Is The Obama Administration Just A Reincarnation of TV's "Car 54" Sitcom?

We have never been a big fan of Barack Obama. We could go into all of the shortcomings of his administration and personal management style but we have already done that many times before. 

The most recent attempt at framing his failed administration was last month. At that time, we did a series of posts that covered 122 reasons why his administration justly deserves the recent and dubious honor of being viewed by a third of America in a Gallup poll as the worst Presidential administration since 1945. Those 122 reasons can be reviewed at your leisure at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/07/part-1-why-obama-administration.html

But those 122 distinct reasons still do not totally capture the feeling and sense of why this is a failed administration. It is more a sense of disinterest that this President often has in doing his job. He is more like a prince than a President. He likes his photo ops with athletic teams and famous celebrities rather than the nitty gritty details and tedium of actually governing. 

He loves to travel the world giving speeches or going on vacations, all paid for by the American taxpayer. 

He loves to play golf even when world events are crying out for his attention and leadership. 

Fundraisers and schmoozing are more important to him even when Americans are desperately fighting for their lives in Benghazi. 

Princely behavior, yes. Presidential leadership, no.

All of these actions and his overall inattention to governing led me to the startling conclusion that he is not very different from an old 1960s sitcom television show, "Car 54". The theme music to the show went as follows (for younger readers, Idlewild was the name of JFK airport in New York City prior to the Kennedy assassination, Khruschev was the Russian Premier at that time):

There's a hold-up in the Bronx,

Brooklyn's broken out in fights,
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights.
There's a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild,
CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?

(music)

There's a hold-up in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights,
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights.
There's a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild,
CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?

The YouTube version of the original TV show theme song can be seen and heard at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocra_xWHnlg

Which got me to thinking: the lead characters in the Car 54 series, Toody and Muldoon, were not much different than this President. They always seemed to be out of contact and unreachable, besides being incompetent in their job, when crises were going down. 

What would it take to adapt the Car 54 theme song to this Presidential administration? In a few hours of scribbling, I found out that Car 54 really was not much different than this Presidency:

Unemployment is appalling,
GDP it keeps on falling,
Putin’s warring in the Ukraine,
Malaysia lost another airplane,
Cartels are on the border,
Chi-town has no law and order,
BARACK OBAMA WHERE ARE YOU?

Christians slaughtered in Iraq,
Federal debt is out of whack,
Constitution getting shredded,
While veterans can’t get medics,
Middle East is under fire,
Obama Care cost going higher,
BARACK OBAMA WHERE ARE YOU?

Foreign girls are being taken,
But your golf game’s not forsaken,
Hoping soon you’ll start to lead,
Your fundraisers serve no need,
Your promises have been broke,
Your photo ops are a joke,
BARACK OBAMA WHERE ARE YOU?

Sad but true even if done in a comical light. There is a whole lot of angst, death, war, and misery going on in the world but that seems to be secondary to this President, and this Congress, as most if not all of them are about to embark on a long, carefree summer vacation.

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no musical talent at all so I am totally unable to take the above parody words and translate them into a good sounding, musical parody of this administration using the Car 54 theme music. If anyone out there wants to take that step, I welcome your musical ability to try your best shot of adopting these words to the Car 54 theme music. I would be more than happy to share your creation in this blog, its related Twitter page, and several Facebook pages that promote freedom and liberty. 

Who knows, these words with your musical talents, might finally wake up some people in this country and show them that we are being served by a Washington political class that is no more competent or serious than a 1960s television sitcom. Good luck!

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Barack Obama, Where Are You? (Sung To The Tune Of "Car 54 Where Are You?")

There could have been a few alternative titles to today's post. The "Second Coming Of Jimmy Carter" would have been one alternative since it captures the rudderless, leaderless administration of Jimmy Carter that we are currently experiencing under the Obama administration. Another title could have been "Where's Barack?" based on the children's books, "Where's Waldo," where you try to find Waldo, or Barack, since it is not obvious where either are and what either are doing.

However, in a tribute to one of 1960's television sitcoms, today's post is based on the TV show, "Car 54 Where Are You?" The basis of the show revolved around two New York City policemen, Toody and Muldoon, who were assigned to car 54 and who were not the sharpest officers on the NYC police force. For those of you who have never seen the show, let's start with the original lyrics:

There's a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights,
There's a traffic jam in Harlem,
That's backed up to Jackson Heights.
There's a scout troop short a child,
Kruschev's due at Idlewild,
Car 54, where are you?

Now, lets replace these lyrics with lyrics from the new television show, "Barack Obama, Where Are You?"

There's a debt fight up in Congress,
Muammar's forces are a killing,
Unemployment still so high,
B-Ball picks get top billing,
Nuke reactors are on fire,
Gas prices soaring higher,
Barack Obama, where are you?

These new lyrics capture the state of the Obama adminstration, from the beginning until now. Leaderless as people die in Libya. Leaderless as the country heads for a financial meltdown. Leaderless as the lack of a national energy policy leads to soaring energy prices. Leaderless as unemployment stays unacceptably high. President Obama is as lost as Toody and Muldoon  were decades ago. Consider the following examples:

- The Federal government is spending well beyond its means, with a Federal budget deficit in February alone of about $225 billion. This is about half of what Bush's worst ANNUAL budget deficit was. Difficult decisions and cuts need to be made across all spending categories including the politically sensitive categories of defense, Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid. This is a turning point, for better or worse, in the country's history as the next several months may decide whether or not the country makes the tough calls and fixes its financials or does not and suffers incalculable economic distress.

