democrat to do anything, without the support of teachers.

Yesterday, Obama and his Education Secretary Arne Duncan (like most Education Secretaries, Arne has never spent Day One in a public school classroom as a teacher...he does however, play a lot of hoops with The One...), announced that they would allocate $4.3 billion in "grants" to those states whose educational systems link students' test scores with teachers' evaluations and pay. The One and his Lord High Stooge Arne explicitly took aim at teachers' unions in California and New York, demanding that those states change laws that preclude such linkage of students' test scores with teachers' evaluations and pay.

Such an imperious, if ill-considered, backhand from The One must be deeply disconcerting to the teachers' unions, populated as they are with devout Obamanauts. However, once they recover from the shock of public betrayal, their political vengeance is sure to be lethal to The One and his prospects in November 2012.

Obama needs California and New York to be re-elected. He does not carry those states if teachers and their unions sit on their hands and stay home in 2012. In what way does this latest assault on a large group of necessary voters reflect the political genius that allegedly is Obama?

I'm puzzled as to why the Governor doesn't just use his line-item veto to balance the budget. The thing that the Legislature sent to him is not remotely balanced. It's at least $3 billion out of whack. He's not running for re-election in 2010. The California GOP will never nominate him for another political office again. Why not go for it? Slash the budget with his gubernatorial pen and stop posing in front of cameras with the Crocodile Dundee can-opener...

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the always excellent Peggy Noonan eloquently captured the essence of my loathing for Obama's health care reform proposals. Her words articulated a basic libertarian resistance to the philosophical core of what Obama, Pelosi, and their limousine liberal ilk would inflict upon the rest of us if we let them. As Noonan says,

"We are living in a time when educated people who are at the top of American life feel they have the right to make very public criticisms of...the private, pleasurable but health-related choices of others. They shame smokers and the overweight. Drinking will be next. Mr. Obama's own choice for surgeon general has come under criticism as too heavy."

"Only a generation ago, such criticisms would have been considered rude and unacceptable. But they are part of the ugly, chafing price of having the government in something: Suddenly it can make very big and personal demands on you. Those who live in a way that isn't sufficiently healthy 'cost us money' and 'drive up premiums.' Mr. Obama himself said something like it in his press conference, when he spoke of a person who might not buy health insurance. If he gets hit by a bus, 'the rest of us have to pay for it.'"

"Under a national health-care plan we might be hearing that a lot. You don't exercise, you smoke, you drink, you eat too much, and 'the rest of us have to pay for it.'"

"It is a new opportunity for new class professionals (an old phrase that should make a comeback) to shame others, which appears to be one of their hobbies...Every time I hear Kathleen Sebelius talk about 'transitioning' from 'treating disease,' to 'preventing disease,' I start thinking of how they'll use this as an excuse to judge, shame, and intrude."

"So this might be an unarticulated public fear: When everyone pays for the same health-care system, the overseers will feel more and more a right to tell you how to live, which simple joys are allowed and which are not."

"Americans in the most personal, daily ways feel they are less free than they used to be. And they are right, they are less free."

"Who wants more of that?"

As a lifelong political nerd and longtime fan of The West Wing, I was impressed by how spectacularly Obama mismanaged the news cycle over the course of twenty-four hours. At a time when his very presidency is on the line with an increasingly imperiled health care reform initiative, The One has chosen to inject himself into the minutiae of a local law enforcement controversy (that involves a personal friend) and insult cops.

You don't have to be Leo McGarry or C.J. Craig to know that Obama shot himself in both feet with his remarks about the Gates affair at last night's press conference. At a press conference dedicated to, and dominated by, the president's promotion of his dying health care reform proposal, Obama chose to end the presser with extensive remarks on The Gates Arrest, thus making it THE STORY coming out of the evening.

Then today, when he would have been well-advised to go silent on the topic and let the furor over his remarks die down, he repeated and elaborated on his remarks to ABC News!

What a gift to his adversaries!

What might have been a 24-36 hour story is now guaranteed to run through the weekend, at least, knocking health care off the front page. Not only does the Obama/Gates Gate story further drive the nails in the coffin of health care reform, but it's probably good for another 5-7 point drop in his approval numbers by the end of the month.

I'd anticipated that Obama would crater around Labor Day, but he seems hellbent on beating that calendar and self-immolate by August 1st.

The first polls showing Obama dropping below 50% job approval will arrive just before Congress breaks on Friday, August 7th...the day that health care reform, cap-and-trade, and the Obama Administration's political future will all expire.

