Theater Play on the Life of St. Jean/John Vianney

I have access to a very impactful play of the life of St. Jean Vianney. The play is truly Catholic and features multiple, actual homilies from this saint addressing many core beliefs in our Faith. It is meant for a cast of around twenty, so would be best served as a high-school, college or theater group play.

There are so few truly Catholic plays out there, this is one.

Along with Vianney's beautiful sermons it highlights his mysticism as well as his confrontations with the devil. Everyone can take something spiritual away with them from this play.

If you are interested in getting a copy of this play for consideration, please contact me through the comment link on this post, and include your e-mail contact information. I will not publish your comment, but send a copy of the play to you for your use free of charge.

Bishop Tobin Bans Patrick Kennedy from Communion

When Bishop Tobin mentioned the word "scandal" below, it should have been a hint of what was coming. You can't have a dogmatic head of a diocese mention public scandal without an appropriate public remedy.

As I mentioned, the Catholic Church in America has turned a corner. The stakes have been raised. Patrick Kennedy's office vs. his soul.

"Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.

The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal's Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation's most famous Roman Catholic family.

"The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion," Kennedy told the paper in an interview conducted Friday.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him "that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I've taken as a public official," particularly on abortion."

All weary pro-lifers should write Bishop Tobin a letter of support for this decision. There are many Catholic politicians who have been destructive towards human life for far too long who are cringing this morning with this story.

Buchanan: Some Good Questions

Pat Buchanan asks a lot of very thought provoking questions, that he knows the answers to, in his recent column showing the lunacy of a civil trial for enemy combatants. It is a good read with historical basis.

If you want to notice something as interesting as telling, type Pat Buchanan's name in your Google search field and see how nothing automatically comes up. Every other public figure and columnist comes up as an autofill, even remote people when I search for them. Apparently, Google does not like Pat very much.

Bishop Tobin Sets Patrick Kennedy Straight

Back in October of 2008, I said that the Pelosi Heresy would be the turning point for the Catholic Church in America. Clerics would no longer leave blatant, public distortions of our Faith unchallenged when made by bold, Catholic-in-name-only, posturing politicians.

In this latest event, the son of Ted Kennedy, Patrick (the apple doesn't fall far..) Kennedy, said publicly that “The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.”

Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin definitively set the record straight:

"... Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does. Although I wouldn’t choose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents.

For example, the “Code of Canon Law” says, “Lay persons are bound by an obligation and possess the right to acquire a knowledge of Christian doctrine adapted to their capacity and condition so that they can live in accord with that doctrine.” (Canon 229, #1)

...But let’s get down to a more practical question; let’s approach it this way: What does it mean, really, to be a Catholic? After all, being a Catholic has to mean something, right?

Well, in simple terms ...being a Catholic means that you’re part of a faith community that possesses a clearly defined authority and doctrine, obligations and expectations. It means that you believe and accept the teachings of the Church, especially on essential matters of faith and morals; that you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish; that you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly; that you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially.

...Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category – it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you’ve re-affirmed on many occasions. Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an “imperfect humanity.” [Blogger Note: Ted Kennedy used the term "imperfect" in his final letter to the Vatican to explain 40 years of voting in favor of abortion on demand] Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous [Blogger Note: There he said it!] to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church.

...I invite you, as your bishop and brother in Christ, to enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and repentance. It’s not too late for you to repair your relationship with the Church, redeem your public image, and emerge as an authentic “profile in courage,” especially by defending the sanctity of human life for all people, including unborn children. And if I can ever be of assistance as you travel the road of faith, I would be honored and happy to do so."

Bravo Bishop, thank you for your courage, leadership and preaching the unfiltered Gospel.

Love, Worship, Truth and Freedom Cannot Be Surpressed

Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. We all know one of the most famous speeches of Ronald Reagan's life... and we all know this part:

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

But do we know this part?

"Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole look and feel and way of life--not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations.

Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love--love both profound and abiding.

Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront. Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower's one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom."

Within 2 years of this speech, the Wall dividing the German people was no more.

