For the last month, millionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump has made it his mission in life to shout from the mountaintop that something shady is going on concerning President Barack Hussein Obama’s long-form birth  certificate, or lack thereof.

He’s appeared on all the talk shows, including the one featuring that band of shreiking harpies, known as The View:

This morning, a video has hit the scene, showing a Bush-hating, Obama-supporting Donald Trump.

In an interview with Dominic Carter on NY1, New York’s Internet News Station, originally released November 11th, 2008,  The Donald said:

McCain, really, that was almost an impossible situation. Bush has been so bad, maybe the worst president in the history of this country. He has been so incompetent, so bad, so evil that I don’t think any Republican could have won.

On President George Bush’s foreign policies:

You know, you can be enemies with people, whether it’s Iran, Iraq, or anyplace else and you can still have dialogue. These people wouldn’t even talk with him. It’s terrible.

At the time, however, he absolutely loooved President-elect Barack Obama:

I think he has a chance to go down as a great president. Now, if he’s not a great president, this country is in serious trouble.

I think [Obama’s] going to lead through consensus. It’s not going to be just a bull run like Bush did. He just did whatever the hell he wanted. He’d go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center and just do it because he wanted to do it.

Carter asked Trump if he ever thought he would see an African-American president in his lifetime:

They always said 100 years before a black man or woman could be elected president. And the 100 years turned out to be, like, one year. He’s done an amazing job.

An Associated Press GFK poll released at that time, showed that a majority of people shared Trump’s then-approval of Obama.

A total of 72 percent of those surveyed were confident the president-elect will do what it takes to revive the economy, while 68 percent predicted that Obama would be able to carry out his campaign promises.

Strengthening the economy was a top priority for 61 percent of those surveyed.

As of April 13th, 2011, per rasmussenreports.com:

Twenty-three percent (23%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, April 10. That’s down one point from last week.

And, 45% are worried that the federal government will do too much in reacting to the nation’s economic problems. But 41% are more worried the federal government will not do enough responding to those issues. Another 14% are undecided.

Trump, as a real estate mogul, has made his living by riding the wave of market trends, know when to jump on and jump off.

As of yesterday, 23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president’s performance. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove.

The Donald has ridden into prominence once again, on a wave of national discontent.  Even over-the-top Liberals like Chris Matthews of MSNBC are calling for Obama to release his birth certificate.  Several polls have Trump in second place among Republicans (of which we’re not even sure he is one), behind the GOP Legacy Candidate, Mitt Romney.

Jeffrey T. Kuhner, in an article posted on washingtontimes.com, makes a great point:

The reality is that until Mr. Obama shows his proper, documented long-form birth certificate, the issue will not go away – nor should it. Many in Kenya’s political and media class say he was born there before being brought to the United States. His Kenyan family members make the same claim, while others in Hawaii insist he was born in Honolulu. There is only one way to end the controversy: Show us the birth certificate.

…The president’s supporters, however, cannot answer one simple question. If the controversy is so preposterous, then why has Mr. Obama’s legal team spent campaign money to prevent the birth certificate from being unsealed?

The answer: He is hiding something. It may be the stated religious affiliation, the possible identity of his true father, the location of his birth – no one will know until the records are revealed. But protecting Mr. Obama’s privacy is not a plausible reason and certainly not a justification for spending millions.

Any Liberal or so-called “fiscal” Conservative (a pseudonym for an incognito Libertarian or socially-Liberal Moderate ) acts like you’ve run over puppies or your family tree doesn’t fork, when you try to broach this subject with them.  So, perhaps, The Donald, in all of his egotistical flamboyance, is actually performing a service for our nation by pushing the issue of Obama’s missing birth certificate into the national spotlight once again.

That being said, I don’t trust Donald Trump anymore than I believe that he has a full head of hair under that comb-over.

However, I am enjoying watching the Liberals and fiscal Conservatives squirm.

Pass the popcorn.

Accomplishing nothing except the kick-off of his 2012 Re-election Campaign, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), yesterday afternoon, used his bully pulpit to demand tax increases and miniscule spending cuts he claimed would reduce deficits by $4 trillion over 12 years (not nearly enough). At the same time, he attacked Republicans’ deficit proposal as an assault on the elderly and poor.

In a related story…

President Barack Obama’s approval among the poorest Americans dropped to an all-time low of 48 percent last week, according to the Gallup poll, leaving the president with less-than-majority approval among all income brackets reported in Gallup’s presidential approval surveys.