Where is Obama on this topic? According to a March 13, 2011 Associated Press article, the President had this to say on the $14 TRILLION national debt and the Congressional debate on how to tame it: "This is an appropriations task." This allows him to avoid any difficult decisions and make Congress do the dirty work and take any political hits. Hardly a leadership stance, let others do the heavy lifting.

- A member of his own party, Democratic Congressman Joe Manchin, recognizes the gravity of the budget situation and publicly yearned for the President to help resolve the issue. But according to a White House spokesperson: " There's a very strong gravitational pull in this town to try to drag the President to every single skirmish and new story." Fair enough, the President should not be involved in every national or local issue. However, what was he doing attending an anti-bullying session/forum rather than saving the economic health of the country? Seems like a bad sense of priorities and hardly a leadership stance, even though your own party's members are calling for you help.

- On the major problems and issues sweeping the Middle East, the President is no where to be found. He pops up on television for a quick hit here and there and speaks some meaningless garble, tied to no overall strategy or leadership position. As a result, the country's foreign policy is exposed for how weak it is as friendly despots disappear or are about to disappear in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and possibly Saudi Arabia, with the long term replacements having unknown consequences for the United States. One would have thought that the President, leader of the free world would be putting together and implementing a consistent and sound, long term Middle East strategy.

However, according to a New York Times article on March 10, 2011, the President apparently has no overall leadership or strategic plan in place. He is treating each Middle East country differently, based on what he sees as America's needs. Unfortunately, by standing for nothing and just reacting to each crisis, the article states: "This emphasis on pragmatism over idealism has left Mr. Obama vulnerable to criticism that he is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the Arab street protesters."

The article goes on to contrast this piecemeal approach to the  way Ronald Reagan's emphasis on freedom ended the Cold War in a favorable way for the United States. Without a leadership stance and overarching vision on the Middle East, the President is hardly taking a leadership stance.

- Regarding Libya, the whole world is aghast as the Libyan government guns down, bombs, and slaughters some of the brave rebels who have risen up against the tyrant. Many have called for a no fly zone over Libya to give the rebels at least a fighting chance. France and Britain have called for a no fly zone. The 22 nation Arab League has called for a no fly zone. President Obama? No where to be found even though he boldly stated in early March that the Defense Department was looking at military options.

However, despite this little bit of saber rattling, it is now obvious that Obama will not commit to any military intervention, despite the slaughter. His rationale: "Anytime I send United States forces into a potentially hostile situation, there are risks involved and there are consequences. And it is my job as President to make sure that we have considered all those risks." How non-committal can you get? How weak of a leadership stance is this? By the time he considers all of the risks, no action would have been taken and the situation will be resolved, for better or for worse.

- It seems that more and more Americans are tuning into the rudderless and ineffective administration we are now being ruled by. As part of Obama's education initiative, the White House is sponsoring a contest where U.S. high schools can apply to have the President speak at their commencement as reward for having and extolling the virtues of their own high schools.

However, it seems the idea is falling flat on its face. As the deadline for applying approached recently, according to ABC News, the White House was scrambling to get more applications to be filed since only 14 applications had been received up to that point in time.

If you search the Internet to get the number of high schools in the country, you get widely varying estimates but they all seem to be around 20,000. If only 14 of them put in an application for the supposed honor of having the President speak at their school, then only a minuscule  .07% of eligible schools thought it worthwhile enough to have the President come talk to them. If he was a true leader, I am sure that he would draw applications at a better then .07% rate. Pitiful. Hardly a leadership performance.

This President has taken the lead on nothing. He appeared clueless and rudderless on the Gulf oil spill. He let Reid and Pelosi do the heavy work on health care reform. His business-as-usual budget is a disgrace in light of the huge national debt. He has instituted no bold and strategic intitiative in the areas of education, energy, illegal immigration, etc. Nothing, nada.

He insists on leading from the rear, lest his political aura take a hit. Consider a recent quote regarding the budget crisis: "What I have done is, every day, I talk to my team. I give them instructions in terms of how they can participate in the negotiations, indicate what's acceptable, indicate what's not acceptable."  Can you imagine Reagan, Churchill, General Eisenhower, General Patton, Coach Lombardi or any other great leader behaving this way?

This President should not be President, he should be a Prince, like Prince Charles in England. A prince likes to go to high profile, no risk events (anti-bullying session), a prince likes to state his opinion on trivial matters (March Madness basketball picks), a prince likes to go on a lot of vacations,  all princely duties. Let Obama be the Prince of The United States while we get a real doer and leader into the White House.

So, what is the answer to the question: Where is Barack Obama? This past week, the answer has been pretty obvious, and pretty petty:

• After a phone call reviewing the earthquake situation in Japan this weekend, he went out and played some golf. Never mind that thousands are dead, the world may soon get a dangerous dose of radioactivity, the U.S. military may be needed to help out, and there are probably many Americans in Japan, that are now dead, injured, lost, or in trouble. And the prince plays golf.
• With budget deficits hitting records, with unemployment still very high, with state governments in financial crisis, and with public schools still failing, the President attended an ant-bullying session. If you asked America where the bullying issue fell in their life priorities, do we really think that this issue would have cracked the top 25? I doubt it but that is where the prince was.
• With Mexico devolving into a lawless state, with our borders still leaking profusely with illegal immigrants, with the war on drugs still being lost, with his health care law under duress from the courts, Congress, and many well informed and educated citizens, the President had time to fill out his NCAA basketball brackets AND attend a taping session with ESPN where he took the time to discuss his picks. Again, where do we think the President's view on the basketball tournament would fall in a list of America's priorities?  I doubt it would be very high up there relative to other issues but it was important to the prince.

The Prince has been busy, golfing, attending non-critical forums, and worrying about his tourney picks. That is where he is and that is unacceptable. Toody and Mudoon could have done better work out of Car 54.


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment