CHANGELINGS

Change, change, change. That was the mantra of the Obama campaign. It also was the buzzword of the Obama-maniacs. That group of faithful followers who cried at all his speeches, took all his words to heart and looked at him as the Messiah who would lead this country to Utopia. Now, nearly a month after the historic elections, change has come to the Obama camp, but it's not the change they thought. That change was from flighty idealist to realist.

It's not really Barack's fault that some people projected unrealistic expectations upon him, those people are seldom grounded in reality anyway. They are people who believe war is never the answer, even when avoiding war is more costly. They are people who think you can force the rich to do your bidding, even as they admit the rich run this country. They believe you can pry power from the powers-that-be simply by voting in a President, even as they admit that we have a balance of power and a Constitution that keeps a President from doing whatever he wants. To all those people, I dedicate this piece.

The problem is, for the most part, that they are ignorant (and I don't mean that in a degrading way) of the way our government runs. Because of that, they don't understand how hard it is for a President to get his agenda through. They have been told by their Left-Leaning Media that G.W. is single-handedly responsible for the War in Iraq, the price of oil, the state of our economy, and probably believe that Bush hired-out the attacks on 9/11. If Bush could do all that, they reason, then why shouldn't Obama be able to push through Universal Healthcare? Better distribution of wealth?

The truth is, and you Liberals should probably sit down for this one, Bush didn't really control all those things himself.

The War in Iraq was pushed through by a cabala of people from Rumsfeld to Bush Senior. Poor G.W. was just their pawn. It was planned and agreed upon by the RNC with the help of other nations and even some Democrats that were sick of bowing for oil and sick of the troublesome example that Sadam set forth in the Middle-East. After 9/11, they saw their chance and used, let me repeat that, used, not created, the event to their advantage. You people who believe that Bush orchestrated 9/11 have a real problem sorting fact from conjecture and I can't do a thing to help you. As hard as I have tried. If it wasn't 9/11, it would have been something else. Our Presidents can't get away with a blow job or a burglary much less something that would require the Pentagon to kill it's own people. God, I can only hope none of you end up as part of a jury.

The price of oil, and thereafter the price of your gas, is manipulated by world factors such as supply and demand, OPEC, and the value of the U.S. dollar. Most of this oil (77%) is in the hands of Governments who have their own agendas which are contrary to ours. Bush couldn't control that if his life depended on it. Do yourself a favor and spend some time researching where oil comes from and how much we (the U.S.) consume. It'll do you a lot of good.

What really happens is that these ideas are hatched over years and through politics and money, people are brought on board until they have enough people to make it happen. Then they sell their idea to the unwitting public through their media sources. It's as simple as that. Without those people in Congress, without the support of your party and without the lobbyists to pay for it, ideas die. Some things have tons of support from the public (like ending abortion) but aren't supported by either Party because it might dry up the well of lobbyist monies that both sides get from hotly contested issues. Change in Congress is for sale to the highest and most organized bidder. No one can do it alone, including President Obama.

For this reason, President Obama has carefully tried to craft a cabala of his own. One that he hopes will be powerful enough, connected enough, and financed enough to pass the ideas that he holds closest to his heart. In looking at his options he has to consider the politics involved. Will he piss off others in his Party that expect power through seniority? Will he lose their support on key issues? Are there people on the other side of the aisle willing to join him? Can he trade positions for support? This is not change, but it is reality. For Obama to get anything done, he needs to enter the very world he threaten to change. Fortunately for him, all his fellow politicians understand that "Change" is simply the keyword used by every politician to take a position held by the other Party. Especially when things are going wrong.

So don't be too hard on Barack, you Changelings. He's just doing what he has to do to get any change at all. He picked ex-Clintonites for posts because he had to. He picked Hillary for Sect. of State to unify his Party, and he's cutting deals just like every politician before him. It's true that it's not change, but it's what he has to do. The best we can hope for is that he will keep our best interests at heart. But most importantly, don't blame him for not bringing the change that you hoped for in the blink of an eye. After all, it's you that didn't understand how hard it is to "change". H.C.