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DECEMBER 31,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

We're not publishing "Short Takes" on New Year's Eve.  We have mercy for our readers. 

Go have a good time.   Help is on the way.  In less than three weeks we will have a new administration.

MEDIA MELTDOWN – AT 12:30 P.M. ET:   The media didn't have a great year.  It must be hard to be wrong on everything.  From CNS: 

The year 2016 will go down as one in which Americans turned on the establishment and put a non-politician in the White House. The masses also rejected mainstream journalism, sending news industry credibility ratings to historic lows.

Even the American cultural bastion that is the National Football League faces declining interest. So, too, prime-time network television has sunk into irrelevance as viewers shun programming that fails to reflect any sense of Americana.

The big four networks’ ratings are all down double-digit percentages for the fall season. Premiere week for new shows in September was down 12 percent compared to last year, and nothing has happened since to reverse the decline. The top-rated prime-time show in November was CBS’ “Big Bang Theory.” The audience size would have made that program the 79th-ranked show 40 years ago, trailing such losers as “Mr. Belvedere.”

CBS’ top new offering, “Bull,” opened to moderate success this fall, but since has lost a fourth of its audience. Only “This is Us” on NBC seems to be holding its own among new shows.

Some analysts suggest the election season hurt prime-time viewership. Cable news channels did see viewership growth, but it is hard to conclude that political junkies would have been watching “Two Broke Girls” or “Lucifer” in place of CNN or FNC.

COMMENT:  There is little connection between the media and the nation, and the media likes it that way.  There are some good things to see, but the media world regards itself as better than the country it serves.  It isn't.  The golden ages of film, popular music, theater and recording all depended on the support of the American audience.  Someone should send that memo to Hollywood and New York.

December 31, 2016       Permalink

OH, GO AWAY – AT 11:48 A.M. ET:  President Obama has apparently not been formally notified that his term is almost over and that he loses his White House wi-fi password.  From the Washington Examiner: 

President Obama used his final weekly address in 2016 to make it plainer than ever that he won't retire quietly once Donald Trump is sworn in as president.

Couching his address to the nation as assurance that he will remain committed to defending the "progress" achieved by his administration, the president made it crystal clear that he intends to be a thorn in President Trump's side after the official handover of power on Jan. 20.

Offering the clearest indication yet of his plan to be active on the political scene after he is ostensibly back in private life, Obama said Saturday, "As I prepare to take on the even more important role of citizen, know that I will be there with you every step of the way to ensure that this country forever strives to live up to the incredible promise of our founding — that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve every chance to live out our dreams."

The words were an implicit rebuke of the inequality and retrograde policies that Democrats claim will be on the agenda of Trump and the GOP when they take over a unified Republican government next month.

When Obama expected, and most polls indicated, that Hillary Clinton was going to win the White House, the president suggested that he looked forward to a quiet retirement. But now he says his plans have changed. The unmistakable suggestion is that Obama claims he needs to stay active to guard the nation against Trump's predations.

COMMENT:  "I will be there with you every step of the way..."  Geez.  Has he been invited?  Obama's ego is vastly greater than his abilities.  He considers himself an indispensable man.  He might reflect on an old French proverb, "The graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable men."

I guess he wants to be another Jimmy Carter.  Most people have higher ambitions.

December 31, 2016       Permalink

OBAMA'S WAY OUT – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:   The worst president of our time will, three weeks from today, be former President Barack Obama.  But the way he's leaving says much about him.  From Newsmax:

Now that the election is over and his time in office is winding down, one of Mr. Obama’s major responsibilities is ensuring a smooth transfer of power. He is ignoring this responsibility by his Russia sanctions that clearly are designed to create roadblocks for Mr. Trump.

I also believe these sanctions are the latest effort by Obama and the Democratic party to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s election win.

Even worse, the perception that an outgoing U.S. president is trying to box in and sabotage the foreign policy of his successor hurts the global reputation of America’s democratic system.

If the Obama administration believes it must make major foreign policy moves between now and Inauguration Day, it should only do so with the input and assent of President-elect Trump. It is irresponsible for Mr. Obama to set in motion such initiatives with only weeks left in his presidency that his successor will probably suspend or cancel.