2009 Election Night: The Season of Our Discontent

A few thoughts should be mentioned on last night’s elections.

First, Governor Corzine lost by 4 points to Chris Christie despite President Obama frequently stumping for him, and outspending Christie an incredible 4 to 1. Now a 4 percent victory only requires 2.1 percent of the population to change their mind to swing the election.

Was it the case that our President didn’t have the goodwill and/or influence to swing this small percentage of voters in a historically Liberal state? This answer could be very telling. Or was it a matter of Obama's frequent fundraising and photo op’s with Corzine did influence the race, but Corzine was so far behind Christie that it did not matter? Pretty much all polls were aligned saying this race was neck and neck coming into the election. This leaves the first choice, that Obama has no influence, as the more realistic choice. This is a very bad position for the President of the free world to be in. It is too bad this election was not held in France where Obama’s influence means something.

Bill Bennett on his radio show this morning humorously said, paraphrasing, “ the anti-bodies are kickin’ in to fight was is not supposed to be in America.” My personal opinion is that we have not had an extremely, full-fledged Liberal president in a generation. Bill Clinton was a social liberal, but fiscal moderate as he balanced the budget with Newt Gingrich. Jimmy Carter was the last Liberal flame thrower. When Carter was president, I was still not allowed to write in pen, and I was 5 years away from getting braces. It has been a very long time. Americans have completely forgotten -- due to time or for the younger voters, they have never been exposed to an uncontrollable tax-and-spend Liberal on the level of Obama --what it is like having a unapologetic Liberal calling the shots. Every day we see Obama's new spending in the news... 700 Billion here, or 400 billion there, as the black whole of debt that we and our children will have to dig out of gets deeper and deeper. Our collective memory does not recall, or is somehow not convinced, that tax increases targeting the private sector and spending increases targeting and benefiting the government sector will always destroy an economy. Very quietly, Johnson and Johnson yesterday announced layoffs for 8,000 employees. This is a premier health care company, and a premier consumer products company in the U.S. Just ask Warren Buffet who owns a good amount of its stock. If you think that Obama has done anything to help this economy a year after being elected take a look at Johnson and Johnson.

Extreme Left-Wing, diatriber Alan Dershowitz mentioned the public was having ‘buyer’s remorse” in regard to electing Obama a few months back. It is similar to having a whirlwind courtship and marrying someone, then finding out the person has an extremely violent temper and you are stuck with them. The year following this realization is the most fearful time. We are now in this time, the time of our discontent, with Obama, realizing he is not the package that was promised or advertised, we are stuck with him, and the fear is overwhelming.

Virginia had a 25 point swing towards Republican voters last night for the Gubernatorial vote when compared to what Obama carried last year. One out of four voters went running to the door. Close to 50% of the voters that elected Obama! Laughably, the White House says this does not reflect on Obama.

In upstate New York, a Conservative third-party candidate took on both establishment Parties with far less financing and was leading in the polls as of yesterday. If Democrats see the election outcome last night as a victory, they do it to their peril.

It seems that every generation needs to make their own mistakes and get their own wake up call. I predict that the next two Presidential elections will be won by the Republicans, possibly three. America has realized their mistake and the aftertaste will last at least ten years. On January 21st, Obama had 68% approval rating and 12% disapproval rating per Gallop. Now it is 50% approval (down -18%) verses 43% disapproval (up +31%). Overwhelming buyer’s remorse.

I also predict that Democrats will start fleeing Obama and his agenda to save their own hides. You don’t have to be Nostradamos to predict this. The movie Mississippi Burning has a very accurate quote in it, “Rattlesnakes don’t commit suicide.”

Archbishop Timothy Dolan: Anti-Catholicism is America's Pastime

New York's Archbishop showed me something here, no mincing words. Maureen Dowd finally held accountable for her incoherent rants. Click on the above link, a very worth-while read.

"...Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.

True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm -- the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives -- is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today."

10/31 Post note: Archbishop Dolan confirmed he submitted this piece to the New York Times and they declined to print it.

