Television host Chris Matthews once described President Obama as “pluperfect.” Did Mr. Matthews mean to imply that the president is “beyond perfect”? Does that mean since Jesus is considered to be the only perfect Being Who walked this earth, that the president has surpassed Him? How did the first “pluperfect” president go from beyond perfection to “beyond” unpopular? Is Mr. Matthews still in a pluperfect mood? Apparently not so much. Mr. Matthews' new pronouncement is that the president should ditch the Teleprompter, and speak directly to the people. Does it mean that the Teleprompter has been standing between the people and the president, and preventing him from being forthright? So many questions and so little time until November!

Ah, the Teleprompter, that I dubbed “Tom.” I hate to break it to Mr. Matthews, but the “affair” between president and Teleprompter is a bond that may never be broken. Some kids have their “blankie.” Mr. President has his Teleprompter, and it serves the same purpose as a “blankie” – can’t leave home without it, or it can’t be too far away from its owner. For the few times that the president decided to travel without his Teleprompter/blankie, it was very obvious. The “uhs” went into double digits. It was painful to hear. That famous “polished, articulate” delivery was mysteriously absent. I sat there with my mouth agape, wondering what was wrong. Then someone pointed out that “Tom” must have been left at home.

Let’s move on from Teleprompter Tom, as precious as he is to the president, and try to determine other reasons, why the president is now considered to be so unpopular, according to this article in Time Magazine. How did he go from “political savior,” to “creature of Washington”? Maybe the word “savior” is the key here. Flawed men, even if they are unaware that they are flawed, should stay away from going into the “savior” business. The bar there has been set too high by Jesus the real perfect One. Had the president been a real “savior,” he would have been able to part the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and command that BP oil spill to disappear. A real savior would have been able to turn 5 jobs into millions of jobs.

According to this same article, “The fear most often expressed is that Obama is taking the country somewhere they don't want to go.” I think that we are onto something. When many Americans, present company excepted, heard about the “transformational change” of their country, they rejoiced. My heart leapt in my chest, and it was not from joy. It is safe to say that fear was the predominant emotion. I saw intrusion into my affair with the country with which I had fallen in love, an affair much like that of the president and Teleprompter Tom. I do not want my “blankie” being “transformed.”

Ironically, it was just two short years ago that the same Time Magazine that is outing the president as Mr. Unpopular, hailed him as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2008. While this was not as fatuous as Mr. Matthew’s “tingle up the leg,” it was nevertheless very flattering. Oh well, the president is learning that yesterday you could be creating tingles up legs, and two years later, causing peeing in pants, or crying in beer! It appears that this supporter is finding that instead of dollars, hope has turned into change in her wallet. She thinks that she is exhausted now? Wait until she experiences the other layers of “change.” If it is any comfort to her, hot dogs and beans are a reasonable source of protein.

“He has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago …... He hit the American scene like a thunderclap, upended our politics, shattered decades of conventional wisdom and overcame centuries of the social pecking order. Understandably, you may be thinking Obama is on the cover for these big and flashy reasons: for ushering the country across a momentous symbolic line, for infusing our democracy with a new intensity of participation, for showing the world and ourselves that our most cherished myth — the one about boundless opportunity — has plenty of juice left in it.”

The above flowery description from the Time Person of the year issue, may contain some of the seeds of the current unpopularity. This president not only “hit the American scene like a thunderclap,” he attempted to rain down his policies like an eruption of Mount Vesuvius – policies that are threatening to bury the US, as would any volcanic eruption. I believe that most of us would welcome “change” that could be beneficial to the country that we know and love. We do not want the “thunderclap” to slap us into oblivion!

“Half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago,” and half of us still do not know enough about him. That is a big part of the problem. Sealing all of his personal records as one of his first acts as president, supposedly until the year 2053, does not help. Are those still alive in 2053, when he presumably is beyond public scrutiny, going to be hit with a big surprise, after President George Washington, has been ejected from Mount Rushmore and replaced with the 2008 Time Magazine Person of the Year? Inquiring minds certainly would like to know.
 

Should I even bother to bring up health care “reform” and socialized medicine, except to lament that the passage of this reform was handled in a manner that would make any two bit third world dictator, proud and envious at the same time? Should the excessive number of czars be brought up? Mr. President has to understand that here in America, when we hear “czar,” we have flashbacks to the old Soviet Union. A czar, here, a czar here, a czar everywhere (in the People’s House) does not create warm feelings in our hearts. The national debt, the national debt! The news is not good for the president – unless he set out to achieve this record. According to this article, the president added more to the national debt than all previous presidents – combined. Where is the Guinness Book of World Records? He makes those other president look like slackers when it comes to racking up debt! Well, records are made to be broken. I guess nations are also meant to be broke and broken. My country “twas” of thee?

