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Military Mistrust

Although Obama won the presidency, he has yet to win the hearts of the troops
 
   A major issue with the Obama campaign that still plagues them today is the sense of mistrust within the ranks of the US Military force. Due to obtuse arrogance of the success of his ignorant and inexperienced strategies, President Elect Obama's assumtion of superiority over these 'rednecks and misfits', many of the combat troops and leading generals are skeptic about their continuation of a military career. What is Obama's goal with the military and how does he plan to overcome this distrust.
 
   Unlike the previous post, the military is a unique population that is largely unscathed from the viscous material that the MSM has been publishing about Iraq, President Bush and the military, because they have lived it. They have been in the heat of battle and risked their lives for the sake of a people that should hate them for all intensive purposes, and in response they have been received with open arms by most of the citizens of Iraq. They have been the liberators and nothing that any journalist can say can persuade them otherwise.
 
   So in this type of environment, how does he maintain a loyal fighting force? If his plan is to dupe the civilian United States into liberalization, then where is he going to get troops from. From what I have been hearing from troops on leave, or that are on the verge of reenlisting, many of them don't want to return, becuase they are scared that Obama is going to get them killed by his indecisiveness. There have also been rumors that the military chiefs will retire under his administration. Why else would he be digging up all of these retired generals to run his staff instead of one's that are current in the field? He is trying to show that he knows what he is doing with the war by getting people behind him that supported his positions on at least something that will give him some credibility. With people leaving the military, and the majority of the Obama supporters being liberal who wouldn't lift a finger in this country's defense, he is going to be hard pressed to maintain the current levels.
 
   To really pinpoint his areas of focus, he is focusing on four main areas: Leadership, troop withdrawaland deployment, military funding and military pay.
  •  
    • Although most every policy that he has come up with would have failed, he somehow has adopted many of the Bush policies since taking office and disguised them for his own. He is no longer withdrawing within 16 months like promised, he is listening to his generals and he is keeping the Defense Secretary Robert Gates. On the other side, he is appointing Shinseki to be the new VA Secretary, a man that strongly opposed many Bush policies. This is probably a move to try and not disenfranchise his base completely, and at least give them some glimpse of the hope that he promised.  
    • His plan for longer periods between campaigns and fewer deployments is NOT a reality in an Obama administration. Unless he builds a completely new military out of Obamamaniacs, people are't going to be jumping on the bandwagon to enlist just out of uncertainty in Obama foreign policy. The fact that many troops are not going to reenlist and there is nobody to replace them means a shortage of troops, and the only way to counter that and give longer leaves is to mandate longer deployments, which is exactly what the troops DON'T need. Additionally, the withdrawal timetable that Obama has been cooking up with the leaders in Iraq is pretty sly. Even during the campaign he had asked the Iraqi leaders to suspend plans to withdrawal until after the election.
    • Military funding is one key thing that I feel is a key issue with the troops. Although he might not cut funding directly to the troops, he will be cutting funding for defense technology, which to this point, has kept us ahead of the game in weapons systems. One reason why the Persian, Ottoman, Greek, Roman, Chinese and Japanese empires failed is that the rest of the world caught up to where they were at militarily while they neglected to advance themselves while ahead through complaicency. This is a horrible mistake that could kill us in the end. He wants to get rid of missle defense systems, disarm our nukes thinking that the rest of the world will follow suit, and cut advancement of military technologies that could put us on top. Honestly, how many more lives would have been lost if we had not developed the unmaned surveilance drones that have been used so effectively in Iraq? These things are needed to ensure future superiority and cannot be cut even to give a salary hike to the troops. 
    • GI pay increases, although necessary to allow for inflation and compete in the market, need to be extremely modest. The currenct Obama plan calls for what looks like a pay increase of 2.9% above the 3.9% increase in the private sector. While I am in complete support of the troops and supporting them both financially and morally, I feel that this is a mistake that has been repeated throughout history and needs to be carefully watched over. We cannot afford to make the mistake of turning our soldiers into mercenaries. What I mean by this is that when you transition from loyal professional soldiers supported by the people to highly paid soldiers that are only enlisting becuase it is a lucrative career, there is a sense of loyalty that is lost that is crucial to the survival of any nation. With that pay increase also comes an additional burden on the people.