Two Years From Now, These Will Be Considered the Good Ol' Days for Obama

I don't understand. President Obama does nothing in his first 12 days in office and wins the Nobel Peace Prize, but then legitimately sets a true record for approval rating plummet and no one gives him any credit???

From Gallup:

"...the 9-point drop in the most recent quarter is the largest Gallup has ever measured for an elected president between the second and third quarters of his term, dating back to 1953

...More generally, Obama's 9-point slide between quarters ranks as one of the steepest for a president at any point in his first year in office."

The Liberal Tenet of Work vs. Jobs

The Obama administration reported yesterday that it has saved or created 30,000 jobs by awarding $16 B-B-B-Billion to federal contractors in government projects. With a calculator, it comes out to a cost of more than $500,000 per job created which again shows you the inefficiencies and incompetence of this administration.

Now, let’s take that $16 Billion and try to stimulate this economy another way. Let’s give out 160,000 one-hundred thousand dollars low-interest loans, that should be noted have to be paid back, to small business entrepreneurs wanting to open a business. If each hires 2 people, when grouped with the entrepreneur, this would create 480,000 new jobs. Now what happens if one percent of the 160,000 companies actually become large companies down the road (Apple computers started in a garage). Take 1600 companies and times that by 10,000 jobs as well. 16 million new jobs.

The basic truth about Liberals is that they are very good at creating work for their constituencies, and very bad at creating established, long-term jobs. They can create a $60,000 job for a person directing traffic at a highway work site holding a stop sign, but this job is gone the day the work is completed.

Here is a great example of this using Boston’s Big Dig in the epicenter of Liberalism. The government wanted to move a highway underground that went through the middle of the city. It was originally budgeted for $2 Billion, and came in at a final cost of over $22 Billion. In the year 2000, 5,400 workers were hired for the job and at the end, in 2004, only 1,000 were still employed, and they were on short-term, mop-up duty.

Last week, in a poll of CEO’s only 13% expect to offer more jobs in the short term, although the majority expect their sales to grow in this same period. This, coupled with the Dow Jones hitting 10,000 this week, leads more credibility and concern to a job-less recovery, and very big problems for the Obama administration.

Best of VCR: What's the Nobel Prize Worth?

Originally posted June 5, 2008. Thought I would dust it off with our President's recent honor. I read today that the nominations for this year's award we due Feb. 1st, 2009, so Obama was nominated 12 days into Office. This shows you the obsession in making sure Obama got this award regardless of achievements. This award is even more completely meaningless going forward than it was in the past, if that is possible.


This week, MSNBC.com ran a cover story on the downfall of Dr. James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

Long-time pro-lifers are very familiar with Dr. Watson but not for his scientific advancements. They are familiar with him for his extreme culture-of-death philosophies:

In Prism magazine (1973), Dr. Watson suggests that children not be declared alive until three days after birth so that doctors may allow severely deformed children to die if their parents so choose.

Decades later, in an interview with the Australian paper The Sunday Age, Watson was quoted saying: "Any time you can prevent a seriously sick child from being born, it is good for everyone..."

What makes this man so incredible is not his accolades, but the place our society give him. He is an esteemed Nobel Laureate.

In researching the history of the Nobel Prizes, you will find such dark names in the ranks of the Nobel nominees as Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin. As the ol’ Yankee manager, Casey Stengel, said, "You can look it up."

What you will not find on the list of nominees are the names of Mahatma Gandhi nor Pope John Paul II.

In regard to the Holy Father, the Nobel organization did not believe embracing your assassin in a jail cell, speaking out for the most helpless and downtrodden members of society over the span of 30 years and being at the epicenter of the fall of Communism (bringing it down without a shot being fired) worthy of their recognition.

Despite what Al Gore and Jimmy Carter would tell you, this clearly defines how political these Nobel awards are.

So back to Dr. Watson… What finally brought down his career? He made racist remarks against the African American and Jewish communities.

One of the benefits of being pro-life is that your views allow you to quickly identify what kind of person is standing in front of you. Through our commitment to life, we knew the kind of man Dr. James Watson was in 1973; it took the rest of the world more than 30 years to catch up.

