Awww:

Not that the commander in chief really thinks he can escape his duties, even on an island. Amid golf, tennis, gym workouts and dinner, Obama has been called on to monitor the airliner attack in Detroit last Friday and what appeared to be another attack on Sunday — that incident turned out to be a false alarm. On Monday, Obama worked out in the morning and played tennis before making his first public remarks on airline security, then hit the golf course.

So much for putting aside the stress of work. Obama himself has been candid about the pressures of being president during what he has called an “extraordinary year.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Obama wasn’t merely “called on” to monitor the airliner attack…it is part of his job description. It’d be nice if terrorists would schedule their evil acts for more convenient times and not interrupt anyone’s vacation, but somehow they just don’t strike me as the courteous type. Of course I’m not begrudging the man some R & R, but articles such as these that treat world events and presidential tasks as just adding to Obama’s stress level are a little much. Am I supposed to be sympathetic or something? ‘Cause, if you haven’t guessed already, I’m not.

Speaking of the tiring 2009 the One has had, be sure to read Dave Barry’s year in review (via Drudge).

UPDATE: Are Danish magazines prone to wild exaggeration? Anyone know? Ah well, maybe they do have a point:

His tangible results in the short time that he has been active – are few and far between. His greatest results have been created with words and speeches – words that remain in the consciousness of their audience and have long-term effects.

He comes from humble beginnings and defends the weak and vulnerable, because he can identify himself with their conditions.

And no we are not thinking of Jesus Christ, whose birthday has just been celebrated - - but rather the President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama.

Yep, defending the weak and vulnerable…unless we’re talking about babies in IL hospitals left to die after botched abortions. Or, children in DC who might want to escape the clutches of the awesome public school system there. (And, by awesome, I meant horrifyingly wretched.) But aside from those examples off the top of my head, sure, what the hell. I can see it. After all, how many quilts has Jesus inspired?

There was a misunderstanding, you see, and…:

What began as an innocent mistake ended in a vicious attack on a local honor student.

Police said as many as 11 students beat up the eighth-grader leaving him severely injured, and he may even lose his sight…

The incident near a school soccer field was so violent that 13-year-old David Muneton needed reconstructive surgery to his face to correct several broken bones.

The little thugs have been suspended, but I hope they’re eventually expelled and, at the very least, locked up for a bit and made to pay some sort of restitution to cover some of that kid’s medical bills. I don’t know what is going on in these homes and with these children, but my God. I know feathers are ruffled when schools are criticized, but honestly it must take a lot of faith some days to put a child on a bus and send them off to one of these places. Seriously.

Not exactly news, I know, but it isn’t often that a football team runs what is charitably being called the worst trick play ever:

I’m not a fan of the team and don’t care if they win or not, but that was downright ugly. Unless, of course, their goal was to chuck the ball at several players from the other team and almost have the other team score a touchdown. Love the 3 guys running full steam-unblocked-at the punter/qb, too. Well done.

But, the Redskins are simply a microcosm of the city they represent. Did you know they have one person calling running plays, another calling passing plays, and still another warm body-the actual head coach-calling fourth down plays? Where else but DC would such a bureaucratic mess be seen as a good idea? (I’m surprised the coaches haven’t been renamed ‘czars’.) Despite their lack of success, President Obama recently gave the Redskins a solid B+.

Oh, the ‘Skins lost, 45-12. But you probably knew that.

The chutzpah of this guy is absolutely breathtaking. This is the same President Obama who has spent more than any other. In October, the federal deficit hit a record $1.42 trillion. The One’s estimated deficits, according to the CBO, will dwarf that of his predecessor’s. And yet, here he stands reinventing himself as some sort of deficit hawk? We’re supposed to believe, mere months after passage of a pork-infested $787 billion stimulus package, that the man is now concerned with runaway spending in Washington, and the huge deficit he is creating? Give me a break!! Does he think we’re all freakin’ morons? Sure, the Left will eat it up-hell, they still believe ObamaCare will actually cut the deficit-but come on now. The sheer audacity just numbs the senses, really:

Ta dah! Introducing President Obama, Nobel Prize winner and now…spendthrift and deficit cutter!?!?! Hahahaha! A few words about ObamaCare actually cutting the deficit, per the CBO’s latest on Reid’s crap. What the One didn’t bother to mention: a) The CBO assumed some pretty hefty cuts in Medicare, which most assuredly won’t happen; b) the legislation includes lots of accounting gimmicks, including taxing for ten years while providing “benefits” for just six, as well as not including the so-called “doc fix” (look it up); c) Medicare payroll tax goes from 0.5% in the Nov. bill to 0.9% in this one-again, unlikely to happen. In other words, when Obama claims it’ll cut the deficit he’s disguising the shell game they’re playing which created that mirage. Liar liar, pants on fire.