Each week, Gallup publishes the president’s average approval rating for the previous week among four income brackets: those who earn $2,000 per month or less, those who earn between $2,000 and $4,999 per month, those who earn between $5,000 and $7,499 per month, and those who earn $7,500 per month or more.

That wasn’t factored into his speech, was it? Naw, not at all. Moving on…

Obama continued his seemingly-endless campaign speech by saying that he wants a final deficit reduction deal by June, and blasted the House Republican proposal on the table now as not being “serious.” He also imperiously proclaimed that he said he would not work with Republicans on Medicare, Medicaid, or extending all of the Bush-era tax cuts.

So, there. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah.

I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations.

Republicans replied immediately, saying that they would not go along with Scooter’s proposed tax increases and also saying that the Pentagon would not be able to absorb the $400 billion in defense cuts that Obama wants in place by 2023.

Speaker of the House John Boehner said:

Any plan that starts with job-destroying tax hikes is a non-starter. We need to grow our economy — not our government.

Obama announced that VP Joe Biden will be leading Congressional meetings early next month to attempt to have a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal completed by the end of June.

That is, if Joe’s woken up from his nap during Scooter’s speech, yet.

Obama wants Biden to somehow come up with an extra $360 billion by 2023 from automatic spending programs, which are based on formulas and not renewed by Congress each year; steal an additional $480 billion from Medicare; and cut America’s defense spending by $400 billion versus projected levels and another $200 billion in regular domestic spending.

Scooter  also wants to stop those eeevil Boooosh  tax cuts for taxpayers making over $200,000 per year, and for canceling other tax breaks many Americans receive such as the mortgage interest deduction. However, instead of having the guts to call them “tax increases”, the spineless Leader of the Free World tried to hide them by calling them “spending reductions in the tax code.”

Right, Scooter. And this is not a “Blog”, it’s a “Public Internet Diary”. Pathetic.

Obama claimed, during his speech that he was just setting parameters and expects others to suggest or actually make the cuts.

Like, for instance, with Medicare, in which the new payments board set up in last year’s health care law will clamp down tighter on cost increases, while he will have his defense secretary figure out where military funding can be cut.

That way, he can claim that any poor results are not his fault.

But, don’t worry., Gentle Reader, I’m sure that we can count on the GOP to stand strong against Obama and the Democrats during this critical time in our nation.

Or can we?

From the nationaljournal.com:

A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the fiscal 2011 spending deal that Congress will vote on Thursday concludes that it would cut spending this year by less than one-one hundredth of what both Republicans or Democrats have claimed.

A comparison prepared by the CBO shows that the omnibus spending bill, advertised as containing some $38.5 billion in cuts, will only reduce federal outlays by $352 million below 2010 spending rates. The nonpartisan budget agency also projects that total outlays are actually some $3.3 billion more than in 2010, if emergency spending is included in the total.

The astonishing result, according to CBO, is the result of several factors: increases in spending included in the deal, especially at the Defense Department; decisions to draw over half of the savings from recissions, cuts to reserve funds, and mandatory-spending programs; and writing off cuts from funding that might never have been spent.

You don’t have to cry over this, Speaker Boehner.  We’ll do it for you.

Unless more Republicans begin showing some backbone, like Rep. Paul Ryan did yesterday, there is going to be a mass political evacuation on both sides of the aisle, beginning in November of 2012.

Imagine that you are the owner of a popular restaurant. Things are going well for you, until a new restaurant opens up across the street.

This new competitor starts luring your regular customers away from you by offering cheaper meals, better service, and even an separate indoor playground for children to entertain themselves in.

These folks are driving you out of business. Do you:

a) Put out a NO CHILDREN ALLOWED sign?

b) Hire a bunch of know-nothing smart-aleck teenagers with no customer service skills?

c) Raise all the prices on your menu?

d) All of the above?

Back to this scenario in just a moment…

President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm) is going to speak to his customers, the American Public, today at 12:30 p.m., in an effort to get us to buy what he is selling.

Our man Scooter wants to bring back the meatloaf entree of Democratic policy back:

Hey, let’s increase taxes on the wealthy!

It was only last December that Americans had to suffer an exhibition of horrible customer service as Obama and Congress went back and forth concerning extending the George W. Bush Tax Rates.

Scooter wanted to go ahead and keep those tax rate for the middle class, but not for those that he considered wealthy, those individuals who make more than $200,000 a year and couples who make more than $250,000.