Grief: The Battleground between the Divine and the Mortal

Mary Ellen Barrett is a Catholic writer and a homeschooling mother of seven on Long Island. I have quoted her writing previously on my blog.

In August, while on a camping trip, it is believed her fourteen-year-old son, Ryan, had a seizure that resulted in his drowning. As a parent who shares with her a deep love of our Catholic Faith and for our children, we all share in this heartache.

Ryan was very loved within his community, and aspired to become a priest. When Auxiliary Bishop Peter Libasci came to Ryan’s wake, he told a mourner, "I just had to come and see the little priest."

Mourning directly exposes our souls and our hearts to the presence of God without any obstructions. There are no pretenses or falsehoods in mourning; no rhetoric, no social pleasantries, no cosmetic appearances, no designer clothes, nor teeth whiteners. Nothing but the true essence of human struggling and emotions with all else stripped away.

Grieving is the battleground between the Divine and the mortal. Our mortal nature and senses tell us that our loved one is gone forever because we no longer have their physical presence; and our Faith tells us that they are in God’s embrace and that we are called to believe the nonphysical and things that can't be seen -- what our senses can’t perceive and hearts can't prove. It is a very tough battle.

This struggle is what Mary Ellen calls "sitting at the foot of the cross" in this beautiful piece where she wrote about her grief. You will see there are no pretenses in her words, just her struggling with her essence and the belief in her God. It is a very worthwhile read:

Triumph of the Cross
"One month. It's been one month since our world came crashing down around us and we began our vigil at the cross of Christ.

To learn to embrace the suffering and turn it to some use has been, at times, a nearly impossible task for me. I miss my Ryan so badly it is a physical pain that just will not go away. A stabbing knife in my chest that often makes it hard to catch my breath.

To sit at the foot of the cross in the real way that Dave and I have this past month, it is necessary to surrender to God and to just trust that His plan is for our ultimate salvation. I confess to having my moments of bewilderment/anger at why God called Ryan home but I pray through that and ask Ryan to pray for me. I know that Ryan is happy in heaven, that he is doing good there. There have been several little intercessions he has accomplished for his mom and dad and I'm told others have had little prayer requests granted. I am so comforted by the knowledge that he is home with Our Lady, helping his family and friends.
I still want him home with me. That is me, my fallen, broken nature. To be aware of his joy and yet want him here. I can't help it. I don't think I ever will be able to feel differently.

Still we chug along here, life still happens. Babies need feeding and changing, toddlers require care, older kids need to do school and go to music and soccer and other places. I am sometimes annoyed that the world hasn't stopped, frozen in time because my son died, but then I see that going to dance and soccer is good for the kids and visiting with family heals me.

So the grief crashes over us in waves. Mind numbingly, over-powering waves and then we gasp and stick our heads up and catch our breath. We see the world around us and the love being bestowed on us and we know it is good.

Sitting at the foot of the cross gives others the opportunity to minister. We have been so cared for and generously provided for in the last month. I still receive a delicious hot dinner every evening at 5:00 pm. I We spent this last weekend in a beautiful New England resort owned by my cousins, being catered to as if we really deserved such treatment. The dearest friend in the world and her husband and children still take care of so many details of daily living for us so that we no longer have to think. The generosity of our parish family, community and homeschool group have been unimaginable. Thank you all dear people.

This community too, this blogging world with is so "real" in spite of it's "unrealness" The cards, letters, donations, emails, gifts and prayers have overwhelmed us in their love. Thank you all so much.
I have almost 1,000 thank you notes to write. Yes 1,000. Between the wakes and the funeral and the giving that followed almost 1,000 people expressed their gratitude for Ryan's life and love for our family.
If you know me, you know how long that it is going to take to get that done. If you don't know me, let me tell you it's going to be a while.

I want to assure everyone that this blog is not going to become a constant outpouring of grief. I won't be able to keep it out entirely but I still want this to be a happy place that records what we do here and how we do it. I still will rant politically over at CatholicVote.org and I still intend to keep up with other writing commitments. Soon.

