“You lie!”

With those two little words, a Republican congressman who was barely known outside of South Carolina was instantly rocketed from relative obscurity to notoriety. 

 The outburst occurred on the House floor about mid-way through President Obama’s health care address to the Congress yesterday.  The President had been attempting to dispel what he referred to as “myths” in the proposed health care bill, one of them being that under his health plan, no illegal immigrants would be able to qualify for any benefits. 

Congressman Joe Wilson, who has read the bill at least twice and knows differently, spontaneously shouted “you lie!” There was immediately a mixture of gasps, boos and “oohs”, and a brief moment of complete shock on the faces of Vice President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

However, Obama, to his credit, quickly regained his composure, smiled and re-stated that “it’s the truth”. 

Soon after the address, Wilson called the White House and apologized for his outburst, explaining that he was caught in the moment when he blurted out his accusation. According to those who know him, his behavior was uncharacteristic of him. Even White House correspondent Jamie Dupree stated on the Neal Boortz Show that out of all the politicians he knew, Wilson would’ve been one of the last guys on his list to display that behavior, referring to him as normally “a pretty laid-back guy”.

It didn’t take long for Wilson to be excoriated by his fellow politicians, Democratic and Republican alike, for “disrespecting” both the President and the House floor.  Some have called for his resignation.

I should be angry at Wilson. I really should. I’ve lectured before in previous columns about the Republicans and conservatives needing to learn to think before acting, about not giving the opposition any more ammunition to use against us than they have already. And give them ammo he did. Not only has the focus shifted from the health care bill to Wilson’s outburst, allowing the Democrats to continue their plans with less of a spotlight on them, but it gave Obama an opportunity to present himself as the “benevolent leader” by graciously accepting Wilson’s apology. It also allowed Nancy Pelosi to dismiss him as just another typical, right-wing whack job, stating;

“Yes, there is a procedure that could have been implemented. I think that the president did the right thing; just continued on from it and didn’t give it any more attention than it deserved. We’re just going to move on.“

Yet, despite all the damage that he may have done, I just can’t get angry with Congressman Wilson. I simply can’t. In fact, a huge part of me wants to give him a big slap on the back. 

For Wilson is the only Republican to do what none of the others have had the spine to do; call Obama a liar straight to his face, right in the middle of yet another one of his propaganda speeches. True, he apologized soon after, which may make many of his supporters unhappy, but Wilson is of no use to us if he is forced to resign his position, so it was the prudent thing to do.

Before any of you give me any lectures about how we should “respect the presidency and the president, no matter who is in office, whether you agree with him or not”, let me remind you of something; how many politicians have shown that same type of respect to President Bush when he was in office? How many times has he been referred to as a “liar” or “Hitler”, both by rival politicians and private citizens?   Naturally, these same, two-faced critics are all smiles and handshakes whenever you see them with him right before any of his speeches. 

Hell, one Iraqi journalist even called him a “dog” and threw his shoes at him, though Bush, in true “The Matrix” fashion, dodged both missiles, later joking that “All I can report is it is a size 10 shoe.” 

Where was the concern for the respect for the Office of the Presidency when Bill Clinton decided to have himself a little “party-for-two” in the Oval Office with Monica Lewinsky?   I don’t recall the Dems falling all over themselves with concern with that one.

While I have respect for the Office of the Presidency, it's ridiculous to assume that this means I should automatically respect the man running the office.  As one who is familiar with Obama’s radical background, including his Socialist beliefs and questionable choices for associates, no one, whether a Democrat or well-meaning Republican, has the right to demand this out of me. If the president wants my respect, he’s going to have to earn it.

Demanding that I respect Obama is like demanding that I respect the head Don of a mafia crime family because of all the “accomplishments” that he has made. 

I’d like to end this by giving Congressman Wilson a big “thank you”, not only for actually having the guts to challenge Obama (even if only for a fleeting moment), but for proving to me that Nancy Pelosi is actually capable of projecting another emotion on her face besides that plastic, Joker-esqe smile.  That alone was worth suffering through the address.

We could use a few more guys like Wilson… and be prepared for an onslaught of “You Lie!” t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Sources:

SC Voters Surprised by Wilson’s ‘You Lie’ Outburst: Seanna Adcox, AP, 09/10/09

Pelosi: Joe Wilson’s Outburst ‘Stunning’: CNN, Counton2.com, 09/10/09

Bush Dodges Shoes Thrown by Iraqi Journalist: posted by “tpmtv”, Youtube, 12/14/08

Well, today was the big day. Obama has given his speech. Many kids heard it, many others didn't. I've finally had the chance to read the text of the speech, so now I can give my thoughts on it.

As many of us predicted, the speech, which wasn't actually written until after the ruckus started, was almost squeaky-clean, and focused mainly on the values of working hard, personal responsibilities, and "developing their talents, skills and intellect". He also encourages the students not to define themselves by their failures, citing a few examples of celebrities such as J.K. Rowling and Michael Jordan, who had failed in their previous endeavors before they found success.