"I've heard about five different reports on the details of the arrest...If I'm the president of the United States, I don't care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I'm keeping my mouth shut...I was shocked to hear the president making this kind of statement."

-Bill Cosby

would be Obama's job approval as his mandate crumbles at the six month mark...The latest Fox News poll shows Obama's job approval numbers taking an eight point hit, falling from 62% to 54%. The greatest bleeding is among independents, where approval of Obama has fallen by a DOZEN percentage points...

After his anti-cop remarks at last night's press conference, you can probably expect more of a dip...

From today's San Francisco Chronicle, veteran muckrakers Matier and Ross report the following...

"'Think of it as the don't ask, don't tell budget,because nobody really wants to know what's in it' was how one negotiator summed up the final spending plan that popped out of the governor's office Monday night."

"Republicans don't want to know the details of how the state will slice more than $1 billion from prisons. Democrats are equally eager not to hear the gory details of what slashing and burning health and welfare programs will entail."

"And neither side is expected to say much about the accounting and borrowing tricks included in the plan."

Here's the money quote...

"As for how long the budget fix may last?"

"'Everyone knows there will have to be more adjustments down the line,' the negotiator said. 'The real goal at this point is for the budget to make it to January.'"

The Gallup polling organization has conducted surveys throughout the first six months of the year to ascertain U.S. voters' ideological leanings. Their findings are fascinating, at least to a political junkie...

The Democratic Party appears to be a far broader coalition, much more so than I would have assumed. According to Gallup's surveys, 38% of Democrats identified themselves as liberals, 40% called themselves moderates, and a staggering 22% of Dems called themselves conservatives!

Independent voters broke down about as one would imagine. 34% of indie voters called themselves liberals, 45% called themselves moderate (no big surprise there), and 21% called themselves conservative.

The G.O.P. by contrast comes off like a narrow ideological echo chamber. 73% of Republicans called themselves conservative, a mere 24% called themselves moderate, and a laughable,yet telling 3% of GOPers dared to identify themselves as Republican (memo to the lonely 3%: Teddy Roosevelt and Nelson Rockefeller are both long dead.).

Two questions occur from sifting through this data...

First...how do the Republicans ever expect to win back the Congress, much less the White House? There is clearly a demand for ideological rigidity and lockstep philosophical conformity that precludes the coalition-building necessary for electoral success in, you know, the real world. Insisting on adherence to a set catechism of positions doesn't get you to a majority. I can understand the chilliness towards liberals, but a political party absolutely NEEDS moderates to win elections.

Second...what IS a conservative Democrat? I'm genuinely curious.

Immortal words from my favorite Fascist dictator, Generalissimo Francisco Franco....

"I am responsible only to God and history."

"There will be no communism."

"Communists should be crushed like worms."

...I'm thinking of the first two posted in my classroom in massive calligraphy...The third is a bit repetitive...reflects a clear line of thought though...

Now hear this...all you wingnut whackjobs who are hyperventilating over Obama's alleged bona fides as a U.S. citizen...

1. You are factually incorrect. Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen. Period.

2. You are insane.

3. You give conservatism and the G.O.P. a bad name.

4. You are a factor in the much deserved powerlessness of conservatives and the GOP.

While we're at it...let's clear up a few other matters...

1. We did, in fact, land men on the moon. Not a Quinn Martin production folks...

2. There are no aliens, and any communications you currently receiving from the Mothership
can be medicated out of existence.

3. When Sarah Palin gives speeches to events closed to the media, that's not a political
movement...that's a cult...the m.o. is pure Jim Jones, my friends...

You all need to put down the Kool Aid and back away slowly from the punchbowl...

Late this afternoon, The Sacramento Bee reported that GOP state legislators were threatening to vote down the budget deal reached just last night as part of a Republican backlash over a Democratic legislative proposal to release thousands of state prisoners to home detention and county jails. The Democrats' proposal also included creating a state commission to review criminal sentences.

The Democrats' proposal is intended to slice $1.2 billion from the state budget.

Assembly GOP leader Sam Blakeslee said last night's budget agreement clearly ruled out early prisoner releases. He added that both parties' legislative leadership had agreed in the deal to address the prison issue in August after getting the budget through the Legislature.