Folks who are only considered wealthy in a Third-World Country.

Republicans objected, along with the rest of Americans.

Running out of time, due to the end of the year, the politicians decided on a temporary, two-year extension of those tax rates.

Scooter warned that he would raise the issue again the next time the Bush tax cuts expire: in 2012, a re-election year.

Today’s appearance is, in all reality, the first speech of President Barack Hussein Obama’s Re-election Campaign.

As I reported earlier this week, senior White House adviser David Plouffe, making the rounds of all the Sunday morning talk shows, claimed that Americans won’t go for budget plans that place burdens on the middle class while asking nothing of people who make more than $200,000 a year.

Plouffe said on Fox News Sunday:

The president’s belief is this has to be a balanced approach. And if we do that, we can get deficit reduction in the country.

Just an aside here:  What in the name of Dow Jones and all her little averages does Obama know about how Americans think?

But, I digress…

While Pfouffe was playing his role as herald for the Leader of the Regime, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., also on Fox News, said:

They’re insisting that we have to (look) at raising taxes again, all while holding up the tax agreement that was signed in December. So, on one hand, we’re going to defend that tax agreement but then go ahead and violate it.

Per rasmussenreports.com:

Roughly two-out-of-three voters think Americans are overtaxed, and nearly as many say any federal tax increase should be subject to a vote by the American people. Complicating things for would-be budget cutters, however, is the belief by even more that any changes in Social Security and Medicare also should be voted on by the public.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters believe America is overtaxed. Twenty-four percent (24%) disagree, and 11% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This is virtually unchanged from this time last year.

But the Political Class strongly disagrees. While 79% of Mainstream voters think Americans are overtaxed, 87% of those in the Political Class don’t share that assessment.

And, in a related survey:

Twenty-four percent (24%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, April 3.

Since Obama assumed office in January 2009, confidence in the nation’s current course has ranged from a low of 22%, reached three weeks ago, to a high of 35% measured in early April 2009.

Remember my question about the Restaurant owner earlier?  Think about President Barack Hussein Obama as the owner of that Restaurant, and us, average working Americans, employers and employees, as his customers.

Remember the choices I gave you?

a) Put out a NO CHILDREN ALLOWED sign?

b) Hire a bunch of know-nothing smart-aleck teenagers with no customer service skills?

c) Raise all the prices on your menu?

d) All of the above?

All of these choices would drive your customers away, right?  And without customers, you would eventually have to close down your restaurant.

As customers of Obama’s restaurant, he seems determined to feed us a menu consisting of higher prices and poor customer service, while punitively punishing the investors in his restaurant by charging them more to invest.

After  President Obama’s speech to the nation this afternoon, if you still believe that his plan makes any sort of Economic sense whatsoever, then, I would advise you to never try to go into business for yourself.

KJ UPDATE 1:45 PM: I hate it when I’m right.

My, oh my, how the mighty have fallen.

On February 22, 2008, future and now-former CNN Hostess  Kathleen Parker wrote the following, as reported on realclearpolitics.com:

Barack Obama has many appealing qualities, not least his own reluctance to be swaddled in purple. Nothing quite says, “I’m only human” like whipping out a hankie and blowing one’s nose in front of 17,000 admirers. The audience’s applause was reportedly awkward, as if the crowd was both approving of anything their savior did, but a little disappointed at this rather ungodly behavior.

So what is the source of this infatuation with Obama? How to explain the hysteria? The religious fervor? The devotion? The weeping and fainting and utter euphoria surrounding a candidate who had the audacity to run for leader of the free world on a platform of mere hope?

…It is thus no surprise that the young are enamored of Obama. He’s a rock star. A telegenic, ultra-bright redeemer fluent in the planetary language of a cosmic generation. The force is with him.

But underpinning that popularity is something that transcends mere policy or politics. It is hunger, and that hunger is clearly spiritual. Human beings seem to have a yearning for the transcendent — hence thousands of years of religion — but we have lately shied away from traditional approaches and old gods.

Thus, in post-Judeo-Christian America, the sports club is the new church. Global warming is the new religion. Vegetarianism is the new sacrament. Hooking up, the new prayer. Talk therapy, the new witnessing. Tattooing and piercing, the new sacred symbols and rituals.

And apparently, Barack Obama is the new messiah.