I found this quote especially interesting...

"Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, You write your own destiny. You write your own future."

Call me crazy, but it almost looks as if the speech was written by a conservative. Every point mentioned so far are basic, conservative principles. This brings me to wonder... how much can Obama, who has not only constantly preached reliance on the government, but has actually been involved in the government takeover of private enterprises (not to mention has hired staff members and czars who share his socialist ideals), actually believe in what he said in that speech? It's no wonder that so many conservative parents were suspicious of Obama's motives for giving the speech in the first place. Though on the record, I still say it was a bad idea to try to prevent students from listening to the speech in the first place.

On a side note, heaven help those poor kids who decide to study to become doctors. They're going to be fleeing this country in droves if universal health care passes.

So, just what are Obama's motives here?

Is it possible that he actually believes in what he said, and just didn't correlate what he said in the speech with his socialist policies that would actually work against these beliefs?

Is he using similar tactics as he did when he used capitalist rhetoric to promote a socialist policy, as when he constantly stressed the words "competition" and "keeping the businesses honest" while trying to cram the "public option" for health care down our throats, only this time, using conservative rhetoric to hide behind his socialist policies?

Or maybe... just maybe... someone on his staff was actually clever enough to actually have planned this event exactly the way it just happened; announce a controversial speech, wait for the predictable conservatives to have a knee-jerk reaction and go crazy, then after observing the reactions, write the speech the exact opposite of what the conservatives anticipated.

Ha ha! Made you cry wolf! Now how stupid do you look?

It's a long shot, I know. I realize that I may be giving them too much credit, and I probably sound like one of those crazy conspiracy theorists about now, but I do think it's plausible.

I guess we're just going to have to wait and see.

Sources:

A Message of Hope and Responsibility for America's Students: Jesse Lee, Whitehouse.org, 09/08/09 

Due to an unfortunate, if understandable, knee-jerk reaction to the announcement of President Obama’s planned speech to our school children last week, the conservative movement has quite possibly lost a valuable opportunity to strike a major blow against the administration. 

Once the word got out of Obama’s plans to address the children this Tuesday about “working hard, staying in school, and personal responsibility”, angry conservative parents have vowed that their children will be pulled out of classes to avoid watching it. 

As I’ve said, the reaction is understandable. There’s something strangely Orwellian about it, especially considering that the speech about “personal responsibility, education and success” is coming from a man who has consistently preached that our salvation will come from relying on the government to take care of us… not to mention that he has taken actions to enforce this doctrine. It does rightly arouse suspicion.

But once again, our side has made the mistake of reacting, rather than thinking. 

A smarter move would have been rather than raising a fuss over the speech, but allowing Obama to say whatever he wanted to say.   In all likelihood, he would’ve said something that could have been exposed as some type of indoctrination.   Not only could we could have used those statements against him, we would’ve had audio and video proof of him saying it.  This is called “giving them enough rope to hang themselves with it”.

Unfortunately, that opportunity is greatly diminished. Due to the ruckus that has been raised, you can be assured that Obama’s speech writers have re-written the speech to keep it as squeaky-clean as possible. We have effectively given the opposition an almost guaranteed strike against us. It will fall along the lines of “See? They made this huge deal out of nothing. If they were wrong about this, imagine what else they are wrong about; like the public option, for example.” One could almost wonder if they actually planned for it to happen this way. This would be disturbing, as it would mean that we have been acting too predictably in their favor.

In the world of martial arts, there are styles that stress not just attacking your opponent with your own strength and momentum, but also by using the opponent’s strength and momentum against him (judo and aikido being the most well known) as well. The same principle can be applied here. If your opponent is aggressive, use that momentum against them to throw them off balance, then counter attack.  Don’t just blindly attack back, or you’re going to leave yourself exposed... like we just did.

However, it may not be too late. Obama, if anything, is arrogant and short-sighted, so there is still the possibility that he will make the mistake of inadvertently slipping in some subtle form of indoctrination in his speech. Use that opportunity. Rather than not allowing your child to watch the speech, why not have him listen to it carefully, then report back to you what was said? Perhaps it would be possible for him to take notes, or even bring in a recording device to tape the audio. Then, listen to the recording together and discuss with your child what Obama said, and ask what he thought Obama said, rather than just relying on the teacher to interpret Obama’s words for him. Not only would this negate any possible indoctrination that Obama might try, but it could teach your child to learn to listen to what someone (especially politicians) says carefully, rather than just taking his words at face value, as so many of Obama’s supporters did during the election (and continue to do).

It should also be noted that the Obama administration has announced plans to publish the text of the speech on the White House website this Monday. This will give you and your child the opportunity to compare what is written in the text, and what Obama actually says.

THAT is thinking strategically. 

Sources:

Obama’s Televised Speech to Students Sparks new Controversy: Libby Quaid & Linda Stewart Ball, Associated Press, 09/04/09

Duncan Says Furor Over Obama Speech ‘Silly’: Associated Press, 09/09/09