       We have seen this exact thing pop up throughout the centuries. Arguably one of the leading factors in the downfall of the Roman Empire was this transition. They had been fighting long wars and the soldiers were starting to mistrust the Emperor, who at the time was Septimus Severus. To offset this, an to gain back the trust and military power, he increased military pay from 900 to 2000 sestertii and minted new coins that were almost void of any gold or silver to pay for it. In other words they devalued their currency to pay off the troops so that they would fight. That does sound familiar. Something similar to that today would be to borrow money that we don't have or lower interest rates to offset the cost of increased troop pay so that the troops will stay and fight for Obama. And just like then, this pay increase neither gains their loyalty or their trust. You also create a sense of entitlement that is unsurpassed by any other industry. They have the ultimate 'need' for pay increase as they are the ones keeping this country safe. We create a military industry that they could strike if they wanted to. Once again, I believe in compensation for those that serve our country. I have great respect coming from a family of veterans, but there needs to be additional personal incentives for the people who enlist and money CANNOT become at the top of that list.

   So what is Obama's solution? What is his motive in all of this? He has already spoken about a civilian security force that is as large and well funded as the military. What does he mean by this? We already have a national guard, police force, homeland security, FBI, CIA etc. What more could this entail that we don't have already? What is their purpose? Why does it need to be as large and well funded as the military? Well to put it in simple terms, if the military doesn't support him, he needs someone who will. Simple, end of story. He would risk creating military dualism and partisanship so he can gain his loyalty. If you want to see what a civilian security force would look like, look at the TSA thugs at the security checkpoints, give them a gun, nearly unlimited authority and make them all loyal to Obama becuase he's the one that gave them that power. Strikingly SS-like isn't it. I'm not saying that he's a Nazi by any means, just that the tactics that he is talking about employing are extremely similar. When people joined the SS back in early Nazi Germany, it was an attempt to raise employment by working for the government, and it was his way of creating a dualistic military with a well-funded part of that being fanatical loyalists. This is the worst and scariest idea that he has come up with yet.

   Collectively, the Obama ideas that he has been throwing on the table since the beginning of his campaign have not been about making America greater, but about appealling to the wants of the nation. He wants to give the military a pay raise, but decrease military spending and weapons development. He's keeping Gates as Defense secretary to appease the conservatives, and he is appointing Shinseki as VA Secretary to pander to the left even though these two men have very different views on the military. Its easy to look right through this as Gates will be mostly effecting the military thats deployed and foreign policy, while Shinseki will be in charge of shaking up domestic issues with returned veterans. NONE of what Barrack Obama does is becuase he thinks its the best thing for the country and that person will be the best during this time, but because he has his own agenda and he wants to be as popular as possible. It kills me to think that our national security might be compromised to get a few votes. I really hope that I'm wrong about all of this.
 
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Change is still coming, though it might be delayed for awhile

Change We Can Believe In
(Don't worry its still coming)
 
   I have been truly startled as of late with the cabinet decisions that President-Elect Barack Obama has been making. For many on the conservative front, these decisions have for the most part represented a return to the Clinton years and reek of the same old government, and that stands for an era when Republicans were able to reseize control of congress and make a quasi-reawakening for the party itself. For the liberal left, these appointments digress from the entire projected path that they were trying to create for this country and a return to failed policy and old Washington insiders.
 
   There are a couple of statements that Barack Obama made during his campaign that lead me to believe that although his political ambition has made him begin his pre-governance with a surprisingly center-right shift, they are, just as we have seen so often, the only the means to his ideological ends. Let me explain. One of the statements that was made was by Vice President Elect (is there an office for that too?) when he was talking about the "test" that the other countries were going to put him through within the first 6 months of office. Now the kicker comes when he said this,
   
   "And he's going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it's not going to be apparent initially; it's not going to be apparent that we're right."
 
   I realize that this was talking about the international crisis that he was predicting, rightfully so I might add, but the implications of this are incredible. Did you ever stop to think that he was already preparing the US for disappointing policy from the Obama administration, but that we shouldn't question it becuase its all for the greater good, and Obama knows what we need even though we don't? I think it very important to not lose sight of the fact that he is an agenda driven man that will use anyone and throw them under the bus just as fast just to acheive whatever goal that he sets out for. In making statements like this and by other actions that he has made, he has in essence tried to revert back to the pre-Nixon days when the people followed largely by blind obedience to a government that they trusted but hardly knew. The difference is that in the pre-nixon days, for the most part, the presidents had the wellbeing of the United States in their view and they didn't feel bad about using whatever means necessary to achieve that status. This neo-conversion that Obama is setting out for is to change the fundamental beliefs and policies that have shaped our government for the last 216 years; they go against the capitalist economic system that was established from the beginning and has taken a long time to soundly establish, and they are replaced by the failed policies of a socialistic or pseudo-socialistic economy.
 
