Only A Complete Idiot Would Miss the Opportunity of a Lifetime

I giggle every time I see Obama campaigning. He reminds me of a desperate little man, a failure, who is still trying to cling to relevancy. He wouldn't even have to campaign at all- had he not missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

And they say this guy is smart. I don't think so. Let me tell you why.

The most significant thing that separates great Republics from banana Republics is the rule of law. That's it. Our willingness to protect and preserve law at all costs has made this country great.
When people, even a minority, are all protected from the majority- they are safe. The greatness of a country, of a Republic then, is the willingness to protect everyone within your borders with established law and practice. Even the minorities.

And conversely, abandoning the rule of law, allows anarchy to take hold and flourish. It allows the haves to oppress the have nots. That is what is happening here in America. Either the rule of law matters, or it does not. The law did not matter in 2008. The rule of law in this country was  abandoned at the behest of a bunch of crooked and elite bankers who had bought themselves some politicians.

Trillions of taxpayer dollars were used to save crony capitalist interests- primarily those of bankers. Giant monopolies were created, the precise thing that this country has sought to avoid. Banks were directed to take over smaller banks. Hundreds of thousands of bankers who had all committed control fraud- escaped unpunished. They even confused people further by claiming and thus convincing some- that it was the pigeons who were responsible. Millions of people taking out mortgages they could not afford.

That is wrong and so simplistic on so many levels. Confidence men and schemes cannot flourish without marks. All confidence schemes need marks. Suffice it to say here- bankers know math. They knew the marks couldn't pay but they sold them mortgages anyway. They weren't out the money. They simply sold those crappy mortgages to the taxpayers. Defrauding math challenged people is not something new.

And at the very same time, we had Bush in the White House. A man that had abandoned the rule of law as well for his elite brethren. A man that our country was collectively sick of. The GOP offered up some more old whitey politics with a cute two year Governor thrown in as frosting on the Republican cake. You almost couldn't lose.

So I think, it doesn't get much better than that. An opportunity of a lifetime, maybe of the century. All you have to do is run your mouth a little bit to a national audience starving for something new that didn't talk like a hick. Take a few hundred million dollars from bankers to campaign with and let the entire electorate cleanse themselves of any hint of lingering racism by voting for you because you look mostly black. It was a fucking no brainer.

Unfortunately, Obama could not escape his own nature. He committed the one act that would spell doom for the rest of his Presidency and probably his life. He completely ignored the hopes of millions of voters. Voters and victims clamoring for some sense of justice and law when he gave the crooked bankers and the ruling elite a get out of jail card. He ignored what they had done- he had ignored the rule of law. The same law he allegedly taught.

Can you imagine how powerful this man would be had he prosecuted all of those crooked bankers and supported the rule of law in this country? Can you comprehend the support he would have gotten from millions upon millions of weary people here and abroad had he allowed insolvent banks to fail? Had he refused to create banking monopolies and protected our treasury like it was his own bank account?

Had Obama done that simple act- he could be sitting on the beach or the golf course- absolutely untouchable. By this time, new banks would have taken the place of scoundrel banks. Business would be working again, deficits and debt piles undoubtedly smaller. The crooks would be in jail. The marks might have had to suffer a little too. The message would have been sent. The people would have nodded approvingly. We could all be proud that we live here and that we are a nation of laws. A place that sets the example for others to follow.

This ain't Jamaica or Haiti. 

But instead our President goes about the business of trying to blow smoke up our asses again- wasting all those millions upon millions in a futile mission doomed to fail. It's really pretty sad. Obama had a chance to solidify his Presidency and to prove that the the rule of law is colorblind. That justice matters.

Of course all of that takes a little vision. It would have been kind of nasty and almost dishonest- taking all of that banker money and then turning on them. But that's our system. The rich would have remained rich- but the little guys, a far greater number, would not have been in homeless shelters. I could have slept at nights had I done that, I think. In the big scheme of things, doing the right thing is not always the convenient thing. For Obama, a man who has accomplished a great deal with his personal life with other people's money, the die was cast. This is how he has lived his life- taking money from people like Tony Rezko and Jon Corzine. And then looking the other way.

Some people might call that smart. This whoring yourself out to the highest bidder. Not me. I see a man who did not have the wisdom or the foresight to see what lies ahead. A guy with questionable patriotism who missed the chance to go down as one of the greatest. Instead he will find his destiny in the annals of history as some footnote alongside Calvin Coolidge and Jimmy Carter. Known not for anything he did- but rather that he was born- half black. That is hardly noteworthy.

A lawyer who doesn't understand the importance of the rule of law. That doesn't seem very bright to me.