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Don't believe all the Washington talk that President Obama had a great lame duck session and goes into the new year and the new 112th congress with the whip hand. Utter nonsense. Let's review the lame duck session as it happened -- not as it has been instantly revised by the ever-obliging Washington press corps.

Reuters) - A chastened President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged to seek compromise with Republicans who won big in congressional elections and admitted he had lost touch with voters who delivered a "shellacking" to him and his Democrats. But on issue after issue, Obama gave little ground on his positions as the two sides gear up for negotiations over how to tackle the sluggish economy, the main reason the electorate has soured on his leadership

SNIP The most pressing question as Mr. Obama picks through the results on Wednesday morning will be what lessons he takes from the electoral reversals. Was this the natural and unavoidable backlash in a time of historic economic distress or was it a repudiation of a big-spending activist government? Was it primarily a failure of communications as the White House has suggested lately or was it a fundamental disconnect with the values and priorities of the American public? “He will read the results carefully and hear the messages the American people are sending,” David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser and...

(I'm not vouching for the veracity of this, form your own judgements) ------------------------------------------------------ posted on 31-10-2010 @ 02:21 AM Rumors abound of a sordid affair sure to rock the political world. "A scandal sure to dwarf the Watergate incident" according to some sources. In what can only be described as a bizzare and twisted tale of intrigue, hushed whispers can be heard brewing in all of Washington's political circles. As insiders begin to lose hope in Obama, many are speaking out about his outrageous behavior; ---------------------------------------------------- White House Insider: "They were in shock at the president’s behavior." So who do...

Soon after Barack Obama's inauguration Sam Tanenhaus opined in The New Republic and later in a stylistic book, The Death of Conservatism, that liberalism had won a lasting political triumph in the 2008 elections and that conservatives were the wave of the past. Tanenhaus, who edits the influential Week in Review section of The New York Times, was expressing post-election conventional wisdom when he declared that conservative doctrine had "not only been defeated but discredited" by Obama's election... Another 2009 book, by the Democratic strategist James Carville, put the case bluntly. In 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule...

If you’re a left-of-center media personality and you use your national TV platform to call a candidate for the United States Senate a “bitch,” how might you be rewarded? Apparently in this day and age, you’re granted an interview with a former sitting president of your political party. Even though he wasn’t one of the most distinguished presidents of the United States, former President Jimmy Carter appeared on Joy Behar’s HLN program to promote his book, “White House Diary.” During his interview, Behar asked Carter to offer his assessment of Barack Obama’s performance as president. ...more (w/video)...

His favorable rating and re-elect figures are also at new lows PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama averaged 44.7% job approval during the seventh quarter of his presidency. His average approval rating has declined each quarter since he took office, falling by more than two percentage points in the most recent quarter to establish a new low. Obama's decreased popularity is also evident in his favorable rating. For the first time, more Americans view the president unfavorably (50%) than favorably (47%), and his favorable rating is the lowest of his presidency. Since his inauguration, positive opinions of him have declined by...

Obama’s remarks on 9/11 were about what you would expect from a president who ridiculed his countrymen for overreacting to the most lethal terrorist attack on our soil and who can’t manage to utter the worlds “Islamic fundamentalists” or “jihadists.” Really, let’s not dwell on the bad stuff, he tells us. “On this day, it’s perhaps natural to focus on the images of that awful morning — images seared into our souls. It’s tempting to dwell on the final moments of the loved ones whose lives were taken so cruelly.” Yes, it is tempting — because that is what the...

The President's actions are so bizarre that they mystify his critics and supporters alike. (snip) But instead of readying us for the challenge, our President is trapped in his father's time machine. Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream....