   The thing that frightens me to death as I have been observing some of Obama's tendencies is that he is incredibly devious and savvy. His hidden agendas are lost in the muddle of rumors and appointments and shifting views. I personally don't think that Obama has shifted views on issues nearly as much as we think. I think he uses that as a smokescreen to distract us from his alterior motives. I will give an example to those wanting proof. In his victory speech on Nov. 3 he basically admitted that the first term in office would not be about doing the things that he had promised. Speaking to the audience that elected him he said,
 
   "There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem."
 
   Once again this is alluding back to the statement made earlier that he is already instilling a sense of blind obedience to the all-knowing Obama. Then he shifted his conversation to those who were still against him and said,
 
   "And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years _ block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand." 
 
   Now that he has created his army of Obamamaniacs that would follow him off of a cliff, he blatently stated that his new goal was to recruit all those opposed to him for the cause. Its as if he said, "Ok I know that everyone here voted for me, and thanks for doing it, but I have another crowd to pander to now. I know you won't like it, but you will get over it. And by the way its for the greater good. You don't need to understand, just trust that I understand and am in control." The arrogance of this man is astronomical. 
 
   The scariest part, however, isn't the fact that he would say something so blatent, but its that the people have already forgotten that he said it! Then they wonder why he is making all of these appointments to his cabinet that seem to push him into a more conservative governing position. Seriously! Everyone is speculating over these appointees saying, "Well maybe he's not as liberal as his record shows," or, "Now that he's in the White House and is getting all the same information that Bush was getting, he is realizing that Bush wasn't that bad of a guy." Then there's my favorite, "Well maybe he's so new that he just doesn't know anybody except his former rivals," or, "He's just trying to keep his enemies close."  Let me just tackle the different possibilities that have been thrown out there.
 
  1.  "Well maybe he's not as liberal as his record shows." - Well, if he's not as liberal as his record shows and he was just appealing to the crowd that benefited him the most at the time, that should scare the heck out of you. That means we have no idea what to expect and he is just prone to follow whichever lobbyist throws him the biggest bait.
  2. "Now that he's in the White House and is getting all the same information that Bush was getting, he is realizing that Bush wasn't that bad of a guy." - This is definitely much more plausible, however , as I will illustrate later, very unlikely. Even if he believes Bush was right, he would still need to go against much of what he established in order to help him reach a second term. Remember, he won the campaign running against Bush, not McCain.
  3. "Well maybe he's so new that he just doesn't know anybody except his former rivals," - Well he might not, but his massive team of advisors sure do. And whats to keep him from getting dossiers of eligible candidates for the positions generated by his staff? He knows plenty of liberals; thats the community that he came from. He didn't know a lot of conservatives well enough to know if they would follow him, but I'm sure that there were a lot of people out there that he owed favors to that he could put in there. What crowd is he trying to appease right now? Its definitely not liberals. Then if they say, " Hey what about us?" he'll just say, "well just wait, I'll get to you." Thats how he is.
  4. "He's just trying to keep his enemies close." - Well that might be, but why would he put people who have already shown to have enormous amounts of power to destroy him in his cabinet. Its essential. There is also a hidden element that will be divulged later that  has to do with his sense of retribution. I am certain that a part of his reasoning behind these appointments is to sabotage the chances of anyone challenging his bid in 2012.
   So what are Barack H. Obama's motives and agendas? Who is he really? There is something far more sinister at work here and I haven't heard anyone on talk radio or TV mentioning it so I guess I'll bring it into the spotlight. Currently this country is center-right, meaning for the most part, we are a conservative nation, one of the last few. How does someone so liberal hoodwink more than half of America, and more importantly, how does he expect to do it again? Well if we look at it as if 60% of America is conservative-leaning and 40% liberal-leaning ( I realize these numbers are really rough and if anyone could provide me with accurate numbers I would love to use them), then that means that he would have to bring in about 10% from the conservative base. Now granted, most of these people won't want to give up their own personal ideology just for a person, unless they campaigned on likeability vs electability. 64% of americans voted this election cycle, not really a massive amount unless you factor in the percentage of people who didn't return to the polls this year who most likely fall in the conservative category. Then factor in the first time voter percentage being mostly for Obama. The African American percentage went up by 2% and the people who decided not to vote rose by 2%. This alone accounts for the 4% difference that separated McCain. But it does not end there. Barack Obama did something that has never really been done before. He created a huge following of young americans who have not come to their own political self-definition. These people voted largely for Obama, because of the media bias and the Obama campaign machine. After talking to many of these crazed Obama fans to try and ascertain their political leanings, I discovered that the majority of them were conservative, many of which were staunch conservative. Yet, they truly believed, and nothing I could tell them would make them think otherwise, that Barack Obama was as conservative as Reagan or Lincoln but as likeable as JFK or FDR. How can you compete with someone like that? Well if that person truly existed.
 