Oh, and from the Party that will now laughingly try to claim the mantle of heroic deficit-slashers? Another bribe tucked away in Reid’s nightmarish bag of goodies, a cool $100 million in pork requested by Chris “Countrywide” Dodd for the University of Connecticut’s medical school. Careful stewards of the people’s money? Uh huh.

Wonder if this counts as saying anything to gain a political advantage? Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), just the latest donkey to talk out of their behind:

They are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one.”

This is the garbage you have to resort to when you’re losing the battle of public opinion. I will repeat: America does not want this bill, and don’t think the Democrats aren’t aware of that inconvenient little fact. Rather than consider the possibility that people don’t like the particulars of the legislation, don’t believe it will benefit them, don’t trust the politicians pushing this through with stealth 1 AM cloture votes, etc, though, and actually try to improve the bill, these geniuses resort to demonizing the opposition. Your Democrat Party, winning the hearts and minds of exactly no one. Perhaps Sheldon and Co. are trying to see if they can push that 55% opposed ever higher? I have the utmost faith that they will.

UPDATE- A comment left over at The Roofitarian:

the only reason that support for the bill is below 60 percent is the lack of the public option. america wants reform, they just think that this is not enough. the problem isnt that its too liberal its that its too conservative

Good thing I had finished my coffee because it would’ve been splattered across my monitor. No doubt America would like to see a better healthcare system…who wouldn’t? But, the idea that support for ObamaCare has soured because it isn’t liberal enough is, well, ludicrous. While it is true that the generic “public option” polls well, the devil might just be in the details. In any event, it simply isn’t true that the “reform” bills enjoyed widespread support even when the public option was included, certainly nothing approaching 60%. The support that remains for the reform measures is certainly mostly found among the same Lefty base that wanted the public option, so it isn’t like the falling numbers are due to a lot of Democrats jumping ship.

But, this is yet another example of how libs and Dems are rationalizing faltering public support. They refuse to see why people are skeptical about a bill being engineered behind closed doors. They remain blind to the odd contradiction between the claim that we need to pass a bill NOW and the fact benefits from it won’t start until 2014. Their incredible hubris prevents them from understanding the very real concerns people have with this legislation, and it will be that unbridled arrogance which we’ll all be paying for later.

Judas would be proud. Meet Ben Nelson, soon to be ex-senator from Nebraska:

Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, announced to his caucus Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas.

“We’re there,” said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), as he headed into a special meeting to outline the deal.

Democratic leaders spent days trying to hammer out a deal with Nelson, and worked late Friday night with him on abortion coverage language that had proved the major stumbling block. Nelson also secured other favors for his home state.

They didn’t “work with him” on abortion, he caved on it based on those “other favors” he secured. To wit:

Nelson has recently complained that the proposed expansion of Medicaid to those earning below 133% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) would burden his state of Nebraska and suggested that states should be able to opt-in to the program.

Under the current merged legislation (the version unveiled on November 18th), the federal government fully finances care for the expanded population for two years and increases its matching funds (known as FMAP) thereafter. Page 98 of the managers amendment specifically identifies Nebraska for higher federal matching funds, fully funding its expansion for an additional year…

That’s probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Nebraska, representing the modern-day equivalent of 30 pieces of silver to turn your back on the citizens of Nebraska and, indeed, America as a whole. To borrow a favored Obama phrase, let me be clear: The American people do NOT want this bill. The oft-repeated assertion that everyone is clamoring for ObamaCare is laughable and a lie. The more people hear about it, the less they want it and yes, the more they prefer the status quo. And yet, Reid is insisting on shoving this down our throats and plans a vote before Christmas…when he still hasn’t released the final Senate bill!!!

When premiums skyrocket as a result of this monstrosity, when the deficit balloons further and healthcare costs continue to soar as the quality of care decreases, be sure to remember who is to blame and the f’ed up process they used to make it happen. Ample time for debate? Transparency? Bipartisanship? Just words. President Wonderful and his merry band of congressional socialists may talk the good talk, but the real goal here is enslaving more to the federal government and, by extension, the Democrat Party. Make no mistake about it.

Bear in mind as you watch the following that it was only a little over nine years ago that Lieberman was running on the Democrat ticket as their vice presidential candidate. My how times have changed:

I want to take a moment to thank the lovely citizens of Minnesota for electing Stuart Smalley to the United States Senate. First Jesse Ventura for governor…now noted assclown Al Franken. I’m not sure what is in the water up there, but please stop voting annoying, unqualified, unfunny tools into office, k?

