The One Comes To Joisey

We Came, We Saw, We Campaigned

President Training Pants will be heading to Paterson NJ to examine flood damage and then on to Detroit to deal with political damage. Not sure that's the best place for a speech previewing his Big Jobs extravaganza, since unemployment in Detroit has been rising ever since Toyota started making cars in the US.

Of course, both Paterson and Detroit have mayors who became unemployed recently, after indictments, convictions and imprisonment.

The Prez is at Camp David for the early part of the weekend, after his helicopter was diverted by bad weather and he went the rest of the way by... yep, motorcade. This guy has the biggest carbon footprint since Al Gore.

A Visit From the One

Before the President jets off to someplace tropical he will be visiting our fair state to survey the hurricane damage. Well, actually he will be in Paterson trolling for black and Hispanic votes, since we seem to be trending Red State.

Paterson was also chosen because it still typifies the kind of politics and finance he finds so comforting. Why should the Paterson Board of Education worry about money? After all, when they need more the legislature shovels more in from the rest of the state's taxpayers.

Socialist Media

Thank Gosh for the Intertubes. Here's a Facebook page that will let you keep track of just where the Obamas will be headed next for a vacation. (Hint: scenic Indonesia)

Of course, you have to be a FB member to access it, so the three of you left on the planet who aren't are plum out of luck.

Reality Sets In... Heavily

In 1970 an R&B group called "The Chairmen of the Board" had a big hit with "Give Me Just A Little More Time." It's possible that may become the theme song for the Obama re-election campaign.

“When I said, ‘Change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow...’ ”

...backtracks the President. In other words, elect me to a second term and all those promises from the 2008 campaign will magically begin to happen.

Strategically Obama has two main problems: those people who see what he has done so far as exactly what they were afraid of - huge spending, deficits and bigger government - and those on the opposite side who castigate him for not spending enough (on them) and not expanding government in ways that benefit them.

Based on his track record (now that he finally has one) he'd be better off trying to please the second group. It's more within his world view. However, what he seems to be doing is drifting towards the middle, where he will please neither. Of course, with the House run by a Republican majority, radical action on his part would have to be via executive order, a risky proposition, since the US Supreme Court also has a conservative majority.

With the economy going nowhere this may all be moot. 10% unemployment almost certainly dooms his chances for reelection.

But You Can't Fool All of the People, All of the Time

Dear Fellow Americans, what took you so long?

For the better part of the last two years, President Obama’s saving grace has been his image as a strong leader who people like and trust, regardless of the issues of the day. 

Even that is starting to erode. 

A new Pew Research Center survey shows the American people are increasingly skeptical about the president’s leadership bona fides. 

A record high number of people say that Obama is not a strong leader (47 percent), can’t get things done (50 percent), isn’t well-informed (33 percent), is not a good communicator (22 percent) and doesn’t stand up for what he believes in (22 percent).

Ouch.

Teed Off About Libya

Now that Libyan rebels are actually in Tripoli and fighting nears the Khaddafi compound, the Least Concerned With Foreign Policy President Ever has stepped up his anti-Moammar rhetoric.

"The momentum against the Gaddafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant..."

(You say "Gaddafi", we say "Khaddafi", let's kill the monster off...)

Hopefully Hillary has been paying attention and working the phones to set up what happens after the mass murderer's corpse is done being dragged by its heels through the streets. Because Someone Else is playing golf and ordering take-out seafood.

In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'.

Forget the Swine, Keep the Pearls

And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. - Joshua 24:13

The Thumb In Your Eye Vacation has begun and even the Washington Post has a hard time keeping mum on the extravagance of it all.

The president and his family are spending 10 days at a multimillion-dollar compound with a gym, basketball court, guesthouse and stretch of beach.

Criminy! Another friggin' motorcade!

Entrepreneurialism is not dead!

Hope you weren't planning on strolling around town...

Another Hurdle

Before he left on vacation the President signed an executive order mandating more "diversity" in Federal jobs. In other words, when in doubt, add more regulation and quotas.

Can anyone doubt that the private sector will soon be the target of the same sort of directive?

Up, Up & Away

Have taken care of his obligation to make the Rust Belt think he was doing something about jobs, President Obama has forsaken the Grayhound for Air Force 1 and is heading to the Vineyard. There, surrounded by his peers, he will rest and recharge for the next round of meaningless PR, fund-raising and leading the country into second-class status.

Slip Sliding Away - II

As we continually remind you (and lament), New Jersey is one of the bluest states in the nation.

Thus it is significant that the latest Quinnipiac poll shows

New Jersey registered voters are split on what they think of Christie, with 47 percent approving and 46 percent disapproving. That’s slightly better for Christie than a June Quinnipiac poll, when 44 percent approved and 47 percent disapproved. 

Obama’s approval ratings have suffered, with 52 percent of voters disapproving and 44 percent approving — down from a positive 50 percent to 46 percent in June. 

And U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, up for re-election next year, also saw his rating drop, to 39 percent and 42 percent disapprove – down from a positive 45 percent to 38 percent in June.

That's correct, the President has only a 44% approval rating in New Jersey. But don't bet the farm just yet, there is a huge difference between voicing disapproval and actually voting for someone else. Still, we'll take whatever good news we can get.

Meanwhile, the President continues to tour the Midwest in a customized bus that cost the taxpayers $1.1 million.

If you build it, they will tour.

Funeral Cortege For An Economy

OK. We did the song parody, we did the phony bus pic, we were going to use this...

...but nothing - and we mean nothing - could prepare you for the actual sight of the Presidential motorcade. And don't even mention carbon offsets from this fossil fuel-fest.

Slip Sliding Away

Here in NJ, possibly 2nd behind Massachusetts as the bluest state in the union and with a significant African-American population, President Obama's approval ratings have slipped to 52%.

Imagine how things are going elsewhere? One indicator seems to be that the number of Republicans who were once hoping that someone (oh, Hillary!) would force a Democratic primary race to the tune of 80%, have now dropped down to 67%. Meaning: more and more Americans see Obama as beatable in the general election.

Now, we here in The Sandwich Shop are often skeptical of poll results and this time is no different. We are guessing that the 52% NJ rating represents a lot of people who are taking Obama to task for his miserable performance in the recent debt-ceiling debacle, but who, at the end of the day, would still vote for him. Especially since that 52% includes the usual number of whiners who are complaining he's not giving them as big a free lunch as they want.

But it's one thing to complain about the size of the portions. It's another to vote for someone who will close up the cafeteria. So there is still a ways to go, fortunately, there is no reason to think things will get better for the Dems any time soon.

Is That Cloud City or Clown City?