   Now here is the conclusion that I have come to with all of this. Obama realizes that a good portion of his constituents are right leaning and that any erratic move that he might make in his first term in office might disenfranchise that constituency that he relies so heavily on. The Republican way has always been to attack and demonize. While the left is all talking about the woman they met on the street who can't afford to feed her kids (yet drives a new SUV), the right is telling you all the reasons not to vote for the left. If you look at the way that Obama acted during the final debate, although he lost by most accounts, he looked like he won just becuase of the way he responded to McCain's attacks. He knew that McCain was finally going to pull out all the stops, so he decided that he would just sit back, smile and make John McCain look like a desperate fool with no ideas.
 
   Now, after the election has passed, I strongly feel that he is going to try and turn his conservative base against the Republicans. As long as the GOP leadership continues its attacks, Obama is going to say keep it coming. He will tell them that the GOP doesn't want to accept responsibility or that they are keeping him from implementing the change that they "so desperately wanted." He will seek to turn the Republican party into the party of outcasts. He will blame any failure that he endures as leftover dregs from the Bush years. He will spend the next 4 years increasing relationships with foreign, mostly European countries, and not implement any of the social policies that he has planned. He will double the national debt, which he will say he inherited, and he will give huge stimulus packs that the American people will begin to rely on, especially the new generation as they have never had it any other way. He will govern largely from the right because he wants to make his conservative base think that that is what the Democratic party stands for, and nobody will be able to tell them otherwise. In the mean time, he will gain the trust of disenfranchised conservatives and might even turn some of them toward these 'neo-dems' thinking that they can keep their beliefs. Then when election season rolls around, unless the GOP changes its ways, Obama is just going to sit back and smile at the 'same attacks they tried before' saying that its old news. It will make more people confident in Obama's 'leadership' and distrust the GOP even more. People will want to 'conserve' the liberal in power because they are seeing benefit from it and they are going to reject the 'liberal' conservatives who are so out of touch with America that they are keeping it from succeeding. People will start identifying themselves as democrats and say "well if Obama is liberal then I'm liberal.'' If he can accomplish that, then the GOP will be doomed in 2012. (None of this is what I want by the way and I intend to fight it off every step of the way).
 
   Then in the next election cycle, he will make promises to restructure his cabinet because they have prevented hope from being fully realized. He will blame the failure of the passing of universal healthcare (which I'm sure he will have a hand in tanking) on Hillary. He will say that he needs to get rid of the washington insiders and bring in new fresh faces, more like the ones he used to associate himself with. He will disguise this all by saying that there needs to be a shrinking of beaurocracy and more cooperation and unity within the cabinet. He will appoint people with very little record like himself (if he did it and succeeded, then whats to keep these people from succeeding too?). Its going to be the ultimate redistribution of power from the politicians to the activists. If he can successfully cause the people to misidentify themselves with their party, then he will most likely get the super majority that he missed out on in this election. Then with the deaths and retirements of the supreme court justices, he will be able to appoint activist judges who will promote his liberal agendas. He will raise taxes, redistribute the wealth, and tank the economy and society that we have cherished for so long. And the sad thing is that if this scernario were to take place, he would be able to change things so fast that we would have no way of opposing it. We won't even be able to organize fast enough to start raising money to counter it. And the sad thing is that I would venture to say that most people would go along with it because of their 'trust' in the man that they thought they knew. They won't reidentify themselves with their correct affiliation until the effects of his radical changes start to take place sometime after he leaves office, and by then, they can be blamed on that president.
 
   I know that this all sounds like I look at the glass bone dry, but the reality is that I am a complete optimist, ask anyone around me. What I am trying to accomplish here is correctly convey the hidden agenda of President-Elect Barack Husein Obama. He is just as dangerous as ever, and mark my words (that sounds kind of familiar) that he will throw everyone under the bus that he uses as soon as your usefulness runs out. He will throw Hillary and all remnants of their administration under the bus. He will find a new defense secretary after his first term to rid himself of the Bushies. And he will appoint young liberal justices to the supreme court that will plague our society for decades after he is gone.
 
 
 

 

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