According to The Sacramento Bee, Blakeslee emailed his fellow Assembly Republicans with the following statement,

"Budget negotiations depend on the good faith actions of all parties. A corrections bill that includes the early release of 27,000 prisoners and a sentencing commission was never
discussed or agreed to by Republicans. We made it abundantly clear during negotiations that such policies would endanger the public and were unacceptable."

Blakeslee went on to write that he had personally called the Democratic legislative leadership to tell them that "there will be no votes for any portion of the budget if they allow such a bill to be part of the package."

So it's game on...

For the first time in months I have to say...GOOD FOR THE G.O.P.!!!
that such policies would endanger the public and were unacceptable

The Associated Press poll released today shows Obama taking a NINE point hit to his approval ratings, dropping from 64% two months ago to 55% today. Like the USA-Today Gallup poll, Obama's disapproval numbers have climbed above 40% (42% in the AP Poll), with the most serious damage among independents, where Obama's job approval dropped TWENTY points.

A recurring theme among those polled by the Associated Press...Obama is trying to do too much.

While it is sad that Frank McCourt passed away from melanoma at the age of 78, I have to say that I was not a fan of his books, at least the two that I read. It took me three tries before I could get through his breakthrough best-selling memoir, Angela's Ashes, and the first couple of times I picked it up I remember throwing it against a wall after the first thirty pages or so.

Eventually I just kept repeating to myself that it was his story, and he was entitled to tell it, and I plowed through the thing, just to be able to say that I'd read it. My grandfather grew up in Limerick, and I guess I got repeatedly annoyed with how the various characters behaved.

As for Teacher Man, I really hope that few prospective teachers read it and take it to heart as some sort of inspiration or guide on how to teach. Between that book and "Dead Poets' Society," too many idealistic, leftish-leaning college grads will get the wrong idea about what education is all about and how school teaching really works...

But at least the guy ended life rich, happy, and famous...and he seemed genial enough...

He was a permanent fixture in our home during the 70s and early 80s. For me, he will always be the True TV News Anchorman. Everybody else was just a talking hairdo.

1. He saved the world from nuclear war on at least two occasions (Berlin, 1961, Cuba, 1962).

2. He prevented the Soviets from winning the Cold War on the same two occasions.

3. He put the federal government on the side of racial equality for the first time in history
with the televised address of June 11, 1963.

4. He substantially reduced the danger of nuclear war by the end of his presidency.

Just putting it out there...tired of all these naysayers claiming the man was overrated.

For the third year in a row they have shunned Friday Night Lights, which is easily the best show on network TV. They have ignored Kyle Chandler, the finest dramatic actor on television today, and Connie Britton, the best dramatic actress currently on The Tube, for THREE YEARS IN A ROW!!!

The best show on television...and only 1.5 million of you are watching...

It would seem that the bad guys could do this INDEFINITELY...

Kind of like, in Iraq...

"It is relatively rare for four or more soldiers to be killed by a single IED, or improvised explosive device. But insurgents have been using increasingly sophisticated tactics in the manufacture and planting of the roadside bombs, which account for about 70 percent of combat casualties."

-Laura King, Los Angeles Times

Maybe you're thinking that's a 2004 dispatch from Dubya's Nation-Building in Iraq...but no, it's from today's L.A. Times, reporting on Obama's Nation-Building...in Afghanistan...

30 U.S. dead in Afghanistan this month alone...and the month isn't even over yet...

In terms of domestic affairs and domestic policy, the greatest and most significant president of the last sixty years was Lyndon B. Johnson. Period. He is rarely acknowledged or credited as such, especially by the liberals whose agenda he enacted with energy and skill (and let that be a warning to all would-be liberal presidents...the liberals' sense of entitlement is utterly insatiable), but we all live in Lyndon Johnson's America. Ronald Reagan came into the presidency openly declaring war on The Great Society, and left eight years later having failed to make even the slightest dent.

Obama doesn't have a tenth of LBJ's legislative expertise and experience. He doesn't have LBJ's cunning, savvy, and sheer ruthlessness for lawmaking. He doesn't have Johnson's appetite for wheeling and dealing and bargaining and bullying lawmakers.

He'd much rather be a movie star.

And that's why, in the final analysis, conservatives and Republicans have little to fear from Obama. Simply put, he's no L.B.J.

The parallels between 1977 and 2009 are mounting...and that must be haunting to Democrats and liberals with any sort of historical memory.

