Americans were promised change and yet, as many have asked, where is it? With Congress saving jobs in phantom districts, fake zip codes being used for stimulus funding, and not to mention Obama’s lavish lifestyle citizens have to see the complete disconnect between our sacrifice and the Democrats luxury.  First, it is to be expected that the President of the United States is going to be busy and that 99% of his/her life is going to be on the tax payer dollar.  Most of us get that.  With the speed of information and a good attitude of “dirty boots” leadership one should expect the President to be on the move.  Meals, travel, hotels….the job demands certain things and even a certain level of decorum, yet, the President, as the Chief Executive has a fudiciary and an ethical obligation to maintain a measure of decorum and expectation that he/she is not abusing tax payer dollars.

For instance the White House, in June, held a Laua.  The reason is unimportant, but in a time when the President is asking Americans to tighten up, do more with less, be responsible, he has kobe beef (priced at $100 per pound) brought in. This does not even begin to address the staggering measure of other food stuffs flown in and the entertainment to boot.  Does it not also strike any one as unusual that while the President chides CEOs for thier wages, benefits, and perks, he himself maintains a Chef and is allowed to use government vehicles, offices, and property at his desire?

The president earns $400,000 a year, and has not received a raise from Congress since 2001 (not that I am pushing for one). He also gets a $50,000 annual entertainment expense account (unused money at the end of the year goes back to the Treasury.)  Then there is the use of two private jets, Boeing 747s better known as Air Force One (which when flown overseas both fly to confuse enemy onlookers). There is also of course the security details, drivers,  a country vacation estate, and the rent-free use of a well-known, 132-room mansion better known as the White House.  Of course the office of the President is a full time 24/7 job, but as CEOs have to pay taxes on the flights they take on corporate jets, the President does not.  So while he only techincally makes $400,000, using his own yard stick he benefits a whole lot more, and all this tax free of his income.  This could actually make the argument the President’s salary should be cut since he gets tax free benefits and more often then not has a substantial living once even one term is complete (assuming of course Obama does not some how become King).

So by way of example, most government employees are allowed to maintain the miles and point earned while they are on travel.  It became too expensive for the government to maintain, so civil servants that fly often gain a serious benefit. Yet they are not allowed to fly First Class.  One may ask why cannot they not pay for the upgrade or use those miles they got?  Does not cost the tax payer at all.  Well it actually does.  First civil servants earn an income paid for by the tax payer so one could assume that civil servants make too much if they can afford all those upgrades, that does assume that one bothers to research to see if said civil servant even paid for it themselves.  Each civil servant has has a fudiciary and an ethical obligation to maintain a measure of decorum and expectation that he/she is not abusing tax payer dollars.  Sound familiar?

From now until 2012 we will hear more from the President asking Americans to make sacrifices, and we will watch as Congress  approves more taxes on Americans from once seemingly happy places like the Health Care bill.  It will become strikingly clear that as Americans loose wages, benefits, and dreams of a desired lifestyle, our leadership is gaining more and more.  We will begin to wonder why there is a disparity in what we are being asked to do and what our leaders are doing.  Republicans are not free of this, yet it is more clear with Obama then any other.  So when we hear about how Michelle and Barry decided to enter a career of service  versus one of corporate privilege just remember that today, politics in America is as much as a corporation as any other.

Throughout the 2008 election cycle, after Sarah Palin was chosen to run as VP, Democrats consistently compared Palin to Obama as if she were running for president instead of vice president, there are many reasons for tactic that have been well documented but suffice it to say Democrats felt more comfortable with that match up.

That was then, this in now…

With Obama’s approval ratings on a downward spiral for months now a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows the gap between the president and Palin in down to 1 percentage point.

Facing double-digit unemployment, rising spending, deficits and Afghan war casualties plus a keystone but stalled healthcare reform effort that caused a rare Sunday presidential visit to Capitol Hill, Obama recently fell below 50% job approval for the first time.Then, last week’s deft dance of rhetoric over sending reinforcements to Afghanistan but, on the other foot, bringing them home quickly maybe gave him a brief boost. That, however, collapsed with equal rapidity.

Obama’s new Gallup Poll job approval number is 47%. Last month it was 53%.

Regular Ticket readers will recall how in this space in late November we pointed out that Obama’s closely-watched job approval slide was coinciding with Palin’s little-noticed rise in favorability. And it appeared they might cross somewhere in the 40s.

Well, ex-Sen. Obama, meet ex-Gov. Palin.

The new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows Palin now at 46% favorable, just one point below her fellow basketball fan.

(The same poll, btw, has bad news for Dick Cheney-haters; the outspoken former VP has climbed out of the 29% basement back up to 39% now. How do you suppose he’s done that without a new book? But that’s another story.)

Not that either Palin or Obama will admit caring about such trivial things as disparate political polls….

What a change a year can make, just 56 weeks, and the presidents approval ratings are going south like a duck in winter. Supporters will claim that it’s George W. Bush’s fault, citing the same tired talking points that have been echoed now for years “the failed Bush policies” and pointing to an inherited rescission.

Critics will claim that the bloom is off the rose and American’s, having seen the type of policies Obama has instituted and supports, have not lived up to the hype (in many cases failing altogether) along with the promise of jobs that have failed to materialize.

While this poll may give some hope and others woe, it’s just a blip on the radar screen of time and in politics one never knows what could happen tomorrow.

Cross-Posted from 73wire.com

Obama Ecstasy pills hit the streets

PALMVIEW, Texas – President Barack Obama’s approval rating may be hovering in the 50 percent range, but that doesn’t mean America’s Commander-in-Chief isn’t catching on with new constituents.

There is now a line of Ecstasy pills made in the image of the 44th president of the United States, according to Texas police who have snatched a batch off the streets.

The President, in perpetual campaign mode, once again slings arrows at Republicans completely making it up as he goes…

President Obama addresses a crowd of supporters at a DNC fundraiser in New York. 10-20-09

She sure told him…