On the subject of broke and broken, this article about a UN global tax , supported by the US president, possibly to the detriment of US citizens, is discomforting, to make a colossal understatement. I guess I should use the correct UN term of “Innovative financing mechanisms.” Apparently, this “innovation” is supposed to be used along with foreign aid to help the UN bleed so-called “rich” nations. Is this along the lines of “a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet”? Is it also along the lines of no longer using the term “Global Warming,” but “Global Climate Disruption,” as is being put in place by the White House? If the science will not cooperate to fit the name, change the name in the hope that the new name will accommodate the science? God must be having a good chuckle at the feeble attempts of feeble humans to control His creation. Let me gently lay it out for the “feeble creatures.” None of this fancy sleight of names, qualifies these projects as “roses.” The lipstick on a pig analogy is more apropos. Has anyone let the UN know that the term “rich nation,” is becoming a misnomer? These “rich’ nations are systematically being brought down to the level of the not so rich nations. I would like to add my own proposal. Have the tax, er innovative financing mechanisms, apply to all of the fat cats at the United Nations and the fat cats “leading” the “rich” nations. They are the ones who are rich from the labor of the rest of us. I would greatly admire and perhaps begin to respect those fat cats, if they accepted my bold proposal. I would at least try to respect and admire. Who am I kidding? They have already shut down my fount of respect and admiration.

You know that you are unpopular when, in the midst of the big push for “peace” in the Middle East, a “fan” is running ads pushing your current Secretary of State, for president. It gets worse. President GW Bush is missed? Is “worser” an acceptable adverb? Whether or not it is, it very adequately describes the worsening picture for the president. When the elites begin questioning, you know that you are in “worser” territory! I hate to add to the misery, but the president just further enlarged his unpopularity territory. Students were recruited to fill seats at a presidential appearance at a Community College. A community college, for heaven’s sake? The territory just got “beyond worsest.” This British lad allowed his liquor to do the talking and let the president know that he did not consider him “pluperfect.” The word he used begins with the letter “P,” and it is the action done by a pin. At least he did not call the president a “pinhead!”

Whew! September 11, 2010 rolled around, and the president did not accept this honor. That would have definitely cast even more doubt as to his religion. Apparently about a quarter of the US population is unsure of the president’s religion. Why do I think that he is his own god, and worships no other? “Recovery summer”? The patient (jobs) is on life support and not even Joe Biden in a doctor’s white coat can surgically implant plugs in the leaking oxygen jobs tank. Thank God, summer is almost at an end.

I am just brimming with proposals to help the ruling class more relate to the proletariat! I hereby propose that we establish a Congressional School and a Presidential School. Anyone who aspires to lead will have to attend those schools. They will not graduate unless they know the US Constitution, as is required of students at Hillsdale College. They should know that there are 50 states in the Union – not 57. Their lives should be an open book. We should be able to find folks who knew them in pre-school. Students will be taught that the following two sentences may not be used unless the communicators know their meaning, and use them with complete honesty, unlike the current callous usage.

▪ “I take full responsibility.” (Translation – I could not get my aide to take the rap!)

▪ “It is time to move on.” (Translation – you gullible folks are going to forget this indiscretion before the next election, and vote me back in, even if I should be behind bars and not a desk) Any examples needed?

Oh, the students would need to be weaned from total reliance on Teleprompter Tom and his siblings. I would gladly volunteer to be Nurse Ratched in that asylum, I mean school. That would be change in which I could revel!

As for the now largely unpopular president, I wish him wisdom to lead for the remainder of his term, wisdom that he can know the difference between change for good, and thunderclaps or thunder bolts that are destructive. We need a leader who has the courage to tell us when, in his opinion, we are straying, but not one who constantly berates us, talks down to us, in front of our faces, behind our backs – in short – always. We are not “arrogant, divisive” louts “clinging to God and guns.” Well maybe we are clinging to God and our Second Amendment rights. We do know who the real God is.

Additionally, I wish the president wisdom to not believe the adoration of the crowd in proclaiming that he is a savior. “Savior” is way above his pay grade. We, his constituents, need a competent, qualified leader. Maybe it is not too late to have competence thrust upon him, since greatness is out of reach. There could be something to be learned from Teleprompter Tom, after all – reliability – at least 90% of the time. I feel confident in asserting that we do not want seats on the national Titanic. By the way, Mr. President, stop whining about being talked about “like a dog.” If you are being talked about in dog terms, then you are in good company. In America, folks love their dogs. Stop with the car and cliff analogy, and holes in the fender of a car. Act presidential.

Thomas Jefferson said the following about our first President, George Washington:

“Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed.”

If only we could clone dead bones. If only one could once again experience the courage, grace, dignity and honor of the days of the presidency of President George Washington. If only….