But, there you have it…the Democrats’ idea of debate and discussion. They’re so eager to ram this garbage down our throats, they won’t even allow their own former VP candidate the courtesy of an additional minute. Oh, and the best part? There isn’t even a Senate bill yet:

While details of the Senate bill have emerged in recent weeks, Reid hasn’t yet released a final copy of his legislation, which would change even more substantially once the majority leader introduces his manager’s amendment to the legislation — an amendment expected to drop early next week.

A mix of 10 liberal and centrist Democratic senators worked to craft the latest Senate bill last week, and Reid has played his cards close to his vest since then, having released neither the legislative language nor the pending Congressional Budget Office score of the bill.

That’s right…they want to vote on this turkey before Christmas, yet no final piece of legislation has even been released. Your Democrat Party at work.

Yesterday, the Left was fit to be tied because the GOP forced the reading of a Bernie Sanders amendment, calling it disgusting and so forth. The petulant whining was a bit much, especially considering it was only a few short years ago that the Democrats were opposing every bit of GOP legislation. Being the “Party of No” sure was a good idea then, huh Nancy?

I can pick up Swedish pretty easily, Elin. Just sayin’:

Elin Nordegren, the wife of Tiger Woods, will seek a divorce, ABC News.com is reporting.

A source close to Nordegren told the Web site on Wednesday that a “divorce is 100 percent on.”

Nordegren was recently photographed pumping gas without her wedding ring.

Woods and his wife have been married for five years and have a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son.

If someone strays once (one night stand-type thing), and there are extenuating circumstances involved, and the person regrets it, is truly sorry, and proves to the other that they still love them and will do everything they can to regain their trust, then and only then can I understand someone staying in a relationship in which their partner has cheated. There’s no excuse for cheating, but I can see things possibly working out under that scenario if both parties are willing. Clearly, though, that isn’t the case with Tiger Woods. Reports earlier suggested they were trying to rework the prenup in order to convince her to stay with him, but I’m glad she didn’t go for that. The facade he had created of this committed husband and father is forever shattered, and she shouldn’t be party to his futile attempts to repair the PR hit he’s taking. Incidentally, I feel the same way regarding Jenny Sanford’s decision to do likewise. It’s rotten for the children involved, but that is something the cheaters should’ve thought of beforehand.

Not the citizens of the city, mind you, but the city council. And, barring an unlikely interjection by both Congress and the White House within the 30-day review period, it will become law. Yay!

Just kidding. I do hope, though, that a bill legalizing polygamy and other domestic “partnerships”, regardless of what form they may take, is soon to follow. After all, if we’re all about fairness and equality then it only stands to reason that we not discriminate against anything else, either. Right? Oh, and I know Obama’s safe schools “czar” has got to be just as pleased as punch! (Reason 2,675,894 to homeschool.)

Question of the day: In what area of the country has gay marriage been legalized via voter referendum?

So the so-called “public option” was dropped from the Senate version of ObamaCare, in favor of a Medicare buy-in system (which, incidentally, is probably even a closer step toward single-payer than the public option and, believe it or not, even more of a trainwreck). However, the Medicare provision appears to have been dropped, as well, thanks in large measure to Joe Lieberman:

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) just walked walked into the Democrats all-important caucus meeting tonight sounding defeatest about the chance that a Medicare buy-in or public option trigger will survive Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) decision to block the compromises this weekend.

Asked by a reporter if the Medicare buy-in will be pulled out, Harkin said “looks that way,” before praising a Democratic health care bill without the two public option compromises.

This might be why the Glorious One is summoning Democrats up to Mount Olympus for a little arm twisting Tuesday chit-chat. Something will almost certainly pass, as there is no way Democrats will leave the One with nothing to sign and crow about later, but anything without a public or Medicare option is a huge defeat for the White House and the Left. And, ironically enough, it will be divisions within the Democrat Party that bear responsibility for said (possible) failure, as they hold a 60-40 edge in the Senate (a filibuster-proof supermajority) as well as an 81-seat advantage in the House. Much will be written and said about so-called GOP obstructionism, but the truth is the Democrats cannot even keep their own members from jumping ship as the public sours on ObamaCare and Democrats as a whole. 2010? Not looking too good for them at the moment.

By the way, I give myself a solid B+ for this post. Apologies to DebSF, though, for any negative tone. For heaven’s sake, indeed.