Nearly two years ago, the political world could only marvel at the breadth of voter support for Barack Obama. The new president had won over voters once thought to have abandoned his party for good. He'd found new reservoirs of support among groups many thought were tapped out. He energized a coalition — made up of blacks, women, Latinos, young voters and large numbers of suburbanites — that some believed would keep Democrats in power for years to come. A scant 20 months later, the Obama coalition is frayed and frazzled. A majority of those who voted for Obama still...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Sunday hailed reductions in violence in Iraq and said he believed Iraqis would resolve the impasse in their attempts to form a coalition government. "The trend lines have been steadily declining violence. Even after we left the cities, what you've seen is lower and lower levels of violence," Obama said in an interview with NBC News. "The Iraqi security forces are functioning, at least as well, if not better, than any of us had anticipated." Obama will deliver a nationally televised speech on Tuesday that will highlight what administration officials say is his fulfillment...

President Obama is more popular among Muslims than any other religious group in the country, a survey released yesterday shows. Obama retains the support of 78 percent of Muslims, compared with 61 percent of Jews, 43 percent of Protestants, 50 percent of Catholics and 24 percent of Mormons, the Gallup poll found. Obama's support dropped among voters of all religions since he assumed the presidency 17 months ago -- but less so among Muslims. His backing from Muslims had been 86 percent a year ago.

As former Bush speechwriter Peter Wehner writes, liberals "are expressing deepening alienation from our nation and turning on the American people with a vengeance." They thought they had a mandate from heaven in 2008 and can't bear the thought that they deluded themselves. They've gone from triumphalism to a petulant and uncomprehending tantrum in less than two years. The rump majority looks more exhausted by the day.

With consumers and businesses keeping a lid on expenses, more and more small and mid-size restaurants are throwing in their dish towels and closing up shop. Southern California lost nearly a thousand more restaurants than it gained during the 12 months that ended in March, representing a net 2% drop that was twice the national average, according to the New York research firm NPD Group. Nearly all the closings were among independently owned restaurants: small, family businesses that just couldn't hold on as customers held back. Earlier in the year restaurants reported modest increases in business, but the jumps in...

A majority of those surveyed by Gallup disapproved of President Obama's job performance for the first time.  According to the Gallup daily tracking poll released on Tuesday, 51 percent of U.S. adults said they disapproved of how Obama was handling his job, compared with 42 percent who approve.  The poll reflects a one-point change from Monday, when Obama's disapproval number hit 50 percent for the first time. Republicans were quick to point out the new number to further their argument that Obama is a liability to Democratic candidates in this fall's midterm elections.Obama this week has been on a campaign...

WASHINGTON – Independents who embraced President Barack Obama's call for change in 2008 are ready for a shift again, and that's worrisome news for Democrats. Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this November's elections, according to combined results of recent Associated Press-GfK polls. That's way down from the 52 percent of independents who backed Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain two years ago, and the 49 percent to 41 percent edge by which they preferred Democratic candidates for the House in that election, according...

Tens of thousands of people lined up at an East Point shopping center hoping to get federal housing assistance became unruly Wednesday morning with reports of fights breaking out in the crowd. An East Point police spokesman said the crowd numbered 30,000, some of whom waited for two days at the Tri-Cities Plaza shopping center. They were seeking applications for East Point Housing Authority vouchers to discount their rent. As the temperature rose Wednesday, people fell ill. Sgt. Cliff Chandler, spokesman for the East Point Police Department, said there were no reported injuries from the jostling, but 62 people had...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-six percent (46%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22 (see trends). This matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for this president.

WASHINGTON -- Officials briefed on the decision say Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to eliminate a major military command in Norfolk, Va., and try to cut the Pentagon's use of outside contractors by 10 percent next year. The plan was to be announced at a Pentagon press conference on Monday. It is part of a broader effort to trim $100 billion from the military's mammoth budget in the next five years, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin to wind down and Congress turns its attention more to domestic priorities.

Economy Heading for a Systemic Collapse into Hyperinflationary Great Depression Economics / Great Depression II Aug 05, 2010 - 02:29 PM By: The Energy Report When Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admits to seeing an "unusually uncertain" economy ahead, it's pretty terrifying to imagine what he's really thinking. What John Williams envisions—and he's by no means looking to the far horizon—is a systemic collapse, a hyperinflationary great depression and the cessation of normal commerce. Despite that bleak outlook, however, when the economist and editor of ShadowStats.com sat down for this exclusive Energy Report interview, he also had some good news. The...