Here’s how a 20-year-old woman in Seattle described that Obama feeling: “When he was talking about hope, it actually almost made me cry. Like it really made sense, like, for the first, like, whoa … ”

This New Age glossolalia may be more sonorous than the guttural emanations from the revival tent, but the emotion is the same. It’s all religion by any other name.

Whatever the Church of Obama promises, we should not mistake this movement for a renaissance of reason. It is more like, well, like whoa.

From bible.com:

Matthew 7:16-20, English Standard Version:

16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

After two years of horribly mishandling the most important job in the entire world, the Liberals’ “New Messiah’s” crown is weighing heavily upon the Leader of the Regime.

During a recent session with Hearst publishers and editors at the White House, Scooter whined that while he loves his life in the White House, he doesn’t enjoy some of the ways of Washington, like the “kabuki dance” among  professional politicians (like him) before serious policy discussions begin…and the most powerful man in the Free World petulantly mourns his loss of personal privacy.

I just miss – I miss being anonymous. I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls, driving to the supermarket, squeezing the fruit, getting my car washed, taking walks. I can’t take a walk.

And, by the way, there is a legitimate reason for those 60-something golf outings since Scooter’s been president:

It’s the only excuse I have to get outside for four hours at a stretch.

You could do something more worthwhile, Scooter, to “get outside”. Like, go visit our wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, without the cameras, like President Bush did.

Obama concluded his Pity Party by saying:

I just want to go through Central Park (in New York) and watch folks passing by … spend the day watching people. I miss that.

Yesterday, per rasmussenreports.com:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 19% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).

Today’s numbers reflect the lowest level of Strong Approval yet recorded for this president. There has been a sharp decline in enthusiasm among liberal voters.

Currently, just 37% of liberals Strongly Approve of the president’s performance. That’s down from 63% a year ago, 57% at the beginning of 2011, and 52% a week ago. Some liberal commentators have expressed disappointment with the president over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, the military action in Libya, and, most recently, the budget deal to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government. While liberal enthusiasm may be declining, 57% of voters believe the president is more liberal than they are.

Evidently, Mr. President, you’re not alone in your longing for your past anonymity.

Now that the Circus Parade that was last week’s Budget battle is over with, the street sweeper has shown up, ready and eager to take credit for all the entertainment.

Per wsj.com, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm) will grace us with a national address on television this Wednesday night.  During  the upcoming speech, he will unveil his brilliant plan to reduce America’s deficit,  after the parade has passed him by.

But that’s not all.  America’s sooooper genius will also present a plan to rid those evil, rich people of some more of their money, in order to spread the wealth around.

During this Wednesday’s speech, the president will unveil his plans for cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and changes to Social Security. He also will premier plans tax increases for people making over $250,000 a year, which are contained in his 2012 budget, and, of course, our socialist president wants to change parts of the tax code he thinks benefit the wealthy.

David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser, hit the Sunday morning talks shows yesterday, as a messenger, or herald, trumpeting the upcoming arrival of the Leader of the Regime and the magnificence of his upcoming pronouncement:

Every corner of the federal government has to be looked at here. Revenues [tax increases] are going to have to be part of this.

Wow. It’s pretty easy to be brave after the first wave takes all of the enemy’s fire for you, isn’t it?

According to White House insiders, Obama’s planned speech has caught Democrats in Congress off guard, and no one seems to know the details of the speech itself.

According to Plouffe, Obama will name a specific amount for deficit reduction, although, so far, the White House has kept mum about the amount.

Obama’s and his Administration’s excuse for the after-the-fact nature of this Presidential Address is that, even though they have long been working on a comprehensive plan to tackle the country’s debt, they waited so they would not complicate budget negotiations that almost shut down the government.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R – VA), the No. 2 Republican in the House, is not buying what the White House is selling. According to Cantor, Obama already passed up his chance to show how serious he is about deficit reduction with his 2012 budget:

Instead of returning back to the age-old playbook of raising taxes so that spending can continue, I think maybe the White House ought to take a look at what we’re talking about…which is to cut spending as well as to reform these entitlement programs.

Rep. Cantor said that the debate over top personal-income-tax rates has already been “settled” by last year’s elections and the end-of-the-year tax deal:

It was then that we all agreed it wouldn’t be a good thing if we want to see job creation for taxes to go up.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) released a plan last week that would make permanent the tax cuts approved under President George W. Bush. It would also close loopholes and lower tax rates. Ryan’s plan would essentially privatize Medicare and cut Medicaid spending by turning the program over to states to run. The GOP plan cuts $6.2 trillion over 10 years. Mr. Obama’s budget forecast a $1 trillion cut over the same period.

No one is sure what sort of Medicare cuts that Obama will be offering in his speech on Wednesday night. Plouffe would only say in his Sunday talk show appearances that the White House supports the Ryan provisions that preserve Medicare savings already in the health law. Regarding Social Security, Plouffe would only say that Obama is willing to work with Congress on a long-term plan.

Obama’s fellow Democrats are not impressed.

Around a month ago, senior Congressional Democrats pleaded with the White House to get involved in some bipartisan deficit-reduction talks led by a group of senators known as the Gang of Six. The Democrats thought that Obama could influence the talks before they became too focused on spending cuts. A Democrat from that group said that they never saw any help from the White House in the matter.

Norman Matoon Thomas (1884-1968) was a six-time Presidential Candidate  representing the Socialist Party of America.  In a campaign interview in 1948, he said the following:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Merriam-webster.com defines socialism as:

…any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

…a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

…a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Are you catching my drift? Mr. Thomas was right.  I think that he and the president would have been fast friends.

Pop Quiz, Gentle Reader.  Here is a post from The Conference.Blog from gop.gov.  When was it written:  A) June 22, 2010 B) December 3, 2010 C) April 8, 2011 ?

No fair looking  it  up.

…Steny Hoyer has finally admitted the sad truth that Democrats had been avoiding since the _______ deadline to pass a federal budget came and went over _______—the House will not pass a budget resolution for the first time since modern budgeting began. According to press reports, the reason Democrats refuse to address the fiscal crisis facing our country is because “there’s little appetite for taking on these issues in an election year.” It seems that Democrats are content to spend this election year hiding the true costs and record deficits of their big government policies.

…Hoyer has recently attempted to position himself as a fiscal hawk, saying in ______, “The course we are on leads to debt that exceeds the value of our entire economy. To a government that does nothing but pay for entitlements and pay interest to our creditors. And an end to American leadership in the world. ” Sadly, it seems that partisan election-year politics are more important to Democrats than America’s leadership in the world.

Hoyer told the press, “It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan, which is expected in December.” [Hoyer] is referring to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which was established by a presidential executive order (EO) on February 18, 2010, to “address our nation’s fiscal challenges.” The glaring problem with Leader Hoyer’s excuse is that the Commission was never meant to have any effect on the FY ____ budget process, and no Democrat ever asserted that this year’s budget depended on the Commission’s recommendations.

The American people deserve a budget from the House, not a political smokescreen. The Commission was created by a presidential decree and has nothing to do with the Democrats’ responsibility to pass an annual budget. Passing an annual budget is undisputedly the responsibility of Congress and is being shirked by Democrats so they can hide their big spending…

For those of you who picked June 22, 2010, you are absolutely correct.

The Dems have been kicking the can of worms known as the Budget down the road for a long time now.

You see, if they actually passed some limitations, they would not be able to continue recklessly spending our money.

The problem is, even though they are the ones responsible for not passing a Federal Budget when they controlled Congress, you wouldn’t know it by their comments:

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said:

This is no longer about budget issues it’s about bumper stickers.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. whined:

It would be a tragic mistake to force a government shutdown, but doubly tragic if the shutdown were on issues not related to spending.

Democrats are telling their minions in the Main Stream Media, and anyone else who will listen, that this is no longer a fight over numbers but rather about ideology, a blatant attempt to shift the blame that they shoulder to the back of the Tea Party.

The callous Democratic Politicans are also using the unborn as pawns in their poltical blame game, identifying a rider in the Republicans’ proposal for a temporary extension of spending that would outlaw federal funds for abortions in Washington, D.C., which they claim that they cannot support.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that they’re just trying to shift blame, as Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., Durbin and even the Leader of the Regime himself, President Barack Hussein Obama, have used the very same language in the past.

McConnell charges that if a shutdown does occur, Democrats would have

no one to blame but themselves.

The Democrats refuse to admit their liability for this fiasco.  On March 29th, for Majority Leader of the House Steny Hoyer said:

It’s self-evident we don’t control Washington, or we wouldn’t be having this problem.

No, you wouldn’t, Steny.  You guys would just kick it down the road again.

So, what is United States President Barack Hussein Obama, the Leader of the Free World, doing about this impasse?

