Laugh Laugh

"I hate to say it but I told you so,
don't mind my preachin' to you,
I said don't trust him, baby now you know,
you don't learn everything there is to learn in school,
don't think I'm being funny when I say,
you got just what you deserved...
Laugh, Laugh I thought I'd die, it seemed so funny to me"

This 1965 hit from the Beau Brummels, obscure I know, struck a chord with me since it sums up my attitudes towards "independents" who voted for Barrack Obama. Our most scholarly of presidents and his brainy administration, 80% of whom have never worked outside of academia or the public sector, are proof positive that you don't learn everything there is to know in school.

And I don't really hate to say it, but I did tell you so, independent voters. After a year and four months of the monkey business known as the Obama administration, I offer two observations. One, the Republicans, specifically George W. Bush, found himself on the wrong side of the polls as he pushed the envelope of enumerated powers of the executive branch for what he believed, and the jury is still out, was the defense of the nation. Examples; the Patriot Act, wiretapping without a warrant, war in Iraq, overseas detention centers, Gitmo, torture. As the wars and the corresponding need for the policies dragged on, the nation grew weary. Fair enough, understandable. Come the election of 2008 the sought after bubble of "independents", highly coveted, threw in with the Democrats out of sheer exhaustion with Bush and the flexing of his federal muscles.

Two - the Democrats now banging themselves against the rock of "domestic policies" cap and trade, energy, health care, regulating wall street, out of sheer force of will, or thugery, feverishly push the federal government into every quadrant of each American's life, Main Street and Wall Street. Perversely, they manage to stay remarkably absent from the most vital of federal roles; overseeing immigration and securing the borders. Domestic policy has drained all energy and attention away from the primary role of federal government. Why has a man so fond of executive orders, same sex couple mandates to hospitals, abdicated his most obvious source of power? Is it too messy? Is he weak, or is he, my bet, conflicted? It is hard to be the president if too politically correct about "illegal aliens". And politically speaking the Hispanic vote is now the new "independent" vote and Barrack Obama, the most political of presidents, is shamelessly using the desperate plight of Arizona to exalt himself in the eyes of future Hispanic voters.

It is rather alarming, campaigning this early in his presidency. Let's not be fooled into believing he is campaigning for anyone other than himself. He has called his constituents unto him; the blacks, the Hispanics, the women. In doing so he refines his singular talent; stirring the racial pot. Rather odd for a post racial, bi-racial fellow. But boiled down, really what is the hub bub with this power grab by Arizona? Is the Arizona law more prone to abuse than the federal law? Are people, Hispanics afraid because they believe the state law will be enforced while the federal is not? Is e-verify a type of harassment that singles out Hispanics? Would one's civil rights be violated if asked to show a green card or visa if Arizona law enforcement asked to see them but not so much if asked by federal border patrol? How present are the Feds on any given day away from the border, in the towns where many illegals seek work? Is reasonable cause so complex that local law enforcement cannot comprehend its vagaries? Or are we being played by Obama and Democrats, Obama showing his solidarity, and I choose this word specifically, with the underdog, even those not legally eligible to vote?

Jan Brewer has cleverly flexed her own sovereign state's muscles and called Obama's and her predecessor's, Janet Napolitano, bluff. Napolitano, of famed zero credibility about anything, weakly protested that there was no need for this state law because the border had been stabilized on her watch. Hard to explain how that could be true in a state with 6.5 million people and anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million illegals on any given day. So, for all the disappointed independents who voted for Obama believing he was different and special and above the fray - I did tell you so. And now I offer a prediction - it seems you might not make it onto his dance card the next time around unless, must I say it, you are black, Hispanic or a woman. And I am laughing, a little.