Just as in '77, a politician bereft of national experience, yet swollen with a sense of his own sanctimony and virtue, ascended to the presidency, announcing an Age of Aquarius for a nation weary of war, corruption, and economic collapse. Like Obama, Carter succeeded a president with a genial disposition and near-total inability to express himself intelligently. Like Obama, Carter had a filibuster-proof Senate majority (60 votes exactly!), and a discredited opposition in total intellectual and organizational disarray. And like Obama, Carter had a sweeping agenda of major legislation that he dumped on Congress to enact, largely without his involvement or intervention.

Fortunately for the Republic, Carter's legislative achievements were ultimately meager, if galling (alas, the Department of Education is with us forever...), and so is likely to be the case with Obama.

Obama has declared, "being president means being able to do more than one thing at a time." Mmm no, not really. At least, not doing it well.

But let him learn the hard way. The rest of us will be spared a mess of expensive and unwieldy programs that live on in our wallets, enduring into eternity...

Congressional Republicans are irrelevant at the moment. Their self-paralyzed condition is a good thing for the Republic and the party on many levels. Knowing that, let them take no credit when Obama's legislative wish list implodes in September and October. No, when Obama's agenda goes down in flames this autumn, it will be because of the opposition of moderate and conservative Democrats in Congress.

Too many Democrats from rural and suburban districts are reeling with sticker shock from the earliest (and probably wildly conservative) cost estimates of universal health care and cap and trade. Too many of them do not want to have to run for re-election in 2010 while laboring under the label of "tax-and-spend" liberals. Their constituents expected them to do something about swelling unemployment and foreclosures, not erect long-term monuments in the form of unsustainable programs to Obama.

Just because Obama has arrogantly elected to ignore the "short-term" problems of average Americans to focus on his "long-term" agenda of transforming human history and the life of the Republic, doesn't mean the ordinary Democratic congressman from Indiana is on board. In fact, he or she probably isn't, if only for the sake of their own political health and survival.

Barring serious and lingering injuries to a half-dozen players (and at their age, that's always an issue), the Celtics will win the NBA title in June 2010.

Renting the services of Rasheed "On-The Court Issues" Wallace for the '09-'10 campaign radically transforms the overall fortunes of Gang Green. Plus, we all know how complacency undoes defending champs, and the Lakers are a slothful bunch to begin with...

Lamar Odom, Dallas desperately needs you...or Golden State...

The latest round of poll numbers lead me to remove "phenomenon status" from our 44th Chief Executive's list of titles. Every major polling organization of any repute has shown a marked decline in his job approval stats as reality dawns on the American electorate.

The ABC News-Washington Post poll shows a six point drop to 59%, the USA Today-Gallup poll shows a six point drop to 55%, Ipsos-McClatchy shows a seven point drop to 57%, and the Hotline poll shows a NINE point plunge to 56%.

The Gallup organization reports that of the 12 postwar presidents, Obama currently ranks 10th out of the 12 in job approval rankings after six months in office...Dubya was 11th and Clinton was 12th.

Fortunately for Obama, the G.O.P. remains committed to its own spectacular ineptitude...for the time being...

The inaptly named "Big Five" emerged from the mists and fog of The Governor's Office last night to announce "peace in our time"...no, that was another travesty of a summit some decades ago, but the fundamental fictional quality of the pronouncement remains the same. Actually, what passes for political leadership in this state declared that they had a budget deal that solves the fiscal follies of California for 2009-2010...

Well...

Details remain intentionally nebulous, but it would appear that the Titans of Sacramento have labored and strained to produce...accounting gimmickry. The jihad remnant that is the California GOP hails said deal for its lack of tax increases, and the senseless socialists that is the California Democratic Caucus laments its draconian spending cuts and "shared sacrifice." Which all sounds like a sham...

The more astute and informed observers note a high quotient of optimism and wishful thinking in the deal's revenue projections. This whole budget deal is still predicated on stubborn overspending and undertaxation in the face of steadily plummeting revenues, which means that even if the Legislature approves it Thursday, and the Governor signs it Friday, it could be obsolete and out of whack before Thanksgiving.

I predicted that Obamanon would have to step in and bail the state out. I'm going to wait on saying that I was wrong, if only because I don't believe this whole mess is truly resolved.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 31.2% of all U.S. welfare recipients reside in the state of California.

Texas has 3.7% of all U.S. welfare recipients.

New York has 6.7% of all U.S. welfare recipients.

No other state comes remotely close to California in terms of welfare population caseload.

One out of three U.S. welfare recipients lives in California...think about that...