President Obama, please stop. It’s too late for you to salvage your disastrous foreign policy. The time for you to hold Russia accountable for numerous instances of belligerent and destabilizing behavior has long past.

While you may be angry about Trump’s election and the likelihood that he will reverse your foreign policy achievements, moves like your Russia sanctions will only cause you to go down in history as an even more inconsequential president.

Mr. Obama, our nation needs you to leave office with class and grace.

COMMENT:  We've learned that Obama doesn't have much class or grace.  He does have a winning "candidate style," which has sustained him.  He leaves with a relatively high approval rating, which few can understand.  Maybe it's the racial factor – people not wanting to disparage our first black president.

But class or grace, no.  Obama is small-time and mean-spirited.  His anti-Israel maneuvering at the UN is only one case in point.  Great nations do not change their foreign policy while slithering out the door.  Obama had no hesitation in doing so, and has done damage to a significant ally. 

Obama has banned drilling from large areas of the Atlantic and has seized Western lands for so-called "memorials," all in his last weeks in office.  Previous presidents have shown regard for the incoming chief, even if he is of the other party.

When you go small in an election, Obama is what you get.

December 31,  2016     Permalink

DECEMBER 30,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

OBAMAN WEAKNESS – FROM FOX:  For the next week, not only will there be no U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Middle East, but there will be no American aircraft carriers deployed at sea anywhere else in the world, despite a host of worldwide threats facing the United States.   Think about that, and what it says about the national-defense policy of our outgoing president.  Absolutely pathetic.

LATEST POLITICAL BULLETIN – FROM DAILY CALLER:   A taxpayer-funded political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has concluded that political conditions in North Carolina are comparable to political conditions in totalitarian nations such as Cuba, Venezuela and Iran because Republicans are too politically successful.  The professor, Andrew Reynolds, aired his 936-word grievance last week in The News & Observer, a newspaper out of Raleigh.  North Carolina “can no longer be classified as a full democracy,” Reynolds declares, because the statewide Republican Party has been too successful at winning the state’s winner-take-all elections.  We must remain vigilant against all successful Americans, including Republicans.  If they're successful, they must be criminals, and capitalist warmongers.

THE PRESIDENT'S HOME TOWN, AS HIS TERM ENDS – FROM THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE:  A persistent reality for some of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, violence unnerved far reaches of the city in 2016 as shootings and homicides soared. Not since the drug-fueled bloodshed of the mid-1990s had the city witnessed such a toll.  Some neighborhoods, already scarred and gutted by years of violence, suffered inordinately. But the danger spread into more neighborhoods, too, and randomness became an all-too-familiar element to many shootings.  Grim milestones added up: The deadliest month in 23 years. The deadliest day in 13 years. 4,300 people shot. As the year wound down, with the promise of a new year coming soon, a violent Christmas Day.  "It's a shame. It's a shame," said Rafi Peterson, a community activist in the Chicago Lawn community on the Southwest Side. "Those lives cannot be replaced."   But those lives don't matter to radical activists, who see human life as trivial, unless it can be used to advance a political objective.  The president of the United States does not seem much bothered.

December 30, 2016       Permalink

AS MINNESOTA GOES – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  Please note that there's another major election in two years, and the pros are already preparing for it.  The 2018 midterms could be decisive in determining whether the Democratic Party has any realistic chance of surviving as a major national organization, or whether the years of Obama's political mismanagement will prove impossible to overcome. 

One of the most fascinating ingredients in today's national politics is the state of Minnesota.  Normally a safe Democratic stronghold, it edged close to redness in the recent election.  Ace reporter Salena Zito, who is finally getting the recognition she deserves as one of the best political reporters around, examines Minnesota's prospects.  From the Washington Examiner:   

One of the most underreported stories of this year's election cycle was how darn close the race finished in Minnesota for Donald Trump.

Yes, Minnesota.

The president-elect did not win the North Star State on Election Day, but he was 44,000 votes shy in a state he was supposed to lose by a predicted 8 percentage points.

That near-miss shows how red Minnesota has become and illustrates how much the entire Great Lake Rust Belt has changed. Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania all flipped their support from President Obama to Trump.