For today, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, let me assure you that the suffering we embrace does in fact unite us to Christ. While I think I have felt every emotion going in the last month the one that prevails is unity to Christ. A comforted, loved feeling. Knowing that my Father in heaven has embraced my family and I and is holding us close is a warmth I can't describe. To witness and experience the Body of Christ in the real, powerful and practical way that we have is evidence of the suffering doing good. It is evidence that God is in His heaven, that my son is there too and he is caring for Dave and I.

The cross will be triumphant, we shall all be united again.

Until then I can't wait to hug my boy."

Be Proud of Who You Are, America!

Mark Steyn had a very powerful statement yesterday on Bill Bennett's radio show that I have been thinking about all day. He said all over the world (Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas), hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets protesting their governments are not doing enough for them -- providing for their needs. In America, hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets protesting their government is too involved in their lives and needs to get the heck out of their way.

Steyn mentioned this independence streak was born from the original American colonies having to be self sufficient, then after accomplishing this feat they came together and formed a national government - making sure it was limited in its interference through the Constitution. All other places came from a monarchy or dictatorship where the population looked upward and waited for crumbs to fall from a royal plate to take care of them.

Be proud of who you are America!

George W. Bush's Speech at the National Cathedral

A few days after our country was attacked, on Sept. 14, President Bush came to a national cathedral in Washington D.C., and gave what I believe was the greatest speech of his Presidency. It received very little accolades from the press, probably too many references to God. It is a very worthwhile read on this 8th anniversary.

"We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who loved them. On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes and bent steel.

Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning to read:

They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with life.

They are the names of people who faced death and in their last moments called home to say, be brave and I love you.

They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers and prevented the murder of others on the ground.

They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States and died at their posts.

They are the names of rescuers -- the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others.

We will read all these names. We will linger over them and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep.

To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone. Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.

War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing. Our purpose as a nation is firm, yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there's a searching and an honesty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, on Tuesday, a woman said, "I pray to God to give us a sign that He's still here."

Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing. God's signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that His purposes are not always our own, yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral are known and heard and understood. There are prayers that help us last through the day or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for the journey, and there are prayers that yield our will to a Will greater than our own.

This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn.

It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave.

We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible.

And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice:

Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend.

A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter.

Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety.

A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims.

In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and an abiding love for our country.

Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, "the warm courage of national unity." This is a unity of every faith and every background. It has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world.

America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender, and the commitment of our Fathers is now the calling of our time.

On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask Almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.

As we've been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God's love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country.

God bless America."

Krauthammer: Obama the Mortal

A few days back, Charles Krauthammer had a piece on how President Obama is now being seen as human with all his warts. Here are some excerpts from his piece:

"What happened to President Obama? His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth. What happened to bring his popularity down further than that of any new president in polling history save Gerald Ford (post-Nixon pardon)?

...Obama imagined that, as Fouad Ajami so brilliantly observed, he had won the kind of banana-republic plebiscite that grants caudillo-like authority to remake everything in one's own image.

Accordingly, Obama unveiled his plans for a grand makeover of the American system, animating that vision by enacting measure after measure that greatly enlarged state power, government spending and national debt. Not surprisingly, these measures engendered powerful popular skepticism that burst into tea-party town-hall resistance.

...Obama fancies himself tribune of the people, spokesman for the grass roots, harbinger of a new kind of politics from below that would upset the established lobbyist special-interest order of Washington. Yet faced with protests from a real grass-roots movement, his party and his supporters called it a mob -- misinformed, misled, irrational, angry, unhinged, bordering on racist. All this while the administration was cutting backroom deals with every manner of special interest -- from drug companies to auto unions to doctors -- in which favors worth billions were quietly and opaquely exchanged.

...But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary. The spell is broken. The charismatic conjurer of 2008 has shed his magic. He's regressed to the mean, tellingly expressed in poll numbers hovering at 50 percent.

...For a man who only recently bred a cult, ordinariness is a great burden, and for his acolytes, a crushing disappointment."