Well, other than making some vague threats and blaming the Republicans, not a whole lot.

Scooter and the gang issued this State of Administrative Policy yesterday:

The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1363, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes. As the President stated on April 5, 2011, if negotiations are making significant progress, the Administration would support a short-term, clean Continuing Resolution to allow for enactment of a final bill.

For the past several weeks, the Administration has worked diligently and in good faith to find common ground on the shared goal of cutting spending. After giving the Congress more time by signing short-term extensions into law, the President believes that we need to put politics aside and work out our differences for a bill that covers the rest of the fiscal year. This bill is a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise for funding the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011 and avert a disruptive Federal Government shutdown that would put the Nation’s economic recovery in jeopardy.

Besides, the American public is actually figuring out which party is to blame for this mess.

Our post-racial President, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) spoke to the National Action Network, the Reverend Al Sharpton’s civil rights group, Wednesday in New York City.

Obama told his gathered admirers that he knew that there are times when people “lose hope” over whether national politics will ever change.

However, Obama stood by his miserable record of the first two years of his feckless presidency:

In America, we rise and fall together.

Boasting about his pet projects such as Obamacare, education, and the Food Police, the president asked the crowd to keep working with him:

We will build an America where the ideals of justice and equality and opportunity are alive and well. And we will reclaim the American dream in our time.

Translation: Share the wealth, Baby!

Obama also told the crowd that he was not out of touch:

I remember what it was like pumping gas.

Excuse me, Mr. President.  Do you have any Grey Poupon?

Last night, Obama was keeping a promise he made to return to speak to the group, after appearing as a presidential candidate in 2007.

Scooter told Reverend Al’s group that his administration has more work to do to create opportunities for all Americans and close gaps in education and employment rates between different groups.

Translation: As I said, share the wealth, Baby!

Obama told those assembled that, Americans of all types are struggling to make good. Obama then said that the black community faces higher unemployment than other groups. And he made the claim that the poorest in society had to sacrifice the most during the recession.

About Reverend Al’s National Action Network…

Per discoverthenetworks.org:

The National Action Network (NAN) was established in New York City in 1991 by Al Sharpton (its founder and president) and a group of activists who were “committed to the principles of non-violent direct action and civil disobedience.” NAN was formally incorporated as a not-for-profit 501(c)(4) organization on April 4, 1994 — a date chosen for its significance as the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1968 assassination; NAN’s founders saw themselves as “the keepers of the dream that Dr. King lived and died for.” The organization’s first national headquarters were situated in the heart of “Black Brooklyn”; in 1995 they were relocated permanently to Harlem. Today NAN consists of more than 40 chapters and thousands of members nationwide.

Viewing the United States as a nation rife with racism and discrimination against black people, NAN seeks to promote “the complete liberation of African-Americans from all injustices visited upon them as such so that they may receive ultimate recognition as free and equal members of the human community.” Toward that end, the organization is “vigilant and vigorous in fighting any discrimination based on the color of a person’s skin,” and works “for the passage of laws ensuring equal treatment … of all persons.” The motto of NAN’s “fight for social justice” is: “No justice, no peace.”

…NAN boasts with particular pride of having “spearheaded” the “historic Redeem the Dream March against police brutality and racial profiling.” Held in Washington, DC in August 2000, this event commemorated the 37th anniversary of the famous “I Have A Dream” speech which Martin Luther King, Jr. had delivered in that same city. At the NAN event, which was co-sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, one of the the featured speakers was Malik Zulu Shabazz. During his talk, Shabazz called on black young people, including “gang members,” to unite against their “common enemy” – i.e., “white America” and its allegedly racist police departments. He also articulated a “black dream that when we see caskets rolling in the black community … we will see caskets and funerals in the community of our enemy as well.”

Post-racial…yeah, right.

Earlier in the day , Scooter was trying to gin up excitement for American (Green) energy independence in Pennsylvania. Obama complained about how tough it’s going to be to get away from America’s dependence on oil. He then told those assembled at a wind turbine plant outside Philadelphia, that there’s little he can do to lower gasoline prices over the short term:

I’m just going to be honest with you. There’s not much we can do next week or two weeks from now.

Obama said that he wants to move toward

a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you He has set a goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025.

Especially since one of his best friends, Jeffrey Immelt, the head of GE, has heavily invested his company’s future in Green Energy.

According to Scooter, the move to Green Energy will not be easy, and anyone who says different, well…

they’re not telling the truth.