Underreported, too, is how muscular the Republicans have become in the state legislature. The GOP expanded its Minnesota state House majority and won control of the state Senate for the first time in six years.

Minnesota is definitely on the same path that Wisconsin was in 2009 when Reince Priebus took over as state party chairman, explained Brad Todd, a Republican strategist and founding partner of OnMessage.

"A lot of that trajectory has been accelerated by the unpopularity of what is called MNcare (MinnesotaCare) which is basically Obamacare on steroids," said Todd.

In short, MNcare is a result of Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton taking Medicaid expansion to the furthest extreme possible, a move that has wrecked the insurance market for good private coverage and has served as an example of liberalism gone wild.

The Democratic Party in Minnesota has always been more populist than liberal. In fact, its name is technically the Democratic Farmer Labor Party.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  This is excellent reporting, and makes one wonder whether the Democratic Party has seen its best days.

December 30, 2016       Permalink

CHINA ON THE MARCH – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:   For some reason we seem not to focus often on the dramatic strides China is making in military strength and technological quality.  Most Americans are probably not aware that China has an active, imaginative space program.  From Parabolic Arc: 

A white paper outlining China’s space policy for the next five years calls for a sample return mission to the moon, a landing on the far side of Earth’s closest neighbor, and the launch of an orbiter and lander to Mars by 2020.

China will also begin constructing a permanent space station and research and development work on a heavy-lift launcher, reusable boosters and satellite servicing systems.

The nation also wants to expand international cooperation in areas that include remote sensing, space applications, lunar and planetary exploration, and human spaceflight.

“In the next five years China will, with a more active and open attitude, conduct extensive international exchanges and cooperation concerning space,” the white paper states.

Because Chinese officials have been much more open about the nation’s space plans in recent years, the document does not contain much that’s new. It does provide a comprehensive overview of the country’s plans for the next five years.

COMMENT:  The Chinese are ambitious, and have built an enormous industrial base.  While China is plagued with many problems, its sheer size and competence give the Chinese the means to challenge American hegemony in the Western Pacific, and to threaten American allies like South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.

President Obama promised a "pivot" to Asia in his foreign policy, but I haven't seen much of it.  We will need a larger Navy to increase our leverage in the region, and that has been pledged by President-elect Trump. 

December 30, 2016       Permalink

SARAH?  AGAIN? – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  Sarah Palin is apparently under consideration to be secretary of veterans affairs.  From ABC News: 

Sarah Palin is under consideration for secretary of veterans affairs, a close Palin aide and a top Donald Trump transition official told ABC News.

The Palin aide said that Palin recently told Trump transition officials, "I feel as though the megaphone I have been provided can be used in a productive and positive way to help those desperately in need."

The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest government agency, with over 300,000 federal employees and a budget of $182 billion for 2017.

Palin's son-in-law and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer posted a SarahPAC video to his Facebook page earlier this week, with excerpts from a speech she gave that heavily focuses on her work with veterans and her connection to the community. Her eldest son, Track Palin, served in Iraq in 2008. The video, which is not new, seems to clearly show her interest in the position, and in he speech she hits the VA "bureaucracy," saying it is "killing our vets."

The speech includes Sarah Palin's ideas on reforming the VA, including improved health care, using military skills to return to the workforce and securing their benefits. The speech also includes a criticism of Barack Obama.

COMMENT:  Obviously, eyebrows will be raised.  Sarah has a way of being controversial, and has brought some legitimate criticism on herself. 

But consider:  She was governor of Alaska, an executive position, with remarkably high approval ratings.  She has a demonstrated commitment to vets.  Her son is a veteran.  Her son-in-law has received the nation's highest medal.  True, her campaign for vice president in 2008 showed her unready for the national political stage, but her managerial record is fine, her passion is in the right place, and, when properly prepared, she is a great communicator. 

Confirmation might be a problem, and a serious one.  Dems would probably vote against her as a solid bloc.  And Sarah's lesser antics could chip away enough GOP votes to deny her the position.  I personally think she'd do a capable job, but Trump might understandably decide that the controversy wouldn't be worth it.

December 30,  2016     Permalink