And as far as gas prices, gentle reader? He does not care:

Gas prices? They’re going to still fluctuate until we can start making these broader changes, and that’s going to take a couple of years to have serious effect.

With the Federal Government on the brink of a shutdown, due to his Democratic Congress kicking last year’s Federal Budget down the road, Americans struggling with outrageous gas prices and looming inflation hitting them in the face every time they go to the grocery store, Obama decides it’s time to start his re-election campaign.

Priorities…priorities.

In another Pot meet Kettle moment in the illustrious reign of President Barack Hussein Obama, Dear Leader called on Congress, especially Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, to act like “grown-ups” after a day of Democratic posturing and Republican resolve.

Obama came down from the mountaintop and made a surprise appearance at yesterday’s White House press briefing, after imperiously staying on the sidelines in the contentious Congressional budget battle for the last several weeks. The Leader of the Regime made a promise to hold meetings around-the-clock in an effort to stop Friday’s looming Government Shutdown.

Scooter announced that he would not sign off on a Republican proposal for a third short-term spending deal, unless it’s a preliminary document to a final bipartisan agreement.

Obama, looking a little less than cool, proclaimed that Republicans need to “act like grownups” and get a Budget done (Of course, he did not mention the fact that his Democratic Congress worked all last year without a Budget.).

Obama boasted that:

We have more than met the Republicans half way.

He was referring to an agreement on $73 billion in cuts from his 2011 budget, a number originally offered by Speaker Boehner.

Ever the showman, Obama held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart and said:

We are now closer than we’ve ever been in getting an agreement.

Obama suggested that he might have to postpone his trip to Philadelphia today, in order to appear presidential and put his two cents into the Budget talks (Oh, joy and rapture.).

There are some things we can’t control… like earthquakes and tsunamis… What we can control is our capacity to have a reasoned, fair conversation between the parties.

I think the American people recognize we are in some pretty unsettled times right now, we don’t have times for games, we don’t have time for trying to score political points and maneuvering… Not on this.

Mr. President, methinks you had best put a muzzle on your gal, Pelosi, then:

Yesterday, the former (Thank you, Lord.) Speaker of the House said:

In one of the bills before us, six million seniors are deprived of meals — homebound seniors are deprived of meals. People ask us to find our common ground, the middle ground. Is middle ground three million seniors not receiving meals? I don’t think so. We’ve got to take this conversation from a debate about numbers and dollar figures and finding middle ground there to the higher ground of national values. I don’t think the American people want any one of those six million people to lose their meals or the children who are being thrown off of Head Start and the rest of it.

Which is it, Nancy, six million or three million? Make up your rapidly deteriorating, melodramatic mind!

Speaker Boehner told reporters that even though he tought that the meeting went well, they are nowhere close to a Budget deal. He issued a statement, saying:

Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I’ve made clear that their $33 billion is not enough.

In the statement, Boehner called the president’s proposal “smoke and mirrors” and asked that the White House accept a new one-week extension with a year-long guarantee for military spending.

According to Obama, Boehner and Reid will meet later today, and they have asked for administration officials to stay away.

The petulant President whined:

The speaker apparently didn’t want our team involved in that discussion. That’s fine. If they can sort it out, then we’ve got more than enough to do. If they can’t sort it out then, I want them back here tomorrow. But it would be inexcusable for us to not be able to take care of last year’s business.

Last year’s business that your Democratic Congress blew off.

According to Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck, Obama did not describe the Boehner/Reid meeting accurately:

The Speaker never said he didn’t want the White House there, just that he wanted to meet with Senator Reid. Speaker Boehner and Senator Reid have been having regular discussions on this topic for weeks. This is just one of those occasions.

According to the president, several functions would stop if the government shuts down Friday, including some veterans’ benefits, small business loans and national parks and monuments.

Did he go to the same drama school as Pelosi?

Obama made the remark lawmakers have “enough of a cushion” that is not available to other Americans.

Like the millions of dollars that you and the First Lady are sitting on, Mr. President?

Mr.  President, if you think that your petulant pronouncements yesterday were grown-up behavior, I do not think that you know what that word means.

KJ UPDATE 4/6/11 8:18 AM: SO MUCH FOR THOSE AROUND-THE-CLOCK MEETINGS, HUH?

KJ UPDATE  4/6/11 4:46 PM: SPEAKER BOEHNER TELLS SCOOTER:

WHOOP!  THERE IT IS!